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Mar 9, 2015 9:32 PM
#1

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Oct 2010
57
After reading a rumor that Kunihiko Ikuhara was inspired by the Sankebetsu brown bear incident, I sought out Rimeinzu: Utsukushiki Yuusha-tachi ("Remains: Beautiful Heroes"), the sole film based on the event—released on DVD as "Yellow Fangs" for the United States. I believe this film—particularly its themes on human sexuality and social conventions—inspired Kunihiko Ikuhara, at least in part, in his creation of Yuri Kuma Arashi.

Rimeinzu centers on an all-male group of hunters whose mission is to defend their village against a bear nicknamed Red Spots—a bear that only targets women. Donned in bear skins, the hunters seek out Red Spots in the snow-covered mountains—including a young man by the name of Eiji. In the course of the hunt, Eiji encounters a childhood friend named Yuki, whom he initially mistakes for one of his male hunter friends.



In a flashback, Yuki is shown roughhousing with boys. Even as an adult, Yuki is a tomboy, declaring to Eiji, "I can do anything as well as you!"

"Actually, you haven't changed. What a mess!" Eiji responds. "I can tell why your dad is sorry you're a girl."

At this point, Yuki gives Eiji a charm, which she describes as "a charm so you won't get hurt."



Despite Yuki's intense desire to join the men on the hunt, the hunters band together and exclude her—because to do so would go against long-held social tradition.

"Yuki, we all know how you feel, but women can't go to the mountains," Kasuke, the leader hunter, says. "You were born and raised here. You know the bear hunters' rules, right? 'While in the mountains, keep away from women. Let no hunters know about any villager's death. Let no villager know what happens to any hunter.' That's our code. The bear hunter's code has been strictly observed. We are not superstitious. If we have too many worries, it'll just bring on disaster. The code was made to stop it. Understand? Women should stay at home and wait."



But Yuki breaks the rules and enters the mountains anyway. Eiji encounters Yuki again and warns her: "Women can't enter the mountains. Break the rule and you will be banished."

Clearly, there is a parallel between the hunters' exclusion of those who defy social conventions in Rimeinzu and the students' exclusion of those who defy social conventions in Yuri Kuma Arashi.

But this is what I find most fascinating: Color plays a prominent role in Rimeinzu. Without exception, every female character wears bright, bold red. This sharply contrasts with the only two other colors used prominently in the film—black and white. According to Namiko Abe, Japanese language expert, red is symbolic of love, including intimacy and sexual desire, while white and black are colors of mourning ("Japanese Conception of Red - Is Red the Color of Love?"). When Red Spots strikes, the stark black contrasting with red evokes not merely loss—but also hints at love, hunger, and desire—albeit perverse desire.



Again, this parallels Yuri Kuma Arashi's theme of intense hunger/desire leading to tragic loss.

At the climax of Rimeinzu, Yuki discovers Eiju—wearing a kimono, surrounded by "women's scent" to attract the bear. At first, Eiji is infuriated by her intrusion—but then Yuki proudly sheds her own red kimono.



Finally, Eiji and Yuki work together—but they completely disregard society's rules in doing so. Moreover, only when they each embrace their own respective sexual identities—in spite of the societal cost—are they able to overcome the menace that has literally torn apart their families and their village.

In the most recent episode discussion, user Sejin wrote:

Sejin said:
But in another sense, it's essentially saying that the moon girl can't love the forest girl while she's still a moon girl. The moon girl has to become a forest girl to love another forest girl, and vice versa for the forest girl. Speaking in terms of the actual characters, that's saying that Kureha (a human) can't love Ginko (a bear) unless she also becomes a bear.


This idea certainly seems to fit with the fate of Eiji and Yuki in Rimeinzu. Perhaps Kureha and Ginko will share a similar fate: They must embrace their true identities, in spite of the societal consequences, to make the Promise Kiss possible.

Then again, maybe I'm completely off the mark, and Yuri Kuma Arashi really is just a show about sexy lesbians dressed like bears covering themselves with honey and licking each other.

Either way, I'm impressed.
TheVulpixMar 9, 2015 10:03 PM
Mar 10, 2015 12:43 AM
#2

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Oct 2012
1917
@Pleakley: Thanks! Very interesting! An amazing find.

Back on February 2nd, Ikuhara sent out a Twitter message:
https://twitter.com/ikuni_noise/status/562181226396528640
In that Tweet, Ikuhara pointed out an article in "DMM News":
http://dmm-news.com/article/914329/

The headline of the DMM News article is:

Yuri Kuma Arashi: The most incomprehensible anime series of this cour!?

The DMM News article announced the marathon screening event of Episodes 1
to 5 on Sunday, February 8th in some movie theater in Shinjuku. Late in the
evening, this was then followed by a sneak preview of Episode 6. But Episode 6
was not broadcasted on TOKYO MX until 24 hours later. This included a "talk
event" involving the three main voice actresses and Ikuhara. In fact, the original
announcement did not include Ikuhara, and it took a few more days before it
was finally announced that Ikuhara would be there as well.

Something else that was mentioned in the DMM News article was the tragic 1915
Sankebetsu brown bear incident in Hokkaido where seven people were killed by
one bear. The article was a bit vague. All that they said was that certain netizens
had suggested that there might be some kind of connection between that incident
and the story of "Yurikuma".

Here are some blogs written by some such netizens:
http://ao8l22.hatenablog.com/entry/2015/01/06/143719
http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2142068357658637601
http://foxnumber6.hatenablog.com/entry/2015/01/06/165044
http://blog.bakattan.com/archives/1018088694.html
http://korewasugoi.com/75412

And here is a January 8th news article which mentions it:
http://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/articles/1501/08/news123.html

Ikuhara was certainly aware of the 1915 incident. In addition to the 1990 movie
"Yellow Fangs", there were also:

- A 1965 novel "Kuma Kaze" and a 1974 novel "Kuma Are".
- A novel published in 1977 whose title was actually "Kuma Arashi".
- Both a radio drama as well as TV drama in 1980.
- A 1986 stage play, whose title was actually "Kuma Arashi".
- Volumes 3 through 5 of a certain manga.

For the 1977 novel and the 1986 stage play, the title is written using slightly
different kanji: 羆嵐 versus 熊嵐. Both 熊 and 羆 can be pronounced "kuma",
according to Wikipedia, although 羆 is more commonly pronounced "hikuma".
But 熊 means "bear" whereas 羆 specifically means "brown bear".

Here is the bloody and gruesome theatrical trailer for "Yellow Fangs" (1990):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGYSN7svt5c

I am astounded at the parallels between "Yellow Fangs" and "Yurikuma" that
Pleakley has pointed out.

Pleakley said:
Then again, maybe I'm completely off the mark, and Yuri Kuma Arashi
really is just a show about sexy lesbians dressed like bears covering
themselves with honey and licking each other.


Well, it's a bit hard to say...

From all that I have seen, there has been no official information that there are
any lesbians in "Yurikuma" or that it belongs to the "Yuri" genre of fiction. This
includes the information on the official website as well as the press releases.
For other anime series, it is sometimes the case that press releases will mention
the genre of the series, and this information gets reported in news stories in
anime-related magazines. I am fairly sure that it was announced that "Sakura
Trick" is a "Yuri anime". The genre of Shirobako was also specified. Besides that,
there was nothing said at the February 8th "talk event" about any lesbians or
the Yuri genre. Occultangle did a detailed summary of what was said in
Episode 8.5, and it seems that lesbians and Yuri were not mentioned there either.

On the other hand, maybe there actually are lesbians in "Yurikuma". However, up
until now, it seems to be the case that nobody involved in the series is willing to
officially admit that they have noticed any.
okanaganMar 10, 2015 10:45 AM
Mar 10, 2015 12:45 AM
#3
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Mar 2011
25073
that movie title translation sucks
"If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine"

When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun
Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one
For the Union makes us strong
Mar 10, 2015 8:45 AM
#4

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Apr 2012
14
Awesome find. You had me convinced at "only targets women." I just bought a copy off ebay, and there a few more copies there and on Amazon, if anyone wants one.

I was aware that there were several books, plays, etc. based on the Sankebetsu incident, but I didn't bother to look into any of them because I didn't know which, if any, could have been a specific influence.

I saw this sign of "Bear Road" on the Wiki article about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankebetsu_brown_bear_incident#Memorial

I could imagine Ikuhara driving by, knowing the horrible story about what happened there, and then seeing that cute sign. It's completely just my silly imagination, but I could see that being an inspiration for Yuri Kuma.

@okanagan

No, there has been no specific mention of it being "officially" Yuri, but it is in the name of the anime itself. And I'm sure you have seen episode 9, there were some scenes that would be hard not to call Yuri...

But yes, it certainly is not Yuri the same way Sakura Trick is Yuri, and so in all fairness, it could be considered irresponsible for them to try to sell it on such a label. On the other hand, I've heard people say Utena, Rose of Versailles, and Oniisama e are Yuri (just naming random one's I've seen) and if those are Yuri, then certainly Yuri Kuma Arashi qualifies as well.

Also, I would imagine Ikuhara might want to avoid putting such a specific label on his work. He might find it a limitation on his creativity. People would judge it by those standards.
Mar 10, 2015 9:49 AM
#5

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Oct 2012
1917
@Occultangle said:
No, there has been no specific mention of it being "officially" Yuri, but it
is in the name of the anime itself.


Well, it is and it isn't. When talking about the "Yuri" fiction genre, which involves
strong emotional bonds between women and sometimes sexual behavior as
well, "Yuri" is written in Japanese like so: 百合, which is their "kanji" writing
system. On the other hand, the "Yuri" in "Yurikuma Arashi" is written as ユリ,
which is their "katakana" writing system. So the "yuri" in "Yurikuma" is just a
homonym. Google Translate tells me that ユリ means the type of flower called
the Lily. Oh, and 百合 means Lily flower too.

Since Episode 1, everybody noticed the kanji 百合 inside the family names of
many of the characters and it quickly became apparent that they were actually
bears. But including 百合 in a longer surname does not equate to the Yuri
genre or even anything about flowers.

The "smoking gun" would be if, somewhere, somebody wrote "It is 百合". But
they haven't. For "Sakura Trick", I recall that they specifically did, since it was
mentioned in the headlines of some of the news stories that came out.

@Occultangle said:
...if those are Yuri, then certainly Yuri Kuma Arashi qualifies as well.


That's for sure. I believe you.

However, I have two lists that I like to refer to in order to see whether a given
anime series, novel or manga is Yuri. Here are the two lists:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_%28genre%29
https://yurination.wordpress.com/the-yuri-list/

I think that the Wikipedia article is more definitive, since a larger number of
people contribute to it and no doubt debate behind the scenes. It does say that
"Yurikuma" is "Yuri". And more specifically, they classify it as "Central-element
Yuri".

The "Yurination" list is great. They also consider "Yurikuma" to be "Yuri". In their
classification system, it is "Grade 1: Main Genre. Intensity: High"

@Occultangle also said:
Also, I would imagine Ikuhara might want to avoid putting such a
specific label on his work. He might find it a limitation on his
creativity.


Right. It is a business marketing decision to decide whether to officially announce
the genre of an anime series. In the case of "Sakura Trick", it made quite a lot of
sense to call it "Yuri", since "Sakura Trick" was the first "Central-element Yuri"
broadcast TV anime series since the end of 2009. Everybody got excited, and of
course "Sakura Trick" delivered what people expected.

@Occultangle mentioned:
I've heard people say Utena, Rose of Versailles, and Oniisama e are Yuri


True enough. On the Wikipedia list, "Utena" and "Oniisama e..." are "Central-
element Yuri" and "Rose of Versailles" is "Secondary-element Yuri".

On Yurination's list, "Utena" is "Grade 2: Secondary Genre. Intensity: Medium."
and "Oniisame e..." is classified in exactly the same way. They don't list "Rose
of Versailles" anywhere even though their classification system is very wide-
ranging. So probably they just forgot to include it since it's so old.

By the way, anybody who wants to see "Oniisama e..." and "Rose of Versailles"
may be in for a shock, because they belong to an old-style sub-genre of Yuri,
as the Wikipedia article explains:

.."It is also in the 1970s that shōjo manga began to deal with transsexualism
. .and transvestism, sometimes depicting female characters as manly looking,
. .which was inspired by the women playing male roles in the Takarazuka Revue.
. .These traits are most prominent in Riyoko Ikeda's works, including The Rose
. .of Versailles, Oniisama e..., and Claudine...!"

There are still three copies of "Yellow Fangs" for sale on eBay, all from vendors
in the United States, and at reasonable prices. I don't intend to buy one, since
Pleakley's analysis is good enough for me. Besides that, I don't like to watch
gory movies. In my part of the world, on average one person is killed by a bear
each year, and many more people are injured by bears. So it is a part of our life
to be bear-aware any time we go out into the forest. They often come into the city
when they are hungry in the autumn. I even saw one a few years ago. So I read
enough bear horror stories in the local news.

I want to gratefully acknowledge one of the people on these threads who told
me about the Yurination list, but I forget who it was.
okanaganMar 10, 2015 10:17 AM
Mar 10, 2015 9:52 AM
#6

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Jan 2015
592
occultangle said:
Awesome find. You had me convinced at "only targets women." I just bought a copy off ebay, and there a few more copies there and on Amazon, if anyone wants one.

I was aware that there were several books, plays, etc. based on the Sankebetsu incident, but I didn't bother to look into any of them because I didn't know which, if any, could have been a specific influence.

I saw this sign of "Bear Road" on the Wiki article about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankebetsu_brown_bear_incident#Memorial

I could imagine Ikuhara driving by, knowing the horrible story about what happened there, and then seeing that cute sign. It's completely just my silly imagination, but I could see that being an inspiration for Yuri Kuma.

@okanagan

No, there has been no specific mention of it being "officially" Yuri, but it is in the name of the anime itself. And I'm sure you have seen episode 9, there were some scenes that would be hard not to call Yuri...

But yes, it certainly is not Yuri the same way Sakura Trick is Yuri, and so in all fairness, it could be considered irresponsible for them to try to sell it on such a label. On the other hand, I've heard people say Utena, Rose of Versailles, and Oniisama e are Yuri (just naming random one's I've seen) and if those are Yuri, then certainly Yuri Kuma Arashi qualifies as well.

Also, I would imagine Ikuhara might want to avoid putting such a specific label on his work. He might find it a limitation on his creativity. People would judge it by those standards.


the Yuri in Yuri Kuma Arashi doesnt mean lesbian. It only means that to you because you don't know japanese.
Mar 10, 2015 10:13 AM
#7

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Oct 2012
1917
ChairForceOne said:
you don't know japanese.


Occultangle knows Japanese very, very well. I know Japanese moderately well.
Okay, well perhaps Occultangle simply has a good friend who knows Japanese
well, and simply types his MAL comments for him. He can speak for himself later.

It is correct that "yuri" and "lesbian" are two different words in English, and they
correspond to different words in Japanese. There are multiple words in Japanese
that mean "lesbian", and perhaps I'll list them some other time.
Mar 10, 2015 10:18 AM
#8

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Apr 2012
14
ChairForceOne said:
he Yuri in Yuri Kuma Arashi doesnt mean lesbian. It only means that to you because you don't know japanese.



lol

and does that mean that when they write kuma in katakana it doesn't mean bear anymore?

There are many reasons to not write things in kanji: they think it looks cool, they want to draw attention to it, they don't know/remember the kanji, they deliberately want to obscure the meaning, etc. etc. etc.

The original meaning of yuri was the flower, it's only relatively recently that it became associated with lesbians. Saying yuri doesn't mean lesbian would be like saying rainbows don't mean homosexuals in English. You would be right it's merely symbolic.
Mar 10, 2015 10:19 AM
#9

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Jan 2015
592
occultangle said:
ChairForceOne said:
he Yuri in Yuri Kuma Arashi doesnt mean lesbian. It only means that to you because you don't know japanese.



lol

and does that mean that when they write kuma in katakana it doesn't mean bear anymore?

There are many reasons to not write things in kanji: they think it looks cool, they want to draw attention to it, they don't know/remember the kanji, they deliberately want to obscure the meaning, etc. etc. etc.

The original meaning of yuri was the flower, it's only relatively recently that it became associated with lesbians. Saying yuri doesn't mean lesbian would be like saying rainbows don't mean homosexuals in English. You would be right it's merely symbolic.


Yuri doesn't mean lesbian.
Mar 10, 2015 10:22 AM

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Apr 2012
14
I just said that it doesn't. lol
Mar 10, 2015 10:45 AM

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Jan 2015
15112
ChairForceOne said:
occultangle said:



lol

and does that mean that when they write kuma in katakana it doesn't mean bear anymore?

There are many reasons to not write things in kanji: they think it looks cool, they want to draw attention to it, they don't know/remember the kanji, they deliberately want to obscure the meaning, etc. etc. etc.

The original meaning of yuri was the flower, it's only relatively recently that it became associated with lesbians. Saying yuri doesn't mean lesbian would be like saying rainbows don't mean homosexuals in English. You would be right it's merely symbolic.


Yuri doesn't mean lesbian.
ChairForceOne said:
occultangle said:



lol

and does that mean that when they write kuma in katakana it doesn't mean bear anymore?

There are many reasons to not write things in kanji: they think it looks cool, they want to draw attention to it, they don't know/remember the kanji, they deliberately want to obscure the meaning, etc. etc. etc.

The original meaning of yuri was the flower, it's only relatively recently that it became associated with lesbians. Saying yuri doesn't mean lesbian would be like saying rainbows don't mean homosexuals in English. You would be right it's merely symbolic.


Yuri doesn't mean lesbian.


This guy...
Mar 10, 2015 10:47 AM

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Apr 2012
14
Also, just to carry on a more respectful conversation with okanagan.

I really wouldn't get too fixated on whether things are, or are not written in kanji, and that's especially true with plant and animal names. They tend to use very complicated or obscure kanji. Or in the case of 百合 they are very common, but it is a completely irregular reading of them. Yuri doesn't really have any other common meanings other than the flower (well Japanese is full of homonyms, so I'm sure there are a few obscure ones.) In this case, my guess would be that it was written in katakana for one of those other reasons I mentioned. But I would accept "it is and it isn't", as a fair enough way to describe the situation

Also, I live in the northern part of Georgia, there are a few black bears but nothing serious. But for some random reason, when I was a child I had recurring nightmares about being eaten by bears all the time . So it might not be the best movie for me either, but I got to watch it for science.
Mar 10, 2015 12:02 PM

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Oct 2012
1917
@occultangle:

Thanks. I have never lived in Japan, and only visited there for a few days. So I
lack perspective.

Yeah, come to think of it, it's common that phrases that would have traditionally
been written in kanji (such as 百合) are frequently written in katakana (ユリ).
And to the eyes of Japanese readers, it is the same thing. I don't live in Japan.
Also, I have no way to contact any fans of Yurikuma who live in Japan. So I am
curious about their mental reaction when they see the phrase ユリ while watching
Yurikuma. So do they unconsciously make the equivalence with 百合? Or do they
consciously think, "That's weird, what is 「ユリ」? Is Ikuhara talking about 百合?"

There is something else in official writings about Yurikuma that is really weird.
When talking about "I like her", "I am attracted to her" or "I love her", the
verb would very often be "suki" written as 好き, where 好 is a kanji and き is a
hiragana. However, official writings indicate it as スキ. For example, the title of
Episode 1 (which is 「私はスキをあきらめない」) writes it as スキ. As well, among
the writings of Japanese fans of Yurikuma, they often write "suki" in quotes as
「スキ」 and then they wonder precisely what Ikuhara means by 「スキ」.

Here is a review of Episode 9 which puts "suki" in quotes multiple times:
http://www.excite.co.jp/News/reviewmov/20150310/E1425952956220.html
This short paragraph in that review has "suki" in quotes three times:

「ユリ熊嵐」は、その「愛」の裏返しともいえる「スキ」が描かれている。
「スキ」はキラキラとしたあたたかいものではあるが、同時に嫉妬や
独占欲をともなうものでもある。人によって「スキ」の形は違う。そして
蜜子は「幽霊」「欲望」として、死んでもなお呪いをふりまく。

In the Japanese-language Wikipedia article about Yurikuma, almost every time
the phrase "suki" appears in katakana, it is written in quotes like so: 「スキ」
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%A6%E3%83%AA%E7%86%8A%E5%B5%90

On the other hand, the same article writes "suki" several times in the typical way
as 好き and it is not enclosed in quotes.

In addition, some Yurikuma bloggers commented that, if written in katakana,
the Japanese word for "love" is the Japanese word for "kiss" written backwards.
That is, "love" = スキ whereas "kiss" = キス. Perhaps this is the ideal versus the
actual, some of them have suggested.
http://kaityou-osusume.seesaa.net/article/413618060.html
http://soshagei.hatenablog.com/entry/2015/02/04/010000
http://blog.livedoor.jp/ponpokonwes/archives/21454403.html

So I am guessing that Ikuhara is doing something intentional with 「スキ」. In
turn, that makes me suspicious that he is playing a game with 「ユリ」 as well.

Occultangle said:
When I was a child I had recurring nightmares about being eaten by
bears all the time.


You probably don't need to worry about that. When people get killed by bears
here, the situation is very often that somebody has the bad luck to get between
a mother bear and her cubs. Solitary bears are shy and will keep their distance
as long as you make some sound while walking. Even when bears kill you, they
don't usually eat you. However, the dead body of somebody killed by a bear
might be stripped of its meat by other animals. Certainly, in the 1915 incident
it apparently actually was a hungry bear who wanted to eat those seven people.
Killing the bear was unnecessary since its stomach would have been full after
eating so many people, and it would have gone back to sleep for the rest of the
winter.
okanaganMar 10, 2015 12:12 PM
Mar 11, 2015 1:17 AM

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Apr 2012
14
Asking what native speakers would think, is in my opinion actually quite useful, in a philosophical way. But, it's difficult to form an easy answer. Even if you asked someone, you couldn't be sure how common their thoughts would be. You would need to ask dozens or hundreds, and even then you couldn't know that the consensus was the intent. I find it helpful to look for analogous things in English if I can - What do you think when you see the name "Mortal Kombat"? Personally, I don't even barely notice it. If I think about it, I think, oh they are just trying to make it seem "Kool." Language is something people play with, Japanese just has different tools to do that with.

I don't want to overstate my Japanese knowledge, it is not my native language, and I am far from perfect. Also, I am not generally the type that likes to speculate very much, but I will offer a few thoughts.

The most obvious statement I would make about all these words in katakana, as well as the quotations, is that they all are being presented as important "keywords."

Being more specific, I do like to ask myself how often do I see a word not written with its respective kanji, and let that help determine how suspicious I should be. In the case of yuri, I have seen it written in every way possible many times, including hiragana, so I didn't particularly find it important at first. The specific use of katakana, especially combined with the fact that everything else in the name is in kanji, does lead me to believe that it is being deliberately emphasized, and or obscured. I mentioned some reasons why I would think they would do that earlier, but I will mostly leave it to your own thoughts.

In regards to "suki", yes I think there is something going on. First, I absolutely agree with the opinion that they are trying to play on it being kiss reversed. Also, I have seen a few people mention this, but to me the use of suki in the repetitious phrase スキをあきらめない seems rather awkward to me, almost unnatural. It reminds me of this song where if you just hear it, it sounds like "sukisukisukisukisuki" nonsense, but if you look at the lyrics you see they are playing with the two words:

http://youtu.be/YTjJ11dm4TY?t=50s

Also, I mentioned kuma being written in katakana as well. The guy who did the fansubs for Penguindrum said:
“Kuma” is pronounced funny in this series. The bear “kuma” 「熊」 is pronounced with high-pitch for “ku” followed by medium/low-pitch “ma”, but in this show, “kuma” is often pronounced (but not always) with low-pitch “ku” followed by medum/high-pitch “ma”. This pronunciation is for 「隈」, which can mean darkness, shadowy corners, or nook/space."
http://8ths.in/2015/01/yurikuma-arashi-ep1-observations/

Noticing pitch accent in Japanese is one of my biggest weak points, so I can't really vouch for his accuracy, but it's probably worth considering.
Mar 11, 2015 1:54 PM

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Jul 2012
157
occultangle said:
Also, I mentioned kuma being written in katakana as well. The guy who did the fansubs for Penguindrum said:
“Kuma” is pronounced funny in this series. The bear “kuma” 「熊」 is pronounced with high-pitch for “ku” followed by medium/low-pitch “ma”, but in this show, “kuma” is often pronounced (but not always) with low-pitch “ku” followed by medum/high-pitch “ma”. This pronunciation is for 「隈」, which can mean darkness, shadowy corners, or nook/space."
http://8ths.in/2015/01/yurikuma-arashi-ep1-observations/

Noticing pitch accent in Japanese is one of my biggest weak points, so I can't really vouch for his accuracy, but it's probably worth considering.


‘Shadow’ could refer to the shadow archetype from Jungian psychology (I'm not very well-versed in Jungian psychology, so if I make a mistake, anyone who does know more about it please feel free to correct me). I don’t know how heavily Ikuhara is influenced by Jungian psychology, but I do know that he’s heavily influenced by the novel ‘Demian’, which is itself influenced by Jungian psychology.

As I understand it, the shadow is those aspects or qualities of the self that we don’t like to admit we have (either consciously or unconsciously) to ourselves or others. Though it’s often used to represent the “bad” aspects of an otherwise good person, the shadow is really just those aspects of ourselves that we disavow. (This is simplistic but I think it gets the point across: for an otherwise good person who thinks of themself as such, the shadow represents the bad aspects that they disavow, whereas for an otherwise bad person who thinks of themself as such, their shadow represents their good aspects.) I think this makes a lot of sense in light of the show's themes about struggling with your desires and impulses.
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Mar 11, 2015 3:11 PM

Offline
Oct 2012
1917
@Occultangle: I was amazed to see all of the things that 8thSin pointed out in
that webpage, and it was all based on Episode 1 alone! Thanks for pointing out
the analogy with "Mortal Kombat", which I found very useful, somehow. "Kool" !!!
And even "Arashi" could have a second meaning which is totally different!
okanaganMar 11, 2015 3:46 PM
Mar 14, 2015 7:16 PM
Offline
Mar 2015
36
occultangle said:
I saw this sign of "Bear Road" on the Wiki article about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankebetsu_brown_bear_incident#Memorial

I could imagine Ikuhara driving by, knowing the horrible story about what happened there, and then seeing that cute sign. It's completely just my silly imagination, but I could see that being an inspiration for Yuri Kuma.


While that's not impossible, remember incongruence in tone between public displays (particularly signage) and their message is kind of Japan's thing. Look up the concept of kawaisa. So yes, Ikuhara finding the sign strange given the somber nature it is supposed to represent is less likely than it would be for a Westerner to be bothered by it.

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