English Dub Review: Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear “Bear, Meets Little Girl”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The episode opens with Yuna explaining that she’s become obsessed with the world’s first VRMMORPG: World Fantasy Online. She logs in for another round as usual, and learns she’s received a present from the administrators.

She selects a treasure chest, which opens to reveal her signature Bear Set. She muses that the suit’s powers are “so OP it’s crazy” but that it looks ridiculous.

The systems asks her a few survey questions following the gift. Her answers reveal that Yuna thinks World Fantasy Online is more fun than the real world, where she doesn’t really have anyone or anything that she “treasures” other than money.

Yuna finds herself wearing her bear suit in the game, and is unable to access the menu. Even worse, she realizes her level is set to 1! She receives a message from “God” saying they hope she enjoys the world and even falls in love with it one day.

She’s then attacked by a wolf, which she handily defeats with a simple stick. But she’s not out of the (literal) woods yet, as nearby beasts are attacking a young girl.

While the newly rescued Fina “harvests” the wolf carcass for money, Yuna checks in on her newly increased level and update powers. The two proceed to the city of Crimonia.

Here, Yuna learns that her money from the real world has been (conveniently!) transferred into the game.

After enjoying a meal together and sending Fina off with food for her family, Yuna checks into an inn, exhausted. When she wakes up, she checks her appearance in the mirror and confirms it’s her, not her avatar.

She mournfully confirms she’s been “isekai’d”, before quickly accepting her new reality. She heads out to test out her new bear suit’s powers. When she returns to town, Fina fills her in about the benefits of being an adventurer.

Yuna heads over to register at the adventurer’s guild. Deborance, an arrogant adventurer, challenges her to prove herself. She offers to take on a goblin, then points to him. She takes him out with a single bear punch and registers with her work class as bear.

Then it’s off to adventuring. She easily takes out scores of monsters, and officially teams up with Fina to harvest them.

Our take:

Ok, second episode of this series. The first episode had a strong start, with a solid blend of comedy and action, but it’ll need some substance to make it worth continuing. It’s hard not to compare it to another famous mind-trapped game anime, .hack//SIGN.

Where the former was notably slower paced but suspenseful, this series is far more lighthearted. We’ll have to wait and see what the reasoning behind being trapped in the game is (and what, if any, real life consequences exist because of the situation.)

But I have to assume it won’t be the lofty blend of Westworld-esque AI development vs. Wall-E‘s overprotective AUTO interference that made .hack//SIGN so iconic.

Which isn’t to say it won’t be entertaining! When asked “Young miss, what kind of outfit is that?” by a distressed Crimonian guard, Yuna’s deadpan response of “The kind you wear” couldn’t be any more on point. Her grumble of “you don’t have to say the emoji” is also quality humor. I get the feeling that Marissa Lenti is really living it up in this role.

Xanthe Huynh (or Sachi for you Sword Art Online fans) gives Fina a strong start in this series as well. Despite being young, her voice avoids any of the super high trills or overly tearful sounding moments. It’s overall a balanced performance. I’m optimistic about hearing more from her, since she’ll be a main character now.

One voice performance that I was sadly unable to track down details for yet is the “God” or administrator. The upbeat, carefree slant gives me Risya in Empire vibes, with maybe just a touch of Attack on Titan‘s Zoe for some mad scientist flavor.

There’s not much else to be said about this series so far. The premise is set up, and it’s confirmed Yuna’s trapped in the game. An isekai storyline isn’t unheard of, or even unwelcome. But it’s a little odd that there doesn’t seem to be much pushing our protagonist out of reality, besides boredom.

While I do appreciate a break from super serious anime posturing, there’s also not much fun in Yuna’s guaranteed wins. Her friendship with Fina will hopefully give her a chance for some character development, but currently she’s basically the anime version of that DJ Khaled song.

Overall, this series seems to be leaning into the lighthearted fun for now. If there’s any exploration of escapism or depth to Yuna’s personality that she hinds behind a worry free approach to life (including being trapped in a game) we’ll have to wait for future episodes to see it!