Reviews for Polar Bear Cafe

Polar Bear Café (Shirokuma Café): A charming, puntastic show filled with memorable moments – 9/10 PLOT: Polar Bear Café is about the daily lives of a bunch of animals who frequent a café run by the titular Polar Bear, including a panda, a penguin, a llama and a sloth (among many others). There are a few random humans thrown in there too – the perma-smiling Sasako, the bumbling zookeeper Handa and the panda obsessed florist Rin-Rin, but the cast is mainly animals. Animals that no one bats an eye at when when they’re casually wandering about town buying groceries, or working in a bakery or runninga bar – they’re fully integrated into society. And yet there is a fully functional zoo where a number of the characters actually work! You kind of take this strange setting for granted after a few episodes – it just works.

Polar Bear Café is a show I couldn’t watch without a smile on my face (trust me I desperately tried when watching the later half of the series on my own in public, being caught grinning and giggling like an idiot when there’s pastel renditions of wild animals emitting showers of sparkles and hearts on my screen is not fun); the show just thrums with feel-good vibes. It’s also consistently hilarious, and displays excellent use of puns, parodies, basic comedic timing and the usual tsukkomi/boke routines. The series uses all the run-of-the-mill s’life situations (festivals, onsen, road-trips, all the holidays you can think of) but simply having the characters be animals puts an interesting spin on things, as they have a unique outlook on things. I don’t usually get on well with s’life shows, but I adored Polar Bear Café – it just balances the mundane with wit so well.

The characters are probably what kept me coming back to the show so much – the central quartet of Polar Bear, Penguin, Panda and Sasako just have superb chemistry and play off each other brilliantly. The side characters are also wonderful and all get their own episodes to shine – my favourites have to be Polar Bear’s long suffering childhood friend and bar owner Grizzly and poor overlooked but utterly charming Llama.Polar Bear Café also has “The Feels” in spades – it just gets under your skin and forces a reaction out of you with alarming frequency. After 50 episodes these characters feel like old friends and I was desperately sad to see the series end, I do hope we get more at some stage.

ANIMATION: The animation is by Studio Pierrot and is very simple but serviceable. The animals are well drawn and surprisingly expressive given many of them lack the usual facial features humans rely on to determine emotion (just where are Penguin & Panda’s eyes anyway??). The over all look of the show is quite soft and pastel, and there is creative use of sparkles, bubbles, hearts, flowers and sweatdrops to punctuate gags or emotion. On the flipside the humans in general are actually terrifying in their inexpressiveness – Sasako in particular has completely dead eyes that are rather unnerving. The show also experiments with unusual visuals in its many EDs – stop-motion, live action, shadow-puppets and paper cut-outs all get a turn, and it is clear that the staff had a lot of fun making this series.

MUSIC & VOICE ACTING: The cast of Polar Bear Café has to be one of the most star-studded I’ve ever encountered. Everyone seems to be a noteworthy name – the central quartet consists of Jun Fukuyama, Takahiro Sakurai, Hiroshi Kamiya and Aya Endo – but the extended cast reads like a who’s who of popular seiyuu! They all seemed to have lots of fun working on this series as well, as the chemistry is brilliant and the acting is really excellent on the whole. A few actors even voice a number of different side characters giving them completely different voices and displaying their range well.

Another thing of note is that there are a lot of different EDs for this series and each of them is an image song, sung in character by the seiyuu – resulting in some truly wonderful songs. I particularly loved Panda’s ‘Bamboo Scramble’ by Jun Fukuyama and Llama’s ‘Llama Mambo’ by Daisuke Ono, but all the song are special in their own way. Even the OPs are pretty damn good, but I’ll always like the first OP best.

Overall I just have to reiterate who utterly charming this show is – it’s a wonderful show to watch if you need cheering up (just avoid watching episode 44 for that purpose – it’s a proper tearjerker). When I first picked up the series last Spring I never would have imagined it turning out to be this good – always a joy when that happens. So yes Polar Bear Café is a show I’d highly recommend picking up – it deserves much more love!

I’m still a relative newbie to anime, but so far, slice of life has been pretty good to me. Polar Bear Café manages to continue this trend. It’s a pretty silly and stupid show. It may not be gut bustingly hilarious (I’ll explain why), but it’s still very entertaining. This is my review. Contains Minor Spoilers Story The story of Polar Bear Café is really simple as it just follows the daily escapades of a café run by a Polar Bear’s regulars. There is no overarching plot and the stories are broken up into two 12-minute segments like a lot of western animated shows. Thisshow is clean. No toilet humour, no lowbrow humour, no sexual innuendo. The humour comes from the terrible puns Polar Bear gives in every episode, the goofy situations characters find themselves in, some slapstick and their banter and conversation. Comedy is incredibly subjective so someone might find this hilarious while somebody else might only chuckle in between certain scenes. I found the comedy to be very hit-and-miss. When the humour works, it’s hilarious, but a lot of times the jokes fall flat. It gets repetitive. There are only so many times you can take intentionally bad puns. However the individual episodic stories are varied so if you didn’t like the first half, you’ll probably end up liking the second.

Art

I have to say the art looks fantastic. It’s really bright and fits the silliness of the show, like something out of a children’s book. The majority of the cast consists of animals and they’re drawn perfectly, resembling their real-life counterparts. The humans in the show look pretty plain. It seems more detail was put into the design of the animals than the people. Expect greatly exaggerated actions and facial features that provide for a lot of the slapstick.

Sound

The seiyuus of Polar Bear Café do a great job with the characters. I always thought that a Panda would sound like he does in this show if he could actually speak. I love the first OP. It’s catchy and upbeat and I listen to it every time. The ED’s change more times that I can count but there hasn’t been any that I particularly liked and I usually skip them. I watched the second and third OP’s and they’re catchy and fit the show, but it wasn’t up to the standard of the first.

Characters

The characters of Polar Bear Café are probably the anime’s standout and saviour. They’re funny, stupid, likeable and all have great chemistry. The way the regulars interact in the café seems like genuine conversation that friends have every day. The three leads are by far the best of the bunch. You have the oblivious Panda, the deadpan Polar Bear and the irritable and love sick Mr. Penguin. They play off each other well and their personality clashes always manage to put a smile on my face.

Enjoyment

Like I mentioned, the show is very hit-and-miss. The clean humour can get repetitive and lacks bite, but the individual sitcom-like stories and the three leads always manage to be entertaining. I don’t think I would have enjoyed this show so much if Panda, Mr. Penguin and Polar Bear weren’t in it.

It’s very silly and goofy and not something I would recommend watching as a marathon, but if you give it a chance it might end up as something you’ll love.

7/10

Shirokuma Cafe is a slice of life, comedy anime and it doesn't try to be anything else. It does its job well and in appealing ways. When talking to a couple of my male friends they were surprised to find out that I watched Shirokuma Cafe and I was surprised in return. I always thought of it as a kind of cute show with catchy tunes that was fun to watch. My friends watched it for the humor (it wasn't like I didn't, because I did, I just didn't think that would be their number one appeal). Shirokuma Cafe is targeted at a wide varietyof audiences and because of this, many can appreciate its strengths.

Story:

Shirokuma Cafe doesn't have an amazing plot and to be honest, it's not about the plot or the 'development'--it's about the characters, how the characters interact with each other, fun and the humor it presents. It simply wouldn't be fair for me to judge it based on story. Overall, I'd give it at a 7 or an 8, though.

Art:

Shirokuma Cafe presents a muted and refreshing palette with a surprising amount of care placed in backgrounds (ex. pay attention to the backgrounds in the opening). Scenery is very pretty and while character designs are basic (come on, they're animals) they are presented in such a way where they can stand out through other methods (shoujo sparkles for Panda, anyone?).

The ending seems to be made of some sort of stop motion thing starring panda. To be honest, I thought they were cupcakes, but considering the fact that they used the stop motion for the whole thing and did it on that area, it's pretty cool. My only issue is that it took me a bit to figure out what was what. Once you get it, though, it's enjoyable. I gave this section a 9.

Sound:

The opening surprised me. It was very pop and while it wasn't what I expected (something cutesy and more bright) I certainly enjoyed it.

The ending is where I got cutesy. The ending (Bamboo Scramble) sung by Panda, or Jun Fukuyama, is cutey and holds a lot of personality. While it's catchy for the most part the effect does wear off after a bit. Overall, for this section, 8-9.

Character:

This is where Shirokuma Cafe really shines. Each character has a distinct personality and while much of the humor is based on running jokes or puns, each character is distinctly adorable with their humor and terrible logic. 9.

Enjoyment:

I check up on this anime every week. If you're looking for something cute and fun to watch (or if you simply enjoy pun based humor) Shirokuma Cafe is the anime for you.

I was recently recommended to watch this anime. I wasn't sure what to think at first. I do enjoy Slice of Life quite a lot, the theme seemed interesting and the art looked like something I'd enjoy watching. But I will admit that knowing that the main characters were animals put me off for a little while. I felt like it would probably be incredibly childish. In the end... I was half right, half wrong? The humor can be childish, at times. But I think it can also be incredibly smart, especially with Shirokuma's puns. They play with the Japanese language in a way thatmade me even more curious about the language that I already was. It was also refreshing to watch an anime that relies heavily on humor, but also doesn't hesitate to bring heavy subjects in a few episodes. As much as most of the tears I've had while watching Shirokuma Cafe were tears of joy and laughter, I did find myself crying in a few serious moments of the stories. That's something I couldn't appreciate more in a Slice of life/comedy anime.

The art is, in my opinion, beautiful, and fits really well with what type of anime it tries to be. It definitely appeals to anyone part of their target audience. The soundtrack was incredibly enjoyable. By the end of the 50 episodes, I found myself humming and singing along some of the songs, especially the Llama one. Llamambo!

And what to say of the characters! God, I loved them. All of them. Shirokuma, Panda, Penguin, Llama, Tortoise, Sasako, Sloth, Grizzly, etc. There is honestly no character that I disliked throughout the whole show. I felt attached to them, always happy to see any of them have screen time or even a whole story to themselves. I was always curious to learn more about them and see what they were going to do next. When they were sad or laughing, I found myself feeling the same. I might be pushing it a bit far, but my point is, they made a really good job of making you connect with the characters. They're probably the reason I binged on 50 episodes in a week. I always wanted to know what was going to happen next, what they were going to do next. Which is a surprising feeling to have for a Slice of Life anime. It's not as if it's full of action or fast paced. Nonetheless, I was always eager to see the next episode.

Overall, I think this anime is awesome, especially for Slice of Life lovers. It is incredibly sweet, funny, smart and it will make you want to watch more, even after 50 episodes. I would recommend this to anyone!

This whole anime is pretty much just the silly things that happens when panda tries finding jobs and silly dialog between the characters. It is very similar to animes like 'Nichijou', 'Kill me baby', and 'Hetalia'. The anime has no real meaning but it does have better pacing and more of a story line than the animes mentioned above. In fact, this anime is a whole lot like 'Lucky Star'. A silly, pointless anime with a decent-at-best story line (again, its alot better than those crazy random animes that change what is happening every .5 seconds). Probably the only reason people are watching this show isbecause of the voice actors. I think there is little reason to watch this show besides the fact it has the some of the most popular voice actors in it, but if you want to watch a random, 'slice of life' type show then I would recommend it.

This anime is not amazing and never will be, like most 'slice of life' animes, but it is better than others. If you like 'slice of life' anime, then this would be a good one to watch.

If there was ever an anime which put "kwai!" to perfection and graced it with a significant degree of adorable charm, this one does. While I would go on and proceed about all aspects of this masterpiece, I find it would be a lacklustre review and would undermine the wonderful experience of watching this lovely anime. Nevertheless, some pointers are always best to mention. While there are some really nice aspects to this anime, the best thing which makes it sell and makes it viewable is that it isn't 50 FULL episodes, but 100 HALF Episodes (2 story events occurring per episode). Amongst the best aspectsof this anime are:

The Characters: Panda, Polar Bear and Penguin, and Mr. Honda as well as Miss Sasako are at the helm in terms of screen time, yet everyone else (Anteater, Llama, Apacha, the other Penguins who become THE SOUTH POLE SQUAD, the boy band Yama Arashi, the Penkos, Panda's family, Full-Time Panda, Rin Rin, Grizzly, Sloth, Tortoise amongst them) delivers just as well. Personally, I think the highlight of the show is Polar Bear and his performance is - if not stellar - hilarious and really well thought out. And everyone compliment that performance with a grace that is adorable, and yet balanced out with an acute sincerity. Its hard NOT to like these characters, because they NEVER go out of character - in fact, you root for them and watch all 50 episodes just because the characters make the show what it is: adorable.

The Art: The puns are the identifying hallmark of this show. Combined with the cheese in the later episodes of The South Pole Squad (SOUTH POLE SQUAD! PENGUINGER!!), the tension which is exhibited by the character arc of Penguin, as well as the character emotions when corresponding with each other, the art sells perfectly in this work and makes it worthwhile. Nothing less than well thought out, balanced with good humor, and really fun presentations of the episodes as they progress.

The Sound: All the characters sounded exactly as they should, followed by the really fun soundtrack (mellow and sweet in episodes in which the characters accept each other, as is the case with Grizzly and Panda; brooding and yet laughable when Penguin interacts with the Penkos; cheesy and roaring awesome when introducing THE SOUTH POLE SQUAD! PENGUINGER!! - and as you can imagine, my personal favourite moment in this anime; and even sad when some of the characters have doubts over their minds - episode 45's first story, without adding any spoilers to it, is the emotional equivalent of being stabbed in the heart upfront and then bashed by a spade followed by having your legs chopped off, such is the sadness felt in it. Yet, it doesn't seem forced, but comes off naturally in this anime. Which is always a good thing and works to its benefit.

In essence, this is the perfect "feel good" anime to watch when life gets you down. Panda is mischievous and evil, yet so adorable you squee inside (and feel crippled when he's sad. Period); Penguin is awesome - especially his interaction with Polar Bear which makes him a comedic riot; and of course, Polar Bear, whose puns are perfect, his observations are sharp and clever, and his wit makes the whole show standout and make everyone sweet, adorable, enjoyable, and amusing by association.

The perfect light hearted 50 episode anime. And it does everything right.

There is probably no better anime than the one and only Shirokuma Cafe. I have rewatched this about a good 34 times and it never gets old for me. There are far too many legendary aspects in this single series for me to even begin to talk about. I wil leave you with an analogy instead. Meet Beareskinford. He is a rebel bear who has been fighting off the government for many years. He has been working with his trusty sidekick for about the same time. Fast forward a couple years... Beareskinford walks into a bar and meets a bison. Now he hasn'tseen this bison for many years after beareskinford took off one day.

Naturally, beareskinford goes in for the brohug, but the bison has other ideas. The bison sneaks in a cheeky shank onto beareskinford's chest and the once great bear takes a graceful dive to the floor. It is revealed at this time that the bison was actually beareskinford's son in a freaky sex accident. He had been slowly bottling up rage from the countless years that his father had been absent.

From the moment that his so-called-father entered the bar, he decided that it was finally his time. The forest took many, many weeks to mourn over beareskinford's death and one could only hope there was a light at the end of this dark tunnel. </analogy>

Hopefully this left you with a good idea of what this masterpiece is truly capable of. I would rate this 5/7.

Shirokuma Cafe is the epitome of the classic "Don't judge a book by it's cover"...seriously, don't judge it by pictures or the synopsis. The only way you can enjoy Shirokuma Cafe is to actually watch it. The story isn't much, it's pretty much a collection of short stories about the 3 main characters (Polar Bear, Panda, and Penguin) and the events that happen to them (as they tell them to the others inside the cafe). Polar Bear pretty much runs the cafe while the other 2 come in nearly every day. DO NOT be turned away by the anthropomorphic animals...just don't because you'll regret it.Trust me, I hesitated to watch this show at first, but gave in, watched a couple episodes, and fell in love with it. The show is by-far funnier than anyone would ever expect it to be. Polar Bear is usually the sensible-yet-silly one who likes to troll the others and usually uses a lot of wordplay gags. Panda is kind of the lazy douchebag of the group; He's a narcissistic, self-absorbed person/animal who only cares about himself for the most part. Penguin is the Tsukkomi of the group (whereas Polar Bear and Panda would be the Bokes)...in other words, he's always the straight man. I usually like to refer to penguin as the "group punching bag"...why? You'll have to watch to find out. While each character might not be interesting enough to hold up the show on their own, when all 3 get together, chaos and hilarity usually ensues. And we also throw in the cute-but-realistic Sasako-san (a human girl who works as a waitress at the cafe) and Panda's zookeeper Handa-san (who is a chubby normal guy) in the mix, and you have complete insanity and comedy so unexpected.

It really helps to know a lot about animals considering many jokes have to do with different animal species. While it helps, it's certainly not necessary, because they usually explain it in the show. Some of those jokes revolve around the problems with animals, or how boring they are (like Sloth). Fear not, most the jokes have nothing to do with animals, and are definitely funny on their own to make even the most uninformed person (on animals) laugh out loud. It helps that these animals act just like humans, so the jokes aren't hard to relate to at all.

I'd say get through the first 5-10 episodes, and you'll be hooked. The personalities are all hilarious, and adding a bunch of different animals such as tortoises, sloths, baboons, and llamas, makes it crazy. Every animal has a completely different personality. It's definitely the characters and the jokes that sell the series. It's somewhat a mature comedy, in other words, there's no teenagers in this show. Even so, no matter what age, I believe that Shirokuma Cafe has an appeal to everyone out there.

The art is very simple in regards to other anime, but it fits perfectly. This is not an anime that should be animated by the best animation company possible. The daily-life tone of the show makes the simple art and animation perfect for the show, and I believe adds to the experience. Nothing fancy, but it sure fits what the show is aiming for.

I didn't really notice too much of the music during the episodes. Most are light-hearted, happy tunes that, once again, fit the show just fine. Nothing dramatic or action-y happens, so the light-hearted music is perfect.

So overall, if you've ever watched Animal Planet when you were younger (or still do) this is a must-watch. If you're an animal lover, this is definitely a must-watch. If you're not an animal-lover, you should still check it out. I'm only 25 episodes in, and I have laughed on nearly every episode.

I was totally expecting something different when I watched it at first, and planned to drop it before I even started...now it's one of my favorite shows out there. All I can say is: If you're EVER in a bad mood, watch one episode of Shirokuma Cafe and you'll be smiling as if nothing bad ever happened. For an example, I thought I got a speeding ticket (seeing if they mail it to me or not), and was super pissed that night. I watched a couple episodes of Shirokuma Cafe, and all my anger evaporated, I kid you not. It is just an easy-going comedy that will get you out of even the worst moods.

This is why it gets 8's for the technical stuff but a 10 for the overall enjoyment...it's a simple delight and a wonderful show. Some of the comedy is top-notch and on-par with my other favorite comedy Gintama. Anyways, I suggest everyone give it a watch just once, because I think anyone and everyone can find something to love about it.

When I first saw the pic for the series (The portrait of Shirokuma, Panda and Penguin with the Cafe in the background), I wasn't sure what to expect so I waited a bit untill I watched the first episode. And boy did I not regret to start with this series. The music and art are relaxed and soothing, it has amazing OP's and ED's , the animals look so realistic yet so nice to watch them interact with each other and with the humans sharing their community. The jokes are funny (Especially the word puns with Shirokuma and Penguin) and the voice acting is amazing and fitswith every animal species shown in the series (From the lazy and relaxed Panda to the gruffy Grizzly to the criticizing and sometimes insecure Penguin)

It's a great way to close the week with it and I find it like Lucky Star but with animals in the cast instead of humans

I watched the sub. It took a maybe 4 or so episodes to really get into the flow of it, but it became one of my absolute favorite anime (which should be obvious by my name). It's easy to be fooled by the style and some of the tone and think this is simply an anime for children. It's not. And by that I don't mean it's a complete trick, the way the opening to Asobi Asobase gives you a false impression. A lot of the humor in Shirokuma Cafe is puns and a lot of it (especially in thesecond half of the series) is absurd. But most of the characters are adults, so a lot of times episodes revolve around workplaces and adult friendships. The best example is probably with Shirokuma (who runs the cafe) who has been best friends with Grizzly (who runs a bar) since childhood, and while they have very different personalities you get to see how that developed and how much it means to both of them... neither of whom are great at expressing it directly in words but make it clear in their actions. At heart it's a show about relationships, with a group of imperfect but still good, well-meaning humans and animals who try to look out for each other.

It's not all warm-fuzzies, though. A lot of the humor is great. But it is a lot of puns, a lot of absurd stuff, and a lot goes for "clever" or "well-crafted" more than slapstick or over-the-top usually. There's a lot of subtle and understated humor, and I'm sure I'm missing a ton of stuff and additional nuance that I'd get if I spoke Japanese as well.

It's also definitely one you have to be in the right headspace for, too. If you're in the mood for Saiki-K style humor, this isn't going to fit the bill.

Shirokuma Cafe is one of the best anime you will ever see if you just want to watch something that will make you relax, laugh and think about nothing. Story-8 Okay so first off, if you don't like anime where the story although will change but the concept is the same then Shirokuma Cafe will annoy you a bit. The story is pretty simple. There is a cafe run be a Polar Bear (Shirokuma) and the whole entire anime is basically about a panda, a penguin, a lama and other animals that go to the cafe and talk about their problems. The idea is pretty funny andoriginal. I mean come on which anime aside from Shirkuma Cafe has a POLAR BEAR as the owner of a cafe and the customers are animals and humans together. Not only that it seems that it is a normal thing to see a panda walking down the street. I mean in real life people would either have screamed or they would have called animal control. I don't think many people recognize how unique the story and the concept is. But aside from the plot itself in each episode there are two different stories which sometimes are connected but otherwise it is usually two separate ones. Without giving any spoilers the stories that happen with each character does give you a nice feeling inside. For an example in episode 34 you follow the story of Wolf and Tiger and watch the friendship bloom really is beautiful and funny.

Story comparison: Doreamon, and Ninja Hattori-kun in terms of format.

Art-8

I'm always impressed by the art in anime. The characters and the background look very unique and clean. The colours are also very nice looking but it isn't anything that will make you go O: like Attack On Titan does.

Art comparison: Minami-ke in terms of character design. If you look closely at Sasako she kind of resembles Kana (kind of) and also the eyes look pretty much the same in terms of style and width

Sound-9

The voice acting is almost perfect. Each character has the voice that I would imagine them to have. For an example, isn't penguin's voice perfect? and also grizzlies?

Furthermore, one of the best things in this anime is the music. The openings match the exciting and laid back vibe that the anime gives off. The first opening "Boku ni Invitation" especially gave a strong impression on me. It is very upbeat and catchy like most anime songs should be in order to draw the audience in. Also the endings of each anime are very nice but the transition to the ending in some episodes can be somewhat disruptive. However I don't want to over-hype the music too much because by no means is it a masterpiece like Guilty Crown, Fairy Tail, FMA, Angel Beats and others.

Sound Comparison: Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin but there are better comparisons for sure

Character-7

Okay, here is what the anime mayyybee could have done better. However considering the type of anime it is I don't see why they would add character development in this kind of anime. The anime isn't particularly supposed to stand out in terms of a mind blowing story. But to put into context:

Panda (main character):

-very lazy panda

-is full of himself to the point where it is funny

-Even after watching the anime I don't really know if he is selfish or just mean

-at times can be very nice

-Hates people that he views as weird (poor Rin Rin....)

Voiced by: Fukuyama, Jun (Yutta in Chuunibyou, Lelouch in Code Geass O: and a lot of others) in other words he's a very good voice actor

Shirokuma (main character):

-PUN the PUNS ARE REAL

-a very calm person

-is a very funny character

-background is really unkown.. there have been various stories but none that are confirmed to be true

-of course a very good cook

-runs the cafe

-best friends with Grizzly

-is kind of a mean...you'll see why if you watch the anime

Voiced by: Sakurai, Takahiro (Kira in Bleach, Sting in Fairy Tail and lots of others as well)

Penguin (main character):

-Needs compliments

-is often left out and ignored (it's funny at first but you kind of feel bad for him)

-Reminds you of that friend who keeps talking about how wonderful this girl he likes but never has the guts to ask her out

-basically just does nothing for the whole entire day

-adds dynamic to the other main characters and acts as that person who is always laughed at

Voiced by: Kamiya, Hiroshi (Otonashi from Angel Beats)

Enjoyment-9

If you are looking to watch something that will be make you relax or just want to watch a show for a cooldown after watching something intense Shirokuma Cafe is something you would want to watch

Overall-8

I would not really recommend this show to someone who can't stand shows without any character development or something without a mind blowing plot. However if you are looking to watch a show that will give you a few laughs or too then Shirokuma Cafe is one of the shows you want to watch.

It's not always easy to stay on the right side of the line between cozy and boring. Polar Bear Cafe handles it flawlessly. The main source of drama is the romantic haplessness of an unlikeable character, which keeps the suspense minimal and stress-free. The recurring gags are well-timed and always worth a chuckle, even (especially!) when they're just a little predictable.

I'll write a review, for once in my life, only because I found this show to be awkwardly amusing. Yes, some may say it is a boring show, or a SOL anime that just uses animals as a way to make it 'original', but I find there's ore than just that. The story, yes, there is none. It is a slice of life, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it's meant to be a peaceful side story in the life of a strange, strange town with talking animals. Everyday is just another day in the life of Panda, but they act like whatthey should act like. Regular animals. I can't and won't expect anything less, besides the fact that they talk and live in a seemingly normal functioning town.

The art is not flashy, not amazingly detailed and not very flowing, but I find the duller more realistic tones calming. The animals aren't especially cuter than they should be, but that's what makes this show nice. All the animals look like one another, with slightly different personalities and voices. It may not be a flashy show, but it still makes me smile and laugh when I see a little funny quirk.

The sound, well the sounds are pretty generic, but cutesy. Fitting of the show. The opening was quite strange when I first stumbled upon it. It sounded like k-pop to be honest and I thought there would be more outstandish comedy. It fits in with the show though.

For one, I actually love the characters. They don't have 'spectacular never-seen' personalities, but what makes them so loveable is that they act accordingly to their personalities, with a possible exception to the Polar Bear himself. The penguins all look the same, even to another penguin. Though, I find it believable since Polar Bear still does eat seals and such. Grizzly still goes fishing like normal. They just make it fit into a 'what if' situation that they lived together with humans. It's also quite educational, in a good way. (Yes, there's a bad educational?)

The only reason I find this show less boring and more entertaining is because they weren't aiming for anything more than a slight pun and relaxing comedy. They throw a punchline wordplay every episode, as expected, they have a few run-on gags and they just...live.

I wouldn't suggest this to every person for the sole reason that some people just can't bear not seeing action, or over the top comedy. But if you just want to sit back, watch animated animals serving coffee and maybe learning a bit of unneeded information, why not watch it? It's peaceful and it just takes away tension, as opposed to many high-drama animes out.

Now, there isn't really a story since this is a slice of life anime, but there is enough progression in the episodes to feel that everything doesn't simply reset each episode. It doesn't give you a feeling of loss when watching, as long as you can appreciate the characters living out their lives. While it is primarily a humor, this anime surprised me with the range of feelings. I cried. I laughed. I got frustrated. I recommend that people who love animals, comedy, and sit back to watch this show.

Shirokuma Cafe, or Polar Bear Cafe as people who do not have the tongue dexterity to use the Japanese name for it, is a lighthearted anime, perfect for watching on a lazy afternoon with a cup of ocha in hand, or perhaps a cafe mocha on a saucer. Shirokuma-san, the owner of the cafe is a pun genius, and a habitual liar (he prefers storyteller, but I beg to differ). Panda-kun is the adorable part-time panda at the local zoo who doesn't know how to be "natural", but does it perfectly well. Penguin-san is the regular at Shirokuma Cafe who orders //okawari// of cafe mocha,and is a hopeless romantic. With such an adorable array of characters, what's not to love?

I love the anime for it's lighthearted jokes, simple character background, and happy soundtrack. The art style is very simplistic yet does not seem to be an anime from the previous era. It maintains a simplistic storyline which does not really go anywhere, that being the only downside. I love the opening soundtrack, which invites me to dance in my seat no matter where I am.

Do not be alarmed by the large amount of episodes; it's just the right amount for your enjoyment, and fills you with a desire to watch it over and over again. I would recommend it for those who enjoy walks by the beach, a book in a cafe, or just lazing around with a cup of... well, whatever.

Sometimes you just want to watch something relaxing to unwind from the stress of the day or to just spend some time watching something nice that isn't too complicated or hard to follow. Something comfy. If that sounds nice, then this anime might just be for you. Shirokuma Cafe, or Polar Bear Cafe in English. It's a slice of life, but instead of the characters being human, most of them are animals. The show follows the daily life of a young and incredibly lazy panda named Panda. He is constantly told by his mother to get a job. One day, Panda wanders outside after his motherconstantly telling his to quit being lazy, he stumbles across the titular cafe, run by the enigmatic Polar Bear, a soft-spoken polar bear. Along with Polar Bear is his friend, a sarcastic penguin named Penguin, and various other animals from the nearby zoo, along with a human girl named Sasako, who gets hired to work there soon after Panda first discovers the cafe. Soon, Panda stumbles into being hired by the nearby zoo, and he along with the friends he made at both the zoo and the cafe, soon find themselves going on all sorts of misadventures and they hang out with each other.

Like I said earlier, the show has an easy going relaxing feel to it. The whole show gives off nothing but nice vibes. Most of the humor is slapstick and puns. The puns might not all work 100% in English, but the puns are pretty easy to figure out (and are explained to you depending on your subs). The art is simple and fitting of the shows tone. Everything looks lovely and appropriately adorable, and thankfully not too sickly sweet.

All of the characters are simple, but they work off each other really well, and by the end of the show, they all feel like they're best friends who have known each other for a long time. Along with the amusing main characters are several secondary characters that pop up from time to time, and they all stand out. Ranging from a group of penguins who want to have their own trading cards to promote themselves, to a biker Grizzly Bear who owns his own bar, to a Llama who often has people confuse him for an alpaca and wishes people would admire and adore him.

While the whole show is a whopping 50 episodes in length, don't let that been off-putting. There isn't any real in-depth on-going stories that you need to pay too much attention to. Yes, there might be re-occuring characters that might bring up an event or two when they pop up, but there's really nothing you would have to keep track of. Despite it's length, it does feel like it goes by fairly quickly.

There isn't really a whole lot to say about Polar Bear Cafe. Not because there is anything to spoil, but because it's such a simple show that going in depth with it isn't really feasible. If you're the type of person who is just looking for something wholesome to watch while you're relaxing, then Polar Bear Cafe is for you.

This anime will always be one of my most favorite anime, it's one of those anime that really makes you feel like you can relate to the characters a lot and it is enjoyable to watch something that is cute, funny and normal. In this anime you mainly see that some animals are living in a very similar way to humans and it's quite hilarious to see this as the animals aren't completely Anthropomorphic and still stick to their normal animals ways at times. The openings in this anime are wonderful too, I mostly prefer the first and third opening, however they are still veryenjoyable to watch and listen to, as well as the very many ending credits this anime has too! I love the art style very much and I also love how the Shirokuma Cafe is so welcoming, as well as other background scenery.

Overall I would say that this anime is totally worth watching and I'm sure that after watching a few episodes some people would definitely love it!

Probably one of the most chill anime around - er no pun intended. Polar bear's cafe is a slice of life comedy about a lazy Panda who spends his time at a Polar Bear'a cafe. Polar Bear Cafe begins when Panda discovers PBC after chasing a butterfly whilst looking for jobs to apply for. Even though he isn't hired to work there, he still frequents it as a patron and friend of Polar Bear The setting is a small town Cafe in Japan where humans and animals co-exist. Aside from Panda & Polar Bear there's also: Penguin whom enjoys coffee but Polar bear seems toenjoy messing with him via puns (see below)

Sasako: a girl employed to work at the cafe as a part timer

And a few others who come and go.

Since this is a comedy, I will discuss the humor in great lengths rather then the overall plot. The humor of PBC is very odd. Perhaps it's because its a very Japanese oriented show or maybe it's aimed at a more mature audience?

It isn't odd in the sense of something random like Bobobobo, but rather odd in the sense of the TYPE of humor depicted.

One of the main jokes that is consistently used is Penguin asking Polar Bear for something and him getting it confused due to Japanese wordplay puns. One example is asking for Okwari (seconds) and PB coming with sunflowers (Hiwari) or a watermelon (Suika-Wari) another would be saying please (Choudai) and getting a table (Chabudai). it's an interesting way to learn Japanese terminology certainly and the gag is funny.

The other type of humor presented is the normal Japanese humor such as PB suggesting panda work on a tuna boat (which is very hard work) or Penguin asking PB to give him a shoulder massage resulting in Penguin getting impaled by PB. It's very simple and easy to grasp humor.

Another example of humor used is Polar Bear wanting to change his cafe so he asks for suggestions with Panda saying he wants to make it "Panda's cafe" whereas they serve just Bamboo themed items, everything is panda oriented and everybody wears a panda outfit, when PB comes back to the cafe and sees this he simply says "change everything back." calmly rather then freaking out.

It's hard to suggest or describe a comedy because the viewer needs to see it for themselves, Polar Bear Cafe is a relaxing charming anime. I don't believe everybody will enjoy it however as some might find it boring or strange.

Audio wise there is no dub, it's completely subtitled with Japanese voices. Light cheerful jazz music plays thoughout the show. The show's intro is also a BANGER just for the record. Given how simple the Japanese sentence structure used is, PBC is a good way to actually learn Japanese sentence structure as well as some words. They speak slowly and its easy to grasp for non Japanese speakers.

The animation is very realistic and done by Studio Pierrot. It isn't heavy on fluidity but it's very realistic in terms of art style. It doesn't use heavy shading to gather this effect but rather heavy amounts of detail unlike most anime. The art style also focuses on blank backgrounds during scenes to focus on the individual or depicts an image such as floating bamboo to get a message across to the audience. You have to see a picture of the show or watch a clip to understand what im talking about. It's a very unique realistic art style.

Do I recommend Polar Bear Cafe? I recommend you give it a try for yourself if you enjoy laid back slice of life comedies.

If you're looking for something with more action, depth or wackiness..I wouldn't suggest this.

It has goofy moments but nothing you'd see in a Shonen type comedy. Nothing involving bodily harm or yelling.

I personally thought it was cute but also rather boring and lacking substance. Im going to give it a mixed response because it isn't for everybody. I can understand the appeal however.

It gets a 6 because it's just dull and there's no real reason to watch it unless you need a laugh or want to change it up from the usual Shonen or action anime.

There are better more interesting comedies out there and easier and less time consuming ways to learn Japanese.

It isn't bad. It's just fine for what it is. A slice of life comedy about a Polar bear's cafe.

Shirokuma Cafe, it's been a while since I've finished it but here I go. With some personal motives into trying this out, the obvious factor was the seiyuus, especially Shirokuma himself (Takahiro Sakurai), and the rest of the characters. But setting that aside, I actually enjoyed it a lot. Story, it's a slice of life, with an animal factor twist. Animals and humans live in harmony in this case. It's pretty much realistic as it can get with reality minus the harmony factor which does entertain me. And a lot of easy going jokes, life jokes, not any kinky or dirty jokes but just softones, which I feel like is good change of pace sometimes.

Sound, it wasn't any big thing to me, maybe I'm just not a fan of slice of life to begin with but nothing struck me there so I wanted to give this factor a 6-7. The seiyuus though, well it was a pretty big casting so that did get my thumbs up and interest in first place, so I want to give this a 8 but...balancing the OST and the seiyuu cast, I gave it an avg of 7.

Art, like my other reviews, I really have no say, I can't even draw for my life. It's not choppy or anything so I think it's decent and good enough.

Characters, I think this got my attention, a lot of the characters are sort of realistic, like Panda for instance. Slacking, like a lot, especially myself in reality. Panda's mom always hoping for Panda to be active, contributing, etc. Even the humans are really realistic, nothing over exaggerated. Heck, they're also cute anyways.

Enjoyment, I've really enjoyed this a lot, I can re-watch this no doubt and won't get old but with a moderate re-watch of course.

Overall, I had no problems with this, there's a small feels sometimes here and there but I really loved this series, simple and easy going. Most of all it's realistic-ish minus the animal harmony, and its fun.

Shirokuma Cafe is one of the most interesting and memorable slice-of-life series I have ever watched. I watched this together with my partner when we were in need of some simple, cozy entertainment and Shirokuma Cafe did not disappoint. The 50 episodes flew by and I will look back fondly on our time with this anime. Let me start with the openings and endings. The endings in particular are memorable because they are in a way “character songs”. They are all sung by the voice actors of a particular character, and the song in question also relates to that character’s existence or experience in some way. TheED visuals are also out of the ordinary using techniques other than animation (paper art, stop-motion, shadow puppets and so on).

Especially the first OP “Boku ni invitation” was quite good. We were also fond of the ED songs “Bamboo☆Scramble” as well as the “Llama-san no Llama Mambo” ED. The “ZOO tto ne!” ED song wasn’t too bad, either.

The visuals aren’t really anything special. At first I thought they looked a bit too cheap, but I got used to the style quickly enough. I can say that the style fits the series quite well. I don’t really remember the background music at all, so I guess it did its job?

Now, on to the characters and story…

While there are a few overarching story arcs, every episode is more or less its own thing. Events from past episodes get referenced, and storylines get continued, but it’s still very much an episodic series. What’s particularly interesting is the fact that each episode has two halves, often about different things altogether. It’s a 2-for-1 special.

The characters, their dynamics and resulting humor are what make Shirokuma Cafe so good. The contrast of very realistic characters in an absurd setting of talking animals doing their thing in society is of course part of it. But at some point it ceases to matter that the cast consists mostly of animals. You just learn to accept it, even though them being animals is the start of so many jokes throughout the series.

Each character has its own identity, from the main characters to the side characters. You get to know each of them quite well and their interactions are amazing. Of course, there are plenty of puns, but there’s a certain subtle humor in many of the situations and conversations that truly made Shirokuma Cafe memorable for us. I am particularly fond of Grizzly and Llama, but many of the animals show more depth than I usually find in anime characters, to be honest.

The quality of the voice actors was also good and I really got the feeling the staff had a lot of fun producing this anime.

In the end, I am very happy to have watched this series. We wanted something cozy, simple, heartwarming and funny. And that’s exactly what we got. I am sad that it’s over and I will remember this anime with a smile on my face.