It was a relatively packed late Sunday afternoon, with a short line forming at the third annual FaniMaid Café at FanimeCon. This year, Network Administrator Yen, Chief Photographer Leong, and myself were more than happy to attend for what was our first time.
Like last year, the café took place in the large open area of the convention center on the Hilton side and served food and drinks catered by a third party supplier. While the prices on food and drinks remained relatively inflated, that is something that has always been out of the control of the FaniMaid staff. But there were a few major improvements from previous years.
The first major improvement noted was the line of bowing maids at the entrance who welcomed customers entering with a "Irasshaimase Goshujinsama ("Welcome home master")." After we selected and paid for our drinks (soda), a maid introduced herself after seating us and left to get our drinks. The tables were decorated with a white table cloth and a small vase with plastic flowers at the center. Overall it was a pleasant set-up, although we must mention that our table was littered with crumbs of food from previous diners.
After our sodas were served, our maid made a second trip, this time returning with a children's electric fishing game. For those who are unfamiliar, it's a game where plastic fishes rotate in a circle, opening and closing their mouths; players use a small plastic fishing pole to hook them out. She asked politely if we would like to play the game with them which we agreed to. She brought over another maid and explained that the loser would have to give one of the plastic flowers on the dining table to anyone they choose.
The game started, and it was quickly obvious that the maids had significant practice over us. After seeing our pathetic attempts, they eased off to give us a chance to catch up. After five minutes of intense fishing, the loser turned out to be yours truly. I thought quickly on whom I should give the flower to, and came up with an idea. I asked the two maids to play Jan-ken-pon (Rock Paper Scissors) with each other and gave the winning maid the flower. We thanked the maids and started observing the other diners.
There was a lot to do there from all that was going on around us. Some of the customers were talking away animated with the maids, enjoying their time. Two customers towards the back were having a quick sketch done by a maid. In front of us was a larger table, where the occupants were playing Kurohige Kiki Ippatsu (Pop-Up Pirate) - the game involves each player taking turns sticking plastic swords into a toy barrel, randomly rigged with a trigger that will send the pirate in the barrel flying.
We agreed to share a table when one of the maids politely asked us. It appeared to be two friends only interested in a picture, and promptly left with their food after a quick photo with a maid at the designated photo area. The second group joining our table were members of the Japanese press who ordered soda and a coffee. While they interviewed one of the maids in Japanese, we interviewed Yukie, Fanimaid, and special performance singer at this year and last year's FanimeCon Masquerade.
Yukie explained that we can thank Jun's efforts for the overall improvements this year at FaniMaid. Jun has worked since the opening of the maid café three years ago and continued her role as the Head Maid Trainer from last year. A large number of the maids were new this year and Jun's first goal was" to make sure they knew each other and became close friends." This helped to prevent the lack of communication some of the maids displayed last year. The maids were more cohesive like a "family" planning and decorating the maid café together.
The FaniMaid Café had an overall increase in customers this year and has definitely improved from previous years. While the only other maid café experience I had previously to compare it with is at Royale T Café located near Los Angeles, this is probably the closet maid café to the real thing in Japan.
