Decade-long Ozine Fest activity held its last hurrah at recently-concluded Anime Figure Special 2018
At the end of Otaku Expo Reload 2018, I chanced upon Ozine GM Dennis “Ukiya” Uy and Leny from the Ozine Maid Cafe, congratulating them for another event that has passed.
During our brief chit-chat, I’m informed that Ozine Maid Cafe will have its last run at the next Anime Figure Special this December.
What happens to be a simple kamustahan led me to mark the date on my calendar.
In fact, this photo taken at Otaku Expo 2010 proves that in one instance, it gave me the opportunity to meet, greet and take photos with THE Alodia Gosiengfiao at a time where she was already the community’s revered star. As far as I remember, this is the first time I attended an Ozine Maid Cafe.
Since this is the Maid Cafe’s last run, I expect that there’s a long queue — good thing I met a group playing Uno. They invited me to play, so I obliged — thus the live stream:
As soon as we got our turn to sit, the menu has been handed out. I requested for a serving of Beef Curry with Iced Tea on the side.
Aside from the food, you can have photo prints of the maids for a price. In addition, you can play games with them.
A side note: Technically, photo-taking is not allowed inside the Maid Cafe unless it’s a permission to have a selfie, but I smuggled a photo of the toy that attendant Akire has left for us while we wait for our turn.
The result: We discovered its weakness, which I used to win against her in a one-on-one game of Pop-up Anpanman. Neat.
I’ve heard of Akire’s name, but I understood that this the first time I got to meet her up close. This photo caps off our visit to the Maid Cafe.
Since 2008, the Ozine Maid Cafe has been an established name in major events organized by Otakuzine’s Ozine Fest team. For 10 years, the maid cafe has served a lot of visitors.
Sure, other maid cafes have sprouted during that span of time, but those didn’t last long. Ozine’s Maid Cafe perseveres during its decade-long run — and according to one of its staff, they peaked during 2014 and 2015.
It’s an end of an era for the Ozine Maid Cafe, and I’m glad I got to experience it one last time. Until then.
Special thank to Otakuzine Anime Magazine for allowing me to cover Ozine Fest Anime Figure Special 2018. I have select photos posted already on Facebook (which has more toys and Seishun Kakumei than anything else), so go check it out.