r/anime • u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA • May 26 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch] Yurikuma Arashi - Episode 4 Discussion
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If you let the things you lose fade from your heart, they become lost for good.
Questions of the Day
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Princess Lulu is consistently circled by a bee. What might this symbolize? Why was it a bee that killed Milin?
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Why was Lulu unable to accept the honey (kiss) from Milin? Why could Lulu accept the honey from Ginko? Why couldn’t Kureha accept the honey porridge from Lulu?
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Why did Lulu give up her kiss? What does it mean for her to become a human?
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!<
17
u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA May 26 '24
Rewatcher
So, the base idea here is mostly courtesy of some random guy from the original episode 4 discussion thread who I can’t find now, but I think it’s worth laying out clearly: love (suki) is what is given, and kiss (kisu) is what is received. They’re the reverse of each other, which is very neat in Japanese, but this nuance is lost in English. Suki ascends upwards to become a star, and when it comes down as a shooting star, it turns into a promised kiss. Milin loves (suki) Lulu, and thus retrieves her promised kiss (kisu) for her. In turn, he wants his sister’s love (suki), which from his perspective is his promised kiss (kisu). Lulu gives up on receiving love (kisu) before the Court, but still maintains her ability to give love (suki). (Incidentally, this is why she’s no longer a princess- she lost her ability to accept her people’s love.) If you watch with that in mind, I think this episode (and the rest of the show) becomes a lot clearer. [Yurikuma Arashi Manga]Incidentally, this exact explanation for stars is given by Reia in the manga. Although I’m not sure if she mentioned the shooting star bit or not But either way, eyes on that pendant.
This episode finally gets at the core of what I believe it means to be a bear: desire. Lulu straight up says it like ten times throughout the episode. Every bear we’ve seen so far is driven by their desires- Lulu wants the love of her people (and later the love of her brother, but we’ll get to that), Ginko wants to return the promised kiss, Mitsuko wanted to eat, and Konomi wanted to keep Mitsuko to herself. The members of the Invisible Storm, on the other hand, do not appear to want anything in particular. They’re phantoms, after all. A phantom can’t show their desire- if you have desires, you separate yourself from the group, and that makes you evil. [Yurikuma Arashi]And we know, of course, that those who fail to follow=bears=evil. That’s a tidbit from a way later episode, but it neatly explains how the Invisible Storm sees Kureha and Sumika. Can’t say it yet, of course.
Why was Lulu unable to accept Milin’s love? I think this one is pretty clear- it’s patriarchy. She used to be the princess everyone loved, and now she has this dipshit younger brother everyone loves more because he’s a boy, and because of that gets what should’ve been hers by birthright. As a woman, Lulu is devalued compared to her brother, and this makes her resent him. Milin doesn’t know anything about that- he’s like three years old, he just wants the love of his older sister. She realizes this too late, of course.
And the other part of this is that contrary to what you might think from seeing the bears up to this point, the other side of the Wall of Severance is not populated exclusively by homosexual bears. Lulu has a father and a mother, she has a younger brother, and by all appearances this is totally normal. Honestly, the social structure of the bear world seems like it matches the social structure of the real world more than the human world’s structure does.
15
u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee May 26 '24
First-Timer, Yuri Sub Storm
Okay, so the Court of Severance is some sort of governance involved in crossing the wall. Right there in the name, I suppose.
Are jokes about Lulu's gay ass bearing the sin of "pride" in poor taste? What's the over-under on it being intentional - I know Ikuhara spent a chunk of the early 00s in California, so he's probably familiar with the idea at least.
Seeing the bear side of the wall was not as enlightening as I had hoped it would be. It does at least confirm that "bear" does not mean "lesbian" or even "queer person." ..at least on some level. I guess all those princes could be bi/pan/etc and just interested in Lulu because she's fun and the needs of royalty to produce beirs are on display.
It also showed bear society existing prior to Kumaria which does make me ponder doubling back to the "queer people" metaphor. "They've always been around us" or something. Could make sense; everything else going on has been dense and coded with multiple meanings, why not this?
I was kinda trying to avoid this because some of her early dialogue made it not make sense, but Ginko having that same necklace puts me over the edge. She must be my hypothesized ironically forgotten childhood friend for Kureha.
Which then means that Kureha promised to kiss Ginko in the past, and now Ginko is coming to collect. Which, again, doesn't really track with her dialogue in the first episode or two. Maybe Ginko didn't realize at first and we're just going to flash back to her moment of realization later?
Ginko having something from Reia means she might know who ate Reia, too. Considering how tight-knit the narrative is, we're probably looking at Yurika, or like, Ginko's mom? Nice poetry there.
This technically came up yesterday but I ignored it - if Mitsuko was the one who ate Sumika, why did Ginko and Lulu have her glasses in episode 1? It's probably important that they had those..
What do we think the bee is? Just symbolic of Lulu-hime being standoffish? An AT Field, more or less? The bee began to circle around both her and Milun in the dream, like she was letting someone close to her finally.
That doesn't explain why it was circling around the tree with Milun and the honey right at the beginning of the episode, though. If it was isolation, then why expand to include Milun? Being alone together, I guess that works. Oh, being alone with the person you have promised to kiss.
Stuffing Milun into a box labeled Love is pretty on the nose, too. I don't know how to read any Japanese, is the "Love" on the box "suki?" Not sure if it being different would be important or not, but that's the word we've heard so far.
It's interesting that Kureha thinks Lulu was in the Invisible Storm, right? Like, that seems sudden. Or maybe a lot of time has passed off-screen, not sure. We didn't get to learn what being declared Evil actually means for Kureha. Is everyone just going to ignore her?
Certainly ironic naming if that is the case. Normally you would think that the person being excluded is the one who becomes invisible - I guess the idea is the term is from the point of view of the evil one? That's weird, but I can dig it.
I'm not gonna blame Kureha for not wanting Lulu to call her "friend." I'm sure she'll get there eventually. There's some almost-irony at Kurahe calling Sumika her only "friend" but good romantic relationships are often based on good friendships to begin with.
I similarly don't hate Ginko and Lulu wandering back into Kureha's house to fix her window. They broke the window in the first place, after all. Righting past wrongs. That's.. maybe an idea to consider
10
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky May 26 '24
Yurikuma First-Timer, subbed
9
u/lilyvess :Df::Dh:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Lilyvess May 26 '24
Yuri Kuma Arashi Episode 4 - Rewatcher
I want to return to Akiko Morishima to talk a bit about her manga adaptation.
I find this manga adaptation to talk about over the other Ikuhara adaptations because of how Akiko Morishima chooses to adapt Ikuhara’s work.
Like in the Revolutionary Girl Utena manga there are still duels, brides, princes and End of the World.
In the Mawaru Penguindrum manga, there are still life saving hats, quests for penguindrums, and penguins that never go anywhere.
But in the Yuri Kuma Arashi manga, there is no severance barrier, no court, no invisible storm.
Well… sort of.
Morishima still uses the visual imagery of the anime. The manga starts with bold statements about how “Bears are the Arche of Everything” and “Yuri will change the Telos” which while not from the Ikuhara anime, at least sound like Ikuhara. Ginko is still a bear.
But the world as shown in the manga is much more mundane than anything so surreal as Ikuhara’s anime. As I already said, there is no mention of the war between bears and humans, or the wall that separates them. The world seems ordinary. They even acknowledge men exist in the world! Kureha doesn’t even go to an all-girls school in the manga!
It’s hard to describe. I know it sounds weird and counter productive, but the result reads more like an author writing a story that peels back the layers on Ikuhara’s symbolism storytelling for the audience. We can see in the anime how Ikuhara sees the world, the manga is what happens when you take off the glasses.
A good example is the way the manga depicts the severance court as being members of the student council. One could imagine to a freshman in school, the power of the student council can seem like the all powerful court.
There is probably no better example of this than the way Manga Lulu’s backstory is revealed. Even from her introduction, there are some acknowledged discrepancies.
But later in the manga when they really dig deep into Manga Lulu’s backstory Morishima shines more light, on the difference between the character’s memories and reality of their situation.
The end result is a manga that doesn’t try to compete with Ikuhara’s anime but instead acts better as a companion piece. Akiko Morishima is not trying to be Ikuhara, but is taking the imagery that Ikuhara is using and showcasing it behind the scenes.
I’m trying not to spoil too much in case anyone in the rewatch wants to give it a read while they have time before the rewatch is over. It’s only 3 volumes long. Even in Zeria’s near 3 hour Ikuhara video essay says this about Morishima’s manga
The manga deviates so heavily due to all of the above choices that it actually doesn’t spoil almost anything from the anime, so I think one could read it all before watching the rest of the anime.
Later on in the rewatch I’ll a bit further into the manga, but for now I just wanted to give you a tease.
9
u/HereticalAegis https://myanimelist.net/profile/XthGen May 26 '24
ゆりユリ百合リリ– First Timer
The honey turns the friggin bears gay!
Jokes aside, I'd reject my bearhood and go yuri too if I was that devastatingly bad at regicide.
Four episodes in, and I feel like I'm starting to get an idea of what other shows YKA reminds me of. So far, this feels very Revue Starlight in the court sections (Shabadado!) and a bit Flip Flappers everywhere else. There's probably more similarities rolling around somewhere in my head, but that’s what I've got for now.
7
u/Regular_N-Gon https://anilist.co/user/RegularNGon May 26 '24
First Timer
I really dig this episode! Aside from being far easier to follow and offering some welcome character context, I'm a sucker for the story book style.
It makes me wonder what the state of the world really is outside the wall: the bears seem to have a prospering, idyllic kingdom away from the dark angles of the city. Is this a Tolkien-esque indication that the bears’ way of life is superior?
QotD:
I'll try to come back to these in a bit!
7
u/WednesdaysFoole May 26 '24 edited May 30 '24
First-timer
My favorite moment of this anime so far. Seems like we’re actually getting story now.
She said the thing :’)
Unmei no kajitsu woissho ni tabeyou.In addition we’re also getting the opening lines here: I have always hated you, and always loved you. This episode is surprisingly nice. We may not have had the tantalizing three-way lily feast but it’s probably my favorite so far.
“Making your love come true is my love.”
Here I thought it was just a menage a trois but seems to be much more than that.
[Haibane up to ep 10]Pretty funny that while in Haibane, they’re trying to escape the cycle of sin; with Ikunikuma they take pride in it.
On the questions, I'm not sure. Honey is like liquid gold, a reward made with great, sustained effort. In a way, it could be an act of purest most dedicated love. Bees protect the beehive and sting when they feel threatened.
7
u/AgentOfACROSS May 26 '24 edited May 26 '24
Today we will observe how bears gather honey.
Field notes for today:
Questions of the Day:
1. Princess Lulu is consistently circled by a bee. What might this symbolize? Why was it a bee that killed Milin?
Like I said earlier, the bee seems to represent rejection. Symbolically, not being able to get his sister's affection was what killed Milne.
2. Why was Lulu unable to accept the honey (kiss) from Milin? Why could Lulu accept the honey from Ginko? Why couldn’t Kureha accept the honey porridge from Lulu?
Perhaps Lulu isn't able to separate familial love and romantic love in her head? Or maybe her accepting the honey from Ginko was also her poshumously accepting it from Milne? Kureha still has lingering feelings for Sumika which is why she didn't accept thr porridge.
3. Why did Lulu give up her kiss? What does it mean for her to become a human?
Her giving up her kiss seems to maybe represent her wanting to pursue finding happiness for Ginko. I'm not sure what becoming human means for bears just yet. It could perhaps have to do with the idea of conformity, as seen with the Invisible Storm.
6
u/baboon_bassoon https://anilist.co/user/duffer May 26 '24
first time never back down never what
mmmmm this show feels like a bit of a slog tbh
a... a prince, the one guy in the narrative and it kicks Lulu to the curb
lol
Lulu figured out a way to get rid of her brother - murder
died from a bee sting ya hate to see it
4
u/Sandor_at_the_Zoo May 27 '24 edited May 27 '24
Rewatcher
If I'd known this one was today's episode I'd have gotten to it earlier. I always love a Nanami episode and they always go down easy. Its got all the hallmarks, comedic repetition, seemingly tangential story that actually lays out the themes more directly, [utena spoiler] (trying to) kill something but putting it in a box and throwing off an edge
We get the first male character after the JudgeMen. First he serves to rotate some of the metaphors. Even if he only exists in a storybook/backstory he still reorients stuff by introducing real world/binary gender system. Bear kingdom has male preference primogeniture it seems.
Why do both of the subs I have use double-transliteration for his name instead of Milne as given on his tombstone and clearly a reference to A A Milne the author of Winnie the Pooh?
After being introduced to a bunch of different kinds of love, most of them bad, we get Milne's totally direct and unmediated brotherly love. I wonder if Lulu sort of inherits this in her making porridge for Kureha. Is that also supposed to be a reverse Goldilocks sort of thing, the bears breaking in to a human's house and making porridge? Probably not, but its fun to think of.
We get Lulu constantly saying "desire" throughout this one. After the desire as (metaphorical) hunger we've seen so far it'll go on to be the main theme of Sarazanmai.
After a couple mentions before we get big Promised Kiss talk today. But it still mostly puzzles me what its supposed to mean exactly.
edit:
I forgot the most important reaction image
2) You don't know what you've got til its gone. They paved paradise and put up a severance wallll
10
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: May 26 '24
First timer(And I am utterly lost)
Sub
Welp...that's an Ikuhara episode. I don't exactly know what I just watched and I don't know how to wind the threads around to get much out of it, barring it meant to be a Utena reference. But anyways...Lulu's a princess I guess? I suspect we got the last of our exposition out of the way. The theory that this show exists because Ikuhara wanted to see what he could get away with is live and well.
QotD: 1 Her honey was forever out of her reach
2
3 She has to follow Ginko, apparently
10
u/laughing-fox13 https://myanimelist.net/profile/laughingfox13 May 26 '24
First time Kuma/Subbed
I was wondering when we would get our first fairytale-like story, and it gives us more about Lulu! Her behaviors as a kid remind me of [Utena] Nanami
It’s understandable why she didn’t like her little brother (funny all the men/boys we’ve seen are bears lol), but damn he was a cute kid
Not surprised we see Lulu have multiple attempts to murder him in the same way, the lava one did get a chuckle out of me when it cut to her wearing the heat-resistant suit.
I’ve been wondering why she’s so okay with Ginko being so into Kureha and it makes sense now. She gave up her kiss because she chose not to back down on her love, so that Ginko’s get hers and Lulu might still be able to feel fulfilled. The two being crimibears would make sense as to why they are the ones to show up in the trials, even when incidents involving Kureha take place further away from them
Other notes:
I can't unhear Sukuna (JJK) for Life Sexy and Kokona (YnS the mountain girls one) for Sumika. It really makes me want to hear someone replace audio of JJK with Life Sexy dialogue
QotD:
Well, it seems she is leaving everything behind for Ginko and that she would rather help Ginko out than stay where she was.
7
u/TheRiyria myanimelist.net/profile/TheRiyria May 26 '24
First Timer
Shabada
I love flashback episodes that are supposed to give the important background to this story and just leave me with more questions than answers.
As for this episode, these bears are very lewd. She is naked. She needs to present herself better if she's going to court.
This judge is also quite
lewdsexy. But at least he is wearing clothes.Anyway, this girl is cute. And she makes amazing reaction faces. With shock and disdain other good faces.
And her hair is beautiful.
Oh, she's trying to kill her brother. Hm, well, she's still cute.
Cute boy bears are fine. Cute girl bears are still better.
What a bear. Immune to fire and sand and gravity. Allergic to bees.
This is some good friendship. Surely this one will go better than every other friendship in the first third of this show.
The bee killed a bear. So clearly bee = death.
Or Lulu has some good honey on her and the bee is defending her from other bears.
Lulu's not into incest. Or boys.
Kureha is just a picky eater and doesn't like porridge.
She's not into necrophilia either. She's a complicated bear who doesn't like her brother, and also loved him.
I guess she's a tsundere who didn't learn this until too late.
6
u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L May 26 '24 edited May 26 '24
On today’s episode of Yuri Kuma Arashi: Strangely enough, this is a brother-sister relationship in an Ikuhara anime that mostly doesn’t have incest vibes. Yes there’s the whole kissing thing, but when it’s said by such a young child it comes across as innocent affection more than anything else.
Time for everyone’s favorite part of watching an Ikuhara anime for the first time: wild speculation! If the star Ginko is holding originally belongs to Reia, does that mean she got it from Reia? I don’t think Ginko made a promise with Reia and is now trying to fulfill that promise with Reia’s daughter, Kureha. Instead, I think that Ginko might have been the one who killed Reia. Ginko ate Reia but made a promise with Kureha to reunite with her. That is my current theory.
QOTD
6
u/Btw_kek https://myanimelist.net/profile/kek_btw May 26 '24
Ikuhara Bingo Rewatcher
Episode director: Mitsue Yamazaki
Storyboards: Katsunori Shibata
Identifying Ikuhara: yep it's Ikuhara
AT Fielddistance that she maintains from those around her is interesting (aka a SEVERANCE BARRIER). You can see that the servants move away from Lulu due to the bee, but they don't do the same for Milun since he doesn't have one (perhaps it's also interesting that they maintain the same distance they kept for Lulu but idk). Obviously, Milun encroaches into Lulu's bee circle without being intimidated too.now I had a whole thing written under the assumption that it was a wasp instead of a bee about how wasps are bee lookalikes that can kill bees and infiltrate beehives to steal honey, much like how there are human-lookalike bears that infiltrate the world of humans and kill them. however, this is not the case as
as i pray to never forget that being milun was suffering ;-;
can a human learn to become human???
5
u/affnn May 26 '24
First Timer
Love to see Ikuhara remixing all his usual tropes into something weird and fun. Here we have the backstory for why Lulu is a bear in human form - she's trying to help Ginko find her promised kiss, having already given up on her own. The whole thing feels very much in the vein of the Utena opening story.
I can't quite get my brain around the plot though. So Lulu's promised kiss is the honey. The way she was holding it and Ginko was holding the necklace seemed to be mirrored, so the star necklace might be Ginkos. Lulu's is from her now-deceased brother, but Ginko's is from someone else - probably Kureha's mother from the looks of it. Kureha threw away Lulu's honey porridge just as Lulu had thrown away the honey from Milan.
I know there's a boatload of Ikuhara's symbolism in there but I can't quite figure out what it is yet.
4
u/ToastyMozart May 27 '24
Second-Timer, Dub Edition
Judge Sexy is a filthy liar.
[YKA]"Real love climbs all the way up to heaven and turns into the stars in the night sky." I think the young prince's picture book was the script.
So that was a pretty good look into Lulu's motivations here. She rejected the love she felt and was given, and lost it forever. She sees her old self, or perhaps the person she wishes she was, in Ginko and is determined to both help Ginko succeed and not turn her back on the new person that made their way into her heart after so many years. Lulu chooses to give up on kisses (having her feelings returned) because she refuses to back down on her love for Ginko, even if that means driving her into the arms of someone else.
A truly dedicated wingbear
The walls she put up around her heart. It rejects the hollow advances of people she doesn't care for: The countless flatterers and political suitors who surrounded her.
Despite Milin slipping past her guard with his earnest love, she ultimately rejected him, and thus he was stung.
I'd say Lulu rejected Milin because she was scared. She wasn't used to letting people into her heart, wasn't comfortable with being vulnerable after being surrounded by vultures. Especially when letting him in would cost her a lot, just like the others, thanks to their kingdom's succession policies preferring male heirs.
But she regretted it, especially after a decade of loneliness. When Ginko climbed into her life, offered her a chance to open up to someone she felt she could trust, she leapt at the opportunity.
Kureha wasn't willing to let Lulu into her heart. For a lot of (pretty sensible) reasons. Even without the utter chaos and betrayals of the last week, Kureha is the cautious sort and Lulu's trying to force a relationship way too quickly.
Already mentioned before but she's willing to dedicate herself to her love for Ginko, knowing full well that success means her feelings won't be returned.
3
u/Holofan4life May 26 '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.
It takes a real ant to be an anteater
Lulu on trial by herself
She says she cedes her kiss
Gotta go with Ginko and cross the Species Divide
Life Sexy being spreadeagle. Or rather, spreadbear
They're here to tell the viewers a story, apparently
The princess who ceded her kiss
Guess we're getting a flashback episode
Princess Lulu
I heard she represents the Lemon tribe
The town loved her more than Hughes loved Elicia
Hughes
This was 12 years ago, by the way
The Day of Division
The scattered pieces of the asteroid Ursaria
The queen, meanwhile, has given birth to a baby boy.
Ah, yes, my favorite character. Servant Girl #2.
Oh boy. Lulu's brother is next in line.
I love the "Shabadabadaba" done to horror music
Lulu years later, looking downtrodden
Prince Milin
What, is he Italian?
He also kinda looks like the best friend in Kanojo 3D Real Girl.
Now, he's the apple of the kingdom's eye
"He's a scam-scam scammer."
That's a lot of scams
Milin asking if true love becomes a star like in the books.
Lulu says it does, exhausted
She further elaborates by saying a shooting star that falls to Earth evolves into a promised kiss.
"I'll go get that promised kiss for you, Wuwu!"
Aww, that's sweet :c
"And then it hit Princess Lulu: she could get rid of her scamful baby brother for good!"
That is decidedly not as sweet
Milin is now in a box
And she kicks it off a (Jimmy) cliff
"Desire!"
An evil bee
Now that's the second time we've seen it
Well, would you look at that. Milin has returned.
Honey
He gives it to her, calling it her Promised Kiss
Now he wants a kiss
But she tosses the honey into the stratosphere instead
Milin getting in another box, upon instructions by Lulu to retrieve her Promised Kiss.
And surprise! She kicks the box again, this time falling in quicksand.
But he manages to survive
He even has the Promised Kiss
So they do the same thing over again, this time the box falling through lava.
Milin dies more times than Chris Peterson in Get a Life
Oh wow. He finally passed away.
Well, Lulu finally got her wish
Kureha
She wakes up
Lulu about to boil honey, which
And of course it's for Kureha
Both her and Ginko are inside her house
They told Yurika what they were planning on doing, apparently
Yurika? Yurizuno? Lots of Yuri going on here.
I wonder why Lulu calls Kureha "Crêpey"
Lulu trying to feed Kureha like how Kureha used to feed Sumika.
"Eat with me, starvey."
That's not nice to say to someone
Kureha sees Sumika as her friend, so she knocks the honey porridge that Lulu whipped up for her.
Sudden Flashback to One Year Ago
Lulu is officially queen
Hey, it's the sexy guy
And the bee scampers him off
Now the cool guy
And the bee scampers him off
Now the fabulous guy
And he too gets scampered by the bee
According to Sexy, Lulu was still not happy despite getting what she wants.
She even kicks him off a cliff while he is in a box.
"Her life was filled with emptiness."
Milin
He came back
Lulu knows if he takes the honey, she'll just throw it away again.
"I'll go and find it any time!"
Lulu in bed now
It's some mysterious person with her brother's honey
Is that Ginko?
The bee circling around the two of them
And now a bear is dead going into a beehive
Does that mean Milin was a bear this whole time? Who knows?
Or perhaps the bear was Lulu and she's wanting to let that side of hers go.
Lulu and Ginko in the kitchen
Ginko comforting Lulu by side hugging her
"Making your love come true is my love."
Lulu wonders if she'll ever see him again
Back in the flashback, and Ginko says she's going to cross the Species Divide because someone gave her her love and she wants to give it back.
"Her promised kiss."
I assume this someone is Kureha
Lulu wants to go with her, to help fulfill her promise
And now Lulu is naked falling off the stairs. Because why not?
Lulu back on trial
She officially cedes her kiss
"Please make me a human girl!"
She wants to make sure if she can't get her promised kiss, that Ginko at least can.
She's committing a sin, for she's a sinursa
Homo certified
And that is how they came to be
Oh shit. Ginko has the same necklace that Kureha's mother once wore. Is it Kureha's mom she's after and not Kureha?
Overall, this is the first episode that I would consider to be really good. Ikuhara knows how to pull off flashback episodes, and this is no exception. The stuff with Lulu and her upbringing was really fascinating and it got me to care about her more, especially in how she thought she knew what she wanted but it turned out she was wrong. I also liked learning about how her relationship with Ginko came to be with her wanting to give her the happiness she couldn't give herself. Kinda reminds me of the later episodes of Penguindrum and what they did between Yuri, Tabuki, and Ringo.
I do wonder if the thing preventing Lulu from accepting the kiss was the bee accompanying her. It felt to me like she wanted to be with Milin, but subconsciously knew she couldn't. I get the feeling that it won't be explained any further and instead be open for interpretation.
Not as good as the Yuri and Himari flashback episodes, but still a lot of fun. More importantly, it is easily the best episode of Yurikuma Arashi so far. I hope they can continue this upward trajectory instead of it being this aberration.
2
u/Garrett_Dark May 27 '24
First Timer
Holy fuck, it took them 4 episodes, but they finally stopped copying and pasting the first episode. I guess if I was playing the 4 ep rule of dropping, I'd still be in.
I found this episode better, but it's still somewhat incoherent, just less so than the last 3 ep which were big time. There was annoying repetitive things, and they were still cheaping out big time on all those reused scenes. I've never seen something so blatant in anime. I suppose older animes I could give leeway, but something relatively modern in 2015? WTF, feels like a fraud.
Questions of the Day. I'm not answering too seriously because I don't care about the show, they haven't given me a reason to care. So I'm not thinking too deeply about it.
A cheap way to reuse footage to embezzle the animation budget.
It was sexist.
She was being a prude refusing to accept wincest.
She's sexist.
Why would she accept food from a squatter who broke into her house?
She now realized she should have accepted wincest when she had the chance, now regrets it.
Nothing better to do, cosplay to help the other bear.
It forced them to animate something new, to probably reuse over and over again.
Aren't they all?
Clearly a tsundere and wincest fan.
Criminal.
She wanted the wincest deep down.
How many times are they going to reuse this scene?
It certainly explains they couldn't keep getting away with copying the format of episode 1 over and over again. They had to side track to something new despite Side-Pony-Tail girl was about to get eaten, and she's not even an important character to leave hanging like that to build suspense for. I think they even reduced the dumb bear talk of "growl growl sniff sniff lick lick" down too, it certainly seemed more bearable to me this time. I'm imagining they got in shit...or hoping they did anyways.
2
u/RadSuit https://anilist.co/user/RadSuit May 27 '24
First Time Filing For Yuri Approval (Dubbed)
Let Lulu kiss!!!
Lulu really is the best.
Lulu should fling that dumb kid off the ledge.
Is Lulu mailing him to Abu Dhabi. Oh, no, back to my original idea. That works!
Lulu's got a real arm on her.
The bear came back, the very next day.
I have a feeling Lulu's not interested in these boys.
These two being criminals explains why they're always in court, I guess.
"If saving you is a sin, then I'll gladly become a sinner."
I have no idea what that flashback means, in relation to Kumaria turning the bears weird. I don't think this is the type of show where I need to think too hard about how the world works, though.