There is only one place in North America to buy Uniqlo’s manga T-shirts, and I work and live just a short subway ride away! These T-shirts combine my love of classic manga with my love of screen-printed T-shirts, and with a price point at a very reasonable $15.50 (about $16.50 after taxes)… well… let’s just say I’ve spent my manga budget for the month on T-shirts. It’s a good thing I can wear them to work!
The T-shirts were created to promote the 50th anniversary of Shonen Sunday.
Very few of the images I’ve seen on the web correspond to the designs at the Uniqlo NYC location. Here are some of the properties featured on T-shirts I’ve seen:
Ashita No Joe (Tomorrow’s Joe)
Cutey Honey
Cyborg 009
Devil Man
Ge Ge Ge No Kitaro (new this week)
Golgo 13
Hajime No Ippo
Star of the Giants (Kyojin No Hoshi new this week)
Tekkon Kinkreet
Touch
Urusei Yatsura
The Astro Boy and Gundam T-shirts were also available in children’s sizes, but the adult Astro Boy T-shirts had sold out by my third visit, and I didn’t notice any Gundam shirts at all today. One of my coworkers claims there were Ranma 1/2 shirts, but all of them sold out immediately.
Each T-shirt has a tag with a little blurb in both English and Japanese about the artist and/or the title featured on the shirt. The text on the tags is written with a lot of heart, but the translations are a little awkward. From the Ashita No Joe tag:
“Joe Yabuki is a tender-hearted boxer who is clumsy in life. Joe bulldozing through in pursuit of fiercely burning moments was depicted first in comic, then in TV animation and in a movie, and stirred the hearts of millions of people. His fire and passion, which still live on today, are now featured in this T-shirt.”
Note that the fire and passion are not just on the front of the T-shirt, but in the 100% cotton garment.
The titles chosen for the T-shirts are classic manga by Japanese standards - many of the featured titles are not available in English, and totally unfamiliar to the U.S. anime fanbase - thus, the Ranma Shirts sold out while UY designs are still available. A giant Detective Conan decal on the front windows welcomes customers into the store - but Detective Conan bombed on Adult Swim in this country. I think the Cyborg 009 shopping bags are really, really cool, but the Cyborg 009 manga was one of the biggest flops ever in the U.S.
The manga T-shirts are located on the mezzanine level. A note on the sizes: I usually wear Medium T-shirts, but the extra-small shirts fit.
As a Japanophile planning a trip to Soho, you might want to check out the nearby Kid Robot store, Anna Sui and Muji.
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