「パンダくんのダイエット/目指せ!ワイルドパンダ」 (Panda-kun no Daietto/Mezase! Wairudo Panda)
“Panda’s Diet/Strive for it! Wild Panda”

The show continues to expand on Panda’s more interesting traits…another great step in the right direction! Yes, some of his aspirations are a bit unrealistic, scary, and downright weird, but they do add a likability to him that’s other than lazy! At first you’d expect Panda to admire some kind of hero figure…only for us to find out otherwise (maybe the dark side has bamboo cookies?). However, it’s for reasons that are completely contrast to Panda’s actual character. Does he want to be lazy or does he want to be badass! It’s impossible to be a lazy badass…trust me, I’ve tried.

Leave it to Shirokuma though to capitalize sympathize with Panda’s new desire by revealing a new side of his own character. I guess besides being multitalented, Shirokuma also has a lot of connections, despite how shady some of them may be. It’s great to see that the world of Shirokuma Cafe isn’t just happy-go-lucky utopia: it has its bad boy characters just like any other world. Crocodiles with large appetites, pool playing tough-types…it’s only strange that most of these characters aren’t really nocturnal creatures…I would’ve expected an owl to be chilling like a mysterious enigma in a corner. Like all bad-boy stereotypes though, sometimes a character’s hardened looks can be deceiving of their own dere side

Oh Grizzly, how I wish you were a main character! Your personality is enjoyable, you’re a great role model to Panda (95% of the time), and you even have a great ED dedicated to you! You’re friends with the great Shirokuma as well, most likely because you’re both voiced by great voice actors! Nakamura Yuuichi, you have not failed me as Clannad’s Tomoya or Oreimo’s Kyousuke; you definitely have not failed me here! Also, YOLO.

As a bit of a half-way review, I’ll have to say whilst this show did have it’s own letdown bits early in the show, the episodes are progressively getting better and better. Whilst it may be due to us as an audience adjusting to the setting better, it may also be a case of author Higa Aloha adjusting her own writing style. This is one of her first works, and thus from a meta perspective, it is interesting to see her growth in practicing comedy through the story’s meta progression. Let’s hope then that the material she come up with doesn’t burn out in the near future so that the second half of this rough gem in the dirt might shine even brighter than the first.

 

ED2 Sequence

ED2: (Grizzly-san no G★ROCK) by (Yuuichi Nakamura)

Preview

26 Comments

  1. Bearmance ftw!

    I was worried that this would dig itself into an inescapable rut for a while when the pun humor increased 1000% and things were much more miss than hit, but its been redeeming itself and this ep, was especially enjoyable.

    Xin
      1. Dear Gungnir:
        Oblivion is nice here actually. It was a rough landing, but it looks like everyone here is really nice, minus the Daedra that keep popping through the gates.
        Warm Regards,
        Zanibas ^___^

        Zanibas
  2. *nerd-glasses on* actually lions and crocodiles are more active at night, I don’t know about tigers though.
    I laughed a lot in this episode, esp. when I heard Fukuyama Jun’s Lelouch-version voice come out of that ridiculous looking macho panda.

    Yukie
  3. Thisss episode was soooooooo fun…Grizzly was quite a character and the autors really know how to honor a franchise with panda’s fresh misconceptions of evil. XD And of course this three double-shots were again a nice treat!!

    Hououin Kyouma
  4. No Panda you don’t need to go on a diet, it was the termites’ fault for the slide breaking down. (You don’t want to look like Panda-man from One Piece.)
    And that’s a funny version of how pandas got their names.
    I really like Grizzly Bear. I think he should go to the zoo at least once with Polar Bear.
    I’m really enjoying this anime and seeing the new animal-characters.

    random viewer
    1. Letting you know that there was no purpose in that first comment, and neither is there any in this one. It’s as if you take Zanibas to be an attention-craving blogger, which I trust he is not.

      Anyway, if there was ever any award for best front page screencaps, Zanibas would take it with the last few that he’s been putting up, no competition. And did anyone else feel like something was lacking this episode? Like… Penguin-san and Llama-san?

      Junglepenguin
      1. I think the person means well, don’t worry! I’m sure many bloggers, myself included, would be happy to hear those words once in awhile :P.

        But thank you for your comment on my excerpts! I try my best ^_^.

        Zanibas
  5. Dat Dream Panda.
    Dat Darth Panda.
    Dat Grizzly-san.
    Dat MWild Panda.
    Dat G-Rock.

    The lack of Penguin-san makes me sad though.
    Excellent post and episode. Makes watching this show much more enjoyable.

    belatkuro

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