Review for Yurikuma Arashi - Complete Series

Introduction

I had a brief moment of excitement when it was revealed that Funimation would be releasing their titles directly in the UK, eager to see one more label join the roster of anime distributors here. Then I saw some of the titles listed such as Mikagura School Suite, Fairy Tail, No-Rin Absolute Duo, and Rainy Cocoa, and reviewed the first few UK releases, shows like Gonna be The Twintail, Yona of the Dawn, and High School DxD Born. I haven’t heard of most of these shows, and from those titles that I reviewed, and what I read about the others, it becomes clear that these are the mid-tier, audience friendly shows, hardly going to set the world alight, but guaranteed to put a smile on some faces (except for Rainy Cocoa which got cancelled for dismal pre-orders). Let’s face it; the top tier Funimation titles get Collectors and Ultimate Editions via Anime Limited.


But this one title caught my eye, Yurikuma Arashi. Yes, it’s about schoolgirl lesbians (and bears), which is aimed right at the mainstream demographic that the other titles are aimed at, but it’s the director who is worth noting. After all, Kunihiko Ikuhara has pedigree in producing mind-bending and cerebrally challenging animation. He cut his teeth on Sailor Moon, but he’s best known for bringing us Revolutionary Girl Utena and its insane movie spin-off The Adolescence of Utena. Most recently we in the West got to partake of his Mawaru Penguindrum. Both these shows have lesbian elements, but handled in a way that is markedly different from the male otaku sating fan service of other shows. Yurikuma Arashi is all about lesbian relationships (and bears), so it will be interesting to see just what a challenging and mind-bending ride Ikuhara will take us on this time.


The planet Kumaria exploded, and the resulting meteor storm had a devastating effect on Earth. Humans and bears used to live in peaceful coexistence, but all of a sudden, the bears rose up and started killing and eating humans. Thus the Wall of Severance was erected to segregate the two species. Years later, Kureha Tsubaki attends a girls’ school where she’s perfectly happy with her soul-mate Sumika Izumino. It’s a happiness that is tragically cut short when the alarm sounds, signalling the wall has been breached. When she was a child, Kureha’s mother was killed and eaten by a bear, and when the same thing happens to Sumika, she swears revenge.


But there are two bears closer to Kureha than she thinks. Lulu and Ginko are bears that have taken human form, and they have just transferred into Kureha’s class. They’re not looking to eat Kureha though. Ginko’s looking to be reunited with the girl that she played with as a child, although Kureha has no memory of this. But they’re not the only disguised bears in town, and girls continue to die...

Twelve episodes of Yurikuma Arashi are presented across 2 Blu-rays from Funimation. This is a combo pack with the series on DVD as well, but I only got to look at the Blu-ray check discs.


Disc 1
1. Never Back Down on Love
2. I Will Never Forgive You
3. Invisible Storm
4. I Can’t Get a Kiss
5. I Want to Have You All to Myself
6. The Moon Girl and the Forest Girl
7. The Girl That I Forgot
8. Bride-in-the-Box
9. The Future of the Girls

Disc 2
10. The Door to Friendship
11. What We Hope For
12. Yuri Kuma Arashi

Picture

Yurikuma Arashi’s Blu-ray transfer is pretty standard by now. The 1.78:1 widescreen 1080p image is clear and sharp, presenting the animation smoothly and without issue. Colours are strong and consistent, and there might be the barest hint of digital banding in darker scenes, but nothing to impinge on your enjoyment of the show. Yurikuma Arashi is probably what you would expect from a Kunihiko Ikuhara show, masking its serious themes behind cute character designs and a warm inviting world design. The human characters are attractive and memorable, while the bears are painfully cute. You also get the usual Ikuhara touchstones, the Bear Shocks, the Severance Court, the telephone calls, all the visual and narrative repetitions that are key to his storytelling style, although there isn’t anything quite as memorable as a Survival Tactic in Yurikuma Arashi.

The images in this review were kindly supplied by Funimation.

Sound

You have the choice between Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround English, and 2.0 Stereo Japanese, with translated subtitles and a signs only track, all locked to the appropriate audio stream. The original language track is the way to go here, with actors suitably cast for their roles, delivering performances that match the ethereal mood of the show. The subtitles are accurately timed and are free of typos too, in a nice font that’s easy to read, so you have no excuse. The dub on the other hand is utterly disposable, with squeaky faux teenage girls aplenty, and way too much valley-girl speak for my comfort.

Extras

The discs present their content with animated menus.

Disc 1 autoplays with a trailer for Funimation NOW, but the only extra is the commentary on episode 1, from ADR Director and voice of LIFE Cool, Christopher Bevins, along with writer/adaptor and voice of Lulu, Jamie Marchi, Josh Grelle (LIFE Beauty), and J. Michael Tatum (LIFE Sexy). I gave them five minutes to actually talk about the show, but five minutes of giggles was all I could take.

Disc 2 autoplays a trailer for Michiko & Hatchin.

The episode 12 commentary with Christopher Bevins, Jamie Marchi, Monica Rial (Ginko) and Alexis Tipton (Kureha) is a little better than the first commentary, as they talk about the show more, if stating the blindingly obvious is actually helpful.

You get one opening credit sequence, four closing credit sequences, shorn of text, but locked of subtitles.

There are Promo Videos, TV Spots, BD/DVD Promos, and the US Trailer for the show.

Finally there are further trailers for Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie, Daimidaler: Prince vs. Penguin Empire, Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt, Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign, Psycho Pass the Movie, Is This A Zombie? Of the Dead, Assassination Classroom, and Lupin 3rd: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine.

Conclusion

That was... okay. I have to say that I’m distinctly unimpressed with Yurikuma Arashi. I know that Kunihiko Ikuhara can be something of an acquired taste, his penchant for symbolism, visual metaphor and allegory, combined with almost a ritualistic cyclical approach to storytelling, not everyone’s preference. But you can’t deny the thought behind shows like Mawaru Penguindrum and Utena, you know that there will always be new meanings to uncover, new depths to explore. That isn’t the case with Yurikuma Arashi, which to me feels as shallow and as uninformative as any mainstream anime series. Sure it has the symbolism and the allegory, it couches its story behind visual metaphor to make it appealing to broad audiences, while saving its message for those who choose to put in a modicum of contemplation. But it’s a pretty shell over a rather vacuous and unfulfilling centre.


Yurikuma Arashi is about lesbians, and it’s about social exclusion. It’s as about as “does what it says on the tin” a show that a show can get. Sure, there is more to unravel, you can certainly try and find more meaning in the way its structured, try and find out why girls, and why bears, what the Invisible Storm represents, what the Wall of Severance represents, and so on and so forth, but the fundamental point of Yurikuma Arashi is in that first sentence of this paragraph. It’s about social conformity versus individuality, about societal representations of lesbian relationships versus the ‘real’ thing, if there is such a definition. It’s a little disappointing to see a 12 episode series with so little to it, recalling just how jam-packed with metaphor and ideas Mawaru Penguindrum’s 22 episodes were.


That’s all ostensibly beneath the surface. If you want to avoid the metaphor (although how you can do that is beyond me, given that even its surface story is about girls in love), then you can just watch Yurikuma Arashi as a fairy tale. A distant planet explodes, bears start eating humans, so the two species are separated. One girl loses her love to a bear attack, just when two bears disguised as humans arrive, one of whom wants to be reunited with the girl she knew as a cub, but who now understandably hates all bears. Can love overcome hatred? Will there be a happily ever after for the two in a world where differences and non-conformity are branded as evil, and excluded? As you might guess, there’s not a lot to Yurikuma Arashi.


Having said that, it is entertaining, and watchable. The characters are likeable, the story is interesting, and told well, and there’s just enough intrigue and mystery to get you invested in the show and the characters. It’s only disappointing if you expected something like Ikuhara’s earlier works, something with complexity and depth, something truly thought provoking. This one only lightly nudges thought.