At the Katsucon Maid Cafe, a forum for self expression

Maids greet a customer at the National Pastime bar. Video still by Alex Thompson.(Note: This piece is part I in a three part series on anime fandom in D.C. Read part II here. Read part III here.)

What's black and white and red all over?

At colorful Katsucon 16, one of the largest anime conventions on the East Coast, a group of men and women who've volunteered for the weekend to serve other guests while donning black-and-white uniforms, red uniforms and cat-ear headbands.

Every February at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel and Convention Center in National Harbor, the maids have taken the National Pastime bar and made it their own. Big screen TVs, that usually air sporting events, today showcase romantic-comedy anime shows, and tables usually home to beer coasters don miniature zen gardens filled with red glitter instead of sand. Instead of chips or wings, customers order rice balls and miso soup. Instead of waitstaff, maids take their orders and even play board games with their tables.

The traditions of French maids and the Japanese service industry have fused to create a cultural no-man's-land that is utterly unrecognizable from its origins. What's more, the staff themselves have temporarily exchanged their American personas to act and serve as cheerful maids. Why do they do it? In order to find out, I decided to become a maid. Between shifts, I talked to fellow maids to learn their stories.

A place to get away

“Irasshaimase, minna san! [Welcome, everyone!],” a pink-wigged maid says, "greeting guests" in Japanese at the restaurant door. But while her red name tag announces her as Yomiko to customers, she is Sarah Blandy to everyone else.

Back stage at the maid cafe, the prim maid persona is put away and Sarah, complete with an impish grin and wry sense of humor, comes to life. To this 24-year-old, the maid cafe is all about escapism. Acting is a hobby for Blandy and she said getting in character provides a temporary getaway from reality.

“In everyday life, I'm a down to earth person,” she said. “As for Yomiko, I tried to form this character around the whole ideal maid cafe character.”

Blandy said a lot of research went into creating Yomiko's character. She watched shows like the short Japanese series, “Maid in Akihabara” to observe how maids behave.

A fair-skinned woman of Irish and French descent, Blandy said she enjoys taking on a persona that is in such sharp contrast to her own. Weeks before the convention, she posted a tutorial she found online called, “Asian eyes (even if you're not)” to the maid's Facebook group.

“I'm almost the opposite of Asian, and I love the culture, and besides that, I think that Japanese women are very pretty,” she said. “When I put that tutorial up, it's only because I spent time at home doing it in the mirror and thought, 'I'm not the only one doing this, I hope.'”

Blandy observed that acting for the maid cafe was hardly different from the type of persona she might take on for another job.

“The way I act in front of my boss and coworkers is definitely different than the way I treat my friends,” she said. “Not so much another character, but there definitely is changing.”

Watch Yomiko's story:

A place to find herself

One maid at the cafe, Lily, is head and shoulders above the rest. Literally. At six-foot-two, Lily leans over her tables or sits with the customers in order to get down to their level. Taking a break in the back of the cafe, Lily transforms back into mild-mannered Maryland college student Daniel Redmond.

A person who identifies more strongly with his feminine side than his masculine one, Redmond is still deciding whether or not to transition as a woman full time. In his mind, the maid cafe was the perfect test lab to decide if acting female felt right. The 21-year-old said that since anime fans are accepting, he could feel comfortable trying it out at Katsucon.

“We understand that what we're into isn't mainstream,” he said. “So it's easier to say, 'I don't identify with the sex that most people of my gender identify with', or 'I don't identify as the same sex that's between my legs.'”

At this point, Redmond doesn't worry about passing for a woman when dressed as Lily. While the jaw that peeks beneath Lily's dark, bouncy wig is smooth, it shows signs of being recently shaved. His eyes are sparkling brown and unadorned with make-up. And then there is the hassle of finding women's clothing that fits. Lily's dress was made to fit from adding a quarter of a yard of fabric to a plus-size Japanese woman's costume. His shoes are gender-neutral black Crocs.

Despite his size, Redmond said his customers have all been very considerate, not questioning the fact that their maid was obviously more masculine than feminine.

“I understand that right now with my height, build, and voice, they know I'm male and some have asked about it,” he said. “But when I explain, they're very friendly about it.”

Overall, Redmond said his experiment went successfully and he hopes to continue exploring his feminine side after the convention is over.

“So far, it's been a great experience,” he said.

Watch Lily's story:

A place to have fun

Serving her customers with charm, Hana quickly became one of the cafe's more frequently requested maids. An extroverted teen, Hana, whose real name is Hannah Korangkool chose to participate in the maid cafe in order to meet new people.

“[It sounded] like fun. I like talking to people, I like meeting people, and the fact that it's at an anime convention so I can relate, it seems even better,” she said.

Korangkool's maid monikor is a few letters apart from her actual name. She said she chose the alternate spelling in order to use the authentic Japanese spelling of Hannah which, she noted, also means “flower.” Her knowledge of Japanese revealed an appreciation for the culture beyond anime and the maid cafe.

At 16 years old, Korangkool is by far the cafe's youngest maid. However, she doesn't see a problem with this. As a hair salon assistant, Korangkool has already been working in a service-related industry for over a year. Still, she can see why people would frown upon a teenager in a maid costume serving people “twice my age.”

But far from feeling uncomfortable with the situation, Korangkool said she feels confidant in her maid costume. Like Redmond, she said she feels at home at conventions.

“Finally, anime conventions have finally made me comfortable with the way I dress,” she said.

When she isn't wearing a maid costume, Korangkool can be spotted in anything from a brightly colored wig to a Japanese schoolgirl uniform. She explained that this practice of dressing up and taking on a complimentary persona is called costume-play, or “cosplay” for short. Her Youtube channel, Banzai Otaku, where she performs anime inspired dances in cosplay, has over 14,000 views. For Korangkool, one of the perks of working at the maid cafe was getting to wear the maid costume.

“I'm not a real maid, but yet I'm dressing up as one. That's cosplay,” she said.

Watch Hana's story: