Polar Bear Café
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This article contains plot details about an upcoming episode.
Shirokuma
Polar Bear
Kanji

しろくま

Rōmaji

Shirokuma Cafe

Gender

Male Male

Species

Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus)

Occupations

Polar Bear Cafe (Owner)

Debut

Episode 001

Japanese Voice

Takahiro Sakurai

Polar Bear is one of the main characters of the Polar Bear Café series and is the owner of Polar Bear's Cafe.

Appearance[]

He is as his name suggests, a polar bear. In the cafe, he is shown wearing a blue plaid shawl and a black apron.

Personality[]

Polar bear has a relaxed and calm personality, though he is also fun-loving and likes to mess with his friends. Sometimes, when someone says something that sticks out to him (usually by Penguin or Panda), he has a tendency to act out puns that have a similar sound to that word. He also likes to lie and make up stories, mainly because he thinks his friends' lives are too dull. In contrast to Grizzly and Penguin acting as the tsukkomi, he acts as the boke in their friendship.

Because of his personality, he is shown to be very popular with men and women alike (especially at places with water such as the beach or the pool).

Background[]

In episode 8, Polar Bear tells the story of his past. He states that he was born near the Hudson Bay in Canada. He was the youngest of triplets and the runt of the litter who was always falling behind. He was separated from his family one day during a blizzard and floated away on a piece of ice. He fainted from hunger and was found by a passing fisherman. This fisherman then gave him to a couple that owned a small restaurant called "Seal Restaurant" which is where he got his love of cooking from. However, due to his size, he had to leave the house and came to open the cafe in order to see if the popularity would help him find his family again. It is highly unlikely that this story is true, as Sasako points out that he previously told her he quit his job at a construction company in order to open up the cafe (which is also unlikely to be true as well).

He is the same age as Grizzly and grew up with him. In episode 42, Polar Bear is shown wearing a gakuran with a matching hat when attending school with Grizzly.

Relationships[]

Panda[]

Main article: Panda

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.

Penguin[]

Main article: Penguin

Penguin is another one of Polar bear's friends and a regular at his café. He's often the one who goes along with Polar Bear's puns when he starts acting them out. When Penguin struggled with asking Penko out, Polar Bear would help him "prepare" for encounters with her (such as giving him a driving lesson and a first date lesson). They've come to see each other as friends and not just as owner and customer.

Grizzly[]

Main article: Grizzly

Grizzly is one of Polar Bear's oldest friends. They met when they were cubs and grew up together. Grizzly is also a business owner as he runs Bar the Grizzly. He and Polar Bear occasionally have nights out in town or go out to gather resources for their restaurants. Grizzly sometimes finds Polar Bear's jokes a little disturbing and gets irritated with the number of puns he makes, but he truly values their friendship.

Sasako[]

Main article: Sasako

Sasako is a waitress at Polar Bear's Café. Polar Bear hired her on the spot after she brought in Sloth to live in the yard of the café. She helps him prepare and decorate for different events at the café, such as interviews, festivals, or competitions. Polar bear is usually quite open to Sasako's ideas.

Gallery[]

Main article: Polar Bear/Gallery

Trivia[]

  • Polar Bear wished to stop global warming on Tanabata.
  • He is extremely talented in the kitchen and is able to make all sorts of complicated designs (such as a pizza with toppings made to resemble Noguchi Hideo, a famous Japanese bacteriologist).
  • He is very detail-oriented. An example of this skill is shown in episode 42 when he has insomnia and is able to make model ships in bottles while exhausted from lack of sleep.
  • Polar Bear is a retired rapper known as MC 489MA (which is pronounced like MC Shirokuma). He wears a purple t-shirt with the letters P.B.A. written in red, black sunglasses, and a chain with a snowflake. His one rap song that was shown in episode 26 is about being a polar bear and global warming. MC489MA still has many fans, including Wolf, Tiger, and Lion. It is possible that Grizzly is a part of the rapper as well, creating the beats as a DJ.
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