By default I've become the keeper of the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex anime shopper's guide, so here is the updated (March 1995) version. (Thanks to Kevin Chin, Scott Robinson, Greg from Dal-Tile, Paul England, Daniel Sifrit, Laly Thao, and James Henderson for their contributions.) If I've missed anything (and I'm sure I have) please e-mail me and I'll include it in the next guide. -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ DALLAS-FT. WORTH SHOPPER'S GUIDE TO ANIME (March 1995) The major cultural activities in most cities are things like music or sports but, as Molly Ivins points out, in Dallas the main cultural activity is shopping. So here is the Dallas-Ft. Worth shopping guide for anime. Granted it's not the Bay Area (particularly when the temperature hits the upper 90s and there are ozone alerts), but there *is* anime out here, it's just in small quantites in odd corners and you have to dig a bit to find it. *New since last time: CyberNet, Borders, Cox Video, Sanrio, A-Kon 6* CyberNet - Irving Sadly, CyberNet is no more. I'm not sure when it died, but I last saw the owner at AnimeFest in November. It's a shame to lose the one store that was devoted exclusively to anime and manga. It needed a better location. If anyone knows anything about it or if it may resurrect somewhere else, please let me know. Lone Star Comics and Books A local chain that carries anime videos, books, etc., not a whole lot at each store, so you may have to hit several to find what you're looking for. (If you know what you want, they will call the other stores and check for you. I've done that a couple of times and it saves gas.) North Dallas: 11661 Preston Rd at Forest (214)373-0934 Plano: 1900 Preston Rd at Park (214)985-1593 Mesquite: 3600 Gus Thomasson (214)681-2040 Irving: 2550 N. Beltline Rd (214)659-0317 Central Arlington: 504 E. Abrams metro(817)265-0491 South Arlington: 3415 S. Cooper (817)557-5252 Ft Worth: 6312 Hulen Bend Blvd (817)346-7773 Hurst: 931 Melbourne (817)595-4375 Keith's Comics Another (and smaller) local chain, but they generally have more anime stuff than Lone Star. They also rent anime tapes! (With a pretty good selection at the Mockingbird location, which is my personal favorite.) Dallas: 5736 E Mockingbird (214)827-3060 University Park: 3406 Rosedale (214)696-1116 Richardson: 581 W Campbell (214)680-9353 RPM Records 1900 Oates, Suite 200, Mesquite (just east of the Oates/LBJ intersection in the shopping center with Albertson's) (214)681-8441 A music store and video rental place that specializes in "the things you can't get at Blockbuster". Has a very good collection of anime on VHS and laserdisc for rent, and also sells some used anime tapes for about $12. They will order any available video or disc for 90% of the list price. Heroes I *still* don't know anything about these folks other than they had a booth at AKON5, they were selling mangas and videos, and I got their flier. Ft Worth: 8639 Highway 80 West (817)244-2503 Ft Worth: 2704 W Berry (817)926-9803 Hurst: 8723 Bedford-Euless Road (817)589-2703 Kazy's Food Mart 8989 Forest Lane, Dallas, 235-4831 Near Forest Lane and Greenville Ave, next to O'Riley's Pub and adjacent to Texas Instruments facility. A Japanese general store carrying books, magazines, grocery items, art, and miscellaneous stuff. You can subscribe to just about any Japanese publication like Newtype, etc., through them. Blockbusters (various locations) As you know from reading r.a.a, Blockbusters now carries anime, but the selection varies widely from store to store. The best selection I've found is at the Blockbuster at 14845 Preston (between Belt Line and Spring Valley) which also rents laser discs and laser disc players. Premiere Video 5400 E. Mockingbird (near Central) and 9901 Royal Lane (at Skillman) A pair of video rental stores which have started to increase their anime stock. Not great, but better than most Blockbusters and improving. Cox Video *NEW this guide* 7602 Campbell, Richardson; Meadow at Central Expressway (NW corner), Dallas A small local chain of video rental stores. They have a fairly good selection of domestically released anime, better than most Blockbusters Borders Books and Records *NEW this guide* (Preston Road at Royal in Dallas; Hulen Dr. across from Hulen Mall in Ft. Worth) This is a one of the chains of mega-bookstores, but they also sell videotapes, and they do have a few domestic releases of anime and regular animation. Their selection used to be better though..... Suncoast (Collin Creek Mall, Plano; Town East Mall, Mesquite, Irving Mall, Irving) These are video retail (not rental) stores, but they do have a small section listed as "Japanimation". They're the only mainstream place I've found that sell Viz's "Ranma 1/2" and Animeigo's "Oh My Goddess!" tapes. Incredible Universe 12710 Executive Drive, Dallas and 102 I-20, Arlington These stores are to your local Radio Shack what Walmart is to the local Mom and Pop store. (And Tandy Corp. owns both Radio Shack and Incredible Universe.) Anyway, if you can find your way through the acres of store there to the videotape and videodisc section, there is a small section of anime laserdiscs (all of it domestic releases, mostly Streamline titles). Right Brain/Left Brain (Northpark Shopping Center, Dallas; Deep Elum, Dallas) This is one of those toy stores for the terminally trendy. Nothing here is necessary or useful, but it *is* a lot of fun. (The prayer candle for protection against alien abduction is a personal favorite of mine. :^) ) Apparently Astroboy and Mighty Morphing Power Rangers are trendy now. Lots of Astroboy paraphenelia. Also, if you're a collector and have a few thousand dollars, they have collectable Japanese mecha toys from the sixties. KAWAII ALERT!!!!! Sanrio has opened a store in Ft. Worth at Hulen Mall. All the "Hello Kitty" paraphenalia you could (or maybe you couldn't) want. Stay away if you're diabetic. . . . *************************************************************************** I always end with a smart remark about making a five-hour road trip to Houston to go to Planet Anime, but for one weekend in June, Dallas becomes the temporary center of the anime universe. Yes, it's PROJECT A-KON 6 !!!! Planet Anime will be coming here for the weekend. So will AD Vision, Anime Wink, Antarctic Press, Asylum Comics, Banzai Comics, Binbo Club, Comic Wizard, Kevin Garten, Kimono My House, Laser Perceptions, Mayfield Brothers, Paradigm, San Francisco Laser Disc, Stage & Screen, Storm, Streamline Pictures, and Underhill Arts. (There are more, but I'm working from an old list here.) All this for three days, June 2-4, at the Harvey Hotel in Addision Texas (a suburb on the north edge of Dallas). For more information about Project A-Kon 6 send email to phoenix@pic.net or check out their homepage at http://www.metronet.com/HomePages/ocon/akon6.html or write them at: Project A-Kon 6 3352 Broadway Blvd., Suite 470 Garland, TX 75043 **************************************************************************** ______________________________________________________________________________ Marc Hairston William B Hanson Center for Space Sciences University of Texas at Dallas hairston@utdallas.edu http://utd500.utdallas.edu/~hairston/index.html