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Check Out the Animate Stores of Yesteryear via Photo Exhibition
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Animate, Japan's largest purveyor of all things otaku, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The company has grown immensely since it was founded in 1983. It decided to drive home just how much by putting a photo retrospective on display last weekend at the Animate Girls Festival 2016 event. The photos were hung in the stairwell from the main Animate Ikebukuro shop between the eighth and ninth floors. The photos also give a peek at what series were popular at the time, like Ranma 1/2 and the original Heroic Legend of Arslan.
The company's now easily recognizable white and blue logo didn't become a mainstay until later. Previously the company mainly used a red logo.
A chart also cross-references the popular shows of the time with each new branch's opening day. The first Animate in Ikebukuro, for instance, opened the same year as the original Macross.
Animate now has stores in all 47 prefectures, two in Taiwan, one in Hong Kong, and one in Thailand for a total of 117 brick and mortar stores. The company previously had a location in Los Angeles but it closed in 2003. U.S.-based shoppers can still buy from Animate's online U.S. store.
Source: Animate Times
