Second anime cafe based on films of Summer Wars’ Mamoru Hosoda now open in Japan

After spending the summer in Tokyo, the cafe moves to another major Japanese city.

Mamoru Hosoda is strongly associated with summer. As one of the few anime directors whose projects truly catch the attention of the mainstream Japanese media and public at large, his films are usually released during the peak summer vacation season, and the word even shows up in the title of one of his biggest hits: 2009’s Summer Wars.

Hosoda generally takes three years between films, so with his most recent work being 2015’s The Boy and the Beast, we probably won’t be seeing his next anime for some time. But there was still some Hosoda excitement to be had in the summer of 2016, when a Mamoru Hosoda anime-themed cafe opened for a limited time in Tokyo. This month, the restaurant reopened in Osaka, and it’s even added a few new items to its menu in the process.

Officially called the Tokikake Cafe (from Toki wo Kakeru Shojo, the Japanese title of Hosoda’s breakout hit The Girl Who Leapt Through Time), the restaurant serves food and drink inspired by each of the director’s four major anime movies. That includes, of course, the establishment’s namesake, which is represented by the tempura shrimp (1,680 yen [US$15], includes salad bowl to take home) and pudding (1,380 yen) seen in the movie, as well as latte art Timeslip Coffee (680 yen).

Hosoda’s follow up to Tokikake was Summer Wars, often remembered for the virtual world animal avatars featured in the Kari Kenji and King Kazuma Burger Plate (1,480 yen) and Kari Kenji Mango Smoothie (1,080 yen, includes keychain).

Alternatively, there’s the Japanese-style cake and tea set (1,280 yen, includes omamori charm), a salute to Summer Wars’ tough-as-nails grannie Sakae.

Diners who got hungry watching the father of Wolf Children’s titular tykes chow down on yakitori chicken skewers can enjoy the same meal for 1,380 yen.

Or, if your favorite scene was the one where siblings Ame and Yuki frolic in the snow, that’s been recreated in whipped cream-topped pancake form for 1,280 yen.

Latte art ice tea of the tiny lycanthropes is also on offer for 680 yen.

And finally, Hosoda’s latest film, The Boy and the Beast, serves as the basis for the omelet rice (1,380 yen), the favorite meal of protagonist Ren during his childhood…

…the mouth-watering fruit parfait (1,180 yen) that highborn Jiromaru chows down on in the marketplace of alternate world Jutengai…

…and latte art cocoa (680 yen) of either laughing lunkhead Kumatetsu or loveable little Chiko.

Finally, if you’re just a fan of Hosoda’s work in general, you might want to order the Summer Sky and Cumulonimbus Soda (713 yen), modeled after the atmospheric characteristics so often seen in a Japanese summer and Hosoda’s anime.

Food orders come with a Tokikake paper place mat, while each drink includes a coaster bearing character line art.

And as is the norm for themed cafe in Japan, there’s an attached gift shop selling all manner of associated merchandise, such as water bottles, keychains, and drinking glasses.

The Tokikake Cafe will be open until January 11.

Restaurant information
Tokikake Café (at The Guest Cafe & Diner) / 時かけカフェ
Address: Osaka-fu, Chuo-ku, Shinsaibashisuji 1-6-1
大阪市中央区心斎橋筋1-6-1
Open 10 a.m.-9 p.m. (10 a.m.-7 p.m. December 31, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. January 11)
Closed January 1
Website

Source: Ghibli no Sekai
Images: Tokikake Cafe (edited by RocketNews24)

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