English Dub Review: Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear “Bear, Lays to Waste”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

A mysterious figure is being sentenced for an unknown crime. They vow revenge on the king before suffering their punishment.

Yuna’s prepared a pizza. She explains it’s perfectly acceptable to eat with your hands, and her delicious creation is enjoyed by Fina, Noa, and Misana.

Ellelaura joins the girls and samples the savory treat. She’s delighted and impressed, and encourages Yuna to open a restaurant or shop of some sort.

Noa asks Yuna if it would be alright for her to spend the day with Fina. Yuna relents, so long as it’s ok with Fina. Misana and Fina join Noa on her secret quest: procuring membership cards for the Bear Fan Club.

Left alone by her friends’ departure, Yuna accompanies Ellelaura for a tour of the castle. They’re joined unexpectedly by Princess Flora, who insists on showing Yuna around herself. Yuna repays the kindness by drawing up a story book of their adventures for the young royal.

With the rest of the girls having returned, the group explores the market. They overhear other visitors talking about monster attacks in the northern forests, which worries Noa. Her father was planning to travel that path on his way to Royal Capital. Yuna volunteers to go pick him up.

Gulzam, the mysterious man from earlier, confronts the King and Ellelaura, vowing revenge, and bragging of his army of ten thousand beasts. The King sends for Sanya, the master of the capital’s adventurer’s guild. She uses her magic to scope out the forest, only to observe Yuna running in against the beasts and defeating them all with ease!

Gulzam is shocked his army is being destroyed so easily, and summons a giant worm to counter his bear suited opponent. The creature is still no match for Yuna’s bear powers, and she promptly wraps things up just as Lord Cliff arrives.

Not wanting credit for the feat, she swears the Lord to secrecy as they head back to town. Of course, that doesn’t end up working out exactly how she would’ve liked, but a happy ending for all nonetheless.

Our take:

This episode kicks things off with a bang, but then slows down a bit to focus on Yuna’s pizza making skills.

Oh, and her secret artistic abilities developed from “drawing manga as a hobby.” Oh, AND her lighthearted humming of the upbeat end theme, “Anone” while heading off to escort Lord Cliff through the forest. Delightful.

But by and far the best part is when she just runs in to take on 10,000 monsters, LEEEROY JENKINS style. Granted, the action doesn’t last long. But it’s fun to see her bust out the Fire Bears again. Even better is Gulzam’s shocked reaction at being defeated so easily. Try again next life, guy!

Either my investigative skills are slipping, or voice actors are getting harder to find. Because unfortunately, I wasn’t able to track down the folks responsible for the English voices for either Gulzam, Misana, the King, Princess Flora, OR Sanya. Even worse, we might not be seeing most of these characters again!

Regardless of anonymity, their performances are fantastic. Gulzam manages to come across as genuinely scary, which makes his shocked “huh?!” at Yuna’s ease of victory even funnier. Misana is as sweet as ever, and the King seems genuine and in control. Princess Flora has a delightful child’s soprano that manages to avoid being too babyish. And Sanya I’m really hoping we see more of, because her smooth, cool vocals are impressively calming, even when describing a fantastical bear battle.

Visually, stylized reactions show up in full force this episode. From Yuna’s unamused reactions to other character’s pronunciations of “pizza” to Gulzam’s feature-flattening shock, the simplicity helps emphasize the emotions while effectively providing contrast to the more detailed (if less dramatic) scenes.

Storywise, you would think that Yuna’s overpowered adventures would be getting dull, but I’m still into it. In addition to her random meta commentary (“Wow, the soaring castle gives it a real fantasy vibe!”) serving as a comedic reminder that this is still a video game, it’s fascinating to see an “adventure” series focus more on slice-of-life aspects.

Theoretically, players can make any path they choose in the game. But presumably most, if not all, focus on fighting and exploring. Since Yuna is able to fight so easily and doesn’t really need the money, her problems are more mundane. It’s similar to One Punch Man, but cuter and with more focus on friendships and cooking. Although there’s definitely some “ok” face moments in this series as well.

Overall, it’s still silly and sweet, with just enough action to keep things in check. I’m excited to see her finally opening this much-requested shop next episode, while dealing with whatever unexpected obstacles that task may hold.