Manny, Co - CEO

Hi my names Manny. I oversee the Retail, Sales and Expansion side of the business. I grew up watching anime in Italy when I was younger and have had a passion for it ever since.

Mayumi, Co - CEO

Hi! My names Mayumi. I oversee the Financial and Purchasing side of the business. I grew up in Takahama, Japan before traveling to America and finally Britian. I have loved Manga since I was a child and continue to read it today.

Natasha, Store Manager

Hi! My names Natasha. I am the store manager in charge of the day to day running of the shop and of the people who the store employees. I have been watching anime for over 10 years and absolutely love Naruto and one piece.

Rhys, Marketing & Design Manager

Hi! My names Rhys and I am the head of marketing. I have been watching anime consistently for around 8 years. My favourite anime is a tie between One Piece and Death Note.

Our Story

Otaku world was born from two synergies coming together for the love of anime and the animation community, Manny Giacone and Mayumi Ito.

Manny was born in the UK and lived in Italy as a child and travelled Europe in a car with his father buying and selling British and Japanese collectable toys. He was exposed to Japanese anime in Italy as a child and watched numerous early Japanese animation series dating back to the 1960`s, 70`s and 80`s such as Astro boy, Tiger mask, Sasuke, Sampei, Daitarn 3, Mazinger Z, Gaiking, Kamen Rider.

Mayumi was born in Japan to a family of business owners. Mayumi's vast knowledge of Japanese Manga started from an early age and is very extensive as she would read up to one hundred manga titles a month. From an early age she was brought into her family business as a stylist and a business director. Her work would take her into the Japanese cosplay community being involved with creating the latest trends in hairstyling and makeup. Their dream was to bring a little bit of Japan to Derby and open an anime shop and start a community to share their love of Anime.

In 2021 these two synergies made their this dream into reality when they opened up the first Otaku World store in the Eagle Market, Derby. Since then other team members who share a similar burning passion for anime and the community have been brought on board to help continue to make Manny’s and Mayumi’s Otaku World vision come to life.

We took our next step in late December 2023 when we moved from the Eagle Market to a proper store on 6 St James' Street!