Would you hire a part-time sloth?
What They Say:
No episode summary provided.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With some good fun recently with the expanded role for Wolf for a story along with Tiger and then having the good fun of Pengiun scoping out a new cafe in order to meet some other hot, new penguin, things cycle back to the main cafe itself. And it starts off slowly as we get the addition of Sloth for a bit as he’s come in to work with Sasako in an effort to find a new part time job. Panda actually has it amusing right from the get go though as he notes that if they do hire him, that would mean Sasako is out of a job. Or not really, since Polar Bear could always use a little more part time help.
The job interview portion is quite amusing as we have Polar Bear going through the resume along with Penguin and Panda who seemingly have a say in it. But it’s all pretty mellow overall because of Sloth’s personality and really just curious as well because he has quite an educational background to him. But he also could be fun to work with, which is what has Polar Bear hiring him pretty quickly. They overplay the slowness gags a bit too much in a way, but it’s fun seeing how Polar Bear is just kind of enamored by him and happy to have him around. Where it really expands things though is that we get to see how Sasako really likes the sloth and does quite a lot to help him out in his daily life. It makes her even more endearing than she already is.
The second half gives us some more fun with Sasako, but through the lens of Handa as he wants to get her a gift. And foolishly enough, he asks Polar Bear for suggestions and ends up coming up with far too many awkward ideas on how to broach the subject with her. The quest to find out what Sasako likes goes to some amusing extremes by the various animals that interact with her, including a ladies evening out that’s really fun to watch. All of it is certainly cute and enjoyable as we see the expanded social circles and the like, but when we do finally get both Sasako and Handa together, accidentally at that, it just hits all the right notes. His lack of confidence, her simple and friendly nature, they combine to make an utterly adorable couple.
In Summary:
Polar Bear Cafe works over two different types of stories here and both are definitely enjoyable and fun to watch. The first half with Sloth could devolve quickly into something painful, but the show changes things up regularly with it and keeps it from being too drawn out or slow. Sloth has his cuteness going in his favor, but in the end I think it says more about Sasako. The second half works Sasako into the story as well by having Handa wanting to get her a present and going through various methods to find out what she may like for Christmas. Handa’s role isn’t huge, but he has some very good bits and Sasako and her social circle is quite well handled, making her an even more fun character to watch.
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.
