Behind the Scenes of Heart-Throbbing Collaboration Café Menus Featuring Manga Anime and Idols

2024-09-15

The History of Collaboration Cafés

According to Gunji, the origins of collaboration cafés trace back to 1998.

“It seems that the first one was a café called ‘Pia Carrot Restaurant,’ which recreated a visual novel game and was featured at the Tokyo Character Show in 1998.

In the early 2000s, the ‘Cure Maid Café’ opened as Japan’s first permanent maid café in Akihabara, sparking a significant boom in maid cafés.

The prototype of the collaboration cafés we see today was established with the ‘NARUTO’ collaboration café held at Namja Town in 2009, which created a major buzz with its large-scale collaboration featuring anime and manga works.

Following that, in 2012, the opening of Animate Café and Gundam Café marked the beginning of many collaboration cafés, including Collaboration Café Honpo, Princess Café, and SQUARE ENIX CAFE, which all opened in rapid succession.

Around the same time, family restaurants also began to gain popularity with collaboration menus featuring anime works.”

The collaboration cafe industry, which had been growing rapidly, faced many closures and downsizing during the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022. However, it has been gradually making a comeback since fall 2023.

“Many may not realize this, but collaboration cafes have a surprisingly long history and have been evolving technologically over time.

A clear example is the essential ‘printed latte’ found in collaboration cafes.

Initially, character illustrations were drawn on lattes using molds and cocoa powder, but with the advent of food printers and edible prints, high-quality printed lattes can now be created quickly.

In the early days, the typical menu items were omelets and curry, but nowadays, afternoon tea sets and buffet-style menus have become more common.

Moreover, collaboration cafes have recently expanded into various sectors, including conveyor belt sushi restaurants, bars, game centers, and super sento (public baths). I believe this genre holds a lot of potential.”