Jan 5, 2015 7:03 AM
Yuri Kuma Arashi - The Theme of the Series
Anime Relations:
Shoujo Kakumei Utena, Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Adolescence Mokushiroku, Mawaru Penguindrum, Yuri Kuma Arashi
Intro.
Very soon tonight airs the first episode of a new Ikuhara Kunihiko's show called Yuri Kuma Arashi. Considering the information we already have from the manga, the official yurikuma website as well as from the director's previous works, I believe it's the right time to start the speculation, predictions, and even post possible symbolism explanations.
At the very least, it's the perfect time to point out the key symbols of the series, i.e. what is there to be especially aware of while watching the show. I'll do this by writing my own understanding of the show I've got so far and highlighting with bold the key aspects, their relationships as well as their possible explanations. Some of them will be references to Ikuhara-sensei's previous works such as the Penguindrum or Utena so expect mild spoilers.
Please, keep in mind that everything you read below is pure speculation based on my own analysis.
So here we go!
Humans vs Bears.
Bears came from a small planet Kumalia (Swahili for "mammals") which had exploded into "sperm particles" and penetrated the "eggshell" of the planet Earth.
This was when the animal instincts of mammals awoke to become their Survival Strategy, i.e. the means to never become extinct. Unlike other mammals however, humanity developed further by separating themselves from other ”bears” - the ability to control our animal instincts is what essentially makes us humans.
This is how The Wall of Extinction/Separation was created. The hungry for sex, lewd and dirty “bears” lose their mind and attempt to eat as many humans as possible. The latter, however, try to stay transparent, pure, platonic, shooting the bears one by one.
It’s quite obvious that in reality one cannot survive without the other. And this is something a person has to learn while growing. It’s one reason
- why males have the instincts to fertilize as many females as possible
- why females try to find the best partner to safely grow with him as many children as possible
- why it creates a natural conflict between the two
And yet it’s only the unity of the two sides that allows for our survival as species, i.e. prevents from our extinction.
Lesbian Bears.
This is where homosexuality comes into play. Suddenly there are females on the bear side. And apparently they disrupt the natural balance and thus must be put to Court of Extinction/Separation, otherwise known as “Yuri trial”, blamed for humanity extinction, i.e. for “eating too much”.
And THIS IS THE CENTRAL CONFLICT, THE THEME of the series:
“Ikuhara-sensei raises the question how should the society treat Yuri.”
Should it bash homosexuality (Life Cool) or accept it as an existing norm of nature (Life Beauty)?
God only knows how Ikuhara-the-Life-Sexy will answer this question. It seems he intentionally introduces the parental lack theme from Penguindrum to YKA. I think what he might suggest is that there’s sometimes so much animosity between humans and bears that their children (and thus human survival) are actually who struggle because of that.
Be it a mother murdered by a bear (rape?), or parents arrested for crimes (Year 1995 accident in Penguindrum), or a sadistic dad (Tokikago Yuri’s in Penguindrum), or whatever other reason there is, kids left alone could benefit from having a family, who loves and cares for them. I think Ikuhara-sensei sees homosexual pairs as those who can’t have children on their own, but who nevertheless want to share and give their love to the world and who could adopt the kids thrown away into the children broiler.
Conslusion.
So it seems, the director wants to give purpose for lesbian bears existence, which is beneficial to humanity in the eyes of the irritated society. In addition, I think he intends to approve Yuri as a genre that definitely lacks love by the society (even in contrast to BL by the way) so I do expect the yuri genre deconstruction with all its tropes like “catholic all-girls school” etc.
Posted by
soulelle
| Jan 5, 2015 7:03 AM |
4 comments
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JayDangos | Jan 20, 2015 2:31 AM
I can def. agree with this especially after watching episode 3. The first two episodes I had almost no idea what was going on with all the symbolism and such.
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Nancy-Alice | Jan 11, 2015 5:29 AM
Impressive analysis !
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Asria_Y | Jan 5, 2015 9:19 PM
Woah I was thinking the same thing! Maybe not the part about the children but the thing about homosexuality, the wall and the representation of the planet's parts falling yep. Glad someone else also thought about it lol.
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Quoo | Jan 5, 2015 4:35 PM
Bravo, a very interesting theory and i'm shocked that you actually managed to get all this from only one episode.
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