History Manga / ShirokumaCafe

* ItsAllAboutMe: Panda is the nice but incredibly naive and self-absorbed version. He usually means well, but would prefer if everything in life was about him.

** Episode 19 features a king penguin and the 3 members of genus Pygoscelis (Adelie, Chinstrap, and Gentoo)

* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: The first nasty character to appear is an alligator, in a BadGuyBar.

* PragmaticAdaptation: Neither the manga nor the anime have a real overarching story, so none of the changes are important, but the manga is fairly different from the anime. Characters in the anime are introduced in a completely different order and situation than their manga counterparts. The anime has several stories not present in the manga, and for the stories the two mediums do share, there's always changes in the characters personalities and dialog.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Early in the manga it's shown that a kangaroo works at Shirokuma Cafe. He mentions wanting some help in the garden and then, outside of a brief cameo, is never seen again.

* PragmaticAdaptation: Neither the manga nor the anime have a real overarching story, so none of the changes are important, but the manga is fairly different from the anime. Several characters are removed completely and several characters are introduced into the story far earlier than their manga counterparts. The anime has several episode halves not present in the manga, and the manga has several chapters not included in the anime, and the stories they do share almost always have various differences.

* PungeonMaster: Shirokuma is a frequent practitioner of ''dajare'', a Japanese form of humor that revolves around puns based on the pronounciation (rather than the [[AlternateCharacterReading reading]]) of words.

* SomethingBlues: The fourth ending is called "Michinoku Zoo-Keeper Blues".

* TheSlacker: Panda, to the point where he thinks working ''half of a half-day'' at the zoo is too much. This has gotten attacked by his mother's vacuum cleaner.

* TheSlacker: Panda, to the point where he thinks working ''half of a half-day'' at the zoo is too much.

** Rin-rin is the local florist who's a LoonyFan for pandas and even gets two ADayInTheLimelight episodes.

* TerribleIntervieweesMontage

* TokenHuman: Although there are plenty of humans in the setting, Sasako and Mr. Handa are the only important human characters as Sasako is the cafe's waitress and Mr. Handa is Panda's zookeeper. Also, Rin-rin counts to a certain extent.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Panda is the nice but incredibly naive version. He usually means well, but would prefer if all conversations were about him.

* MomentKiller: Mister Llama unintentionally destroys what was shaping up to be a lovely moment between Handa and Sasako.

* NightmareFuel: In-Universe, Sasako's (mostly) unheard ghost story is so scary that ''everyone'' in the Cafe is given a serious case of the heebie-jeebies. The easily frightened Handa, meanwhile, is rendered nearly catatonic with terror.

** His attempt at BadassBiker looks suspiciously like HardGay.

* NightmareFuel: In-Universe, Sasako's (mostly) unheard ghost story is so scary that ''everyone'' in the Cafe is given a serious case of the heebie-jeebies. The easily frightened Handa, meanwhile, is rendered nearly catatonic with fright.

** BadassBiker: Yes, a motorcycle riding Grizzly Bear.

** BadGuysPlayPool: And there's a pool table there, with a lion and a tiger currently playing.

* BlindDate: Panda sets Mr. Handa up on a group blind date, much to his protests. HilarityEnsues when Panda, Penguin, and Polar Bear tag along.
* BrickJoke: Penguin tries to take a picture of Polar Bear with his cell phone and gets distracted at the beginning of "Smartphones" and the episode "Driving" closes with him succeeding.
* BruiserWithASoftCenter: Though a certified and genuine tough guy, Grizzly has his moments of sweetness.
* CannotSpitItOut: Penguin's crush on Penko.

* ChildhoodFriends: Grizzly and Polar Bear have known each other since youth. Of course, this doesn't stop Grizzly from yelling at Polar Bear at every chance.

* ClosetGeek: Mr. Full-Time Panda likes to build robot plastic models ("It's a man's hobby!") and keeps them in both his home and the zoo.

** ComicallyMissingThePoint: Panda's {{Cloudcuckoolander}} nature will eventually lead him to make conclusions that are completely irrelevant to the subject at hand. This frustrates Penguin and Grizzly to no end, while everyone else just seems resigned to Panda's odd way of thinking and Polar Bear plays along if the mood suits him.

* DrivesLikeCrazy: Implied with Penguin, as he appears to be easily distracted during driving lessons and has failed his driver's test several times. Polar Bear attempts to teach him, but his advice is largely useless.
** He does get his driver's license, but Polar Bear and Panda make him rather twitchy when he's driving.

* EverythingsWorseWithBears: Averted. Polar Bear and Panda are nice and friendly, and even the badass and temperamental Grizzly is a genuinely kind guy.
* ExpansionPackPast: Polar Bear. He tells a touching story about his reasons for opening the cafe, and then Sasako brings up that he had told her a completely different version of events. He then shrugs and says both versions work. Penguin thinks he's making it all up.
* EyesAlwaysShut: Handa.

* FoodPorn: Since the show takes place in a cafe, this is expected, especially with Polar Bear's desserts.
** One instance subverts this when Sasako creates three parfaits in the image of Polar Bear, Panda, and Penguin as test samples for a future menu special. When two curious patrons offer to taste them, they demolish the desserts with such frightening enthusiasm that Polar Bear changes his mind and offers a lunch sampler special instead.
* GentleGiant: Shirokuma.[[hottip:*: Though, once in a while, he'll forget about his claws and accidentally stick poor Penguin!]]

* LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy: Lampshaded when Polar Bear and Penguin go to the zoo and Polar Bear wants to...go see the resident Polar Bear diving into a pool. Further lampshaded when a sign outside the exhibit forbids polar bears from entering since it confuses the resident one.

* NotSoDifferent: Penguin and Grizzly, especially when dealing with Panda and Shirokuma on the camping trip.

* OverlyLongGag: Polar Bear circles around the drive-through window of a local burger joint and freaks out the poor cashier four times before placing an order.

* PungeonMaster: Polar Bear is a frequent practitioner of ''dajare'', a Japanese form of humor that revolves around puns based on the pronounciation (rather than the [[AlternateCharacterReading reading]]) of words.
** [[{{LampshadeHanging}} Lampshaded]] when Polar Bear is driving and he notices a bagel in his car. He proceeds to riff some puns, but then comments that it's not as fun because Penguin and Panda both fell asleep and didn't notice.

** Subverted in "Penguin's Confession" when Polar Bears starts to make a pun, Penguin cuts him off and skedaddles out of the cafe. [[{{Beat}} Two seconds later]], he comes back in and Sasako fills in a pun for Polar Bear.

* ShareTheMalePain: A variation involving animals where Polar Bear, Penguin, and Panda wince in sympathetic pain as the two female customers dig into the parfaits based on them.

* {{Squee}}: The ladies on the group blind date as well as the karaoke bar waitress, upon seeing Panda sitting on the floor of their karaoke room and pulling out bamboo to eat.

* StraightMan: Penguin

* SupremeChef: Polar Bear, naturally. Sasako is also pretty talented with food as Polar Bear loves her pot stickers (gyoza) and two female customers thoroughly enjoy the parfaits she made.
** However, Sasako and Panda found Polar Bear's pancakes to be too salty because he added salmon to it.

* TagalongKid: Panda invites himself to Grizzly and Polar Bear's night out in Episode 11.
** He invites himself along to Polar Bear and Grizzly's fishing trip, much to Grizzly's initial consternation.

* WholesomeCrossdresser: Polar Bear will wear just about anything for the sake of his terrible puns.