Ouran High School Host Club Cafe!

[iRaveWalnut]

So, I had this idea...

And if anyone knows what the Maid Cafe is then it'll be easier to understand ^_^

I wanted to host a Maid Cafe, but without the maid it would be an Ouran Host Club Cafe!

It's pretty much for the fans, and the fangirls, to have a real Ouran Host Club experiance, since my cosplay group is going to be cosplaying as OHSHC people anyways!

I'm just wondering how would I start it? Who would I ask to host it? So many questions left unanswered! x__x

Any suggestions on how to get this started for FANIME 2012?

[Hisuitsume]

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[iRaveWalnut]

The Maid Cafe at Fanime is under the Extravaganzas Division.

To start with, you will want to find someone to be in charge of the entire Host Club Cafe as well as find another person to be the manager. I suppose they could be the same person too.

Then once you have that, you will want to come up with an outline of how things will work, etc and present it to the Extravaganzas Division head at a Fanime meeting or email them to see what they have to say.

If they don't want it, you may need to look for another division head who wants the event.

I'm not sure if they would want competition for the Fani-Maid Cafe.

Then you go from there.

If you are interested in hearing more, or discuss this further with me, you're welcome to send me a PM here or AIM me.

Thank you so so much for the helpful advice! I will have to discuss it thoroughly with my cosplay group, because I don't want to be excited for it and then have some people flake out on it.
Thanks so much again! You are a life saver!

[Hisuitsume]

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[iRaveWalnut]

Well it's ironic but the idea has passed through my head a couple times before.

Not a Ouran High School version but just a Host Club in general to service the other side of the fence.

Unfortunately as I am staff I don't have the extra time nor energy to spearhead this thing entirely on my own from scratch so I had to put it off.

But hey! Tell me what you guys decide on, I'd love to pitch in a little here and there.

Managing and organizing is probably one of the few things I'm sorta decent at.

Glad to have helped out.

You, sir, are just fabulous! Haha! I appreciate it! My group will be meeting this Tuesday so I'll have all of the info by Wednesday!

[PyronIkari]

You and about 500,000 other people have had this idea.

I have to repeat this speech nearly 20 times every year and I don't feel like doing it. Instead I will just hit key points.

The reason a Maid Cafe works is because the general premise is that it works for both males and females. It is welcoming and fun for everyone and the premise isn't sexual (although some people take it as that). It's very much about just enjoying your time, company, and most importantly comfort and joy.

A host club is nothing like this. Before you decide to continue on this idea please do your research on what a host club is. I won't cover it in detail, but I'll hit some basics.

Host clubs are very sexually oriented. The entire basis of a host/hostess(yes hostess clubs exist and they are more commonly known as cabaret clubs in the rest of the world). You go to one of these basically to get a person to be a temporary boyfriend. To flirt with you, to tell you how beautiful you are, and in some cases to try and sleep with you(off the clock of course). A good host is someone that can make someone believe that they love them. To trick the other person that they really do have feelings for them, without actually doing anything with them.

While I'm fully confident I could pull off a host club with a lot of work and finding the right guys, it's not something that should belong at Fanime. You're selling the idea of a sex. I've seen "host clubs" at different cons around the country, and they're a joke. First they're nothing like what a host club is... at all. Secondly, they guys fail. I mean this. Even the better looking guys fail at playing the role of a host, and out of the some odd 20 "hosts clubs"(or maid cafes with hosts, which do not belong together at all and I will rant on this for hours about how they are not even close to being in the same genre), not a single guy could pull it off.

Ouran itself downplays the idea of a host club, because you rarely actually see the host club itself. And when you do it's very snippety. All you see is each character flirting with a girl for a little bit using a charm point, and then it moves on.

So not even speaking about competition with the cafe, I'm dead serious in doing your research before you push this idea with staff (who will listen to you if you put in a legitimate proposal and idea of doing this).

But I'll tell you right now, if this idea gets more than "on the drawing board" I will hound whoever is doing it to make sure it is done correctly... and done correctly means it can't be at the con.

[Hisuitsume]

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[PyronIkari]

What you say is not untrue.

And I will not argue about your Maid Cafe is not sexual premise here either.

But that is your interpretation of how it should be done. And yes, I will not deny that we would not be able to allow that particular incarnation of a host club to occur at Fanime.

But that doesn't mean that a well thought up plan that has been made to compromise between the truth behind a real host club and what can be allowed as well as what would work at a con would not be considered.

Fanime is by Fans for the Fans and ultimately about the Fans too.

I don't know who would actually be managing and or leading this project if it gets past the blueprints stage. but if it were me, you can hound me all you like and it wont change my mind just simply because it doesn't agree with your definition and view of how a "true" host club should be like.

Oh, and that's fine too, but guess what. That same mentality was brought up with "maid cafes" when US cons started to have them. And that turned out extremely poorly. Your view is still only your view, and unless you do something well and legitimately, it's going to reflect that it's a cheap horrible knock off of what something should be. At this point... you're no longer a host club. So why call it a host club?

The point of events like this is the service provided, in that, it has to be something more than just a cafe or whatever. The maid cafe at fanime is successful because of all the effort and thought put into it to be not only accurate, but to go through the channels to provide the service a maid cafe is.

Anything can be half-assed, and a name thrown on to it, and some people will like it. It doesn't mean it'll be successful nor does it mean it will be accepted. So if you're going to throw out the idea of something, you best damn well know what you're talking about before getting into it.

But, just so you know, you're going to ask Fanime to spend some odd $10,000 to create something that caters ONLY TOWARDS WOMEN, and you are doing it KNOWING YOU'RE GOING TO BE HORRIBLY INACCURATE AND HALF ASSED. If you were Fanime staff, would you really want to do that?

[eHash]

reworded to reduce flame potential.
the idea of a host or hostess club is not "family friendly".  I believe this is an aspect of asian culture that has not translated very well to America and is far too often misrepresented.  No matter how innocent the anime depiction may be, the terminology and original concept is not family friendly as well as not culturally acceptable in America.

[Hisuitsume]

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[Mango Bunny]

I'm curious, do you actually have a concept of how the 'Host Club' would still maintain the host club aspect while being Fanime-appropriate?

As was already stated, the concept has been brought up several times before, even in the past few months.

I would worry about the fact that this is Ouran-oriented, because these events do take a lot to run and that narrows the audience down pretty specifically, even more so than just the womenfolk.

Pyron has some pretty good points. You've said you think it's possible to do another way, but do you actually have a solid idea or two? =/

I'll admit, I'll probably never go to the fanimaid cafe or a host club or butler cafe at Fanime. I just don't really understand it, since they're normal regular old people and everything. So this idea might not really be targeted for me anyway.

[Hisuitsume]

This topic is going wildly off of what the OP was asking about and has the potential to turn into a flame war.

So if we could all just stop this here.




Thank you.

[eHash]

A host club is nothing like this. Before you decide to continue on this idea please do your research on what a host club is. I won't cover it in detail, but I'll hit some basics.

Host clubs are very sexually oriented. The entire basis of a host/hostess(yes hostess clubs exist and they are more commonly known as cabaret clubs in the rest of the world). You go to one of these basically to get a person to be a temporary boyfriend. To flirt with you, to tell you how beautiful you are, and in some cases to try and sleep with you(off the clock of course). A good host is someone that can make someone believe that they love them. To trick the other person that they really do have feelings for them, without actually doing anything with them.

I think you missed the major points that gets lost on people who have never been to a host/hostess, viet coffee shop, chinese/taiwanese pr....that the host or hostess is there to make money off you.  Through the illusion of a momentary relationship, they are able to achieve higher profits and commission.

While I'm fully confident I could pull off a host club with a lot of work and finding the right guys, it's not something that should belong at Fanime. You're selling the idea of a sex. I've seen "host clubs" at different cons around the country, and they're a joke. First they're nothing like what a host club is... at all. Secondly, they guys fail. I mean this. Even the better looking guys fail at playing the role of a host, and out of the some odd 20 "hosts clubs"(or maid cafes with hosts, which do not belong together at all and I will rant on this for hours about how they are not even close to being in the same genre), not a single guy could pull it off.

Ouran itself downplays the idea of a host club, because you rarely actually see the host club itself. And when you do it's very snippety. All you see is each character flirting with a girl for a little bit using a charm point, and then it moves on.

I think the Number 1 reason why they fail is that the clientele doesn't understand the product and in this case, the seller doesn't understand the market or merchandize.  Host/Hostess clubs are such a departure from westernized ideals.  In this case, American culture is too different to foster an understanding of the club's purpose.  the misunderstanding that geishas are prostitutes comes to mind in this situation.

But I'll tell you right now, if this idea gets more than "on the drawing board" I will hound whoever is doing it to make sure it is done correctly... and done correctly means it can't be at the con.

once again...if the dance can't be called a rave, there is no way a "host" club should be allowed....(And NO, I don't believe the dance should be called a rave).  Totally agree with Pyron about the appropriateness....  it would be like having a school girl cosplay wet t-shirt contest, or school swimsuit competition...not appropriate at all.

[pokkypok]

Umm.. hi. So I am a huge Ouran fan and would totally go to something like this...
But what if instead of a host club, you made into more of a cafe? It could be like a 1-2 hour event so you wouldn't have to worry about losing money and could test out the idea, and instead just get cosplayers who really know the characters well to be waiters instead of hosts. Then if the attendees wanted they could banter with the characters a little or take pictures with them while drinking tea and relaxing or whatever.
So it wouldn't really be a "host club", more like a "cosplay cafe" based on Ouran? If that makes sense...

[eHash]

i think the argument is that the basic premise of a host club is not family friendly.  cosplay/in-character or not, you wouldn't necessarily have a cosplay of hentai on the main con floor?

even if it was as simple as  the maids dressing up as haruhi, it would still be completely inappropriate.  perhaps it's the misunderstanding of younger viewers about the asia-centric concept of hosted clubs to be blamed for the ignorant promotion of an family-unfriendly concept.  I mean...for those of us from a different generation....think scooby doo and ridiculous metaphors of scooby snacks and the mystery van that were completely lost on us as kids.

even though doramas would be the worst place to refer someone to for a quick and viewer-friendly understanding....watch "Jotei" or "Giragira"

if people still don't understand....a host club at a family event would be like having a wet t-shirt contest as a high school fundraiser...

[M]

Thank you for the idea. As with other ideas, we will look into it, but can't promise anything.