We’ve all had those days—we suddenly become too aware of our weight or of the tighter waistband of our jeans, so we decide to hit the gym and lose those extra pounds. And then, just as we get on the treadmill or any of those scary gym contraptions… well, we struggle, to put it bluntly.
The same fate befalls the adorable Rilakkuma while using an exercise machine in the new special video clip unveiled on Sunday in the Cinema Today website. The special video clip is part of the promotions for the character’s upcoming Netflix original series, Rilakkuma and Kaoru. Check out the cute video below!
Rilakkuma and Kaoru was first announced by Netflix in 2017 and was initially slated for a 2018 release. It was eventually moved to an April 19, 2019 world premiere. The series, created using stop-motion animation, will run for 13 episodes that run for around 11 minutes each. Previous trailers revealed for the series have revealed both its Japanese and English dub. The Japanese dub stars Mikako Tabe as Kaoru, while the English dub has Lana Condor voicing Rilakkuma’s human roommate. You can watch both below.
Japanese dub:
English dub:
The painstaking stop-motion animation in the series was done by Dwarf Studio, best known for the brown furry mascot Domo-kun. The series is headed by director Masahito Kobayashi, with Naoko Ogigami handling the scripts.
Anime News Network describes Rilakkuma and Kaoru’s story as such:
The character’s story begins when the titular Rilakkuma suddenly appears in the apartment of office worker Kaoru and begins living there, spending every day idling around. He has a zipper on his back, but the contents remain unknown. He likes food like pancakes, omelette rice, pudding, and dango. He lives together with the little white cub Korilakkuma and Kaoru’s pet Kiiroitori (“yellow bird”).
Rilakkuma was created by character designer Aki Kondo and was launched by Japanese company San-X in 2003.
Source: Anime News Network