OP Sequence

OP: 「Daydream cafe」 by Petit Rabbit’s (Sakura Ayane, Minase Inori, Taneda Risa, Satou Satomi, & Uchida Maaya)

「ひと目で、尋常でないもふもふだと見抜いたよ」 (Hitome de, Jinjoudenai mo Fumo Fuda to Minuita yo)
“I Knew at First Glance, That It Was No Ordinary Fluffball”

A light-hearted and fuwa-fuwa slice of life for the coffee lover in you.

Cute Girls Doing Coffee Things

This show is exactly what it seems, and exactly what it was billed to be – a cute girls doing cute things anime, this time in a cafe. To say it’s not groundbreaking is an understatement, so if you can’t abide by a show that doesn’t ooze with originality, run for the hills now. Whatever your feelings for the show, original it is not.

On the plus side, the girls are indeed cute. Hoto Cocoa (Sakura Ayane), a pun on “hot cocoa”) started off being a little much to me – I felt like Sakura Ayane had gone too kawaiiko with her voice – but she warmed on me just as she warmed on the others. Kafuu Chino (Minase Inori), from “cappucino”) I liked from the beginning, whereas Tadeza Lize (Taneda Risa), from “Thé des Alizés” tea) is an adorable tsundere, even if she is a little…well, unusual. You don’t get to say you’re a regular high school girl if you point guns at people in your underwear, Lize.

Comedy or Atmosphere?

This whole time I kept trying to decide if this show was a comedy or focused on atmosphere. Of my four facets of slice-of-life, those seemed the most likely to carry this show since they’re not going for the hyper-cute angle and the characters just aren’t there yet. The problem is that the comedy is only okay. I laughed a little bit, but nothing major, so if they’re trying to sell the show on comedy, it’s going to sink.

So is it atmosphere? At first I wasn’t feeling that either, and was worried. The first episode was slow, but not slow because we’re still introducing everything, it was just slow. The atmosphere did improve by the end though, when Cocoa befriended Chino enough to get the coveted “Cocoa-oneechan” and sharing-a-bath-together time. Maybe the atmosphere will be what sells it, though it might be the characters as well. I’m not sure yet, because though the premiere started getting somewhere by the end, none of the four major facets called out to me yet.

A Bunch of Lonely Rabbits

The one thing I really liked were the insinuations that Lize and Chino are lonely, or get lonely. That’s what made me really get behind Cocoa as a character, because while she might be a bit too dense – her math skills aside – if she’s going to be good friends with Chino, that’s a very sweet thing. And Lize is just adorable when she’s talking to her stuffed animal. Keep them company Cocoa, these lonely little rabbits already need you, ufufu~

That Thing’s Her Grandfather!?

That thing is Chino’s grandfather!? I…what! I feel like we have the second coming of Dera here, only fluffier and not nearly so gentlemanly. Also, what the hell why is the nightmare of a grown man being trapped in the body of a fluffy creature in a fuwa-fuwa slice of life anime?! I’ll admit that if anything has me interested about this show, this is it, but mostly it just has me confused. Tippy (Kiyokawa Motomu) is scary.

Looking Ahead – Kawaii Onnanokos

What you see is what you get, and I have a feeling we’ll see more of the same as the series goes on. I’m not planning on following this any further, but I’ll probably watch it, so check in with me on twitter if you want to chat. Until next time!

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Cute girls doing cafe things. It lacks something so far, but the end showed promise #gochiusa 01

Random thoughts:

Check out my blog about storytelling and the novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: Useful lies; Missing the point; You don’t get credit for the words you don’t write; and Right, not best.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「ぽっぴんジャンプ♪」 (Pobbin Jump) by Chimame-tai (Minase Inori, Tokui Sora, & Murakawa Rie)

Preview

End Card

49 Comments

  1. I understand your concerns, Stilts, but this struck me as the perfect series to just switch-off and enjoy the jokes and adorable characters. I thought that whilst it’s maybe not a pure comedy it had just the right number of jokes needed to be funny without feeling like they’re just trying to fill the episode with jokes, so I was quite pleased with that.

    Also, really liking Lize so far. Although that’s not surprising since she’s a military girl who shares the same voice, twintails and tsundere as Kinmosa’s Ayaya.

    xiao32615987
    1. Definitely a switch-off show, and that’s why I’ll probably end up watching it – sometimes it’s nice to have a show that’s warm, fluffy, and takes little to no brainpower whatsoever to consume. I just get the feeling that it won’t titillate quite as much as others of its kind.

      Stilts
  2. CGDCT, all you need to know about this show. It does get a cookie for setting itself in Deutschland, Oesterreich, or der Schweiz/Liechtenstein (personally I’m leaning towards Oesterreich just because).

    Not as good as some of the other versions we have had in the genre over the past few years, but it should be alright for those who eat this stuff up. Although I am surprised at what appears to be the inclusion of spirituality/magic, that is different.

    I won’t follow this, but if they include more Panzer IV latte artwork I may tune in to satisfy my inner Wehraboo.

    Pancakes
  3. As soon as Lize appeared, I just knew she had to have Taneda Risa’s voice. How can she not when she’s just as adorable as Aya–although with the body Aya wishes she had lol.

    Annyms
  4. KEEPER!

    Someone elsewhere made a comparison, and it feels appropriate to me. This show feels like Kiniro Mosaic mixed with the environments from A Little Snow Fairy Sugar.

    Wanderer
    1. With this series and Kiniro Mosaic being serialized in the same magazine, I doubt it was coincidence that the studio got Taneda Risa to also voice Lize, considering that she also voiced Ayaya and the two look so much alike.

      Zhinvu
    2. You guys do realise Kiniro Mosaic is getting another installation, but it hasn’t been revealed whether it’s going to be a film, OVA, or another televised season. I guess this was a given after that godly final episode ^.^

      ShanHaxx
    3. Agreed to that, brother! On the other hand, I’m surprised that Studio Gokumi didn’t animate GochiUsa ’cause White Fox did a damn good job on bringing the feel of KinMosa to this anime.

      I wonder if the staff from KinMosa are working on this anime, aside from Risa Taneda?

  5. Like I said before, this one is going to be what I’m going to look forward to watching the most. At first it was mainly the cast but the general atmosphere is relaxing and inviting like Hidamari Sketch.

    Soliloquy
  6. Looks like Cute Girls Doing Cute Things has become a genre in its own right. It’s easier than trying to peg it as SoL or comedy. It’s just something to turn off the ol’ brain and watch after a long day of crap.

    I’ll keep watching it, because old man in a rabbit is weird as hell, and CGDCT, duh. Heal my callused soul with your hijinks!

    s_w
  7. Handguns and tanks were the last things I’d expect from a show like this. Seriously Stilts, Lize reminded me a lot of Aya too, only with purple hair. And it doesn’t stop there. The way Cocoa dotes on Chino reminded me of how much Shinobu dotes on Alice. Cocoa’s mental math skills made me like her more. And also I miss Kiniro Mosaic. Can’t wait for season 2. I need more Kujou Karen-chan.

    Zhinvu
  8. Strange combinations. Shop signs in German except for “Rabbit House”. A “rabbit” that looks more like a cat out of Tamayura or Sketchbook ~full colors that’s a reincarnated grandpa?? Bet you don’t find too many Japanese style bathrooms in Germany either. Notice the eyepatch stuffed rabbits that both Chino and Lize have?

    The grandpa/cat/rabbit may be strange but if you can deal with a grandfather that gets trapped in stuffed weasel and can animate it (Vividred Operation) why not?

    Bear
    1. I can deal with it, but I dunno, we were eased into that, and he seemed equipped enough to get himself out of the stuffed animal when he wanted to. This, though… *shudders*

      Stilts
  9. When it comes to these cute-girls-doing-cute-things shows, I only have to ask myself one question: was I bored or not? In this case, no, I wasn’t. It’s not groundbreaking in the slightest, but it’s entertaining enough. Maybe like something I watch in a lunchbreak or something.

    It kind of reminded me of Kin’iro Mosaic in a lot of ways too, from the artstyle, overall feeling and the fact that one of the characters looks exactly like Aya. And seeing as that show actually managed to keep me watching till the end, this one might manage the same.

    Beautiful setting too, even if it was weird that everything looks German but the characters act very Japanese.

    Dvalinn
  10. https://randomc.net/2014/04/10/gochuumon-wa-usagi-desu-ka-01/

    ^that is some hardcore coffee art… that alone already tells me, i should watch this cute anime… yep its comparable to kiniro mosaic which suprisingly got its season 2 (talk abotu MOE power)

    as an otaku of high level, not watching a cute anime every season would mean a failure for me as an otaku… we got tons of action/fantasy/harem/comedy/romance plot or a “mix of it” anime this season but not adding a cute anime such as this, would make my season incomplete

    The Last Idiot
  11. Tippie sitting on Chino’s head is just the cutest thing ever. HNNNG

    That talking “rabbit/cat/whatever” furball grandpa is just so funny. Especially when he pulls a tantrum with Chino’s dad, voiced by the badass Hayami Shou. While I’ve seen Hayami do non-serious comedy roles before, notably in Gintama, I’d never thought he’d be doing a cute slice-of-life show such as this.

    echykr
  12. From the first comment all the way down to Zhinvu’s post above, I noticed they all received one downvote indiscriminately regardless of what they say.

    Someone must really hate slice-of-life with a passion here to actually have so much free time to downvote any and all who comment on it.

    Anonymous
  13. I was questioning myself to this show…where are they? what is that place really!? wait…they are still in japan, So why i see so much um…European Style Houses?, is it Hokkaido or Aomori or probably a small European style town near Tokyo…Guesses!?

    and eh…meh
    https://randomc.net/image/Gochuumon%20wa%20Usagi%20Desu%20ka/Gochuumon%20wa%20Usagi%20Desu%20ka%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2036.jpg
    I just want to say i see another weird creature or something!

    Namaewoinai
  14. This Anime is like a Nice sweet Cup of Coffee.

    My appetizer is (right now) Captain Earth and Seikoku no Dragonar
    My Main Meal is (right now) Sidonia no Kishi
    and my dessert is Soul eater not! and Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka?. Because it has the right sweetness
    and the Drink is Gokukoku no Brynhildr

    Hope you like my Germanguy 5 courses menu for the Week

    Germanguy
  15. Cute²⁰⁰th power!
    I can see the three of them living together.

    But from the discussion between her father and Tippy (his father), I get
    the sense that there’s an undercurrent of a good back story there, too.
    Probably a tragedy related to her mom – a lost sibling – or something.

    Looks like it’s worth the follow!

    mac65
  16. I wanted to see cute girls doing cute things and went ahead and watched this, even though SOL isn’t really my cup of tea.

    Now I regret doing that: part of me wanted to stop because SOL is completely boring. Part of me want to keep watching for the same of cute things. D:

    Why can’t we have high fantasy cute loli adventure anime this season instead? Oh wait…

    TheMoondoggie

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