In a sleepy town of wooden framed houses and cobbled streets, five girls work as waitresses at various cafés around town. With hot drinks, delicious cakes, and rabbit mascots, you can always guarantee a fulfilling and wholesome experience, be it at Rabbit House, Ame Usa An, or Fleur du Lapin.
Sometimes, you need something warm and comforting to look forward to after a long day out in the real world. The gentle pace of slice-of-life anime has long served that need, and as fan of all the genre’s greatest hits – from Aria to Hidamari Sketch, it was inevitable that I would eventually come across Is the Order a Rabbit (aka Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka?, or GochiUsa for short).
In fact, I first knew I absolutely had to watch this series after seeing an adorable Nendoroid of protagonist Chino with a rabbit atop her head. Crunchyroll was happy to serve up all 24 episodes to me, and over the next few weeks I eagerly worked my way through them.
Right from the start, GochiUsa is everything you need from a slice-of-anime. There’s no overall plot, of course, but each individual story is charming and adorable. The characters adhere to the usual anime stereotypes, but you don’t care, because you’re enjoying all their escapades and adventures. The artwork is pleasing on the eye, and top it all off, you have a plethora of cute rabbits in every episode. How can you help but relax and unwind in the face of such an onslaught?
Is GochiUsa the new Aria?
- Both series feature female friends working for three different rival companies in the same industry.
- Each company ultimately gets its own mascot – cats in Aria, rabbits in GochiUsa.
- The relationships between mascots can sometimes lead to violence.
- Chino and Alice are both quiet and withdrawn younger girls who rarely express their true emotions.
- Cocoa and Akari are both optimists who manage to befriend everyone around them.
- Rise and Aika are both cool and competent.
- Both take place in locations based on real European towns.
