And so the 9th volume of Animate’s limited edition blu-ray of Shirokuma Cafe has arrived, featuring Sloth on the cover lol.
Pictures can be enlarged by right-clicking “View Image”
I was going make another post for a whole new bunch of Shirokuma Cafe merchandise I got in today, but there’s still another bunch of merchandise I got off Yahoo Japan Auctions that will be coming in a few weeks, so I’ve decided to save it for later when those stuff will arrive. Just gonna jump straight into photos of the packaging for the BD.
This volume’s bonus original goods’ is a foot sponge for the toes…yeah…that’s right! For toes of the foot! XD I think these goods are getting more hilarious even though they’d be pretty normal in Japan.
And this time, I’ve taken a listen to the bonus drama CD and it appears the “Penguin Cafe” saga still continues with the first story, “Handa Udon”, dealing with Penguin talking to Sasako and deciding whether to have his cafe turn into a mobile phone shop or a “Inaniwa Udon” (稲庭うどん) restaurant (which he claims Sasako had suggested to him) since no customers have been coming in at all (well other than Shirokuma and Panda lol). Handa pops in since he heard about a delicious soba Sasako was making but is informed from Penguin that they’re thinking about changing the cafe. Long story short, Penguin decides to go with the “Inaniwa Udon” plan and wants Sasako to help run. Handa doesn’t mind whatever the cafe turns into but wants to try Penguin’s “Inaniwa Udon” first, which Penguin then calls up a restaurant to have it delivered to his cafe (only to be rejected LOL). He is surprised about Penguin wanting to get one delivered since he thought Penguin would be making his own one from the cafe, which he then gets a reluctant Penguin to agree to make their own one…only to find out Penguin has no idea what an “Inaniwa Udon” is! (it’s a special (and expensive) thin-type of noodle in Japan, from the Akita prefecture for those wondering).
The second story, “Goodbye Inaniwa Udon”, is a direct continuation where Handa is helping Penguin by making the udon, starting with the broth. They test it out and Penguin thinks it’s fine to serve already but Handa thinks it’s still not quite right yet, which Penguin then thinks it is too troublesome making this udon. Shirokuma and Panda pop in and Sasako apologizes to them saying there’s nothing to serve today since they’re currently trying to make the Inaniwa udon. They have a little chat with Handa and Sasako when they notice Penguin has disappeared from the cafe. They find a letter left on the table by him where he says he will hand over the cafe to Handa and Sasako to run and will watch over from afar, while he goes to find out what an Inaniwa udon is XD. In other words, he ran away (as put bluntly by Shirokuma lol). Penguin is then called up by Shirokuma telling him to come back as they’re no longer going to bother making that udon. After returning, Penguin says he gives up on the idea of turning his cafe into an Inaniwa udon restaurant and will continue to run the place as a cafe, which Handa is secretly kind of disappointed (since he’d be working with Sasako had the plan gone ahead). A few days later, Penguin tells Sasako that even though the cafe didn’t turn into a restaurant, he’d still like to have the cafe serve Inaniwa udon and wonders how much it’d cost to which Sasako replies “2,000 yen” leaving him to say “you never told me Inaniwa udon was expensive.”
Actually, it’s kinda funny about the jokes regarding Inaniwa udon from the drama CD. Inaniwa udon takes a lot of human time and effort to make which is why it’s expensive, and with Penguin’s character being the way he his, it was hilarious to see him attempting to make it and then give up so easily (well more like Handa making it lol), which can probably be seen as some sort of social commentary in that attempting to make Inaniwa udon requires a lot of patience and dedication, both of which Penguin lacked in this story.
I should start listening to the rest of the bonus drama CDs that have come with Animate’s limited edition BDs for Shirokuma Cafe just to see the humorous ideas and sad attempts by Penguin to get customers to come to his cafe. (Still have only listened to the first two)
Walk Of Darkness 