Seiyuu Appreciation Day - Smile

The Giant Rubber Duck is one of my favorite things in the world.

Designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, the Duck has sailed into numerous harbors and waterways worldwide. It's coming to my part of the world this August in a tall ships parade. When it does, I'll be there to greet it. It just makes me smile.

When I first became an anime fan, I came to appreciate the things in anime that just made me smile. There's no real need for a thing like Pikachu to exist...

... except to make children and adults smile.

Seiyuu Ikue Ootani is the voice of Pikachu, as well as Konohamaru in Naruto and Chopper in One Piece, among other roles. She does a true kid's voice, which is difficult to do right.

The anime character that makes me smile the most is Sloth (Namakemono) from Polar Bear's Cafe.

Sloth is the sleepy, happy creature who lives in the backyard of the Polar Bear Cafe. Like real-life sloths, Sloth moves verrr-rry slooww-wwly - and speaks just about as fast.

I became curious about real sloths after watching Sloth, so I went to You Tube. Here's a video of a sloth crossing the road:



By the way, in the course of looking for sloth videos, I came across a hilarious video series by someone named "zefrank1." His shtick is to give real animal videos a fake narrative voice-over filled with sarcastic humor, but delivered dead-serious like it's for real. Here's his sloth video:



(His video about the tarsier is even more hysterical.)

Anyway - to return to Sloth from Polar Bear's Cafe. One of my favorite episodes, episode 35, involves Sloth asking Polar Bear for a job at the cafe. He is hired and takes three hours to wipe dry and polish a single glass, an hour to crawl over to a customer's table to take an order, etc. When Polar Bear asks why he wants to work, Sloth explains that he wants to earn money to take the waitress Sasako out to dinner because she always takes him to the grocery store and does other nice things for him.

Another great episode featuring Sloth is episode 48, where Sloth decides to go to the onsen that's just outside of town, but he wants to get there on his own power, i.e., by crawling there on his own four feet.

The rest of the episode shows Sloth slowly making his way through town, followed step by step by Polar Bear, Penguin and Panda-kun. The three stop to have adventures along the way, then catch up again with Sloth (who only gets a few feet farther in the meantime). It's wildly funny.

Sloth is played by seiyuu Kishou Taniyama.

Taniyama apparently has a very successful singing career in addition to being a voice actor. So I'll leave you with his rendition (as Sloth) of "Largo."



I can only imagine the drummer on this song: "You want me to drum HOW slow?" XD

Daily Dose of Kawaii - Mei Mei-chan

Shirokuma Cafe has its share of cute characters (mostly animal rather than human), but none cuter than Mei Mei-chan (Kana Hanazawa), Panda-kun's little sister.

Mei Mei develops a crush on assistant zookeeper Handa, calling him "Han-sama" ("Prince Han") and keeping a diary about how wonderful he is.

Whenever Mei Mei talks to big brother Panda about Handa, she collapses on the floor shrieking with girlish hysteria.

An example of which comes at the beginning of Mei Mei's version of the Shirokuma Cafe Song:



(The Shirokuma Cafe Song is a song that every character in Shirokuma Cafe sang for the official series CD individually and then all together as a big group. Just enter "Shirokuma Cafe Song" into You Tube's search function and it should bring up all of them. =D)

Want more Mei Mei cuteness? Here's "Bamboo Rendezvous," one of the show's ending songs featuring her on vocals.



And finally... in the last episode of the series, Mei Mei confesses her love to Handa (at least I think that's what she's saying)! Here's the big scene:



We need another season of Shirokuma Cafe!

Top Ten Most Memorable Anime Characters - 2013 Version

I did a post on the Top Ten Most Memorable Anime Characters back in 2009. I've seen a lot of anime since then, so I thought it was time to do a new post covering the anime I've seen since 2009.

Like the first list, this 2013 version is a list of what are the top ten most memorable characters for me, as opposed to a top ten "best" list of some kind (best shonen heroes, etc.). So it's a very eclectic list that reflects what appeals to me or intrigues me personally. The list consists of three creatures, one man masquerading as a creature, two samurai, one gender-ambiguous person, one female and two paranormal warriors.

Oddly, many on the list are from just this past year. It’s been a great twelve months for anime.

10. Kamanosuke/Brave 10

Kamanosuke is possibly the most genuinely gender-ambiguous anime character ever. By the end of the 12-episode series you’re still not quite sure which gender s/he is. S/he’s a violent gang leader who joins Saizo and Sanada’s group, and is the receiver of much speculation throughout the series that s/he’s actually female, though s/he claims to be male.

Kamanosuke’s seiyuu is Motoki Takagi, who appears to be a male. There’s been no sequel to Brave 10, so I guess Kamanosuke’s sex will just have to be left a mystery. ;-)

9. Elizabeth/Gintama

Even if you don’t watch Gintama, you’ve seen Elizabeth (on the left, above) in pictures or merchandise from the series.

Elizabeth is actually a human man under that odd duck-like outfit. In numerous episodes you can see hairy legs peeking out from under his white cover as he walks. The Renho Arc in Season Four reveals Elizabeth’s true identity in Gintama’s take on Star Wars complete with a Renho version of Darth Vader, “Dark Vader.”

Elizabeth has his dramatic moments in Gintama, most notably in the Benizakura Arc. But for me it’s just his completely strange appearance that lingers in my mind (whether I want it to or not XD).

8. Don Valentino/Cuticle Detective Inaba

Don Valentino is an unforgettable villain. A one-foot tall miniature goat, Don tries so hard to be evil, but usually just winds up failing in the funniest ways.

Toru Okawa is Don Valentino’s seiyuu. Okawa usually plays authoritative adult roles like Roy Mustang in the first Fullmetal Alchemist series or Kondo in Hakuouki, but here with Don he gets to chew the scenery left and right. He even sings the deeply dramatic ending song. XD

7. Andy Hinomiya/The Unlimited – Hyobu Kyosuke

Okay, he’s hot. But I swear that’s not the only reason why Andy Hinomiya is on my list. ;)

As I wrote in a recent post on The Unlimited, Andy reminds me of a time when Americans were portrayed as fascinating, unique heroes in popular culture. American men in particular were looked upon by world audiences as being uncomplicated, sincere and manly, from a vast country that had just won World War II that many knew little about but found enthralling.

Andy has that same post-WWII kind of innocence to him, which added to his attractiveness for me, and provided a perfect counterpoint to Kyosuke Hyobu’s cynicism in the story.

6. Kamo Serizawa/Hakuouki Reimeiroku

In Hakuouki Reimeiroku, the prequel series to Hakuouki, the conflict between the Shinsengumi’s first leader Kamo Serizawa and Kondo and Hijikata is played out.

Violent and brutal, Serizawa nonetheless lived by his own samurai code to the very end, to the point of teaching Toshizo Hijikata a thing or two about courage. You may not like Serizawa, but you can never forget him.

5. Sloth (Namakemono)/Polar Bear’s Café

And here we come to the second of our three creatures – the slooow-moving Sloth of Polar Bear’s Café.

Sloth is responsible for some of the funniest and sweetest moments of Polar Bear’s Café. His slooow manner of speech and sleepy, happy-sounding voice are just a joy to listen to. Here’s Sloth singing his part in the Shirokuma Café Song:





If you listen to the full cast singing the song, you can hear Sloth as a vague echo in the background, singing along at half-speed. XD Kudos to seiyuu Kishou Taniyama. It’s literally impossible to think of Sloth without smiling. =D

4. Polar Bear (Shirokuma)/Polar Bear’s Café

And finally for the creatures – Polar Bear from Polar Bear’s Café.

Polar Bear’s Café features animals who live among humans just like humans themselves, with jobs and families and friends, going to karaoke, the summer matsuri and the beach. At the center of Polar Bear’s Café is Polar Bear himself, the café’s genial host.

In some episodes the main focus, in others the silently supporting figure in the background, Polar Bear never fails his friends—and everybody is his friend. His dry humor, love of ridiculous puns and acceptance of animals and humans just as they are—make him not only “human” but actually better than most humans. ;)

3. Aika Fuwa/Blast of Tempest

Blast of Tempest not only had a great story and two strong lead characters in Mahiro Fuwa and Yoshino Takigawa, but two equally strong and impressive female main characters in Hakaze the Mage of Genesis and Aika Fuwa, Mahiro’s adopted sister—and Yoshino’s secret girlfriend.

At the beginning of Blast of Tempest, Aika Fuwa has been deceased for a year, murdered by a person or persons unknown. As the story involves time travel and magic I can’t say too much more about the plot without spoiling things, but Aika is featured prominently toward the end of the series.

I’m seldom captivated by female anime characters. I would like to be, but most of them are weak, stereotypically “girly” and/or uninteresting compared to the male leads. Aika Fuwa is none of those things. She’s amazing—and what’s more—she’s not only strong and fascinating but also deeply feminine and saucy and self-possessed, making world-changing decisions with a shrug and a smile and keeping Mahiro and Yoshino guessing till the very end.

By the end of the series, I wanted to see more of Aika. I would have loved to have seen Blast of Tempest told from her point of view.

2. Kyosuke Hyobu/The Unlimited – Hyobu Kyosuke

I’ve written enthusiastically about The Unlimited and its lead character Kyosuke Hyobu a lot lately, but I have a few additional thoughts.

What makes Kyosuke Hyobu so memorable for me are his relationships, particularly with Andy Hinomiya and with his “queen,” Kaoru. In Andy, Hyobu sees his own innocence as a boy, his trust in his team leader Captain Saotome that was so brutally betrayed. This is why he can forgive Andy’s betrayal and the two become true allies later on. Seeing Andy’s change of heart in a sense heals Hyobu’s old wound and leads to his more humane decisions toward the end of the story.

With Kaoru, whom Hyobu sees as his future Queen in the esper vs. human rebellion, it’s easy to say he’s a loli (when they met, Kaoru was a child – she’s now in junior high) – and maybe he is. ;-) (But not an abuser – he’s keeping his hands off her until she’s an adult.)

Hyobu is not only pinning all his hopes on the prophecy coming true—that he and Kaoru will lead the esper rebellion—but there is a real romance to his waiting long years for Kaoru to come of age, while quietly watching from afar. In traditional romance novels, one trope is where the guardian eventually marries his ward. Those stories aren’t for everybody – I don’t particularly care for them myself – but here it truly works. I can feel Hyobu’s longing for Kaoru and there’s something almost sweet about it. It’s another side of a very complex and fascinating character—Kyosuke Hyobu.

And finally… my number one most memorable anime character…

1. Gintoki Sakata/Gintama

And I’ve written a lot about Gintama as well, and its main character Gintoki. But just a few more thoughts. ;)

In some ways, Gintoki is the typical shonen hero. He’s a samurai, an incredible fighter, has a somewhat dark past and usually a ready physical response for the bad guys.

But he’s also—despite being a team with Kagura and Shinpachi—a loner, someone who assesses situations on his own before acting, again often on his own.

Gintoki is sometimes like Kagura and Shinpachi’s irresponsible big brother and at other times their teacher, always showing by example.

Paradoxically, although he’s a loner, Gintoki has gained a community of loyal friends in Edo, due not only to his forthright courage and fighting abilities but also to that “peculiar charisma” that Tae-chan mentions in the Kintoki Arc. There’s an essence to Gintoki that can’t be possessed by anyone else, even those closest to him. Perhaps it’s that he was an orphan, or that his teacher who was like a father to him died in the war that their side eventually lost. Each of Gintama’s opening credit sequences features a moment where Gintoki stares off in the distance, seeing something only he can see.

In the past four years of anime-watching, Gintoki Sakata is the one character I would never be able to forget.

Winter 2013 Anime Season Recap

The winter 2012-2013 anime season was the best season of anime I’ve seen yet.

So many good shows ended this week, and a few great ones.

Season 6 of Gintama was unusual for several reasons. The producers chose to animate three serious story arcs from the manga totaling 12 episodes altogether… and separate the arcs with literally weeks of repeat episodes. It’s hard to call it a season really, but still it’s Gintama and the arcs were quite good. There’s finally a second Gintama feature film coming out in July, so we will all have that to look forward to. :)

Blast of Tempest and The Unlimited: Hyobu Kyousuke also ended this week with excellent final episodes. I’ve written a lot about both series recently and I’ll do a full review of The Unlimited soon.

Bakumatsu Gjinden Roman, about odd jobs man Roman in the Meiji Era, never quite lived up to its promise but was an entertaining show nonetheless. I think it suffered a bit from presenting light and silly episodes at first when the plot was leading to a darker and more involved story. If you like period stories, you may want to give this series a try.

Yes, I stuck it out for all 13 five-minute long episodes of Mangirl! The little series about four young women with zero publishing experience who start their own manga magazine turned out to be cute and actually informative at times. I would even watch a second season for another whole 65 minutes of my life. ;)

Ixion Saga DT is—I think—ending this week, though the comedy series has trolled its viewers so often that it’s hard to tell. ;) An occasionally very funny show about Kon, a teenage boy who falls into another world that resembles his computer game, Ixion Saga featured endless penis jokes, a loli princess with a deadpan stare, Tomokazu Sugita and Kenichi Suzumura as the idiot lieutenants of Hiroshi Kamiya’s Erecpyle Dukakis, a man who loses his manhood when Kon accidentally injures him in two matches (losing a certain round body part each time), and Jun Fukuyama as a transgendered man halfway to becoming a woman. It’s more funny and less complicated than all that sounds, so if you need a break from serious stories Ixion Saga is the anime for you. ;)

For sheer delight, Cuticle Detective Inaba was the big surprise for me this season. Part-wolf Inaba runs a detective agency where he extracts information about suspects by tasting their hair. His former owner—er, ex-police detective partner Ogino still comes to him for assistance, particularly in catching the dastardly Don Valentino.

Sure, Valentino’s a foot-tall goat. What of it? He’s pure evil (not), eats paper money (that’s what goats do) and has a bizarre group of subordinates including Soumei, the wolf whose DNA was used to sire Inaba.

With the exception of a lone serious episode, Cuticle Detective Inaba was a fast-moving madcap ride of ridiculous jokes and sight gags that kept me amused for the duration.

Finally, Polar Bear’s Café (Shirokuma Café) ended this week after 50 episodes. For the past year, Polar Bear’s Café has never failed to entertain me. Young Panda-kun, the acerbic and talkative Penguin and unflappable Polar Bear were the perfect main characters in a universe where animals are treated like people.

I don’t usually watch slice-of-life animes, but the multitude of different animal characters and their personalities kept Polar Bear’s Café fresh and interesting for me. The show is actually more for adults than kids, since adults would better appreciate the tidbits about life and moments of realization that occurred in most of the episodes.

It’s a rare show you can relax with but doesn’t bore you, that entertains you and makes you feel good about—well, just makes you feel good, period. I will miss Polar Bear’s Café and hope for a sequel series in the near future.

Daily Dose of Kawaii - Shirokuma Remix

"Rough and Laugh," the second opening for Shirokuma Cafe, remixed and with dazzling art.

Watch it in full screen!

Welcome to Shirokuma Cafe!

Canne at Canne’s Anime Review Blog recently wrote about Shirokuma Café (Polar Bear’s Café), a spring anime series that is continuing through this summer. Like Canne, I enjoy the series, but there are definitely a few odd things about it.



First of all, although the show is named after Polar Bear (Shirokuma), the main character is actually Panda-kun (Jun Fukuyama, who uses a childish, loopy voice that takes some getting used to). Panda is a lazy teenager who is forced by his mother to find a job. He finds a part-time job at the town’s zoo… as a panda in the panda exhibit.

Though the job couldn’t be easier (he sits around chewing on bamboo grass all day), he still complains about it to his friends Polar Bear and Penguin-san at Shirokuma Café.



Penguin (Hiroshi Kamiya—if you ever wanted to hear Izaya from Durarara!! squawk like a bird, you’re in luck) seems to be employed, though we never see him at his job, and spends most of his time pining for Penko-san, a lady penguin who works at the local bakery.



The café is owned and operated by Polar Bear (Takahiro Sakurai), a genial, dry-humored—I was about to write man—polar bear who likes to make bad puns and tell tall tales about his past.

Polar Bear’s Café is frequented by humans and by other animals in town…



… most of whom also seem to work at the zoo. As themselves.

So the big question is: why are all these animals acting like humans and being treated like humans? (And on the other hand—not—since they’ve got jobs at the zoo as themselves?)

Even stranger, Panda-kun is shown on more than a few occasions noticing “the cute girls” to flirt with—human girls, that is. He’s regularly accosted by girls on the street who want to take his picture, and he and Polar Bear even go on a group date to a karaoke bar with three human women in one episode.

The series hasn’t explained yet what’s going on, but the most recent episode hints that this unnamed town may be unique. Episode 16 features a weary salaryman from out of town looking for a cool refuge on a hot summer day. He stops in at Shirokuma Café and is astonished that the owner behind the counter appears to be a real polar bear.

He looks for a zipper on Polar Bear’s back when he turns around, but there is none. Thinking the “Bamboo” menu item is a dessert nickname he orders it, only to find it’s actually bamboo.

Fortunately, Panda-kun walks in and offers to eat his bamboo if he doesn’t want it. Then Penguin-san enters and approaches the counter. Seeing Penguin’s short stature, the salaryman wonders how he’ll get all the way up to sit on the bar stool. Just then (as if reading his mind) Polar Bear distracts him, and when he looks back, Penguin is already seated on the stool. ;)

After a while, the salaryman remembers. Ah, yes… I’ve heard there are a lot of animals in this town.

It’s not an explanation, but at least we now know this isn’t a future Japan that’s been overrun by talking middle-class animals. ;)

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention everyone’s favorite character in the series, Grizzly-san (Yuuichi Nakamura):



Grizzly owns a bar where all the tough-guy animals like Lion, Tiger and Crocodile hang out, and dreams of riding his motorcycle on Route 66 across the American West. He and Polar Bear go on frequent excursions that Panda-kun always seems to crash and tag along on.

Grizzly-san is the epitome of the gruff exterior/kind-hearted character, but in fact everyone in Polar Bear’s Café has a good heart, Polar Bear most of all. Panda-kun and his youthful immaturity, Penguin-san and his neurotic fussy ways and the other animals with their personality quirks are all welcome in Polar Bear’s café and in his world.

In one episode, at a cherry blossom viewing picnic, Sloth takes off (… slowly) for the conbini to get some snacks. Of course it’s near midnight by the time he gets back and everyone has gone home.

As he stares sadly at the empty park, plastic bag in hand, Polar Bear emerges from the dark. “Sake?” he says, holding up a bottle. Together they sit beneath a cherry tree and watch the blossoms fall like snowflakes.

Polar Bear is everyone’s friend and his café is everyone’s home. At the end of the day we still have no idea why the animals in this town act like humans, but it’s not important. We humans are welcome in Polar Bear’s world and that’s all that matters.

Animals + Fish - An Early Look at Polar Bear's Cafe and Tsuritama

Nature's kingdom is represented with a lot of quirk and style this spring anime season.

Shirokuma Cafe, or Polar Bear's Cafe, features a cafe-owning polar bear and his animal patrons, including Penguin, Panda, Llama and others.

Panda is a lazy young panda whose mother urges him to get a job. He eventually gets a part-time job (settling for two days a week after asking if he could work just one day a week) at the local zoo as a... panda.

At the zoo's panda compound Panda plays with a tire swing, rolls on the ground, eats bamboo and goes down the slide to entertain the children. At the end of his strenuous work day - as himself - he goes to Polar Bear's Cafe to unwind and chat with the other patrons.

Penguin-san has an acerbic personality and a crush on a lady penguin named Penko who works at the bakery. Llama also works at the zoo (as a llama). Overseeing the daily get-together is Polar Bear, whose dry teasing and laid-back personality provide a welcoming environment for his friends to relax in.

The unspoken joke in Polar Bear's Cafe is that the animals mix with humans in the town as if they were people; no one blinks an eye to see Polar Bear, Penguin and Panda walking down the street together. Polar Bear has a human waitress, Sasako-san, working at his cafe, and Panda's boss at the zoo is a human male.

The dialogue is simple and spoken slowly, in the manner of a children's show. In fact, that's what Polar Bear's Cafe appears to be: a show that children can enjoy, but with wit and humor going above the children's heads that adults can appreciate.

The cast is a joy to listen to: Jun Fukuyama as Panda (using a very ditzy, young-sounding voice); Hiroshi Kamiya as Penguin; Daisuke Ono as Llama; and Takahiro Sakurai as Polar Bear, their genial host.



Tsuritama also presents quirky humor but in quite a different fashion.

Yuki Sanada is a transfer student to a school on Enoshima island. Raised by his friendly and independent grandmother, Yuki nevertheless is inhibited and seizes up in social situations when a response is needed from him. His metaphor when this happens is that he feels like he's underwater:



Yuki's life is complicated by the appearance of Haru, a self-proclaimed alien who squirts people in the face with a special water gun. For some reason Yuki's grandmother invites Haru to come live with them.



In Episode 2, the quirk and general weirdness factors are turned up high when Haru's sister shows up, and forces Yuki into a promise to catch a certain special fish for she and Haru. We discover that Haru's and his sister's water guns can apparently control people's behavior, including that of Natsuki, a grumpy fishing champion who reluctantly teaches Yuki and Haru how to fish.

The art in Tsuritama is nothing short of gorgeous. And no wonder: the director is Kenji Nakamura, who did Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales and its wildly-colored spinoff, Mononoke. But Tsuritama looks to be more than just wonderful art design. The end of Episode 2 promises a story as unique as the colors Nakamura paints Enoshima in, and I'll be watching both it and the good-natured Polar Bear's Cafe this spring. Humans can't have all the fun, after all. :)