a.k.a. nothing will stop the fangirls from going, come hell or cold, snowy, slippery pavements.
I love it!
Surprise, I didn’t take a day off to go ham on Day 1 of the cafe. Instead, I opted for the last cafe slot for the day, as there was no goods that got sold out on Day 1.
I, along with the rest of the fans, was looking forward to a relaxing albeit rain mixed with snow evening at the cafe, with my “date”.
That was, until the cafe’s official account tweeted the following:
Oda Nobunaga, Date Shigezane
Please note that there will be no resales nor will we be accepting preorders for the above items
I was on my way to the cafe when I saw the tweet, and immediately spoke to my friend who was there for the 16:30 ~ 18:00 timeslot, asking her if it looked like there was still some stock for the Date Masamune can badges. I had initially planned to get the merch when it was sold online as this was always done for the past cafes, but because of the sudden announcement, I knew I had to do an impulse buy.
By the time the previous cafe session ended, Voltage then tweeted the following:
Regarding the goods currently sold at the KoiRan Cafe, due to the effects of COVID-19, the mass-produced goods did not make it in time for the cafe, and there were a lot of items that were sold out. We sincerely apologize.
We plan to open online preorders for the cafe good.
From the bottom of our hearts, we apologize to our customers who were disappointed with this.
What annoyed me the most was that my session hasn’t started yet, but Ieyasu’s can badges got sold out as well.
I guess this was my sign to really take a day off on Day 1 of a cafe session…
Reassurances aside, the cafe itself was an improvement compared to last year in some ways, yet fell flat in some aspects.
Menu:
At first glance, the main dishes simply looked unappetizing.
Salad, seriously? I’d rather not.
Yet I say ‘never say never’, so at one point in a future cafe visit, I will definitely order it just so I can try and tell people about it.
For this particular visit, I ordered the following:
Bottom: Mitsuhide-sama’s Considerte Post-Dessert Green Tea Set,
Ieyasu-sama’s Drunk In Stealth Strawberry Coco
I got my dessert while I was eating my zunda potage and bread:
I did think of pairing up food and drinks, though my bias leaned heavily towards getting Masamune and Ieyasu since I wanted to get their message cards. Ordering Mitsuhide’s and Jinpachi’s themed drink and food also had me receiving the message cards.
Overall, the food was rather basic; the “zunda” potage tasted more corn than zunda (guess it was all coloring?), and had some yuzu sprinkled on it. The mame daifuku was also rather unremarkable. The green tea was tepid when it was brought to me, but the greens on the dish did cleanse my palate.
One thing that surprised me, however, was the hot cocoa. Whatever brand they used for it, it tasted delicious; surely, I would think that it is something that Ieyasu would [secretly] drink.
This year, they had two dishes up for take-out only, and I ended up ordering it for my dinner last night.
Though my takeout was a bit cold because I had to walk back to my place, nevertheless, it still tasted pretty good.
Decor:
We could take photos of the cafe interior, but we couldn’t take photos of the CGs/stills shown on the TV.
With that, I decided to crop out the TV so that I can share the art that adorned the wall.
I particularly liked how Oshu is basically one lineup, so that made photo taking easier for me.
More photos:
Standee date:
This was the biggest change this year: instead of getting seated across a lord that is not of your own choosing, this time around, the cafe allowed attendees to register for their desired timeslot and desired lord for the day, and the attendees were chosen through the system.
For my first visit, I chose Date Masamune as my date [pun intended], and I was not disappointed at all.
Left: Inuchiyo’s Bitter Sweet First Love Peach Cider
Right: Yukimura-sama’s Ripe Apple Ginger Ale
There were other standees available but I’ll take the photos for another visit.
Cafe bonuses:
This year as well, the cafe did away with placemat bonuses and simply went with 2L-sized bromides each time you order a dish. The coasters were still the same when you order drinks, but felt a bit thin.
On my first round of ordering food and drinks, I got the following bonuses:
I’m aiming for Masamune and Ieyasu, so here’s to hoping I do end up getting them… eventually…
Merch:
This has got to be the most disappointing thing that happened in the cafe, especially because of the seemingly ill-planned inventory/stock issues with the can badges and the miscommunication over the post-event online preorder plans.
I would guess that the company did not realize that fangirls would be on a buying spree for Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Date Shigezane can badges; they did prepare for Saizo’s, as well as Koju’s, but for seven characters’ can badges to get sold out on Day 2 of the cafe? That’s no good at all.
While I am glad that I secured Masamune can badges for myself, as well as my friend’s orders, I will have to wait a bit more for Ieyasu’s can badges. It’s not the end of the world, but it boggles the mind on how this could have been avoided.
Final thoughts:
With the current situation still preventing the company and all the fans from planning and attending the banquet that Voltage held last 2018 and 2019, it seems like we’re stuck with collaboration cafes for the foreseeable future. Granted that this is the best that one can do given the circumstances, I should not be complaining this much.
The food was alright; not as good as last year, which I really enjoyed, but at least the cocoa was tasty. The takeout-only dishes was also cleverly done and I would definitely do more takeouts since the food is tasty and I can pick a message card for each order.
However, there is still room for improvement for the next collab cafe.
The Chara serves good food, but maybe another cafe can be utilized for the next one? Not Animate Cafe though; I will never eat from there if I can help it.
The bonuses are alright, but I hope to have a more solidly-built coaster, and not the flimsy, paper-like ones that the cafe is distributing.
Lastly, please stock up on the merchandise. You’ll never know when a fangirl and the friends she invited to the cafe would buy up all the stock, so I hope they’re prepared next time.
I still plan to go to the next few sessions of the cafe, so I may post here and there.
Will add more when I get the chance!
Wanderlust 
Thank you for sharing your experience! Always thankful to read your posts! 🥰
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