Tokyo's Popopure Maid Café Lets Customers Dub Anime

Not-So-Daily Link of the Day: Popopure, the first maid café that also doubles as an animation studio, opened last month in Tokyo's Akihabara Otaku shopping district. Not only can customers order food served by waitresses in maid costumes, but they can also dub their voices into the "Popo no Bōken" (The Adventures of Popo) anime sponsored by Tokyo Hi-Vision Eizou. The café's walls have framed anime drawings and a 50-inch television with non-stop anime.

Two animators, "Tomoe" and "Saaya," have been actually producing the entire three-minute anime project — from drawing the original sketches to coloring and editing the final animation. There are three characters in the anime; if there are not enough customers to fill all the roles, the maids will step in to voice them. As a memento of the visit, the café offer customers a "Dialogue Recording Memorial DVD" of the anime with their dubbing performance.

Source: Sankei Shimbun