“Polar Bear is a walking, talking, pun-loving bear who runs a serene café. The regulars include a lovestruck zookeeper with a crush on the café's waitress, and a panda who stops by after a hard day of being a panda at the zoo. Join the café's colorful clientele through the seasons in this comforting and pawfully funny manga about daily specials, romantic complications, and working the (coffee) grind.” (Seven Seas Entertainment)
Light humor, educational learning, and, of course, coffee, construct the charming world of “Polar Bear Cafe”, a series that has already seen success as an anime. Now, the collector's edition of Aloha Higa's bear-centric slice-of-life-comedy is set to further push the antics of Polar and Panda-san onto the pages. Yet, putting the innate adorableness of anthropomorphic antics of animals aside, how much charm does the series actually have? The answer will depend entirely on what the audience is hoping to take away from the series.
Undeniably, those looking for a quick piece of escapism with a calm and comedic flow will be instantly drawn in by the pun-heavy humor delivered by an eccentric cast of creatures. Notably, the play on words in the series with pages where the duo explores slightly different pronunciations, or wordplays, on what they are discussing acts to both educate the reader and have expressive panels where the two strike silly poses with different items. The educational element, understanding how to tweak words to imply other meanings, is a complimentary fit for those wanting to learn Japanese–not intensive learning but an inventive way to introduce words into the vocabulary. These two elements, education and comedy, will give validity to the book for many manga fans.
Beyond the two core strengths, “Polar Bear Cafe” is slightly limited to readers looking for a simple story, though the tone of the book is also slightly off. The series, often, comes across as geared towards young kids, a title to read with your child (in my case niece/nephew) and help them explore the words and chuckle at the panels. Yet, there are certain elements in the story, such as discussions of alcohol, that show the content is aimed at an older audience. When taking this into consideration, the comedy is often a bit too simplistic, especially in its repetition of gags, which hurts the longevity of the series. This does, obviously, depend on expectations with manga of this ilk and the lack of depth will either be a comfort or a frustration.
The visual style further pushes the feeling of content for children, with simplistic character designs and backgrounds that are easily accessible. This is a perfectly apt approach for a series of this ilk; any roughness can be brushed aside for the adorable aesthetic that has the bears constantly role-playing. Under any other genre, undeniably, the simplistic art direction would be a negative but it works well for a series that doesn't take itself so seriously and puts humor first.
“Polar Bear Cafe” is undeniably adorable and entertaining, a series to pick up and get through in a single read. Its episodic nature allows for quick consumption, and while the single volume lacks content for revisits, there is an undeniable temptation to have the entire run and go back once collected. Furthermore, the book has its appeal for physical over digital with a ‘collectors edition' that includes bonus content/stories. It is a series that may not be a favorite, but it would be a nice addition to any collection.
As is often the case with those who read a lot of manga, the timing of this into my own reading cycle did, admittedly, damage the overall appeal of the book. Having recently read a few similar episodic series (check out “Doomsday With My Dog”) the ‘cafe' lacked a depth that made it feel too simple. Yet, ”Polar Beat Cafe” is still an easy recommendation for those who want to just indulge in several minutes of silliness, and those that are looking for books with educational elements to help polish their skills (this is one that would be great to get in its original Japanese for that purpose).
