This is a challenge from the Wall of Severance. Is your love real? (gao)
General Information:
Title: Yuri Kuma Arashi (TV)
Animation Company: Silver Link
Genres: Fantasy, Drama, Yuri
Aired: Winter 2015
Number of episodes: 12
Streaming Available: Funimation (Dub available up to episode 4 at time of post)
Content warnings for lots of nudity and sex, as well as some pretty brutal scenes depicting violence, though there is no actual blood involved.
Synopsis:
The world is divided into 2 – where the humans reside, and where the bears do. Bears eat humans, and humans kill bears to defend themselves. At the end, a Wall of Severance is built to separate the two.
However, the bear alarm sounds in the human world – bears have crossed the wall and entered the human world…
Sidekick’s Review
I admit, the synopsis does not do the series any justice. If you are a fan of director Kunihiko Ikuhara however, you will know that he works his magic with ‘silly premises’ – it’s the messages he spins out of these setups and the eccentric, but beautiful presentation that comes with them that makes his works memorable. Yuri Kuma Arashi is no exception to the rule, and this time Ikuhara is out to make a message about lesbian relationships (he’s done it before, actually) – both in their representation, and how they play out in society. He’s also here to tell you about the nature of love, and what truly loving someone means (to him at least, but he’s definitely had me convinced). In all its strangeness, Yuri Kuma Arashi is at heart, about a strong love that can go above and beyond conforming to society’s norms and rules.
The series is not for everyone; unorthodox presentation aside the first few episodes almost overwhelms the viewer with ~sexualized lesbians doing questionable things~, and though it took me awhile to realize this, everything that happens in Yuri Kuma Arashi happens for a reason, to make a point. Believe me when I say this, but its first 3 episodes are designed to thrust you straight into a harsh, uncomfortable world on purpose – their world reflects ours in its fearful rejection, and also sexualizing, of lesbian relationships as well as women in general (some cultural context here; post link), and the series criticizes this very system based on prejudice and suppression of individuality to conform to (society’s) expectations. It doesn’t stop there though, instead it goes on to appeal to the viewer to try and change our own world and bettering ourselves.
But enough of that difficult stuff (that did take a lot of mulling over for me to put into words), Yuri Kuma Arashi is also a sincere and heartfelt story about love, and how you should NEVER GIVE UP (ON LOVE)! It examines the nature of love from a wide spectrum – selfish, self-serving ‘love’, to love that is all-encompassing and accepting through the various relationships it depicts (not all of them are necessarily romantic relationships, btw). It also acknowledges that love can be both physical and emotional, that having one does not mean you can’t have the other. It can sound very abstract, but thankfully (?) Yuri Kuma Arashi is actually Ikuhara’s most straightforward work to date – both a plus and a minus for the series. (There are 2 threads within the story I didn’t get though, and I’d love to talk about it a bit more in the comments)
Despite its surrealist presentation, Yuri Kuma Arashi is actually rather direct. It lays its message in abstract terms, but the messages are often repeated multiple times throughout the series, and are considerably easier to understand than some of his other works (like Utena for example, which I thought was his densest work). Yuri Kuma Arashi’s structure is condensed (given its short length) but still utilizes Ikuhara’s structure of repetition – the first 2-3 episodes basically give what is almost a template; a ‘pattern’, and the series will often bring your attention to the parts where it deviates from this pattern for the bigger pieces of the puzzle. There are also noticeable motifs that represent various groups and the views they represent (I won’t say which since I want y’all to pay attention when you’re watching, heh), which I sometimes feel give an awful lot away and some of the plot twists left me feeling a bit unsatisfied because I could predict them.
Which brings me to some of the other problems I had with the series. First off, it is simple, yes, but as any Ikuhara series is it is still very, very dense, and can be hard to swallow, especially in the beginning. It does not really give the viewer any breathing room resulting in pretty big pacing issues that has affected my enjoyment, and can become a bit of a turn-off for those not used to his unconventional storytelling methods.
It is also Ikuhara’s shortest work to date – and I think he’s not used to working with such a limited amount of episodes. The result is a thematically rich series that’s a bit lacking in the characterization of the central figures of the story. On hindsight Yuri Kuma Arashi does make up for it with its smashing finale (I definitely cared more about the main characters than I thought I did), but as I was watching it the majority of the series did sometimes feel like it lacked an emotional core and characters we could really latch on to (compare this to Penguindrum, that spent a considerable amount of time getting its audience to warm up to the characters). The only real exception to this problem in my opinion is Lulu Yurigasaki, who completely won me over in her episode and remains an excellent character (and my personal favorite character from the entire Winter 2015 anime season, if I’m to be completely honest).
tl;dr – Yuri Kuma Arashi mostly suffers from its short runtime that has caused it to stumble a bit on the characterization and pacing fronts, while also having writing that is a bit too predictable if you’ve seen his works and know his quirks. Aside from this, it is probably one of anime’s best representations of lesbian relationships as a whole, serving as a meaningful critique of the systems that reject what is ‘not normal’ (homosexuality!). It also got me surprisingly emotional by the end. I did not really mention this in my post, but Yuri Kuma Arashi also features Ikuhara’s highly stylistic direction that I’ve come to be a fan of over the years – overtly theatrical, with great integration of its art direction into the overall package. I believe the screenshots speak for themselves with this one.
It may not be Ikuhara’s best series, but it’s still excellent nonetheless, and is definitely worth the try. It’s my personal favorite series of the Winter 2015 season, which is saying a lot considering how strong this season was overall.
TIP: Try to watch up till episode 4 (not 3!) to make your decision on whether it’s worth your time. Episode 4 is simply magical and represents the very best of Ikuhara’s works.
Alternate Recommendations – Revolutionary Girl Utena (as well as the Adolescence of Utena movie), Mawaru Penguindrum