tamerlane · @tamerlane420
6th Jan 2015 from TwitLonger
Yuri Kuma Arashi Impressions
I was a bit disappointed with the first episode of Yuri Kuma Arashi. I had no problems with the art design, which was fantastic and the storyboarding did an excellent job of complementing it. The most conspicuous issue is the animation, barely corrected and reminiscent of Penguindrum’s middle episodes (and first episodes are usually the ones that look the best…). There’s plenty of interesting ideas framing lesbianism in the context of rapid urbanization, with liberal references to the Sankebetsu bear attacks and its origin in wanton deforestation. But the characterization feels off, failing to establish Kureha as someone to care about (both Penguindrum’s and Utena’s cast were immediately relatable). There’s just this indescribable sense of incompleteness, like I watched the second or third episode instead of the first. This is judging way too early, I know, and I’m not really interested in using early impressions to pre-damn another Ikuhara passion project. But these observations led me to a more tenable conclusion: Ikuhara’s shows are really unmarketable.
Even though none of Ikuhara’s shows have bombed per se, each of his TV projects have faced an uphill battle in getting funded. They’re not based on a preexisting manga or property (the MPD/YKA/Utena mangas were all conceived alongside the project). They often use an old school shoujo design and sensibility that’s at odds with current trends. And they’re directed in an abstract, melodramatic manner that doesn’t favor easy consumption. It’s not just that his anime is for mature adults or whatever – his colleague Kenichi Kasai prospered during noitaminA’s heyday, and his shows were marketed towards adult women – it’s that his anime is goddamn weird. The kind of weird that used to be late night anime’s sole domain. It’s too dependent on anime genres and quirks to appeal to the non-enthusiasts but too off-putting aesthetically to appeal to most otaku. Ikuhara’s market is, well, Ikuhara fans.
That's why it’s becoming increasingly apparent that Utena was a fluke. It seems like the reason Utena even happened was because it was produced in the heart of the post-Eva late night anime boom and Ikuhara’s crew was already basically assembled when he left Toei. I don’t see a show like Utena getting greenlit today, so it’s not surprising that his recent shows haven’t had Utena’s polish. All signs point towards Penguindrum being planned for 3 cours – Ikuhara conceived of it around the time of Utena, had a decade’s worth of planning, and the final show has traces of subplots and side arcs that seem fleshed out yet never get enough screentime to prove it – but reducing the length to 2 cours was likely one of the many concessions Ikuhara had to make to get it produced. Another was the scheduling; MPD’s middle episodes bordered on Kill la Kill levels. Ikuhara knows how to run a production on a tight schedule (he’s from Toei after all) but his ambitions for the project didn’t square up with Brain’s Base’s expectations. Hence you get several multi-storyboarded episodes in the middle section where Ikuhara was doing all he could just to keep the ship afloat (Ikuhara has 14 storyboard credits on the show, more than half the entire length). Yuri Kuma Arashi probably faced similar trials. The Penguinbear project was announced in 2012 but we’re only now getting it 3 years later. What’s more, it’s at Silver Link, with shit animation, and is only 12 episodes long. It seems that Ikuhara will take any compromise as long as it gets his weird-ass shows greenlit and instead of rewriting to better suit the reduced episode count he goes all in. Unlike Sato with Hal Film Maker or Shinbo with SHAFT, Ikuhara never got his own studio to regularly produce his own kinds of shows (call it Yamauchi syndrome). We’re left with an incomplete picture of what Ikuhara is capable of, fragments instead of full shows. He has the mentality that between making an enjoyable but less compelling product or getting all his ideas out there, he’d always go with the latter.
And I honestly appreciate that. It’s a sad fact that anime fans give too little slack for artsy, ambitious directors and all too much for the blandly competent. Look at Junichi Sato. His last five years have been dreadful and arguably his best work was in the 90s anyway, just like Ikuhara. Unlike Ikuhara though, if someone called Junichi Sato a shit director they’d get laughed at. But now you’re already seeing those who were burned by Penguindrum line up to call out Ikuhara as a hack. I guess what Stroheim said about Hollywood, that you're only as good as your last film, applies just as strongly to the anime community.
Even if YKA ends up another Penguindrum flop I still think I’ll enjoy it. It’s a nuanced enjoyment though, like I’m cheering on Ikuhara as he tries his damnedest to continue making his weird as balls abstract shoujo sex melodramas. We definitely need more people like Ikuhara making anime.