Be careful what you wish for, Penguin…
What They Say:
The weeds have over grown the Café and Penguin seems to be the only person to care. Afterwards, Penguin finally confesses his love with great results.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With a lot of focus on either Polar Bear or Panda lately, we’ve had some good fun in seeing how they’ve gone through some of their work aspects. Panda in particular had some good bits which lead to the great moment of Polar Bear actually working as a Part Time Panda for a bit with hilarious results. This episode shifts the focus over to Penguin, who has had some cutting and biting moments here and there but has been less of a focus lately. Penguin’s definitely a favorite, but I have to admit that he’s a character that because of his abrasive attitude is one that can be handled in small amounts only. So getting an episode that focuses on him for both parts could be a little problematic.
The first half shows a curious change to things around the cafe in that the weeds have definitely started to get high. Higher than Penguin in fact. So a push is made among some of the animals to go out there and do some cutting and clearing to get it better off. But only Penguin is taking it seriously as other start to fall off from participating and getting bored by it. Penguin gets pretty intense about it for a number of reasons which is off-putting to everyone else, but there’s a certain sweetness that comes from it as well as everyone learns a lesson. Of course, why Penguin expected help from Sloth is beyond understanding when you get down to it. The personalities of the animals and their work ethic is what is made most clear here, but it’s at its best when the final solution is brought in and Grizzly shows up.
The second half keeps Penguin as the focus but there’s some different kind of intensity about him. He’s finally come to the decision that he’s going to tell Miss Penko how he feels. Which is going to be difficult since he doesn’t know her real name as it turns out, just giving her the name he did since he couldn’t find out. When he does make his mad dash to tell her, he’s simply hilarious as he pretty much does a hit and run card giving to her, complete with a little heart on the back, to express his feelings. He’s so panicky and twitchy when it comes to her that it just makes you giggle. His going into the place she works day after day with invitations to a date is hilarious in and of itself, but the fallout from it and the truth of that work situation takes an even more comical turn when he eventually does have a date with her and learns the truth of the bakery. You have to feel bad for Penguin though, even if he does bring it all on himself.
In Summary:
Polar Bear Cafe lets Penguin get his time in the sun and oh boy does he get burned by it in the end. The show has a lot of fun as it works through its two very different stories for the character, letting a lot of the supporting cast shine along the. The first half was spot on in his being annoyed at how everyone else was working poorly and especially with how it brought Grizzly in, just a phone call away. The second half gives us a big change in the dynamic as Penguin also manages to man up and tell Miss Penko his feelings, finding out her real name and setting up a date. His persistence pays off in a huge way that’s pretty shocking to the system. I also like that as that story played out, some questions were tossed Sasako’s way as well that hints at some future fun with Handa. All told, a very, very fun episode.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
