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Lengthy review of a comparably niche continuation of a series.
Spoilers present INCLUDING spoilers of Ojamajo Doremi Dokkan, the 4th season of the anime.

Introduction:
The original Ojamajo Doremi anime is a very popular Magical Girl show back in its days. Unlike some other shows of the same genre, it mainly uses magic as a plot device to exploit the relationships between humans, and inter-world relationships.

The OD16 (light novel) series... doesn't even focus on magic as a plot device too much. The series mostly serves as a canonical continuation on how the girls would develop after the show, and to a great extent focuses on the proper way ... to deal with boys and your boyfriend.


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While the Ojamajo Doremi anime is overall well-written, some of its conclusions are, to be fair, only suited for a young audience; and while the anime series' ending has achieved success, it also has its detractors who see it as logically and morally flawed when taken seriously.

Ojamajo Doremi 16 apparently starts out by applying the latter view, displaying that
> Onpu has encountered serious problems in her life, and then showing that some problems in life actually have to be solved with magic
> The decision to leave Hana resulted in her (seemingly) growing into an extremely rebellious girl. 'Hitori nanoni, hitoribotchi ja nai (Even when I'm all by myself, I don't feel that I'm all alone - A line in Hana's 4th character song)'? Easy to say, hard to do.

After reading that, I was totally expecting that OD16 was going to take a more interesting and mature approach. And it all goes down from here.


Since the light novel series is aimed towards a much older audience, the morals OD16 delivers should have been more mature ones, and ideally, it can deconstruct the more naive ideas delivered in the original anime, like the decision to leave Hana being resolved so cheaply.

Well, the first moral we encounter is that magic is seen as a cheap means of solving problems and benefitting oneself, and should be reserved as a desperate measure and not be relied upon.

Hmm, sounds familiar? Yeah, it's basically the moral presented in the Dokkan ending. The problem is, it doesn't work anymore. To be fair, the 'not relying upon' part works, but utilising magic well isn't just about reserving it as a desperate measure, and this is what the girls never learnt well.

To make things clearer:
The original anime did a good job on making magic a symbol of naivety, and the ditching magic part a graduation from naivety. However, these should only be taken at symbolic value, since they serve their purpose to start and end the story (ditching magic is an answer to the naive view of magic at the beginning of the series).

On practical matters in-universe, to say that magic resembles naivety is incorrect - reliance on magic does. Magic itself is a very useful tool, and since it exists, in a sense it isn't even magic anymore - it's SCIENCE. So how would you deal with science? Reserve it as a desperate measure? Or saying something like, using a computer to aid you doesn't count as achieving something with your own efforts?

The series' view of magic turns more problematic when later, after learning Non-chan's story, Hana-chan wants to learn medicine in the human world to aid her own world.


Speaking of magic, there's one line in the Dokkan ending that one should still recall:
'We will return to the human world to make people accept magic. Our generation may not last long, but our descendants may be able to accept magic.'

OK, that's nice. So how's the propaganda work going on... Hey, don't just spend all your brains on wooing Kotake all day, Doremi!

See, the light novels have put a larger focus on interpersonal relationships (read: melodrama. Somewhat of an exaggeration though) than before. I don't know if it's due to the stereotype that girl viewers love reading stories of interpersonal relationships, but anyway, it doesn't work well to me. We're putting the macroscopic problems posed in the anime out of focus and creating a falsehood with a grand reunion. Well, at least Hana cares about the Witch World, as mentioned earlier, though she is more obliged to do so.
As one fan has put it, unresolved macroscopic issues are still unresolved when the audience is mature enough to accept stuff like world politics.

We can only pray that Doremi would fulfill her promise after she becomes a teacher, but who knows.


Now, let's more on chronologically.

When the girls become witch apprentices once more, they self-impose a rule that if one of them uses magic for her own purposes, all the girls would lose magical powers.

A good display of a typical naive ideology. For counterexample, it's acceptable to be selfish if it puts you out of misery, and/or harms no one! Interestingly, the novels were released after Puella Magi Madoka Magica where the Sayaka/Kyouko arc pretty much established that selflessness is too ideal.

As I see it, on utilising magic, the first step of maturity, which is achieved in the anime, is to know that magic is not something that should be relied upon. But when the girls had to self impose a rule that they must use magic for others, they failed to reach the second step of maturity which is self control, and then full utilisation of magic.

Ironically, soon afterwards the girls start to abuse this rule themselves. OK, so Onpu is in trouble? No worries, just tell us and we will cast the Magical Stage without you and help you solve this problem.


As the story progresses, Hazuki becomes the target of school bullying, and it turns so serious that Hazuki hardly wants to go to school. This is one of the better subplots and digs into the common problems with Japanese school bullying.

(Un)fortunately, the crisis is easily solved as soon as the girls communicate with the main culprit. This seems to be a trait of the series: Problems are either those that can be solved easily, or recurring plots that last through an entire series. Well, this is sort of nitpicking though.


Then in the 3rd book of OD16 comes the final nail that pretty much puts the full stop mark on the quality evaluation of the series.

The issue of Hana becoming extremely rebellious... was a tactic for a purpose. (And the purpose itself includes a massive plothole.)
Adding salt to injury, when the girls first heard that Hana turned into a 'brat', Doremi's thought was that 'something was wrong; this isn't the Hana-chan that we know' i.e. it must be due to an unusual incident instead of a natural consequence. And she was right.
Still, Hana was not without faults for that incident. So how do we deal it? Largely forget about it and portray Hana as a nice and cute ditz from here on. Kids just 'git gud' naturally, right?

The problem with this part's writing is rather obvious, but still, to point out the obvious:

To deliver morals with the Hana's behaviour worsening part, one can fully exploit the causes behind it (Like, is it due to the girls leaving Hana being a bad choice, or that the girls or Majorika chose bad strategies in bringing Hana up?), AND make the other characters properly educate Hana. Or make it stay as is BUT display more problems resulting from it later, and then deliver morals on bringing up children.

Instead, right after they meet Hana, the girls do next to nothing to tell Hana what she has done wrong just because the causes were largely understandable... and starting from Vol.2 Book 3, it's basically 'Hana's a nice and innocent cutie, and Doremi is excited to reunite with Hana'.

It appears as if the authors just wanted to save Hana's image and came up with this plot. While I believe that technically it didn't fail in this sense since Hana's image did remain largely good at the end of the series, not only was it too cheesy, but it also delivered(continued?) the WTH idea that it's fine to be lenient on Hana as long as she is good to her core.


By this point, the novels have pretty much failed my expectations of a more mature approach towards various issues. Not that they're devoid of mature themes and issues, but when the story drops a moral on your head, it's often a naive one for some reason.

The interpersonal issues parts are OK, but still pale in comparison with the anime. The uniqueness of the original anime comes in that it often exploits magic for interpersonal issues. Here, magic isn't so often exploited, the script is in text form and lacks the colourful backgrounds and the symbols of the anime etc.


In summary: To stand out as unique among other works, the last thing that OD should aim to become is a shoujo story focused on romance. Unfortunately, this is what the OD16 series largely is - a shoujo story focused on romance.

Score: 5/10 (adjusted to MAL scales)
(Plot: 4/10 - Magic underexploited, romance takes up a larger role than before and also has back and forth melodrama, morals are still 'too young, too simple, sometimes naive'.
Characters: 6/10 - The main girls, including Hana even after that misbehaviour, are still much lovable. Compared to the original anime, they get less character development.
Illustrations: 5/10 - Covers are colourful, drawings in the book are monochrome and intentionally done in a blurry art style. Cover quality is pretty inconsistent: e.g. While Hana is normally drawn and stated to be very cute, the cover of OD17 Book 3 is a disaster.)

Spoilers present, but no spoiler on key details of the plot.

ABSTRACT: Among Yuri anime, Strawberry Panic is one of the most well-known titles, and is actually one of the better ones, though in no ways a masterpiece. While it appears that people's attitude towards it is mostly polarised, and that people's attitude largely depends on whether they like the canon pairings.
When it comes to reviewing, this is one case where it's inappropriate to make a completely rational approach.


First of all, is the anime Strawberry Panic a parody or overkill?
My opinion is that although it's likely meant to be a parody, it comes out as more ... overkill than parody. Thus, we're still going to view SP as more of a serious anime than a clichestorm parody.


-- Section 1: A Brief View of the Plot --

Strawberry Panic takes place in 3 affiliated all-girls(lesbians??) Catholic schools. Since the main cast is full of lesbians, one could easily imagine love triangles going around.
One of the main characters (Nagisa, the MC1) enters the school to be drawn to the 'goddess' of the school, while her roommate also develops a crush on her.

Now that I've said that...
The main focus of the plot is the 2 love triangles in the anime, which are quite blatantly shown early on in the anime.
Both have many similarities and can be described in the following formula: (Note: Some characters display improperly on MAL. {== means a pointed arrow i.e. unrequited love)
G == MC {== Rm (G for goddess, MC for main character, Rm for roommate)
And while in both cases, the relationships between MCs and the respective 'goddesses' are those of consensual love, both pairings have their own reasons for people to dislike them.

Besides the 2 love triangles, there are quite a lot of slice-of-life elements in the plot, which are quite fun to watch, and the SoL parts even have some awesome moments which put other pure SoL anime to shame.
Personally speaking though, some of the SoL parts are not as funny/awesome compared to other SoL parts, and if the story had better pacing, the drama part could have been done better.

Now, since the focus of the anime are the love triangles, we will have to focus on...


-- Section 2: Characters, and Ship to Ship Combat --

First let's talk about the 2 love triangles. Though they share similarities, they're not exactly identical.

Ship combat 1: Nagisa x Shizuma VS Nagisa x Tamao
The 3 characters involved respectively have these traits:
Aoi Nagisa: Innocent and kind-hearted, but sometimes simply too innocent(this trait becomes more annoying later on, particularly in the Drama Festival part).
Suzumi Tamao: One who is always willing to offer her love and kindness -- regardless of whether she gets rewarded.
Hanazono Shizuma: I don't think in the inside she's bad, but still she's one emotionally hurt and in turn goes after many girls, very likely hurting them in the process. Shizuma is one who leans on pushing her own demands.

This ship combat is the harder one to review.
If you view it from 'the process of falling in love', this part is very questionable. Sure, love isn't exactly a reasonable thing so we can't blame Nagisa for being drawn to Shizuma, but still, why is Nagisa drawn to Shizuma? Only because Shizuma is beautiful, and is idolised by other students. This qualifies as some bad scriptwriting.
What makes up for it though, is the backstory and the character development of Shizuma. Though some may question if Shizuma's character development is significant and/or thorough, 'the power of love makes people undergo character development' is one thing that's not so properly portrayed by most yuri anime, so plus on SP for this.
Still though, the reason that Shizuma undergoes all the character development is rather like Shizuma is, in fact, so... dependent underneath. So we can only hope that she doesn't get emotionally hurt once more. (Note: To keep the amount of spoilers low, I'm not going to further discuss about it)

Now, is this love triangle forced? Personally speaking, it is not nearly as forced as the other love triangle, but still it seems as if a girl like Tamao can't get the love she desires ever since Nagisa is drawn to Shizuma. That's rather sad.

Ship combat 2: Hikari x Amane VS Hikari x Yaya
The 3 characters involved respectively have these traits:
Konohana Hikari: She is drawn to Amane and that's mostly it, some of her traits are shown but come out as not memorable.
Nanto Yaya: Like Tamao, she is always willing to offer her love and kindness, but she is not that satisfied with what she is rewarded with.
Ohtori Amane: As unmemorable as Hikari: she appears indifferent towards many things in life, until the ending. Her appearance is that of a very masculine appearance.

Have you heard of a fairy tale called Snow White and the Seven Dwarves? In the story, Prince Charming rides his horse to save Snow White, and that is called an act of true love.
This is essentially the same thing that happens with this love triangle. Amane rides her horse to win Hikari's affection, while later she rides her horse to save Hikari. Can this be more cliche? It is so cliche that it's boring.
And plus, almost the ONLY depictions of love between Hikari and Amane are the 'Amane saves Hikari from the bad guys' events and a certain typical Korean soap opera event later on.
To summarise it, this part is so forced and cliched that the only way to interpret it is some parody on the stereotypical masculine 'Prince Charming' type of female. But even then, it's not interesting to watch (subjective opinion).

Other characters:
Kaname & Momomi: Not the 'big bads' but still the villains in this anime. The main question about them, do they get more likable in the end? My answer is, they do to a lesser degree.
Rokujou Miyuki: This is where I should make an explanation. Unlike Tamao's feelings for Nagisa, Miyuki's feelings for Shizuma is not really in the territory of unrequited love (probably borders on it but friendship dominates the relationship), and the relationship between Miyuki and Shizuma is that of close friends who know each other well. (For this part, it's a plus for the anime.)
Side characters: Aside from Chikaru, most side characters are your normal diabetes-inducing moe characters, which are commonplace in other anime, and come out as unmemorable. Chikaru though, stands out from all of them.

Now, I'll end this section with some personal thoughts on one question: Why are opinions among the audience mostly polarised?
I suggest that it's partly because some people stop caring for a character when she has left a bad first impression on them, and thus the impressions the character leaves on them remain largely unchanged.


-- Section 3: What ideas does the story convey to us? --

The point that makes Strawberry Panic unique compared to other yuri anime, is that it's focused on the question:
>> What kind of relationship is more than friendship?
However unfortunately, the answer the anime gives to the question is not really satisfying.
As already discussed, the Hikari & Amane arc is too cliched to be treated seriously. (The problems in this arc are still present, of course)
In the Nagisa & Shizuma arc, although eventually Nagisa & Shizuma turns out to be an acceptable couple (personal opinion), what about Tamao's efforts then? Though we can't say love is a 100% reasonable thing, the anime seems to be deliberately trying to make Tamao act as kind and helpful as possible, while rewarding her with just 'I'm sorry, but let's just be friends.' Seriously, Strawberry Panic... What are you trying to tell us then?

This is basically the single unique point the story conveys to us. The point 'what it means to be an Etoile' is not dug into deeply.
Love development part is fairly good, but not the best it can offer.

Story: 5.5/10
Characters: 5/10


Minor aspects:

Animation & Art: 7.5/10
The art style is somewhere between a distinct shounen/seinen and a distinct shoujo art style. It's closer to a seinen style as I see. Visually, the art is attractive.

Sound: 6.5/10
Most tracks are quite well done, but allow me to introduce you to the biggest exception: The 2nd ED.
This ED is the ending theme for the latter half of the anime (except Ep26), which is when the story heads into a serious direction. ED02, however, is not just of mediocre quality: It's too happy and upbeat! Make sure not to miss every moment of dissonance caused by this ED.
Besides ED02, the tracks fit the atmosphere very well, although none of them really stand out. I have made 8-bit covers of OP01, ED01, OP02, and the track Kinchou.

Enjoyment value: 6/10
Rather subjective opinion here.
It seems as if many people enjoy this due to 'guilty pleasure', but this doesn't work for me. If not for the sake of this review, I would really have skipped all the Hikari & Amane parts, as those cliched scenes are simply a pain to watch.
Other than that, it's fairly enjoyable.


Overall: 5.5/10 (probably 6.5/10 in MAL scales)

Summary:
Trying to poke fun at the yuri genre while still keeping a decent serious love story isn't an easy job.
Strawberry Panic does an overall above-average job with these material.
But its major flaw is that, since the show turns out to be that of more overkill than parody, the fact that some girls would offer all their love only to be rewarded by rejections, is rather depressing to watch.

'Okaerinasai... Nagisa-chan.'

(Stats: Suspicious Ups=0, Downs=0 as of 12 May 2015. Calculated with statistical hypothesis)

'Nothing worth mentioning. So you're gonna hate me just for that kind of thing?'


MAJOR SPOILERS PRESENT in order to give more analysis.

The No.2 criterion for a review to get high helpful% is to avoid going against 'popular opinion' among the targeted audience. Unfortunately, I am indeed going against the more popular opinion here.

The rating is given from a more OBJECTIVE standpoint though. The enjoyment value for a yuri fan is probably around 8.


Kuttsukiboshi is a yuri 'borderline hentai' OVA. At first glance, Kuttsukiboshi may look very similar to the Sono Hanabira OVA which you can turn off your brain to watch. However, although Kuttsukiboshi has ... a lot of lovey-dovey sex scenes, it has serious drama throughout the latter part.

So let's sit back and take a look into the plot.


--PLOT--

Being an OVA, the plot is rather short.
It starts off with a lovey-dovey pair of high school girls (the 2 main characters), named Kiiko and Aaya.
The two spend a lot of efforts going yuri-yuri route in the school and in other places.
The plot keeps going lovey-dovey until Aaya's brother appears and then comes incest and then the drama starts.

To analyse the drama part, I will dissect the drama and split it into 2 parts:


>>Part 1: Motives and actions

Let's list all the key events that happens in chronological order.

EVENT 1:
CAUSE: Aaya's brother has a terminal disease.
MOTIVE: Aaya's brother considers Aaya someone more than her sister, and has a dying wish of having sex with her. On the other hand, Aaya, for some reason, fails to reject this request.
ACTION: Aaya's brother manipulates Aaya into having sex with him.

Of course, almost everyone would consider Aaya's brother a jerk. But the main question lies with Aaya's motive: Does she even understand what it means by accepting her brother's request?
(Let me clarify something a bit here: I've said before in my other reviews that love should not be unilateral and possessive. But first of all, by 'love', I am not simply referring to love between lovers. Meanwhile, replace 'love' with 'sex' and this statement no longer stands.)
Now, in my opinion, sex in its pure form should be when both sides consider each other a lover. But does Aaya consider her brother her lover? Likely not, her lover is Kiiko actually.
'To fulfill her brother's dying wish' can not justify Aaya's actions. It only makes Aaya's actions more tolerable, but still, Aaya doesn't look before she leaps. We will see more of this trait later.
On the other hand, to allow other people to manipulate her own life this easily? Pitiful, but not lovable.

EVENT 2:
CAUSE: Event 1 is blown, and the relationship between the 2 MCs faces a huge crisis.
MOTIVE: Not properly explained, the most plausible explanation is that Aaya wants Kiiko to know that she loves her, and probably that Aaya could not stay with Kiiko for long.
ACTION: Aaya has sex with Kiiko, forcibly. (i.e. Rape.)

So what the hell is going on... Aaya wants Kiiko to know that she loves her, and she ties Kiiko up in a storage room and rapes her?
There are AT LEAST 2 things that Aaya has done wrong:
1, she should have at least tried to explain everything to Kiiko, and
2, she shouldn't have tied Kiiko up: This makes Kiiko suffer even if Kiiko may get enjoyment from sex. I would never ever think of doing this! (Well, some may enjoy playing as a masochist, but Kiiko doesn't seem to. I don't think I need to further explain this tie and gag thing.)
And there is one line that not only pisses Kiiko off, but also pisses me off (even after I finish the anime):

(Kiiko: 'Aaya, what were you doing with your brother back then?')
Aaya: 'Nothing worth mentioning. So you're gonna hate me just for that kind of thing?'

Bringing forward the question in event 1 again: Does Aaya even understand what it means by accepting her brother's request? Apparently, no.

EVENT 3:
CAUSE: The 2 MCs are separated, while Kiiko somehow knows the truth.
MOTIVE: Kiiko misses Aaya even more.
ACTION: Kiiko misses Aaya so much that her powers level up to Lv99. 「会いたい、会えない、思い募る程…」

Without any context, the description itself would seem pretty fine.
But this is actually where we should bring up the biggest problem in the anime... Which is the good old question:
'What is it that you mean love?'


>>Part 2: Portrayal of love and other things

Now, does Kuttsukiboshi depict true love in a proper way?
The reason why Kiiko and Aaya can fall in love with each other is implied, and that's acceptable, but such cause is not enough to form a strong bond.
And then comes incest and raping.
For the incest event, it's natural to consider this cheating on her girlfriend, whether or not Aaya herself has realized or thought about it. Truth is, she seem to have considered this to be no big deal (Quote: '...that kind of thing?')
Then the raping: The fact that Aaya does not even care about Kiiko's agony stands. Do you call this true love? Do you call pushing your own demands to this extent true love?
This sounds like the best way to prove your love is to have sex with your lover. Oh really?

Then let's talk about the case after the raping.
Some time ago I found a few comments on a yuri dedicated site named Yamibo, which gave me some good laughs. e.g.: 'Even after Aaya literally rapes Kiiko, Kiiko still loves Aaya. This proves how strong the bond between them is, and that is true love.'
Unfortunately this statement is flawed, as it is based on the premise 'the reason for Kiiko to still love Aaya is sound'. But does this premise hold? If you were Kiiko, would you ever think of staying with a girl who would activate Maniac Mode at any time?
It seems as if the anime wants to have Kiiko as one with some tsundere traits, but Kiiko is not a tsundere: She is genuinely pissed off when Aaya says incest is no big deal. But after that, she can not get over leaving Aaya.
But... why?
This is unexplained, and is precisely one of the biggest failures of the anime--it likely indicates that Kiiko can not get over leaving Aaya (and agrees to have sex with her later) only because her hormone triumphs over her rationality.

The only good thing about this part, is that Kiiko does tell Aaya that her brother's deed is too brazen and unreasonable to be accepted in the end.
But no character development follows, and the anime makes little further effort to address the heroines' own problems and instead concludes that it's all Aaya's brother's fault. Well yes, her brother is a jerk, but once again, have you forgotten something like, say, the golden moment of the quote 'that kind of thing' this quickly?
What makes it worse, when the plot makes little effort to address the heroines' own problems, it automatically delivers the idea that 'that kind of thing' is no big deal, nor is raping as long as the one being raped is your (ex-)lover.

Also about the ending:
The ending could be interpreted in two ways, both of which are flawed in their meanings.
One of them is that 'the MCs are going to live on that desolate planet for eternity'. Sounds satisfying? Well, I was actually horrified when I got to know the ending.
Why? Think about it: 2 people who like each other being together--good. But ONLY 2 people being together FOR ETERNITY--horrible. And they still feel good about it? Is it really worth it to give up everything and everyone else so that they can be together?!
Even if in extreme cases--if nobody else really cares about them or whatsoever, their decision may in some degrees be explained, but still, the show is encouraging an unreasonable way to deal with dilemmas about love.
The other interpretation is that 'they can come back'. If interpreted in this way, then the two have simply found some place where they can spend time together and that's it. So what's new? There is little difference between having sex on a desert island and having sex in an empty school. In this interpretation, the ending is rather meaningless, and anti-climatic as well.


SUMMARY OF THE PLOT:

The plot of Kuttsukiboshi actually reminds me of Gigguk's commentaries on the anime School Days, so I'll alter the wordings to fit this anime:
'Any chance for the show to be taken seriously is wasted by the constant use of sex scenes and all the unrealistic decisions made at the most crucial moments.'
What adds salt to injury is that the premise of the anime is potentially resourceful. To name a few things, there are superpowers, there is the symbol 'intertwined stars', and there's the manipulation thing as a drama device. And we end up seeing how they are either developed in a WTH way, underdeveloped or not developed at all.

Now, being an OVA, these flaws are partly understandable because of the total screen time, but still:
Plot: 3/10


--CHARACTERS--

Actually I've covered quite a lot in the previous parts.
Kawakami Kiiko: The more level-headed character, but both Kiiko and Aaya have some rather naive perceptions on love and other aspects. Kiiko is NOT a tsundere.
Saitou Aaya: One who may easily allow others to manipulate her life, and one who doesn't think much before taking actions. Her perception on love is even more naive.
Saitou Kouta: Jerk. Or at least too morbid after failing to suppress his accumulated desire.
And there is not much character development.

Characters: 3/10


Minor aspects:
Animation & Art: 5/10 (8/10 considering that it's entirely animated by a freelance animator) Not exactly good, but not bad either.
Sound: 6/10 Rather appropriate, but not exactly memorable.


--ENJOYMENT VALUE--

Personally it's only a value around 5. But if you're a yuri fan, I guess I could give a value at about 8 or so, because even when the plot is very flawed, it may still look sweet if you just turn off your brain to watch.
Still, I don't guarantee that this enjoyment score of 8 works for everyone, because you can still get pissed off by one or both of the main characters.

Enjoyment: 8/10


OVERALL: 3.5/10 (Not an average) If you're going to give credit for the fact that the story and animation is single-handedly done by an individual, I guess a score of 5 will do.

ADVICE ON WATCHING THIS SHOW: I suggest that you turn off your brain and treat it as some hentai OVA: It isn't a proper romance story even when it does have a huge chunk of drama. If you treat this story seriously, you won't find it good.

(Stats: Suspicious Ups=0, Downs=0 as of 10 May 2015. Calculated with statistical hypothesis)

Rephrasing & rearranging parts.
Rather long review, MAJOR SPOILERS PRESENT in order to give detailed analysis on stuff.
Before you downvote my review for giving KnM a 5, I suggest you also read what Erica Friedman thinks about the manga. Many of the problems present in the manga are also present in the anime.


Opening question:
It's widely said that love conquers everything, and so too in the series, but how can you say 'love conquers everything' when love can't even make character development happen when it's already required?


Kannadzuki no Miko, aired in 2004, is usually considered a landmark in the history of yuri anime, as it, being one ... of the earlier yuri anime, shows serious love development between two girls.
But to look at it now, this anime has some serious flaws that are not hard to find if you turn an objective eye on it.

The sad fact: Yuri manga masterpieces seldom get adapted into anime, while yuri anime like KnM are 'good enough' to be called a 'yuri anime masterpiece' by yuri fans because we don't have a handful of yuri anime to choose from to begin with!
Now, when ranking 'the four yuri classics', most people would rank KnM second highest among the four, only behind MariMite. Their reason would mostly be that 'the ending is so beautiful'.

And this is where I don't understand.
Does an anime automatically become a masterpiece just because the ending is a beautiful bittersweet 'true love' ending that involves a lot of tears and 'cool girl breaks down' scenes? And especially when all the earlier episodes are so flawed, and often cliched EVEN BY 2004 STANDARDS.


Let's start with the plot.
The plot can be divided into 2 sections: The mecha battle plus some Japanese folklore, and the romance part.


--PLOT SECTION 1: THE WORLDVIEW--

...Why, do mecha battles appear in a yuri anime?

The worldview is like: Orochi wants to destroy the world, and it's up to the mikos to summon Ame no Murakumo to defeat the Orochi.
...Of course, the core part of the plot is not this folklore, but we'll dig into the worldview a bit.

The mikos' job is to summon Ame no Murakumo. But to complete their missions, one of the priestesses must kill the other.
That's an ideal setting for a sad or a bittersweet ending, and as expected the ending is done well and becomes instant fan favourite.
But to think of it objectively. Why such setting? In real life, lesbians do have hardships, but not in this manner when lovers (who are sane) have to duel with each other.
If you interpret it as a symbol of the hardships lesbians encounter in real life, it's not well-designed as a symbol.
So, while the ending is still good, that setting as a plot device is somewhat awkward.

**Characters in Section 1**

The Orochi disciples are chosen from those who have experienced great pain in their lives and have surrendered to despair.
For example we have a victim of medical experiments, a sociopath who murdered his abusive father, and a manga artist.

...Something's wrong here. Have you any other good motives to work around with?
Sure, experiences like being betrayed and tainted by one's dream of becoming an idol may be really sad, but that doesn't make any reason to want to destroy the world.
And what's up with the manga artist anyway? What is her motive, her manga being excessively edited or something?!

The only interpretation I can come up with, is that some of the Orochi followers are probably not really keen on destroying the world, it's just that they are chosen by the real source of evil i.e. Orochi. But still, Orochi sure is lazy on picking his followers!

Of all the Orochi heads (not counting the major characters), only Tsubasa's backstory is properly explained, and even that part is a bit underdeveloped.

But anyway, the Orochi is not the focus of the anime.



--PLOT SECTION 2: ROMANCE--

The major part, and it has huge problems which can be summarised into the 2 following problems:

>>What is it that you call love?
>>Love should stand the test of what? (Or in proper English: What should love stand the test of?)


PROBLEM 1: What is it that you call love?
OK, probably due to my analysing on Yuri Kuma Arashi that I always want to relate problems in other anime to YKA. But again, the problem lies in 'obsessiveness'.
Unlike Yuri Kuma Arashi and YamiBou though, this problem never gets criticised!
Sure, Chikane may have other reasons to join Orochi instead of just letting obsessiveness overcome her, but still, what has gone on in the anime is an example of 'being obsessive is good after all'.

The problem in this anime even worsens because of two things.
One of them is the male character, whose relationship with Himeko is consensual. This has already made what has gone on in the anime enter the territory of NTR. (No wonder people joke that 'Souma's in the wrong anime'.)
The other, is the question of whether Chikane's deed is indeed justified or not. Some people interpret Chikane's deed as not some noble gesture to let Himeko hate her, but her own selfish wish.
Now, as I think of it again, I also think there's something fishy with this part. Namely:
>Chikane's raping on Himeko comes after how Miyako tells her to become obsessive. This doesn't necessarily prove anything, but it is an optional plausible motive.
>If Chikane really is to let Himeko hate her, why spend another day like usual after the raping? This would make Himeko more hesitant when she is to face Chikane, and that indeed becomes the case.later on.
Frankly, at this point I don't know how to explain Chikane's motive: Neither interpretations makes 100% sense. I assume that Chikane is indeed acting partly out of her own wish to be obsessive.
This leads to more problems like double standards on lesbian raping.

To sum it up, the 'obsessiveness getting paid' thing is a problem that seriously questions Chikane's character.


PROBLEM 2: Love should stand the test of what?
Sure, the greatest form of love should stand the test of even the greatest perils: Even if the lovers are doomed to be apart their love would not be apart.
But every skyscraper should have its foundation. The foundation KnM lacks can be described as simply:

>Love can't even make character development happen--when it's high time that character development was required.

In real life, one of the most practical problems lovers have to face is the problem with their own characters.
Let me tell you a story:
Once two climbers who were lovers got stuck on a mountain. During that time they faced a lot of hardships, but they eventually survived.
If that couldn't break the two, what can? Well, ironically their life as lovers ended because of a small quarrel.

And let's take a look at Kannadzuki no Miko. Talking about character development, we should talk about the characters.

**Characters in Section 2**

The problem, without question, mainly lies in Himeko's character.

Full analysis(IMPORTANT, if you're reading this review make sure not to miss this):
>Himeko is your typical crybaby.
>The other 2 MCs, Chikane and Souma, are determined to protect Himeko(good on this part).
>But they don't know that in the long term, the best way to protect Himeko is to let her learn to PROTECT HERSELF. Even until the end of the anime they still don't understand this!
>While the other 2 MCs treat Himeko very well, if it weren't for them she would likely be mistreated! Himeko is one who would allow other people to take control of her life easily.
>It is actually Kazuki, and the circumstances in Ep09, who/which eventually lead Himeko to her character development. (Chikane is the person who makes Himeko not lose faith, but doesn't seriously teach Himeko to stand on her own in the earlier episodes)

Kazuki: 'What are you going to do then, Souma? Weep with her together?'

So overall, in the scriptwriters' efforts to depict the greatest form of true love, they made several flaws that, though seemingly minor, made this form of love questionable and fragile.
Daily love development part is of acceptable quality though.


--PLOT: MIXTURE OF SECTIONS 1 & 2--

Are there any problems with the plot trying to focus on romance in a story with a not so light-hearted worldview?
Here I shall provide an idea on how to find out problems with this part.

The perceptions the scriptwriters want us to have:
Step 1, Chikane & Souma & Himeko love triangle
Step 2, Chikane gets too obsessive with her love to the extent of joining evil
Step 3, but later we find that the above is fake, Chikane actually wants to sacrifice herself

Now, step 2 is a false perception. But since the scriptwriters want us to have this perception, they must spend efforts on showing how 'bad' Chikane's actions are.
So. What if actually at some point, what Chikane does becomes so unforgivable that it's not simply a false perception?

And there we have it: Becoming the Orochi, Chikane bears the duty to cause massive destruction to the world, and she actually carries on with this job.

Now, when we write a story focused on romance but set in a not so light-hearted worldview, we must be aware that romance between 2 people is microscopic compared to events like war, massive destruction etc.
In order to make the romance part sound, usually we should avoid 'justifying' the protagonists' decisions on joining forces with the evil, for example we can get away with 'it's not the protagonist's own will' etc.
However, in KnM, Chikane's decision on carrying on with the Orochi's job is actually forgiven. This makes Chikane's decision even more unsound.


Plot: 4.5/10 Only the ending is really worth watching. The other 10 episodes are not well written, and by now(2015) it has become even more unappealing.
Characters: 4.5/10 Overall decent, but obviously flawed.


Some minor aspects:
Animation & Art: 8/10 Visually, it's attractive for the most part, though the animation is sloppy at times.
Music: 9/10 Very well done. I like the ending theme best, and I've done an 8-bit cover of it.
Enjoyment value: I dare not give a score from an objective standpoint. Personally it's 4/10 for me.

Overall rating: 4.5/10 (not an average) 'Mediocre' in my scales.


More thoughts:
The 'four yuri classics' all have their own problems. (Note: Said name refers to YamiBou, Kannadzuki no Miko, MariMite, Strawberry Panic)
YamiBou has its crappy ending. KnM's only good part is the ending. MariMite is stereotypical Class S. Strawberry Panic has Korean soap opera melodrama.
If we're looking for serious yuri titles of good quality, this has left us with only a handful of shows like Ikuhara yuri anime (which are hard to understand) and Candy Boy.
Hopefully we'll see better yuri anime adaptations in the future...

(Stats: Suspicious Ups=0, Downs=0 as of 5 May 2015. Calculated with statistical hypothesis)

Opening question:
What happens if love in a divine form enters the world of mortals?


SPOILERS PRESENT, because there is hardly any way to do justice to the show without spoiling stuff. But I will try to keep the amount of spoilers low.
It's advised that you not read this before you have completed the show, unless you don't mind to be spoiled. However, if you do have completed the show and are confused about something, feel free to check this long review.

Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito, YamiBou(or Yamibou, Yamibo) for short, is arguably one of the hardest-to-review anime.

Why so?
...
Say, for fluffy slice-of-life shows, the main factor is enjoyment value, for example how good the jokes are and how heartwarming the show is.
For romance stories, the main factors are the characters and how they undergo character development etc.
For shows which try to deliver serious stuff, the main factors are the symbols, the points the anime delivers, and also the characters etc.
But YamiBou is not any of them, and there is hardly a clear principle on which 'prime factors' to choose. Also, though people may be turned off by the anime for one reason or another, there is one specific part of the anime which is not so easy to understand and requires some 'overinterpretation' skills to fully understand.

So in this case let's analyse the anime first.


--PLOT--

The plot of YamiBou starts with two sisters, named Hadzuki(aka Hazuki/Haduki), and Hatsumi. Hadzuki has a crush on Hatsumi, and one night decides to sneak into her bedroom and go yuri-yuri with her. And anyone who have watched Ep01 knows what happens next.
From then on the story then spans alpha, beta, and gamma(just joking) world lines and tells backstories of different people, while the main line of Hadzuki looking for Hatsumi still goes on.
Events in the story become connected by Ep11 or so, and then comes the ending... Uh, forget it.

The plot can be confusing at first as it is not told in a chronological order.
The first problem we find with the anime is that many things are left UNEXPLAINED, some of them are even crucial. For example, we know that Eve always leaves her current world at the age of 16, but is this some rule that can not be changed? The interpretation of this results in different views on Eve. I assume that it indeed is some rule (but why this rule then...)
Had the pacing of the anime been improved, for example had it focused less on Lilith's antics and more on the worldview and backstories, more things would have been explained.

The story is mainly composed of 3 parts(technically not arcs):
>The adventures of Hadzuki
>The backstory of Gargantua and people around him
>The backstory of Hadzuki with Hatsumi
While MAL lists the main characters as Lilith, Hadzuki and Hatsumi, in my opinion the real major characters are actually Hadzuki, Eve and Gargantua.

The adventures of Hadzuki: Nothing special. Supposedly, the original visual novel has a bigger worldview and some of the events in the VN are adapted, but the events Hadzuki encounters are nothing spectacular. These bits and pieces add a bit to the fun factor, but are still distracting.

The backstory of Gargantua: One of the better parts in the anime. This part is about a man who was driven to morbidity by his jealousness, and tells a series of rather depressing stories. It's not a bad choice for some specific aspects in this part be portrayed more lightheartedly, although whenever Lilith appears everything gets too lighthearted and moe.

The backstory of Hadzuki with Hatsumi: The part that starts out quite good, but eventually made people gush loads of blood. But to look at it seriously, is it that bad? And is Eve that bad? (Note: Some people on a certain yuri-dedicated site called Yamibo do think so)

**THERE ARE LIKELY MORE SPOILERS FROM NOW ON**

--ABOUT EVE & THE ENDING--

So what kind of character is Eve?

Opinions differ between 'she is one who brings divine love to mankind' and 'she is just a hypocritic b**** who only wants to seek love interests in the human world'.
Personally speaking, the former interpretation makes much more sense!
And this is nothing hard to understand. Has Eve done anything in the book worlds without a heart of gold? And had Eve really been hypocritic, why in one specific case did she even sacrifice herself to protect someone else?

But this does not mean that Eve hasn't her own faults.
For one thing, although what she does is mostly out of pure virtue, she does not seem to care about what happens in any specific world line. This is imaginable, but if she has the ability to 'repair the damage' done by her in the end, WHY NOT EARLIER? I can't find a possible explanation.
Also, Eve does not seem to fully realise that whenever she leaves a certain world where someone is deeply attached to her, she will hurt those who love her. It's not that she doesn't care about them in the book worlds though. My interpretation: Eve is one who brings love to others, but never gets seriously emotionally attached to anyone else. That is why:

>>Human (mortal) love and divine love don't get to understand each other.

For another, the ending. Oh crap. I'd rather let James Rolfe deal with this part. Simply put, Eve's choice is bad in all interpretations. I'm not going to list all the possible interpretations here (if you want to get spoiled, check the last part), but it appears that Eve only knows about love in a divine form and doesn't understand love in a human way: the bond between Hadzuki and Hatsumi is in a sisterly way, but not in ... OK, I'll stop here or there'll be very detailed spoilers.
(A side note: There does exist one character in the anime who flirts constantly, to the extent of being increasingly annoying.)

Now, more about the ending: It's not just simply anti-climatic.
The ending has made the following achievements:
>BS culmination of the major plotline
>Screwing up the portrayal of 2 of the characters'(namely Eve & Lilith) characteristics, by treating a few scenes lightheartedly in the least appropriate circumstances possible!



--OTHER CHARACTERS--

Other characters may appear interesting, but most of them are simply not memorable.
The exception being Lilith... whose character is even more screwed. Tell me, what impression have you left on her?
There are hints that she is not as airheaded as she appears, but still she only leaves us an impression as a moe girl who only knows about flirting. The ending makes such impression even worse.


To summarise what I've said:
Story: 4/10 Starts out weak, gets quite good afterwards, and ends in an anti-climatic manner. And it's quite a mess and there are many things hard to understand.
Characters: 5/10 Major characters are quite well-done, while a few side characters are either annoying or not memorable.
Animation & Art: 8.5/10 Very good by 2003 standards. I don't really like Eve's appearance though. Also, one thing that bothers me is the extensive fanservice which I don't really enjoy
Sound: 8/10 Good. I like the OP most, and have even made an 8-bit cover of it.
Enjoyment value: 4.5/10 The extensive fanservice and the ending, enough said.

Overall rating: 4.5/10 (Not an average) 'Mediocre' in my scales.


But we're not done with the review. In fact we're yet to come to the core part.


--WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THIS STORY?--

The major part of the review, as via overinterpretation skills we can reach several unique conclusions, which, although don't add to the show's score, can be deep enough.

Conflicts are the soul of drama. The ending of the show is indeed anti-climatic, but the conflicts which lead to the ending are unique:
>What happens when divine love, human love, and the settings of the anime clash into each other?
Answer: Divine love and human love can't understand each other, while in the end the settings of the anime win. Even Eve herself claims at several points in the anime, that Hadzuki and Hatsumi could not be with each other.
This question seems confusing? Now, let's change one wording:
>What happens when divine love, human love, and social norms clash into each other?
Answer: The social norms win. (Or at least in this case, as in most cases.)
I speculate that all the weird settings and the gainax ending are all meant to deliver the idea 'we can not be together!' which fits the social norms. This is how social norms screw an otherwise much better anime, in my opinion. (It's not that social norms are simply bad, but that older social norms demand every individual to fit their own 'category's' requirements)
The fact is, YamiBou was made in 2003 and it was not until then did Japanese anime portraying lesbians become more open and less stereotyped. The portrayal in YamiBou is disappointing, but understandable though.

Meanwhile, another question arose when I was watching Ep12 with the floating comments all going 'Damn you Eve! Now you know the consequences of seeking love interests everywhere?'
So the other question:
>What happens when love in a divine form enters the world of mortals?
Answer: To be never understood by this world of sin!
The in-universe answer to this question is how Gargantua becomes morbid. Eve knows how to love all creatures in a divine way, but humans don't, and some of them even consider love something that must be unilateral and possessive. This point has recently(2015) been criticised by a certain yuri anime.
While among anime viewers: In this world full of harem anime, when anime characters show their kindness towards more than one people, such kindness would be interpreted as affection, and such affection as affairs, such affairs as sin. Natural deductions right? NOT!
Even a certain character in Kin'iro Mosaic (an anime so fluffy and innocent) gets panned by some people in this way.








...So you've watched the anime and are confused about some certain parts (including the ending)?

**DETAILED SPOILERS ALERT!**
**DETAILED SPOILERS ALERT!**

Scroll downwards to see what I think about these parts...

































--What's the meaning of Hatsumi's letters to Hadzuki in Ep07?
Some people think that these are indications that Hatsumi has affections towards Hadzuki. But I'm not in favour of this interpretation. Rather, in my opinion, these letters are written in a fictional person's perspective instead of in Hatsumi's perspective, and are meant to tell Hadzuki that (a lover's) love can not always be obtained even if you try hard.

--Why is Eve's choice bad in all interpretations?
Let's make some assumptions. Assume that...
>Hadzuki's future baby would still vanish at the age of 16.
Enough said. This is screwed in itself.
>Hadzuki's future baby would not vanish at the age of 16.
Why would Hatsumi vanish at the age of 16 then? Why couldn't Eve change history so that Hatsumi could be with her even after she turns 16? Seriously, I don't understand.
And besides, there might be other alternative endings for the scriptwriters to choose from, for example Hadzuki staying with Eve in the library etc. Of all the endings they could choose from, the 'future baby' thing was chosen.

(Stats: Suspicious Ups=0, Downs=0 as of 23 Apr 2015. Calculated with statistical hypothesis)

Very lengthy review!
Warning: Spoilers present (but no detailed spoiler present).

Now, how do we review a show that
>is so unique that it's almost absurd
>has very polarized views
>is hard to review without spoiling detailed stuff?

Answer: To be in the sexy way.

... Get what I mean? Bet you don't. I don't either.

OK seriously:
To review this show, simply trying to interpret all the symbols is not enough. More analysis must be done on whether the symbols are portrayed well, and whether the plot & characters are well done.


Now first, about how much you would expect: Don't expect a flawless masterpiece or you would likely be disappointed, and of course don't expect too little because after all it's Ikuhara.

Yuri Kuma Arashi, as an Ikuhara work, is all about symbolism, mostly criticism on various aspects of 'yuri'.

--Settings--
Literal:
So one day some meteor(planet?) falls on Earth and bears start to attack humans and... Never mind.
Actual:
The MC girls live in a world surrounded by hypocritic homophobic lesbians and yandere lesbians and... Wow, judging from this description sounds like homo is sin itself.
'Yuri ga Aku da!'(百合が悪だ！)
The only way to get true yuri love is to stay away from all those sins.
So done with the settings and that brings us to the next part:

--Design, and Portrayal of Symbols--
>The homophobia part:
It plays a good role being satirical, but when this symbol turns blatant it gets dull and only serves as something to ignite viewers' hatred towards the homophobes. (I advise viewers to view the homophobe part rationally.)
One of the good points the anime brings up is that 'Homophobia is just like the cycle of life', and also one certain character gets a deeper look. But still, those are not enough. Homophobia is criticised but not looked into properly, instead it mostly gets a typical portrayal of 'bad guys(girls/bears to be exact)' in anime.
Yeah, that's how you criticise a certain group of people: By writing a story and portraying all those people as morbid idiots without sanity. It's satirical, but unrealisitic at the same time.
Also it seems as if the homophobes exclude not only lesbians but also non-homophobes. It may serve its own purpose being satirical, but I don't see this being an actual case in real life. Maybe in Japan it is the case???

>How to face a homophobic environment:
Still quite good, but obviously imperfect since it's still potentially resourceful.
The story leaves the MCs with a dilemma: whether to hide their own feelings or to hit the society in its face. This part is good.
But the 'at what cost' (if you hit the society in its face) part is underdeveloped. To be precise: if you hit the society in its face society will hit you back, of course. But what's more important, in real life FAMILY MEMBERS are often likely to shown little tolerance to your decision for moral reasons etc. Without your family members you have little to fear, but what if you do have to face the family vs love decision?
If you've watched the show, you'll find that this part is underdeveloped. For those who may argue that this dilemma is present in a certain episode, no, it is not present there.
The fact is, if you look at it seriously, the whole point about 'love vs reality' in the anime is even somewhat biased since it appears as if the anime is telling us that 'reality is bullcrap, so forget this reality stuff already'. Is this a step in the right direction? Nah, it's a step in the 'other' wrong direction.
Let's take a look at what Ikuhara actually thinks of this matter:

Quote (from Ikuhara, translated by me so probably inaccuracies):
Ikuhara K.: I've found that people tend to have increasing desire to be 'liked'(i.e. the 'like' function in certain SNS sites). ...Of course, to have such desire isn't necessarily a bad thing; I want to be 'liked' too. But at the same time somewhere in my heart whispers 'you don't need such thing!' But if you really don't need it, can you live on your own then? ...It's not that I want to judge if this is good or bad, but that we should be self-aware of said fact. If we jump to the conclusion 'it's bad!' and live a counterproductive way, we're being self-deceiving. But the awareness of such fact should lead us into thinking 'what is it that we cherish'.

FANTASTIC interpretation. But how does the anime go wrong when it does bring up Ikuhara's interpretation?
Here's how: Since the society is depicted as a society screwed beyond reason, and with the MCs 'deprived of' their close relatives (Note: technically they may exist, but either have or show no importance in the MCs' lives), they don't actually need to face a strong dilemma and the only things they need to do are 1, to have the courage and 2, to survive from the executioners.

>The judges:
Some say they reflect the otakus' perception on yuri, some others say the judges are the dictators of the world(or patriarchy) and reflect the ruling class of the real world. But both interpretations are flawed imo. Judges = otakus? Is it that otakus rule the world or something? Not. Judges = real world rulers/patriarchy? In this interpretation some certain events/facts about the judges (which only serve as plot devices) become nonsensical in real life.
So I can't really say much, and personally I suggest that the judgmens = patriarchy and do reflect some bad perceptions of yuri, but are not well-designed as a symbol particularly due to some events in the anime. If you have a more convincing interpretation, tell me.

>Yuri as a Genre:
This is one complex problem to discuss, so here I'm going to pick one specific problem:
Fanservice: Satire or Overkill?
I suggest that it's both.
Some say that two points contribute to the anime's massive insertion of lewd scenes: 1, lesbians are fetishised and often treated as sources of (male gaze) fanservice, and 2, lesbian sex are often viewed as more indecent than hetero sex. Thus by inserting lewd scenes making them commonplace, the anime tells people that 'these scenes are nothing abnormal, stop giving them strange looks'.
Now first, I find these points to make some sense. However, it is NIGH IMPOSSIBLE for any viewer not being distracted by the scenes in the first place. Furthermore, making lewd scenes&events (EVEN ASSAULTS!) commonplace seems to tell the viewers that for a lot of lesbians, their desires for sex are present anytime and are likely to dominate their motives for actions. So it's still overkill, in my humble opinion.
And after all, even though the fanservice may turn some people off, it's still fanservice and does attract male gaze.

>Minor symbols:
They are scattered everywhere throughout the anime. They can be fun to interpret, but don't add a lot of bonus points to the show's rating, and sometimes the presence of those symbols can add some frustration.
A particularly good symbol is 'how sex being treated unequally lead to horrifying consequences'. The most well-designed symbol in the anime, personally speaking. Hints about sexual liberation are good too.
As for some other symbols such as the true meaning of the promised kiss (specifically: in the culmination of the Lulu arc), I doubt if what they reflect are actually positive in real life, though.

Symbol Design & Portrayal: 7/10


--Story--
The main problem with the story is that it's rather messed up. Many parts are even messed up intentionally to confuse the viewers at first glance, but serve no extra purpose.
The storytelling is a love it or hate it thing. For me, I find the storytelling barely acceptable. The earlier episodes are typical examples of how the storytelling can turn people off.
As for the story, it's good for the most part, but for some points.
Before we name some of the improvable points in the storyline, I shall point out that many parts of the story are UNRESOLVED (to be exact 'underresolved').

(Rule for unsound storyline in YKA:
If a part of the story technically doesn't make sense but doesn't create a flaw in the points the anime tries to deliver, this isn't considered unsound.
Illustrative examples:
'Why didn't they shoot her instead of waiting her to complete her speech?' This is not unsound.
'Why didn't they shoot her when they didn't hesitate to shoot another character?' This is very flawed, but borderline sound.
'Why, in a case where timing was of importance in its meaning as it could explain other people's motives, didn't they shoot her, while in the equivalent case IRL, people around her would not hesitate to do anything to stand in her way?' This is unsound.
The above events may or may not happen in the anime.)

Some other improvable points:

>What is it that you mean love?
The show's portrayal of this is unique but flawed nontheless. The show has shown and made mockery on many bad perceptions of love, but the ending isn't completely satisfying judging from this point. I mean, how can MC1 accept MC2 that easily after some certain event that is due to MC2's wrongdoing? (This is not the problem with the ending itself though.) Even when the show tries to forgive MC2 this problem still stands. A typical example of the symbols not being transcribed well.
And this is quite ironic: The show has tried to criticise 'love is based on possessiveness'... until the ending, which, if you connect it with the previous events, actually indicates that being possessive is not a bad thing after all, it's all about who laughs last rather than who truly knows love. Just look at the pitiful deaths someone who truly know love deserve!
BTW, what is it that I think of love? In my opinion, love is not only based on feelings but also trust. (How can trust be kept if one does such things to hurt the one she loves, simply out of jealousy?) And also the best state of a couple should be when their characters are complementary. Etc. So there are many ways to exploit 'love', and YKA is not doing the best job with it.

>Higher level of existance?
You can interpret them as dead or not, but in both interpretations, this part is cliched.
What's worse, Ikuhara seems to have contradicted his own statement: 'To completely ignore other people and live a counterproductive way is self-deceiving'. The only purpose the two serves, for the society, is to act as a symbol--a middle finger to the screwed-up society, and nothing else. So basically the way they choose is counterproductive in all other ways, and again it seems to encourage an unreasonable way to deal with the previously said dilemma IRL.

Now, why is the plot inferior to the symbols? One of the reasons is that everything in this anime is meant to serve the symbols.
e.g.: In the first example given, jealousness is meant to bring up a false perception of love that the show wants to criticise, but unfortunately, to conclude stuff the MC2's wrongdoings must be forgiven. In the second example, the higher level of existance thing is meant to make mockery on the point 'for homo love, love and reality cannot coexist', but ended up being not successful enough.

Story: 6.5/10


--Characters--
Weakest aspect in the anime. Besides the main cast, other characters mostly serve symbolic purposes: In order to bring up the themes, many characters, potentially resourceful, are wasted and underdeveloped.
Even the MCs suffer from not having interesting/memorable traits, one exception being Lulu.
This is why the show would likely be better had it been 2 seasons instead of 1.

To name a few characters:
Haris**** K****: The show spends a good portion on her actions, but aside from fueling viewers' hatred towards homophobes, what other purpose does this character serve? And plus she could have had a backstory, but the fact is she doesn't have one in the anime. Hell, even her symbolic purpose is too insignificant.
MC1: Being the MC, she undergoes little character development in the earlier episodes. Even when she does undergo character development in the later eps, the development still seems more of something symbolic.

Now, there is this masterpiece called The Hunchback of Notre Dame written by Victor Hugo, and it has its own reasons to be a masterpiece: character-wise, the characters are not only symbolised but also very fleshed out. For example, the Archdeacon, Frollo, stands for one oppressed by asceticism and eventually driven to morbidity. While being symbolised, all his actions are very properly explained, and readers will find him 'a real human being' instead of simply 'a symbol'.
Yuri Kuma Arashi, on the other hand, fails at this aspect. What this show desperately needs are more details on the characters themselves -- to let fleshed-out people and vivid events come to life, and thus let viewers fully accept the symbols. (Though the show is too short for what it aims to achieve, imho the story pacing is still rather improvable.)

Characters: 5/10


A few minor aspects:
Sound: 7/10
The OP stands out most, other tracks are of OK quality.

Animation & Art: 7.5/10
This is likely subjective opinion, but I find the animation quite good.
The unique thing about it, is of course, the fact that almost every 10 seconds there will definitely be at least one symbol presented via the animation. Usually, these scenes are more abstract, which can turn people off sometimes. But overall, it's a pleasant experience.


--Enjoyment Value--
Not high enough, at least for me. It's inspiring to say the least, but this show requires you to come back to interpret it for a total of 6 hours before you can fully understand everything and eventually find that it's not as promising as it is advertised to be. (This is why some commentators called this anime an 'Ikuhara-ised Junkyard'. I don't like this name, but it isn't completely nonsensical)
Also, since the anime's symbols are more ambiguous in the earlier episodes, it's not until the ending of the anime than you can finally start making your own thorough interpretations and analysis. The interesting fact is that even ANN commentators interpreted some symbols in the 'wrong' way, or at least not what they turned out to be.

Enjoyment Value: 6/10


--Inspiration Value--
The inspiration value is off the charts. With such unique settings and all those symbols to work around with, there are a quintillion ways to make our own interpretations.
My only complaint though is something about the settings: Homo vs Hetero(what society requires) = 'Same' vs 'Different', but Human-Bear vs Human-Human & Bear-Bear(what society requires) = 'Different' vs 'Same'? This made some other real-life problems among homosexual people hard to portray in the YKA settings. (I have been writing a doujinshi actually and I've found this problem to be a bit frustrating.)
...Also, a curious point is that the literal 'homo relationship between girls' seems to be considered more 'natural' in the show, and this can also be quite of a barrier if one decided to write a fanfiction of it.

Inspiration Value: 10/10


Summary:
Clarifying some points I previously made:
>The points the anime tries to deliver are mostly good, but many are not looked into seriously. Flawed or not, every symbol is very inspiring.
>The storytelling can really turn a lot of viewers off, even non-casual viewers.
>The characters aren't developed enough, and are not really fleshed-out.

OVERALL RATING: ...
HOLD ON, ONE MORE THING!

--What Does the Bear Say?--
Translation: What subtle things does the show implicitly tell us?
This question arose when I was writing my doujinshi for YKA.
Now, as ironic the jealousy/possessiveness thing may get, we all know that the show has tried to criticise it.
So exactly what does the show ENCOURAGE US to do?
To completely turn your back on reality when it rejects your dream?
To kill those bullies when the bullies bully your friend/lover? (The show has indirectly criticised this behaviour though)
To ...
That will not be the reasonable way!

What we should learn from the show, is the signal of freedom and liberation over conventional social norms and order.
But, do not pursue freedom, happiness etc., in an unreasonable way that is counterproductive to society and people close to you. Society is screwed beyond reason in YKA, but not in real life.
As I've observed, many people enjoy climatic but irrational plot (and hence the 'why not kill those b*tches!' comments). Yeah, the plot should develop for sheer climax & joy, is it not?
Unfortunately, Anderssen's 18.Bd6!? could be met with the cold 18. ...Qa1+ 19.Ke2 Qb2 20.Kd2 Bxg1 with an unclear position. And IRL, people directly following the MCs' footsteps on an impulse would likely find themselves facing hard-to-resolve difficulties and living a life not as happy as they once imagined.
(Whether or not it is this part that boosted the unhelpful rate from 20% to the current unhelpful rate, I'm not going to remove this part.)
In a word:
Learn from the symbols, but not the actions.


OVERALL RATING: 7/10 (for 'Great' in my scales)

DO YOU RECOMMEND THIS ANIME? Yes, but keep yourself level-headed when watching it. Also, if you're still not into the show after Episode 4, it's likely not your taste, so don't force yourself to complete this.


CLOSING WORDS:
In a show that is meant to reflect real-life problems, anything that doesn't make sense in real life has its value halved.


(Note: This review's helpful stats, along with those of some other reviews of this anime, has undergone some weird manipulation.
On 22 Apr 2015, when MAL still had the unhelpful button, the helpful rate was at its highest point 17 out of 21, and then the review was bombed 11 consecutive unhelpfuls in 20 minutes, and probably 8 more on the next day.
The highest observed helpful count was 44 (not long after MAL cancelled the unhelpful button), however recently as of 24 Dec 2016 the helpful count is observed to have DROPPED to 38.
Show me how to cancel a review vote, anyone?
The cause of this manipulation can not be confirmed. And out of all my reviews, only this review has undergone this manipulation.)

First review on MAL (although I have several anime review blog entries).
Note: The score is adjusted to MAL scales by adding 1pt to the original score.

First of all, this is not the usual idol anime you watch. It's not like shows like Love Live, the The iDOLM@STER etc. Instead surprisingly, the 'Futsuu'(Plain) in the title is what makes this show avoid your stereotypical idol anime.
But on the other hand, it also means that this anime is more close to your usual slice-of-life anime.

The most important feature of this anime is that in many ways, it is not 'idealized'. It depicts the plain-looking work of Locodols ... and how they slowly turn into someone suitable for the job, instead of *cough* turning into a lead guitarist from scratch in one year *cough*.
So let's take a look at the 'not idealized' and 'idealized' aspects:

-NOT IDEALIZED-
>The life as a Locodol, i.e. the main plot. It is more close to real life, but it often becomes too plain and without comedic gags to support. You can't just simply take everyday life onto the screen and make that into an anime.
>Nanako doesn't look as if she can become a Locodol from the start. (Regardless of how it turns out)
>The mascot: it is just a normal mascot which reminds me of the Blue Badger from the Ace Attorney games. Surprisingly, the mascot turns out very good.
>Most songs. Well yeah, usual idol songs are too stereotypical, but here in Locodol, besides the last song they performs(sadly, it sounds like your usual idol track), all we have are some school anthem like songs and the ... mascot-promotion song. This show suffers from a lack of good songs. Explainable since their songs are about promoting things about the town, but poor in sound department nonetheless.
>The town's budget. Kind of realistic, but. In some cases it is rather the producer of the anime who is low on budget.

-IDEALIZED-
>The recognition the Locodols get. Especially: I'm not going to spoil the anime, but in one specific scene, what the Locodols did would be considered 'lame tactics' in real life.
>In one case the Locodols took a job not suitable for usual high school students yet they completed the quest. Common in other anime, though.

-OTHER ASPECTS-
>Fanservice: Usually, when there is fanservice, it's not done very well. For example, Ep01 is rather misleading as it would probably make viewers believe that this show is totally about swimsuit fanservice.
>The comedy: ...Not that good. The stalker thing was meh: what did I say just now... 'lame tactics'?
>The infamous cliche 'I have been happy because you guys/girls are by my side': Still a bit cliched in this show, but overall natural and heartwarming. You would probably not feel that it's cliched.
>The yuri vibe: The problem with the yuri vibe is that it's one of the highlights of the show, so if you don't like yuri you'll find the show less enjoyable.

So how to sum it up?
This show tries to stand out from your usual idol anime, but to avoid bordering on a normal slice of life it tries to support itself with massive yuri vibes.
Overall the show is heartwarming, but still a bit cliched among 'cute girls engaging in activities' slice of life anime. Plus, especially in the earlier episodes, it fails to give us some entertainment value, and it still can't avoid several problems normal slice of life anime usually have.

Recommended for:
>People who are tired of usual idol anime(I'm not a huge fan but far from being sick of the genre)
>People who like some heartwarming story about girls engaging in activities
>People who like light-hearted yuri.

Story: 6
Art: 6
Sound: 4
Character: 7
Enjoyment: 7
Overall: 6

(Stats: Suspicious Ups=0, Downs=0 as of 22 Apr 2015. Calculated with statistical hypothesis)