Finland Manga Cafe Holds “Butler Night” with Gorgeous Butlers! [2/2]

The butlers of Manga Cafe’s “Butler Night” event in Finland embraced the butler style of being a polite, refined, and gentle-mannered man. Although none of the butlers had experience working in a butler cafe before, many of them did have experience as waiters.

Prior to “Butler Night,” Manga Cafe held a “Maid Night” in March. The maids served guests with a cute, fun, and friendly approach. However, the butlers acted in accordance to butler style, serving guests in a refined manner. Service was carried out with the stance of “performing as butlers through and through - don’t intrude upon the customers and fulfill all customers’ requests, whether it be playing a game together or chatting.” After guests had finished paying and were ready to leave, they were presented with a chocolate heart to take with them. The service was just as lovely as their “Maid Night.”

Approximately 30 minutes after the event began, all the tables were filled and there was no more room for customers inside the cafe. However, like well-trained butlers, they politely asked customers for seats that were being unused and moved them for other customers. The attentiveness of the service was enjoyed by all the customers. The customers were not much different from those who attended the “Maid Night.” In addition to the Manga Cafe’s regular customers, many middle school and high school girls attended.

Although women in their 20s to middle-aged women can be seen in Japan’s butler cafes, the “Butler Night” event didn’t seem to have many people from this age range who came knowing about butler events. Karakuri was the only girl of the six butlers. Here’s what she had to share: “The older generation of Finland doesn’t have much interest in fantasy, so they are not very understanding of this type of entertainment. In contrast, the younger generation is very accepting of experiencing new things. Now that the younger generation is becoming adults, it may become more widely accepted. But, I think people are still not quite ready to accept it.”

Although many people know of Black Butler, compared to maid cafes, the knowledge of butler cafes overseas still has a long way to go.

While I had my worries there wouldn’t be as many customers as usual for the event because it overlapped with a national holiday, it seemed that by the end of the evening the event gathered as many customers as the first “Maid Monday” event. The event was held from 4 p.m.-8 p.m., with some of the customers visiting twice, which hinted at the events’ favorable reaction. It looks like we can all look forward to another “Butler Night” in the future!

If you would like to read this article in Japanese, please check out Kotaku Japan. Kotaku Japan reports on entertainment news, games, otaku culture, and more.
Source: http://www.kotaku.jp/2013/04/butler_night_0401.html

Photographers: Milla and Eevi

CAPTIONS:
Butlers Riki and Alpha posed for the cameras. They look like bodyguards for a prince or princess!

Once work was finished, the butlers enjoyed joking around. From the back left side: Alpha, Visa, Hiro, Rika. From the front left side: Karakuri, Thomas.