Netflix has been dipping its toes into the anime scene of late, pushing out anime originals that have gotten some pretty good responses from fans. However, this time we’re wondering if maybe they’ve taken it a little too far by announcing a Rilakkuma anime for 2018.
And yes, it’s Rilakkuma like the cutesy bear mascot. Since its creation, in 2003 by Aki Kondo, Rilakkuma has grown in popularity and the new anime, set for a 2018 premiere, is to celebrate its 15th anniversary.
We get that San-X’s mascot is totally cute and yes, it also melts the hearts of kids and some adults out there but an anime series? Really?
The anime isn’t going to your typical length though, running at 11 minutes long with 13 episodes in the pipeline. For now the title of the anime has been tentatively set as Rilakkuma Series.
Also, instead of the typical cell-shaded animation, the Rilakkuma Series will be stop-motion, with Studio Dwarf (Domo) in charge of the production.
According to the release, the Rillakuma Series anime begins when the titular Rilakkuma suddenly appears in the apartment of office worker Kaoru and begins living there, spending every day idling around. He has a zipper on his back, but the contents remain unknown. He likes food like pancakes, omelette rice, pudding, and
He has a zipper on his back, but the contents remain unknown. He likes food like pancakes, omelette rice, pudding, and dango. He lives together with the little white cub Korilakkuma and Kaoru’s pet Kiiroitori (“yellow bird”).
From what we can gather from the synopsis, the anime is very likely targeted at the slightly younger crowd (aka kids) but since not much info has been released about it, we’ll just have to wait and see.
While we do think this is pretty much unnecessary, who knows, maybe the Rilakkuma Series could really be an honest to goodness great anime. Or maybe we’ll just be taken in with his cuteness once more and splurge on even more Rilakkuma merch.
