If you watch some Witch Hunter Robin, you'll come across a character named Harry, who owns a restaurant that Robin (and others) frequent. At first I thought Harry was a little bit creepy with his "Mata kite kudasai" (said to Robin with a certain tone) and such. But later I changed my mind. He's a pretty good guy.
About a year ago I was in a little Italian restaurant in quiet part of Yokohama. It was just a short walk away from my host family's house, and my host mum (Sachiyo) took me out for dinner there because my host dad (Toru), who was apparently not too keen on Italian food, was out with some of his friends that night. The restaurant was pretty quiet that night - only two or three others came in while we were there. Sachiyo knew the man who owned the place and who cooked for us (after making suggestions from the menu for us), and we all chatted as he cooked. (I seem to recall that his daughter had briefly dropped by at our place a couple of days beforehand, to drop something off or to pass on a message.)
I think the fact that it was an Italian restaurant in Japan is a large part of the reason why these memories were brought back after seeing Harry's western-style café/bar. The restaurant seemed fairly classy (like Harry's) but there was nothing pretentious about it. The man who owned it was genuine and friendly, like Harry. Now that I think about it, it feels like I met this anime character in Japan before I'd even seen the anime. It feels really strange.
