What is the Neko Neko Maid & Host Club?
Kitti: It is a touring group from all around the nation that sing, dance, and play games with customers at various anime conventions. I believe we're the only maid group that tours.
How did the group get started?
Kitti: Miki and I were part of show choir and toured together. We both discovered and had an interest in maid cafes, so we became friends.
How long has Neko Neko been running?
Kitti: We started July 4, 2009
Have you ever been to Japan?
Kitti: I have been and Miki will be attending school there soon, but the group has not travelled to Japan.
What is your inspiration?
Miki: Being in show choir, the love of performing, and jpop.
How much does jpop influence you?
Miki: In our performances.
What jpop artists/groups inspire you?
Miki: AKB48 and Morning Musume
How often do you get applicants for being a maid or host?
Kitti: We do auditions all year round, but mainly we hold auditions for upcoming cons.
I noticed that there are many maids and very few hosts, why do you think it's hard to obtain hosts?
Kitti: We mainly focus on getting maids.
Miki: (jokingly) I think the hosts are intimidated by the maids.
How do you figure out the routines you're going to use for each show?
Kitti: Miki decides on the routines.
What is the hardest part about being a maid?
Kitti: As a tour maid, taking time off from school, being away from friends and family in the summer, and adjusting from different weather conditions as well as going from hotel to hotel.
Do you face any discrimination or have been stereotyped for being maids?
Kitti: In the beginning, our families had some concerns, but later they understood and supported us.
Have you had many difficult customers?
Kitti: It's rare, but occasionally we get gloomy customers. They're usually easy to cheer up.
What is your favorite game?
Kitti: Jenga
Miki: For the fans, they like playing "Maids in a Pickle", but I like Pretty Pretty Princess.
What are your future goals for Neko Neko?
Kitti: We want to expand into more cons and we also have a manga coming out.
Could you give a final message to the Cult readers?
Kitti: Come see Neko Neko Maid & Hostess Club at the next event!
If you're interested in learning more about Neko Neko Maid & Host Club, you can visit their site. On the site, you can find out when their next stop is as well as how to audition to be part of the group. I would like to thank Kitti and Miki for letting me hang out at their table and interviewing them!
The first movie started off as a big mystery, a question upon questions as photographer Adam Stanheight and Dr. Lawrence Gordon awaken in a dingy bathroom with a bloody body in the middle of the room and their ankles cuffed to an inanimate object in the room. Naturally, they are at a panic and questioned the other about what was going on and how they got to where they are now. They soon came across a cassette tape and played it, learning they are part of Jigsaw's game. Both characters are familiar with the name as his prescence has been buzzing around the media. Amanda Young was a survivor of one of Jigsaw's "tests" and testifies publicly that it has changed her life. On the side, we have Detectives David Tapp and Detective Steven Sing showing us previous victims of the Jigsaw's contraptions while trying to solve the current case.
By the time Saw IV was brought to the theaters, my thoughts of the franchise was waning and I was more excited about hearing X Japan's "IV" in the ending credits of the film than the actual movie. I was a little skeptical with what they were going to come up with **spoiler** since John Kramer died. The acting was improving which was slightly saddening, since the lack of acting abilities tend to be amusing to my friends and myself. The traps were hit and miss, but I was still interested. I thought it would all be over, but somehow they dug up some more inventions to crank out 3 more movies.
Before viewing the final installment, I had mixed emotions toward it. I wanted to stay a dedicated fan, since I've seen the previous movies, but the elements that made the franchise special were lacking and were uncreative. I shifted my focus on the storyline and brushed off the poor games that were set up for the characters in each movie after Saw IV. It was also a shame that the movie was in 3D, fortunately, I didn't watch it in 3D. Upon watching the supposed final installment, I was a little bored with what was going on and I almost felt betrayed by the writers, but then the end came. Oh. My. God! Completely unexpected ending and it made me smile. With a clever ending like that, I hope they leave it there. Otherwise, brace yourself for an assload of angry fan letters.
We began with Hiroshi Sugiyama, a 32 year old freelance writer who has face-to-face communication problems due to his interaction with a co-worker in his company he had a crush on. He keeps to himself and, in the book, we hear about his isolated life and the comings and goings of his upstairs neighbors. He gets an interesting young male neighbor that brings in attractive women nearly every night and the activities going on above him become a new hobby for him between downtime. He becomes a bit obsessed with it and begins following the women to see the face behind the erotic noise, then takes a step further to buy something to hear things a little better while pleasuring himself. He soon runs into a woman at a library (or bar, according to the movie) and sleeps with her occasionally, despite his lack of physical attraction to her. Although, his life began promising by reminding himself of his academic achievements, but his lack of social skills overwhelm him to an emotional breakdown in the end...at least, it's better explained in the novel.
Next, we have 23 year old "talent scout" Kenji Kurino who grew up learning that lying is the way to happiness. He lives above the previous character, until he snags some money and moves to a fancier apartment. He uses his charming abilities by scouting beautiful (and ditsy) women on the street to work in hostess/cabaret clubs, then manipulates them by moving them up the ladder of the sex industry such as "massage parlors" and pornography. Surprisingly, while catering to one of his clients, he becomes attach to her and at the same time convinces her to do adult films. He gets himself in a mess of trouble while managing her and realizes that an older client he picked up is related to his love interest and his story ends just a bittersweet as the first.
Living next to a young looking neighbor with an obnoxious dog and a heap of garbage surrounding the inside and outside of her home, 43 year old Yoshie Sato holds many secrets from her family. She started as a housewife and took care of her mother-in-law, but things went downhill during her caretaking. She felt that her husband and daughter didn't care about her and became a bit selfish and useless at the same time, until a man approached her and offered her a job as a adult film actress. She signed a contract without hesitation as long as they blurred out her face and it satisfied her repressed sexual desire that she lacked in her marriage. Later, she changes managers to a young man [guess who? XD] and demands different working situations and higher pay. Even though her family situation wasn't looking good, her career made up for it until officials bring over a notice for her to clean up her home as neighbors were complaining about the smell. She figures out a quick solution to get rid of her horrible living situation, as well as the secret she's been hiding on the second floor, and asks the mystery writer that's been sending threatening letters to her oh-so perfect neighbor with the dog to burn her house down. Things seem falsely happy in the end and the novel's version keeps us in suspense of what happened next.
Next up is no thrills 26 year old karaoke box worker Koichi Aoyagi. He's a pushover and has a hard time saying no, even though he really wants to. He puts all his anger into letters he sends to a young neighbor with a noisy dog. His lack of assertiveness gets him in a lot of trouble, not only in his own apartment, but at his work place with a pimp. He goes along with turning the place into a business for high school girls to exchange sexual favors with older businessmen for money, but the perk is that Koichi and his co-worker can get a free handjob as long as they keep everything on the down low. Between his work turning into a sexual hotspot and his pent up anger toward the dog's excessive barking throughout the night, things quickly get out of hand.
Lastly, we conclude the story with 26 year old erotic novel transcriber Sayuri Tamaki who lures lonely/desperate men at the library to her home and secretly records their sexual encounters. Once they leave, she looks at the videos and sells them to an adult shop. She accepts that she's not beautiful and her self worth is very low when a postal worker and his friends come by and play rock, paper, scissor over her like an object. One of her victims deniably becomes attach to her during their meet ups and she points out how they're meant to be. This ends bittersweetly, but ties up a couple loose ends to some of the other characters' stories mentioned throughout the novel.
