This week I watched Rilakkuma and Kaoru on Netflix. It’s a Japanese stop-motion animation about the daily life of a young woman named Kaoru, and her three roommates Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, two toy bears, and Kiiroitori, her pet chick. 

Our main characters include Kaoru, Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, and Kiiroitori. Some of the reoccurring characters are Tokio, the neighbor downstairs, Sayu, Kaoru’s colleague, and Hayate, the delivery man. 

Kaoru feels like she is constantly being left behind by her friends and coworkers when it comes to completing major life goals. Everyone around her either has successful careers, boyfriends, or husbands. This often led to a disheartened Kaoru, but at the end of every episode, her roommates helped to cheer her up.

Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, and Kiiroitori all have unique personalities. While they all love snacks, Rilakkuma by far is always looking for them. He fits the archetype of a lazy but lovable character. Korilakkuma often followed along with Rilakkuma and Kiiroitori but is quite the dreamer herself. She was pretty creative and caring throughout the series. Kiiroitori is the most serious out of the trio, taking care of the house and cooking while Kaoru was at work. The three of them not only seemed to have their own personalities but contributed to Kaoru’s as well. 

Tokio is the young neighbor from downstairs. His mother works jobs late at night and it is not explicitly stated where his father is; although, it is heavily implied that he may have passed away. After they become friends, Tokio frequents Kaoru’s apartment to play with Rilakkuma or have meals. 

Sayu is Kaoru’s colleague. She fits the “pretty” girl archetype in the story and comes off as blunt. She contributes to the show by providing advice to Kaoru about relationships. But I think her main role is a character Kaoru can be jealous of. She is pretty, has a boyfriend, who becomes her fiance, and she is able to resign from her job. All things that Kaoru dreams of. 

Hayate the delivery man act’s as our love interest for Kaoru. Although he does not make frequent appearances, it is obvious that Kaoru has a crush on him. His feelings are not easily read through. He also happens to be the cousin of Tokio. 

While Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, and Kiiroitori often stayed home, they, Tokio, and Kaoru are often seen walking to their destinations. On the other hand, Hayate and Sayu use cars as a means to travel.  It is pretty common in cities for people not to own cars, but where I live, almost everyone has a car or bike for transportation. 

They often eat traditional Japanese food such as Dango, Takoyaki, edamame beans, omurice, and much more. Two foods that I recognized were pancakes and shaved ice. Personally, I am not a big fan of Eastern Asian cuisine, so I am not familiar with traditional foods. It was a lot different than the food that I eat

The weather was quite similar to ours, the seasons were diverse and intense. One difference that I noticed was that they have a rainy season. Although it rains a lot in the springtime, we do not have a dedicated rainy season.

For fun, the characters went to festivals dressed in traditional clothing and ate traditional food. They also danced and watched fireworks. Often Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, and Kiiroitori would visit a water canal close to their home and fish. In one of the episodes, Hawaii was mentioned as a frequent travel destination. Sayu visited with her boyfriend, and Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, Kiiroitori, and Tokio visited to perform the song they made. Kaoru talked about Hawaii as a place others frequented, stating that everyone gets macadamia nuts as gifts. I found these places to be quite similar to what I have experienced as I have gone to festivals in towns and faraway places. 

Some social cues that I noticed included growing up and family pressure. Kaoru constantly seems to be reminded that she is growing up and away from the life she knew. As stated before, her friends all have lives of their own and she even becomes jealous of her colleagues. Kaoru also experienced some pressure from her family to move back home to help with the family farm. I know that sometimes we feel pressured to live up to our families’ expectations instead of following our own path. 

The two major values of the characters were friendship and love. While Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, Kiiroitori, and Tokio valued their friendship, Sayu and Kaoru valued love. Karou still appreciated her friends; although,  it was obvious that she wanted a boyfriend. I think that this is really a metaphor for growing up. When we are young we value our friendships, but as we grow older our focus shifts to finding a partner. 

The overarching theme of this show was that our lives are not permanently in one state or another, in fact, they are constantly changing.