gianni07 - 2017-01-30 11:17:22

Shirokuma Café is the kind of show that, despite being mundane, succeeds at being entertaining in its own unique way. This is as pure as Slice of Life can get, minus the animal characters, of course, but that goes without saying. But it should be interesting to note that there were plenty of moments when I forgot that I was watching talking animals due to their human-like interactions while still managing to retain their animal-like qualities.

So what’s this anime about? It’s set in a café that is run by a polar bear named Polar Bear (or shirokuma, in Japanese). Yes, the animal characters are refered to by their true names rather than being assigned human names. So Penguin is a penguin, Sloth is a sloth and Panda is a panda etc. The first thing I noticed about the characters is how anatomically correct they are, I can’t think of any other anime that features animals that look exactly like how they’re supposed to look in nature.

Moreover, like I mentioned earlier in the review, each animal behaves exactly in a way that you’d come to expect from it. For example, Panda is lazy, and he eats nothing but bamboo leaves, and he would rather sit around all day and eat bamboo leaves than working at his part-time job at the zoo, where he does exactly that –sitting around and eating bamboo leaves- which the visitors of the zoo find incredibly endearing. Yes, aside from the fact that animals talk like humans and perform many of their tasks like humans would, they’re completely in touch with their animal side, which provided a lot of opportunities for humour which were in turn utilised quite well.

Most of the cast of this anime is comprised of working adults, each animal has a job, and some of them, like Polar Bear himself, are quite efficient at it. The main character interactions take place in the café, where characters usually come to hang out with each other and discuss matters that are related to their work and daily anecdotes, and the conversations rarely revolve around something else, and yet, I found myself completely engaged with the show, which is an astounding feat.

The biggest chunk of the character dynamics is provided by our titular character, Panda and Penguin. Polar Bear is an easy-going and fun loving person. His attitude towards life is quite delightful and he has a tendency to attract people towards him. That said, he often likes to tease those who are close to him and he relies on pun humour in almost every episode. Next, we have the lazy and self-centered Panda who still lives with his mother and who often finds even the simplest of tasks that require minimal physical effort a pain to do. He’s cute and he knows that so he often uses this to his advantage. Last but not least, we have Penguin, who seems like the smarter one of the trio and who has a crush on a female Penguin named Penko. The majority of Penguin related humour stems from his innocent crush on Penko which often gets him into messy and at times embarrassing situations.

If you’re looking for a show with a sharp and witty humour or with toilet humour then you should look elsewhere, as the humour in this show is subtle and restrained, and it mostly derives from the quirkiness of the cast. There’s also a lot of pun-related humour so those who don’t enjoy this kind of humour will find plenty to be bothered about.

That said, the humour works quite well within the context of the anime. And one thing that I liked the series for is how it avoids being self-important. It knows that it doesn’t have a deep message to convey and it makes sure the viewers understand that as well. That isn’t to say the the series is completely irrelevant. The interactions between the characters were very endearing and the atmosphere of the show is quite warm and welcoming. I can’t think of any character that I disliked in the anime, in fact, by the end of the series, I found myself wanting to see more of their interactions, as it felt like parting ways with dear friends. Due to the detailed portrayal of the café, I felt as if I was part of the cast.

Despite the pure slice of life format of the show, the slight and subtle changes in the series aren’t difficult to discern, especially as far the character dynamics are concerned, as the bond between the characters grows stronger with time. In addition to this, the show depicted seasonal changes quite well, as we spend a year with the characters, during which, all the four seasons are portrayed very well.

Overall, this is a basic slice of life anime with an endearing cast. It doesn’t try to be deep and it relies on the interactions of the characters to tell its story. It presents mundane events in a fun manner all the while being able to teach a thing or two about animals.

dwaters - 2014-03-06 13:28:59

Have you ever wondered how penguins feel about being lumped under the umbrella term penguin? No? Well, what about how llamas feel about being confused with alpacas? No? What about the inherent difficulties of being a part time panda at the zoo? No again?

Well, if you watch Shirokuma Cafe, you will. Shirokuma Cafe covers one year at a cafe owned by Polar Bear. While the main characters are Polar Bear, Emperor Penguin, Panda, and the human waitress Sasoko, there is a continuum of supporting characters. There's Llama, Anteater, Sloth, Tortoise, Mama Red Squirrel, Handa the zookeeper, Wolf, Lion, Tiger, Grizzly Bear, and many more. All of these characters are memorable, although several are poorly executed. The story consists of the daily adventures of the clientele of the cafe. The plot is directionless, but pleasant, as is the soundtrack. It's a nice change of pace from the usual action/drama/suspense/etc, but as far as slice of life/comedy goes there are better options available. Overall it's a fairly vanilla experience, and although I personally liked it, I wouldn't say it is a great way to spend your time.

altenwerth.consuelo - 2013-08-03 03:52:03

One of the most overlooked slice-of-life anime about animals living side-by-side with us humans. Definitely not for everyone, but if you take time to watch this 50 episode whimsical show, it has things that will give you that warm fuzzy feeling inside. A feeling of acceptance and a feeling that you belong, no matter what creature you are. Nothing much might be noteworthy here, no fancy animations, no top of the line soundtracks, and no overpowering story. But it is what it is and it delivered well. The best part of this show are the characters and their interactions with one another. Rarely do we see a show where we can distinguish characters so much that even if it was just a side character we still can relate to it.

If you like a unique anime experience, look elsewhere. But for those who just want to sit back, relax, and unwind while watching a simple anime with simple episodic quirks, this is definitely something to look forward to.