Fishing with Grizzly Bear has to be a real treat.
What They Say:
The Café is being featured in the magazine, Furafura Walker Monthly. What should be a simple interview proves to be anything but thanks to Furafura unique editor in chief. The Cafe is closed for the day so Polar Bear can get fresh ingredients. A hungry and curious Panda joins Polar Bear and Grizzly Bear on their fishing trip.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After a good bit of fun in the previous episode, Polar Bear Cafe takes another fun turn here as the Cafe is getting a magazine feature. We haven’t seen too many speaking animals working in other jobs, outside of the zoo for the most part at least, so it’s hard to say if the cafe is a kind of rarity overall or if it’s common. Still, a magazine feature is good for business and Polar Bear is about as excited as he can be with it as the small crew shows up to take pictures, talk with folks and do some interview rounds. All while Panda and Penguin look on and think about all sorts of ways they could get involved.
The interview portion is what works well here as we see Polar Bear relate his story as to how he was adopted by some humans after being lost out on sea and then lived with them for quite a few years. At least until he was too big to stay in the house with them anymore, which caused him to move on and eventually open his shop. It’s the kind of story that gets to the interview team as they’re nearly in tears about it in a rather cute way. Of course, whether the story is true or not is a whole other matter, but even with the way Polar Bear plays his word games or comes up with creative stories, there’s an honesty about it in his delivery that both lets it seem true as well as doesn’t offend anyone in that he wasn’t telling the truth.
The second half is fun to watch if only because of the inclusion of Grizzly Bear, a character I definitely liked seeing a couple of episodes ago with his dive bar. With the Cafe closed, Polar Bear and Grizzly Bear are off fishing to restock on some supplies and to have some downtime, but it gets a little extra this time around as Panda manages to hitch a ride with them. The fishing expedition is a lot of fun to watch just because of how Grizzly operates as they keep it fairly true to reality and he really gets into it. This is even more so because of his personality and the voice actor, both in the present and when we see him as a younger bear. It also shows the lengthy relationship the two have had and really makes you want to see more of how they are together. There’s a lot to like with this segment since there’s a great comfort between the two of them.
In Summary:
The two stories for this episode are a lot of fun, though it’s the second half that wins out as the more enjoyable. The magazine interview in the first half has some good laughs as the questions that are asked get amusing and likely untrue answers and the reveal with the actual spread shows how the story is actually told. The second half is a lot more fun though as Panda joins with Grizzly and Polar Bear on their fishing trip. Grizzly Bear has quickly become a favorite character and getting to see him in a different environment here is really welcome, especially since it gives us more of his past with Polar Bear as well as how easily frustrated he gets with Panda. There’s a lot to like here and the episode delivers easily.
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.
