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Japan’s anime-loving penguin loses his 2-D waifu temporarily, breaks our hearts with sad photos

Casey Baseel Sep 19, 2017
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Human otaku offer their sympathies and encouragement during the animal’s difficult time.

A typhoon recently swept across Japan, washing out many people’s plans for the three-day weekend. It wasn’t just mankind that had their leisure activities disrupted by the downpour, though.

Grape-kun, the Humboldt penguin who’s fallen in love with a cardboard cutout of Hululu, an anthropomorphized penguin girl from hit anime Kemono Friends, was no doubt looking to spend some quality time with his waifu over the weekend. However, the approaching storm had zookeepers worried that the cutout could become damaged or destroyed by the inclement weather, and so they removed Hululu from the penguin enclosure ahead of the approaching rain clouds.

While you can’t fault them for the decision, Grape-kun didn’t seem to fully grasp the situation, and as the Tobu Zoo employee carted off his beloved anime treasure, the penguin looked absolutely crestfallen.

台風接近の為、「フルル避難」グレープ君
ごめんね。（ ; ; ）#東武動物公園 #けものフレンズ #フルル #グレープ君 #台風 pic.twitter.com/jtnccv2T90

— 東武動物公園【公式】リュウくん (@tobuzoo7) September 17, 2017

▼ With his slouching shoulders, Grape-kun’s defeated posture is a near-perfect match for an otaku who just found out that his favorite anime series isn’t getting a second season.

https://twitter.com/RAMU7539/status/909407523903385600

Human anime fans swiftly showed sympathy for their feathered comrade, with both fan art…

▼ “Hululu has to evacuate because of the typhoon,” tweeted the Tobu Zoo Twitter account. “Sorry, Grape-kun.”

https://twitter.com/odendanesensei/status/909419037897003011

pic.twitter.com/Eaq9TeQsmn

— お絵かき3号 (@kenmo_painter) September 17, 2017

…and online messages of support, such as:

“Poor Grape-kun. But this is better than Hululu getting blown away or hurt, right?”
“That typhoon has got some nerve!”
“Tragic.”
“He looks so cute with his shoulders drooping like that.”
“She’ll be back soon. Hang in there!”
“After a typhoon, the skies are clear and the air is clean. You’ll be reunited with Hululu under that big, beautiful sky.”

As alluded to in the comments, Hululu’s absence is indeed just a temporary situation, as the zoo has decided to continue displaying the cutout long after the finish of the Kemono Friends promotion that it was originally part of. Seeing as how it’s good for human otaku to sometimes take a break from their core hobbies and associate with people from outside the anime enthusiast community, a few days apart from his 2-D crush might be a good thing for Grape-kun, and if nothing else, a bit of absence should mean his heart will have grown even fonder for her when she returns.

Source: Jin, Twitter/@tobuzoo7