When a Kigurumi Café Surprisingly Wasn't the Best Idea
There is a charm of quiet and tranquility when we think about different kinds of cafés. Such establishments are after all, where you relax, and where you stretch out those brain cells to unwind.
"Squeak!"
Well, for this one weird exclusive time, the idea of a kigurumi café in such a manner did not seem to be the best. Just as was deduced by the protagonist of GJ Club (GJ部, pronounced as "Good Job") Kyouta "Kyoro" Shinomiya in the anime's episode four, upon hearing the experiences of their club president Mao Amatsuka during last year's school festival.
The concept of Mao's kigurumi café was simple and straightforward. Let customers in, and the kigurumi staff members serve food and drinks as normal. The catch? Well, the concept gets mixed with the implementation of a pet café. So when the time comes, it's the kigurumi staff that gets to frolic around and demand to eat and drink stuff for the "entertainment" of their customers.
"Doesn't seem that hard to see why it didn't work."
After Mao explained the concept in detail, Kyoro gives a mellow response of respectful disapproval. As he pointed out, the success of the café did mainly come from the specific niche that they provided that was different from a typical café.
However, the pet café concept just turned the idea completely upside down for their potential customers. Maybe just, you know...let the kigurumi café function like normal?
As for the kigurumi itself, we have quite a number to discuss here.
Mao's concept kigurumi, according to resident hamster expert Kyoro, was themed after a golden hamster. Color and pattern-wise, we have something that is considerably close.
The depicted one for Mao's sister Megumi, is, of course, a rabbit kigurumi, and a pink one too! Kind of reminds you of something that looks absolutely similar, don't you think?
Next is the obligatory tiger-themed kigurumi for Kirara, the pattern of which is also quite common.
Lastly, Shion was shown with a conceptual owl-themed kigurumi. This one has a rather dark hue to it, quite different from the two types of Owl kigurumi that we are more familiar with.
As an extra, Mao was also shown with yet another kigurumi, this time a sheep kigurumi. There's one for that too, although the bell isn't quite as 'solid' as you would imagine.
"It's a place where we act like pets waiting for our owners to come home!"
To be fair, the original objective of Mao was "to appeal to a general audience who will think it is cute". Well, no arguments here. It is indeed cute; it's kigurumi after all. In that sense, the basic idea of a kigurumi café is very far from being a bad idea in the slightest.
In the end though. the real MVP here was perhaps Megumi, who actually was revealed to be the one who painstakingly made each and every kigurumi for the café.
"We just need one hamster. The big one right here."
So, anyone here would like to visit a kigurumi café someday?