Light wood covers from floor to ceiling, hundreds of
manga volumes are stacked on the shelves.
Figures of different anime characters
: a giant Freeza leaning menacingly, the head of EVA 01, unmistakable, Goku.
At the tables, children, adolescents, even adults, concentrate on reading the volumes of these magazines -like comics- of
Japanese origin,
while eating
colored cakes.
In the City, before and after the pandemic, the number of
manga and anime-themed bars
increased.
Some offer typically Argentine gastronomy, others prefer Japanese dishes, but in all of them it is possible to sit down and enjoy reading these stories of Japanese culture, in the middle of a space decorated with their characters
.
The
manga
is a paper comic magazine whose circulation can be weekly, monthly or bimonthly.
Its author is called "mangaka".
If this publication is successful,
the manga can become an anime
, the serial drawing in chapters that is seen on TV or now from platforms.
"Reading manga was cult here, over time it went viral, but 30 years ago, when I was a girl,
this didn't exist,"
says Eiko Servodio Sakakibara, one of the owners of Ao Kuma Café, the theme bar that opened in 2019 in
Palermo.
Ao Kuma Café, one of the new manga-anime themed bars in the City. Photo: Emmanuel Fernández
"My mom is Japanese and it was because of my uncle, who is now about 80, that I started reading manga as a child," adds Eiko.
A few days ago she turned 50 years old.
And the affection she has for Japanese culture is evident in the tone she uses when speaking.
In the mid-nineties, in the West, these publications and the anime were practically inaccessible.
In the 2000s, some children's channels broadcast the stories that emerged from the genre that reached TV and became classics: The Knights of the Zodiac,
Dragon Ball Z
, Inuyasha,
Sailor Moon
.
In recent years, the consumption of manga and anime in Argentina has grown.
At
Anime-Con
-a manga and anime convention- that was held in La Rural in 2022, there were more than 50,000 people.
In bars with a manga-anime theme, reading comics is combined with coffee menus. Photo: Emmanuel Fernández
What is a Manga Cafe
"We like a place where we feel comfortable, where we can be close to that part of Japanese culture. When we went to Japan -Eiko and his partners-, we knew we wanted to do something like that
in Argentina,
a place where people could consume what is consumed there", Eiko explains when
Clarín
asks him how the idea of opening Ao Kuma came about.
Manga-cafés exist in Japan and are bars where diners can read manga.
"My partner and I are fans of anime and coffee, we wanted
to unite what is exploited in other places, but not here.
That's why we decided to make a manga-café and that people, with their consumption, can access the manga they want ", says Gonzalo Cruz, one of the two owners of Hero Anime Café, in
Palermo Hollywood.
Hero Anime Cafe, another of the bars that recovers the custom of reading Japanese-themed comics. Photo: Emmanuel Fernández
Eiko describes an image: mother and daughter, both wearing
Sailor Moon
T-shirts , sitting at an Ao Kuma table reading a manga.
Gonzalo says that the public that visits his store is
between 8 and 80 years old.
"90% of the people who come to the café do so to read," adds Gonzalo.
Before opening the bar, he and his partner, Lautaro, doubted if they would have an audience, but they discovered that there were a large number of interested people.
The bars in the city
"This would have been a place that I would have liked my parents to bring me to," Eiko and Gonzalo agree.
In addition to Ao Kuma Cafe and Hero Anime Cafe, after the pandemic, Momo Manga and Shift Coffee also opened.
All bars with the same spirit.
Demon Slayer
,
Chainsaw Man
,
Spy x Family
are some of the most widely read manga at Hero Anime Cafe, while at Ao Kuma you can buy all the titles published by
Ivrea, an Argentinian publisher specializing in manga.
Manga-anime-themed bars boomed after the pandemic in the City.
Photo: Emmanuel Fernandez
"We opened three years ago, those who visit Ao Kuma say
they feel like they belong here,
I like to hear that," says Eiko.
The food in this bar
takes ingredients from Japanese cuisine
, when it is pumpkin season, they make a typical flan from that country, in addition, they use chestnuts, sweet potatoes, grapes and other ingredients that are rare in traditional Argentine sweets.
"At one time, it was difficult for them to understand you. They saw you as
otaku -
a derogatory term to refer to those who like manga and anime-,
someone antisocial, it was frowned upon
," explains Eiko, referring to the past.
Both she and Gonzalo agree that during the pandemic and after it, the consumption of these Japanese products grew.
"Now it is no longer like that,"
they agree.
SC
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