Yuri Bear Storm

I am currently of the opinion that it is only within the last couple of episodes that we're going to be able to piece enough together to start making sense of things.

Thus far the symbolism has been becoming clear surprisingly fast. It's making me kind of suspicious, honestly

What I'd like to know is why the Wall of Severance/Extinction has the same pattern as the hotel's rug in The Shining, and why Kureha's house simultaneously looks like a mix of Homura's house and the Bates hotel in Psycho (right down to the interior).

What are you planning, Ikuhara? What is your game? Is Kureha's mother in the basement, or what?

I'm not sure what to think. My initial theory was that the bears represented sexualized yuri with the humans being idealized yuri and the bear court representing the market (Life Sexy = the market in general, Life Cool = fans who like pure Yuri and Life Beauty = fans who only care for sexual yuri) but this last episode killed that theory.

edited 16th Jan '15 8:12:32 AM by Chariot

Found this relevant bit from the Sankebetsu incident Wikipedia page:

That's evil.

Okay, I keep coming back to: "What the hell did I just watch?" and then "When's the next episode coming out?"

Utena was one of my first anime, but even by that standard I am kind of ???? right now. This is amazing and a whole new level of Whut.

That rifle bit was 2lewd4me.

I think I have a good theory on my hands.

One thing Kureha did a lot this episode was reflect on the nature of her love with Sumika, and fearing that she'll one day forget about her, but not wanting to. She's been doing this a lot, but in particular there's her remembering conversations with her mother. Yurizono talks about how beasts don't dwell on the past, they live on the present. Lulu juxtaposes this by saying she'll never forget the day she met Ginko.

So I was thinking that there's a good chance Kureha knew Ginko when she was young, and she forgot about it. "Kureha, did you have fun with your friend again today?", Kureha repeatedly stating she doesn't want to forget her love, that one shot in the OP of a small human hand touching a small bear's paw, I think it's actually quite likely.

That's not a bad theory. Ginko love triangle? I feel bad for the other bear though

Actually that gives me an idea All the girls, even Kureha, seems to have Yuri under their name. I wonder if what Kureha forgot is that she is a bear? Maybe the wall actually sperates the bears that are pretending to be human from the bears who arn't

The part with Yurizono (who is probably fine I bet) inciting the other girls was creepy.

It's kinda amazing that like 20% of every episode is Stock Footage. I mean, the court scene is always the same, just with different lines.

an Utena is supposed to be worse than this? Does it make any sense at all?

edited 19th Jan '15 3:45:13 PM by kiukiuclk

More yuri. More bears. I really don't know.

Can they please stop it with the flashbacks? I don't care about developing Kureha's relationship with a dead character. And they're boring. And too numerous.

They're setup, establishing the dynamics of the human world and creating a contrast with the passionate but short-sighted and destructive relationships the bears prefer/are allowed. Kureha's relationship with Sumika is basically one half of a healthy relationship, and the show presumably revolves around her, Ginko, and Lulu finding a way to integrate it with their half and create a strong, passionate, loving, and constructive relationship even if it's unacceptable to both humans and bears.

The world that's set up here allows you to have a "Romantic" Two-Girl Friendship or be a Psycho Lesbian. No middle ground. The girls have started pushing against it, but they're still trapped by their roles - see Ginko and Lulu's Deal with the Devil to save Sumika even if they'd have to double down on the Psycho Lesbian stuff and rapemurder another girl in return (because that is sexy, shabadadoo).

Pretty much. I anticipate the show will end up reconciling this false dichotomy and go the middle ground in one way or another.

Mitsuko's still alive, I bet.

And that's a good theory, Crinias.

Now, let's see if they can fight off society's laws.

Wut

I'm supposed to get used to this right?

I feel like things are about to get weird. The episode definitely feels like a turning point, and far too much of the symbolism has become clear for such an early part of the series

Is the last line of the OP in French? It sounds like "Je me sois de toi"

Apparently it's "J'ai besoin de toi", which translates to "I need you".

Ah, yeah, I can hear it now. And apparently they're saying "Viens avec moi" ("Come with me") right at the beginning, but it's a lot harder to make out.

So I really don't get some of this. It's always Ginko and Lulu as the defendants in the court even though Kureha is confronting Konomi and Mitsuko in the past two episodes. And even though they apparently are actually eating other girls, Kureha hasn't been.

Like I said....they are BLATANTLY saving animation there I think.

Yes, but Ikuhara generally designs those animation saving scenes to mean something. (Okay, sometimes that something is nothing more than "I am a gigantic troll").

Some interesting info creator-side

Shaba-daa, Shaba-daba-daabaa...