Blast From The Past: The Dungeon Akiba Experience

Let me preface this entry with the following words: I don’t know why I suddenly remembered this place but it just hit me and I also just realized that it was already the second anniversary since I came to this place. I think it just goes to show how “memorable” that place was as it seems.

For the uninitiated, Dungeon Akiba is a small cafe-slash-computer shop that was located near the border of Mandaluyong and Makati (we’ll get to the was part later on).

On the outside, you’ll be greeted with a this torii structure coupled with some paper lanterns on the entryway.

Once you come inside you’ll be greeted with a maid cafe on the front and once you go to the back, you’ll be greeted with a set of computers for you to use as it’s also being advertised as an internet cafe.

Aside from the maids and the PC units, they also have a lot of glass display cases full of memorabilia from action figures from the 1980s to animation cels from anime like Flame of Recca and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

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Based from what I can remember they only serve shaved ice treats one would call kakigori. As the name suggests, it’s shaved ice flavored with some syrup and with some toppings. The kakigori is okay, and maybe because I don’t know how to eat kakigori back then and nor do I know now, but it’s no scrambol.

Service is fine since there were only two customers the time I visited, and the staff from the maids to the head honcho is really nice. I can say my experience with the dungeon wasn’t like a dungeon at all but one of those internet cafes that served food on the side.

If you look on their Facebook page, they also sponsor gaming tournaments and it’s not just some local DotA 2 tournaments, but they also entertained fighting game tournaments like a mini tournament for The King of Fighters XIV.

They also offered a membership wherein you have a chance to win either a Sony PlayStation 4 or a plethora of PC gaming related paraphernalia. Talk about being lucky.

If I would steal a line from a friend of mine, “the reason for the inception of Dungeon Akiba is the community of geeks who are longing to have a place of their own.” Sure enough, geeks and weebs can call this place their own, they felt and knew that they belong here and that the people in charge are one of them.

With all good things, this must come to an end though and I learned this the hard way. I was planning to celebrate my 26th birthday last year at the dungeon and so hours turned into days and days turned into weeks and here comes January 11th, my birthday falls on a Tuesday.

So I went ahead and went to the place and lo and behold, it was gone. I can understand why they “closed” and I had two theories: they are taking a new year break or the store is actually closed.

Nevertheless, I was bummed. I wanted to celebrate my birthday on the cafe and so I moved on and went to Greenhills and do some window shopping and then I received a reply when I asked them why aren’t there on that location anymore…

They sent me this picture and so being the geek that I am, I was glad that they’re not totally closed and so I waited and waited but then COVID-19 happened and so this was put on hold…for a year now.

So what does the future hold for the dungeon? I hope they really do find a more suitable place for their base of operations and I hope they can get more customers once this pandemic rolls over.