First Impressions / Shirokuma Cafe

「スマフォに夢中/わくわくドライブレッスン)」 (Sumafo ni Muchū/Wakuwaku Doraibu Resson)
“Obsessed with Smartphones/Super Fun Driving Lesson”

Update: alt-texts done!

Panda: representing the spoiled brat we all don’t ever want to land ourselves with in the future. Beyond that black and white fur, I see a certain subset of kids who desire the latest technology and then misuse it or use it solely to show off. It’s so annoyingly reflective of the “little brat” type that…oh Jun, even you can’t make me like Panda! His mother doesn’t help the situation either…carelessly buying him his smartphone: a regular phone would’ve cost way less AND been your gateway to easy groceries!

However, the other non-panda characters continue to be their pleasant, more competent selves. Shirokuma’s dry humor, though not my primary cup of tea, managed to get more laughs out of me than previous episodes. Puns were on the rise by 300% (as reflected in the many screenshots), but the rapid firing of the puns actually generated more humor than previous attempts. As a non-Japanese speaker, I don’t personally find them as humorous, but the visuals that go along with them make for a pretty set of caps to look at! All those puns though end up as supplement to Shirokuma’s constant trolling of penguin, who continues to attempt to impress everyone and his lady-crush through his high-tech antics.

Sumafone and driving school attempts however, once again, do just the opposite. When you’re losing to a llama that can navigate touchscreens via their tongue (no, it doesn’t actually work, I tried) and polar bears with their claws (super-scratch resistant phone cover), you’ve got to step up your game! Plus, if a smartphone is too small for Penguin, maybe he should try a tablet instead; the screen would be large enough to accommodate his fins easy! However, now that I think of it…how would he manage to drive a car with his build? I know there’s supposed to be a heavy suspension of belief when coming into this show…but there just doesn’t seem to be any way that Penguin could drive…at least in the way the skilled Shirokuma demonstrates it.

Speaking of the car demonstration…that drive-through scene was easily the best joke of the episode. Repeatedly looping through a fast-food drive-through might be more of a dick move in real life, but when it comes to clueless animals unintentionally trolling…that’s classy stuff. The first two loops were pretty predictable, but enter Shirokuma and suddenly the joke is totally derailed by a semi-meta joke.

Next week’s topics don’t stand out too much, even if it suggests that Panda might grow up a little. Such change is most likely temporary, as character development in a show like this…would be truly a surprise if it appeared. But hey, change can happen at unusual times, and maybe next week might be the time.

 

Preview

30 Comments

    6. Can all the writers do it in their reviews for minimize spoilers on the front page? Some people check updates for some animes and don’t want to see spoilers for others… Is it real?

      Seya
      Reply

    8. Yes, amazing 6 panel front!! Not even a minute I saw it, I was printing my screen to keep it in My Images folder proudly presented in RC…
      All because this ep was great too! I laughed so much!!! 😀

      Hououin Kyouma
      Reply

  8. >no, it doesn’t actually work, I tried.
    >tried
    >llama navigating the sumafo
    using his tongue
    Awkward…

    This episode was bad for my heart. Those two times where Panda dropped his sumafo, I couldnt help but exclaim out loud.
    But these animals sure have good taste in phones.
    And even if it was pun heavy, it was still a great episode. So glad I picked this up.

    belatkuro
    Reply

    2. Dude, it totally works (I tried it too; it was easy, I entered my Android grid combination with my tongue, did it in 3 tries…XP); it just depends on what kind of touchscreen tech your “sumafo” uses.

      If it uses resistive (deprecated) touchscreen tech, then using your tongue won’t work because you actually need to apply a significant amount of pressure to the screen for it to register your input, and a soft, squishy tongue is not really the best tool for applying hard pressure- whereas if it uses the current, dominant capacitive touchscreen tech, using your tongue works perfectly fine because merely touching the screen changes the amount of charge at a specific point of contact, allowing detection even if you’re using a squishy part of your body like your tongue which can’t apply any significant pressure.

      Zen
      Reply

      1. Problem with that is that the residue spit interferes with the charge change. It may work for the first three actions or so, but to continue you need to constantly wipe your screen to prevent interference.

        What a wonderful conversation this is ending up to be :3.

        Zanibas
        Reply

      2. Problem with that is that the residue spit interferes with the charge change. It may work for the first three actions or so, but to continue you need to constantly wipe your screen to prevent interference.

        Lol, got you curious enough to try it too?
        I never had this problem, probably because I tried it through a screen protector (I use OtterBox). I think the spit only interferes with the charge change if it’s in direct contact with the screen, or if someone slobbers all over it like a pit bull…XD

        What a wonderful conversation this is ending up to be :3.

        It’s nothing more than a Random Curiosity…XP

        Zen
        Reply

      4. My capacitive touchscreen doesn’t work properly (touches register all over the place shortly after contact), whereas my older resistive touchscreen worked perfectly — it’s super sensitive and I have a strong tongue. Awkward much? 😉

        I actually find it quite a letdown that resistive touchscreens are disappearing. There were some decent whitepapers not too long ago (and even some successful ROM/driver hacks) that enable basic 2- to 3-point multi-touch support on some resistive screens, in addition to pressure spread sensitivity metering. Very cool stuff, and resistive screens are also much much more sensitive to minute, localized touches — and can be used with common (toothpick) styluses when you actually need to, you know, jot something down with that nice notepad app.

        I bemoan the loss of WinMo 2003-6.6. So much desktop-like functionality under the veneer of geeky, ugly, boxy interfaces.

        hoiut
        Reply

  11. Whoah. That must be some crazy Gorilla Glass on Shirokuma-san’s phone.
    I wish they had a sheep character using an iPhone. Then we could really see iSheep.

    Llama-san should’ve been made a main character instead of the annoying Panda.

    Litho
    Reply

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