When your job is to wait tables at a restaurant, you are expected to dish out good service. This includes greeting the customers as they enter; showing them politely to their seats. You’re expected to say: “May I take your order?” with a smile.
However, for only one day the tables were turned – five servers were tasked to do the exact opposite. This was a much anticipated day for some when SubaToki Café held their first pop-up Tsundere Café on 24 February 2018.
Three weeks before, reservations were already fully booked. Eager fans were geared up to receive the cold shoulder from their hosts: Hikari, Matcha, Midori, Yumiki and Toshiro.
Tsundere Café
‘Tsundere’ is used to describe characters in anime who act cold and unkind at first, then begin to warm up over time. It also means the character plays it cool towards someone on the outside while they’re secretly fawning over them.
The event combined this together with another Japanese pop culture creation – maid café, where waitresses are dolled up in Lolita-style costumes and a tiny frilly apron.
To bring the characters to life, SubaToki hired five professional cosplayers who transformed themselves into the perfect tsundere maids and butler.
We got in touch with the five stars of the show and got to know about their unusual experience.
Behind The Scenes
While they are seasoned in dressing up for cosplay, costumes and makeup were only the beginning of their preparation. For most of them, getting into the attitude required for the role was a step out of their shells.
Matcha tells us she dived into anime and manga to research how a tsundere should behave.
This was a common step most of them took, though they each had their own methods.
For Midori, she closed her eyes and visualised fictional scenarios to picture how she would interact with her customers.
Toshiro was the systematic one of the five, explaining how he would put himself into a process of characterisation every time that he played a character. “It’s similar to how one would act on stage in front of a live audience or a camera,” he said.
It Takes Two To Tango
Immersed in their new identities, it was time to bring the guests into their world.
Serving hostile treatment could be unnerving, not knowing how those on the receiving end might react. The five shared these sentiments, hoping their guests would be entertained rather than offended.
But of course, the guests knew what they had signed up for and were thrilled to play along.
Hikari shared that she experienced a range of reactions. Some patrons chuckled heartily as they watched their friends get chided; some turned bashful when she directed her attention to them.
Midori also tells us that her guests were great sports.
“They played along, cowering and apologising when I scolded them,” she said.
“They tried to convince us they were truly dedicated to spending their time with us in hopes of receiving our kindness later on.”
Understanding that a tsundere’s warmth only comes after their icy facade has disappeared, the guests were patient and persistent.
They spent the day trying to attract the servers’ attention, till they finally earned their chance to redeem a service. Even then, the only indication was a maid’s outstretched palm, silently offering to stamp her guest’s gacha card.
A Dish Best Served Cold
We’ve got to admit, a free pass to be snarky could bring out the devious side in all of us.
Midori was one to confess she enjoyed the freedom to be nasty without repercussions. She then recalled one of the craziest things she got to do.
“A customer requested for me to step on his back for his cheki (Polaroid picture) – he was all on fours! Definitely an experience to remember.”
They all had a story to tell of their harshest act for the day. A couple of them involved rude service that would normally get a server reprimanded. For Yumiki, it was the moment she grumpily plonked a stack of canned drinks down on a table and left the guests to serve themselves.
Matcha took an opportunity while one of her customers was celebrating a birthday — she gave them a treat by throwing chocolates at them.
Sometimes, the servers played with a few heartstrings. Toshiro was guilty of this when he noticed a girl getting teased about him by her friends, and sprang into action.
“I stood right next to her and placed a piece of chocolate down, bent over so my face was considerably close to hers, and asked, ‘What’s so funny?'”
Before she could regain her composure from giggling, Toshiro savagely added, “Never mind, I don’t care anyway,” and walked away.
On some occasions, the treatment extended to tiny doses of physical violence. In Hikari’s experience, these were reasonable, performed at the guests’ requests, and pretty darn entertaining.
“There was a session where I flicked a customer on the forehead eight times straight after his friend forced this selected gacha service on him.”
A Delicate Balance
Fun as it may seem, their job was not only to be cold and aloof. Most of the time, they were performing a balancing act.
Tsundere consists of two characteristics. Mean behaviour represents the ‘tsun’ side, while ‘dere’ refers to showing subtle sweetness and affection.
“The tsundere balance of being plain mean and showing reluctant kindness is precarious, and I hope I can get even better at it some day.”
At certain times, Hikari says, it was a challenge to be mean and rude while still showing the guests they cared about them.
As the only butler alongside four lovely maids, Toshiro says he had to be extra careful not to go overboard in fear that he would become intimidating.
It’s Not Like I’ll Remember You
For all their dedication to playing out their roles, the five servers were grateful that their guests enjoyed the experience.
“My favourite memory is when the customers enjoyed, laughed, and played along,” Yumiki said.
Each of them fondly recalls an exceptional moment that would stay with them for a long time to come.
One particularly sweet story came from Matcha, who received handwritten thank-you notes from her guests in a special way. They had asked her for the Wi-Fi password, and Matcha snapped at them rudely before leaving to retrieve it.
Little did she know that her guests had something up their sleeves.
“When I came back with the paper slips that had the Wi-Fi details, they passed me small scraps of paper with cute messages written on them. I didn’t know they were trying to distract me while writing those sweet notes!”
By the time the day had ended, both customers and servers left with their hearts full, and memories to look back on till the next Tsundere Café.
If you want to experience this for yourself, click here to keep a lookout for their next event.
