Mall Penguins

 I once thought anime is full of unrealistic mascot pets, but I have discovered that some of them are based on real animals.

There really is a rodent called a pika. That weird little rodent with tufted ears that showed up all over the place in early 90s anime is a Hokkaido squirrel. Remember the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion? If you’re an otaku, of course you do. But do you remember Pen Pen, Misato’s pet warm-water penguin that lived in her freezer?

So I guess I wasn’t really that surprised to see penguins hanging out on the ice rink in Qingdao’s MixC Mall. Pet penguins.