Martha Marvelous: Anime Review: Is the Order a Rabbit?

Hey there honey bears!

Sorry for the long wait, but I'm back with another post!

I started watching a new anime recently called ご注文はうさぎですか? (Gochūmon wa Usagi Desu ka?) or "Is the Order a Rabbit?"

Let me tell you right now, it's flippin' adorable!!

Here's the plot synopsis from Anime News Network:

"High school freshman Cocoa Hoto got lost and bumped into a coffee shop called "Rabbit House" while looking for a boarding house for the upcoming semester of her new school. Luckily, Rabbit House is the boarding house she's looking for, and to return the favor Cocoa starts working at the coffee shop alongside quiet and cool Chino, strong and athletic Rize, plus Chiya and Syaro from Japanese-styled coffee shop Amausaan, as well as the shop mascot rabbit Tippy, who sometimes doesn't quite act like a rabbit...."

Usually I feel that the plot synopsis leaves something out, but this one pretty much hits the nail on the head. "Is the Order a Rabbit?" is a slice of life style anime centered around middle and high school girls (read: Lolis) who work part time in a cafe. With slice of life anime, the plot is very simple and isn't as fast paced as other anime genres, but what matters most is not the plot. It's the characters. Let's meet them, shall we?

Here we have miss Cocoa (pronounced koh-koh-ah), and she's the main character in this story. She's got a few of your main character traits of course: overly excitable, gets along well with everyone, loves pretty much everything, etc. She has a habit of getting lost frequently, and her special skill is doing math in her head. She's a hard worker and gets used to the cafe atmosphere quickly. She thinks of Chino as a little sister and cares for her very much, and also has an obsession with rabbits. Anything cute and fluffy really.

Next is Chino! Chino's father owns Rabbit House, the cafe she, Cocoa, and Rize work in. Chino has a great knowledge of coffee, and she is constantly seen with the cafe's mascot, Tippy, perched on top of her head. Chino is the youngest of the group, the only one in middle school, and she is a bit shy. She gets overwhelmed when first meeting Cocoa, but slowly warms up to her and even calls her "Onee-chan" once (but never does it again because Cocoa flips out). Chino loves animals and cute things, but doesn't react as loudly as Cocoa does. You can tell she likes something when a blush forms on her cheeks.

The third character we meet is Rize (pronounced Lee-zeh), and she's about the same age as Cocoa. Her father was a soldier so she keeps up a tough image, carrying a gun around with her, and all of her accessories are in some form of camo. When she gets put in charge of teaching Cocoa how to work in the cafe, she takes the job very seriously and has Cocoa call her "Sir" during training. Despite her tough exterior, Rize loves cute things. She constantly has inner monologues about the other characters and how cute they are, but is quick to hide it so the others won't notice. She's an interesting character because she flips between the military training she's learned and wanting to be a normal high school girl.

The fourth character we meet is Chiya. She's in Cocoa's class in school, and her family runs another coffee shop in town that specializes in traditional Japanese sweets. Her shop also has a mascot, and he's a black rabbit named Anko (pictured here). She's soft-spoken and kind, but she gets very excitable when she talks about making sweets. You can see a twinkle in her eye and she becomes a lot more animated whenever she's thinking about it. A fun quirk of hers is that she doesn't just call the sweets by what they are, but comes up with creative names for them that she thinks are poetic and represent the ingredients...although that sometimes can make it hard for the customer to order since they don't know what all is in the dish. XD

The last of the main characters is Syaro. There are only two episodes of this anime released, and we haven't met Syaro yet. I have a hunch that she may work at Chiya's family's coffee shop, or her family may have one of her own. I'm looking forward to meeting her!

Out of all of the characters, I have to say my favorite is Chiya. I can definitely relate to her in the creative process, and she has a passion for what she does that gets me excited about it! Also she's so CUTE.

I just love her bright green eyes. They match her uniform!

I'm excited for this anime to continue forward, and this is one of the only anime that I have watched while it's currently airing in Japan. I usually wait until the whole series has finished broadcasting and watch it all in a few sittings...but the previews for this one were too cute to resist!

The Slice of Life genre took me a while to warm up to, but I do enjoy a good fluffy, cute show to make me smile and keep me relaxed when I need it. ~~Not to mention all of the cafe settings in this show give me ideas for the maid cafe.~~

Once Syano makes an official appearance, I'll write another post about how the anime is progressing. I'm so excited!

Have some more cute pictures: