While we may not be able to visit the cafe anymore, you know these friends will be together for ages to come.
What They Say:
No episode information provided.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Polar Bear Cafe comes to a close with this episode and a series like this is one that’s kind of hard to close down in a particular way. With the series being so focused on smaller stories that often don’t even carry through an entire episode, doing something bigger would feel out of place. Which is why it’s just good fun in the first half as we watch the main characters just enjoying their time in the cafe and going through some of the usual puns, gags and silliness. But it does all start to take a slightly different turn as it progresses as Panda decides that he’s going to find out what’s going on with Penguin these days as he’s acting just a touch odd.
That gets Panda following him with a camera and hiding in all sorts of comical ways to try and suss out what’s going on and what Penguin’s weakness is, which is what Polar Bear wants to know. Following Penguin around is hilarious since he says he’s going home but spends his time reading manga at the convenience store and doing karaoke for a few hours. And, of course, going out for some late night food and alcohol in a way that would make your usual salaryman seem very tame. Some of the lengths that Polar Bear wants to go to in tracking him is hilarious, including putting a GPS on him, but there’s just a general sense of fun about it as we see the two sides going about things. Panda’s getting a little strangely obsessive, but there’s a lot of fun in that as well.
The second half largely has a similar kind of mellow feel to it, starting off with a bit of shopping on Polar Bear’s part and spending some quiet time with Grizzly in his bar. While it does deal a bit with the small secret that Penguin was dealing with, it does in the end revolve in everyone having a cherry blossom viewing party. Which is wholly appropriate for the series as it brings many of the characters together in one place for some fun, though it does have a fairly mellow start to it as we get the mix of people and animals converging together. There’s a lot of small gags here, from Sasako getting hit on by someone else than Handa, Mei Mei being all lovely dovey over Rin Rin and Penguin having an ultra harem as even more penguin girls show up with their sisters, it’s just plain silly without being over the top. Which makes for a great group party overall that definitely is the best way to close things out here.
In Summary:
While I won’t say I was against the show when it started, it was one that I felt would end up being so child-friendly that it could be more uninteresting than I cared for. But what I discovered over that first season was one of the most charming of series that I’ve seen in a long time. While there are parts of it over the course of the fifty episodes where you do feel, on a weekly basis, that it might be wearing a bit thin, the show as a whole is pretty wonderful and magical with what it does with these characters and simple situations. Polar Bear’s Cafe is one of those rare shows that just so utterly charms and disarms you that you simply must accept it and enjoy it, especially compared to what so many other series are like these days. While I lament hugely that this series is likely never to get picked up for a home video release in North America, I’m beyond thrilled that I got to spend the last year with these characters as they will be with me in memory for years to come.
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.