Kuma Miko: Character Regression
Don’t let the art fool you. Don’t even let that cute teddy bear push you in that trap. This is a warning: Kuma Miko sucks. Terribly. Just read the manga if you’re that interested.
I can’t even fathom why such an adorable show need to end up in such a state. Personally, it embarrasses me as I was heavily promoting it with my bear/furry friends, and I must admit most of the episodes are decent. The itch to give it a definite ending was the one who brought it to disaster. As I said in my Twitter, if there’s such a concept as character regression, this one is a trailblazer.
Kuma Miko is a seinen about a middle school girl named Machi and a bear who serves as his custodian. At first the arrangement was too adorable to ignore: the bear looks more like a plush toy than a real bear (compared to the manga), and Machi’s attempts to be more of a “city girl” was so funny it triggers enough pity to the situation she was into. But I’ve come to realize she’s still more lucky than many indigenous people in real life, having access to the things (and a set of supportive adults) she needs to adapt to the real world — just that she let her fears set her back.
It’s so frustrating that after all the humiliation she had to endure (in simple situations such as going to the mall or doing a part-time job), it will only end up with her giving up her city dream, fulfilling the bear’s prayer to the gods (need to spoil the ending here — an original, by the way.) They just wasted airtime presenting those challenges only to make Machi return to the bear’s comforting presence at the expense of her progress as a human being.
To be honest, I’ve felt that Kuma Miko will wrap up like that way before it ended. It’s just that they structured it in a manner that reversed everything the cast has worked hard for. The bear just ended up being the antagonist who pretends to love and care for Machi but is jealous and possessive beyond belief. On the other hand, I don’t want to put Yoshio in a bad light even if her relationship with Machi was portrayed to be abusive: compared to how the bear was portrayed, he cares much for her he understands the little girl needs to learn surviving on her own to prepare for the inevitable disappearance of the bear and the adults in her life.
Kuma Miko is an exhibit on how not to adapt a manga — considering the source’s still ongoing, its anime adaptation ended up with no respect for the author and the direction he aims for his concept. (Rumor‘s that he ranted on Tumblr after watching the finale.) The need for a conclusion can be tempting, but a lot of slice-of-life shows were able to resist it while delivering a satisfying result still. Real life can’t be concluded in just twelve episodes, anyway, and Kuma Miko’s simply not the material to force it.
Next season EMT Squared is back doing shorts after this ill-fated debut, while Kinema Citrus just ruined the reputation they built after their much-celebrated adaptation of Barakamon. These two studios need to reflect deeply after they ruined such adorable material.
