しろくまカフェbis 1

This is a good beginner manga - it has furigana and (relatively) limited vocabulary. The WaniKani vocabulary sheet has good coverage, which is a huge help.

The story is essentially a series of "slice of life" vignettes about three companions, Panda, Shirokuma (polar bear) and Emperor Penguin. It contains very silly comedy, which varies between simple puns to pokes at the world's absurdity (for example, Panda goes to a zoo for a part-time job as an employee, but gets cast as a panda in an exhibit instead).

All the jokes and puns are not terribly hard to follow, but they are an extra difficulty sometimes. Be aware that this book uses katakana extensively to make words clearly distinct, which did catch me off-guard every once in a while (すみません -> スミマセン).

Overall, I had an ok time reading it - it had a bit more slang than I was used to, which made parts challenging but rewarding. I can't say I was terribly invested in the story (I'm partial to narratives and the comedy was a little too dumb sometimes) but it was alright enough to not be a huge drag.