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Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Yurikuma Arashi
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Kitsunelaine
 Posts: 123 |
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Super excited for this series. Great, interesting review. Can't wait to see where the show goes.
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ATastySub
Past ANN Contributor
 Posts: 687 |
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Really appreciate you including links to all the references, and like hearing your thoughts on where you think Ikuhara is going with the show. As for the cute aesthetic I really love all the sound effects that go with it. GAO GAO, Kuma shock, guriguriguri, and even the phone's carurururu. They're just so playful.
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2267 |
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This is probably one of the most informative reviews I've read in a while. That Yuricon essay was very enlightening! Still not sure if I want to watch this once it's all said and done or keep up with the weekly streams, though.
EDIT: It may be that I don't involve myself in enough yuri titles to notice this, but I was surprised to realize that there even was a trend in how lesbians are typically portrayed, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how often I'd seen it (Dear Brother and the spoiler[dead] leader in Cross Ange seem like perfect examples of each trend.) |
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Kaioshin_Sama
Posts: 1215 |
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I can only imagine how different the reaction to this series would be if this wasn't Ikuhara directing and/or if the ANN staff didn't have a raging hard on for the guy. Reason being without fanboyism/fangirlism to fall back on with regard to the guy (I don't need anyone on the ANN staff to tell me they think the guy is a super genius godsend that produces only masterpieces) I just envision a whole lot more WTF reactions and people balking at the brazen sexually charged symbolism and general incoherent nature of the end product to date.
I predict something a little closer to how Cross Ange was reviewed before Theron stepped in to do something a little more down to Earth with the weekly reviews for it. |
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momogoldfish
Posts: 135 Location: New Zealand |
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Thanks for that review, Gabriella! Its great that you are upfront about where you are coming from in terms of the review and made it a lot more interpretation focused, since I think Yuri Kuma Arashi doesn't really fit with the conventional critical format but would seem a lot of fun to suss out together.
Also your point about the court representing patriarchy is interesting. As several people have noted, this show references Freud's Id, Ego and Superego model and I personally thought it's most obvious in the three Bearisters (Beauty=Id, Cool=Superego, Sexy=Ego) and its obvious now why that's the case! Because Freud based his psychological model exclusively on the way male sexual desire is supposedly expressed, with female desire seen as deviant or characterised by lack. It makes sense that the part of the show that represents patriarchy would be structured round this outdated (but still a lot of fun) male model of the psyche. Also love your end comment. Sometime a cigar really is just a cigar. |
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Calico
Posts: 383 |
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This is a terrific review for a terrific show. You touched on a lot of the things that make this show so interesting (and the links are greatly appreciated).
I've been wondering whether or not Sumika is really dead or not as well. But if being "devoured by bears" is a metaphor for embracing your sexuality and becoming free from society's expectations, what does that mean for the other girls who were devoured? The girl at the end of the last episode seemed to be firmly within the "normal" crowd of peers, and was leading the others in the Exclusion Ceremony. On the other hand, when the bears are shot, they seem to die permanently, and that means... Well, I have no idea. I guess I'll just have to stick around for the end. Also, the teacher is probably evil. I'm betting on this. |
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whiskeyii
Posts: 2267 |
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@Kaioshin_Sama
Hm, if it wasn't by Ikuhara? Probably...something like the reactions to Crowds. It's bizarre, strange, and your mileage for it hinges a lot on personal tastes. Cross Ange might've been hypersexualized, but it was done very much in a male-gaze kind of way (and it really loved making you watch Ange suffer). Yurikuma doesn't have that...gleefully vindictive feel behind it. |
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JacobC
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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It's almost like auteurs have fans or something, and you earn clout and respect by making really good things over and over instead of making garbage to sell discs like Sunrise's extremely obvious attention-ploy #5,632. |
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Lelouch vi Britannia
 Posts: 9 |
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Great review! It provided a lot of great insight into thing I had been wondering about like the Japanese view of lesbians. I'm glad this review went into some in depth analysis as well.
I have an odd feeling about Yuri-ka. It kind of reminds me of how in Penguindrum Yuri tried to replace Momoka with Ringo. I feel like Yuri-ka will try to replace Kureha's mother with Kureha. Who knows, though. |
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Animerican14
 Posts: 963 Location: Saint Louis, MO |
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I feel that I've been so spoiled by ani-twitter and several genuinely strong discussion points that have already been made on /a/, that nothing here really phases me or presses me for vibrant commentary at the moment, I'm afraid! (I've also been familiar with what Class S Yuri is before Yuri Kuma). Good stuff, though, good stuff, Gabbomatic. Definitely want to say more and respond to more, but maybe not right now, or even tonight. I'm a bit Yuri Kuma'ed out I think...
Eh, it'd be a very, if not completely, different show. Ikuhara has established a really distinct visual style and director's voice, so it'd be kinda hard to talk about him without knowledge/awareness of his (somewhat famous!) anime or what themes/stylistic flourishes he indulges in. If Ikuhara didn't work on this show, you would very much notice! EDIT: Darn it, this is what happens when I get distracted: I get sniped by earlier responses to what Kaioshin_Sama said and become redundant. 
Last edited by Animerican14 on Mon Jan 19, 2015 11:19 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Kaioshin_Sama
Posts: 1215 |
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Wow we have actual ANN site staff actively baiting users now. This site is just the best. Okay since we're twelve years old now JesuOtaku how about the Aniplex extremely obvious attention ploy that slaps your beloved Urobuchi's name on something in order to sell discs garbage #5,655. Totally earning that clout and respect of late eh and just a true auteur that stays 100% committed to all his supposed creations from beginning to end. Like lets make this a totally on topic affair and just be totally mature about it? 
In all seriousness though and stupid petty bullshit aside let it be noted folks with an open mind that JesuOtaku remains very much blatantly open about her biases and the mentality through which she sees things on top of having a rather vindictive streak and edge to how she interacts with the community. Furthermore having read this statement I would certainly consider taking any further reviews from her, specifically ones on the matter of Ikuhara and Sunrise credited shows with the utmost grain of salt. I mean you read it all right here and it could not be more blatant how she really feels. Thank you very much for this insight, by all means just keep talking away and digging that hole for yourself.
I continue to love how the users on this site are able to be more mature and to the point than the people that actually run it. ANN must be about the only site where this tends to hold true. Anyway yeah I think that'd be a fair comparison since Gatchaman Crowds is that sort of show in a way. Personally I don't see how male-gaze approach makes a difference, though IMO that's pretty present here too in some of the imagery and how the characters are treated. The framing might be a little different in how it attempts to portray the girls as some sort of victim of bears or whatever that are fighting back, but at the end of the day they chose to go with the kind of brazen sexually charged imagery in this case and I just don't see how it comes across as any more meaningful or less cheesecake than what we see in Cross Ange. Last edited by Kaioshin_Sama on Mon Jan 19, 2015 11:22 pm; edited 5 times in total |
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Gabbomatic
 Posts: 74 |
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Considering that Ikuhara also writes his shows, I doubt that anything even remotely similar would be made without his involvement.
Oh, that makes sense! I'd heard the Freudian thing but was having trouble connecting it to their other significance as the patriarchy. That's a great observation. |
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Redcrimson
 Posts: 160 |
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This is the pretty much the big looming question mark of the whole show for me. I mean, girls who don't conform to accepted social norms transforming into literal man(girl)-eating creatures needing approval by the metaphorical Court of Male Opinion being an overt allegory for Japanese representation of the LGBT community seems like a no-brainer. But we're only on episode 3 and the show is really, really doubling down on that stuff. Episode 3 was about as subtle as a brick to the face, and I can't really discount the possibility that it's just another layer of metaphor. It seems kind of unlikely at this point, but I wouldn't put it past Ikuni to have a crazy thematic right-turn up his sleeve.
Against my better judgment, let me try to explain what "context" is as simply as I can: YuriKuma is a show that is specifically about sex and sexuality, and specifically how that sexuality is viewed by society, i.e. the viewing audience itself. Cross Ange is a show about Hot Anime Girls being conscripted into piloting robots to fight alien monsters with hilariously eye-rolling acronyms. Which of those sounds like it would benefit more from the graphic display of sexual imagery and nudity? |
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JacobC
ANN Contributor
Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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If you say something silly and someone else responds to it like the thing you said was silly, they're not "baiting you." They're just responding to the words you saw fit to share. You have the right to express yourself. I have the right to react. Just how it works. |
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Kaioshin_Sama
Posts: 1215 |
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I choose the 3rd option and say neither. Believe me I'm all for trying to be more open about sexuality and tolerance for gay and lesbian couples, I just don't think this shows approach is even close to the right way to go about it and it still feels very much like Ikuhara is directing scenes that the audience is supposed to be getting off too rather than making some sort of direct or even indirect statement about the intolerant manner in which highly conservative Japanese society views the idea of gay and lesbian couples.
Fair, but I don't see how you're winning any points for your corner of the conversation and debate (whatever it's supposed to be) with that sort of approach. Just looks like what you're doing is sensationalist shit flinging to me if I'm being perfectly honest. Also believe me I know all about reacting to people that say things that I think are silly, I think I've demonstrated that in this latest totally productive dialogue we've shared. |
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