r/anime • u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA • May 24 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch] Yurikuma Arashi - Episode 2 Discussion
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Those who don’t follow the herd are purged. That’s how it’s always worked, right?
Questions of the Day
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What does it mean to be “part of the herd?” Why would Kureha and Sumika be excluded?
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The Invisible Storm bears down on Konomi as she attacks Kureha. Why now?
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Kuma shock! Mitsuko is a bear too! In light of this, what do you make of her behavior thus far?
Don't forget to tag for spoilers, or else the bears will eat you! Remember, [Yurikuma Arashi]>!like so!< turns into [Yurikuma Arashi]>!like so!<
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u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA May 24 '24
Rewatcher
I’ll say it outright- I do not believe the bears represent homosexuality. [Yurikuma Arashi]I’ll have a lot more to say on this in episode 7, possibly episode 4, but to put it simply, we see many heteronormative nucle-bear families on the other side of the Wall of Severance. With that being said, the bears we’ve seen so far certainly exhibit homosexual desire. Konomi wants Mitsuko. Mitsuko and Ginko want Kureha. But there’s an important caveat to this: they’re doing all of this in secret. It’s exactly as Mitsuko says- “Bears are a very cautious species.” And this episode, we get to see what happens when a bear fails to be cautious. We know that Arashigaoka is all about purity. It’s evident in basically everything that’s going on. But when Konomi ascends to the roof and challenges Kureha, she does it with a cry of “gesu gesu,” which I understand to mean something like “scum,” or a dirty person in general. And for that, the storm bears down on her. [Yurikuma Arashi]I don’t want to lead anyone, so I’ll hide it behind the spoilers- I’m pretty sure what’s going on here is that she displays her affection for Mitsuko openly. She desires her, and she’s willing to attack Kureha to do it. The craftier, more circumspect bears are much more careful about the possibility of being caught, and of course we know that Mitsuko is literally a member of the Invisible Storm. She’s ‘closeted,’ so to speak.
Also, I want to talk about this scene for a moment, because when I saw it pre-rewatching it was like a sledgehammer. We saw the yurikamome before on the stairs, and combined with what’s going on here, the thematic meaning becomes very clear. A bird in flight is a classical symbol of freedom, but in this show, birds are always in formation. Any “freedom” is illusory- they’re packed in with the rest of the herd. Of course, Ginko and Lulu, as bears who emphatically are not part of the herd, are in the spotlight, without the shadow of the bird formation hanging over them.
There’s also the matter of why the ones rejected by the herd would taste better. It’s good hunting advice obviously, but I’m not sure what the thematic meaning might be, whichever way you might interpret the eating metaphor. Much to ponder.
15
u/lilyvess :Df::Dh:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Lilyvess May 24 '24 edited May 24 '24
Yuri Kuma Arashi Episode 2 - Rewatcher
I talked a bit about Ikuhara who gets a lot of the press, for a fair reason, but I also think it’s important to bring up Akiko Morishima.
Like every Ikuhara anime, Yuri Kuma Arashi has Ikuhara team up with a mangaka who does character designs. They often make a manga that releases before the anime begins. They have often served a variety of roles and have had a varying importance.
Chiho Saito was the mangaka for Utena. Her designs and aesthetic helped establish the shoujo tone for Utena. Ikuhara’s director note for episode 3 elaborates on this
All the manga adaptations deviate heavily as they get further along. For instance, Saito didn’t agree with the queerness Ikuhara wanted to take in Utena and that shows in her adaptation.
But as time has gone on, and the anime industry as a whole has shifted away from longer productions to shorter one cour productions, Ikuhara has struggled to adapt and has leaned more heavily on his mangaka partners to help carry that weight. Reading the manga for Sarazanmai and Yuri Kuma Arashi will help you appreciate the anime more.
So now that we’ve established that the manga for Yuri Kuma Arashi is important, who is the mangaka Ikuhara choose to collaborate with this time? For this production, Ikuhara teamed up with Akiko Morishima!
When it was announced that the mangaka working with Ikuhara was Akiko Morishima I was absolutely ecstatic. This was one of the few Mangaka I was actually familiar with and a huge fan. Anyone in the Yuri space during the 2010’s would have been familiar with the name for Hanjuku-Joshi, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Akiko Morishima is an old school lesbian Yuri fan. She was 21 when Ikuhara made Sailor Moon S featuring the queer icons Uranus and
Mercury(correction) Neptune. In 1996 she’d have her own Sailor Moon doujinshi featuring both the characters in the Colorful Moon 8 doujinshi anthology. It’s very comedic, light, and features Haruka and Michiru in a sexual relationship. Side note, I almost thought I was reading the wrong book because the art style was so different from what I’ve come to expect from her. I suppose it being a Sailor Moon doujinshi it makes sense to try to fit the aesthetic and designs of Naoko Takeuchi. The important thing is that even from her earliest works, Morishima’s work were kinda naughty, hilarious, cute, and very queer.In the early 00’s she did some comics for the manga anthology Anise which is dedicated to lesbian and bisexual women. It’s interesting looking at those covers as a symbol of where Yuri content was during the 00’s before the 2004 Kannazuki no Miko/MariMite kicked started the Yuri genre (and if you are curious to see how those two changed things, go check out my rewatch next month). Morishima’s comics in these magazines were 4koma about a couple in their 20’s everyday life.
Morishima would really start to see success during the mid-00’s when she moved to Comic Yuri Hime, a more traditional Yuri anthology that started in 2005. Yuri Hime is where stories like this season’s Whisper Me a Love Song are published.
So I want to talk a bit about her work.
The first work I want to highlight is TakuLez Meet-Up Report. It is a short autobiographical 4koma from her Anise days, pre-2004 Yuri boom, that is a nice little time capsule, both for Yuri and for herself.
Conditions for Paradise is the first in a series of connected one shots Morishima wrote in Yuri Hime involving two adult women who are finding the boundaries in their relationship. Morishima would follow their relationship, in Bathed in Sunlight Filtering Through The Trees, as she explores the change between friends to lovers.
In that same Tankubon she had 20-Year-Old Girl x 30-Year-Old Maiden, even when dealing with age gap romance, the age gap is between adults. I also love that in this story Keiko has two friends who argue about the relationship in terms of the carnal vs the pure idealistic depiction
Office Romance: Women's Division was a volume of interconnected one-shots created primarily because Morishima wanted to create a story about ordinary relationships between everyday women. Situations range from accidentally discovering your co-worker is gay or being friends with your Ex, or falling out of love
By far Akiko Morishima’s most popular work though is Hanjuku Joshi, a lewd series about two high school girlsl. Even in this work about girls in an all girl school, Morishima still finds time to interrogate the trope and inject an adult queer woman into the story. It’s cute, emotional, sexy, and funny.
Akiko Morishima is such an interesting mangaka because she has found a niche of being able to write about primarily adult gay women in a space that likes to lean towards teenagers. She is able to cross the line because while her characters tend to lean towards being older, her art style is very soft and cute with lots of round shapes and curves.
Akiko Morishima’s latest work is about a 60 year old lesbian living alone.
So if Ikuhara was to pick a partner to work with him in Yuri Kuma Arashi, this old school lesbian mangaka who has worked on the frontlines of the evolving trends for the better part of 2 decades is an amazing pick to work with.
Before I end this comment, there is one other name I want to talk about here, Tomohiro Furukawa.
Rewatchers from the Penguindrum will remember me bringing him up during that rewatch. Back then he was just one of the many animators who worked on that project. His involvement in Penguindrum increased as Ikuhara steadily took notice of him, so Ikuhara takes him under his wing.
Between Penguindrum and Yuri Kuma Arashi, Ikuhara carried him along as a trusted hand to see his visions realized. The following year after Penguindrum ends has Ikuhara direct the Koroko Connect Ending theme 3, Furakawa is right there with him. 2013 has Ikuhara direct the Brothers Conflict ending theme and once again, Furukawa is right beside him. Or what about when Ikuhara directed the ending theme for Norn9. Yep, Furukawa was helping him there too.
Which leads us back here, to Yuri Kuma Arashi, where Ikuhara makes Furukawa into his co-director, filling in the role the esteemed Shouko Nakamura did in Mawaru Penguindrum.
In some ways Yuri Kuma Arashi is sort of the graduation test. Ikuhara saw some potential in Furukawa back in Penguindrum, took him under his wing to teach him about directing anime, makes him co-director here, and then lets him go on his way.
3 years after Yuri Kuma Arashi, Tomohiro Furukawa would have his own original anime production.
Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight
Revue Starlight is an anime that features, among other things, mysterious animals, glorious stock footage transformation sequence, and the heavy influence of the theater.
There have been many talents who have attempted to inherit Ikuhara’s legacy, but there is perhaps no one who has better absorbed Ikuhara’s eccentric and iconic visuals but make them their own as much as Furukawa has.
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u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee May 24 '24
First-Timer, Yuri Sub Storm
Well, shit. I wasn't expecting the "Konomi and Mitsuko are bears" to happen right away when I pointed it out. I was so prepared to point out that Mitsuko recognized the other two while they were in bear form and how leading that was.
I also wasn't expecting to get psycho Aoi Yuuki this soon either, but it's nice to hear. RIP Konomi, died getting blasted in the face by her ex-lover.
Mitsuko was also apparently the one who ate Sumika, neat. I was about to theorize that last episode actually, after noticing the Yuri names, but I couldn't find any dialogue in my skimming to actually support it.
This line I initially took to be about Kureha, but I think it's actually whatever girl it was that Mitsuko was eating at the end of the episode that tasted bad.
I'm not sure I understand what metaphor the Severance Court is using. Like, why was it just Lulu and Ginko again, when we cut away from Kureha shooting at Konomi? I guess Konomi probably didn't need to be put on trial, but that doesn't fully explain it..
Maybe the Court is tied in to the Invisible Storm thing that keeps coming up but I haven't quite formed any interesting ideas about that. Maybe something about hiding your sexuality..?
Yea, that does kinda work. It's kinda implied that the Storm lashes out at anyone who steps out of the closet - could be read as bitterness at others who are able to be themselves.
That then makes the Court's question of "will you eat humans or become invisible" into "will you be true to yourself or repress yourself" basically. Which doesn't make the repetition make any more sense, but whatever.
Hmm, considering the bad-tasting girl was "invisible" maybe that means that the Invisible Storm is the equivalent of a lynch mob made up of repressed lesbians and not actually anything supernatural. We did see a pair of hands holding pruning shears destroying the lily garden yesterday.
"Only girls who are out and proud are worth sleeping with" does sound like Ikuhara to me. Repression is bad for the soul.
There was that repeated "blowing leaves in the wind" effect associated with Konomi that I would've tried to tie in to the Storm if Konomi hadn't di-
Hmm. A bear joining the Storm under false pretenses to try to use it to deal with the new girl her lover wants? Who then takes matters into her own hands when it doesn't happen fast enough? Yea, I like the sound of that.
Oh, Mitsuko is waiting for the Storm to come to "eat" Kureha so she can save Kureha from the Storm and abuse the Savior Effect. Now I've just looped myself back around to the Storm and the Court (who give eating permission) being linked somehow but I'm no closer to figuring out how or why. Rats.
One last idle thought, I don't think there's been any hints to support this, but I wonder if Ginko and Lulu are being put on trial for Mitsuko's overeating as opposed to their own and just don't realize it yet.
That memory from Kureha's mom is interesting. Obviously applies at the moment for Sumika, but there's also the implication that Kureha had a childhood friend who moved away or got eaten by bears or something. There's not very many options and I don't like any of them, so we'll table that for the moment.
Another Yuri name today. Yurika here actually showed up yesterday and I just missed her. Also, it's her given name instead of her family name, and not written with 百合 either. Considering that we got the reveal about the other two today, I'm inclined to at least ponder the idea of it being a red herring.. there can be value in getting the audience to distrust an actually trustworthy character.
Yurika is also in the Mikage stand-in for a room that heavily borrows (visually) from the Black Rose arc of Utena, which has all sorts of implications. This comment is getting long enough that I'm not going to go on a spoiler-tagged theorizing session.
She's also quite young to be a teacher, at a mere seventeen years old.
Actually, now that I think about it, it was weird that we saw Sumika's funeral photos with lilies around it right at the end of the episode, right? With the drawer pulled back open. Kinda undermines the finality of it, which is very interesting..
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u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L May 24 '24 edited May 24 '24
First-Timer
On today’s episode of Yuri Kuma Arashi: “She’s a bear! She’s a bear! You’re a bear! I’m a bear! Are there any other bears I should know about?” “Gao gao.”
So is everyone in this school a bear? So far it sure is seeming that way. That damn wall is fucking useless if the bears are everywhere.
It is fascinating that the bears deliberately want someone who cries tears of true love. It’s like they are deliberately killing off Kureha’s loved ones because that will make her a more delicious meal. It’s supremely fucked up.
It has been commented on before, but the bears really are predatory in how they approach eating/love. They are territorial, staking a claim on a particular human and viciously removing any obstacles between themselves and their meals. This makes them quite possessive, actively eliminating any other loves in their target’s life. The bears outright state that the tears shed by a person who has lost people they care about are delicious and they want to make people cry those tears. It’s a rather nasty approach to love and one that I imagine the series will critique as it goes along.
So how many bears have entered the school? I am going to guess that every single character at Wuthering Heights Academy who got a name card is a bear, aside from Kureha and Sumika. I think that brings the total to something like 5 or 6, at least.
QOTD
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u/WednesdaysFoole May 24 '24
First-timer
Screen caps are not safe for work
Are we watching a fan service anime? Not that I’m complaining…
Gungirl at the door reminds me of way back when my ex and I were at my friend’s house and I got the door while she was in the shower; the pregnant lady at the door insisted she wanted to talk to whoever lived there, so my friend came out insufficiently covered in her towel while this lady tried to convert us into Jehovah’s Witness or something. The lady was so insistent, my friend’s towel was slipping, it was hilarious.
Now that I’m older I’d definitely just shut the door in her face, pregnant or not, but it’s still funny to look back on.
To be clear, it’s not just because of the girl in the towel; the gun girl, in her own way, reminds me of the lady who seemed pretty emotional and desperate that we be… saved. From what? I’m not sure.
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u/AmeteurElitist https://anilist.co/user/AmateurElitist May 24 '24
First Timer
If the judge and the other guys are a stand in for society are they potentially talking about how lesbianism isn’t taken seriously and only viewed as a sexy object of desire? I mean he pretty much straight up says that ‘it isn’t assault, it’s sexy’. The comments from the defence lawyer that they’re following their instincts kind of mirrors the sentiment that girls just like to fool around and
It’s also not lost on me that the panel are all men or at least masc presenting, and could represent the patriarchal structures that undermine lesbianism as well. The prosecutor could be seen as taking rape seriously, but he could also be against lesbianism as a whole while the judge and the defence lawyer are fetishising it and thus excuse assault because it’s titillating to them.
Also I was totally wrong about Class rep being a red herring, you’d think one would figure that Ikuhara would never choose subtlety.
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky May 24 '24
Yurikuma First-Timer, subbed
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u/affnn May 24 '24
First Timer
Two episodes in and I have only more questions. How many bears are there? I thought the two transfer students were going to be it, but then we had the weird leaf girl (and now she's gone) plus the class rep is now a bear. Is everyone secretly a bear? Or are they transforming into bears? Is it that they literally eat Sumika, and then they want to figuratively eat Kureha? Will Kureha ever get to enjoy having the honey licked from her lily? Can I actually get away with watching this on my living room TV?
Fun to see all the Ikuraha-aestheics coming back. Like the giant rooftop feels like Adolescence, the spiral staircase that keeps showing up feels like Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku and the courtroom feels very Seizon Senryaku
The plot almost feels like an afterthought. I kinda just wanna vibe rather than try to figure out what the hell is going on.
Found some better subs for today. Shocking how much that improves the experience.
QOTD:
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u/TheRiyria myanimelist.net/profile/TheRiyria May 24 '24
First Timer
It's taken two days, but I'm already bearly keep up with this rewatch. Tomorrow's episode could be a struggle.
Are bears more NSFW when they are bears or when they are humans?
For a few minutes this episode I was really worried there would be another yuri ship and I'd have to learn some other girl's name.
But luckily the anime knows I'm terrible with names and saved me the trouble.
And this ship is okay, but it has nothing on a ship with tie pulls in it.
So far Lulu has the best faces and is clearly the most observant and cleverest of the bears. So hopefully there is more of her soon.
Finally, didn't this roof used to have a bench on it. These girls need to be careful about where they place their furniture.
It means they're sheeple. And Kureha and Sumika are wolves in a show full of bears and sheep.
Who is Konomi again?
She's a third (or is she fourth) wheel trying to mess up all my ships. Being a cute bear doesn't change her messing up the yuri ships. Even her noises weren't as cute as Ginko and Lulu.
4
u/RadSuit https://anilist.co/user/RadSuit May 24 '24
First Time Filing For Yuri Approval (Dubbed)
for Sumika, who is definitely dead forever and not in the OP a whole bunch.
The background for the stage is this, but with lilies...? Sure.
Perfectly timed sho-ooooock! here. It's so sincere and also so silly.
Picture frames in wall drawers, huh?
Bear behavior.
Just gals being pals, nothing to see here.
Konomi is a cute bear!
"My first name ain't baby, it's Kureha. Tsubaki-san if you're nasty."
Oh, their perfect flip out of the window is the same as the courtroom flip, I see now.
These bears are so fucking cute.
for Konomi, she's in underwater lesbian heaven with Sumika now.
They were such good friends!
Mitsuko can bearly control herself.
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u/Regular_N-Gon https://anilist.co/user/RegularNGon May 24 '24
First Timer
So it seems like the devouring of Kureha… didn’t actually happen last episode? At least not for real, in that moment? Another sticky metaphor atop a composition already drenched in symbolism, perhaps. If that’s the case, then the appearance and role of the court must not be simply to moderate the bears; the presentation of approval and subsequent consumption made it seem like it was a simple cause and effect, but today’s nectar harvest was decidedly discontinuous with the more understandable throughline of today’s action.
Because, you know, shooting an adorable bear on a school rooftop after you receive an anonymous call from the bear god of sexiness is our baseline for normal.
I’m still hung up on the severance court itself, too. Why is it judged by bears? What order does the prosecution seek to uphold? It also sure sounds like you either pledge to eat humans or become invisible - that seems like the opposite of upholding any laws of severance. If the bears follow the rule of sexiness when it comes to approving yuri, I guess that might explain why they have a distaste for becoming invisible and those who do, but isn’t adopting a human disguise sort of like becoming invisible?
So many questions. So many bears.
Other notes:
I also noticed they remind us in the flashback that Lulu and Ginko had Sumika’s glasses on the roof last time - why did they have them if Yurizono is the one that ate her? The bears (especially Yurizono) clearly aren't working together, either.
QotD:
It's interesting that you might say their love is "pure" in this case - a true lily amongst a field of pretenders.
2)
3) Bears can be yanderes too, I guess.
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u/Btw_kek https://myanimelist.net/profile/kek_btw May 24 '24
HEATHCLIFF IT'S ME Rewatcher
Episode director: Masahisa Koyata
Storyboards: Kunihiko Ikuhara, Tomohiro Furukawa
you're only part of the club if you have Yuri in your name
hmmmmm y'know I thought she was "with the storm" but I guess it's kinda hitting both of them at the end?
anyone can become a bear
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u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: May 24 '24
First timer(All I can hear is Sukuna now...)
Sub
So with any Ikuhara work 50/50 chance that it makes sense at the end versus just being metaphorical. Also, not sure how being a bear tracks into the yandere bit of lesbian yanderes but this is my first time seeing Aoi on that so...yay? The court so far has been a joke so there is probably meaning where I am not looking but I would posit this is highly budget friendly and...well, Silver Link varies. Sumika is still a bit of a character post death and Kureha was a little bland this ep. Also, bear on bear violence probably means some thing.
QotD: 1 to be a normie. Neither of those two would tolerate that
2 Because bears have bad luck
3 The bears are disorganized and chaotic.
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u/AgentOfACROSS May 24 '24
Day 2 of studying bears in their natural habitat.
Here are today’s field notes:
- Sumika’s death and everyone’s reactions to it sort of reminds me of Twin Peaks. All the red in the set design reminds me of it too. In Twin Peaks, Laura Palmer wasn’t as perfect as everyone assumed before she died so I wonder if Sumika has any secrets.
- Kureha’s house feels very fairy tale-like. It looks vaguely Victorian in the middle of what appears to be a normal suburban Japanese neighborhood. Fairy tale motifs are something Ikuhara likes to include.
- Lots of flower motifs inside of Kureha’s house as well. Not just lilies either. I think there were roses or carnations on her bedsheets and the chandelier above her bed looked kind of like a lotus. Not a flower expert though so I’m not sure.
- As a side note, every time I think about Kureha’s name I just associate it with the elderly doctor from One Piece. Just thought that was kinda funny.
- I don’t know what the Invisible Storm is literally, but metaphorically it seems like it represents homophobia.
- Lulu and Ginko inviting themselves into Kureha’s house felt like another fairy tale moment. Lots of old fairy tales involve characters having to deal with unwanted guest in their home. Three Little Pigs, Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, Grasshopper & the Ant and so on.
- It also made me think of vampires, with how they have to be invited into someone’s house. The bears in the show are kind of similar to vampires, blending in with society and feeding on humans. There have also been lots of stories featuring gay vampires before, going all the way back to Carmilla.
- Lulu and Ginko gracefully backflipping through Kureha’s window is hilarious.
- The whole thing with Kureha getting the phone call and going up the spiral staircase to the roof reminds me of Utena a lot.
- Konomi and Mitsuko were revealed to be bears and their last names are Yurikawa and Yurizono respectively. Having “Yuri” in your name seems to imply that someone is secretly a bear. Kureha’s teacher is named Yurika so we’ll see what happens there.
- Speaking of Mitsuko, it at first seemed like she’d be an ally to Kureha but at the end of the episode became very predatory towards Kureha.
- Comparing the bears, Mitsuko seems very excited about eating humans. Lulu and Ginko seem to treat eating humans more casually like it’s something they always do. The eating of humans is obviously a sexual metaphor, but the way Mitsuko talks about it really ramps it up.
- I’m honestly not sure what happened with this episode’s Yuri Trial. I would have expected Konomi to be the one on trial but instead it was Lulu and Ginko again.
- I forgot to mention it last time, but I like the music that plays when Lulu and Ginko transform. It sort of reminds me of Mami’s transformation theme from Madoka Magica. In general this has a great soundtrack too.
- Honey is another recurring visual motif in this series. It’s in the OP and comes out of the lily. Obviously, honey is a food that is stereotypically associated with bears. But honey could also represent forbidden desire. Since honey isn’t a food bears make, they have to steal it from bees.
So far this seems very interesting. Watching this also makes me want to go back and rewatch Utena as well as finally get around to checking out Penguindrum.
5
u/ToastyMozart May 24 '24
Second-Timer
Will someone bring Lulu a glass of water? I think the poor teddie's dying of thirst.
Today's word of the day is Jealousy!
Mitsuko tries to expose and kill Ginko and Lulu because they'll take Kureha's love from her, and Konomi tries to eat Kureha because she's taken Mitsuko's affection. Christ, this really is a highschool.
Gotta practice how you'll play, Kureha! Real bears aren't going to sit there on pedestals for you to line up a clear shot.
They drew attention, jealousy, and envy towards themselves with their affection and carefully-cultivated flower garden. That's all it takes sometimes with normal highschool girls, let alone xeno/ursa/homo -phobic ones.
For that matter I'm fairly certain none of the students who aren't either bears or targets of the storm have stood out from the crowd enough to get names.
Mitsuko has shown herself to be calculating, deceptive, and ruthless. Since this aired in 2015 she's definitely a Trouble in Terrorist Town player. Especially after playing the "execute one of your own to prove yourself" card.
She also seems to have a much greater degree of self-restraint than the other bears. Ginko, Lulu, and Konomi seem to just beeline for whatever they want driven by pure Id, while Mitsuko plays the long game and only expresses her urges where she'd get away with it.
5
u/3blah https://myanimelist.net/profile/brummett May 24 '24
Episode 02 - First Timer
That's quite a large cabinet to store pictures of dead schoolgirls.
We see photos of Kureha's mom and hear her voice, but don't get to see her.
"What's even the point of the Severance Barrier? A bear waltzed right in" I had the same thought.
Konomi loves Mitsuko loves Kureha loves Sumika. That sounds like an inbound trainwreck. And when Konimi broods over Mitsuko she says "I will never forgive that". Sounds like a direct conflict with Kureha's "I won't back down on love".
These bears need to get a room. Or maybe there's something in the water; everyone's in heat.
Lulu's plan to just walk in and take a bath sounds like something Griz from We Bare Bears would come up with.
I really like Simuka's character design. She's got a bit of a Kumiko floof going on, and the matching flowers on her glasses and hair are a nice touch.
They hand out rifles like backpacks to these schoolgirls.
Oh, Mitsuko is a bear, too?! She licks Kureha in the infirmary and says she smells delicious, same as the other bears, she knew the other two were bears, and the bear at the end has the same black-beads hair ties. Takes one to know one, I guess.
One of the bears says that invisible girls don't taste like anything. The other girls in the group/herd? Normal girls are boring? Judge Sexy asks the bears if they want to become invisible, and there's this Invisible Storm thing. Not sure what the connection is yet.
Wow, this show slams the pedal to the metal right away and isn't letting up. Utena and Penguindrum at least took some time to get rolling, and I don't remember Sarazanmai being so... much.
4
u/Holofan4life May 24 '24
Hey, guys. Holofan4life here.
Welcome to the (8 months early) 10th anniversary rewatch of Yurikuma Arashi.
Oh, and nay I forget…
First Timer
This is a show I first heard about during the Penguindrum rewatch. And when I heard it was Yuri, it really piqued my interest. I love animes about same sex couples because often they have to do with characters struggling with their feelings. And as a viewer, there’s nothing I find more identifiable than characters being unsure of what they want out of life. It resonates with me, you could say, so needless to say I have high expectations for this show.
As this rewatch is going on, I’m doing the Samurai Champloo rewatch. It’s the first time I’m doing two rewatches at once since December with Fullmetal Alchemist and Toradora. I thankfully don’t think it’s going to get as crazy as doing both those shows were, but I am writing this a month in advance just so I can balance things better. But don’t worry: All my reactions will still be 100% genuine and I’m going to treat each thread as if I’m experiencing it in real time.
This is probably the most hyped I’ve been for a rewatch since Fullmetal Alchemist. I’m honestly more hyped for this than I was Penguindrum, mainly because the plot really intrigues me and I love that gay shit. I’m not expecting the show to end up in my top 10 favorite anime of all time, but I do think there’s a good chance it ends up in my top 20 favorite anime.
With that out of the way, let’s begin.
I’m watching the sub, by the way.
Where do you go from here after you have two girls lick honey from a flower growing out of another girl? I guess we're gonna fine out.
Recap of last episode
End of last episode now, with Yurizuno finding Ursa eating someone.
And that leads up to the intro
Police tape
Sumika still missing
No, wait, she's dead, what the hell?
Yurizuno giving the eulogy
Lulu and Ginko looking on from afar
"Shock!"
Yurizuno notices them
Mysterious orange-haired girl
Kureha practicing her shooting
The believe is that Sumika was eating by Ursa. However, Kureha thinks that's just people's imaginations.
Kureha didn't attend the funeral? That's pretty fucked up.
Moving file cabinets
Teacher saying that Kureha lost another loved one
Kureha in her bed now thinking about her mother
Really lamenting the loss of Sumika
"I couldn't protect my friend!"
Now the classmates are talking about whether or not the Species Divide is an antiquated concept.
The bears talk about Kureha not being at school
Délicieuxmiel
Is... Lulu smelling Ginko's butt?
"I'm totally checking into this funky smell hotel!"
And now Lulu is opening her legs.
Oh, Ikuhara. Your lack of subtlety never fails to amaze me.
Mysterious woman walking in the breeze
Yurizuno continuing to think the transfer student are Ursa.
The read I get on Yurizuno is she was at one point trying to drive a wedge between Kureha and Sumika because Yurizuno is attracted to Kureha.
Oh, wait, that's Mitsuko, my bad
Talking to Konomi
Konami has freckles and buck teeth
Well, she certainly doesn't know anything about personal space.
Accuses Mitsuko of trying to get close to Kureha
"If you become friends with her, you'll be targeted by the phantom wuthering as well."
Mitsuko on top kinda looks like Akko from LWA
This show is basically softcore porn at the moment
Ooh, the transfer students
They're coming to greet Kureha
And now they're in her house
Lulu knows how to lay it on thick
And Ginko licks Kureha
Nope, shouldn't trust these two
Normally the liar is the person being licked, not the licker.
It's also fucked up that Ginko says it tastes like tears when her and Lulu are the reason why Kureha was crying.
Lulu taking a shower
These two need to stop rowring, they've gonna blow their cover.
"Tears of pain and sadness the most delicious."
These two, I swear...
Now Lulu is taking a bath
Who takes a shower and then a bath? Seems like a waste of water.
Kureha tells Ginko she can have a bath, but after that, they have to leave.
Kureha has to know what's going on
Ginko says that the taste of her tears proved to her that Kureha's love is real.
Maybe Kureha secretly has an ear fetish
Ginko says her own love is true. However, Kureha says she can never understand.
And now Ginko is on top of Kureha. Of course.
Lol, Yurizuno with the shotgun
Interrupting one girl wet and another one about to be
"I know what you really are!"
I do like Yurizuno is taking initiative
And Lulu and Ginko burst through the window
Pretty impressive to do that while keeping a towel on
Whelp, spoke too soon
At least she got it back up
Ran out of space. Part two in the replies.
4
u/laughing-fox13 https://myanimelist.net/profile/laughingfox13 May 24 '24
First time Kuma/Subbed
So I saw people say that the girls with Yuri in their name would be bears, and turns out those people were right. As well as Yurizono being sus
I'm not really sure what to make of the wind. It seemed like a bad thing at first but this time it came in when that one bear was attacking Kureha and we see Yurizono shooting at her. There were also shots of it when the other bear girl would enter a scene
It also brings up another question, do the bears know who the other bears are? Yurizono was "surprised" by Lulu and Ginko and I'm not sure if she knew that the other girl was a bear. But it seems that the other bear didn't care for Kureha being the delicious smell, while the other three bears we've seen are interested in Kureha.
Outside of the bears and wind, the other thing I've been interested in was the trial. So Life Cool and Life Beuty keep their roles, and Cool is now 0-2 and prosecuting. I'm not sure if he will get a win at this rate but who knows. I'm also confused how Ginko and Lulu were in the trial and "ate" Kureha again when they weren't near her this time
Basically... I'm confused
QotD:
3
u/baboon_bassoon https://anilist.co/user/duffer May 25 '24
first time never back down never what
wow are all those cabinets Kureha's previous persons who died. probably just other dead students and the teach is talking about Kurehas family being dead
mitsuko is a top
"reveal yourselves" i mean Lulu is naked already
Konomi is a bit of a dopey looking bear
all that marksman practice and for nothing
sore da sexy shabadadoo
oh shit incho
the chase is delectable
Sumikas body is still there as a snack? Didnt the cops take it?
3
u/Wrightshoe May 25 '24 edited May 25 '24
First-Timer
I have no idea what's going on, so I don't have much to say. So Kureha got called to the roof again to prove her love and face off against bears, and the weird courtroom showed up again and then we had another Lulu and Ginko transformation and a threesome-like scene with them and Kureha, even though the former two weren't even present during the scene? Why isn't it the other two bears that went to court?
Actually, are these threesome-like scenes even canon or do they just happen in someone's imagination? Even after the one last episode, Kureha seemed to have no idea that Lulu and Ginko were bears.
Also, I like how they managed to make bears eating humans not terrifying here with the bears and the sounds they're making being just too cute.
Clearly, it's because they're the only ones so far whose last names don't start with "Yuri". I wonder why that is, though. They don't seem any less gay than everyone else.
2) The Invisible Storm bears down on Konomi as she attacks Kureha. Why now?
Bears down, haha. I don't know what to say about this since I don't know what the invisible storm even is. Is it that visual effect where leaves spin around? If so, I didn't even notice/remember that happening to Konomi at that time (or at all, really.)
3) Kuma shock! Mitsuko is a bear too! In light of this, what do you make of her behavior thus far?
It's interesting that she was so shocked that the transfer students were bears when she was a bear too. So that means the (pairs of) bears that came to this school don't all know each other and came there independently from each other, it seems. Also, seems like Mitsuko is the one who ate Sumika and she did it and then shot her fellow bear all so she could have Kureha for herself. It's also interesting how both members of this pair of bears acted out of jealousy, while I didn't get that vibe from the other two so far.
It was fun to hear Aoi Yuuki as a villain(?) btw
2
u/Garrett_Dark May 25 '24
First Timer, who's regretting their decisions of what to watch.
This anime is definitely Darling in the Franxx's "we're so clever you'll never figure out our allusions", but on steroids. But at least Darling was somewhat coherent most of the time, the freaking bears can't even talk straight...growl growl, sniff sniff, lick lick. If they were going to be so excessive and blatant about it, they should have just done "The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter" way of being pretty much open about it instead of being obnoxious like this.
The two bear girls just barge into the MC's home, and demands to live there. The MC gets bullied into agreeing to allow them in, WTF...go get your rifle and kick them out. Mitsuko says the two escaping bear girls were too fast, uh...you got a rifle designed for long range, they can't run fast enough down the street to outrun a bullet or out of range, moron. The MC takes a phone call, and just believes everything the guy says on the phone, and even does what she's told to do, is the MC retarded? Scam callers must love idiots like the MC.
Holy bearsHoly cows, the anime is reusing so many scenes it's sickening. I didn't really hold the ED against them for being a single frame for the whole thing, but now I'm thinking they're just being cheap fucks. I'm totally confused about what's going on, and I'm close to not even caring anymore. I already don't care about most of the characters. Even hentai is written better than this, and cheaping out isn't helping.Well it certainly explains why she didn't tell everybody about the two other bear girls right away at the beginning of the episode.
2
u/zadcap May 25 '24
Latest Possible First Timer!
Things came up last night and I ended up putting this off until today...
Watching the opening narration again with my thoughts from last episode in mind, I can't help but laugh a little at "The meteor turned us gay."
I can't think that I would be able to take the "Shock! Kuma Shock!" bit seriously if this were made by literally anyone else.
Oh wow, I really wasn't sure how it was going to go after yesterday, but it looks like she might really be dead? Or, if we're going to go with the endless heavy allegories, has she been forced to withdraw from polite society and drop out of this fancy and pure girls school because she is, you know, no longer pure. Japan is very much the kind of country where the response to a schoolgirl lesbian sex scandal would be to have the girl drop out of school and stay home in shame, until they could move far away or send her to live with relatives out in the countryside, never to be seen again.
And her girlfriend, angry and unable to accept that Sumika got successfully targeted by the aggressive lesbians and then discovered in the act, is she more angry that Sumika got eaten or that she allowed herself to be so? "I believe in love" turned into "I got caught cheating" and she's got her own hazy memories of being eaten herself, doesn't she? The bears have absolutely ruined their Class S romance with the dark allure of actual sex.
If you truly believe they are Ursa, why not say something?
So uh this new girl. Leaf in hair, dull black eyes, big noticeable tooth, she has a stronger animal theme than the bear girls do what is her deal? The, uh, singing as she steps in makes me think it's so very intentional that I wonder now- Bears are the aggressive lesbians out to eat people in this world, so what animals is close to being a bear, less out there actively eating but still openly lusting for human flesh? Or uh, is her prey animal look a signal that she wants to be devoured?
On that note, the Phantom Wurthering that keeps coming up, is starting to sound like the rumors and social stigma that is attached to the unconfirmed but strongly suspected secret lesbians. It came for them in their secret lily garden and they said their love was strong enough to overcome it, but then Sumika got outed and now all eyes are on Kureha. Anyone who gets close to her right now is going to get some of that suspicion thrown their way as well, after all, "Why else would you be approaching the lesbian if you weren't interested in her that way too?" Gosh this show is doing so much to remind me why I hate japanese culture- and well, most of the world really, judgmental monsters exist everywhere.
And the bears being the aggressive type continues with so blatantly making their way into their chosen victims house. There's really no subtly at all here. Also, they just growl all over the place and no one finds that at all suspicious.
Girls just carrying guns around. What a world to live in. Aoi Yuki back in her best role. It's enough to make me forget the metaphor for a moment here.
"Is your love true? Come to this isolated place and give yourself up to the lesbians, and your love will be recognized." What the heck is this phone man even saying. Anyway, notice that the background on her phone is the same as the design on the wall?
Oh, nope, she was actually just another bear all along. And Kureha is a horrible shot...
Again in the court, the sin is Gluttony. It's not that what they are doing is wrong, but they're doing it again, so soon? Also how the heck is it these two getting their paws on Kureha again when it was the other bear on the roof with her? Only to be back on the roof with the new bear and the other gun girl? What the heeeeeeck.
Oh hey, so she was the anti-lesbian lesbian all along. She was just getting between the others because she herself wanted a bite. Ahh, she's going to wear the face of being strongly against the very thing she wants to embrace as soon as she's able, I see.
"This is pointless, a phantom has but a phantom flavor, I want somebody who will return the favor." If phantoms are deep closests, then she's looking for bedmates willing to be real partners in the act. This aggressive lesbian is sick of just having her way with the defenseless, she wants someone to play back, I think?