Thursday, October 16, 2014

For You Wannabe Defenseless Maidens

Unless you read women's manga, chances are you haven't heard of kabe-don. It's essentially an overused trope that doesn't happen nearly as often in real life as the comics would suggest. The gist of it is, a guy puts his hand against a wall to loom over someone whose back is pressed against it. It's oh-so-tough-looking.
 Apparently, this is now so much of a thing that the Harajuku branch of Sweets Paradise has temporarily re-branded itself into a Kabe-Don cafe, allowing blushing high school girls to put themselves in the manga scenario. With a mannequin.
 Yes, it's a little strange, so, being the investigative soul that I am, I went to have a look myself.


Screenshot from the official promotional video.

 And it was a bit of a hit-and-miss. What I wasn't told was that they only allow you to pose with the mannequin on weekends. I know it mostly sounds like a miss, but I did get to pig out on sweets, so there. Now apparently, the place has a whole lot of equipment so that customers can pick out their favorite scenario, and appropriate sound bits would play out while the mannequin looms over you (such as him talking to you as if you were his childhood friend, for example.)
 Christ, then why not just hire a real guy? It sounds altogether like a more profitable endeavor. Even more so if you get high school students to actually fall in a crush with the guy and keep coming back.
 Why they only do it on weekends is a complete mystery to me though. And here I was ready to try something totally retarded. Mayhaps you'll have better luck than I did.

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