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Silver Link Makes Yuri Kuma Arashi TV Anime by Utena/Penguindrum's Ikuhara

The teaser website for the Yuri Kuma Arashi (Yuri Bear Storm) anime by director Kunihiko Ikuhara (Revolutionary Girl Utena, Penguindrum, several Sailor Moon television series) opened on Monday. The website confirms that Ikuhara is directing the anime for television, and Etsuko Sumimoto (animation director on Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie Part 3: Rebellion, Honey and Clover II) is adapting the original character designs by manga creator Akiko Morishima for animation. The Studio Silver Link is producing the animation.

The "intellectual fantasy" follows Kureha, a "transparent" high school girl who is plain and is barely noticed by others. Seemingly every night, she has a "dream about a bear and a transparent storm." In this dream, her mysterious classmate Ginko Yurishiro appears in the form of a bear.

Morishima also launched the manga version (pictured right) of the story in Gentosha Comics' Monthly Comic Birz magazine in February. Morishima penned the yuri series Hanjuku-Joshi in Ichijinsha's Comic Yuri Hime magazine, and Ichijinsha published two volumes in 2008 and 2009, respectively. JManga released the series on its digital platform before ending service.

Last year, Ikuhara presented brief footage from his new anime project featuring a bear transforming into a girl. A website for the "Kunihiko Ikuhara/Penguinbear Project" launched in 2012 with the tagline "Find out, without getting caught in that clear storm." The same tagline appears on the new teaser site.

Sentai Filmworks released the Penguindrum anime, and Nozomi released the Revolutionary Girl Utena DVD box sets in North America. Viz Media is releasing the various Sailor Moon television anime series that Ikuhara directed.

Image © Mamonako Ikunigo/Yuri Kuma ni Kuru