IKKKKKKKKUUUUUUHHHHHHAAAARRRRRAAAAA!!!!
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):
We’re now three episodes into Yurikuma and the show just keeps getting weirder. Where last week’s episode helped to flesh out some of the themes and metaphors introduced so far, this episode throws a bit of a monkey wrench into those as well as a few unexpected twists. Though as with anything related to Ikuhara, weird is often good and though there’s more confusion to be had, the show is still going strong.
The school is on full alert after some of the recent bear attacks and one of the teachers tries to help Kureha in her grievance over what happened to Sumika. Mitsuko’s still after Kureha, but she rejects her advances which just makes Mitsuko want to eat her more. It turns out that Mitsuko has a connection to the Invisible Storm, which has been selectively weeding out those it considers evil and decide Kureha is the next target, delighting Mitsuko since she has the chance to eat her now. Kureha gets called in for another test of love and ends up squaring off against Mitsuko who reveals her true identity as a bear. Before Mitsuko gets the chance to eat her though, Lulu and Ginko step into to help Kureha and Mitsuko’s defeated. However the two bear girls are still clearly up to something as they make one of the Invisible Storm members their next victim.
There’s a lot to digest in this week’s episode and it’s tough to even figure out where to begin: Mitsuko seemed like she would last a lot longer given how her kind of character tends to operate, so it’s surprising that she not only gets taken out this week, but fully exposes herself before it happens, making the whole thing feel a tad rushed. It works though, as it helps to bring to light the larger conspiracy that is the Invisible Storm and the Exclusion Ceremony, which look to be a lot more interesting. They’re in pretty clear opposition to the bears both narratively and thematically so it’s kind of amusing that the bears seem to be taking advantage of them and using them to find their prey (as well as becoming prey themselves going by the ending of the episode) so I’m curious to see how much fun the show has with that.
Speaking of them, it’s not terribly surprising for the “Invisible Storm” metaphor to be not so metaphorical in the context of the story as Ikuhara pulled something similar in Penguindrum, but the metaphor itself seems to be something a bit different than what I originally expected. Where it initially seemed like it was referring more to a suppression of/desire to hide sexual desire (in the case of this show, homosexuality) it now seems to be more of a rejection of societal norms than anything else. This still works pretty well thematically though, and it should nicely tie into things if the show is headed where it appears to be.
What’s more strange though is Lulu and Ginko’s roles in the story now as to what exactly they want with Kureha. The bears are still a pretty clear representation of raw lust, but those two specifically reasons for wanting to eat her seem to be different compared to the others, especially since they opt to help her towards the end of the episode. From how it appears, it looks to be a combination of both lust and love, which knowing Ikuhara probably the case. In the meantime though, it’s perfectly clear that Kureha will have to embrace those two at some point, but whether it means the above is Ikuhara’s end game for the show is still a little bit of a tough call.
In Summary:
Yurikuma Arashi’s third episode is a full on return to Ikuhara’s brand of madness and one that raises a lot of questions. Mitsuko getting shuffled out of the story this quickly feels a bit odd, but the full-on introduction of the Invisible Storm puts a neat twist on things and it should be fun to see where the show ends up taking it. Ikuhara’s ideas keep getting stranger, but the execution’s still there as always, and so long as that’s the case, I’ll still gladly ride this train.
Grade: A-
Streamed By: FUNimation
