Taking a different approach than, and perhaps learning from, these earlier retail pioneers, Broccoli has taken pains to tailor the Yankee Gamers store to fit the tastes of the American market.

"The Gamers store in Japan sells mostly card games, like Magic or Pokémon," says Hideki Uchino, overseas operation manager at Broccoli. "About 40% of Gamers' sales are card games. In the US we don't think that card games will do as well so we are going to concentrate on anime videos, which sell in Japan too, but nowhere near the level they sell in the US."

Unfortunately, Broccoli enters the US market at a precarious financial crossroads - the FED balancing interest rates between inflation and recession. But America's burgeoning youth market offers a promising buyer base, a base on which Animate and Mandarake have already begun to build, tapping into this specialty market.

"Since we sell original merchandise that Broccoli makes we're not too worried about competition from stores like Animate or Mandarake," Uchino continues. "Our main competitors will be places that sell Japanese toys, CDs or books relatively cheap such as Toys 'R' Us, CD stores or book stores like Kinokuniya."

A saturated youth market may provide a foundation on which to develop a peripheral adult market, but the key to commercial success remains appealing to the kids.

"The market in Japan is just going to get worse and worse as time goes on," Uchino explains. "There just aren't enough kids in Japan. Broccoli is currently making merchandise to appeal to the older audience and we've been successful at that. But we estimate that eventually these people will no longer buy merchandise. That's why a lot of big companies like Bandai are also already looking into the US market, a market that they can't ignore. The rest of Asia will also probably become a big market, they're just not ready yet. Broccoli is already starting there, doing the initial foot work, but the US is a much bigger market."

The Japanese government has been making overtures about enticing foreigners to reside in Japan, increasing the work force and, hopefully, the birth rate. But until Japan's population base increases, many companies dependent on children as their primary market will seek US markets.

"We'd eventually like to make items exclusively for the US market. But we'll have to wait to see what does well," Uchino concludes.

Anime laps on the shores of commercial America, and the tide is rising.

Animate is located at 7314 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles and on the web at http://www.animate-world.com/

Mandarake is located at 21515 S. Western Ave. in Torrance, California and on the web at http://www.mandarakela.com/

The opening of Broccoli's US store will be announced here on Akadot sometime in July.

For Digi Charat and a wealth of other reasonably priced anime merchandise visit AnimeGamers.com.