Shirokuma Cafe

So here's the thing, I don't like exploring anime too much. If you're into it then you should know why, there are so many and the quality between them is inconsistent, it can be hard to tell what you're gonna watch will be worth it. So I often try to heed the advice and words of other internet goers and judge their opinions and compare them to my own tastes, but sometimes something will just appear out of nowhere and surprise you with its quality.

Shirokuma Cafe is an shojou anime (meant for women from teens to 40s I think) that focuses on a teenage Panda named... Panda, and this guy hits really close to home for me. He's apparently not in school, because he's a Panda I suppose, and is unemployed as well, so he just lays around his house all day eating bamboo and sleeping. One day his mother, Mama Panda, gets fed up and tells him to look for a part time job. To avoid getting sucked up by her vacuum, Panda goes out into the city to look for work. He calls some places, but they hang up on him, and he can't find anyone who will take him or meets his own lazy criteria. Lost and tired, the young Panda stumbles upon a wonderful cafe run by a Polar Bear named Shirokuma (which is Japanese for Polar Bear). While enjoying an iced coffee, since they don't serve bamboo, Panda overhears Shirokuma saying he's looking for a part timer to help out, so Young Panda decides to apply.

Unfortunately for both parties, Shirokuma needs someone to work at least four days and actually do work, and Panda is only looking for a part time job for two days and doesn't want to do any work, so Shirokuma naturally does not hire him (and a host of other animal applicants who were unsuited to the task). Someone does get the job though, a young human woman named Sasako (bet you thought she would be named Human, didn't ya?) who just brought a sloth to a more comfortable location outside the cafe. Panda continues looking for a job, and Shirokuma, Sasako, and a cafe regular who's friends with Shirokuma, a Penguin named... well I bet you know, suggest positions for him, and Panda decides to check out a position at the zoo. Good news for him, Mr. Handa the zookeeper is willing to hire him for the panda position for two days a week, so starts Panda's part time job working along side Jyoukin Panda (full time Panda, and that is the only name he's ever referred to).

This series is delightful, I can't really think of a more apt word. It's fun and funny, none of the characters are too annoying, but each have their quirks. Panda is quite lazy in a special way, he wants to be lazy on his own terms, and frequently gets bored at the zoo just being the panda because it's boring, and he is quite naive and self-centered, but not in a way that seems malicious, he seems to genuinely believe his own well-being should go first (not to mention his obsession with how cute pandas are), though he sometimes does come off as a brat and a jerk, but it's never too bad. Shirokuma is a laid back character who seems to be a lot wiser than the rest of the cast, but he has a habit of teasing people and making puns that drive Penguin especially crazy. Penguin is pretty level headed for the most part until he starts talking about his love interest, Miss Penko (another penguin), which when mentioned he will get crazy over her (and there are a few funny parts to how it unfolds with her). Sasako is a kind woman who generally just seems to want others to be happy, so she can come off as a more boring character but is a great contrast to the quirks the others bring to the group.

There are other characters, many others, but I've covered the main ones. Separate the characters can get a little grating at times, but mostly they balance each other out well, and it helps that they all look like real animals instead of cartoonified versions of animals. The plots generally revolve around Panda and his adventures to do things in the laziest way possible, from wanting a Smart Phone to having a full time schedule at the zoo for a week and forced to ride crowded trains to get to work on time. Penguin will also get his own episodes frequently, generally about his failing to ask out miss Penko or trying to prepare for an ideal date with her (getting his license, practicing how the date will go, trying to talk to her, all with less than stellar results). The characters with the worst luck on the show are Penguin and Mr. Handa, Panda's boss, who wants a wife desperately but just doesn't seem to have much going on with the ladies.

I want to say so much about this anime but I don't want to spoil parts of the show beyond the first couple of episodes, so I will just end this with an explanation of why I like it so much. It's a funny thing, it's a slice of life anime so there is a lack of a main plot going through all the episodes, though there is a great continuity, but there isn't much for lovers of anime like Death Note, Naruto, FMA, or something like Sekirei or Rosario+Vampire. This is a show that did seem designed for female audiences (NOTE: I am not saying only women would like it or that men can't or women can't or any other sexist thing), but it's just got a charm to it that even if it does seem slow at times it still has me transfixed. Mostly though, watching this show helps me pick up on the Japanese language, I've been learning it for over two years now and it's got such a basic feel to the sentences and grammar that I'm able to recognize a lot of what's being said (though the subtitles helped) and it really made me feel good realizing I can understand a part of the language already.

For those interested in checking it out, the series is available on Crunchy Roll, but it is in Japanese with English subtitles. I don't know if it will get an English dub (the puns Polar Bear pulls out are based on Japanese words so I don't envy whoever would have to try to get around that for English audiences), but I think as it is it's already worth checking out. Feels nice to have something positive to say for once!

-Subtle