Rilakkuma and Kaoru
Production. An initial pitch was made by Tokyo representatives at Netflix in 2016. The series was announced publicly in 2017 and was originally slated for a 2018 release. Director Masahito Kobayashi drew inspiration from Wes Anderson's films, such as "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and "Isle of Dogs". Kaoru, who had appeared as a silhouette in the original Rilakkuma comic series, was given a physical presence and her experiences were drawn from the female staff members. The fictional city that the show takes place in, Ogigaya, is a mash-up of the Ogikubo and Asagaya neighborhoods in Tokyo . The series was made at Dwarf Studio, who previously made stop motion Domo-kun animation. 10 separate stages were set up, with the staff filming about 10 seconds of footage per day simultaneously. In 2018, Netflix announced the show would be released on April 19, 2019, and star Mikako Tabe as Kaoru. Original characters created for the series, Tokio, Hayate, and Sayu, were introduced in March 2019. Aside from playing Hayate, Takayuki Yamada also played an assortment of minor roles in the series, including the shaved ice stand man in episode 4, the man in the "Yuriko" horror movie, Kaoru 's landlord, Kaoru's boss, the fisherman in episode 8, the photographer in episode 10, and the alien in episode 11. Reception. Petrana Radulovic from "Polygon" called the show endearing and complimented the juxtaposition of the "whimsy" with Kaoru's struggles with her adult life. James Whitbrook from "io9" described the show as "a love letter to the need to escape", noting its message that sometimes, even small acts of escape from everyday life were necessary. "Anime News Network" praised the animation and concept, but mentioned that there was little exploration and resolution towards Kaoru's troubles. Rilakkuma and Kaoru