Polar Bear Café
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Chara panda
Panda
Kanji

パンダ

Rōmaji

Panda

Gender

Male Male

Species

Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

Relative(s)

Panda-Mama (mother)

Mei Mei (little sister)

Panda's Grandfather (grandfather)

Little Panda 1 (1st little brother)

Little Panda 2 (2nd little brother)

Occupations

Zoo (part-time panda)

Debut

Episode 001

Japanese Voice

Jun Fukuyama


Spoiler warning!
This article contains plot details about an upcoming episode.
PandaEatingBamboo

Eating bamboo.

Panda (パンダ Panda) is one of the main characters and works at the Zoo. Panda is first introduced to us as a 'lazy' main character who has a very small work ethic. Pandas in general are generally regarded as having an enviable lifestyle. (eating and lying around)

Appearance[]

As a giant panda, Panda has black arms and legs, with a black line across his chest and back, connecting his arms. The tips of his ears and an area around his eyes are black too, while the rest of his body is white, including stomach, tail, and face. He is often shown wearing a small bag that is the shape of a panda's face.

Setting[]

Panda lives right next door to Polar Bear's Cafe along with the rest of his family. His house looks similar to traditional imperial palaces, with his family name written above the double doors that lead to his house. The interior design of the house is also heavily influenced by Chinese culture, with Chinese windows and circular doorways. There are also hanging scrolls with images of bamboo on the walls, ceiling lanterns, and multiple cushions for sitting.

Personality[]

He is a lazy, whimsical character who loves to eat, particularly bamboo and bamboo grass. Panda is also seemingly dim-witted and has a habit of being brutally honest. He has a lot of confidence and knows how cute pandas are/he is, and therefore is obsessed with panda-themed items. He also likes to follow popular trends (although probably for the wrong reasons), such as when he asked his mother for a smartphone after seeing the others with one in episode 4.

There are a few moments where Panda is shown to be an incredibly hard worker with a good heart, such as when he accidentally destroys Panda-Mama's garden or when he decides to work full time at the zoo.

There are moments where he becomes insecure about his body, such as when he breaks the slide in episode 6 and wants to go on a diet to become "dream panda" which is a tall and muscular bear. He is also shown in other episodes as trying to be different animals whenever he feels like his life is too boring or when his part time job at the zoo is too tiring.

Plot[]

The show starts off with Panda, who enjoys lying down and eating bamboo. He gets irritated when his Mother wants to talk to him about his future and often uses the excuse that he is relaxing. Thanks to his mother's nagging, he starts to apply for part-time jobs. He is unable to find a job that will hire him at first since he has no skills, but with his mother's pushing he goes back out to continue the search. While outside, Panda runs into a butterfly that had a string attached to it. He tries to help it out and it flies off before he can get the string, so he follows it blindly and ends up at Polar Bear's Cafe. Polar Bear asks him if he is looking for work, but after Panda's interview he does not give him the job. Panda later applies for a part-time job at the zoo and gets accepted to work as a part-time panda, where he is put on display and can lazily lounge around when the zoo is not busy. When there are visitors, he puts on a "service" which consists of playing/rolling around with a tire, swinging on a tire swing, or sliding down a large wooden slide.

The remainder of the show focuses on his daily life and the friendships he shares with others.

Relationships[]

Panda-Mama[]

Panda Mama is Panda's mother. She doesn't like it when Panda lazes around and wishes he would get a job. Eventually, this pushes Panda to work at the zoo. They are shown to have a healthy relationship even with her lectures and his laziness.

Main article: Panda-Mama

Mei Mei[]

Panda sees Mei Mei as his cute little sister while she sees Panda as her lazy older brother. She has begged Panda before to get pictures of her "prince" (see Handa below), and has previously set him up to hang out with Rin Rin who he strongly dislikes. Regardless of this, he still cares for his little sister.

Main article: Mei Mei

Polar Bear[]

Panda originally tried applying at Polar Bear's Cafe, but was promptly turned down because of how lazy he was. Polar Bear started making bamboo available at his cafe after his initial meeting with Panda. After Panda started working at the zoo, he became a regular at the cafe and became good friends with Polar Bear. Panda will sometimes tag along whenever Grizzly and Polar Bear go out on adventures.

Main article: Polar Bear

Penguin[]

Panda and Penguin met at Polar Bear's Cafe and started to become good friends from there. Penguin often has to deal with Panda's never-ending naivety and laziness, but he seems to enjoy it and sees it as a way to preach about things he knows. Panda's straightforward attitude and high self confidence is a steep contrast to Penguin's awkward and cautious socializing, which results in their strong friendship.

Main article: Penguin

Grizzly[]

Grizzly was first introduced to Panda in episode 6 when Panda wanted to be more "wild". They have almost a big brother/little brother relationship, where Grizzly tries to help Panda experience new things. Grizzly will sometimes object to Panda coming along his and Polar Bear's adventures, but will give in after enough pressure. Panda idolizes Grizzly since he fits the "cool and wild" style perfectly.

Main article: Grizzly

Rin Rin[]

Panda's annoyance with Rin Rin is rooted in a miscommunication shown in episode 5. Rin Rin started to give Panda flowers, stating that they were from "Rin Rin". Because Panda didn't know who that was, he assumed it was a girl who loved seeing him try his best. He then started to push himself in order to show "Rin Rin" how amazing h was, but soon found out that Rin Rin was actually the florist who had an intense love for pandas. Due to Rin Rin's obsession, Panda tends to stay away from him and gets annoyed when in his presence.

Main article: Rintaro Hayashi

Sasako[]

Main article: Sasako

Handa[]

Panda sees Handa as a boring guy but a good friend. Handa puts up with Panda's antics (such as eating his lunch and saying it was clearly made by an old person for a man and it was all one color) and helps Panda out whenever he can. He also acts like a parent to Panda sometimes by gently scolding him if he is lazy.

Main article: Handa

Trivia[]

  • One of Panda's common sayings is "Suwanaide!" when his mother uses the vacuum on him.
  • We learn in episode 1 that Panda can't swim.

Gallery[]

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