Fitting Bar Daphne
Otaku Bar Review
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Rating /5
Review
Otaku-Ba! called this place "a cosplay bar with "over 300" costumes you can wear and sing karaoke in". There was certainly quite a few hanging around, but 300 seems a bit of an overestimate! They also have a display cabinet with some others in, which I guess are "special". One is of Lum, from Urusei Yatsura / Invader Girl Lum. I'm not into anime or the big manga, so didn't recognise ahy others.
The bar is kind of big, and can fit a lot of people in. It's got a curved, "sticky out" bar like Tamari Bar, but is a lot smaller due to being in central Osaka, but this still makes decent use of the available space so there's a decent amount of seats. I went on a Monday night, anyway, so there was only one other guy there.
The mama is super cool, she loves Final Fantasy 6 and 7, and also seems to like JMSDF ships, which is pretty cool. It was a nice night, even if it did get expensive... because I kept drinking and didn't want to leave!
As well as costumes and karaoke, they have a number of those mini emu-consoles that there was a craze for a few years back. I got talking about Megadrive games and she pulled out a Megadrive Mini and set it up so we could play some Sonic 2.
As of some time in August 2024, it will have been open for 20 years, a rarity for otaku bars! So if you're reading this site in 2030 or so, and it looks abandoned, then go to this one, it's more likely to still be around!
Getting There
In Kitashinchi, "greater Umeda". Close to Bar Z
Details
¥2500 cover charge (but only once, not per hour), and ¥700 per beer. It gets expensive fast, but is fun enough that it's still four stars. Normally it'd be three, with those prices!
In Conclusion
Good fun, but a tad pricey. Apparently during corona they banned people from wearing the costumes. I don't know if they're allowed again now. It looks like there's a changing room actually in the bar, so you can put them on easily.
Useful Stuff