Koguma no Misha

I watched this anime when I was a kid (about 16 or 17 years ago) and still remember the details of this great watch. This is enough to say that the characters and the stories of this anime are really memorable. I even at times find myself remembering a funny moment of this anime after all these years and chuckle. That said, the following is obviously my personal view of this anime and is not necessarily something everyone might agree with.

Story: 8/10
This anime has a great start. Misha (a grizzly bear cub) is traveling with his parents on a train. Along the way the train ... has a quick stop in a village where nobody has seen a train in years. Naturally most of the curious villagers (the most eager one is the owner of the hotel that is going bankrupt) gather at the station to see the train and Misha's father -a positive thinker- thinks that they've gathered up to welcome them and decides to stay there. What he doesn't know is that most of the villagers either do not care for them or even dislike them. In this fashion Misha's new life start. As the anime goes on in each episode we get to know about different families and animals that live in the village and the way they interact with each other but most of the stories are about Misha and other kids. Misha is very adventurous and kind and he tries to befriend all the kids in town but not all of them welcome his presence and their rivalry and jealousy at times creates very funny events.
The story might sound familiar or overused but this anime has a very unique and refreshing approach towards this subject and the comedy livens the situations most of the time.

Art and Sound: 8/10 & 6/10
Art and animation of this anime is very simple. This anime is almost 30 years old so I can't really talk about the quality of the animation compared to what we see today however if I want to compare it to other anime i used to watch as a kid, I can easily give the art and animation of this anime an 8/10. What stands out the most is the character designs of this series. In my opinion the character designs are amazingly fit to the characters and theme of the show.

I watched this anime dubbed. However a few years ago I got the chance to watch a few short clips of the anime in Japanese and I really liked the voice acting. I do not recall anything special about the music of this anime but I heard the opening theme again and from my current point of view it wasn't bad at all.

Character: 9/10
One of the strongest points of this anime is characters. The characters are likable, memorable, unique and well developed. Although there are many characters in this anime, almost every one of them is well developed. Most of them have many different sides to them and they are given the chance in the stories to show different qualities about themselves.

Enjoyment: 9/10
I really enjoyed watching this anime and think that it's a fun watch. Not only I as a kid but also my parents and my older sister and brother enjoyed the show. I had many laughs while watching it and even after 17 years or so still remember many of the episodes and the funny moments in them. It has some dramatic episodes as well but even the drama is mixed with a clever comedy. The characters' likability and the interesting stories all make this watch worthwhile. Therefore I really recommend this show to anyone regardless of their age.

Thanks for reading.