Animate Akihabara — Attraction in Tokyo

It has a good variety of mangas, light novels and a floor dedicated to Square Enix merch and they sell tax free. That's all I can point out of good in it.

The reason for me not ever planning to spend more money there is how poorly I was treated by the staff, not only one member, not two, but three of them were very annoyed and almost shouting at me when I asked to speak in a simpler Japanese (because I'm like N4 and didn't understand most of their complex and fast phrases). While almost all the shops just say they do (and smile and explain the 5500 lower limit) or don't sell tax free (and say they're sorry, and cross their arms) when you ask “sumimasen, tax free dekimasenka“, the guy from the 2F counter kept saying the same long phrase in a very angry way which I did not understand (something about not being able to pay items from the other floors there) and later asked my husband about. When I made sure I picked 5500 worth of goods, this cashier beeped all the items, and then said we could pay for the Square Enix and goods from the other floors at 1F. Why did he waste time beeping them? Why the long explanation about not being able to pay there for items from other floors if he was sending us downstairs either way???

Those other goods where some Manga I had picked from 4F, however, before going to the cashier, I found an art book much pricier and heavier, which made me have to compromise and not be able to buy those manga, so I tried to get the lift to the the 4F again to return the volumes. Then came a very angry female staff pointing me to the cashier and saying again, very complex phrases, which I asked to say in a easier way, then she annoyed asked if I couldn't speak Japanese. I said just a little, which made her point furiously at some notice asking customer to pay at the 1F cashier, then I tried to explain I was just trying to return the volumes, not buy them, and she angrily told me to also return at the cashier. How nice, my husband walked all over the floors with them, could have returned them anytime, but when I tried to go to 1F back to 4F, I got chewed out by some unhappy staff!

And now for the third bitter staff of the day, the cashier! Was ever so annoyed when I first returned the volumes and handled my passport the most careless way I've ever seen in Japan to make the tax free procedures. After paying I returned to ask if they could open the slime mug I purchased to verify if it was not broken (because then I remembered the annoyed cashier of the 2F said I could ask to open it in the 1F), in which case I'd ask to replace, and the guy said that he himself could not open, but I could. However, if the goods were damaged, I'd have to contact Square Enix and that Animate could not make an exchange. I was expecting the same treatment we were given when we bought some ceramic goods in Kyoto: the staff made sure to open the box and inspect the goods with us to make sure we were happy with...

There was a male staff member on the second floor who had the worst customer service attitude. While traveling, I’ve always used a credit card to pay, but this time, since it was such a small amount, I was going to pay with cash. I didn’t realize the system required you to insert bills into a machine. As a foreigner, I wasn’t familiar with how things worked in Japan. At first, the staff did tell me to insert the bill, but I didn’t catch it — probably because he mumbled it so quietly. I figured if that was the case, he could’ve just repeated it a bit more clearly, right? But instead, he just stared at me without saying anything. I was confused and a little flustered, so I asked in English, “Do I insert the bill in here?” and he responded with a super rude “Hah?” like I was bothering him. I actually speak both Japanese and English, but I was so thrown off by how hostile his vibe was that I just blanked out in that moment. I also felt bad that I was holding up the line behind me, so I decided to just switch back to card payment. But then the card didn’t go through — and instead of saying something helpful like “Please try inserting the card again” or “Tap the card one more time,” he just kept staring at me in silence. I had to figure it all out on my own with shaky hands and finally managed to complete the payment. I was so upset, so I left Akihabara right after that. I have no intention of ever visiting that location again. From now on, I’ll stick to the Ikebukuro branch. Please, do something about your customer service training. I don’t know what kind of hiring standards are in place, but if your store gets a lot of foreign customers, maybe don’t assign someone who doesn’t even understand “Do I insert the bill in here?” to work at...

The goods can be either good enough or lacking, depending on what you're looking for. But there really isn't much that you 'absolutely can't find' on amazon or yahoo auctions for a lower price. If you want a souvenir since you came to Akihabara, yeah, I guess you can pick something up but I advise against it, if you value your time and money.

The cons of this store are many, but like the other reviewers are saying,

The store is way, way too crowded. There's like 2000 people in a store that's only as wide as a convenience store and has 8 floors. Yup, I bet each floor has like 200+ people especially on the weekends.

There are no anime PVC figures or some other 'mature' stuff you might be looking for. But this won't matter if you're not into the 'moe' stuff, and you have a membership in other anime figure stores like Lashinbang, Sofmap or Amiami.

The staff is kind of mixed. The male cashiers generally seemed nice and helpful, but the ladies were sort of edgy and toxic. The cashier on the 5th floor, a certain Ms.い○り, wasn't exactly rude but I hated her attitude. This can't be justified to people who buy over 10,000yen's worth of goods. That's enough to be some people's daily wage.

Overall, the store is okay, but not particularly for an anime goods store in Akihabara. It's crowded, it's narrow, the selection of goods is limited and some of the staff is kind of irritated(and irritating). If you have to buy something, you should probably try the Akiba Culture Zone or Amiami stores first. I kind of regret buying stuff here... after all, the reason I stopped using Animate about 10 years ago was because I didn't like the Animate store very much in another city....