History Manga / KumaMikoGirlMeetsBear

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: The series is set in Tohoku, which is considered the boonies as far as someone born in Tokyo is concerned. However none of the characters, even the adults, speak the TohokuRegionalAccent.

''Kuma Miko: Girl Meets Bear'' (くまみこ Girl meets Bear) is a rural SliceOfLife comedy written and drawn by Masume Yoshimoto. The manga has been serialized since 2013 in the {{seinen}} magazine ''Monthly Comic Flapper''. An anime adaptation by Kinema Citrus aired during the Spring2016Anime season.

''Kuma Miko: Girl Meets Bear'' (くまみこ Girl meets Bear) is a rural SliceOfLife comedy written and drawn by Masume Yoshimoto. The manga had been serialized since 2013 in ''Monthly Comic Flapper'', with six compiled volumes as of 2016. An adaptation by Kinema Citrus aired during the Spring2016Anime season.

'''Kuma Miko: Girl Meets Bear''' (くまみこ Girl meets Bear) is a rural SliceOfLife comedy written and drawn by Masume Yoshimoto. The manga had been serialized since 2013 in ''Monthly Comic Flapper'', with six compiled volumes as of 2016. An adaptation by Kinema Citrus aired during the Spring2016Anime season.

* WillingChanneler: Part of Machi's role as a miko. She's personally skeptical at this, as she claims that she's just a normal girl with zero spiritual powers, but Natsu insists that Machi ''has'' been possessed by spirits before. The series go out of its way to show Machi going into trance-like states (complete with her brown eyes becoming EmptyEyes), where she starts babbling about information she could not know about on her own, such as Music/KyaryPamyuPamyu song lyrics and dance moves, or information about a department store that sounds like it came from an investor portfolio.

* InterspeciesRomance: Prominent in the town's folklore, and conveniently explains not only Natsu's existence, but his relation with Machi's family -- In the ancient past, a bear started preying on the people of the village. In order to placate it, a woman from the village was offered to the bear as HumanSacrifice, but instead of eating her, the bear [[InterspeciesRomance fell in love with her instead]]. The results of their union were the Kumais, the talking bear clan that Natsu comes from, while Machi's family was said to have been relatives of the sacrificial maiden.
** This leads to one of the kids asking of Machi and Natsu whether or not ''they did the deed as well''. Natsu is quick to defuse the situation however by explaining that it was definitely ''not'' happening, as he was neutered years ago. Cue the boys [[ShareTheMalePain hiding their crotches in empathy]].

Note: This is not about a {{Miko}} meeting [[CargoShip (or dating)]] a [[UsefulNotes/MnogoNukesBombers Tu-95.]] (''Enough with the ReportingNames already, NATO!'')

Note: This is not about a {{Miko}} meeting [[CargoShip (or dating)]] a [[UsefulNotes/MnogoNukesBombers Tu-95.]] (''Enough with the ReportingNames already, NATO!''

* GeckoEnding: Episodes 11 and 12 are entirely anime-original, and do ''not'' follow the equivalent chapter (Chapter 18), barring Machi's nightmare of city-folk throwing stones at her for being a country bumpkin).

* BewareOfTheNiceOnes: Natsu normally is placid and friendly, but he still is an adult bear and is perfectly capable of matching Honoka with ease despite not being as diligent with training as she is.

* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: The bears Natsu and Honoka have this dynamic. While Natsu has a cuddly appearance and comes off as more relaxed and easy-going, Honoka looks threatening with his scars and is very aggressive and competitive.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: You'd think that a series that features a talking bear this wouldn't be much of a big deal, but even Natsu becomes suspicious [[spoiler:when Machi stops a mountain squall via dancing the ''Kagura'' properly, and causes a thunderstorm because she was using it to lose weight]]. While the manga leaves enough ambiguity for it to be interpreted either way, the anime definitely pushes for "magic", because [[RuleOfFunny it's funnier that way]].

* TalkingAnimal: Natsu, as part of the Kumai clan, is literally a talking bear. While there is an in-universe justification for this via the town's folklore, it's mostly done in the name of RuleOfFunny and to give someone for Machi to bounce off.

** Yoshio has known Hibiki since both were kids, and then Hibiki started to develop a crush on him when they were growing up.
* TheDitz: Yoshio is often clueless about what is going on around him. He is InnocentlyInsensitive around Machi, he ignores if he did anything wrong until someone points it out (or punches him out), and there's no way he would guess that [[spoiler:Hibiki likes him... unless she says it straight out]].
* DoItYourselfThemeTune: The ED of the show is sung by Machi and Natsu's voice actors (Natsumi Hioka and Creator/HirokiYasumoto, respectively) featuring the rest of the Kumade villagers' [=VAs=] as backsingers, in the chorus.

* ExecutiveMeddling: InUniverse. In episode nine, Yoshio is planning to do a tourism commercial for Kumade Village with help of the townsfolk, but didn't have the money to get the airing space to do so until he got Old Lady Tokuyama, one of the wealthiest people of the village, as the sponsor. However, she agreed to fund it with a few conditions such as ProductPlacement for her watches and glasses shop and [[spoiler:fit her granddaughter (and her song) into it. No one knew about it until the commercial was aired, but only a few were upset at the final product... especially old man Usui, who originally directed it.]]
* FaceOfAThug: Hibiki. Or in her case, face of a {{Delinquent}}. Hibiki's constant frowning doesn't help matters, which is why Machi was initially terrified of her.
* TheFaceless: Machi and Yoshio's grandmother, Fuchi Amayadori. She also acts as Machi's legal guardian. Fuchi is often referred to, but she is never at home (doing errands as a priestess around the village), and the few times she has been mentioned, she has appeared as a voiced ''shadow'' or her face is hidden thanks to the camera angles (in the original anime OVA). As of volume 6 of the manga, she hasn't officially made a physical appearance in the series.

* ParentalSubstitute: Even though Machi lives with her grandmother, it's actually Natsu who acts much more as a parent (and most of the times, as a brother) to her. As mentioned in "The Ordeal", Yoshio and Fuchi will be completely fine if Natsu is the last one who puts the final word on whatever she asks to them.
* ScareEmStraight: The punishment for particularly naughty kids in the town is to spend a night with Natsu in a bear cave. But Natsu happens to be play-acting a very hungry and unfed ''wild'' bear. Usually this is enough to scare the kid in question out of their wits to not do anything bad ever again, but Natsu notes that the tactic isn't always successful, pointing to the experience of an older relative (Gozanburou) with Hibiki (who was forced to visit the cave ''multiple times'', but never shook off her JapaneseDelinquent habits).

* SympathyForTheHero: Not ''intentionally'', but the shoppers in episode 8 definitely felt they had to buy something from Machi due to how pitiful she looked (complete with visual metaphors of TheLittleMatchGirl, Christians being burned at the stake, TheLittleMermaid, even Cosette from LesMiserables...).

* {{Tsundere}}: Hibiki, for Yoshio. She has a crush on him ever since they were teenagers [[spoiler: (and it was a [[EveryoneCanSeeIt well-known rumor in the village]]), although the only way she could tell about it (and flirt) was just noticing "how tall he got"]].

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Due to the town's history, none of the townsfolk think that a ''talking brown bear'' is unusual.
* WillingChanneler: Part of Machi's role as a miko. She's personally skeptical at this, as she claims that she's just a normal girl with zero spiritual powers, but Natsu insists that Machi ''has'' been possessed by spirits before, and both the show and the manga go out of its way to show Machi going into trance-like states (complete with her brown eyes becoming EmptyEyes), where she starts babbling about information she could not know about on her own.
** Information such as Music/KyaryPamyuPamyu song lyrics and dance moves, and information about a department store that sounds like it came from an investor portfolio.

* ScareEmStraight: The punishment for particularly naughty kids in the town is to spend a night with Natsu in a bear cave. A Natsu who happens to be play-acting a very hungry and unfed ''wild'' bear. Usually this is enough to scare the kid in question out of their wits to not do anything bad ever again, but Natsu notes that the tactic isn't always successful, pointing to the experience of an older relative with Hibiki (who was forced to visit the cave ''multiple times'', but never shook off her JapaneseDelinquent habits).

** The anime ending's art style is a lot like ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'' series.

* CreatorBacklash: A ''very'' politely-worded one, but needless to say that the mangaka was not pleased at how the anime ended.

* GekkoEnding: Episodes 11 and 12 are entirely anime-original, and do ''not'' follow the equivalent chapter (Chapter 18), barring Machi's nightmare of city-folk throwing stones at her for being a country bumpkin).

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marui OIOI]] (pronounced as "Marui"), which is mentioned by Natsu in the first episode as part of the City Quiz he applies to Machi. The anime staff went to do a collaboration campaign with the store in Spring 2016.

* DoItYourselfThemeTune: The ED of the show is sung by Machi and Natsu's voice actors (Natsumi Hyoka and Creator/HirokiYasumoto, respectively) featuring the rest of the Kumade villagers' [=VAs=] as backsingers, in the chorus.
* DownOnTheFarm: Kumade Village is located in the Tohoku region, surrounded by forests, agricultural fields, and mountains -- very far from urban civilization. There are few young adults, and most the townfolk are either elderly or middle-aged. With few tourism opportunities (Machi vehemently disagrees to be used as the town's mascot), there's really not much incentive for young people to stay in town too, enough that it's often brought up by the Women's Association and the Town Hall.

* ExecutiveMeddling: InUniverse. In episode nine, Yoshio is planning to do a tourism commercial for Kumade Village with help of the townfolk, but didn't have the money to get the airing space to do so until he got Old Lady Tokuyama, one of the wealthiest people of the village, as the sponsor. However, she agreed to fund it with a few conditions such as ProductPlacement for her watches and glasses shop and [[spoiler:fit her granddaughter (and her song) into it. No one knew about it until the commercial was aired, but only a few were upset at the final product... especially old man Usui, who originally directed it.]]

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Due to the town's history, none of the townfolk think that a ''talking brown bear'' is unusual.

** [[http://usjapanbranding.com/village-vanguard-vintage-bookstore-and-nerd-hideout/ Village Vanguard]], an "exciting bookstore" which greatly confuses Machi as she arrives to one located in a mall (because she literally thought it was ''only'' a bookstore).

* DownOnTheFarm: Kumade Village is located in the Tohoku region, in the middle of agriculture fields, and mountains -- very far from urban civilization. There are few young adults, and most the townfolk are either elderly or middle-aged. With few tourism opportunities (Machi vehemently disagrees to be used as the town's mascot), there's really not much incentive for young people to stay in town too, enough that it's often brought up by the Women's Association and the Town Hall.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marui OIOI]] (pronounced as "Marui"), which is mentioned by Natsu in the first episode as part of the City Quiz he applies to Machi. The anime staff went to do a cross-promo campaign with the store in Spring 2016.

* BlandNameProduct: Subverted -- Natsu sends Machi on an errand to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniqlo UNIQLO]] to get "a [[http://www.uniqlo.com/us/women/heattech.html HeatTech]] item". Machi [[HopelessWithTech thinks it's a home heater of some sort]].
** Played straight however by episode three, when Machi and Hibiki visit Shi'''mo'''mura, which stands in for [[http://www.shimamura.gr.jp/shimamura/ Shimamura]], a real world discount retail store chain.