Animate Opens Global Online Store For Authentic Anime Merchandise, Largest Anime Chain Combats Counterfeiters
Anime fans outside Japan looking to buy genuine anime goods can now head over to the online store of Animate International. In order to combat the rising sale of counterfeit and non-licensed anime merchandise, Japan’s largest anime shop chain has launched a global online e-store. The shop promises to sell and deliver only authentic and quality anime goods all over the world.
Hoping to weed out counterfeiters with the promise of delivering only authentic and licensed anime and manga merchandise, Animate International launched an online website. The shop promises to sell, ship and deliver genuine anime goods to fans of manga and anime across the world. Animate Ltd. is the retailing arm of MOVIC and is the largest retailer of anime, games, and manga in Japan. Up until now, anime fans who insisted on genuine anime merchandise had to head over to a select few stores of Animate.
There are currently 117 Animate stores in Japan alone. The company has been gradually expanding in neighboring countries, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Thailand. However, Japanese anime has been increasingly popular in the Western world. Countries like the United States of America and many European nations have fans of anime and manga in large numbers.
What’s up in Japan:
Look who we found at Animate shop—two of the most popular ikemen from the recent Valentine ranking!???? #haikyuu #pot pic.twitter.com/xUcgt00GV9— TokyoFanatics (@TokyoFanatics) April 3, 2017
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@hivitya right? My friend took it at one of the animate stores in Japan! pic.twitter.com/H5lGe453fK
— YOI TRASH (@kristalshay) March 25, 2017
Unfortunately, with a marked absence of licensed distributors, counterfeiters had been having a field day churning out counterfeit and non-licensed merchandise. Non-regulated brick and mortar stores, as well as many online retailers, have been openly selling anime merchandise with impunity. While many products are expert replicas of the original, there are several anomalies and mistakes when there’s a pressing need to produce thousands of products before the release of an anime series or movie. Additionally, licensed merchandise is often correctly translated. Needless to add, the majority of the products sold in these stores weren’t translated at all or, had a very poor translation
Animate’s online store will include products related to anime from a wide genre. According to Anime News Network, products consist mainly of anime-related video products such as DVDs and Blu-ray discs, music products like character songs and drama CDs, and a variety of character goods and books/publications. Moreover, the online destination also features a large variety of “animate exclusive bonus” content. Needless to add, the exclusive content is restricted to customers who buy merchandise through the online portal of Animate. Additionally, the company is planning to regularly offer limited edition products, which are exclusive to the Animate website and won’t be found elsewhere.
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Don’t know whether i’m lucky or not????#yurionice #animatejapan pic.twitter.com/KPTPbBJUvv— llllllllllllllll (@ounceee) April 7, 2017
Anime fans interested in authentic merchandise can head to Animate’s official Facebook page. The company has promised to regularly post information regarding products and campaigns. Industry experts stress that buying genuine anime merchandise helps the anime industry and allow the artisans to continue creating more engaging series.
[Featured Image by Chris McGrath/Getty Images]
