Both YKA and whatever that is are referencing The Shining movie.

Make sure you watch episode 6 all the way to the end for KUMA SHOCKS.

Ok, wow. Lots of kuma shocks this episode. It looks like the theory that[ Ginko's crime was eating another bear] might be true. Also, kudos to Sumika for [not mentioning the name of Kureha's new friend. I like how she left it open. "The person standing in front of you". It is subtle, but this is Ikuhara. She gave Kureha the choice to choose who her new friend is.]

Question: Why does Kureha refer to Sumika as her friend, and not her love, her lover, her girlfriend, etc.? I have been pondering that.

Also: shabadadoo.

About episode 6, [I think that Ginko's crime was indeed letting Sumika be eaten. If so, I can hardly wait until Kureha finds out, wouldn't that be something. I liked how Sumika was fleshed out some and loved how she went against the Invisible Storm by not picking Kureha during the Exclusion Ceremony. She is still something of a 'meh' character to me but at least I have a more defined idea of who she was.
Also, Ginko's legs twitching while she's caught in the bear trap really freaked me out.]

This episode was just so much.

I am very happy that my initial theory about [Sumika being the previous victim on the Invisible Storm] was right, even if I didn't foresee exactly how that came about. I'm still really confused as to why the Invisible Storm exists though. It feels like maybe the Invisible Storm exists to be exclusionary. You can't have good people without evil to validate your "goodness"; they exist as a dichotomy.

I know this episode was supposed to be where Sumika really got her backstory and developed as a character, but I still think she's a little flat. I would like to see more about her. Although I wonder if we'll really see much more of her now...

The part with [Kaoru] in bed with someone (in a room that seems to be constructed of nothing but drapery) was really just so parallel to the scene with Shiori in the movie that I can't help but think it's definitely NOT [Yuriika]. Maybe I was wrong about [Mitsuko being dead, because it seems more likely that she's still around (the only flashback she was present in was the last one after the credits)].

Seeing the Judgemens outside the court was SO GOOD. Shabadado.

EDIT:
Also, do we think that the flashbacks confirm that [Sumika and Kureha had a sexual relationship? They are in bed together as they read Reia's story, and there are no bra straps like there were in the fireplace scene.]

Last edited by AllegroDiRossi (02-09-2015 09:24:30 PM)

Arale wrote:

YamPuff wrote:

Question: Why does Kureha refer to Sumika as her friend, and not her love, her lover, her girlfriend, etc.? I have been pondering that.

Given some of the meta-commentaries this show has been doing, as well as some of the people working on it, I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be mocking the fact that so many yuri works don't actually use any words other than friend in a serious context. Another example of the show mocking this is the teacher's portrait of Kureha's mom, which is captioned "Yuri Friends". Yeah... just friends, but they're yuri friends!

I think you are right about everyone being tomodachi'd like there is no tomorrow. It is also interesting that the word for 'love' they almost always (maybe even always? Apart from Mirun's 'Ai' box) use is 'suki'. I do not think I've ever heard 'suki' used in such a manner, 'watashi no suki' sounds really odd.

Good episode!  It was interesting, the storybook  kind of reminded me a little of the goddess story from Penguindrum. Not in theme of the story, but the way it was presented.
 
[I guess next week we'll finally get Ginko and Lulu on friendly terms with Kureha, which I'm looking forward to. I'm looking forward to it! Last week's episode endeared me to Kureha/Ginko, but it's going to hurt a lot when Kureha finds out that Ginko saw Sumika getting eaten and just stood by and did nothing. She's going to be mad. Hopefully that's further down the road though. ]

I loved this:



#swagbear, #dealwithit

Last edited by HonorableShadow (02-10-2015 12:27:39 AM)

I think you're all on the right track regarding Ginko's crime. But there's one thing you're missing. [She was a criminal bear before she crossed over to the human world with Lulu. Witnessing Sumika's death definitely made things worse but the original crime was linked to the death of Kureha's mother Reia.]

[Well, the Separation Court judges on the idea of love, so a personal crime against someone you love could very well be the sort of thing that would tick them off.

Side note: they seem to hold a role similar to the Lady Kumelia in the fairy tale, could the destruction of Kumelia and the establishment of the separation court be linked?  Could it have to do with whenever Ginko and Kureha met before?  Remember, Lola said that Ginko had already lost her love once, so…  something happened back then.

Really, let me ponder some more on that.  I have a theory, and I don't know what I think of it, that the explosion/meteor shower/bears eating people thing was all part of the same event, and it had to do with the transformation of Lady Kumelia into the Separation Court.  Possibly this corresponded symbolically to the Girl from the Forest and the Girl of the Moon smashing the mirror, i.e: taking some sort of risk to affirm their connection to one another, since that's the last we've heard of Lady Kumelia so far.  Also and/or alternatively, the mirror smash moment might have been what separated Ginko and Kureha before, and somehow related to Reia's death. 

Possibly one of them smashed the mirror and the other didn't, and that's why they were separated?  It certainly underlines the idea of love as a sort of prisoners' dilemma, which… I seem to remember Sanetoshi going on about something like that in Penguindrum, and it certainly shows up a lot in Evangelion.  Eeeeeh.]

Arale wrote:

And I really doubt Ginko could have [stopped Mitsuko anyway. Maybe it's just me, but due to Ginko and Lulu having somewhat silly antics compared to Mitsuko's serious and seductive approaches to eating people, it feels to me that Mitsuko is probably much stronger a baer than Ginko. If Ginko had tried to stop Mitsuko, maybe Sumika could have gotten away for now, but Mitsuko would still get her eventually, and Sumika was already planning on being sacrificed. So it can't really be a crime, if she wouldn't have been able to be that effective anyway.]

I don't think that's the point, though. [In other words, even if Ginko couldn't have stopped Mitsuko it is still very relevant how she does not even try. Given Ginko's personality and the way she rushes into danger regardless of her personal safety like how she jumped into the burning lilies, her passive behavior must have an explanation apart from a disparity in strength. As far as I see it, it's a sin because down deep (or even not even that deep, actually) Ginko wanted something like that happen because it puts Sumika out of the picture and thus leaves Kureha 'free', so to speak, to fall in love with someone else, namely Ginko. There might even be some guilt involved, too.]

Episode 7. Well, I can honestly say this show is not what I expected, not that I had really strong expectations for an Ikuhara anime about lesbians and bears. Still. I can't say I know where it's all headed.

This was so pretty! http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i232/ … g~original

Very pretty moments in episode 7, indeed. [But that cliffhanger at the end! It's killing me. By the looks of it we'll be finding out just what Ginko's crime was in the next episode but who knows maybe it'll be another flashback or something else entirely.]

Laughing hard at this post:
http://4kidsentertainmentoffcial.tumblr … ant-planet

This week's ep was nice. I'm glad we got Ginko's backstory finally. Poor baby bear. D:

Last edited by HonorableShadow (02-17-2015 02:32:33 PM)