Images: Sammy Barker \/ Push Square<\/p>\n
But outside of an Infinity Nikki<\/a> pizza promotion \u2013 I\u2019d later learn that Arknights: Endfield<\/a> was sponsoring Domino\u2019s as well \u2013 I\u2019d only really seen a few scattered pieces of merch in a small independent store, where the staff assumed I\u2019d be shopping for Pok\u00e9mon<\/a> cards.<\/p>\n I got my first sighting of Genshin Impact<\/a> in the abovementioned shop, as they had the trio of official art books that have been released so far. I know we have Volumes 1 and 2 in the west, but I\u2019m not sure whether the third one is out yet.<\/p>\n One thing I was particularly looking for in this book store was which manhua titles were taking up the most retail space.<\/p>\n Images: Sammy Barker \/ Push Square<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been getting into Link Click, which is originally a Chinese animation (or dong hua) about two individuals who are able to solve people\u2019s problems by entering their memories through photographs.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve only read the comics \u2013 which are like those printed Studio Ghibli picture books, which contain key frames from the movies with comic book speech bubbles \u2013 so perhaps not the best way to experience the material, but I appreciate how glossy this franchise is overall.<\/p>\n I did expect to find a good amount of Link Click in China prior to my arrival and ultimately I wasn\u2019t disappointed, but I suppose it was the titles that aren\u2019t currently available in English that really caught my eye.<\/p>\n For example, I loved the look of this particular title named Biao Ren (or Blades of the Guardians) which started serialisation in 2015.<\/p>\n Images: Sammy Barker \/ Push Square<\/p>\n Quite a few different stores had all 13 volumes for sale, and I\u2019ve since learned a movie adaptation with Jet Li came out earlier this year, perhaps explaining why it was being promoted so prominently right now.<\/p>\n Apparently the artist behind this one had no formal training prior to conceiving the series, so spent four years learning to draw before beginning work on the project earnestly. That\u2019s dedication!<\/p>\n Before I hit up the anime mall \u2013 we\u2019re getting there, I promise \u2013 I wanted to take a detour to another more general shopping centre with an official Pok\u00e9mon store.<\/p>\n Images: Sammy Barker \/ Push Square<\/p>\n Yes, I know it\u2019s Push Square so please indulge my digression just briefly, but this had some exclusive items, including a Pikachu plush in traditional Chinese garbs (both male and female versions).<\/p>\n There was also a lot of Pok\u00e9mon Pokopia<\/a> merch which I assume is everywhere in Japan following the popularity of the Switch 2 release; I settled for a neat little Pok\u00e9mon Green<\/a> keyring, which I\u2019m guessing originated from a gashapon machine.<\/p>\n Right, with some omurice in my belly, I headed to Tianfu Hooot (not a typo), which is the abovementioned anime mall and my intended destination.<\/p>\n I\u2019d read a little bit about this place online, but I think its scale did ultimately exceed my expectations.<\/p>\n Images: Sammy Barker \/ Push Square<\/p>\n It\u2019s connected to the Tianfu subway station, so ultimately encompasses an underground mall filled with food vendors and small little retail stores.<\/p>\n Then you\u2019ve got roughly eight floors of anime merch, with some chain stores and many independent retailers. On the top two levels are a ton of restaurants, and there\u2019s a market for individuals to sell their wares as well.<\/p>\n I was there on a weekend, so there were a lot of teens hanging out with friends in full cosplay.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve seen this phenomenon before in Taipei, where a lot of school kids will dress up as their favourite characters to go to Starbucks or McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n Images: Sammy Barker \/ Push Square<\/p>\n Many people were cosplaying as characters from Genshin Impact<\/a> and Honkai: Star Rail<\/a>, but I did also see several dressed as the heroes from various anime, like Naruto and Bleach.<\/p>\n My main shopping strategy was to find merch I\u2019d never seen before from my favourite games, like Zenless Zone Zero<\/a> and Wuthering Waves<\/a>.<\/p>\n I was also eager to see whether the newly released NTE<\/a> had made any kind of impact yet, but I didn\u2019t find a single item related to the game. Nothing.<\/p>\n To be honest, it was specifically in this mall where I was able to appreciate the impact of HoYoverse\u2019s games. They were everywhere.<\/p>\n Images: Sammy Barker \/ Push Square<\/p>\n Many of the retailers were selling similar items, but I think they had access to the newest stock. For example, there was tons of Angels of Delusions stuff from Zenless Zone Zero, which I imagine is only just filtering its way into other countries.<\/p>\n The popularity of Arknights: Endfield also struck me.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get me wrong, this game seems like it\u2019s been a hit worldwide, but there were a lot of items relating to it considering it\u2019s still relatively new. I was stunned to see Gryphline already has an art book out for this one.<\/p>\n I suppose a lot of the enthusiasm stems from the fact that Arknights is already a well-established mobile game, so there was always going to be a built-in fanbase for this larger-scale open world pseudo-sequel, which cleverly incorporates automation aspects.<\/p>\n Images: Sammy Barker \/ Push Square<\/p>\n I was also surprised to see the prominence of King of Fighters<\/a>, which is something that surprised me in Taiwan as well.<\/p>\n As I understand, this series \u2013 and the NeoGeo in general \u2013 established itself quite strongly in China due to the existence of swappable cartridges, which made them more affordable in smaller arcades. Bootleg cabinets also played a part.<\/p>\n I ended up buying a couple of King of Fighters 97<\/a> trinkets, which were sold in \u201cblind packets\u201d, as is the case with everything in Asia these days. I didn\u2019t really get the characters I wanted, but such is life.<\/p>\n Images: Sammy Barker \/ Push Square<\/p>\n One item I was particularly excited to find was a Honkai: Star Rail illustration book, sold by an independent retailer.<\/p>\n My belief \u2013 and someone can correct me if I\u2019m wrong \u2013 is that this was distributed to Chinese players for free on a first come, first served basis. I think it was limited to a few million units.<\/p>\n If you try and import this from eBay or other auction sites, you could be spending anywhere from $80 upwards, so I was absolutely delighted to pay about $20. It was unquestionably my prize find of the visit.<\/p>\n I also had no idea Zenless Zone Zero was now selling trading cards. I know there\u2019s a Wuthering Waves TCG launching in Japan next month, but these gorgeous cards really took me by surprise.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t open them until I got home and I wish I would have bought more now. There\u2019s no \u201cgame\u201d aspect so these are more akin to Topps cards than Magic the Gathering or One Piece, but they include scenes and artwork from the title and are really beautifully made. The cards themselves are surprisingly thick and sturdy.<\/p>\n Images: Sammy Barker \/ Push Square<\/p>\n I suppose it wasn\u2019t a huge surprise to see several music shops within this anime mall as well, all mostly selling K-pop records.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been over two years since NewJeans last released a song, so the fact that the group is still widely visible worldwide is a testament to their impact I think. There were a bunch of albums and posters I spotted while wandering around.<\/p>\n To be honest, I didn\u2019t see anything in here that\u2019s not available globally, but I still picked up an I-dle cassette as the price conversion was good on it.<\/p>\n Looking at the time stamps on my photos, I spent over five hours in this mall in total, so I think that probably helps underline just how large it was.<\/p>\n Images: Sammy Barker \/ Push Square<\/p>\n The next thing I wanted to see was a video game retailer, as obviously China banned the sale of games consoles up until relatively recently.<\/p>\n I could have taken a taxi but I decided to walk about an hour to a computer market, which I was told by a fellow freelance writer had several game retailers inside.<\/p>\n Sony has obviously made a big effort to try and crack the Chinese market, which is mostly dominated by mobile and PC.<\/p>\n While its console is officially for sale in the country, games need to be approved by the government. That means many local players prefer to purchase imported consoles which unlock full access to the bradth of the PS Store<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t surprised to find a messy mixture of physical stock at these retailers, spanning some official Chinese releases but mainly Japanese and Taiwanese imports.<\/p>\n Images: Sammy Barker \/ Push Square<\/p>\n It struck me that being a PS5 player here could end up feeling like a shady underground hobby, so I\u2019m not surprised to see mobile games and major PC titles from the likes of Tencent-owned Riot occupy a chunk of the space.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know enough about the topic to understand whether Sony is making meaningful inroads domestically; I imagine games like Phantom Blade Zero<\/a> and Tides of Annihilation are going to help.<\/p>\n But with many titles not available on the Chinese PS Store and retail releases set to disappear in January 2028, I wonder how local gamers are going to navigate this.<\/p>\n With hardware prices rising, I feel like it\u2019s going to be an uphill battle for the expectedly expensive PS6 to gain any real footing in the region.<\/p>\n Images: Sammy Barker \/ Push Square<\/p>\n
![\"Sammy](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/avatar.jpg\"){kind=avatar}
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