Messages

Email regarding try out dates and information have been sent out to those on the mailing list. I apologize for my lack of updates and responses this year. I hope it hasn't caused much frustration or inconveniences on your part.

Meeting dates and times for San Jose try outs are confirmed!

They will take place at the San Jose Convention Center, Marriot, at 9am in the morning. Please make it on time as we will be locating during the beginning of the meeting when most volunteers have arrived. It is also advised that you bring a notepad and pen, and wear something you feel flatters you well. The try outs last approximately 3-4 hours.

The dates are:
February 20th, Saturday
March 28th, Sunday

San Francisco try outs are still being discussed of whether or not they will happen this year, but I will do my best to provide this location for you between the time of the San Jose try outs.

As a review, our requirements are that you are at least 16 years of age, biologically female, able to provide your own approved maid uniform and FanimeCon registration. We will interview those interested, and judge upon experience, ability, and overall professional demeanor. We will train briefly in becoming knowledgeable in maid cafes, playing the role of a maid properly, speaking the proper phrases, bowing, and waitressing. It is also important that maids are comfortable sitting down and talking to patrons in conversation, as it is a significant variable in being a maid.

Thank you for all your patience, and I hope this information serves you well. Good luck everyone, and I look forward to meeting all of you at try outs! Let's do our best to put together an even better year for Fanimaid Cafe 2010!

- Junchan

EDIT: Just to add, you only need to attend ONE try out. It is not recommended to attend more than one try-out. Sorry for forgetting to include that!

Hello everyone! I apologize for the delay on announcements this past month. This week has been very busy, and I haven't had access to a computer. Please expect an email regarding the try-outs tomorrow evening, as I currently do not have all my material.

If you have emailed me, but have not yet received an email, please do not worry as I will have all emails regarding try outs documented. You will receive an email as soon as it is sent out.

As of now, the try-outs are set at 9:00am in front of the San Jose Convention Center, left of the main fountain. Please arrive on time, as we will relocate soon after most people arrive.

Thank you for your patience!

- Junchan

thank you jun for all your hard work.....but what day is the audition? the 20th?

Whoops! I somehow forgot to write that in my last post. Sorry~

But yeah, it is on the 20th of February.

Hello everyone! I apologize for the delay on announcements this past month. This week has been very busy, and I haven't had access to a computer. Please expect an email regarding the try-outs tomorrow evening, as I currently do not have all my material.

If you have emailed me, but have not yet received an email, please do not worry as I will have all emails regarding try outs documented. You will receive an email as soon as it is sent out.

As of now, the try-outs are set at 9:00am in front of the San Jose Convention Center, left of the main fountain. Please arrive on time, as we will relocate soon after most people arrive.

Thank you for your patience!

- Junchan

If you are not part of the current Fanimaid Cafe mailing list, please e-mail [email protected] and tell us you're interested, and you will be automatically added for updates!

I apologize for the lack of updates, as things have been very busy lately and I have been unable to respond to each message individually. If you are part of our mailing list, please expect a more informational e-mail soon!

I will address what Fanimaid Cafe is about, our requirements, expectations for our volunteers, try-out dates, and options for our veteran maids as well as plans for our upcoming Fanimaid☆LIVE performance. Try-out dates are not yet confirmed, but the first one is expected to be on February 20, 2010 Saturday at the San Jose Convention Center/Marriot. The exact time is TBA. There is a high possibility that we may not hold meetings in San Francisco this year due to lack of a venue, however, if someone is able to suggest an appropriate venue, I would appreciate it!

I must mention again, as this is a closed volunteer group, try outs are necessary! Thus, please do not order your uniform to work in until you are confirmed for the cafe and after it has been approved. For veteran maids from the previous year, please e-mail me to let me know you are still interested. Everyone needs to be reevaluated, so if you are able to attend the try out meetings again, that would be highly appreciated, but it is not entirely necessary. We are still looking for more volunteers to try out, so feel free to suggest friends that may be interested.

Thank you everyone for your patience. I will be sure to answer any questions you may have as soon as I can.

- Junchan

How long does the dress have to go down to?

All uniforms go through an approval system after you are confirmed for being a maid at our cafe. All information regarding uniforms will be included in our try-out meetings. Good luck!

do you think you guys will have a san francisco meeting/try out err training like last time? :\

We will hopefully be able to. We're not sure where the meetings will be held exactly at this time. There is an issue finding a public venue where we can do this. If you are on the mailing list, you will be getting mail about where the meetings will be taking place fairly soon.

As far as public training locations go, would either SF Union square and/or the Yerba Beuna Gardens [behind the Sony Metreon]  work ?
Both are pretty accessible by public transit and I would like to think you could  find a semi quiet spot to hold your maid meetings/trainings. I thought it was a previous meeting place--- or I'm getting it confused with a different meet up site.  :P

as far as San Jose area meetings go - its usually easy to have them set up before or after Fanime Staff meetings--- which of course will be announced soon by Mizuki or Jun.

As our meeting dates aren't announced yet, there's a chance that we might not have San Francisco meetings this year. It was only something I decided to do in case people in that area would find it more accessible, but I've noticed that groups for San Francisco are SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than those who attend meetings in San Jose.

A huge issue with it was that because it was outdoors, it was difficult to conduct a meeting, especially with the weather being quite distracting-- like wind and rain. Fanime only provides us meeting space on the days of actual staff meetings in SJ, so we may only have just those. I apologize in advance to those who are only able to attend them in SF.

Oh no, I totally agree there should be some flexibility when hosting this sort of event. And there is. Fanimaid Cafe is of its own, and not a carbon copy of any other cafe, Japan or not. But in this case, I find that you just have some trouble understanding...

We have a maid cafe, and it's of our own, while fitting the definition of what makes a maid cafe. The only way where a butler cafe would work without taking anything away from the cafe we already have would be to change it outside of its already strict and rigid definition.

There are quite an abundance of assumptions when you post. It is a gendered argument, but not because we're discriminating against either of them. It's statistics, and fact. I am completely aware that there are guys who would also enjoy it, but I don't need to be sexist to say that it isn't usual. I can host a concert of an obscure Russian techno group in rural Mexico, despite there being a handful of fans, and still assume that the appeal isn't as big as a more appreciated musical group in that area... and not be racist.

And I NEVER said that there are more males than girls at conventions. In the US, this is obviously untrue. But I'll mention again, not only is the demographic for a butler cafe much much much more specific than one for a maid cafe, I honestly haven't gotten that many personal requests to have one past the few that have been posted on this board.

No matter what is said, the demographic is still significantly smaller... AND it's also less entertaining, especially if it only caters to the ones who enjoy it. Even if there are exceptions, in the general pov, you're excluding people with a butler cafe, whereas a maid cafe is for everyone. Don't assume that this is a casualty of "narrow-mindedness". What you're saying only addresses the tip of an iceberg.

I've mentioned already though, to better satisfy our attendees, we will think of some possibilities for future plans. Afterall, we and our maids do this out of pure fun and desire to make our cafe enjoyable. If I receive enough demand, I will bring it up during a meeting and see if anyone is supportive of this idea enough to invest the money into making it happen, otherwise, as we've all mentioned many many times before...

No.

[few]

We get "hung up on what a butler cafe is or isn't" because if we were to do one... we'd make it what it is. Your post basically tells me that we shouldn't care to do it accurately, and just have one just to have one. For what it accurately is, is reason enough for me to feel unconvinced that we should have one at all. I would very much prefer not to have one at all, than have one inaccurately.

Pyron and Liquid both already responded with great explanations as to why. While I do very much so listen to our fans and attendees' suggestions, this one has been brought up several times already with an answer, and it's so far been no. And they've been answered to have fulfilled all the reasons you have mentioned-- we're hung up on authenticity, it does lack appeal (in comparison), caters to a small and specific group, and it is too much work. And time. And money. And training.

And yes... it is a small group. Again, the maid cafe already openly caters to all sorts of fans of either gender. Just because a few guys wouldn't mind it, doesn't mean a butler cafe isn't specifically geared towards a small group. We find the issue repeating, because the few people brought up the issue, but just to add, even a few repeats can still be considered repetitive.

A themed cosplay cafe takes a lot of work to both manage and set up, and having a butler cafe would waste all those things. I can see that there's a small sum of people that do genuinely want a butler cafe to happen, but it's always based on the assumption of "maid cafes are for guys, butler cafes are for girls."

Maid cafes are for both genders, and general fans to enjoy. Butler cafes are generally for women only, and a small demographic of women that specifically enjoy that genre of anime-culture, which makes it a small percentage of all fans. The role of a butler in a butler cafe is very rigid and specific. They aren't to speak or express much outward emotion, must be extremely formal and polite, never overstep their boundaries with their customers, and most importantly, charming and charismatic. Finding volunteers to fulfill these roles (especially alongside the cafe's maid training as is) would be a lot of work, and difficult to reach a decent quota.

Maids, however, are more versatile, and we can have several types with personalities that fit different customers. They're also allowed to be engaging, entertaining, and more open with their customers. Many other things pertaining butler cafes clash and take away from the maid cafe setting we already have, which would take more time and money to fix and cater just for a small group, when we could be using that time to let the rest of the demographic enjoy the maid cafe as is.

If I'm presented with better reason, and/or a higher demand in the future, I may consider a solution or alternative, but for now, I am saying that it is absolutely confirmed that there will be no major event dedicated to a butler cafe.

If anyone has any questions or concerns about volunteering for the maid cafe, please attend the FanimeCon meeting on January 24th, Sunday, and look for me! This is not a try-out, and it is optional for volunteers to attend. Thank you!

- Jun

I just remembering some 2ch posts talking about this game and how bad it is.

Some posts'll actually make fun of overseas fans saying that we'll eat it up, regardless of how bad it is, because it's "Final Fantasy". The title's so huge that it'll succeed, even if it fails. If anyone's really interested in just the story, someone should just put together all the animated cut-scenes, since from what I've seen, that's what most of the game is. :[

As long as you have your information correctly, this sounds like a great idea! ^^

There are a lot of misconceptions that a lot of fans here interpret, outside-- especially for host clubs. Though, host-clubs don't really relate well to maid cafes and butler cafes, many fans here believe they're one in the same, despite maid and butler cafes being a geek-novelty, whereas host clubs are adult businesses in the redlight district. Be sure to do your research, lest spread misinformation, and good luck!

[no male counterpart to the maid cafe will be done]

I'll be frank, and once again state that no male counterpart to the maid cafe will be done. I'm quite tired of people continuing to suggest this, when the reasons as to why it would not work have been repeated more times than I can remember.

I think having mahjong at Fanime is a good idea, but not a tournament. There aren't enough people in the community that play much mahjong, and most people that live in this area play in other rules from other regions, outside of Japan. I think the primary issue would not only be time, but finding someone qualified to judge scoring for an actual competition... and I have huge doubts.

However, I support any Saki+Akagi photos that may come out of it.

Though, I don't remember posting any of my blonde photos on this forum... You sure you got the right person? ;P

I was talking about your boyfriend.  :D Your beautiful too, since you do run the Maid-cafe.  :) (Don't worry I won't take your bf from you.)  :P

LOL. Yes, his golden locks were quite captivating with the male crowd! Also, I need to keep a broom around or something. Too many men keep trying to steal Mikey away from me.

I'm looking at you, TC. :/

You guys are right. There's no need to apologize to the person, I just realized something. A quote by someone, "What may hurt us, will make us stronger." That person wasn't intentionally flaming but was actually encouraging us to become better and realized our mistakes. I know that words can really hurt ones feelings but it can also make them become even better.

Saying all that, your really cool person and you make a really hot looking blonde. Lol (I was lurking in the Hall of Shame thread.  ;) )

Aw, why thank you. But you know, while "What may hurt us, will make us stronger" is a good approach to things, some people use it as an excuse to be jerks to other people. It's no one's responsibility to make others better, but it's a person's right to offer an opinion. How to tell apart useful advice to blatant insulting is just a part of being an understanding person.

Though, I don't remember posting any of my blonde photos on this forum... You sure you got the right person? ;P

Ok...now that I've calmed down...I've come to a decision. I shouldn't come to these forums to get pissed at people because they don't agree with me. I'm not the best debater in the world, and I can't do well against people like Pyron, who...dammit as much as he pisses me off, I have to give mad props to for being able to debate like a fiend. Damn you and your...giant brain. ^_^ I think I'll just stick to more lighthearted subjects from now on, the Serious Stuff just ends up making me angry and/or depressed, and at this point in life, the less of it I have, the better. I'm not on here to make enemies with anyone anymore. I'm trying to learn and become a better person, and apologize to people I have offended, and may possibly offend in the future.

If you want to think this is admitting defeat, then very well. I won't try to change your opinion.

Aside from making yourself seem utterly dense and pathetic, you keep making claims of wanting to "improve yourself" without making much progress at all. I don't really care about what you do with yourself, but you've asked people for opinions and advice before. (e.g. your "I'm lonely" and "Girls don't like guys for personality" type threads.) But somehow you never cease to amaze by doing something that shows that none of them had any help, or even a point, because you don't listen anyway. Try doing that.

No one here is "enemies" with you. People only react to what you say, and if you keep saying things that warrant those sort of reactions, you're going to keep feeling angry and depressed like you are now. Most of those reactions are just you thoughtlessly bringing up topics without much consideration of what they're for, getting offended easily, and sometimes even passive aggressively insulting people. If you haven't noticed, despite your problems, you've quite an ego. Not self-esteem, but an ego.

Loosen up, think before you speak, try to understand reasoning behind why people react the way they do. Sometimes it's just, sometimes it isn't, but c'est la vie.

[...] Yeah, that person shouldn't do this or that but there are ways of telling them not to, without belittling them or hurting their feelings.

I know I can't change what and how people post, but atleast if you know they'll be hurt, apologize at the end of your posts. Say like, "Sorry, it's sad but true." This way most people won't misunderstood what your trying to tell them and probably would make them feel alot better.   

While there's plenty of good reasoning behind being nice and understanding to others, I feel a forum-environment has its own circumstances. People judge what to post based on the content of what other people say, rather than who the person behind the post really is. The tone used is just presentation of how the opinion wants to be presented as. Forums are mostly used for public discussions over making deeper connections with people. Normally when it goes beyond that, it's because there are relations outside the forum.

If there's any belittling, normally it's based on what the poster has said, over caring what sort of person more than what had been posted is. Trying to make it beyond that is more troublesome, if anything-- it grants people to get more personal, including more personal-insults, less focus on the topic, and bias... not to mention the "YOU DON'T KNOW ME!!" argument. Apologizing after a negative response to a bad post, if anything, is more condescending-- basically saying "Yeah, you suck, but I don't think you can handle it so I'll lighten it up and make it easier for you by saying sorry at the end."

(>>)

...

Of course not...

(<<)

(>>)

*Hides*

I will make space for you in my torture chamber. :v

Wouldn't that just bring [him] closer to Mikey?

More like Mizuki.

(>>)

...

Of course not...

(<<)

(>>)

*Hides*

I will make space for you in my torture chamber. :v

Eek. It's pretty apparent what the actual purpose for this thread was initially made for...

SukebeStudios, I think it may be time to review some of the advice given on past threads you've made... For example, the "Why am I lonely? thread" and "Girls don't like nice guys. They like jerks." thread.

Mizuki often cringes in frustration of trying to keep himself well-aligned when it comes to these sorts of situations, but he manages to do it. Trust me, if he had it his way, you'd probably be one of the first people he'd ban. But no, Mizuki's too much of a push-over to bend the rules. (I should know. The only thing he's bent is my riding crop. And it broke.)

He tries hard to be fair, and does a good job of it, even towards people he greatly dislikes. I'll speak for him if anyone thinks differently, and not because of bias, but my trust in his performance and capabilities as an organized and civil person. He doesn't "side with Mikey". He's just against the sort of stupidity and stubbornness from people that Mikey tends to be one of the few people who bother pointing it out.

And while I know whatever I say may not be convincing to said stubborn people, I'm just pointing out... it was clear as day, what this thread was targeting. Mikey already pointed out all the huge flaws in attempting so, so I'll spare you the humiliation from my end.

P.S. TC_X0_Lt_0X, are you hitting on my boyfriend?

- Love, Junchan

Oh, and I guess I should include this, which I've included in some of the emails recently sent out.

As this is our second year using this system of try-outs, it will be a little more competitive. Girls will be judged on their performance and appearance, as well. This includes their working capability as a maid and a waitress, meaning, they must be able to play the role of a maid. This includes being able to bow properly, speak the given phrases, and look the part. I recommend that all girls trying out to be a maid wear something flattering and cute to give us the impression of what kind of maid you're aiming to be! Many of these things will be learned at our meetings, but judging of who to be hired is done throughout the entire session. Don't stress, though. It isn't hard, at all!

- Junchan