By Kumanano and 029. Released in Japan by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by Lorin Christie.

Sigh. So not only does this volume retread a lot of ground I talked about last time when I was reviewing Kuma Bear (Yuna is a big softie but hates when people call attention to it), it’s also a huge battle volume, which means that 2/3 of it is made up of fights that I also can’t really review very well. It is nice to see Yuna having to think about various ways to try to defeat the fire orochi head, whose strengths actually block Yuna to a degree, and seeing her try some stuff that, back in Vol. 2 or so, was an immediate win move end up doing nothing whatsoever. She’s having to think on her feet and be clever, even though a lot of this is just “I can do things everyone else can’t because of the bear costume”. And we get a flashback showing how the orochi was first sealed, which is interesting if you’re invested in the fox spirit. Which… I wasn’t really. So yeah, still struggling.

Sorry, cover art fans, but Yuna spends barely any time in the white side of the suit this book – this is powerful, punching things Yuna through and through. Everyone realizes that the orochi’s seals are breaking, especially now that Mumulute shows up and it starts to really try to break its binding. The answer is to just fight and actually defeat it this time, but the orochi has four heads and its huge body, and even Yuna can’t duplicate herself. So Shinobu and Kagari also get involved, and unfortunately Shinobu is injured and has to be sent to the penalty box (the penalty box being Yuna’s home, where Fina is called over to nursemaid her). As for Sakura and Luimin, two of the latest girls to revolve around Yuna’s “10-year-old girls seem to dog me” orbit, well, they can at least try to stop it waking up for as long as possible. Still, in the end, it takes a bear. A bear who really, really does not want a reward.

So, stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Yuna hates being praised and deflects attempts to credit her for anything, saying she just wants to live a life where she’s not viewed as the hero. That’s getting increasingly difficult, and it doesn’t help that Kagari (who, by the end of this book, is also in the body of a little girl – The Author’s Barely Disguised Fetish is always the weakest part of this series) is doing the same thing. On the bright side, I did enjoy seeing Luimin and Sakura bond immediately, to the point where they vow to travel the world together once they grow up, and it might even eventually be yuri if I thought the author was ever going to do anything of the sort, which I don’t. And we got to see Fina pouting and hitting Yuna with her fists like an anime cliche. That was cute.

We’re only a little behind Japan now, which has Vols. 20 and 20.5 out. Next time should see the start of a new arc, and no doubt new things for me to complain about. But I’ll read it. Yuna is as Yuna does.

By Kumanano and 029. Released in Japan by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by Lorin Christie.

Well, I got my wish. Sort of. Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, like My Next Life As a Villainess, has a problem. It has cultivated a large yuri audience it absolutely does not want, but it cannot afford to piss that audience off too much as they’re one of the big reasons that it’s a success. It doesn’t help that Yuna has accumulated a “harem” of underage girls, which yes is the main draw of the series (the moe aesthetic, I mean), but also makes the yuri a bit creepy. Still, here at least we do have Yuna straight up saying that she isn’t interested in men. Unfortunately, she says it to a girl her own age who has expressed attraction to her, and Yuna’s response is “just because I’m not interested in men doesn’t mean I’m interested in you”. Honestly, as with many other series of this type, Yuna seems to be fairly asexual in general. But hey, a bone thrown to the fans. Now back to beating people up with magic bear powers.

As everyone predicted, Yuna’s discovery from the cliffhanger to 17 ends up being the Land of Wa that the author has threatened us with for so long. She heads over there on her bears, and finds it pretty much is just Japan in a vaguely fantasy setting. And I do mean vaguely. She can buy tatami mats, stay at a hotel with futons and a hot spring, and get artisanal candy shaped like animals (the bears have sold out, for some reason). Then she goes to the adventurer’s guild, there’s a quest to take out a dangerous predator that no one wants to take except her… and a very suspicious ninja girl named (try to contain your shock) Shinobu, who insists on accompanying her. Is there some secret plot going on? And does it involve trying desperately to break Yuna out of her shell of “whatever, I don’t care, I’m headed back”?

I was reminded the other day of a series I dropped .like a hot potato a while back, Wandering Witch. It has quite a bit in common with Kuma Bear, in that it stars talented people who try not to get involved in things but end up doing so anyway, and who have a large element of selfishness to their personality. For Yuna, though, this is mostly a front. When she finds out what’s happening to the country, and that it’s been predicted by the country’s prophet, she’s still fairly apathetic. But when she finds the prophet is a 10-year-old girl whose parents have died… naturally, she decides to help. Yuna rarely thinks about her parents much anymore, but there is a definite subtext of “kids need to be allowed to be kids, even when they are orphans and have to grow up fast, no one deserves the childhood I had”. She is a surrogate big sister to every girl she meets, and she will move heaven and earth for them. And then deny she did anything special.

This is a multi-part arc, so I assume next time will have lots of fighting. Till then, enjoy another review where I overanalyze a title that really doesn’t deserve it.

By Kumanano and 029. Released in Japan by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by Lorin Christie.

We all have things we’d like to read in our favorite series. Usually they’re things that aren’t going to happen until near the end, such as a romantic couple getting together. It could also be the climax of a series of subplots that is building far too slowly and meticulously. And I have these desires about Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, only I suspect that I’m never going to get what I want. I want to meet Yuna’s parents. I want to flash back to her life in Japan before this one. I know that her parents are going to be absolutely the worst – they are, after all, the ones who, after Yuna offered them a ton of money to get out of her life, took the money and got out of her life. But they’ve still clearly affected Yuna deeply, and I think a lot of her current attitude towards almost everyone in Crimonia and other areas is due to this. It can’t all be “LOL, she’s a NEET”, after all. Parental neglect is important too.

Still in the dwarf village, Yuna decides to go watch the trials and (naturally) ends up taking the trial herself, as she accidentally arrived about 8-9 hours too early. Unfortunately for the dwarves, the trials basically are designed to match the level of the person taking them, which means Yuna’s is insanely difficult – and also mentally wearing, as she’s forced into combat situations that are poor matches for her, then forced to face herself (see the cover art), and finally forced to rescue Fina from a deathtrap, something which causes her to flip out a bit. After doing this and getting the pots and pans she came there for, she returns to Crimonia – with Lilyka, who’s basically being told to stop being tsundere and go get her man, something she finds easier said than done. The rest of the book is basically “Yuna does cute things”, at least till the end, when she’s on the floating island and sees a remote ship. Are we finally getting to fantasy Japan?

As always, the most interesting scenes in the book are the ones where Yuna is thrown off her game. Facing a version of herself is less interesting, though I was amused at her realization that it’s annoying to fight someone who does this. More interesting was the last battle. I suspected that it wasn’t the real Fina (somethng which is later confirmed), but Yuna doesn’t know that, and seeing her caught in the old “water slowly filling a tank” trap causes her to completely panic – which is, of course, the point of the trials, which remind the person taking them that remaining cool in battle is what you need to do, even if your loved ones are in danger. Yuna here basically admits she sees Fina as her younger sister, which is fine by me, as Fina’s still ten. I do wish Yuna would stop insisting she’s not gay every volume, but that’s a separate issue, and it’s not unique to this author.

If you enjoy picking through “cute bears doing overpowered things” series to find the nugget or two of depth, this sure is that.