Shopping Like a Geek in Taipei

So on this trip back to Taiwan, I realized that I really only shop for a few things: computer stuff, video games, and anime stuff.

Mostly anime stuff and video games since computer stuff tends to be more expensive in Taiwan than the US.

There were 3 main areas I went to:

Taipei Main Station

To get here, just ride the MRT to… Taipei Main Station.

There’s lots of places to buy stuff around here. Department stores and small shops everywhere around the station.

There’s a pretty good electronics/computer shop called Nova right across the street from the Shinkong Mitsukoshi. It’s a building that’s actually comprised of lots of little electronic shops selling stuff like video games, computer parts, or cell phones.

Also, near the Mitsukoshi is this place called K-Mall. The first floor has the same electronics/computers stuff like Nova, but the bottom floor has more video games/anime goods. I bought my Amazon.co.jp Danbo Revoltech from there!

Amazon.co.jp Danbo Revoltech

On one of the upper floors of K-Mall, they have this awesome place called Gundam Base Taipei where you can buy… well, Gundam models. They also have an exhibit with a whole bunch of Gunpla and 3 huge Gundam statue.

Gundam Base Taipei

Gunpla Exhibit

Most of all though, if you want video games or anime stuff, I’d suggest going to the underground Taipei City Mall. There’s like 4 underground malls connected to the main station, so just follow the exits marked “Y”.

Just walk a bit past all the clothing stores until you see stuff like this:

The Good Stuff

The Good Stuff 2

Lots of stores that sell everything from vintage video games to models and figures to doujinshi.

For instance, I found this one awesome store where I found both Dioxin’s touhou compilation doujinshi Matome:

Matome

…and this limited-edition Shana Nendoroid (Dengeki Daioh ver.) with nekomimi!

Dengeki Daioh ver. Shana Nendoroid

The mall even has a maid cafe called Maiden Diner (夢幻餐車):

Maiden Diner

…I greatly regret not going in. Next time.

Guanghua Digital Plaza (光華商場)

To get here, ride the MRT to the Zhongxiao Xinsheng station. Then take… one of the exits (or look at one of the maps in the station, sorry, memory fail).

Guanghua Digital Plaza

This place is a geek’s paradise, pretty much. Inside is a whole bunch of small shops that sell electronics, computer parts, video games, books/manga, audio stuff, and things like that.

I bought Hokuto Musou here (Fist of the North Star Dynasty Warriors), and my manliness meter went up a few points because of it.

You're Already Dead.

Ximen

To get here, ride the MRT to Ximen and I suggest getting out at exit 6 (The Pedestrian Mall -or something like that).

This place is really popular among the local youth. Even when they’re supposed to be in school, it’s still fairly crowded.

Ximen (Guess what I'm really taking a picture of here)

There’s this big building called Wannian (萬年商業大樓) that is a great place to buy plastic models. Wander around a bit until you see it.

Wannian

Just go to the 3rd floor and you’ll find a whole bunch of shops selling models, books, and video games. There’s this one store in particular that’s almost literally filled to the brim with models (it’s hard to walk around in) and you can find lots of older stuff there for good prices (I found a few Sakura Taisen models there).

4th floor has this arcade called Tom’s World. Lots of games, but in terms of fighting games, they have lots of KOF, Tekken 6, a bootleg SF4 machine (with console characters), an Arcana Heart 3 machine, and a BlazBlue: CS machine. Oh, and a Gundam vs. Gundam (not NEXT though) if that counts.

Tom's World - Crowding around the Tekken 6 machines.

Hidden among all the smaller stores, in this alley-ish place is this one store called KT (or KT 動漫精品). It’s kinda hard to find, so I’d suggest looking upwards for a sign with anime girls.

KT

KT 2

Lots of anime-related goods. For instance, they have lots of otaku-relevant T-Shirts (by Cospa) that I think are imported and therefore very expensive.

If you like cats, they have these awesome DnaXCat goods like this folder:

Metal Gear Cat

A bunch of anime trinkets too, like I got this maid figure box for my friend:

Maid Figure Box

Of course, there’s also Animate.

animate

To get there… uh… I suggest trying to find a street that looks like this and looking for the Animate sign at the same time.

Uh... this street.

Animate’s great for printed goods (like manga and artbooks) and trinkets. They even have a full floor devoted to trinkets.

Got the Idolm@ster SP Guidebook and some manga there. Btw, Idolm@ster is actually quite fun, in an intensely otaku way.

Idolm@ster SP Guidebook

Manga!

The Lucky Star one is actually an official (?) compilation of doujin shorts (it’s called Happy Strike). I totally only got it since Eunos has one in there. Alice Quartet (Fujieda Miyabi!) and Nanoha StrikerS are pretty much a given for me.

There’s one place that I forgot to mention called Mag Freak. There’s actually quite a few of them, including in Taipei City Mall, Wannian, and right under Animate.

They have lots of printed material (artbooks and manga… and magazines!). Lots of Japanese stuff, too. For instance, I got the Melty Blood Actress Again Guidebook and this Azumanga Daioh 10th Anniversary Book called Osaka World Fair (Osaka Banpaku/大阪万博).

MBAA Guidebook and Azumanga Anniversary Book