What did you think of this episode?
5Loved it!
58.0%
101
4Liked it!
29.3%
51
3It was OK
10.3%
18
2Disliked it
1.7%
3
1Hated it
0.6%
1
Average 4.4
174 votes
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| THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE. ---------------------------------------- Mm, pacing slowed down somewhat this episode but some of the prominent themes like love is still there. Really peculiar show still. I love how they illustrate the feeding scenes with the fish as an allusion to bears eating. The relationship between the bears is just something hard to take eyes off of. KUMA SHOCK. |
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 In case the above image failed to display properly, please click on this link below: http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/sokudokuex/imgs/e/b/eb3100d4.jpg I hope that everybody here is enjoying this. I certainly am. However, there are now multiple bad omens for the Yuri genre, even though none of them may be definitive on its own. The Amazon Stalker points fell 12% over the past week, after fans in Japan saw Episode 4. What is abysmal minus 12%? Now the official Twitter account for Yurikuma is suspended. Last night, Ikuhara himself was forced to send out a Tweet on his personal account to announce that Episode 5 would air on Tokyo MX. It was, to be fair, a beautifully-done tweet, having the excellence expected from the director of Utena. But I am saddened to see him sinking to a lowly administrative task. Thank you to all of the people who participated in the survey of favorite Yuri anime over the years. However, the clear favorite Yuri anime series, post-Utena, is Sakura Trick. I really love Sakura Trick. I really do. But Sakura Trick is just 4koma mixed with emotionally-unmotivated kissing scenes. Yes, well-animated scenes. But sadly Sakura Trick completely lacks any development of the close emotional relationships among women which define the Yuri genre. Personally, I would not classify Sakura Trick as Central-element Yuri. Add to that, the complete absence of any Central-element Yuri ever since the very last episode of Sasameki Koto on December 30, 2009. Ever since December 31, 2009, they simply don't make great Yuri anime anymore. Okay, Yurikuma is great, I'll grant. But it's a terrible business failure. The pre-order numbers look so low that I question whether even hardcore Yuri fans in Japan like it. I predict that there simply won't be any more good Yuri TV anime series made. There was a beautiful live-action version of Marimite, but apparently there wasn't sufficient interest for it to ever get subbed into English. My suggestion to all Yuri fans is to hang on to your manga and novels, 'cause that's all you're gonna get. I'm part way through the Marimite light novel series, and I'm very excited to hear people throwing out suggestions of their favorite Yuri manga so that I can add them to my reading list. Gau gau. - - - - - - - - - - Update: A very weird article about Yurikuma yesterday in DMM News was pointed out by Ikuhara nine hours ago. ( Sorry, it is in Japanese. ) I might translate some of it a bit later. Link to the article: http://dmm-news.com/article/914329/ Ikuhara's tweet: https://twitter.com/ikuni_noise/status/562181226396528640 |
okanaganFeb 2, 2015 11:20 AM
| I dare anyone to say that this is not about homophobia now. Lulu represents selfless love that she wants to fulfill through fulfilling Ginko's love, but through that she hopes for atonement for refusing such love in the past from her brother. Ginko represents selfish love for someone with disregard for danger. Both loves are the types that are about sacrificing yourself or others for it. Invisible Storm IS homophobia and peer pressure. And we have more and more proof that we are seeing the world through Kureha's perception that got "warped" by the events 11 years ago. |
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| I think I like this more than Penguindrum now, i'm certainly enjoying it more. |
| Before, kureha used to sound whiny but after this ep, can't get enough. The shyness in her voice is like that nectar they lick off those yuri flowers. All thanks to Ginko's yuri delusions, especially the bathtub one. 9/10 |
| Well Ginko got caught in her trap. Now she knows who the girl really are. This is getting good. |
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| CookingPriest said: I dare anyone to say that this is not about homophobia now. Hmmm... Well... as of yesterday afternoon the word from Japan seems to be that basically what Yurikuma is about is the Sankebetsu brown bear incident. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankebetsu_brown_bear_incident It sounds to me like watching an allegory about a real-life story of seven people being killed and also eaten by bears could be a lot easier to relate to and enjoy. |
| No shaba-da-doo this time either :( CookingPriest said: I dare anyone to say that this is not about homophobia now. It was kinda obvious from the very few first episodes that. I don't see any problem with it tho |
| Ginko's delusions in this episode were delicious, especially the bathroom one! Gorgeous smell indeed. :9 > "Anata no.. Osoba ni!" *Slurping* "Hikkoshi-soba!" Priceless! XD The moment Kaoru approached Kureha, I knew that bitch was scheming something. Now, she even got Ginko in a trap. Hope she doesn't die.. Decent episode. This show should have a higher rating than 6.36. I think most people dropped it because it's too confusing for them? |
VindstotFeb 2, 2015 2:22 PM
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| Woo, another episode that I could follow. The constant daydreaming from Ginko was pretty hilarious. Also... Naked Aprons... *drool* I mean uhh... Fan service bad! The invisible storm are quite the group of bitches. I kind of wish they would get more fleshing out though to not be so 1-dimensional and have identities on their own. It makes them come off more as a concept than a group of characters... Oh well. I did like how they portrayed bullying as more of an organization than just individual people since that is usually how it goes. If you talk to this girl we hate, then we hate you too. Ginko has gotten out of her shell a bit as well. I like her quite a bit now, seeing as she isn't just fighting for the sake of love, she is fighting for the sake of love to pretty much psychotic levels. We finally get her backdrop, or at least, part of it, seeing her after a battle between the humans and bears and my guess is that Kureha helped her out of the kindness of her heart and she and her mother took care of her. My guess is that Ginko somehow got Kureha's mother killed and since the mother was not an invisible girl due to her not giving up on her love towards her daughter, she is considered a criminal bear for killing someone she wasn't allowed to. Ginko got caught in a bear trap, quite shocking and hilarious. I doubt she is dead, my guess is that Kureha is going to see them and rush in to help her just like she did when she was little and it will give an excuse to give the full back story of how Kureha and Ginko met. Overall, very funny episode and a lot more was explained. I'm really starting to like this series now but I do still wish more characters were better fleshed out since the themes they are associated with are very well done. |
| Ah Yurikuma. We hated you from the beginning -- and loved you from the beginning, too. |
| Ginko got her mother killed, that would be my guess. I don't think, she ate her though, something must have happened. Ginko NOOOOOO! |
| dat trap though |
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| This cliff hanger was horrible! I really hope Ginko doesn't die and if she does that will make this anime even more interesting than it already is. I love that this whole anime is metaphorical and that you have to look at it from a different view. |
| Yes. man It's been some time since I've been having so much fun watching anime haha I love both Lulu and Ginko, plx be alive |
| Damn that ending came out of nowhere O_O I wonder how our bears are gonna get out of this one And it's pretty interesting how Ginko has been with Kureha and her mom for years, I wonder why Kureha forgot her.....Also I have a feeling that maybe Ginko ate the mom |
| Just as I thought the endings were starting to get repetitive.. hehehehe. Good thing they actually use some references from episode 4. Cute and silly as usual. |
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| Oh snap, Ginko probably ate Kureha's mom. HaXXspetten said: dat trap though |
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 Yuri approved gao gao/10 |
CookingPriest said: I dare anyone to say that this is not about homophobia now It's not about homophobia! There, I said it. Its about the relentless pressure within japan to conform to the group. Of course some of that conforming involves sexuality but this show is NOT about homophobia. |
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scruffykiwi said: CookingPriest said: I dare anyone to say that this is not about homophobia now It's not about homophobia! There, I said it. Its about the relentless pressure within japan to conform to the group. Of course some of that conforming involves sexuality but this show is NOT about homophobia. Class s pressure in japan is about homophobia and that is the focus of the herd mentality this show explores. |
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CookingPriest said: I dare anyone to say that this is not about homophobia now. Invisible Storm IS homophobia and peer pressure. Now that I think about it..... Thank makes sense. Casue the only girls who died (got ate) are the ones who were in love with Tsubaki. When people founded out she didn't care and still wanted to love Sumika. Hence I will not give up on love. Either that or I'm completely off lol. Anyeay good episode. Ginko and her fantasies. All the girls wanted to be her friend now (jk). Oh no Tsubaki is up to be eliminated. Dat trap! Hope Ginko is okay. |
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| Pretty straightforward episode this week. Still enjoying the hell out of this show. |
| Well, this was quite the episode. Since last week was almost exclusively focused of Lulu, fitting we get a lot of Ginko in this episode. I love all the ironies in Kureha's denial of other friendships. She does it all because she believes Sumika was her only friend, and she doesn't want to give up love. However, Kureha has already given up on love in a way! Kureha has already long since given up on her love of Ginko, and refuses to resume it, even as a friendship. Even more ironically, Kureha starts to accept the "love" of her classmates, which turns out to be fake! The love in this episode was very different from the kind we saw in the last. This love is less kind, trusting, and indiscriminate, but rather it is primarily self-destructive. Kureha prevented herself from gaining new friends in Ginko and Lulu by latching onto her love of Sumika. She began to act moody and depressed. She even lost the smile that Sumika loved her so much for. Kureha did not give up on love, but rather she gave up on everything else. A similar thing happens to Ginko. Her love for Kureha led her into getting neck-deep stuck in a bear trap. Additionally, its a bit odd to hear characters talking about the invisible storm as if it were a concrete object. We've been thinking of it as an abstract concept for so long it seems weird for characters to talk about it as casually as the real object it represents. Lastly, while I would say homophobia and peer pressure are the primary themes of this show, I think it's pretty silly to say those are the exclusive themes. We've seen lots of love and loss in these past five episodes, enough to qualify as a major theme IMO. |
| I WILL NOT GIVE UP ON LOVE. |
| An exert of the interview with Ikuhara which I found interesting: Q: what was the reasoning behind your use of bears in the story? A: In reality, bears are creatures that absolutely must not intrude into the human world. When they do intrude, they make us fear for our lives. And yet, for a very long time, humans have also created teddy bears, and bear mascot characters, and they’re adored by many. I wanted to express the idea of that gap [between reality and fantasy]. |
| Well, I finally catch up on this series and I end up on a cliffhanger. Now, I can't "bear" to wait for the next episode! I make no apologies for that pun. Seriously, though: Am I the only one who's noticed that the wall of separation, aside from being an homage to the pattern of the hallway carpet in Kubrick's The Shining, is a tessellated set of regular hexagons--you know, just like a beehive? Bees are known for their conformity--that's where we get the phrase "hive mind" from, after all. Moreover, bears are known for disrupting the orderly beehive, perhaps even at a cost, just so that they can get a taste of sweet, sweet honey. This seems to lend credence to the notion that this series is an allegorical polemic on cultural conformity--perhaps as well as the heteronormative culture that results as a symptom of that broader condition. Still, there remain many unanswered questions. For example: Is Kaoru wearing men's sock garters? What's up with that? |
| Pleakley asked: Is Kaoru wearing men's sock garters? What's up with that? There is official information about this in the "Official Starting Guide" which they published for sale. I bought one. It was a used copy. Yes, those are men's garters. They are attached to her boots and not to her socks. Presumably, her boots do not require to be held up with garters. So it appears, I surmise, to be some kind of fashion statement. The way that she dresses is officially described as "boyish". Another distinctive feature of Kaoru is that she does not wear the colored vest like everybody else does. Something else that they add is that the overall vibe that she gives off is of being brave, courageous, shrewd and a hotshot. All of this is on Page 23 of the guide, and the guide is 80 pages long in total. |
okanaganFeb 2, 2015 6:03 PM
okanagan said: Pleakley asked: Is Kaoru wearing men's sock garters? What's up with that? There is official information about this in the "Official Starting Guide" which they published for sale. I bought one. It was a used copy. Yes, those are men's garters. They are attached to her boots and not to her socks. Presumably, her boots do not require to be held up with garters. So it appears, I surmise, to be some kind of fashion statement. The way that she dresses is officially described as "boyish". Another distinctive feature of Kaoru is that she does not wear the colored vest like everybody else does. Something else that they add is that the overall vibe that she gives off is of being brave, courageous, shrewd and a hotshot. All of this is on Page 23 of the guide, and the guide is 80 pages long in total. I can always count on anime fans for a literal response to a facetious question. ;) That is interesting information, though. |
My ramblings...  Also... CookingPriest said: I dare anyone to say that this is not about homophobia now. Invisible Storm IS homophobia and peer pressure. My take on this is that it actually may be heterophobia. Look at the human society, so far we've only seen females, and female relationships. The bear society on the other hand has had plenty of male characters. The reason humans are so afraid of the bears, I believe has to do with sexuality. Though i could be wrong. IDK. |
mwsmws22Feb 2, 2015 6:29 PM
| Really enjoying this show! Damn, they trapped Ginko. :( Please be OK Ginko! Imperial_Thunder said: I think I like this more than Penguindrum now, i'm certainly enjoying it more. I might be with you on that. I'm definitely enjoying it JUST as much. I never thought a show about yuri and bears could be so symbolic and enjoyable. NO idea what's going to happen next, and I love that. |
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| Yesterday I read some snippets of an interview with Morishima. I have to say, it gave me a better understanding with which different directions the manga and anime were heading. Doesn't change the fact that the anime adaption is still hella weird but I guess we'll see where Ikuhara will take this crazy train ride. Did... I miss something? Oh wait, a dream, of course. Those bears are so cute xD Sensei and Kureha's mom totally had a thing. Who else would keep a picture of their "friend" and no one else? So bears can eat other things? Wondering 'bout Ginko's and Kureha's past. I have a crush on Kaoru. Please turn out to be a decent human being. And not get eaten. And gay. Such daring aprons. Ginko's pretty damn adorable when she's in love <3 Gee Kureha why you gotta be so difficult. Those fantasys are killing me. Seems like Sumika knew something would happen to her. Classmates are pretty compassionate. Quite surprising but it still smells off. Oh wait, there it is. Kaoru why. Holy sh*t. |
| Good ep. A lot of stuff is finally coming together. I was happy to see more about past Ginko. Oh man that cliffhanger. I can't wait to see how they get themselves out of this one. Sent with Mal Updater |
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| Looks like an interesting magazine. I hope that Lulu will pay for it rather than just putting it back on the magazine rack covered with her paw prints.  In case the above image fails to display properly, or for a much higher resolution version of the same image, please click on the link below: http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/aaieba149/imgs/b/6/b6295c69.jpg |
okanaganFeb 2, 2015 9:18 PM
| Get rekt Ginko lel. Anyway, slow episode. |
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| One of the better episodes for me, everything is starting to make more sense. And there were people complaining after ep 1 that they didn't know what was going on. How stupid. KUMA SHOCK! |
| This shows gets better with every episode. Ginko´s fantasies are so funny X3. Very ggod episode. But that ending! SHOCK! |
| Holy Madoka! The Yuri is strong here! My Anime List  |
| I am thinking that a lot of the show depends on Kureha's perception of the world. Bear world is all about unrestricted identity - you love someone you seek them out you hate someone you hurt them etc. Human world is all about restrictions and conformity. And the split seems to have happened 11 years ago which is when something happened involving Kureha, Ginko, Kureha's mom and the teacher. Could it be that a lot of what we are seeing is(the wall, etc) essentially how Kureha "perceives" the world due to her perception having been warped by that tragedy? A lot of things in Ikuhara works deal with perception changing reality(Ex: how Akio's perception of himself impacted how he himself is in Utena, how whole Utena movie had a lot to deal with Anthy's perception of the world in a warped sense, etc). It might be that whatever happened 11 years ago caused psychological trauma to Kureha that essentially "split her world". My bet is that the teacher was Kureha Mother's lesbian lover and killed the mother to hide the relationship(hence the concept of being invisible and the dove symbolism surrounding the teacher), which in itself caused Kureha's fear/hatred of bears and a rift in Ginko's and her's relationship. Yet again all of that is VERY relevant to japanese society as in present day homosexual men and women are pretty much forced to conceal their sexuality there and marry people to not get bullied or harassed. "experimenting" till certain age is considered sexy and okay but if you try to stick with your sexuality you are regarded as an outlet. Which is how the whole twisting of "class s romance" genre came to be - Otaku like young girls being emotional with each other but only as long as they grow out of it into being straight latter on. So you have this strange system where those "experimenting" are treated as acceptable and sexy as long as they grow out of it, but if they do not they get harassed and bullied. |
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| Five hours ago, Ikuhara himself tweeted out this beautiful photograph of three "bear warning" banners hanging down the side of some large building in Akihabara which he did not name. But it appears to be the main Sofmap store. Here is their English-language webpage: http://www.sofmap.com/tenpo/topics/exec/_/id=shop/-/sid=akb-dutyfrees_eng  If it doesn't display then ... https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B85l_LOCQAAbTlB.jpg - - - - - - - - - - PetitFours said: Five episodes and I'm still confused. But I think it's okay. You are not alone in being confused, and apparently it's not okay . . . Yesterday in Japan there was an article in "DMM News" which was titled: The most incomprehensible anime of this cour!? Soon after that, Ikuhara himself sent out a tweet with a link to this same story. Link to the article: http://dmm-news.com/article/914329/ Ikuhara's tweet: https://twitter.com/ikuni_noise/status/562181226396528640 In order to resolve all of the confusion, they have developed a plan. What is going to happen is that next Sunday afternoon they are going to have a marathon showing of the first five episodes at some movie theater in Shinjuku. The voice actresses for the three main characters will all be there. They will then continue on to watch Episode 6 when it airs shortly after midnight, if I understand correctly. The article then goes on to talk about the possibility of a connection between the series and a horrific incident in 1915 in which seven people in Hokkaido were killed and eaten by a bear: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankebetsu_brown_bear_incident The article also briefly mentions the fact that the official Twitter account for the series has been suspended. No explanation of why. (It is still suspended now.) I am reading between the lines here, but it looks to me like there is a desperate "re-packaging" going on. There is no longer any confusion about the "meaning" of this series. It is "about" the 1915 Sankebetsu brown bear incident! So its genre is "horror". Its secondary genre would, I suppose, be "school" since the story is set in a school. After that, add on the genre of Cute Girls Doing Bitchy Things. A distant fourth would be any possible connection to Yuri, let alone Straight Ally, pink triangles in green circles, LGBTQ or whatever. I think that stuff is all off the table at this point. These people need to get some more viewers watching this thing. Otherwise, there is a financial horror story looming. Sorry, but you are no longer watching a Yuri anime. |
okanaganFeb 3, 2015 4:22 AM
| Mhh.. This episode had a little too much fanservice overload IMO. 0_0 Still enjoyed this one, but I enjoyed Ep 4 more. I guess Ginko is in charge for Kureha's mother's death. Ginko's pendant sparkled after all when she was talking about a sin to the court. Also, I really like this new character, Kaoru. Her design is great. I think there are two possible reasons why she isn't wearing a vest like the other students: 1. She is the "leader" of the Invisible Storm and her outfit makes her differentiate from the other students. She is "at the top." 2. Secretly she isn't working against Kureha/Ginko/Lulu but shows herself like that for the time being for whatever reasons. Her outfit could be a statement of her individuality or a statement against conformity. With Ginko in the trap things will hopefully get interesting. I hope Kaoru doesn't disappear as fast as the others... I'm such a bad person, lol. kira kira~ （ ・(ｪ)・ ） okanagan said: They will then continue on to watch Episode 6 when it airs shortly after midnight, if I understand correctly. Midnight? What? Are they really showing Anime for the first time ever in TV after midnight? That would be insane... Are they classifying this as some kind of porn or what... I thought people in Japan are more easygoing than the rest of the world when it comes to things like that... |
PabilsagFeb 3, 2015 7:04 AM
| Sorry, but earlier I missed this important tweet from Ikuhara which he sent out 13 hours ago. It was buried among his re-tweets of amateur fan art. It is a link to a very interesting 2-page article about Episode 5 in "Excite Review". Tweet from Ikuhara: https://twitter.com/ikuni_noise/status/562478572607000576 The link to the two-page article in "Excite Review", in Japanese: Pg1: http://www.excite.co.jp/News/reviewmov/20150203/E1422930379410.html?_p=1 Pg2: http://www.excite.co.jp/News/reviewmov/20150203/E1422930379410.html?_p=2 I want to come back to it a bit later. But right now I'll mention some things that stuck out. The article is about "irony" and "metaphor" in Episode 5. I've looked through it fairly carefully, and I am fairly sure that there is no LGBTQ-related terminology in the entire article. For that matter, they don't even state that it is a Yuri anime. In any case, they talk about the relationship between Ginko, Lulu, Kureha and ("the boyish"<-Their words!) Kaoru. They go on to mention the trouble that fans have been having with understanding Yurikuma. So they announce the Sunday, February 8th event in some movie theater in Shinjuku where Episodes 1 through 5 will be marathoned, followed by Episode 6, which is normally scheduled to air at 12:30 am early on Monday morning in Tokyo. A group of the voice cast will be there (but they don't specify who). They also say that there will be a "talk event" which is a typical activity when fans meet. I see no indication that there will be a "Question and Answer" session. Also, it doesn't mention whether or not Ikuhara will show up. |
okanaganFeb 3, 2015 11:09 AM
| This show is only just starting to get good, and after its really boring start i can see why so many people dropped it. THAT WHAT YOU FUCKING GET FOR MAKING AN ARTIFICIALLY COMPLEX PLOT. |
| Be sure to message me if you quoted me and want me to respond! Just give me a link to the forum, because usually I leave my comment, then leave the forum. |
| Ginko nooooo! |
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CookingPriest said: Class s pressure in japan is about homophobia and that is the focus of the herd mentality this show explores. Just how big is homophobia in Japan? Culturally, its a nation that accepted homossexual activities even before Class S genre started to flourish. I think that transgender people suffers a lot more than homossexuals. I'm not a specialist on this matter, thats why I'm asking you. |
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