Akihabara Craziness

Maids in the street!

Random Observation/Comment #57: French maid dresses worn by Japanese girls have been added to my fantasies.It’s not perverted (or dodgy), honest: They’re just so damn cute in short skirts and high stockings.

R.J., compared to my uber-Otaku nature, is a level 3 at best (it’s not supposed to make sense).He’s gone above and beyond by getting the Gundam Seed Destiny tattoo and watching all of the Gundam series (which is about 400 episodes or something ridiculous like that), but he hasn’t watched all of the underground anime that is not on adult swim. He plays a lot of Japanese PSP and DS games as well, which might be a different nature, but his anime and manga skill level needs some upgrading.If he follows my teachings, he will also become a master, but until then he’ll need patience and training (hours of anime watching).The power is within him, but it will take time to tame the beast.

Keeping this obsession in mind, Akihabara sounded like the best place to go.He said that he wanted to buy a $200 cos-play maid outfit for his gf (of 2 weeks), but I thought he was just joking.Little did I know that he basically spent money like a kid in a candy store (except the candy here was much more expensive and his budget seemed to know no bounds).

My vision of Akihabara was very different from what it actually looks like.For some reason I pictured a lot more flashy things capturing my attention instead of a few major strips, lined with malls for electronics.Most of it was expensive, but I really enjoyed the variety.I didn’t have the money or space in my luggage to get some of the really cool things, but the pictures will have to do.There was a large amount of hentai porn in plain sight and a few major sega arcade areas, but the hype built me up for something like a golden bridge or arc with anime girls flying around you for personal selection.

The one thing that did come true was the larger number of normal (maybe normal) girls dressed up as maids in the arcades (and even out on the streets), passing out fliers and waiting tables.They were absolutely adorable and I felt bad not taking one of the fliers from them even if I couldn’t read it.The maid cafés that we passed by looked pretty interesting, as well.From my conversation with Chris, Otakus basically go to these places to have lunch and talk with these cute girls in maid outfits.You pay to have them play games with you, and they draw little smiley faces with ketchup on your food.The games, such as rock-paper-scissors, would be a betting game where the loser drinks some tomato juice, cream cheese, salt, pepper, and raw egg concoction.The weird thing is that these guys actually are trying to lose to seem more chivalrous when they have to drink it in front of them.I don’t think I will ever be that desperate for attention.

Overall, the street looks like any ordinary street surrounded by maid outfits.The hobby and gadget places have a large selection, but unlike Hong Kong, have only one store to choose from.It doesn’t really make a difference to shop around if you find something you like.Be hopeful that you’ll stumble upon something you like, but don’t be disappointed if you don’t wind up living in a girl’s dormitory with girls of all ages that slowly start to fall in love with you as the episodes pass.

~See Lemons in Otaku Heaven