To celebrate the premier of the new anime series Fate/Zero, the ufotable cafés in Tokyo and Tokushima were converted into a temporary “Fate/Zero Café” serving special themed dishes. Gigazine has gone to the ufotable cafe in Tokushima so that we can have a sneak peek at the dishes that are being served.

ufotable is the animation studio that produced Fate/Zero and other awesome works such as Kara no Kyoukai. Just to remind everyone that there will be free streaming of Fate/Zero via NicoNico Douga. The episodes will be streamed worldwise with subtitles in eight different subtitles and each episode will be available online for a week.

Today was the official opening of the brand new AKB48 Cafe & Shop in Akihabara.  It was a grand event covered by various Japanese press media because the event was attended by several media senbatsu members from AKB48, including Sae Miyazawa 宮澤佐江, Itano Tomomi 板野友美, Minami Takahashi 高橋みなみ, Shinoda Mariko 篠田麻里子, Watanabe Mayu 渡辺麻友 and Yokayama Yui 横山由依.

Following the immense rising popularity of AKB48 in Japan and recent success of the AKB48 concept cafe and shop in Singapore, they have decided to revive the AKB48 cafe in Akihabara. In fact, they have decided to open the cafe next to the popular Gundam Cafe and Bar.

The outlet aims to be a shop that fulfils your visual, auditory and gustatory senses by including a theatre area, café area, private function room, and shopping section. The theatre area will screen recent stage performances while serving buffet lunches, while the cafe area is quite normal serving an entrée with drink. The café also offer yummy snacks for takeaway such as muffins, cookies and doughnuts.

During the interview, the media were eager to find out whether there will be member appearance or any opportunities to taste a dished cooked by your favorite AKB48 member, and Yui shared that it could be a “luxurious surprise” for fans in the future.

A small area of the cafe is sectioned off and converted into a private function area that accommodates 16 people comfortably and it can be rented for private gatherings and celebrations activities. Feels like a cosy area that is a great place to hold a child’s birthday party as well. If you look carefully you can see the kawaii drawings scribbled onto the wall by the visiting senbatsu members today.

To make sure you don’t go home empty-handed, the management has decided to include a shop area that sells exclusive goods similar to the concept store that was recently opened in Harujuku.

Image and News Source: natlie, modelpress, ASCII

Definitely worth a visit if you are making a trip to Akihabara but based on the official website, reservations is required for the cafe. Here’s a video I found on youtube that takes a look at the crowd outside and also brings you into the shop and cafe for a quick sneak peek:

Following the soft launch there was a closed door session that was attended by many media folks. The AKB48 members were invited to pen down their autographs on the chairs and then were invited on stage. You can see that the media folks just wouldn’t stop taking photos of them because they were so kawaii <3 <3

My favorite shot has to be this shot of Haruka Shimazaki putting her autograph on one of the cafe chairs. If I recall correctly she drew a bunny-look-alike mascot thingy that was really kawaii.

The girls also had a chance to try out a special float that wasn’t present on the menu that day but specially created just for them.

Image Credit: AKS/ AKB48 Singapore

Diners can look forward to exclusive AKB48video screenings and get a chance to meet their favourite AKB48 members from time to time, while enjoying delicious Japanese fusion food. During the opening period, a limited menu will be available, with the full menu ready by mid-July when the café officially launches.

And here’s a sneak peek of the AKB48 cafe waitresses. Each of them all look so gorgeous, have great smiles and really excellent service. I’m sure you would keep on coming back once you try out the cafe because it has delicious curry and excellent warm service.

The café will be conducting its launch at 12.30pm and then officially open to public from 3:30pm onwards. To celebrate the AKB48 Official Café launch, fans who are attending Sunday’s concert (both sessions) will have a chance to win a personalised autograph from one AKB48 member!!

Each of the AKB48 member will be picking a number and the winner of that number will have the member personally autograph the goods with the winner name on it. Its totally a dream come true for any AKB48 fan. XD

Besides the kawaii meido-san, the first thing that catches your attention would be huge range of guns, rifles and submachine guns that are mounted on the walls and place on the tables.

They even have they guns in kawaii pink (probably for the ladies) XD

Source: Akibamap

That is probably one meido café you wouldn’t want to be messing around too much. Otherwise they might just pull out a real gun and start shooting like Roberta.

The café will be entirely staff by professional seiyuus and there will be a recording studio with professional microphones, a mini stage and speaker set, and it will seat around 40 people. The most unique feature of the café is that there will be a “seiyuu jukebox” where customers can request the staff to recreate various scenes of dialogue live on the club’s stage. The café will feature food and drinks good for the throat, and will sell exclusive T-shirts and original drama CDs that fans can only buy at the café.

Source: ANN

I think this is a really good concept and it will give fans more opportunities to interact with their favorite seiyuus. I’m just wondering how many seiyuus can he get on board to join his café.

Here’s what AKB48 producer Akimoto Yasushi has to say about the project:

The key to AKB48′s success has been the concept of bringing idols and fans closer through interactions and frequent live concert and events, and empowering the fans in shaping their idols as they evolve. ‘Idols you can meet every day!’ – This is the concept that I hope to bring into Singapore. In addition to the regular concerts, by locating AKB48’s theme Shop and Café adjacent to the Live Hall to make them more accessible to Singaporeans, I hope that they can feel and enjoy AKB48 and better appreciate live concerts. It will be great if fans in Singapore can eventually identify with and see AKB48 as their own idols someday.

AKB48’s Singapore concept project will include three components at *SCAPE:

AKB48 THEATRE SINGAPORE “Live” – The Akihabara Experience

Famous for their trademark theatre-style sell-out performances in Akihabara, Singaporeans now can also experience the appeal of AKB48’s “live” concerts on a regular basis. Starting 15 May 2011, around 16 members of AKB48 and their sister groups (SKE48, NMB48, SDN48) will fly to Singapore for each concert at the *SCAPE Warehouse. The artistes are expected to be in town for two days in a month, with two performances lined up each day, in 2011. The line-up of the AKB48 members performing will only be released shortly on the official website (www.akb48.com.sg) before each concert. Each ticket is priced at $50 and can be booked on the official website and purchased at the AKB48 official shop. The first “live” concert of the series will be held on 15th May, at 3pm & 7pm respectively.

AKB48 Official Shop SINGAPORE – First in South-east Asia

Fans who have been asking their friends and family to buy AKB48 official merchandise can all heave a sigh of relief. The first AKB48 Concept Store in South-east Asia will open in Singapore in May. Members of the public will be able to find merchandise direct from Japan, as well as exclusive limited-edition AKB48 merchandise which are only available at the 360-sq-feet Singapore store.

The Concept Shop will be officially launched at 1pm on 14 May 2011. Lucky customers will have a chance to meet and shake hands in person with selected AKB48 members, who will be there to grace the occasion. . From T-shirts, to pen cases, to photos of your favorite AKB48 members, fans can bring home a slice of the AKB48 experience conveniently and look out for new product arrivals on the official website (www.akb48.com.sg).

AKB48 Official Café SINGAPORE – A Global Debut Concept

The world’s first AKB48 Café will open in Singapore, for fans and J-pop newbies alike to chill out and soak into the AKB48 atmosphere at their leisure. Scheduled to open in the end of June 2011, patrons can expect excellent Japanese fusion food and deserts available only in this cafe. Other highlights include the screening of video clips or messages from AKB48 members as well as related events like Karaoke or Dance contest held on a stage within the café. Lucky ones may even get a surprise visit from AKB48 members during their meals! More details will be shared closer to date.

SOZO has been appointed as the official Managing Agent for AKB48’s project in Singapore. Members of the public who wish to find out more or get the latest updates on the concerts, concept store and café can check out official website (www.akb48.com.sg).

Source: Official Media Release

Before school starts, its time to prepare the white board ^^

While I did managed to “inflitrate” the cafe, I didn’t take any shots of the girls together, but instead I got a few shots of them hard at work.

For those that want to see more photos of them, just head over to their facebook album. And here’s a video that gives you a quick glimpse at the busy meido-san inside the cafe.

It was rather difficult to get a good shot of them because their uniforms were black and the café was also black in theme. Nonetheless, they were very friendly and didn’t mind posing for me.

I visited the Atelier Royale Café and tried to catch the butlers in action. Since it was their debut, I wasn’t quite familiar with any of them except for Yutaki whom I had seen at past SG Blog Awards ceremonies. From my observations, the butlers were all very attentive and all the female customs can’t seem to stop smiling when inside the café.

Even when the customers were queuing outside, the butler helped to entertain them as well. One lucky customer got the opportunity to be photographer with four of the butlers, and her outfit matched theirs perfectly.

Well thats the end of my report for the Atelier Royale Café, I will try to process and post the photos taken at the MMK Café next, so do hang around! XD

Source: AkibaNews

And speaking of the live-action movie, here’s the trailer for those that have not seen it yet.