12.24
You know what was one of the most polarizing anime this year? Yuri Kuma Arashi. One faction thought it was a wonderful take on lesbian relationships both grizzly and calm. Another smeared this anime as nothing but pandering fluff for the creator to masturbate to. You can say this show either touches upon many facets of the human identity, or just uses them as a platform to show naked girls licking each other. Or you can be a stuffy little centrist like me and take both angles. To watch this show requires much engagement, the kind where you can watch an emotional conversation between toy bears with a straight face. Try even further to stay engrossed when they intersperse “growl, growl” into their sentences.
I guess you could say this is camp, but not the kind of camp you could show to any newcomer. It’s as camp as a throne made of Bette Midler heads. It’s more melodramatic than Nicholas Cage on an overdose. It’s so over the top that divas and spinsters look like prudes and hags when faced with this show’s might. The entire age of Romanticism turns stilted compared to the blind emotions running rampant in Yuri Kuma Arashi. The likes of John Keats would look at Ikuhara’s work and balk at his outlandish visions. And for better or worse, it’s the cheesiest love letter someone could ever send to her crush.
This series is the entire duration of someone’s emotional unsteadiness just before they ask their soul mate out for a date or some coffee. A love so intense that it can only trigger either sheer empathy or the urge to barf. There’s no in-between. I’d say this would be like gauging one’s reaction to a Harlequin Romance, but that’s a compete disservice to this series. It’s more like judging a reader’s ability to enjoy a Nabokovian relationship. This show is for the people who could sympathize with Humbert Humbert and his love for Lolita, the kind who were enthralled by Van and Ada’s romance. It’s for those who can see through the flaws of some horribly troubled people and find forlorn lovers in the need of a little push. Yes, that means forgoing a ton of professed beliefs just to rationalize why these two should be together. Anyone with logic on the brain would watch all of this show and think Ginko and Kureha should not be together at all, but this show pisses on logic. Logic has nothing at all to do with romance. That’s not to say I didn’t find this show pedantic, but Yuri Kuma Arashi could be rewarding if you do your best set up your suspension of disbelief.