Tippy

Full name: Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe.

Despite Rabbit House being a coffee-oriented café, her full name comes from a high-grade tea leaf classification.

Physically, Tippy is a small, extremely fluffy Angora rabbit who often looks almost one-headed because of her dense fur.

Canonically, her body is biologically female, even though the personality inhabiting her is that of an elderly man.

Tippy’s true identity is the spirit of Chino Kafu’s grandfather, the original owner and master of the Rabbit House.

After his death, his personality somehow ended up possessing the body of the family’s pet rabbit, also named Tippy.

To those outside the family, this secret is generally kept hidden.

Most people simply see her as an unusually fluffy café mascot.

As a rabbit, Tippy usually perches on top of Chino Kafu’s head, giving her a distinctive silhouette.

When Chino is absent, she sometimes rides on Cocoa Hoto’s head instead, much to Cocoa’s delight.

Because of her thick, fluffy fur, she was often mistaken for other things at first.

Chiya Ujimatsu once mistook her for a dog, and Rize Tedeza has called her a “furball.”

Tippy speaks in a deep, dandy, elderly male voice and uses human language.

In daily life, this is officially explained as “Chino’s ventriloquism,” although Tippy often speaks freely on her own, even when Chino is not present.

Only the family and a few close people know she is actually Chino’s grandfather.

Her mannerisms, complaints, and affections line up exactly with the man he was in life.

She is somewhat old-fashioned and proud, with a strong attachment to her café and family.

She can also be petty and easily jealous, especially where her son Takahiro Kafu is concerned.

Tippy is uncomfortable when young girls like Cocoa hug or cling to her, despite having a rabbit’s body.

She still thinks and feels like an elderly human man and reacts accordingly.

She deeply cherishes Chino and often worries about her.

She secretly follows her to check on her safety and gets hurt when Chino seems more absorbed in other people or activities.

At times, Tippy’s emotions and even facial expressions appear to synchronize with Chino’s.

In some episodes, her feelings also seem to link with Cocoa’s reactions.

On rare occasions, Tippy speaks in a falsetto voice.

Midori Aoyama, who knew Chino’s grandfather in life, once described this high voice as “creepy,” despite having been comforted by it in the past.

Tippy is an Angora rabbit with so much fur that she often looks like a round, one-headed fluff ball.

Her signature look is simply a mass of white fluff sitting on someone’s head.

When she gets wet—for example in a hot spring pool or after falling from a boat—her actual body becomes visible.

Her body underneath the fur appears small and almost “melted” in comparison to her fully fluffed form.

In delicate artwork, such as Rize Tedeza’s careful drawings, Tippy’s small legs can be seen peeking out.

These glimpses confirm she does indeed have a normal rabbit body hidden under her hair.

Despite complaining about the heat and discomfort of such thick fur, she has grown somewhat fond of her fluffy appearance.

She even shows a modest pride in how she looks as a rabbit.

Tippy is notably old for a rabbit; she was already present about ten years before the main story, in Cocoa’s childhood flashback.

Given a typical rabbit lifespan, this makes her unusually long-lived, at least within the narrative.

Chino Kafu

Chino is Tippy’s granddaughter and the person she spends the most time with.

Tippy is almost constantly perched on Chino’s head, symbolizing their close bond.

Tippy is extremely protective of Chino and follows her around out of concern.

When Chino starts ballet, Tippy panics that she might not take over the café, putting the future of Rabbit House in doubt.

Chino worries about what will eventually happen to Tippy—whether she will “return to the sky.”

Tippy jokingly remarks that heaven has turned him away at the gate, suggesting he is not yet welcome there.

In the end, on a train ride back to the Timber-Framed Town from Cocoa’s family home, Tippy hears Chino confidently talk about her future dreams.

Relieved and satisfied with her growth, he peacefully departs for the afterlife, and the rabbit returns to being just the original, non-speaking Tippy.

Cocoa Hoto

Cocoa adores Tippy for her soft, fluffy appearance and loves to cuddle her.

When Chino is not around, Tippy sometimes rides on Cocoa’s head instead, a role Cocoa happily accepts.

Tippy met Cocoa once in her childhood, roughly ten years before the main story.

At that time, Cocoa and Chino’s grandfather spoke on a park bench, and Cocoa performed a little “spell” to grant his wish to become a rabbit.

Tippy is slightly embarrassed by Cocoa’s affection, as he still mentally views himself as an elderly man.

Nevertheless, she clearly enjoys the warmth and closeness, even if she does not always admit it.

Takahiro Kafu

Takahiro Kafu is Chino’s father and Tippy’s son.

Their relationship is filled with both affection and a competitive, grumpy edge.

Tippy becomes annoyed when Takahiro’s skills as a bar master are highly praised.

She also bristles if Takahiro’s ideas for the shop, such as darts or blowgun games, draw too much admiration.

Tippy is possessive of the Rabbit House and sometimes feels overshadowed by Takahiro’s success.

This rivalry is often played humorously, especially in anime next-episode previews where they argue openly.

Chiya Ujimatsu and Chiya’s Grandma

Chiya is a friend of Cocoa and Chino who visits Rabbit House often.

At first, she even mistakes Tippy for a dog because of her unusual size and fluffiness.

Chiya’s Grandma runs the traditional sweets shop Ama Usa An, which Tippy sees as a rival to Rabbit House.

Tippy holds a lingering competitive feeling toward that shop, partly because Chiya’s Grandma is still alive and active.

Midori Aoyama

Midori Aoyama, a novelist, used to frequent Rabbit House as a student.

She based her hit work “The Barista Who Became a Rabbit” on Chino’s grandfather’s complaints about wanting to become a rabbit.

Aoyama describes Chino’s grandfather as “an old man with a lovely white beard who is kind at heart.”

She remembers being comforted by his high, falsetto voice, even though she later jokingly calls it “a creepy voice.”

In the story, Aoyama’s fiction about a barista-turned-rabbit eerily mirrors what happens to the Rabbit House master himself.

Life imitates art when his wish unexpectedly comes true in a literal way.

Other Rabbits

Tippy’s interactions with other rabbits in the series are often comedic.

With the rabbit Anko, she ends up being chased and even pinned in a mount position.

Another rabbit, Wild Geese, casually spits out the leaf it holds directly at Tippy.

Tippy’s relationships with other rabbits are thus somewhat awkward and far from dignified.

Despite Anko being male, their interactions are played for laughs rather than realism.

The series hints that some things about these rabbit relationships should not be examined too closely.

Background as the Rabbit House Master

Chino’s grandfather started the Rabbit House café at a fairly advanced age.

He even took on debt to build it, showing how serious and romantic his commitment to the idea was.

He aimed for Rabbit House to be a hidden, sophisticated café.

However, while he had taste and style, he lacked strong business skills, and the café struggled financially.

Under the weight of debt and a business that would not take off, he repeatedly muttered that he wished he could “just become a rabbit.”

This constant complaint inspired Aoyama’s novel “The Barista Who Became a Rabbit.”

At one point, he spoke his wish aloud to a young girl visiting from outside the Timber-Framed Town, in front of the pet rabbit Tippy.

The girl, later revealed as the young Cocoa Hoto, offered to cast a “spell” so that “Grandpa’s order” to become a rabbit would be granted.

At some later point, he dies, and his personality mysteriously transfers into the body of the female rabbit Tippy.

The series never fully explains the mechanism, leaving it as a whimsical, magical twist on his earlier wish.

Daily Life in the Café

In the main story, Tippy serves as Rabbit House’s strange yet beloved mascot.

Customers and friends see her mostly as a cute, fluffy presence, though they are sometimes unnerved by “Chino’s ventriloquism.”

Tippy gets very upset when magazine articles feature other cafés instead of Rabbit House.

Her face tightens in frustration whenever she senses Rabbit House is being overshadowed.

She also cares deeply about preserving the café’s atmosphere and class.

When Cocoa suggests adding darts or blowgun games to the café on a whim, Tippy insists that if they must choose, at least pick darts to better suit the ambiance.

Although she is technically the original owner, in her current form she often ends up as a powerless observer.

This helplessness, combined with her pride, drives much of her comedic grumbling.

Link to “The Barista Who Became a Rabbit”

Aoyama’s book “The Barista Who Became a Rabbit” tells of a café owner whose son’s jazz performances rescue the shop from financial trouble.

Chino says something similar actually happened in reality at Rabbit House.

In the story, the owner’s wish to become a rabbit is fulfilled in a fantastical way.

This directly parallels Tippy’s situation: the real master becomes a rabbit in death, but his son’s talents help the café survive.

This metafictional loop underscores Tippy’s role as both a character and a living reference to the novel.

It also emphasizes his romantic, somewhat impractical nature as a café owner and dreamer.

Death and Final Departure

By the time Cocoa arrives as a live-in waitress, Chino’s grandfather has already died the previous year.

Rize joins Rabbit House after his death as well, meaning they never met him in human form.

Tippy’s existence as a rabbit with his personality is thus a posthumous phenomenon.

The exact timing and process are deliberately left vague in the narrative.

Eventually, on the train ride back to the Timber-Framed Town after a visit to Cocoa’s family, Chino talks openly about her future dreams.

Reassured that Chino will be all right, Tippy finally allows his soul to return to the sky.

From that moment on, Tippy no longer speaks human language.

She appears only as an ordinary female Angora rabbit, with the grandfather’s personality having moved on to the afterlife.

Is the Order a Rabbit? (Anime and Manga)

Throughout Is the Order a Rabbit?, Tippy provides both comic relief and emotional depth.

Her grumpy comments, sudden outbursts, and heartfelt worries highlight the generational ties within the Rabbit House family.

She frequently appears in opening and ending sequences, often sitting on Chino’s head.

Her presence visually anchors Chino’s character as the granddaughter tied to the café’s legacy.

In Season 1, Episode 10, Tippy can briefly be heard with a different, female-sounding voice.

In that scene, the voice is performed by Midori Aoyama’s voice actor as part of the gag.

The story gradually reveals more hints about Chino’s grandfather’s life: his love of chess, his refined tastes, and his hidden kindness.

However, his face is never fully shown, usually obscured or seen from behind, preserving a sense of mystery.

Kirara Fantasia

Tippy appears in the crossover mobile game Kirara Fantasia during the Is the Order a Rabbit? collaboration event “Is the Order a Rabbit Even in Another World?”.

In this event, Cocoa and Chino are summoned to the other world Etowaria and open a version of Rabbit House there.

To cheer Chino up and help her in the new world, Cocoa summons Tippy as well.

Tippy is moved to see Chino running her own café, but grows slightly conflicted on realizing it seems more prosperous than the original Rabbit House back home.

Voice lines for Tippy in Kirara Fantasia use the same voice actor as in the anime, Kiyokawa Motomu.

He is one of the few male voice actors in the game, along with the character Sen from another series.

It is not explicitly stated whether the Etowaria residents Lamp and Sola know that Tippy is actually Chino’s grandfather.

This ambiguity keeps Tippy’s true identity a quiet, personal secret even in the other world.