Webcomic / Milk And Mocha

Left: Milk. Right: Mocha.

Milk Mocha Bear (also known as "Milk And Mocha" or "Milk And Mocha Bear") is a webcomic about two characters by Melani Sie in 2016. They and Centilia creator Gigih Hartanto would go on to form Klova Studios in 2018, and begin distributing the comic under that brand. Since then, the comic has branched out into merchandise, animated stickers and GIFs. They can be found on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

It is a Slice of Life comic featuring interactions between two bears - a brown, stoic and mute one named Mocha, and a white, borderline hyperactive one named Milk. The duo originally began doing their own thing, but were joined by a dinosaur/dragon pet named Matcha in 2019. Prior to this, there was a story featuring the duo and some other characters such as an owl and a fox, but these comics have largely been lost and their "canon" status is debatable.

In 2022, the duo (and Matcha) branched out into online animated videos.

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Tropes in this webcomic:

• Abandoned Pet in a Box: This is how Matcha was introduced, abandoned by a previously loving owner who left them in a park for reasons unknown.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other:
  • In spite of Mocha's lower energy levels and Milk's impatience sometimes clashing, the duo are absolutely, deeply in love and will make it known very often.
  • Matcha spends a lot of his time being rather indifferent to Mocha at best, but there are times the duo can be found napping together, or enjoying each other's company.
• Beary Friendly: The title duo are a pair of romantic, friendly bears.
• Beary Funny: When they're not being adorable, the title characters are getting into hilarious shenanigans.
• Big Damn Heroes: In a sense. Milk came back to shelter Matcha with their umbrella during the middle of a horrible thunderstorm, just when they seemed lost.
• Big Eater:
  • Both Milk and Mocha are shown to be big foodies, but Milk is especially guilty of this; sometimes, they've claimed to be full only to perk up when dessert or Mocha's food is displayed. In some sketches, such as the one where they're both quarantining at home with nothing to do, Milk shows a very noticeable food belly.
  • Relative to his size, Matcha can eat quite a bit of food, devouring Mocha's plate clean once.
• Bookworm: Mocha's an avid reader in both the old and current comics, though Milk has their moments too.
• Butt Biter: Milk has done this to Mocha once by accident, while dreaming of carrots and eating them.
• Canon Immigrant: One of Milk's friends from the original comic makes a brief cameo when Milk goes on holiday.
• Cartoon Creature: Matcha is some kind of dinosaur, as confirmed by the authors - it's not clear which.
• Crush Blush: Both halves of the couple blush when they're hugging, kissing or enjoying one another's company.
• Cuddle Bug: The hyperactive Milk loves hugs with Mocha or Matcha. For their part, Mocha's quite fond of hugs too, just less likely to start them without being asked.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: A competition variant when the two bears have a tickle competition. Mocha barely reacts, while Milk is overwhelmed by laughter. Lampshaded by the caption "EASY VICTORY".
• Cute Mute: Mocha doesn't say a word out loud, but they're adorable, especially from Milk's perspective. One of the reasons the two are so in love is that Milk is OK with Mocha being nonverbal and expressing themselves in other ways.
• Didn't Think This Through: Milk has, on at least one occasion, attempted to apply a charcoal skin mask to their face. Mocha has to point out that as bears, they both have fur as well, causing Milk to realise how unpleasant the mask could be to remove, and then delay it.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Both Milk and Mocha could still be recognised from their earliest versions, but Mocha's eyes were bigger and both bears had thinner arms.
• Early Instalment Weirdness: In panels from the original comic, Milk and Mocha were assigned female and male genders, respectively, and the comics were a bit more dramatic, focusing on bullying towards Milk for being a white bear. There was also more of a supporting cast. Later comics would focus more on a Slice of Life approach just around the duo (this time with the creators refusing to identify them as a particular gender and leaving it to fan interpretation), and later their pet Matcha.
• Epic Fail: Mocha once left their phone in the fridge, somehow. Milk is naturally astounded.
• The Glomp: Milk loves hugging Mocha often at a high speed. They're cartoon bears, so no harm done.
• Illness Blanket: This shows up occasionally when either one of the duo gets sick.
• I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Double Subverted with Matcha. Milk initially tried adopting him by picking him up, but he bit them in response and the duo left him alone. Fortunately, Milk came back later and took him home for real this time.
• Insistent Terminology: Milk's not fat, they're fluffy.
• The Klutz: Mocha can be a little clumsy, and Milk regularly outperforms them at sports, according to one particular cartoon.
• No-Sell: Mocha is immune to tickling.
• Not So Above It All:
  • Mocha is generally the more grounded of the two, but they have their less "normal" moments like picking their nose, eating food off the floor (or attempting to), and showing their cuckoolander side by proposing Milk literally "take off their fat" to cool off.
  • Though Milk is the more hyperactive and silly of the two, they disapprove of Mocha's unhygienic moments like nose-picking or (would-be) floor-scavenging.
• Official Couple: The title characters have been together since day one of the comic.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The outgoing, hyperactive, impatient and talkative Milk (the "red") contrasts with the stoic, patient reserved, and silent - implied to be mute - Mocha (the "blue").
• Safe Under Blankets: Shows occasionally, with the duo hiding behind blankets often with scary movies.
• Shout-Out:
  • This comic depicts the duo playing Among Us.
  • This comic has Milk and Mocha playing a version of Squid Game, albeit Lighter and Softer with elimination being a sticky dart rather than death.
• Silent Snarker: Mocha never speaks out loud, and almost never smiles, but there are times you can feel their amusement or surprise purely through facial expression and body language.
• The Speechless: Mocha never speaks out loud, often talking with gestures, nods or a tablet/whiteboard. The creators have confirmed they are mute.
• The Stoic: Mocha rarely visibly emotes, but conveys a lot through body language and does feel feelings like happiness, or sadness; it's just that it takes more to get a visible emotion from them.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Mostly Played for Laughs:
  • Despite being anthropomorphic bears, the proportions of the main characters mean they still can't do certain acts like form hearts over their heads. Thankfully and happily, there is a solution.
  • Milk may be an intelligent bear, but they still have fur and charcoal makeup proves a bad idea as a result.
  • Matcha's diminutive stature and relatively stumpy legs mean that just occasionally, he struggles to get up steps. Also, his breath does smell if the duo forget to help him with cleaning his teeth.
  • Getting turned into care reacts changes both the duo's shape, stopping them from hugging.
  • A rarer, more dramatic example would be when Milk meets Matcha for the first time. Matcha, having just been abandoned by his previous owner - who looks somewhat like them to boot - is not in a good mood and bites the bear for trying to pet him. It's only after he has some time to calm down that he's willing to let them be affectionate.
• Talking with Signs: Mocha bypasses their mute nature by sometimes texting or writing on a tablet/whiteboard.
• Unexpectedly Dark Episode: The "Mocha's smile" comic is unnaturally creepy by the standards of the comic. It is thankfully All Just a Dream.
• Uptight Loves Wild: Milk is a hyperactive, somewhat impulsive and very talkative white bear, while Mocha is a stoic brown bear who never speaks. Despite their differences, they're very much in love.
• The Voiceless: A Zig-Zagged Trope in the animated shorts; Milk is never heard speaking. The speech bubbles would imply that they can talk, but we don't hear it.
• Workaholic: Zig-Zagged Trope with Mocha. They have other interests outside of their employment (whatever that is), but spend some time working up late at least every once in a while. Sometimes, Milk has to bring them to bed when they fall asleep at the desk, or brings their sleeping bag over to sleep by them while they keep working.