A list of characters appearing in Shirokuma Cafe.
Shirokuma/Polar Bear
- Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai
Owner and namesake of the cafe. Loves his puns.
- The Ace: He's pretty multi-talented and is good in almost everything he does.
- Blue Oni: To Grizzly's Red.
- Deadpan Snarker: But only in the dry, wry, whimsical, airy sense. This seems to be the sole reason he agreed to interview Panda.
- Expansion Pack Past: 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.
- Episode 26 reveals he had a brief hip-hop career and Grizzly may have been his DJ.
- Evil Laugh: He doesn't laugh out loud much as an adult, but episode 25 reveals he had an absolutely chilling sinister chuckle as a cub.
- The Gadfly: He loves making bizarre statements to mess with everyone, especially Penguin. Though never without playfulness or affection. He justifies this by saying he just wants to bring some fun into their lives.
- Gentle Giant: Although he's accidentally stabbed Penguin at least three times because he's forgotten how long his claws really are, or did he?
- Gratuitous English: When he raps.
- Mellow Fellow: His personality is really calm, soft-spoken and easygoing 99.9% of the time. A few things that happen throughout the show may spark a strong reaction out of him, but it's only once in a blue moon.
- Pretty Fly for a White Guy: According to episode 26, he was a former hip-hop star by the name of MC 469MA.
- Not So Stoic: Dare to say its unfair for him to charge for refills, though. After Panda and Masaki decide to become Tree Kangaroo's apprentices, his eyes bulge out. When all his friends starts throwing puns back at him, he panics while becoming desperate for normal conversation and ends up running away from everybody.
- Pungeon Master: Ever since he was a bear cub. He finally gets his comeuppance as everyone makes constant puns back at him.
- Punny Name: As MC 469MA. Which spells "Shirokuma" in goroawase: Shi = 4 Ro = 6 Ku = 9
- The Stoic: His gentle demeanor never strays, even when he's making horrible puns or saying bizarre things to mess with his friends.
- Speech Bubbles: Shirokuma is the only character in the manga whose dialogue is never in speech bubbles.
- Supreme Chef: Complete with organic vegetable, herb garden, in-house coffee and mozzarella artisans.
- Waistcoat of Style: Starting from volume 3 of the manga Shirokuma almost always wears a black bistro-style waistcoat at work instead of his usual blue scarf. In the anime he wears it for one episode, and then is back to his blue scarf for the next.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Will wear just about anything for the sake of his terrible puns.
- Or for the sake of bumming free meals off his friends on pretend dates with them.
- He dresses up as a flight attendant just so that he can try doing a closing announcement.
- One of his Halloween costumes is a frilly pink dress, which he wears just to annoy Grizzly into giving him candy.
Panda
- Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama
A lazy teenage panda, who fills his time hanging out at the cafe, and complaining about his job.
- Achievements in Ignorance: Goes from a part time car salesman job to a CEO in episode 29, simply because he's lazy and cute.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Compared to his manga counterpart, Panda is much more rude and thoughtless to his friends and peers. For example, in episode 22 Panda was generally rude to the Pygoscelis penguins, showed no interest in their cards, and called their Memory game boring, but in the manga Panda was much nicer to them and continued to play their Memory game rather than dismiss it.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Has the attention span of an over-caffeinated squirrel.
- Attention Whore: Panda occasionally strays into this as it seems like his ever-changing whims seems to revolve around how much attention people pay to him. Ironically, he loathes Rin-rin, who would lavish that kind of attention on him (justified that he sees Rin-Rin as a creepy stalker). For example, when the gang go to the beach, Panda revels in being adored by a group of old ladies. But when Polar Bear attracts a flock of younger people admiring him, Panda's expression quickly darkens, his ears take on the shape of devil horns, and he yells for Polar Bear to set up their camp already.
- Big Eater: He's so obsessed with bamboo that he wondered if a bamboo-scented shampoo was suitable for eating.
- Can't Hold His Liquor: One sip of Irish coffee is enough to knock him out. It just makes him tipsy in the manga, however.
- Catchphrase: A minor one, but in the "Paper doll segments" at the end of each episode, he always starts by saying "Penguin-san! Penguin-san!"note , and asking him a stupid/insensitive question. Penguin lampshades it right away when in one episode Panda addresses him without the honorific.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Many stories revolve around his bizarre, whimsical ideas.
- The Ditz: Not an exceptionally bright individual.
- It's All About Me: The nice but incredibly naive and self-absorbed version. He usually means well, but he's the happiest when everything in life catered to his whims.
- He gets depressed and attempts to run away from home because his mother said because of her busy schedule, his birthday is being consolidated with his brothers, so he would have to receive his birthday presents a month late. He takes this as his mother favoring his little brothers and sister over him.
- He frequently talks about his cuteness and is prone to asking Penguin to talk about how cute he is.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although Panda tends to obsess only over himself and can be unintentionally rude as a result, there are many moments that show he does care for his family and friends and will out of his way for them.
- In episode 28, he feels genuinely bad about Polar Bear having a brush with the law because of his laziness. He offers to take care of the cafe while Polar Bear has a day off, and he sincerely works hard (minus a few hiccups).
- After accidentally eating his mother's tulip buds and upsetting her, he gets advice from Rin-rin and makes a new flower bed. He arranges the flowers in a shape of her face and spells out "Mama". Mama Panda even notes how his hands are dirty/scratched from going through the effort to do it.
- He's heartbroken at learning that the zoo transferred Full-Time Panda to Singapore as they had been close, despite Panda's eccentric remarks. Determined to make up for his absence and work hard, he asks to work seven days a week (Handa only asked him to come in on more days) while the zoo looks for a new panda, and he literally works himself to exhaustion.
- Lack of Empathy: Most of the time. Only in three occasions so far does he show sincere, non-ambiguous concern for his friends.
- Lazy Bum: He is always lazing around at home, sleeping or lying on the floor. He has to be prompted by his mother to get part-time work to begin with, and although he only works at the zoo twice a week he's always lazing around there too. And yet, he complains to his friends about "working too much" and frequently contemplates asking for days off.
- Shipper on Deck: Supports Handa and Sasako and takes it seriously. He even leaves a bonsai plant on Handa's doorstep with a poorly written note on it, claiming to be a gift from Sasako.
- The Slacker: To the point where he thinks working half of a half-day at the zoo is too much, even hopes to be laid off when another panda arrives as a temp worker.
- Tagalong Kid: He invites himself to Grizzly and Polar Bear's fishing trip and night out. Grizzly's not pleased either times but grudgingly lets him come along and enjoys his company anyways.
- Through a Face Full of Fur: Prone to blushing deeply through his pelt.
Penguin
- Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya
Shirokuma's sarcastic bird buddy and regular patron.
- Actual Pacifist: Claims to be a pacifist at heart in episode 19, and when King Penguin kept hitting him, he only told her off.
- Artsy Beret: During his stint as an artist, Penguin wore a beret. It was green, probably as a Tezuka reference. Polar Bear and Panda don't comment on it, but it's sillier-looking than a lot of other examples.
- Butt-Monkey: Particularly in his love life. He gets dumped by the Penko sisters when they find out they don't like him, and later he gets rejected by a female penguin who works at Brown Bear Cafe.
- Cannot Spit It Out: His crush on Penko. To the point where he didn't even know her name. Then it turns out there are seven female penguins working at the bakery, one working on each day of the week. Ironically one of them actually IS named Penko.
- Can't Hold His Liquor: He always drinks more than he should, leading to him doing things he ends up regretting or not remembering altogether.
- Deadpan Snarker: The bird always seems to have a witty remark to his more eccentric peers.
- Hidden Depths: He enjoys painting and even managed to stage an art showing of his work.
- Odd Friendship: The soft-spoken, sarcastic Penguin is oddly good pals with the exuberant, loud Grizzly.
- Obliquely Obfuscated Occupation: He seems to work, but it's never clarified what exactly is his profession, something that's lampshaded in the last episode.
- Only Sane Man: When he's not lovesick.
- Riddle for the Ages: How he sits on the chair at the cafe is treated as a mystery by the other characters, and we never see how he does it.
- There's also the question of where he lives/what his home is like. While it's brought up from time to time and one part of a whole episode is centered around Panda trying to find out, ultimately he's the only one out of the main cast whose house is never shown.
- Sweet Tooth: He found the fish-shaped pastries from Toraya very tasty.
- Unwanted Harem: After the events of Episode 15, he has seven female penguins going after him. It isn't until Episode 31, when they were asked what they see in him. Upon failing to find anything remotely appealing about him, they all promptly and simultaneously dump him.
- They revisit him in episode 50 for the cherry blossom party and they brought their little sisters. Penguin, having learned his lesson, quickly fobs Llama off on them.
Sasako
Voiced by: Aya Endo
Sole employee of the cafe, and seemingly the only sane person there.
- Captain Obvious: In episode 26, when Penguin asks her what she does on her day off, she says, "I take the day off."
- Hidden Depths: Apparently, she can tell very scary ghost stories. And in episode 41, we learn that she was a rather determined explorer when she was young.
- Hypocritical Humor: Sasako supports Penguin's aggressive tactic of asking Miss Penko out, but when asked if the same were to happen to her, she admits she wouldn't like it.
- No Guy Wants an Amazon: Apparently has a bit of trouble with guys, due to being tall and broad-shouldered.
- Number Two: Manages the cafe whenever Shirokuma is away.
- Odd Friendship: With Llama, bonding over their nostalgia for the town they grew up in.
- Only Sane Man: Generally play this role when she's onscreen.
- Perpetual Smiler: To the degree that she smiles even when she's angry, with one of the episodes having her get the idea to wear a pair of gag glasses with a Death Glare expression and a large pair of Angry Eyebrows glued on it to show people when she's actually angry, only for her to end up wearing them for most of the episode.
Handa
Voiced by: Wataru Hatano
A rather bland zookeeper, and frequent victim of Panda's shenanigans.
- Eyes Always Shut: Though Polar Bear and Panda can freak him out enough for them to open.
- It Makes Sense in Context: His White Day gift to Sasako, though Llama and his kohai don't get it.
- No Social Skills: During a group blind date, he proves how socially awkward he is with girls. One of his discussion focuses on how sweet a panda's poop smells, turning the three girls off.
- Pungeon Master: During a pun gag. He adds a few puns of his own.
Grizzly
- Voiced by: Yūichi Nakamura
Shirokuma's childhood friend. Has a rather short temper, and no concept of an inside voice.
- The Ace: He can get any job done with perfect results, from gardening to house cleaning, despite any protests he may have about it. Shirokuma enjoys taking advantage of this.
- Badass Biker: His usual attire is biker gear and he rides often, and given that he's a big & tough grizzly bear with a matching attitude, he definitely lives up to the image.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: Though a certified and genuine tough guy, Grizzly has his moments of sweetness. He is absolutely heartbroken in episode 16 when he believes Shirokuma is dead, causing him to tearfully reminisce about him and Shirokuma playing as cubs. Also in the same episode he grows fond of a fox bartender's children, even becoming their "uncle".
- Made much more obvious when he was a teenager and getting flustered over a female grizzly he had a crush on.
- Butt-Monkey: Used to be one when hanging out with Shirokuma in their childhood.
- Catchphrase: ENJOU! ENJOU!! (Burn it up! Burn it up!)
- Dark Is Not Evil: He's basically the dark mirror of Shirokuma, with black fur, a more aggressive personality, a less diurnal schedule and leather. Yet he's still a mostly decent person and sometimes the voice of reason when hanging out with Panda.
- Embarrassing Nickname: What his mother used to call himnote .
- Face of a Thug: Even more so when he dresses up as an oni.
- Furry Reminder: He was shown to hunt salmon, have eaten wildberries when he was a cub, and hibernate during winter.
- Hot-Blooded: His catchphrase of "ENJOU ENJOU!" even spells it out.
- Large Ham: Grizzly is the biggest ham in the show.
- Manly Tears: When he thinks Shirokuma is dead.
- No Indoor Voice: His quietest tone is 'Dull roar'.
- Odd Friendship: With Penguin, due to both of them being straight males.
- Only Sane Man: When hanging out with Shirokuma and Panda.
- Red Oni: To Shirokuma's blue.
- Tsundere: A male version of Type B.
Llama
- Voiced by: Daisuke Ono
A llama who works at the zoo with Panda. Can't seem to get any attention at work.
- The Ace: Not as much as Shirokuma or Grizzly but he does exhibit quite a few talents, such as painting, sculpting, and caring for bonsai. Though oddly enough, he never really considers using his talents to gain attention rather than just wait for people to notice him as is.
- Ascended Extra: Llama only appears a tiny handful of times throughout the entire manga. Compared to that, Llama is considerably more prominent in the anime, to the point where he's practically part of the main gang.
- Attention Whore: Downplayed, as he's not annoying about it but he does sometimes act out to get people to notice him, usually resulting in a hilarious Epic Fail.
- Faint in Shock: He does this a few times when something scares him.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Due to being too close to the giraffe exhibit.
- Younger Than They Look: He's apparently younger than Sasako.
Full-time Panda
- Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi
The more experienced zoo panda who works with Panda.
- The Bus Came Back: He returns whilst on holiday with his family in Episode 50 for one heartwarming reunion with Panda and everyone else.
- Catchphrase: "Service, Service!"
- Closet Geek: Likes to build robot plastic models ("It's a man's hobby!") and keeps them in both his home and at the zoo.
- Put on a Bus: The zoo transferred him to Singapore. He had Handa and Kirino not tell Panda until after the fact and tried to spend as much time with Panda as possible until the day came. He sends Panda postcards from time to time.
Mama Panda
- Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa
- Fangirl: For Yama Arashi, a group of singing porcupines
- Running Gag: She attacks Panda with her vacuum whenever he writes off anything she says.
- Phrase Catcher: After attacking Panda with a vacuum.Panda: Aah, don't suck me up.
Rintaro "Rin-Rin" Hayashi
- Voiced by: Tokuyoshi Kawashima
The local town florist, who is totally nuts about pandas, particularly Panda.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Panda obsessed crackpot? Yes. Exceptionally good florist? Most definitely.
- Chick Magnet: Unfortunately, his interests lie elsewhere...
- Gender-Blender Name: Panda expected someone using the name "Rin-Rin" to be a cute girlnote , and was rather disappointed to find out he's a man.
- Loony Fan: The guy is gaga for pandas to an almost scary degree. Mr. Full-Time Panda seems to be the sole exception to his obsession. When he first admits his affections towards Panda, he gives off such a "Creepy Stalker" vibe that it is really uncomfortable to sit through.
- Love Martyr: Willing to do anything for Panda, who's creeped out by his advances.
- Pet the Dog: He actually provides Panda with sensible advice to make up with his mother after he eats her tulips.
Mei Mei
- Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa
Panda's little sister.
- Genki Girl: Just... don't get her started on anything to do with Handa.
- Interspecies Romance: Has a crush on Handa.
- Odd Friendship: With Rin-Rin when they try and hook up with their respective crushes.
