Kuma Miko: Girl Meets Bear (くまみこ Girl meets Bear) is a 12 episode slice of life comedy based on the manga of the same name by Yoshimoto Masume. The series initially aired on TV in Japan during the Spring of 2016.
Machi lives in a small northern Japanese village called Kumade. She lives at the local shrine with the talking bear Natsu and serves as the villages shrine maiden. Ancient legend tells of a village miko mating with a bear, causing a line of bears who can use human speech, thus why Natsu can speak. Machi comes to Natsu one day and proclaims that she wants to attend high school in a near by city, fearing that she will miss out on important life events remaining in the tiny village. Natsu, being a bit more worldly than the girl tries to convince her that it won't work.
Natsu challenges Machi with a series of trials to test her readiness to cope with big city life. Machi is self conscious of her status as a 'country bumpkin' and has never left the village. Her cousin who works for the village council see's her attempts to enrich herself as a perfect opportunity to use her to grow the villages profile. He begins to work on making her an idol as a way to bring tourism and trade to their struggling hamlet. Can Machi overcome her crippling fear of the unknown in order to reach her dream of experiencing a more enriching life?
The artwork is excellent for this series and the character designs fit the ton perfectly. Character reactions are well done and there are quite a lot of funny moments. The village is full of stereotypical hick characters who are all caring and a bit off beat. They enjoy their simple life and don't care much for changing their ways. Machi on the other hand has this burning desire to change her ways, even if she is one of the least knowledgeable people in the village, not even capable of operating a cell phone very well.
In many ways this was a fun and heartwarming comedy. In other ways this is a stark look at mental heath issues. Machi suffers from severe self confidence issues, crippling social anxiety and seems to be to some degree cognitively disabled as well. While there is a lot of tongue-in-cheek comedy about how unprepared she is for larger social interaction. Time and again she is forced into situations she is unable to handle and mentally shuts down, stricken with terror and a destruction of her self esteem. Repeatedly she is reduced to a catatonic, gibbering condition. So really, this is a dark comedy about people who supposedly love this troubled girl and continue to thrust her into overwhelmingly stressful situations in order to teach her a 'lesson'.
The series was simulcast by FUNimation and is likely to have a video release in the near future. The manga is being released in English by Kadokawa Shoten.
Machi lives in a small northern Japanese village called Kumade. She lives at the local shrine with the talking bear Natsu and serves as the villages shrine maiden. Ancient legend tells of a village miko mating with a bear, causing a line of bears who can use human speech, thus why Natsu can speak. Machi comes to Natsu one day and proclaims that she wants to attend high school in a near by city, fearing that she will miss out on important life events remaining in the tiny village. Natsu, being a bit more worldly than the girl tries to convince her that it won't work.
Natsu challenges Machi with a series of trials to test her readiness to cope with big city life. Machi is self conscious of her status as a 'country bumpkin' and has never left the village. Her cousin who works for the village council see's her attempts to enrich herself as a perfect opportunity to use her to grow the villages profile. He begins to work on making her an idol as a way to bring tourism and trade to their struggling hamlet. Can Machi overcome her crippling fear of the unknown in order to reach her dream of experiencing a more enriching life?
The artwork is excellent for this series and the character designs fit the ton perfectly. Character reactions are well done and there are quite a lot of funny moments. The village is full of stereotypical hick characters who are all caring and a bit off beat. They enjoy their simple life and don't care much for changing their ways. Machi on the other hand has this burning desire to change her ways, even if she is one of the least knowledgeable people in the village, not even capable of operating a cell phone very well.
In many ways this was a fun and heartwarming comedy. In other ways this is a stark look at mental heath issues. Machi suffers from severe self confidence issues, crippling social anxiety and seems to be to some degree cognitively disabled as well. While there is a lot of tongue-in-cheek comedy about how unprepared she is for larger social interaction. Time and again she is forced into situations she is unable to handle and mentally shuts down, stricken with terror and a destruction of her self esteem. Repeatedly she is reduced to a catatonic, gibbering condition. So really, this is a dark comedy about people who supposedly love this troubled girl and continue to thrust her into overwhelmingly stressful situations in order to teach her a 'lesson'.
The series was simulcast by FUNimation and is likely to have a video release in the near future. The manga is being released in English by Kadokawa Shoten.
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