Yuri Kuma Arashi – 07

Junketsu Yuri no KuMaria?

Deliciousmell…this show! I love thinking about the narrative as a riddle inside a mystery, but I think it’s much more clear cut than that at times, and perhaps even more deep than that at others.

The Girl that I Forgot

Being Ginko is suffering…

I honestly feel that Ikuhara loves playing with the medium as much as he can get away with. I’ve not given up on seeing this show, and of course his other two works, as pointed critique of media and culture. With Utena I’ve often felt it was a “take that” against the tough female characters of 90s era anime; where the “assets” they bore had as much mileage with the male gaze as the guns and tanks and dragons and the like. With Penguindrum the critique was as wide as cultural media itself, delving into the lives of the victims of terrorism so much more than the headline grabbing terrorist acts themselves. I don’t think he is willing to give up quite yet in painting a very pointed narrative with Yuri Kuma. 

If anything this program looks to distill a great many of the issues made with Utena and Penguindrum into a more symbolically dense, perhaps even less guarded work. With this, his use of key words is becoming more and more obvious as the story unfolds. In Penguindrum we had “Let’s share the fruit of fate”, as it’s magic game changer. Here the words are painting a similar picture with “Those that don’t forget love…” It’s fragile, and somewhat more obvious than Penguindrum’s late-in-the-story revelation, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t need be said.

Keep on truckin’

The fear of being left out, excluded, does have more than it’s fair share of power. And my goodness, our cute little teddy bears can go to war with it like no ones business. But where the larger number of bears fought for that sake, Ginko fights to prove her worth to Kumaria. Now, I have to admit, I’m a little lost in that. It does bring me to mind of the key words that begin every single episode to date, “We have always loathed you, we have always loved you. This is why we want to become true friends”. For me this is as obvious as stating that none of us, or the characters, are truly good, nor truly evil, or neither selfless nor selfish in whole. But we carry the qualities of both with us at all times.

I think Ikuhara is trying to make a bridge between those two qualities, asking us to meet them in the middle. Ideologies can clash that way. Kuraha’s mom knew that, spelling out in her unfinished work that it was a grave sin to bridge the two worlds separated by sky, a very handy stand in for the Wall of Severance. Spelling it out and perhaps daring someone to cross it… And I love the fact that it is an unfinished work, suggesting that others have to carry on with it, making the best of what they got, and how they found themselves.

Three guesses who is under the blanket, the first two don’t count, and anything other than “bear” is disqualified.

Back at school the main plot picks back up, with Harishima being dispatched from life as quickly and as cleanly as any other student to take up the head of the Invisible Storm. I guess the face never changes, just the person wearing it. Well, I’ll go ahead and venture a Final Boss guess, and claim that Yurika-sensei is probably behind a great deal of the goings on in the school. I am getting a feeling that she is behind Leia’s death, and planting the pendant on Ginko. She might even be behind why Kureha is forgetting her friendship, and compelling Ginko herself to take the blame for a crime she didn’t commit. Seems like the thing an apex predator would want to do…

Some Striking Visuals

Show ▼

Ah, now she gets it

So what if the Wall of Severance is the thing inside us? Let’s face it, the physical wall in the show is just to ponderously large and cumbersome to be a real object, and so, it’s symbolic nature resides in the character’s hearts and actions. What if it makes us forget the things most important to us? 

Like a promised kiss

We are given the clue that the two characters in the book The Girl of the Moon and The Girl of the Forest already sealed the friendship with the Promised Kiss. If the story book is unfinished documentary, and not a fairy tale, then that means the Lulu’s earlier tale has a much deeper meaning that previously thought, and makes her more than just a supporting character. It seems that, if I’m right about her, that Yurika-sensei knew exactly who to give that letter to. Lulu was surprised and shocked and hiding some guilt when it was revealed that Kurha’s mother was killed by a bear.

..and now they get to write the rest of the story.

Lulu is a Genius

Goodness, but I went on and on. So I’ll make my closing remarks short. I’m guessing a great many things about this story. And I’m very much OK with that, as I also very much enjoy taking in new information and figuring it out from there. If you have other opinions, I’m not only open to them, I welcome them. It’s cool to share.

About skylion

All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion