New cyberpunk maid cafe opens in Akihabara, Tokyo

https://ift.tt/2F780dd Oona McGee

Japanese maids in thigh-high stockings are ready to take you to the year 2045.

With so many maid cafes in Tokyo it can be hard to pick just one to visit if you’re pressed for time and on a tight itinerary.

Now, though, the choice is easy, as Japan’s most popular maid cafe, Akiba Zettai Ryoiki, has just opened their fourth branch in Akihabara, and this one boasts a cyberpunk-kawaii fusion theme that combines the world of maids with the future.

▼ Akiba Zettai Ryoiki A.D. 2045 opened on 14 March.

The new cafe aims to capture Akihabara’s techno-cool image in its design, taking inspiration from futuristic films like Ghost in the Shell, Blade Runner, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Super Dimension Fortress Macross.

Akiba Zettai enlisted the help of Japanese illustrators to bring the cafe together, using their talents to create the artwork on the menu, crockery, and interior wall markings.

“Zettai Ryoiki” translates to “absolute territory” and is used to refer to the exposed thigh area between skirt and thigh-high stocking. Like their other branches, the maids here are dressed to show off this “absolute territory”, with these outfits designed by illustrator Ryosuke Fukai.

▼ Fukai also created the cafe’s original mascot character, Nia Shinomiya.

▼ Character modeller Pompucho gives life to Nia as a CG character.

▼ Nia can be seen dancing to original choreography on screens inside the cafe.

▼ Greeting visitors outside the cafe is a neon sign designed by Tatsumi Tsurushima, featuring a logo by Ryo Hiiragi.

The cyberpunk theme extends to the menu, which includes meals like the Omurice Plate (1,450 yen [US$12.99]), designed to look like a dystopian meal from a maid cafe in the future.

And an Energy Bowl containing rice and cream croquettes (1,300 yen), which is said to resemble the junk meals enjoyed by characters at food stalls in the cyberpunk genre.

Desserts include options like the strawberry-flavoured Moe Cultivation Parfait (1,000 yen)…

And the Bride-Summoning Cake (800 yen), which features Nia, who has been summoned up through the magic summoning circle printed on the plate.

One of the most impressive things about the new branch is the fact that Nia will be projected as a hologram outside the cafe, where she’ll be seen performing a cute “moe” gesture to attract the attention of passersby.

The hologram is a first for Akihabara, and fits in nicely with the cyberpunk theme of the cafe. To find out more about Akiba Zettai, you can visit their website or jump over here, where you can read all about their Maid Cafe Winery, which opened last year.

Cafe information
Maid cafe & bar Akiba Zettai A.D.2045 / メイドカフェ＆バー アキバ絶対領域 A.D.2045
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Soto Kanda 4-2-7, TIT Akihabara 2F
東京都千代田区外神田4-2-7TIT秋葉原2F
Hours: 12:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. (last order: 9:30 p.m.)
Website

Source, images: PR Times
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