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Valentine’s Day Akiba-style: Hundreds of otaku line-up for cards and chocolates from anime girls

Casey Baseel Feb 15, 2019
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Real-world manifestations of affection from 2-D crushes cause massive lines on a weekday morning.

As fun and unique as Tokyo’s Akihabara anime and video game district may be, it’s not exactly what most people would call a romantic place. The neighborhood is primarily a dense grid of specialty shops, cheap restaurants, and maid cafes, many with speakers pumping the sounds the latest idol anthem into the street

And yet, Akihabara was packed on Valentine’s Day, as otaku lined up to receive special Valentine’s cards and chocolate from their favorite anime girls.

ゲーマーズ前に行列が。
五等分の花嫁バレンタインイベントらしい。 pic.twitter.com/BlvYYcK2qm

— 秋葉原ベースキャンプ (@akihabara_bc) February 14, 2019

Valentine’s Day isn’t an official holiday in Japan, so for schools and businesses, February 14 was treated like any other Thursday. Nevertheless, hundreds of otaku cleared out a block of time in their morning schedule to visit Akihabara. It’s not like they could just swing by and quickly grab their Valentine’s Day goodies, either.

https://twitter.com/Rinrin317Yu/status/1095956388289728513

A handful of retailers were passing out anime girl cards and chocolates, and for the most popular, lines estimated at roughly 500 people long formed even before the distribution began.

秋葉原バレンタインデーのようす
・ゲーマーズ、五等分の花嫁。駅前やラジオ会館横も埋め約500人
・ゲーマーズ、わたてん。仕事おわりのひとたちも多くこの日最多と思われる約600人
・ゲーマーズ、冴えカノ。あさから約500人
・アニメイト、ごちうさ。早朝待機もあり約150人
※配布開始時の人数 pic.twitter.com/aBcwNxLiON

— ﾂﾙﾐﾛﾎﾞ (@kaztsu) February 14, 2019

▼ The line for retailer Gamer’s How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend chocolates was so long that it ended directly outside the Akihabara Station building.

ゲーマーズさんの冴えカノのバレンタインカード配布列、駅入口前まで伸びてる… #秋葉原 #akiba pic.twitter.com/gbueDnbhDD

— 五月猫(ごがつねこ) (@maycat) February 14, 2019

ゲーマーズ秋葉原前に物凄い行列が出来ていますね。何々、「冴えない彼女の育て方」のバレンタインカード？ pic.twitter.com/ocGA4FPeUn

— 九頭龍だむ (@KuzuryuDam) February 14, 2019

▼ The coveted How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend cards

冴えない彼女の育て方 fine バレンタインカード @秋葉原ゲーマーズ　　全3種類からランダム。裏面に表面キャラのメッセージが聞けるQRコードつき。　　#saekano #akiba　
数年前の押し合いへし合いの争奪戦が懐かしい…　
今は事前整理券配布形式になったけど、それでもすさまじい人の数だった。 pic.twitter.com/DkxV0SpyeR

— はじめました (@hajimema4ta) February 15, 2019

Gamers was also handing out Gotobun no Hanayome/Quintessential Quintuplets cards…

五等分の花嫁バレンタインカード @秋葉原ゲーマーズ　　#五等分の花嫁 #akiba　
スタンプラリー形式で事前に数量確定しているのに、チョコが全員分ない、ってどゆこと？ pic.twitter.com/7ki0odK8Ud

— はじめました (@hajimema4ta) February 15, 2019

…while competing specialty shop Animate was the place to go for Is the Order a Rabbit? sweets.

秋葉原各店舗のバレンタイン待機列状況。アニメイト・ごちうさハピハピ＝約150人、ゲーマーズ・冴えカノfine＝約500人（平日あさ10:00頃）君たち、学校やお仕事はどうした pic.twitter.com/HZAaRr9xbz

— ﾂﾙﾐﾛﾎﾞ (@kaztsu) February 14, 2019

Unfortunately, the prepared-in-advance, first-come-first-served nature of the chocolates means that, applying normal logic, they’d fall into the platonic giri/obligation chocolate category. That won’t make them taste any less sweet, though, assuming the recipients’ collector instincts don’t compel them to refrain from eating the chocolates and instead leave them in their wrappers, much like the supposed fate of all those limited-edition free anime condoms.

Source: Twitter/@kaztsu via Otakomu

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he wishes Akihabara’s Square Enix Cafe would bring back its delicious hamburgers.