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Episode 1: Shirokuma Café

Episode 1: Shirokuma Café

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Shirokuma Café
Release date: 5th April 2012

Comedy Shirokuma Café offers an unusual slice-of-life setting in which the main characters are animals casually living their lives alongside unquestioning humans. The original manga was created by Aloha Higa in 2006 and is currently still being serialised in Flowers magazine, published by Shogakukan. An anime adaptation from Studio Pierrot began airing in Japan on the 5th April. The series is focused on a polar bear named ‘Shirokuma’, or, predictably, Polar Bear and revolves around his busy café with its own host of regulars, including a slacker panda and a penguin that perches on a barstool.

After a bizarre and colourful opening sequence, the first episode begins with the lazy Panda getting in the way of his mother’s housework and being attacked with a vacuum-cleaner and follows his subsequent search for a part-time job. Being best at lying around and eating bamboo, this is no easy task. Things only get stranger for the remainder of the episode but the jokes and gags are constant, characters being introduced in the usual quick and unexplained manner of a slice-of-life show and adding to what should be chaos. However, Panda’s search for a job where he can get paid for doing nothing and Polar Bear’s frustration looking for a competent employee are almost unsettlingly easy to relate to and the show feels more natural and amusing that a summary would lead you to expect.

With a stellar cast including Takahiro Sakurai (Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children’s Cloud Strife), Jun Fukuyama (Code Geass’ Lelouch Lamperouge) and Hiroshi Kamiya (Durarara!!’s Izaya Orihara) and colourful animation, this weird but charming series is worth a watch and promises to keep the Spring anime season amusing.

Good: Decent jokes, cute and amusing animation, interesting set-up.

Bad: A little rushed, although this isn’t too noticeable while actually watching.

Score: 8/10

[Words by Jennifer Nolan-Lee]

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