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Hanabee to hold Toradora Maid Cafe at Manifest 2012
posted on by Jon Hayward
Hanabee Entertainment has informed ANN|AU that it will be operating the traditional maid cafe at Manifest this year. Unlike a traditional maid cafe, the Manifest cafe will be Toradora! themed, and will feature servers dressed in custom-made maid and butler costumes inspired by Ōhashi High School uniforms, the school attended by the characters in Toradora!, with room decorations to match. Attendees will be able to sit down and enjoy light refreshments, with entertainment being provided by hourly shows featuring the maids and butlers, as well as a photo booth.
Toradora! is a romantic comedy that follows Ryūji Takasu and his love-hate relationship with Taiga Aisaka, the “Palmtop Tiger” as they agree to help each other with their respective romantic crushes. Produced by JC Staff, the anime TV series is based on the light-novel series of the same name by Yuyuko Takemiya, with illustration and character design by Yasu.
Rather than operating a booth at Manifest, Hanabee will instead be focusing all their attention on the maid cafe, as well as holding an industry panel over the weekend to announce new titles. While there was an announcement for maid cafe volunteers on the Manifest website, all positions have now been filled.
Hanabee is a new Australian licensing company with a focus on anime and pop-culture titles. Launched in April by Eric Cherry (Previous CEO of Siren Visual), the company led with popular internet machinima Red Vs Blue and fan-favourite The Guild. More recently, Hanabee announced their first two anime licenses, Toradora! and Dream Eater Merry and with their self-stated aim to have "a little more listening, a little more interaction" in regard to the community.
You can find more about Hanabee at their Facebook page.
Manifest takes place August 17th to 19th at the Melbourne Showgrounds in Melbourne. More information about the event is available from the official website.
