My Dress-Up Darling Anime Exhibition Headlines Opening to World’s Biggest Anime Store

 

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Animate Ikebukuro store next year, it’ll become the company’s biggest. Inside will house a theater in the basement, two halls at the top and more space for events than any other anime building in Japan, and headlining the first event at the world’s biggest anime store will be My Dress-Up Darling. 

 

Marin Kitagawa is the poster child of her own exhibition and the store itself for its first few weeks. The exhibition will celebrate the first anniversary of the TV anime series and will feature rare illustrations and real-life versions of the outfits seen in the series. A new character visual of Kitagawa was released.

 

 

As for the Animate itself: the top of the building features animate hall BLACK and animate hall WHITE, both able to hold events concurrently. Below it on the 8th floor will be an exhibition space—where the My Dress-Up Darling exhibition will be held—called the Space Galleria. Floors one to seven are set to be the actual store, with the first floor having an anime-themed cafe that will open earlier than the rest of the building on January 26 with the quirk of having anime art on every cup. Then on the 2nd basement floor, the first Animate Theater will open for stage performances, talks and more with 208 seats available.

 

RELATED: Animate’s Flagship Store in Ikebukuro to Become the ‘World’s Largest Anime Shop’

 

Mobile Fighter G Gundam character designer and Blue Fire manga creator Kazuhiko Shimamoto drew a celebratory image for the opening of the new Animate featuring mascot character Meito Anizawa, who anime fans might recognize from Lucky Star and Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei. The image can be seen at the top of the post.

 

 

The My Dress-Up Darling exhibition opens on March 16 and runs until April 17, but isn’t the only event during the first few weeks. The Uta no Prince-sama: Maji Love ST☆RISH Tours anime film will be holding a talk in Animate Hall BLACK on March 18, while the HANA-Doll* project will be holding the HANA-Doll* THE STAGE -Another Universe- show from March 16 to March 26 in the Animate Theater.

 

The Animate Ikebukuro Flagship store opens on March 26 after a very extensive redevelopment for not only the store, but the entire plaza area. 

 

Source: Press Release

 

 

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Daryl Harding is a Senior Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.