Sailor Moon Cafe in Osaka

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a cute, chocolate-filled Valentine's Day! I had a simple, low key day with the Boyfriend but I def ate my share of chocolate! :x hehe

Today's blog post is an extra joy for me to write because it involves two of my favourite things - Sailor Moon and cafes! From January 13th, 2016 until February 14, 2016 there was a Sailor Moon themed cafe in Osaka!

 A Galentine's Day Date

"What's Galentine's Day? Oh it's only the best day of the year! Every February 13 my lady friends and I leave our husbands and our boyfriends at home and we just come and kick it breakfast style. Ladies celebrating ladies. It's like Lilith Fair. Minus the angst. Plus frittatas." - Leslie Knope 

Every year my best girl friends and I celebrate Galentine's Day! This year when we heard about the Sailor Moon Cafe we knew it would be the perfect place to celebrate this holy day. We immediately called them up and made a reservation for 11:00am on February 13th.

The cafe was held by アニON Station Osaka in Namba Parks. The website indicted that we arrive 15 minutes prior to our reservation. If we were going to be late, we had to call otherwise we would lose our spot. My friends and I met up at 10:40 in Namba Parks however the cafe was closed, along with everything else! Turns out our reservations for 11:00 were the first for the day! We spent the time waiting by getting coffee at Starbucks.

Finally at 11:00 Namba Parks opened up and we could head up to アニON Station for our Sailor Moon cafe date! アニON Station is right next to an arcade with purikura which was all the more convenient for us as Galentine's Day purikura was a Must Do that day!

The outside was decorated with Sailor Moon posters. When you first walked inside, there were shelves of Sailor Moon goods on sale. Things such as a small travel mug, a white and pink towel, manga, dvds, key chains etc.

Checking out the goods.

After getting past the goods we were taken to our seat. Around the tables were small television screens with frames meant to look like pictures. They changed between stills of the characters. They also had Sailor Moon goods on display. There was one giant screen projected on the wall that showed ads for Sailor Moon goods (such as makeup) as well as clips from the new Sailor Moon Crystal.

So exciting!

Goods on display

Each table had menus, information cards, ordering cards and light sticks. You could turn the light sticks on and press the button to change colours. We were given instructions about them but unfortunately I missed half of it as I was too busy chatting with my friends! But I didn't ever see anyone else use them so I figured I didn't miss much.

 

Glow sticks! ft. the order card

Another cool feature was that there was a list of songs at each table. If you wanted, you could use twitter and hashtags to request a song and they would play it! 

 

Left to Right: Pink Moon Tiara (peach-flavoured lemonade); Pink Sugar Strawberry (strawberry with Calpis); Blue Aqua Mist (pineapple soda with Calpis); Berry Berry Demons Disperse (cranberry and strawberry flavour); Melon Flower Hurricane (rose syrup and melon soda); Orange Crescent Beam (mango and orange soda).

The menu was quite simple, but super cute! You could choose between two options; the Crystal Star Pancakes or Usagi’s Not-So-Well-Made Rice Omelette. The omelette came with two takoyaki balls made to look like Usagi's hair buns, added as an "Osakan touch" to the dish. Both dishes cost 1,000 yen (approx. $12.23 CAD, $8.88 USD). You could also choose a special drink based off of your favourite Sailor Moon character! It cost 700 yen (approx. $8.56 CAD, $6.22 USD) and you could choose from Sailor Moon, Chibi Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus. They also offered simple, not themed drinks such as basic coffee and tea on a separate menu.

 

My girlfriends and I decided to go with our "matching character" so my one friend got Sailor Mars and my other friend got Sailor Venus. What do you think I got?

 

Drum 

roll... 

 

 !!!

That's right! Sailor Moon! I have been voted the Usagi of the group! It does get a little sticky though since outwardly I look like Sailor Saturn and I match her aesthetic as well as Usagi. But there was no Sailor Saturn drink, and I digress...

We all ended up ordering the Crystal Star Pancakes. I am a sucker for pancakes! Looking around at the other guests I noticed that those who ordered the omelette seemed to get it fairly quickly whereas the pancakes took a bit longer. But whether or not this was based on cooking time or when we ordered I can't be certain.

The drinks arrived and they were just as cute in real life! They had ice cubes that glowed (all the drinks had this, except for the Chibi Moon drink) and they came with a matching coaster and marshmallow. My drink was sweet and delicious! I am not usually a fan of super sweet drinks. Maybe it was because it was Galentine's Day, maybe because it was Sailor Moon, maybe because I love peach, but I really enjoyed it! It sort of reminded me of a Shirley Temple like I used to get at Swiss Chalet back in Canada (any readers out there know Swiss Chalet?! Best. Chicken. Ever.)

Pink Moon Tiara Lemonade!

Finally our pancakes arrived and the design was so precious! I almost didn't want to eat it! But of course I did. It was one big, thick pancake. The coloured candies on top plus the maple syrup made it extra sweet but because the pancake itself is small (despite being thick) you finish it before OD'ing on the sugar.

So cute!

They also give you a place mat with a picture of Chibiusa and Usagi. It is made from just paper, and I saved it instead of using it as a place mat! 

My friend's Sailor Venus drink

As everyone was seated at the same time we all finished around the same time. People seemed to be getting ready to pay when the projected screen started to play the ending of a Sailor Moon Crystal episode (Act 26). It was funny how everyone became quiet and watched the entire clip. We were all true fans! Once it finished everyone got up to pay and leave. It was then that I realized they must have reservations made in shifts. To be honest I am not sure but with the clip and everyone leaving sort of together I got that feeling. The website did state that each reservation is limited to 90 minutes as they anticipated a huge number of patrons.

An episode beings to play...

Overall I had a wonderful time! The location was easy to find, the food and drink were yummy, and enjoying the cafe with other fans left a positive feeling all around. I would highly recommend it if the cafe ever comes to your town! The only improvement I would suggest is hiring male waiters who dress like Tuxedo Mask...

Now if only I could visit the Rilakkuma Cafe...it's only in Tokyo! Hopefully one day it will come to Osaka! You better believe I will be first in line! :)