Shirokuma Cafe Batch

This blog entry has been DMCAed by some bloody robot three times. I have no idea what words or phrases it's picking up, so everything suspect has been replaced with asterisks (and eventually reverted). If this doesn't work, I'll ROT13 encode the whole thing.

Media companies, if you're going to use robots, at least use intelligent ones!

Here's my "last word" on Shirokuma Cafe. The batch includes the fifty episodes, the three non-credit OPs, the twelve non-credit EDs, the "picture drama" special, and three archives of scans from the original Ruell-Next torrent. Episodes 1-13, 26, 32, and NCED01 received v2's, for font problems (1-13, NCED01) and typos (26, 32). All episodes can be patched; the patch file can be downloaded from here.The entire series can be burned to four DVDs, with room left over for the two soundtrack albums.

The picture drama is just a storyboard version of episode 26; there is no new content. However, its two skits are among the best. "The New Panda" follows the chaos that ensues when Mr. Temp Panda is hired to supplement the regulars at the zoo's Panda Corner, and the zoo runs a popularity contest to select the "central" panda. "Reunion at the Grizzly Bar" introduces us to the "fierce beasts" - Lion and Tiger and Wolf (oh my!) - and muses lightly on what happens as we grow older and settle into our lives. "Reunion" features a guest appearance by the mysterious rapper MC 469MA, who is none other than Polar Bear himself in shades. 469MA is a pun, of course. In Japanese, four is "shi", six is "ro", and nine is "ku", so 469MA is "shiro kuma" (polar bear). Who knew?

So it's time to say goodbye to the gang. Here they all, all together under the blossoming cherry trees in episode 50 (even Mr. Shoebill and Ms. Donkey)

while the core quartet does what it does best - work together to make their friends happy.

I want to thank ninjacloud and Calyrica for timing and QCing the entire series; convexity, deltakei, and Moho for translating the songs and untranslated signs; and Juggen for the ending karaoke in episodes 23-26. I also want to thank the other team members in Orphan Fansubs, who have waited patiently while their projects got slow-tracked behind Shirokuma Cafe Cafe. And of course I want to thank the original subbers and encoder (Ruell-Next).

Thanks for watching Shirokuma Cafe.