FUNimation streamed the first two episodes of the anime series Yurikuma Arashi, which is short for Love Bullet: Yurikuma Arashi. If you can watch both episodes on FUNimation right now if you have a paid subscription. If you are a free member, you have to wait one week before you can see them.
The starting scene of episode one, titled “Never Back Down on Love,” starts a possible “yuri” aka “girls love” scene, but is interrupted by a bear warning. If you read the news prior to the anime, which currently airs in Japan and streams internationally, all the bears on Earth went crazy and started attacking everybody.
If you are into yuri and/or lesbian stories, you will enjoy Yurikuma Arashi just by the opening scene alone. I would go as far to recommend Yurikuma Arashi as an LGBT-friendly anime series.
Episode one starts off by explaining that a small distant planet named Kumalia blew up and its fragments rained onto Earth, which reminds me of Superman’s home planet Krypton. If you are clueless about Superman, his number one weakness is kryptonite, which is a shard of what was once known as Krypton.
The shards of what is left of Kumalia gave the bears human intelligence, which caused them to devour humans. I love how the scene portrays it as “cute looking,” which takes away the scare factor.
Humans erected a very large wall to keep the bears out. The wall is bigger than the one in Attack on Titan. If you watched Attack on Titan, the Colossal Titan appeared and made a hole in one part of the wall without breaking a sweat. The bears in Yurikuma Arashi have found a way to assume human form and infiltrate human society and Ginko, one of the female protagonists, is a sleeper agent for the bears.
Lulu, the other transfer student, is another bear in disguise.
I cannot show fear at how cute Lulu acts when she is enthusiastic about eating her classmates in the future.
This feels like a cutesy and funny version of Tokyo Ghoul, which also streams on FUNimation.
Kureha and Sumika’s conversation on chikuwa reminded of the first episode to Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!, which streams on Crunchyroll and FUNimation. The same scene had a line about eating food together, which made me think about the premiere episode of Gourmet Girl Graffiti.
You can catch Gourmet Girl Graffiti on Crunchyroll.
I laughed when Ginko and Lulu were in bear form spying on the couple, with Lulu making an advance on Ginko. You have to admit that this is one big lesbian story because of the title Yurikuma Arashi and the “yuri” part in the first name being a dead giveaway.
The mix of humorous and serious character interactions show that Yurikuma Arashi can be watched by everybody even though this is an LGBT animated drama.
It is not all comedy and romantic drama though because Kureha has a rifle and is not afraid to use it on the bears, who she holds responsible for the death of her mother. That means Ginko and Lulu have picked the wrong person to make their next meal.
The courtroom scene blew my mind because it felt like a cross between Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.
Episode two, titled “I Will Never Forgive You,” continues where the first episode left off with Mitsuko discovering Ginko and Lulu in their bear forms and devouring one of the female students, who is confirmed to be Sumika, Kureha’s love interest.
This made me think of Parasyte when Shinichi lost his mother to one of the Parasites.
It got funny again when Lulu tried to sexually flirt with Ginko, which reminded me of how Kuroko tries to get intimate with Misaka in A Certain Scientific Railgun.
And then it becomes another “yuri” moment when Mitsuko is confronted by Konomi.
I loved how Lulu and Ginko show up at Kureha’s home unannounced and asking if they can live with her. Lulu was funny when she put up the “sad act” in front of Kureha to gain her sympathy.
I am glad that Kureha refused outright and told them to leave afterward, which turned into yet another “yuri” moment.
This shows Kunihiko Ikuhara, the writer of the original manga, definitely loves writing “yuri” fiction.
Mitsuko comes to save the day, but I am curious to know how she knew Ginko and Lulu were at Kureha’s house in the first place.
I was surprised that Konomi revealed herself as a bear and I do feel bad she got killed in the same episode, but I was surprised that Mitsuko implied she was a bear by licking Kureha’s face and mentioning how great she smells.
Yurikuma Arashi is a yuri-filled and unpredictable mind f—k, which makes me want to watch the series even more. The story is unpredictable, but it is easier on the mind more than that Netflix Original series Marco Polo.
If you’re into LGBT-themed stories, check out Yurikuma Arashi.
