Mandarake Merch Madness: Part 1 – Untold Questions

Okay, what’s this then? It’s a merch post!

“Merch”, “Post”, is this some kind of weird ritual? Yes.

No, but seriously what’s going on. Don’t be difficult, ‘merch’ means ‘merchandise’ and post is what this is.

—kay, but what’s a “Mandarake”? Well it’s got nothing to with Harry Potter if you’re wondering.

I wasn’t but do go on… It’s a second-hand anime goods chain in Japan, it’s like a treasure trove of anime related goodies for otakus like me! Also, second-hand for Japan is basically like new, 90% of the things they sell have never been taken out of the box!

And I presume this means you bought some goods from them? A whole BOX of ‘em!

You could fit a person in this box!

That’s a big box! Ahem…

Always well protected, the more delicate items are individually bubble wrapped too.

Right-o, so get into it then! Full disclosure, a lot of these pictures will be of the items out of their boxes because, well, I was too impatient to take pictures of them in their respective box. I don’t know if this breaks some rules of unboxing/merch posts but give me a break, okay? I’m new here after all…

Fine, fine. Just get on with it! Okay, so prepare for a lot of photos, also I’m not really sure what order to display the merch in so I’ll leave the figurines ’til the end [edit: figurines in seperate post], and everything else before.

GET ON WITH IT! Right, so first off I wanted to get a new wallet. I’ve already got a re:zero one but it’s due for a replacement soon.

From: Is the Order a Rabbit?? Still in packaging because i’ll leave it in til I’m ready to change over from the old wallet.

What’s up next? Next is a couple of CD soundtracks! I have most of my music digitally but it’s sometimes nice to get the physical thing, plus the Amagi Brilliant Park one comes with a bonus DVD. Unfortunatley, Mandarake’s website isn’t the best about giving detailed information on the content of some of their products, and some things are just poorly translated, so as it turns out the DVD is of just one, 4-minute music video. But whatever it was cheap enough anyway!

Yuru Yuri Season 1 OST and Amagi Brilliant Park Character Song Collection + Bonus DVD.

4 minute long DVD, that’s got to be some kind of record for shortest DVD. Haha I doubt it, but yeah… Anyway while we’re on the subject of Amagi Brilliant Park. I got a stylus and a poster. I was a bit disappointed the poster was just a paper one as the site said ‘image board’ but again it comes down to translation issues and not very good pictures on their website. It’s certainly not a perfect system, but it kind of adds to the excitement of opening the items!

Amagi Brilliant Park, Isuzu Sento Stylus.

Amagi Brilliant Park full cast poster.

Buyer beware I suppose! It’s fine! Next up is a COSPA pillowcase for New Game! I’ve already got a bunch of COSPA brand pillow cases from the actual COSPA store in Akihabara when I went last year and I was so impressed with the quality when I got them home I bought another one! They don’t have a wide range of shows unfortunately, but they are double-sided with different images on each side!

New Game! Pillowcase, still in packaging until I buy a new pillow insert for it but you can see the two sides of the design on the paper beneath. Also it was a lot cheaper than the RRP, as some Mandarake items usually are.

When you said pillowcase I thought it was going to be something lewd… thankfully it’s only partially so with those bikinis… Did someone say lewd?! This next purchase was just because of how much it amused me, it’s an oppai drink bottle holder. It’s also from a series I’ve never watched before which I don’t normally do, but it was too good to pass up. Unfortunately, and I feel like I’m saying that a lot, but the hole to the bottle in the top is too small for most if not all water bottles, it might be able to fit a small coke can or bottle or beer, but I don’t drink either! Oh well, might have to just repurpose it into a pen holder or something!

Too late to say NSFW?

Yeah… why am I not surprised you bought something like that… My browsing habits on Mandarake generally just result in me putting in the titles of shows I or the irl waifu likes and seeing what comes up. A show we both like, but not love is Persona 4: The Animation, ordinarily I wouldn’t bother with merch for a show I just ‘like’ and not ‘love’, but when I showed her this she had to have it.

Teddy plush thing from Persona 4. And yes it’s a working zip and you can put things in it! Not much though it is very small.

Well that’s cute and wholesome! And now back to our regularly scheduled smut! Well, not the item itself, but rather the show (or visual novel, it could be from either). I was searching ‘We Without Wings’ and this item came up, it was vague in the description, it translated something to ‘towel’ and I assumed beach towel, but it’s not, it’s more like a velour (or microfibre?) throw blanket. And it’s very big, it takes up most of the single bed in my office.

Is Naru best girl? I don’t even know, that show’s so confusing. Regardless I was pleasantly surprised with the quality and size especially considering the relatively low price.

Mmm-hmm. Moving on… I broke one of my rules twice this shop, that rule being never buy things for show’s you don’t watch/haven’t watched yet. But I think this one’s forgivable, because apparently it’s a really good show? Also, who can say no to a cheap, brand new t-shirt!

Angel Beats t-shirt. Really good quality print, really poor quality photo. It’s pristine white irl but the photo makes it look worn.

I wouldn’t have thought Japanese sizes would fit you… WOW. I mean it is a little snug around the belly, but it’s fine. I’ll probably only wear it at home, and only once I’ve watched the show too. Anyway, next it’s time for Interviews With Monster Girls merch! I got 3 phone charms and a really cute phone case. One I thing I quickly learned while in Japan is that while they have a LOT of anime phone cases, only about 5% of them come in the Large size for iPhone plus sized devices. So of course while browsing the site I was thrilled to find one for Interviews With Monster Girls that fits my phone!

Bad lighting strikes again!

Kawaii!

Well this post has gotten longer than I thought it would be, should we maybe take a break? You don’t get breaks, but yes I see what you mean, it probably is a bit much for one post. Alright, take five and we’ll continue with figurines in part two!