Shopping Guide
Cafe & Bar Characro feat. Gintama opened in Ikebukuro, Tokyo on Aug. 7. The cafe is themed on the premise of “main character Gintoki Sakata finally opening a shop to pay off his debt!” The cafe is themed after Cafe & Bar Yorozuya Gin-chan and is an atmosphere packed with the world of Gintama. Fans won’t want to miss this. Wanting to see it first for ourselves, we headed out for a private tour before anyone else.
The first thing we noticed as we entered the cafe was the stream of various Gintama theme songs playing in the background. With this series having so many impressive songs, this alone will likely make fans’ hearts quicken. The anime was also being shown on monitors. Fan-favorite scenes poured through the screens. The homages and respect shown to the series are likely enough to make you drop your chopsticks and stare at the screens.
There is also a wide lineup of food and drink items themed after characters from the series. A characteristic of Gintama is its many characters with unhealthy eating habits. The menu features many familiar words like “mayonnaise” and “sugar” that fans will appreciate. There are 11 drinks themed after different characters, and each one comes with a coaster of that character. Fans are sure to enjoy these as well.
Since Gintama is such a popular series, customers are limited to 100 minutes in one of five time slots each day. During that 100 minutes, several events will occur. At the start, the characters will be introduced by the staff and a special video. The character voices used in this were all recorded exclusively for the video. You’ll enjoy dialogue between the three Yorozuya members that can’t be heard anywhere else.
One of the events is a popularity poll. The theme will change every two weeks and you can vote using the coin given when you ask for a menu. Special videos are also shown. Customers play rock-paper-scissors and the winners get to spin a roulette wheel with characters drawn on it. Whichever character the roulette wheel lands on, a special video of that character is played. We landed on Kagura, the lone woman of the Yorozuya. Her video was a special compilation that featured the nostalgic theme song “Woo Ai Nii.”
Make sure not to forget your stamp card each time you visit, too, so you can come often and enjoy the exclusive character introductions and unique world of Gintama.
Gintama
© Hideaki Sorachi / Shueisha Inc., TV Tokyo Corp., Dentsu Inc., BNP, Aniplex Inc.
Source: animeanime
Source article written by Takaroku
