Whenever Kawaii Kon, the annual convention celebrating anime (Japanese animation), manga (Japanese comics) and video games rolls into town, cosplayers are sure to come calling.

But while many of these fans will be wearing the costumes (the "cos" in cosplay) of their favorite characters this weekend for fun, some students from the University of Hawaii’s Manoa and West Oahu campuses will be dressing up to offer attendees a slice of contemporary Japanese culture.

And that slice will arrive on a silver platter with a drink, a pastry, a smile and, perhaps, a nice little game of Jenga on the side.

The Cosplay Cafe, the brainchild of UH-West Oahu associate history professor Jayson Makoto Chun, has been part of Kawaii Kon since the event moved to the Hawai‘i Convention Center in 2007. The cafe is modeled after the popular maid cafes in the Akihabara district of Tokyo, where employees role-playing as maids serve food and drinks and interact with patrons, playing games and taking pictures.

Students aren’t restricted to using just maid and butler outfits and can wear any costume they wish, as long as they’re practical and aren’t too revealing.

Chun, who specializes in Japanese pop culture, saw the cafe — and its ties to anime and manga fandom — as a way to get students interested in his field.

"Then once they learn about this subculture, they can learn about Japanese culture, and many become interested in Asia in general such as China, Korea or Southeast Asia. That’s my idea of learning," he said.

While it started off as an extension of Chun’s class on Asian business — students can earn credit for participating — the scope has widened. It’s become a fundraiser for participating UH groups and to buy textbooks for needy students. The cafe also expanded to serve attendees at the recent Honolulu Festival.

This year, five groups collaborating to stage the cafe at Kawaii Kon include Student Veterans of America and a fledgling anime/manga club from UH-West Oahu. Also participating, from Manoa, are the Anime Manga Society and two dance groups, Asian Beat Covers and Dance at UH. Chun still acts as an adviser but student volunteers are largely responsible for running the show.

UH-West Oahu sophomore Mahealani Tupu- Ballungay said she went to the cafe in 2008 while in high school and was intrigued by the ambience.

Now she’s dressing up and serving customers who might be just like her when she was younger. Her favorite costumes are Byakuya Kuchiki and Mayuri Kurotsuchi, two Soul Society captains in the anime series "Bleach."

Cosplay Cafe customers are treated with utmost respect throughout their dining experience, from the hearty greeting at the entrance — "The masters/ madams are home! Irasshaimase! (Welcome home!)" — to the delivery of pastries and tea or coffee on a silver tray, and the sendoff where all the servers say, "Thank you for your patronage, I hope you enjoyed yourself!"

Servers will even bring out a selection of Japanese children’s games and Jenga for the guests to play.

"The goal of the cafe is to make the guest feel pampered with service and a smile," Tupu-Ballungay said.

"We learn how to interact and how to serve our masters and missuses," added UH-Manoa senior Justine Elona, who’s worked at the cafe for two years.

"Everything is important, you know. Posture, tone, the handling of the food, too. Everything has to be really sweet."

Familiarity with anime culture varies among the volunteers. For some people, like UH-Manoa sophomore and Asian Beat Covers president Amy Lee, it’s a chance for them to put their fandom to good use.

"I love to cosplay and dress up and have fun," Lee said. "But normally people will look at me strangely … if I wear a costume outside of Halloween. Cosplay Cafe is a place where I can dress up and it’s considered a little more ‘normal.’"

Perhaps the most attention-grabbing element at the Cosplay Cafe is the dance routines students break into every half-hour or so. The routines, while seemingly spontaneous, are rehearsed for months by Asian Beat Covers and Dance at UH members.

"None of us know that much about maid cafes or anime, but we’re all interested in Japanese and Korean pop culture to some extent and thought the experience would be fun," said Kele Roberts, a UH-Manoa senior and Dance at UH member who has worked at the cafe for three years. "We stayed because the cafe supports a good cause every year, and it’s a good chance for us to perform dance in a different genre than we usually do."

In the end, it’s all about the customers and their opportunity to kick back, relax and be entertained for a little while.

Chun shared the story of a mother and her young son who visited the cafe. The boy was shy, so one of the student volunteers brought over a game and started playing it with him. He won and started laughing, and they kept playing for another 10 minutes.

"When they left, the mother thanked me because her son usually never smiled or laughed in public," Chun said.

"Coming to the cafe and seeing costumed people made him relax, and he could relax while playing games with people in costume. This made me realize how important it is to reach out and connect with others, and if wearing costumes can make it easier to do that, then all the better."