Gorgeous smell.
What They Say:
One day an asteroid hits the earth and makes all the bears on the planet attack humans. In response humans put up a giant wall and have managed to keep them out until a couple of them decide to disguise themselves as humans and sneak in. Two girls named, Kureha and Sumika are lovers and Kureha despises bears, but when Sumika disappears one day, Kureha has to come face to face with them in order to save her.
The Review:
Content (warning as portions of this review may contain spoilers):
As mentioned last week, the previous fairy tale episode of Yurikuma was more or less the epitome of the show thematically as it spelled out pretty much everything about where the show was headed in that respect. With that the real question became what the show was going to do in terms of everything else it’s doing. This week’s episode doesn’t bring an exact answer to that but it does give move things forward a bit more in that area while expanding on some of the show’s previously established themes rather than throwing in any new ones.
The beginning features some of the fallout of Kureha realizing some of the girls have been disguising themselves as bears, but the big focus this time around is Ginko’s relationship with Kureha that was brought up last week, and her desire to be with her. Exactly how the two are connected still hasn’t been fully stated but it appears as though Kureha saved Ginko during some larger event related to the meteor. What is clear though, is that Ginko wants her all to herself and she starts having some hilarious wild fantasies about her while Lulu helps in her attempts to win Kureha over.
Unfortunately for her though, Kureha still isn’t interested in anyone besides Sumika and doesn’t want to let anyone else in since she knows they’ll be targeted by the Invisible Storm if they do. While Ginko continues her pursuits, the leader of the Invisible Storm, Kaoru, tries to befriend Kureha but she hasn’t gotten over what happened to Sumika thanks to them. Eventually she does give into the offer, but it turns out the Invisible Storm still wants to be rid of her. Ginko and Lulu are onto the scheme though, and decide to eat her before she can get to Kureha.
With all that in mind, the Yuri Trial scene for the episode is where the heart of it lies thematically this time around. Given the nature of the bears in general, one of the biggest questions has been exactly what makes Ginko’s feelings for Kureha different from the raw lust displayed by the others (especially when she’s been displaying it herself the whole episode). The judge bears decide to call her out on her desires, since it’s evident she just wants the Invisible Storm girls gone so she can have Kureha, asking if her love is the real thing. Ginko doesn’t deny her desires but what’s important here is that she believes her love is real.
This ties in pretty well with a small reveal earlier in the episode about losing her human form if Kureha ever finds out the truth about her and it’s clear that having her love returned means more than satisfying her sexual desires. In that respect it may actually be the true meaning behind the “criminal bear” metaphor introduced last week but there’s obviously a bit more attached to that story wise. In any case it’s enough to get approval from the bear judges (once again driving home Ikuhara’s point) and the two confront Kaoru to eat her, but things take a dark twist when she turns out to have already discovered who the girls really are and catches them in a (heart shaped) literal bear trap. Bear shock indeed.
In Summary:
This week’s Yurikuma scales things back a bit thematically to expand on some of what it’s already established and thanks to that this is one of the most straightforward episodes of the show in that area. Story wise though, the ending is pretty major and now that the Invisible Storm is onto the two girls, it’ll be interesting to see how long it is before Kureha does the same and exactly what’s in store for them now.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Funimation, Hulu
