Yuri Bear Storm

W-Well... Looks like I have to rearrange something I said.

Friends, today we mourn the loss of our dear friend Lulu. Fun. Spunky. Always had a knack for bright ideas. Sadly, she died protecting her dearest friend... It had to become an actual eulogy!

Out of the Invisibles, the current leader has earned my undying hatred. Good job!

Ginko rejected Desire. And Desire bowed out all graceful like. But not before leaving a lot of dead in her wake.

So the preview for the last episode had Kureha in the Severance Court, but it didn't happen and we get that preview again.

This sees to be almost certainly what "beyond severance" means.

Nah, I'm pretty sure that's not what Reia's picture-book is offering - it uses a lot of very scary, untrustworthy symbolism that indicates the traditional Japanese escape route of lesbian double-suicide rather than anything else. If the girls want a happy ending, they'll probably have to discard that too.

Ginko being compared to The Little Mermaid has me worried for her. That didn't end well at ALL, but I guess with a large amount of the cast pushing up lillies its already a bittersweet ending at best.

edited 24th Mar '15 7:41:50 AM by Bur

I'm back from the second episode of SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCK~!

Dat CGI paw. And what, Mitsuko doesn't get her own Kuma Shock fanfare? Come on.

Damn this show! I thought Lulu was safe! I thought she would live!

Something I've noticed is that the major antagonists have been progressively less charismatic. I suspect this is meaningful, but I'm not sure how?

Well, the original antagonists were bears who exploited the system to their own ends.

Now that they're both dead the system is basically going on without them.

Kaoru wasn't a bear

You mean the one that was really working for the Headmaster?

So here's a Hot Take™. Assuming the finale tomorrow sticks the landing (I have faith) the show's biggest flaw is in its characters. Lulu is easily the best, but other than her everyone is just all right. I'm a big fan of the stuff the show is pulling about the pressures about society puts on women (and in particular the queer ones) but having good characters in additional to very welcome social commentary would push it into the next level. This pretty obviously has a lot to do with the time allotted; Penguindrum had two cours to humanize its characters and it really shows – that show's finale remains a gutpunch for me.

Best hopes for the final showdown between lesbians and the patriarchy tomorrow.

edited 29th Mar '15 9:25:47 PM by majoraoftime

So, the finale is basically in keeping with the rest of the series— Entertaining and weird, but still mostly coherent

Overall, most complaints I have with the series come from disagreeing with some of the points Ikuhara is making

The finale was bearfect. Especially the finishing touches with cyborg zombie lesbian bear finding love and Lulu and her brother in heaven. T_T

And the fact that Sumika is Lady Kumalia. Though Kureha didn't notice. Which also means Sumika really was a bear, and now Kureha is too. Everyone is bears. Everything is yuri.

That was almost a Madoka esque finale, in terms of imagery (and theme, but it's one of Ikuhara's favourites as well as Urobuchi's). The brutal system still exists but we can transcend it through our individual actions.

Really liked the bit where the girl walked out of the auditorium at the end. Turn away from hate and start loving, and all that. If even cyborg zombie lesbian bears can find love, you can too!

edited 30th Mar '15 5:46:36 PM by majoraoftime

Ehhh, the finale leaves me a little cold since it's an ambiguous Together in Death ending. Kind of was hoping for a subversion.

So they did go for the turn into a bear ending. Kind of saw that one coming, but it was inevitable I suppose. And now Sumika. I don't even know what to think. The girl walking out was nice I guess. Lulu at least seems happy. Not sure I like the ambiguous deaths ending the show.

Well, that was interesting. I knew it would be weird, but that didn't make it less so. I don't think I ever understood all the imagery and symbolism. And while most of the bears were decent characters, all the humans were pretty one note. But it wasn't bad. I think. At least, I'm happy that I watched it.

It seems my initial guess about what would happen was right. Overall, I'm really happy with how this turned out, even if it probably could have been better with more episodes.

I wonder if Kumalia really was Sumika all along, or if she only showed up like that because of what she meant to Kureha - maybe she would look different if she'd appeared to Ginko instead?

I've seen some discussion on whether Kureha and Ginko went off on a lesbian space vacation or whether they died via firing squad, but I don't think it really matters. Both interpretations are valid, but either way they get the happy ending they wanted, and thank god. Lulu got her happy ending, too! Really, when it comes to this kind of shows, there's a point where it doesn't really matter that much if everyone's dead in heaven or alive, as long as they're happy.

And even the zombie cyborg squirrel bear lesbian got someone to love her!! That last bit was both surprising and wonderful.

You know, for a work that's been so aggressively criticising Class S and classic yuri tropes, having the leads end up Together in Death because the world won't accept them is really not a huge step away. Yes, they inspired other girls to follow their example, but holy shit this is the twenty-first century. Stuff like Wife And Wife exists. There's a major push for gay marriage in Japan. If you're planning on burying Class S, you could be a damn sight more ambitious about it.

Someone's interpretation on MAL made sense. They said that instead of trying to fit in Kureha finally accepted that real love means changing for another instead of trying to get them to change for you. Now, with both accepting themselves and each other for who they are they no longer care for society. Society feels they are dead to them but Kureha and Ginko have transcended to a higher plane in that they live in a world where they have excluded all the bigotry. I wouldn't necessarily say the girl that went to cyborg-bear was in love with her but had the epiphany that conformity for conformity's sake and the exclusion of those that are different just because is wrong. And, if even one person can change there is hope for the future.

Keep in mind that Ikuhara loves his Bhuddist symbolism. Before you can move to Nirvana, you have to die first. I think that's how it works. So dying and happy ending can really be the same thing.

And on an unrelated note: I kinda wish someone made a Dangan Ronpa crossover with this series. Bullets. Bears. Murdered students. Illicit relationships that lead to despair. It's almost perfect.

edited 30th Mar '15 7:06:08 PM by universalperson

So, I mean, Lulu outright said that nobody knows what happened to them. You might as well just hold up a sign that says 'their fate is deliberately ambiguous'. I really don't see what there is to be confused about here.

All aboard the Feels train! But in a good way, this time.

Happy Endings for all! Ambiguous, but either way I agree that they're happy so it doesn't really matter.

I thought it was very sweet. And I really doubt Sumika was actually Kumaria. That doesn't feel Ikuhara.

Well, they did say that Kumaria had somehow gotten separated, so Sumika being Kumaria's physical resurrection doesn't seem farfetched.

edited 31st Mar '15 7:56:01 AM by pboss3010