AnimeXtreme

I agree with everything on Sherry’s review especially Bowen’s one. I do however think the staffs are okay but they are rather unsociable and are not really friendly at times whenever I stop by in their store. They do have a rather nice animé collection though. My one complaint is that I wanted to preorder a movie from their store since I would prefer not to use my credit card to order it online and go though some expenses. I gave them whatever they can to contact me with but never heard back a respond and that’s been a couple weeks after the movie came out. Luckily I didn’t pay upfront for the order which of course they don’t do that but still a little disappointed I didn’t hear from anything. Kinda felt like they either forgot my request or ignore it. I might have to look somewhere else that sells animé but also provide my customer needs, good friendly staffs and is affordable.

I honestly try not to shop here, as everything is clearly over priced. The books are pretty average in prices, but the figures are painful, especially knowing you can pick up some in different places for a normal price (if you know where to look). I enjoy browsing the place and on occasion they have very good clearance items and sales.
Their blind boxes are all opened and each figure is priced individually based on rarity/​character. I rather pay 8 $ for a blind box keychain and take my chances than pay more for the character I really want. What’s the fun of that?
Cosplays are cheap looking, better buying them online, and music is normally obnoxiously loud (although a few times it’s been off or very quiet, which I appreciated).
Definitely go to look, but think twice before you buy anything.

I’ve read a few complaints from this store, and while I felt uneasy to pay a visit, I did it anyway.
Basically they carry a huge amount of manga, figurines, etc.
Their manga selection is pretty good. I was looking for a specific volume 1 and they had it!
They also sell mugs, and custom printed ones too! If you want one for $ 10 just ask the cashiers!
The people weren’t so rude as these reviews made them out to be, but they were reasonable about their bag rule (no shoplifting!!!)
Other than that, a really nice animé store, I’ve come back a few times and will come again.

Background: I’ve known of this place for a long while (5 years or so), and I’ve bought stuff every now and then when I’m in the area. I learned a few things from forums on how to buy stuff online over the last year though, so here is my perspective on it with that in mind now, and how it stacks up.
One of the only few places left in Toronto where you can go to a store and buy animé related stuff. Haven’t had a particularly bad experience with staff, though I generally don’t do things that would be considered testy for a store owner either. As for that «cold» interaction between staff and customer some have noted, it really boils down to the Asian «don’t engage unless confronted» approach they take, which is not uncommon. Culture is weird sometimes.
As for the most important question: «Should I buy from there?», I’ll sum it up with what’s fine to buy and what isn’t:
OK:
— Manga: US Cover price, good selection. When 75% of your store floor is that, I guess that’s warranted.
— Gunpla: Prices are acceptable for most of them, and they also carry a few rare ones!
Avoid:
— Figures: They’re legit, so don’t worry about that. The problem is: would you pay $ 249 for an Ultimate Madoka here, or $ 149 shipping included from Amiami? Granted, the price took a serious nose dive over the last few months, but even back then it still didn’t come close to 249 after everything. Some nendos are at an OK price, albeit marked up, and they do throw some stuff on clearance from time to time. While not all hope is lost, it’s pretty close.
— Discs (CDs, DVDs): These aren’t legit, I know what fakes look like. OSTs are from a Taiwanese company that makes bootlegs for this sort of stuff (Miya Records), and I have never seen DVD box sets so blatantly counterfeit in a long time.
Overall, fine to grab a thing or two every now and then while at Chinatown. Just don’t drop the big cash on some stuff, because it might not always be worth it.
Credit/​Debit cards are $ 0.50 extra, by the way.

I visited the animé xtreme booth at fanexpo 2013 and the service was horrible they didn’t want to answer my questions when i asked them if they had caesar clown figuarts zero from one piece they said they never heard of the character and looked at each other suggesting i was an idiot then i asked for the price of luffy film z figuarts zero to which they replied was 40 $ while i found it at other booths at the convention for 25 $ basically they treat you badly and overprice their merchandise and act like they don’t even want your money i would suggest to buy whatever you want online or find alternative instead of being treated badly just so you can buy figures

After reading all of the terrible reviews about this place, I was hesitant to go in. The window display seemed faded, and from the outside, the store looked like a shoebox. Upon entering, stairs lead to the basement where the actual store was. What a relief, too! It was well lit, spacious, and seemed to have a great selection.
Many have complained about the horrible staff and service. While they were not spectacular or particularly friendly, they weren’t extremely rude and unwelcoming either. I saw all of the complaints about leaving your bags at the counter, and when I reached the bottom of the stairs, I saw a sign that stated so. I went up to the man behind the counter and asked if I should leave it and he told me I could keep it on my person, which was a pleasant surprise. Other than that, he didn’t seem to acknowledge my existence. Same with the other employees.
From what I saw, they seemed to have a great selection of manga and figurines. My brother came in looking for a specific Gundam that we couldn’t find in all of NYC, but lo and behold, they had it! It was also reasonably priced!
While Animé Xtreme could stand to work on their customer service, I found every other part of the store very nice. We did not have any terrible experiences here, so I would come back.

I’m a Chinese girl and very very familiar with Japanese culture, so I don’t think the comments which criticize the customer service are fair.
My main point is that Asians are extremely shy and it’s beyond most native people’s imagination, and especially the ones who are fond of animé, they’re the most nervous ones.
I myself is a kind of girl like that, I treat people very «cold» as well, so I’m properly feel very unfair, too. It’s wrong that the shop is in downtown Toronto but the people there are not friendly at all, but there is another explanation about their attitudes.
Maybe providing people with the most «familiar» feelings is very important, I mean, if we go to a Chinese restaurant, we can’t imagine the waitress there are local beauties, the same is when we eat at fancy restaurant in downtown area, we also expect the waitress there are charming and mostly locals. Finally, what I mean is the people at the store should be the ones who are most familiar with Japanese animé and are crazy about it. Cuz I myself is a crazy fan about it, I can just tell all of them are no doubt crazy fans.
In fact, my first shopping experience there is also very strange, too. I bought a very expensive unicorn gundam mobile suit and it’s worth more than $ 150, when I paid at the cashier, the man didn’t speak anything except tell me the price. I asked him could I get discount, he answered me very seriously like «sorry, all the mobile suits have no discounts.» I told myself not to laugh in the store cuz I was just kidding because I think he’s too nervous! It’s the first time I’ve ever saw someone who is even more shy than me! And the moment I left the store I laughed at their seriousness, and maybe just how stupid they are.
Something about the bag things. I always go there after classes in u of t and I have my huge school bag with me, everytime I just walked very normally in it and never be asked to leave my personal belongings at the front desk. To tell the truth, I was quite surprised to know that it does has the bag thing rule.(really?)
If it’s about the comic books and models and lots lots of things there, I just feel «it’s the only REAL animé store in Toronto.» Cuz I’ve said I’m a fan of Japanese animé instead of American one, and I’ve truly investigate every store in downtown area, the conclusion is that it’s undoubtedly the only one which appeals to the real Japanese animé store.
Well, I give it a 4 star just because it’s clear many people are hurt by its cold and ruthless (well that’s true if you’re quite adapted to downtown cloth store’s customer service) attitude, and I myself is shocked at the first time as well:) but I like it, cuz there is no other one like this in Toronto any more. Well, that’s all my comments and personal experience, I hope it’ll be helpful for you. The second time may not be better (I mean the customer service), but if you’re a real fan of «REAL comic and animé», the second time will give you great surprise at what you found.:)

If you’re a manga/​animé fan, this is a must-​visit store.
It’s true that customer service isn’t at its finest; theres a very cold vibe inside. Now of course I’m not saying that customers must be treated like royalty and the staff must give like a 90 degree bow and have huge smiles on their faces when you enter, but I feel there should be some acknowledgement, like a simple hello or hi. About the no bags thing, THAT I do understand, since this store is located fairly close to a school and the area which it’s in (Chinatown to be exact) has a couple sketchy people. I overheard the staff talking about this guy who always loitered there and acted very suspicious (don’t know too many details), but because of that, I think it’s reasonable for them to request that you keep bags in the front (and plus, manga and audio CDs are extremely easy for people to steal, especially if they have bags)
ANYWAY, talking about the store itself, it’s very large and has an extremely wide variety of manga. In terms of animé, they only allow rentals. I’m not sure if you can buy the animé behind the checkout counter, but there’s a corner with DVDs that say «Rentals Only». I guess it wouldn’t hurt to ask: P
They have a few cosplay costumes and tshirts available, lots of plushies, action figures/​figurines, and other merch, such as keychains, notepads, mousepads, posters, wall scrolls, cosplay accessories, magazines, concept art books, and much more
To summarize, customer service is definitely not the best, however, the selection in this store outweighs that factor. It’s not like the staff give you attitude or treat you badly, it’s just that they give off a very bored and unenthusiastic vibe.
So if you love animé/​manga, defeinitely come check out this place

Wide range of manga to choose from which is really great for any hardcore manga fan. Huge selection with HG, MG and SD gundam models. Not that many PG models sadly, as for paints and markers. Buying the single markers are more expensive but then again, they hardly even carry gundam marker packs. Oh and never preorder stuff with them because they tend to forget about it. Aside from that, if you’re a huge fan of Final Fantasy, they carry quite a few action figures. Price can be negotiable for example, I convince the sales guy that a single gundam marker was worth less than what they selling so I got a discount.
The employees seem very lazy except for like two of them, who are very enthusiastic and always jump at a chance to help with anything. One of them is a huge Gundam builder so asking him for what Gundam he would recommend is the best.

These guys suck. You can see that they are straining to be like, the «high fidelity records» of animé and manga in Toronto, but to be frank they really just don’t have the chops. They know their product decently, but if you want to pull of the attitude you better REALLY bring it. They don’t.
Frankly they don’t have anything I can’t get at any of a dozen other places in the city, they are overpriced, and their customer service sucks. I would suggest avoiding this place like the plague.

If I’m looking for something specific can’t find it at One Million Comix or Silver Snail then I come down to Animé Xtreme as a last stitch effort to find it locally before resorting to online shopping or eBay. They usually have some older toys and figures that other stores have long ago liquidated so it is worth coming here to have a look.
The guys that work here usually pay me no mind since I’m neither a geeky guy (no offense geeky guys!) or a 12 year old fangirl — all the better because this way I can worm my way through their tiny aisles and if they don’t have what I want I can leave and not have to deal with their condescending attitude. If I do have to ask them for something I’m usually met with a «Why the hell do you want that?» kind of response.
My friends have told me to keep my eyes open for items of questionable authenticity here, but I’ve never had a problem with any of the figures and statues I’ve bought here. Their newer merchandise tends to be overpriced, but you can find some deals on some of their older stuff.

These guys are so elitist. They do not hold one iota of customer service skill. Think The Simpson’s chracter, «Comic Book Guy»
I’ve bought one item from these clowns back in 2003 and never went back.
Overpriced and under-​served… you’re better off heading over to The Silver Snail.
Update: They’re still a bunch of clowns and downgraded to one star because they deserve it.

I am about to completely out myself with just how big a nerd I am.
Will is correct, they are over priced. They are snobs. They will put you down and look down on you for buying something they don’t think is cool (or was cool when you could only find it in Japan or Usenet groups). It’s not a pleasant place to shop but they do have a great selection of stuff and give you the ability to rent-​to-​own movies. If you’ve rented something several times the cost of your rental is put towards your purchase should you decide to just buy it and save yourself a walk.
The shelves are packed with books that are in my opinion, not very good but I don’t like manga that’s aimed at 12 year old girls, and they have a lot of it because that’s what sells in North America. At the same time they have a lot of books made in North America in the style of Japanese manga and those don’t work at all. They’re like the book equivalent to Asian countries trying to make «Hollywood» movies. The look is there but something is lost in the translation.
If you’re looking for toys or figures or model kits this place a pretty wide selection to choose from. However, does anyone even like Gundam anymore? There seems to be a little too much of that in stock.
To sum up, the place is kind of a last ditch effort to find something if you don’t see it at the snail, beguiling or hairy tarantula. I’m giving them a three because they just have so much stuff.