A Polar Bear in Love (恋するシロクマ, Koi Suru Shirokuma, lit. "Let's Love, Polar Bear") is a Josei manga by Koromo that is running in the magazine Monthly Comic Gene since 2015.
A harp seal pup gets lost and separated from his mother. He is found by a polar bear, who instantly falls in love with him, but the seal is frightened out of his mind and is convinced that the polar bear is going to eat him.
The manga received a series of animated shorts in 2017 and a drama CD was released with the first volume, featuring Natsuki Hanae as Seal and Yuichiro Umehara as Polar Bear. The manga is licensed in English by Yen Press.
A Polar Bear in Love contains the following tropes:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Even though he doesn't believe Polar Bear's professions of love, Seal is against the idea of being lovers with a male member of his natural predator.
- Affectionate Nickname: Polar Bear calls Seal "Lil Seal" (Seal-kun/Azarashi-kun).
- All Love Is Unrequited: Seal does not return Polar Bear's feelings for him (although he does seem to be slowly accepting Polar Bear as a friend), while "Harpy-dear" does not return Seal's feelings for her.
- Animated Adaptation: A Polar Bear in Love received several 1-minute films.
- Bears Are Bad News: Polar bears are natural predators to seals, which is why Seal is scared of Polar Bear.
- Beary Friendly: Polar Bear is extremely kind, especially to Seal.
- Comically Missing the Point: Polar Bear keeps misinterpreting Seal's comments as a Love Confession, whereas Seal misinterprets Polar Bear's comments as wanting to eat him.
- Coordinated Clothes: Polar Bear is excited that both he and Seal have white fur, because that means they match.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Polar Bear's birth mother preferred his brother over him, and one day, they abandoned him. He is later taken in by another polar bear, who also had a son of her own, but his adoptive brother is killed by another polar bear which his adoptive mother dies fighting. Later on, he meets an old sea whale, who comforts him, but she is about to die anyway and asks him to eat her when she finally passes.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Polar Bear is unfailingly kind to Seal and hopes that he will someday return his feelings.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: When Seal and Polar Bear meet a little female polar bear, she calls Polar Bear "Niichan", which Seal misinterprets as for him. When he notices she calls him by his actual name, he gets confused.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The earlier chapters aren't so silly compared to the later part of the series.
- Green-Eyed Monster: When Polar Bear and Seal find a young, female polar bear, she develops a Precocious Crush on Polar Bear and gets jealous of Seal for being the object of his affections.
- Incompatible Orientation: Both Seal and Polar Bear are males, with Seal establishing he is not gay. He later falls in love with a female seal.
- Interspecies Friendship: The relationship between Polar Bear and Seal seems to be slowly turning into this.
- Interspecies Romance: The entire manga is about a polar bear who falls in love with a seal. Cathy the penguin is in one with an orca.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: When Seal falls in love with a female seal he nicknames "Harpy-dear", Polar Bear tries to be supportive of him.
- The Jailbait Wait: Played for Laughs and downplayed when Polar Bears tells Seal that once the latter's all grown up, they'll get married together.
- Like Brother and Sister: "Harpy-dear" views Seal as a younger brother, instead of a love interest as he had hoped.
- Long-Lost Relative: It's hinted that Polar Bear's birth brother is the father of the little female polar bear that Polar Bear and Seal find in volume 2.
- Love at First Sight: Polar Bear falls in love with Seal at first sight.
- Missing Mom: Polar Bear's birth mother favored his brother over him, and they abandoned him.
- No Party Like a Donner Party: When Polar Bear was little, he met an old sea whale, who offers herself for him to eat as she is dying.
- Ocular Gushers: Polar Bear cries these when he's forced to leave Seal in Volume 4.
- Parental Favouritism: Polar Bear's mother loved his brother more than him.
- Polar Bears and Penguins: The second volume ends in a cliffhanger where a penguin approaches Seal and Polar Bear.
- Predator Turned Protector: In the food chain, polar bears are predators to seals, yet Polar Bear adores Seal as a partner and is willing to protect him from harm.
- Reflective Eyes: Polar Bear is seen in Seal's eyes in the first short.
- Super Drowning Skills: Seal can't swim. After the incident with the young polar bear, he tries to learn how to swim.
- Sweet Seal: Seal may be a timid baby harp seal (especially around Polar Bear), but he's ultimately good-hearted.
- Wall Pin of Love: When Seal tries to escape from Polar Bear during his nap, Polar Bear immediately panics and violently slams his claw against the ice. It was unintentional, but it was enough to traumatize Seal.
