The most kawaii press conference Honey’s Anime got to attend was the maidreamin and momoMc conference.
Known as the symbol of Akihabara, maidreamin has grown to become the top maid café restaurant in Japan with over 16 locations and over 400 maids. Famous for entertaining patrons with cute magical performances, along with their unique menu, maidreamin has become the very definition of the “Moe moe, kyun!” experience. Three of the top maids, Ayame, Peace and Yuno, told us about their experiences as part of maidreamin.
We also had the pleasure of speaking with the sexy momoMc, the world-famous Japanese artistic pole dancer who joined this year’s exciting events, including the AX Night Café, AX Dance and Lounge 21. momoMc told us about how she got into anime-inspired burlesque and pole dancing!
Here’s what these lovely ladies had to say.
Q1. If you could be any animal, what animal would you be?
Peace: It’s not what I want to be, I’m already a kitty! Nya!
Yuno: I want to be a bunny! I want to make everybody happy, so I want to be a bunny!
Ayame: A little bear! At Maidreamin there are a lot of teddybear motifs that make everybody happy, so that’s why I want to be a teddybear!
MomoMc: A hedgehog! When they get angry they raise their quills, but normally, it’s a very friendly, calm animal. It likes to get massages and get in the bathtub, so I like them. I’d like to be a hedgehog!
Q2. Maidreamin, what kind of work goes into becoming the #1 maid café?
Peace: Well, in maidreamin, we put a lot of effort into performing, because a maid café does a lot of performances. SO we stay up late, and we’re dancing away, and singing away, practicing and rehearsing so that our performances are top-notch. But it’s not that hard to serve the masters and the princesses that come to our cafe. They give us a lot of energy, and that’s why we’re here!
Ayame: Maidreamin has chains all over the world. 16 chains, including Thailand and other countries. It’s not only for otaku, it’s open to families, children, couples and girls too. So, our concept is that anybody from any age can enjoy. It’s an entertainment restaurant, that’s the concept.
Q3. What advice would you give to an emerging maid café?
Ayame: There are a lot of maid cafés and they come in all different sizes and have their own style. In Japan, there are a lot of maid cafés with different concepts, but I think what is really important is that everybody who operates the cafe has a warm heart. And becuase a lot of people, the anime fans, and the otaku fans may come and they want to be entertained and they love the Japanese culture and they have a certain respect for it and we want to give some of that respect back. We want to make sure that that feeling is protected and honored. Also, for us, maidreamin, we think smiling and energy are the most important, wherever we go!
Q4. How did you get started with maidreamin?
Peace: My name is Peace and I love up in the sky. I was up in the clouds and sleeping one day on one of the cloudy beds and I kind of rolled and down, down I went into this dreamland, and it was the maid café!
Yuno: I’m Yuno, and I come from the 2.5 dimension. This is the 3rd dimension, but I come from the 2.5 dimension. And one day I came to the 3rd dimension world and I stumbled upon the maidreamin café and I ventured into the restaurant as a lady and I got a lot of love from the maids and I thought ‘Oh, I want to give that moe and love!’ so that’s why I became a maid!
Ayame: I live in the dream world. That’s where I come from. And the granny of that dream world told me ‘You have to go into another world and learn a lot of things about life’. And so I came to this world and I became one of the maidreamin girls. And I was going to just do it for a little bit, just to get some training, but while I was serving the masters and ladies, I really liked it so here I am!
Q5. MomoMc, tell us about your performances and how you got started performing.
MomoMc: I come from Japan and I do pole dancing and burlesque, but almost like anime style. I started off being a maid, and suddenly I started feeling a little bit sexy while dancing, so I started pole dancing, and I started dancing as Rei Ayanami from Evangelion, so I might have a little bit of a sad feeling as I’m dancing, so I try to express that into my pole dancing. Or other times I become Lum from Urusei Yatsura. So I become different characters from anime and that’s what I express in my pole dancing. So it’s very different from ordinary pole dancing.
Q6. MomoMc, how do you adapt anime characters into your performances?
MomoMc: Pole dancing has a lot of speed changes. It can be soft and slow, or very fast and speedy, and active. Sometimes there is a movement when you’re at the very top of the pole and you come down quickly, and there are dances like that too. So, compared to normal dances that you do on the floor only, you can have height and different kinds of movements. So I can express as though I’m in the water, or I could be flying. And there is a move called Superman, which you have to see because you’ll be surprised when you see it. So come and be surprised by my performance!
Q7. MomoMc, what is your favorite charatcer to dance as?
MomoMc: I love Rei Ayanami because I love that anime, so I can put a lot of feeling into it.
Q8. What kind of feelings do you put into the performance?
MomoMc: I kind of imagine if Rei Ayanami became just a normal girl, away from the anime. How would she fall in love? How would she love someone? And I also imagine, if I were Rei, how would I dance? So I kind of imagine those things and then I become the character and dance on the pole.
Q9. Do you have a message for the fans?
Peace: Hello, Los Angeles! Hello, Anime Expo! I’m Peace!
Yuno: I’m Yuno!
Ayame: I’m Ayame!
Maidreamin in unison: We are maidreamin! Iterasshaimase, goshujin sama!
Peace: This year, maidreamin will sing the AX 2017 official song!
Ayame: Maidreamin presents the core of Anime Expo and the magic that it can have for everyone and between everyone. Please enjoy our maid café!
MomoMc: I’m so honored to be here at Anime Expo. And I’m so happy to be sharing this time with you, so please everybody come to the Night Café because I’ll be dancing there and thank you so much!
Final Thoughts
Spending time with these girls was like jumping into an anime and speaking with the moe girls and the classy but very sexy voluptuous character. They are all beautiful and very talented! We hope we get to see them again at the next Anime Expo!
Have you ever visited a maidreamin café? Would you like to see momoMc get ecchi on the pole as Rei or Lum? Did you get a chance to see them all in action at AX? Let us know in the comments below and share your experiences! I wonder if they have room for one more nyanko...
Nya~!
Author: Lizzy Nyanko