Akashika Manga

Impressive selection of manga! The owner is super friendly and helpful. They have a library / hangout area as well.

Very nice couple runs the store and they had some of their pets there too, really nice selection and a library too so you can just hang out with friends, this was very nice because I’ve never seen something like that before, a nice break from all the retail stores I go to I will definitely come back, amazing store!

Fantastic place to visit! Vast selection of manga! Even worth a trip from Calgary or Edmonton to see the endless hours of reading they have in their catalogue. If you haven’t been there, it’s a place I recommend everyone check out’ They are always so friendly and accommodating, bringing in manga on special order. As well as offering great community events and a membership that enables use of their private library. Complete with comfy seating, snacks/ drinks, and of course so much manga to read!

Very pleasant place and owners. Its nice that they do special orders as well if they dont have a manga or novel you're looking for.

TL;DR - Small City? Check. Fills a certain niche? Done that. Contains (Some) Japanese novels and manga for anyone? Absolutely. Akashika Manga is a new Manga (aka Japanese Comic Book) store sitting in the corner of 50 Ave and 55 Street, who've recently opened last month. I saw this place at the corner of my eye when my sister and I were doing a bit of carpooling. I decided to drop by the day after. It's actually really cool + cute! I talked with the *owner of the store and had a long chat before I went to work, but I wanted to learn a bit more about this place and how it came to be. There's a built-in manga library so people can hop into that area (via. Membership) so they can read the first volume of a specific series they couldn't find in their favourite bookstore(s). The owner told me that a good number of customers and Indigo employees (shoutout to those employees haha) said they were happy, if not fascinated, that this local store popped up. Just in time for Christmas too! It's heavily dedicated to its Japanese style, which is no surprise, because it fills that gap for those who have to traverse a long two hours in a big city to find a book that isn't in store here in Red Deer. There's even a pet cat roaming around there; friendly and quiet. Their mascot is actually made by one of their **friends who were just about (if not already) heading to Japan to pursue as a mangaka and designed their Shika (the deer). The store, of course, is new, so it's just warming up to the business side of things while also touching base with the Red Deer community. As for selections, yes, I do mean that. In the front of the store is your new arrivals and restocks, the typical bookstore fashion, but the fact that there's a library this small with a lot of volumes, you'd be in for a treat~ there's a large category; thriller, comedy, one for all ages, etc. There's also gachapons. Fun, isn't it? The interior is soft and calm, while also having this flash of fun hence the gachapons and marble machine. The owner is still looking to continue finding all these different series so they can fulfill what you're looking for (the manga fans, anime fans, parents looking for a specific volume and so on.) I, of course, took pictures of what this place looks like as a Year One look, and I hope the best for it in the long term. Besides, I just happen to be one of the few who will stick by and see how far it can bloom and grow. *Can't remember if it was two or one haha. **Same here, but I know it's a person who is going to Japan for that exact reason. They warmed up to this job by drawing the mascot. P.S. I find it funny that it's in Red Deer with a deer mascot for the store in Red Deer, so the deer has red colors on some parts of it, which I assume the designer was intentional drawing THE deer with red colors. A mouthful to say, is it not?