If you're new to Bookoff, this is a great place to start as it's not so overwhelming. You can find a great selection of Anime merchandise, I was so Happy to find a vintage Hello Kitty Charm for my work bag. If there was something like this near me when I was growing up, damage would have been done. Made me miss Japan walking into Bookoff and enjoying the merchandise! read more

I think this is my favorite Bookoff that I've been to! It's definitely the smallest, but it's also the most organized. It's a lot cheaper than the Costa Mesa location, especially for the items they have on the shelves. I don't really understand how their pricing works though. I've seen identical items be priced differently, so I'm not sure what determines that. It's really fun to look around since their stock is always changing, and they have great prices for their Pokemon items. I've gotten a lot of unique items here that would have been much more expensive to buy directly from Japan because of all the new tariffs. Overall, this place is definitely worth the visit! There's so many cool things you can find if you take the time to look through their stock. The workers don't mind if you're there for a long time either which is great. Unfortunately, the parking lot is pretty terrible around noon, but it's fine later in the day. read more

Loved this store! Anime merch certainly isn't cheap. You can buy pre-owned notebooks, figurines, games, etc. here. Parking was easy to find. Location was nice. It's right next to a popular ramen place. Think of it as a thrift shop for weebs read more

Cute but small shop with anime figures and cards with a few 11x18 posters. Some prices were great with prices going up all depending on size and favorite status. Busy parking lot. Unfortunately no books. Fun place and if I want to find something specific I could spend hours. read more

Bookoff Anime Lab - Irvine - Parking - Video Game Stores Near Me - Irvine, California

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Fantastic place for retro video games and import retro video games!! I love it! Very reasonable pricing with a fun but small selection of anime and manga toys, statues - this place was the highlight of my trip down recently - the service was awesome and the employees were very knowledgeable and patient too. I recommend this place to anyone I know heading to the area! Their sister location is much bigger but this is a smaller also fun location for anyone in the area read more

A MASSIVE IMPROVEMENT over the Little Tokyo location as it is at least somewhat organize in a manageable fashion. It's definitely a smaller shop and the parking lot it's located in is quite crowded and limited (whose brilliant idea it is to put so many restaurants and an entire food court with so little parking is beyond me), but it's nice to kill some time at or sift though things. In terms of pricing, I would definitely do my research before shopping, at any Bookoff, to be honest, since the only time I have ever seen a steal is at the Riverside location. $35 is WAY too much for a prize figure unless it's a limited run or out of print completely. There is more variety of what I saw here in terms of more rare or older items and figures in comparison to what I recently saw at Ecotown, but in terms of value and pricing if you are purchasing, Ecotown's got them beat. The items here are organized at the very least in categories with similar series being grouped together (K-ON figures together, Nendoroids together), and the smaller items are subdivided so the Poke'mon stuff is together, certain shonen series are sorted together (Demon Slayer, JJK, Tokyo Revengers, etc.), kawaii items and plushies are together, retro video games are together, and the miscellaneous items are set together and there is an attempt to categorize that too. For example the Oshikatsu ribbons for male idol/otome items are together, the mugs and cups are altogether, tin cans together, towels together, light sticks together, art books together, etc. It's by no means organized, say, at Animetopia's level, but this is a HUGE improvement compared to the overwhelming feeling that I've gotten at other Bookoff's for sure (aka perusing for 3 minutes and then giving up generally). We did purchase a small Chiikawa tin that had a couple acrylic chain charms and stickers in it for $7, which in terms of Chiikawa merch goes, a pretty good deal! read more

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tl,dr: nice lil shop for animé fans. Likes: + Nice trip down memory lane. In the back corner you'll find video games as old as N64. + I like the animé posters they stock, particularly the one of Mikasa Ackerman. + Cool sculptures of popular animé characters near the store entrance. Non-likes: - Despite being a bookstore, this Book-Off sells no books! Yet it randomly sells purses... - Pretty cramped bookstore. - Super crowded parking. read more

i been going to BookOff for a couple of years now here and there, and i will say i feel like their selection and prices were better and more negotiable in the past, though more recently in cases with the figures and manga, i'd say shopping online is a better option if possible since the prices are similar to Amazon at times, it's very fun to look at though! really something you have to experience for yourself if you haven't, especially if you have interest in niche japanese media from otome, rhythm games, and so much more :3 read more

Bookoff Anime Lab - Irvine - shelf of some niche little trinkets you can get (so cool omg !) - Video Game Stores Near Me - Irvine, California

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My review is based on my recent visit to this location. I will also be adding a review of the Little Tokyo down the line. I will start off by saying that I don't recommend shopping here and purchasing any merchandise from this or any book off. Book Off offers a wide variety of products determined by location. I came to this location to purchase some video games. Neither of the games worked, I had to return two days later to get a refund. Some better quality control would not only benefit the customers but also the company. In terms of quality control, the company could test games before trying to sell them to customers. Other retro video game shops do this, so why can't this company do this. Book Off, according to employees, work on an honesty system, meaning that if you sell merch to them, they trust you to be honest on if them game works or not. This system honestly is terrible. As for value in games they offer, I don't see any here, especially if you will need to return them when they don't work. The only positive thing about this location was that the person who helped me both times was kind but lacked any knowledge of certain products they sell. Avoid this place at all cost. This place will receive a single star since that is the lowest grade a business can receive on Yelp. read more

Bookoff Anime Lab - Irvine - These are the two broken games that were sold to me. Please avoid purchasing these games - Video Game Stores Near Me - Irvine, California

This is a second hand collection shop so this place might not have all the newest figures and latest items and I might have some bias with the score I gave because I found a figure I've been looking for for a really long time, and for 30 bucks I grabbed and ran to the cashier. I didn't see this beauty at first since it was on the top shelf so when you come here make sure to look on the top. The selection here is very wide since they are a second hand shop and they have some spicy stuff I'll say that. read more

Bookoff Anime Lab - Irvine - Rin Natsume figure front side - Video Game Stores Near Me - Irvine, California

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I went here a couple days ago after going to Hiro Nori down the way for dinner. Have been to other Book Off locations (Costa Mesa and the now closed Westminster mall), but never to an Anime Lab location (there is one in Little Tokyo in LA). Pros: A lot of miscellaneous anime merch, especially figures, promo items, retro games, and Pokémon cards. One could spend hours going through all the bins searching for stuff. I found a Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train Japanese movie theater program and a Sailor Neptune blind bag acrylic stand. Cons: Store is really small. Most of the walking space is limited to the right and left of the store and in between displays. Most of the bins I looked through were unorganized and messy, like many other people had already gone through them. I assumed they would have Anime Artbooks or some manga (which is why I wanted to look), but since the store is so tiny I could see why they wouldn't. Though I think adding artbooks would be a plus. Most books they sell are mostly promo items from various events (conventions, comiket, etc.). Also of note, this location does not buy back products like other locations. Most of the stock is brought in from elsewhere. I may look there again as I didn't have enough time to go through a majority of the bins but if you're looking for something more substantial I would suggest going to other Book Off locations. read more

This place rocks!!! So.Much.Merch!!! Come in with a big budget cause you'll fill your basket right up. This location specializes in anime, new and old. I personally came in looking for a specific anime that's a bit niche.. and still found merch!! There was probably even more that I just hadn't seen. Mika was also a delight and very friendly!! read more

Not really worth driving to. They mainly sell your typical prize figures, and knickknacks. I thought they would sell way more but it feel even less then ur actual bookoff stores. I do like the plaza it's in. read more

Small but lots of good stuff! Great music selection, can't wait to see what they do with this location

This place is so cool! I'm obsessed! Tons of great stuff and you can find single cards for sale!

Came to the store after seeing a Reel on IG based around their 'great selection' of Pokemon cards. The store is 95% bulk with only a few higher dollar items. They have a huge selection of anime related items ranging from figures, stickers, plushies etc but if you're looking for Pokemon cards I would suggest TCG stores. read more