MY THOUGHTS ABOUT: BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! x ANIPLUS Café 2024
A daydream café, might I say
If you prefer visuals and me speaking the lines instead, you can watch the video variant here:
It was around November 2021, when I had just went through quite a big depressing event. I saw one of my friends on Twitter playing a tapping rhythm game that looked kinda interesting, and it had nice songs in it too. What sealed the deal for me was the TITLE IDOL MV I’ve seen on YouTube, recommended to me while I was checking out Love Live School Idol Festival All Stars videos.
I had only played SIF and SIFAS, if you consider them as music rhythm games, and I wasn’t playing any one of them as I’ve deleted the both of them at that point of time. Seeing that this new game could be fun, I decided to try BanG Dream! Girls Band Party out for myself.
I remember this event being so long it drained me out. It was for like almost two weeks. However, I found the mechanics of the game to be pretty fun and fascinating. It is not the rarity of the cards that determine whether you can pass the chart or full-combo it, but how fast your reaction time is, unlike what I’ve been through with SIFAS.
Getting a S-rank in this song isn’t really that important and accomplishing. It’s all about not missing a single note. The feeling of being able to full-combo a chart, especially a hard one, is really satisfying. Since then, I’ve been kinda hooked to the game, trying to FC every song. It did leave my phone a few times, but it always found its way back to me. Fun fact, in my early days, I played with my index fingers, but I switched to thumbs because it was easier for me to play when I was travelling.
During my first few days in Garupa, I discovered the anime on Μuse Asia’s YouTube channel. I binge-watched it, and I loved every part of it. The formation of Poppin’Party, the struggles they go through, and the friendship they have. That’s pretty much how I got into the BanG Dream rabbit hole.
To say that BanG Dream is one of my favorite franchises is an understatement. It cheered me up in my darkest times when my life had one unfortunate incident after another, accompanied me through tough moments in grieving and recovering, and gave me wonderful music to enjoy. Bandori allowed me to make new friends and reconnect with old ones, which is why I’m so grateful to this ever-growing franchise.
So, when Aniplus recently announced a collaboration with BanG Dream in their Singapore café outlet, I was down to go there. This isn’t their first rodeo either. The café had collaborated with the multimedia project two other times; when they first opened their café from November 29 2019 to February 29 2020, and from April 23 2021 to September 23 2021. Both of these collaborations were held for pretty long, at least for four whole months, so I was pretty surprised that this one is only lasting for a little more than a month.
I’ve been to Aniplus Café a few times, but not for eating. I was there to buy BanG Dream merchandise. A few Arisa acrylics, two shikishis, and bromides for the Sweets x Flower Tea Party in Loft collab. I’m glad I got both variants of O-Tae and Anon within 10 packs. Almost the whole box, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers.
I had a little history with the Aniplus Café, as I was supposed to attend their Saekano movie screening back in like April 2020. It included a meal and some other stuff. However, some things aren’t meant to be, as COVID-19 hit all of us like a truck in 2020 and caused a lockdown. I didn’t get a refund because I missed the deadline for that, so that was on me. Thus, this BanG Dream collab marks my first time eating at this outlet.
For anime collabs with this café, they usually have a themed menu to go along with it. BanG Dream was no different, as they have different menus during the event periods. 2019 had 1 menu, while 2021 had 2 waves. As far as the food goes, the 2019 menu looked way better than both of the 2021 ones.
What I had just shown here is the menu for this year’s collab. When I had first taken a look at it, I thought they didn’t look too bad, especially the food. Some of them even looked really delicious. That was when a devious plan formed in my mind.
What better way to celebrate my first time having a meal here and show my love for the franchise by trying out every single thing in the menu like no other person would do?
Yeah, I decided to buy everything on this menu over seven days and taste-tested every single food, drink, and dessert. I’ve never really did anything like this before, much less in a café, so I did want to try it out at least once in my life.
If you’re planning to dine at the café during the collab, perhaps my ‘review’ could serve as a recommendation for you. There is still about three weeks before the collab leaves, which is quite some time, so you can go ahead to the venue to try out the mains and beverages for yourself too.
Also, here’s a small disclaimer before I continue. This is just my own opinion. I might have different taste buds than everyone else. You might have tried what I’ve disliked, and it’s perfectly fine if you liked it. At the end of the day, we all are entitled to our own opinions. Also, please excuse my photo-taking skills, because I suck at taking them.
With that, let’s get started.
DRINKS
In this section, I’ll be ranking the drinks from what I thought is the worst to the best. Starting with…
#8: Afterglow’s Strawberry Iced Tea
This has to be my least favorite drink, but for very simple reasons, actually. I’m not a fan of strawberry drinks since young as they reminded me of the cough syrups I used to drink as a child when I was sick. This one though didn’t take too much like a cough syrup, so that’s not so bad. However, this drink didn’t stand out to me. I felt like there wasn’t much taste coming from this. The strawberry on top of the drink…I didn’t like the taste of that either. Therefore, this is my least favorite drink.
#7: Pastel*Palettes’ Green Apple Ade
This is just 25% apple drink and 75% whipped cream.
I love apple-flavored drinks. I drink them whenever I can, so you can kinda imagine my excitement when there is an apple-flavored beverage on the menu. I tried this on the second day, and my expectations were pretty high. The apple portion was good. I personally enjoyed it. The bad part came when the drink turned white due to the whipped cream and water from melted ice fusing together. There was no way I was gonna drink a whipped cream drink, and thus this was the only drink I didn’t finish. I just wished it was just a fizzy apple drink instead.
Maybe it was because I didn’t mix the drink before I started drinking it. If any one of you have tried this or decide to try it, please let me know the results of it after you mix it. Does it taste better? Hopefully.
#6: RAISE A SUILEN’s Pineapple Mint Ade
From here on out, the drinks are all pretty decent. It was more of which ones I prefer compared to the others. With RAS’s drink, I like the pineapple slice touch on it. Pineapple and mint fused together into a drink was also not too bad. This one just didn’t stand out from the rest of the beverages.
#5: MyGO!!!!!’s Blue Lagoon Mocktail
I’m usually not a fan of alcoholic drinks or mocktails, but the taste of this one somehow clicked with my tongue. I kinda like this one. Sweet and savory for me. Only reason why it is lower than the other four is that there is still that lingering alcoholic taste in it, but I think this is still a good drink.
#4: Hello, Happy World’s Honey Orange Lemonade
I’ve recently started liking orange juices, and I’m fine with having some honey, which is why I rated this higher than the pineapple mint drink and mocktail. The orange part of the drink is sizzling, which makes it quite a refresher honestly. If you’re doing some work in the café and you can’t seem to keep your eyes open for more than five seconds, this might help you.
#3: Morfonica’s Blue Milk
Honestly, I didn’t think much of this initially as it was the most expensive drink in the menu. Ten bucks for a drink is insane. Still, I went ahead and bought it because I’m determined to accomplish my goal of trying the whole menu out.
I think the drink itself is pretty good. It is pretty rich in flavor, though it can be a bit too creamy. The Morfonica jelly is good too, but it can be hard to eat it when it sinks to the bottom as you drink more. Overall, I think this is one of the better drinks in the menu.
#2: Poppin’Party’s Mango Ade
Mango drinks are another favorite of mine. Be it the fruit, the Mango Lychee Crush from Boost, or just mango ice-blended drinks from bubble tea shops, I love all of them. So when my favorite band has one of the flavors I love, you bet I was ecstatic.
This is my very first drink I tasted, and I liked it quite a lot. The mango slices were sour, but I’m fine with it. There was also a star jelly in it, which I felt was a great touch to the drink since it’s meant to represent Kasumi and her band. I would recommend this drink to anyone coming to the café.
#1: Roselia’s Butterfly Pea Lemonade
This is a fantastic drink. It may not look like it at first, but I mixed it. Yes, I learnt my lesson from the previous day after trying the PasuPare drink, so I stirred this one.
It is a tasty grape drink that’s really cooling, and it paired really well with the Michelle Burger I had. This drink is something you might want to try if you ever come down to the café.
Mains
In this section, I’ll be ranking the four mains from what I thought is the worst to the best. Starting with…
#4: MyGO!!!!!’s Teriyaki Grilled Salmon Rice Bowl
Now, I don’t hate this food. I’m fine with this one. I’ve tasted food worse than this. It’s just that this one isn’t that delicious.
To me, it doesn’t feel right combining every one of these things together. It kinda tasted weird, and I was forcing the food down my throat sometimes. The salmon is decent though, so are the egg and the nori separately. For café standards, at least.
That being said, I’m not a big fan of cucumbers. The pink pickled vegetable was extremely sour too, which wasn’t a plus for me. You know what other main has this dish? It’s the other rice bowl.
#3: Poppin’Party’s Shrimp Tempura Rice Bowl
This was when I first learnt of how sour this pink pickled vegetable is. It was Day 2, and I wanted to order the main that has PoPiPa’s theme. It actually looks pretty good here, and it taste alright.
The fried tempuras are so-so, the nori and the egg are great as usual, and the rice is not bad. The star-shaped carrots looked cute, and they’re edible, I guess. The only reason why this isn’t ranked higher is because of the pickled vegetable. It would’ve been a decently great main without it. This thing kinda ruins the meal, not gonna lie.
Bandori, if you were to come back for the fourth time, please don’t include this thing again.
#2: RAISE A SUILEN’s Chicken Katsu Ramen
This is the main I picked on the very first day of the café, and I couldn’t wait to try it at that day. What I thought would be a ramen egg though would become an onsen egg.
For context, if you take a look at the menu, the three mains that had eggs said in their descriptions that they have onsen eggs, but their pictures show ajitama instead. I preferred an ajitama over onsen, so I was hoping it was that instead. For the rice bowls, I’d understand that there’d be onsen eggs because they are what they are. However, why wouldn’t a ramen bowl have an ajitama, which literally translates to ‘ramen egg’? That doesn’t matter much, anyways.
Anyways, the ramen is really tasty. The soup base is delectable, the mushrooms are out of this world, and the chicken katsu is delicious. Basically, this main is really good, and it is the cheapest out of the four. A double win.
#1: Hello, Happy World’s Michelle Happy Meal
Look at that half-eaten burger on the first picture. It should kinda tell you how good it was that I forgot to even take a picture. I had to ask my friend, Space, to send me a picture he took of our burgers before I started chomping down on it like a monster.
This is what I like to call a ‘budget McDonalds or Burger King’. Nonetheless, this main is so freaking delicious. The buns have the ideal amount of crunch, the patty has the perfect amount of juice and taste, and it is very, VERY big in size. The fries aren’t that bad either. This meal is a filling one, so go for this if you’re having a really empty stomach. This is the most expensive main in the menu, alongside MyGO!!!!!’s rice bowl, but I think this is worth more, even though it’s still overpriced.
Desserts
Now, this section is special, because I kinda like all the desserts in this collab. No dislikes, no low ratings here. It’s all about which ones are nicer.
Thus, I’ll be ranking the four desserts from my least favorite to my most. Starting with…
#4: Morfonica’s Chocolate Lava Cake
The vanilla ice cream with the small blue stuff on top plus the Biscoff bits all around it go together quite well. Originally, in the sample picture, the jelly was on top of the ice cream, like the logo jelly in the Blue Milk drink, but I actually liked that it was Biscoff instead. The lava cake was decent, I guess. I like the texture of the molten chocolate filling and the cake itself too. Great food.
#3: Roselia’s Violet Rose Parfait
This was something I was looking forward to try. I ordered this on the last day of my visit, and it didn’t disappoint. The vanilla ice cream goes well with the blueberries and the yoghurt. There is granola in between the yoghurt, which blends in perfectly with the taste of the yoghurt, making it just the right amount of sweet. The syrup at the bottom can be mixed with the yoghurt for more blueberry taste. The Roselia biscuit is pretty solid as well. Overall, great dessert, not considering the fact this is the most expensive dessert on the menu.
#2: Pastel*Palettes’ Brand New Pastel Parfait
Another yoghurt parfait, but this time it’s apple-flavored. There are fruits and marshmallows too, and they all go well together. The apple-flavored yoghurt is also appetizing. It can be a bit too sweet, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. The biscuit is like the one in Roselia. The only difference is that it has a PasuPare logo on it this time.
Still, I think this is an amazing dessert.
#1: Afterglow’s Chocolate & Fruit Croissant
I am in love with this dessert. A pretty big croissant filled with chocolate, banana slices, and strawberry, along with vanilla ice cream and Biscoff bits. I love eating chocolate banana waffles, and this was no different, except that it’s a croissant and there’s strawberries in it. I’ve enjoyed every bit of this delicious food. If not for the mint leaves, I would’ve given this full marks. This is a must-try from me.
Café Decorations
These are some photos I took for the decorations and layout of the café.
Merchandise
Merchandise-wise, of course you know I had to buy them. Surprisingly, for the first time, Aniplus Café is having a big sale with their BanG Dream merchandise. Up to 70% off for non-event merchandise, which is CRAZY cheap. If you want to grab old merchandise, now is the perfect time to do so. Please give their store a visit.
You might be wondering how I got all the things I’ve wanted, like the Kasumi café polaroid, the PoPiPa mat, and the Arisa coaster. The truth is, I have been trading with other patrons in the café, and I have to thank every single one of them. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to get the stuff I wanted with the crap luck I had.
There are some incentives to buy more during the event period, because you can get a sticker with every 15 bucks spent on BanG Dream merch, and a holographic ticket with every 30 bucks. I’m quite lucky to get Yukina and Aya holographgic ticket, so I was able to trade my Yukina for the Kasumi. Same case with the stickers. I traded the Afterglow and Hello, Happy World ones for PoPiPa and MyGO!!!!! ones.
Some of the merchandise being sold at the café include can badges, polaroids, acrylic keyholders, and cleaner cloths.
There are free gifts when you spend on the menu too. Every 15 bucks spent on the menu guarantees you one mat and a coaster. Pretty cool I guess, but the designs on the coasters are taken from the game.
Also, if you saw that I have only six small cutouts when there is supposed to be eight (because they give one for each main/dessert), well, it’s because the staff threw away the Mashiro and Kokoro one when I was away from the table. I don’t blame the staff. They’re doing their job, since they kinda figured no one would really collect these. I’ll probably get them in the next visit I’m doing with my friends.
And so, that marks the end of my experience with the BanG Dream Aniplus Café collaboration. I really had lots of fun. From trying out every single item in the menu to conversing with people for trades. It surely is an unforgettable memory that will always be etched in my mind for years to come.
This whole event actually taught me one thing. It’s that people are able to bond over a mutual thing they like, be it an anime, a game, or a franchise. It’s not about consuming everything on the menu or getting some merchandise. It’s about the interactions.
Talking with other people enabled me to know more about their favorite band, their bias members, and how much they like that member or band. My friend Space even helped me opened six packs of WEGO collab bromides, only for me not to get a single Arisa.
All of these activities are fun and enjoyable for me, but I think the most important thing to take away from here is that we all love BanG Dream in one way or another, and that’s why we were willing to come down to the café to support them.
We all show our love for the franchise in different ways, be it coming in cosplays and themed shirts, bringing plushies of their favorite members along with them, or coming with the intention of trying everything on the menu. At the end of the day though, it all means the same. We love BanG Dream.
And for me, that’s a wonderful thing.
