Back to Naoe-Riki's Profile Naoe-Riki's Profile

It pains me to write a review of Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear amd say it is a 6/10. Let me be clear here, if you are an anime-only viewer, and looking it purely from the anime's perspective, this anime deserves a 7 or 8/10. But this is coming from someone who read the Light Novel and Manga first. I was a fan of Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, and I was so excited to see an adaption. I didn't shut up about it for weeks when it got announced, and now that I've finished seeing it, I have mixed feelings. Let's go with the good parts ... first.

The animation was good. It had this colourful, candy-like theme. It supports the story's theme of being fluffy and cute, and it made watching the anime very enticing to watch

The sounds were good. The voice actors were top-notch. Yuna's Voice Actor started off okay, and gradually got used to her role, and became even better, as the series progressed. You can clearly see the difference when comparing early episodes to the last 2 episodes

Let me be clear, Kuma kuma kuma Bear isn't simply a generic Isekai with an OP protagonist. It's not supposed to be a Yuri focused story. The anime shifted its tone to this. From the impressions I got from the LN and manga, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear is supposed to be a fluffy comedy, that focuses on adventure, with some dark undertone, such as past trauma, some drama, and a bit of cold, and merciless statements from Yuna herself. She's supposed to be so much more than what the anime represented her to be. The anime clearly wanted to be more fluffy, and yuri, over the unique balance that the original plot had.

The anime had cut out important details and plotpoints, just to lessen ghe dark undertones, and to add more Yuri, and Shoujo-Ai drama. Not saying the Original Kuma Kuma Kuma bear didnt have these, but the anime took these Yuri footnotes, and turned them into dragged on, episode long plots

Case in point, Episode 7, and the Finale. These episodes had very dragged on drama. I don't remember the manga ever dragging these points out, and the LN didn't make so much special attention to these, that it warranted being a central plotpoint. And this is why, i have to give Kuma kuma kuma bear anime, a 6/10. It's an okay adaption, but for me, it was not a very faithful adaption, with its massive tone shift, and deliberate cutting of important and interesting plotpoints. So much so, some people are now even talking about Kuma kuma Kuma bear as this season's moeblob Yuri anime. Again. This wasn't supposed tol be a Yuri-friendship focus. This was an honest Isekai comedy fluff with dark undertones to balance things out.

Conclusion, as an adaption, Its okay, but it leaves much to be desired. As an anime, it did an okay job. It was fairly entertaining, and I think its something that the manga and LN readers can find as an interesting, new take on story, and anime only viewers can appreciate it more since it is, in the end, still a cute moeblob with a fluffy theme

So far, a lot of my friends have really disliked this anime for its Plot and generic idea, but I wanna give my perspective, and why I really like this anime despite it's apparent flaws

Story (8/10)
The story is pretty generic isekai with mecha. That's really all there is to it. My friends say the story is pretty generic for the genre, and honestly, it's true. But one thing that really makes me like it so much is that, there aren't very many Isekai mecha anime that's as straightforward as this. There's no grand scheme. There's no amazing, impending danger. There's no reason to band together ... against a super threat. The plot doesn't pick up either. So if your looking for an action packed anime, with a plot that leaves you breathless, this anime might not fit your agenda. What makes it unique in my eyes is that, for once, it's actually an Isekai mecha genre without any of the gritty, complicated, dramatic, and passionate plot. This anime is straightforward. As Ern would describe it, it's literally a hobby. And I enjoy it. The story in itself is pretty boring, but the characters make it really something to watch. I give it an 8 not because it's amazing, but I give it an 8 simply because it's easy on the eyes to watch. It's like a light-hearted story, but with mecha. That said, the story does suffer for being not too original. There's not much world building beyond the kingdoms, and there's nothing grand about their objective. What makes it nice and good, is that it's light hearted and straightforward. I'd appreciate it if the plot picked up too, but I really like the unique theme the anime has to mecha anime that normally has a cynical view

Art (8/10)
The character art is good. It's not too amazing, but it's easy on the eyes. It's pretty much average, but the animation is pretty fluid anyways. It's not osmething I'd give praise it for all day long, but I'd appreciate the cute character designs anyday. The visuals are also really nice to look at. Not too color heavy, and the mecha movement is pretty fluid anyways. Sometimes it looks weird though, but I'll be honest, Looking at Ern is all I really care about

Sound (9/10)
The opening is LIT. Fhana openings are really nice. The voice actors are really good too. The cast are really good. I don't have much complaints to this one. The opening and ending are catchy and nice, (especially he OP, I Really love it). The voice actors do a great job, and the mecha sounds and visuals are really nice

Enjoyment (8/10)
The enjoyment I get from watching this anime is really unexpected. I don't really sing its praises as if its the best of the season, but it's something to watch. I enjoy the characters. But let's be honest, Ern is the best thing this show has to offer. Ernesti's character design, voice, and how the story revolves around him is what really makes me enjoy this anime more than it should make me. Ern is really cute (and here people keep praising Astolfo. Ern's my fave trap of the season), his passion for mecha is enjoyable, especially for someone like me who can also be quite the Mecha fan. The story isn't deep, it doesn't expand a lot, but how it focuses on mecha designing, Ern's hobbies of how he makes them, really comes through to me. It's straightforward, it's cute, it's light-hearted. I like it the way it is, whether the plot does pick up from here or not

Overall (8/10)
I for one, won't be giving this anime a bad score. Just cuz my friends think it's bad for its generic nature. Just cuz it's not action packed. I give it praise for what it is. And it does a good job of doing it. Mecha is a hobby. Nothing more, nothing less. The anime really shows that message in every aspect. The enthusiasm of the Ernesti, his mecha designs, everything. It really comes through for what it wants to be, the hobby of a young boy for robots. If it started having convoluted, complicated and cynical plotline beyond his hobbies, then I'd give it a lower score since there are far better anime in general that can do better than Knights and Magic when it comes to storytelling. Some say the plot is rushed and stuff, while I agree that there are moments that it can be quite rushed, the story doesn't get boring, even during info dump segments, sicne there's enthusiasm in every line. Credit to Takahashi Rie for doing a really good job at showing that enthusiasm too

Story: (8/10)
- I can't exactly give it a 9 or a 10 despite how much I liked the story. For starters, the story isn't exactly deep. You can take the story at face value. What makes it deserve an 8 though? For starters, the dorama in this movie is REAL. It exceeded what the series even did in 2 hours of content. But enough about the dorama, WHAT ABOUT THE TANKS. The amount of absurd tank movements and tactics in this movie is cranked up to 11. And you thought the series had WTF tank tactics, wait till you get a load of the movie. ... Apparently tanks can now turn into roller coasters and make jumps that make monster truck somersaults look like child's play. I cried so hard from laughing. But despite the tactics, the action pack and the twists in the movie keeps me at the edge of my seat. There wasn't many dull moments in the movie. If I had to state any problems though, its that the start of the movie, your bombarded with an entire group of new characters. The pacing in the movie is so-so. You can easily keep up with the movie, the plot doesn't move too slowly, and most of the movie is dedicated to tank battles anyways

Art: (9/10)
- The animation remains consistent. There weren't any off-models as far as I saw, and the combination of 2D and the 2.5D animations really blends. The visual effects also remain consistent as from the series, so you can expect some eye catching visuals from the tanks and the girls

Sound: (9/10)
- As usual, the voice actresses/actors all did a wonderful job. But thats basically seconday. WHAT ABOUT THE TANKS AGAIN. The tanks all still have the sound effects from the series. Barely anything was changed. There was a lot more action in the movie, so its much appreciated that they did a good job with the tank explosions, tank sounds, and tank cannon blasts.

Character: (8/10)
- Just cuz its the tail end of the series doesn't mean there's no room for character development. Despite the shallow plot of the series, there was much room for character development in the series. We're shown a brand new side to each character, sides that we never saw before.

Enjoyment: (9/10)
- Putting aside the initial hype I had for this movie, the movie truly is enjoyable. It exceeded my expectations. The comedic tank tactics, the suddenly tanks can do better stealth than Big Boss, the explosions, the visual effects all make up a really exciting tank battle, and the dorama and interactions make the peaceful moments interesting. If you enjoyed the series, your going to enjoy this movie a lot

Overall: (9/10)
- The story isn't bad. The reasons for things to happen are simply because "it happened" is probably one of my problems with the story aside from the sudden bombardment of new characters. It seems vague cuz I did my best not to spoil any story elements as much as I could. But despite the shallow reasoning, the interactions and the ensuing reactions and dorama that follows more than make up for it. The bigger involvement of characters that were underused in the series really made an impact for me. The tank battles were awesome though, no matter how impossible I think they are. Overall, it was a good watch, and if you enjoyed the series, you'll very well enjoy the movie

I'll be frank, this anime deserves 24 episodes, not 13. The simple fact that it only had 13 episodes made it bland. To be honest, I'm writing this after watching the anime and after reading the manga and a few portions of the Light Novel that I tried to read (hard to read when its not translated. Its either there's really no translation yet or I just suck at finding these translations). The manga had a lot more to show, and it gave you time to like each character. Each character in the series had their own development, this is true as well in the ... anime, but it was so pressed with time and the amount of episodes, it couldn't't deliver the amount of enjoyment it COULD have given.

The story is the same as both the Light novel and the manga, its goo, but as I've said, with only 13 episodes, what can you do so much with it? 24 episodes wouild have most definitely fixed this issue. The art was good, I noticed a few stale colors at times, the girls gicing off a very colorful look while leaving the main character the same would have been good since it relates to the plot, but overall the art was good, it was enjoyable.

As for sound, the voice actors did a good job, the BGM was right on track. It fits each situation and can be quite amusing.

Character - this is where it gets problematic. Each character DOES have good development, don't worry. But the story is too rushed, it didn't really give you an opportunity to like the characters or feel attached to them. The main character is what saved the character portion of this, because Souta can be quite easy to relate to. He has a very "human" feel to him

Enjoymewnt - honestly, this would have been up to 9 had the show given me enough time to enjoy each character and situation. It rushed from one event to another. It was a good harem, but too much harem. It focused on the heroines as a whole, focusiong on the usual RomCom

Overall: Enjoyable. Good, but disappointing, I was expecting a lot more since I've been reading both he manga and Light Novel

Hmmm, I have no idea what the reason is for others disliking the series, but its not ALL that bad. I enjoyed it as much as any other harem lover would, but the thing that really hit me is this. Us Infinite Stratos fans waited for a sequel, and they give us a sequel. They give a totally incomplete series and although good for the most part, it was totally ruined by the ending. I honestly like this one, because unlike newer harem animes, they are more concerned on the trope of the harem genre, Infinite Stratos 2, like the first season, gave a blend ... of both harem and its action. Its a good combination for those harem lovers who seek a new blend, unlike the usual school life RomCom. However, despite all these, why do I give it only a 6 and not a good rating of 8 like its previous season? ITS ENDING THAT'S WHAT

Unlike the previous season, the ending actually gave way to a sequel, but it was good enough even without it. The second season gave an ending that was simply saying "I STILL HAVE MORE PLOT TO SHOW AND MORE QUESTIONS TO ANSWER, BUT I WON'T SHOW YOU ANYMORE". The season as a whole was good and enjoyable but the ending simply drove it all off away, I really feel it could have been much much more had it been at least 2-3 more episodes long. They gave the climax of the story and the main battle in less than an episode, if they had not compacted that into a single episode, It would have been much better. Also, had they given a little bit more, and not cutting us off right at the middle of the action, but not only did they cut off the action right at the middle, they only gave a 3-5 minute cool-down from all the action. You raised the tension and you expect to lose that tension from 3-5 minutes of cooling down? To add it all up, not only did the anime not answer the questions it even first presented, after the ending of the 12th episode, it even gave twice the amount of questions, unlike the 1st season that didn't give so many questions after the ending that would bother the audience even after the show, OH NO, this season gave us a complete set of questions that they didn't bother answering and cutting us off like that, it FELT LIKE A VERY ST*PID ending, but beyond that, it was enjoyable

Story (6/10) - The story is as typical as any other harem genres, but with a mix in of good action. It'd get an 8/10 or a 9/10 for me had they given more plot than harem. I was fine with all of the harem moments, but the climax was half done and it was barely an ending, more of a "calm before a storm" type of feel, so it leaves even more questions.

Art (9/10) - gotta admit, the art is enjoyable. Although a few problems here and there, but not enough for one to notice unless you watch it multiple times. The 3D elements make it seem very action packed, though transition from 3D to 2D is a bit annoying at times but no worries, the 3D elements are only a few selected battle scenes. The OP and ED gave it even more spice since every episode features the girls running(along with Ichika) in different outfits based on the episode's setting

Sound (10/10) - How can you NOT like the sound? the OP was great (the ending didn't beat SUPER STREAM of the first season in my opinion, but it was enjoyable), and the voice actors did a very good job. As usual, the 5 girls' voice actresses did a wonderful job in portraying their character, and the BGM is very catchy and is most of the time spot on with the episode's situation

Character (7/10) - I'd give it a 4/10 supposedly since none of the girls ever even made any progress, and all of them are usually together when there are harem moments. The only reason I gave it a 7/10 is because of Tatenashi, and Kanzashi. In contrast to the previous season, where I'd given a 8/10 score because all girls were given their own chance to develop their characters and even show different sides of themselves, in this season they all had their moments, but they barely showed any character development or anything new from twhat the previous season had already shown. Most of the characters were very predictable and never really went out of their character tropes or pretty much anything that the 1st season ever showed. This is not the case with Kanzashi and Tatenashi, as they were properly given development, and they gave out more mystery to their true character than what they already show. Ichika and Chifuyu also shined here, since we find out more on Ichika and Chifuyu, more of what they feel and more of their character, unlike the previous season that simply showed Ichika getting kicked in the as* by other girls.

Enjoyment (6/10) - Yeah, I'd give it an 9/10 if not for the ending. Although most of the characters' development were slow and relied on harem moments to even get screen time, other characters still showed fair developments on their own, and they were very enjoyable. The story was very enjoyable up to the episode before the last. I really think it would have been better had they allotted at least a 24 episode season than a 12 episode, because there was simply too much plot to cover. Even if it wasn't a 24 episode season, at least 1-2 more episodes, one to cool down the tension form the previous fighting and another to answer all the questions, or at least give hints on them, not leave them on our face at point blank.

Overall (7/10) - well, what can I say? it was good, but it could've been better. So many unanswered questions, and it'll only leave me wanting to know more, but knowing this anime, I'd only get it way after I'd already lost interest in wanting to know more. My advice to the people who are diligently watching the series and is still a big fan of the series is to read the light novel, since it explains all the questions that this season 2 never bothered to answer. Beyond the ending, it was a very enjoyable show

To those who've never played the Visual novel:
My review would be different for 2 kinds of audience: The People who've played Little Busters Visual Novel and those who haven't. I will explain later as to why.

I'll start off to those who've haven't seen the visual novel. At first glance you would believe it to be a usual happy-go-lucky comedy anime with very few character developments, but just like many of Key's works, Little Busters is in no way a happy-go-lucky anime. It is filled with drama that would put you at the edge of your seat at every turn. For those searching for comedy, then ... this anime is just for you. If your one to look for romance, then this anime is very romantic, except, not in a "girl and boy like each other" romance. Its romantic in a way that its dramatic romance. The characters are unique and balanced. Each character balances out the other, and makes the show even more interesting. The anime focuses on the relationship of the Little Busters, and does not go beyond friendship
To be quick, if your one to find a new anime with comedy and romantic friendship and drama, this anime is perfect for you. I would recommend it. I admire the staff because they tried to change the some parts of the story and give some spice for original LB fans.

To those who've played the Visual novel:
I'll be frank. It was a big disappointment as an LB fan. I waited for a proper adaption since as usual, Visual Novels are vague to me, so I clear out the visual novel and then wait for an adaption. Well, to be frank, the Anime DID clear out the vague parts which are hard to understand with words only. The problem was that the staff did unnecessary and can be quite pissing changes. I won't point out the changes since these would show spoilers, basically, how I viewed the story and its value became VERY much less. Although important parts were well in place, they made changes on how these parts were shown. They forgot to add important details and disturbingly focused on friendship rather than the actual theme. They reduced romance to mere friendship drama and focused on comedy and friendships. They added unnecessary details and to be frank, in the visual novel, after each route I was at the edge of my seat about to cry(and yes, this happened even after repeating the story many times over), but the anime did not even bring me to the edge of my desk.

Well, to conclude, the anime is certainly worth watching, but the visual novel is certainly better. As an LB! fan, the anime would definitely give you a new perspective of the story, so if your curious, GO WATCH!. There were changes here and there from the original story (which from me was very important and really pissed me off because of the changes), but the important parts were properly done. The art was very good, the voice actors did a wonderful job, the BGM was good, and character development was, as usual from Key works, wonderfully done

Overall, it was cute. The story wasn't bad. Its just that, the main character should've done more than stand there and look cute! The story started to become a battle for the guy's affection. LITERALLY BATTLE. And the main character doesn't get much screen time, since it focuses more on the battle. But I'd say that even though its like this,where its more focused on the Harem part of the story instead of the drama, its a good OVA, and definitely better than the main toHeart2 series, where they tried using harem, even though the story was intended to be drama. Check out the Visual ... Novel for more details on the girl's stories.

My rating for this may be high, but don't misunderstand. The anime was a big let down. I'd say the OVA'S were better then this. Its because toHeart2 deserved to have 24 episodes. 13 episodes isn't going to cut it. They took one gigantic chunk out of Konomi's story line and didn't even bother to finish any of the other girl's story lines. The anime was based on a visual novel, however, the anime was based on the Bad End route, where Takaaki is unable to get any of the girls. Its good harem wise but not so much for drama, since toheart2 was dramatic ... in the VN. If they'd made the same technique as Amagami SS, where they split the story by arcs, and showed the ENTIRE story of the girls, then this would be ALOT more interesting. The Visual Novel of toHeart2 was EPIC. The story made me cry, laugh, and everything.

As you might wonder why I put up such a low score for this series is because of the way it follows the story. For people who've watched the past episodes of this series, you may be in for quite the bumper ride of your life. I've seen the past seasons. I've liked it, and if I had to review it I'd say its outstanding. But for my point of view for this season. Its going to be good, I also like the voice actors, so I put outstanding on sound, Art is obviously very good so I put Great, but the new storyline is ... very much not my taste so I'm not going to expect anything better. The story shows signs of the story turning into the worst case scenario, a very bad end for the character. Specifically, Sakai Yuuji. I'm not going to spoil you on what happened to him, I'll let you guys see for yourselves. Now, I'm the kind of guy who is a romanticist, so I would prefer a good end. And even if it WAS a good end. Almost all of the story has already been very much messed up. I'd say its a good anime. But the new story is definitely not my taste.

NOTE: This isn't the first time I've reviewed on an anime, but this is the first time I've actually made such a poor review. I am very much disappointed in the story. It kinda reminds me of the grief I had when watching "ENDLESS EIGHT" From the second season of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu. Its a slight let down.