The character's voice caught me by surprise. I was expecting a genki JK but instead I got a cynical, kuudere-esque character. I wasn't terribly sold on the first episode though, since there was little in the way of character dynamics (compared to Bofuri, for instance).

Also supposedly it ends up effectively being an isekai, since the character gets trapped in the world. Although I suppose at this point distinguishing between VRMMO and isekai is splitting hairs

I watched the first ep hoping for the best but expecting the worst. I'm tired of isekai and vrmmo. I thought there might have been a chance this could be a fun light hearted comedy that parodies the cliché and done to death themes of other material in this genre, instead this plays right into them. They play everything fairly straight, the bear thing seems to be a very shallow and surface level gimmick on top of an extremely generic isekai.

It also highlighted a lot of the problems I have with this stuff, stuff that other people seemed to be very quick to defend. One of my problems with isekai/vrmmo stories, is that more often than not the element of being a game or an afterlife adds nothing at all to the story. You can easily edit out any mention of this stuff in these stories and it would barely change the runtime. It only exists as wish fulfilment for fans who hope the after life might be half this interesting, or who think games like this might really come to pass.
People say this is just makes exposition easier because "everyone knows how MMO work", which to me just sounds like the creators are being lazy for one. Secondly, Everyone knows how fantasy works, it's what mmo are generally based on. Everyone knows what darfs and elfs and dragons are, you don't need to add hp/mp to that to make it easier for people to understand. you can have an adventures guild without the context of a game world, it's your world you can make whatever the fuck rules you want. This only takes away from the stories if anything, as seen in Kuma Kuma because the game world context goes both ways. Being set in an MMO just leaves one wondering why characters do the things they do, and why things happen the way they do while applying videogame logic, things that make sense if this is a real living breathing fantasy world, but not for a game. From little things like how the character can taste the food she's eating, to why there were no other players willing to take up the contract that kuma went on. Is it scripted, is the game in some sort of closed beta and devoid of other players? How is a player able to easily defeat a monster that is meant for levels far above hers? If she's as powerful as a lv50+ character, why isn't she lv50? If it's all in her gear boosting her stats, why isn't it level capped? Did she hack the game? how hasn't she been banned yet? Why do NPC react so weirdly to seeing her wear a silly costume when 99% of MMO player characters look retarded? Why doesn't the main character change out of the bear armor when talking to NPC to avoid being given a hard time about it? she didn't seem to be doing it because it's funny or to get a reaction out of the npc. Why ride the bears, is there no fast travel? how much hp did she loose in that fight, or how much mp did she use? How is she so high level and well versed in this game, but doesn't know what the snake is, let alone what a chicken is? Has she never had eggs before in a game she's this OP in? How was she playing this without a gamepad? and if she's laying in bed, wouldn't that screw with the perspective in game? If they disabled head tracking, doesn't that kill a lot of the emersion and make VR redundant?
See, alllll that shit could easily be avoided if they just dropped the damn MMO gimmick, because most of that crap doesn't matters if it's a real world.

Needless to say I don't think I'll bother with the second ep.

I'll probably keep watching it since it looks like it could be some fun so far. If nothing else, the character is at least interesting. Cute, but powerful and nonchalant about most things, often in control of a situation. Though I can easily see how some would just think of her as boring. But I also have things I feel like pointing out:
If this an MMO then aren't the kid and the villagers all NPCs? If so, then why the urgency? Can't the quest just wait until somebody starts it whenever or is it some kind of time-sensitive quest? I don't know if MMOs have that normally. Either way, these probably aren't real human lives in danger so what's the rush?
If the Black Viper is so dangerous and fast, why did they send a kid to get help? Or did they send a lot of people and he was the only one who made it out? Still, why even send a kid, shouldn't they try and protect the children? And how did it not catch up to him?
The mom being sick feels awfully convenient.
Is it just me or are isekais just poorly written? This isn't the first time I've seen such uninteresting writing and explanations. Instead of throwing out some quote that might make more sense and happen to explain a bit about the world or at least her powers or personality it's just "they're created so such and such happens/doesn't happen". It feels like very inexperienced and uneducated writing, like something a kid made up without much thought into how it works. It could have been something like "You'll have to try to fall off of these bears." or "It's a smooth ride even for newbies." but it's not. Quotes like these at least give you an idea of how she is as a character, that she's relaxed but with a little bit of flair or just a simple laid back attitude, those might have served some (?) kind of purpose but they just don't. I noticed it in Kami-tachi and the few times I ever read light novels. Is this new or was it always like this? Explanations that say what but not why beyond "because that's how it is"?
I'm calling it now, the blonde Deborane guy might be her love interest.
What about Kai's mom? Didn't she get better? Aren't they going to at least show her being healthy or something?
I think it will probably change but this somewhat serious tone not only isn't done well but doesn't mix well. It doesn't help that Kuma-chan barely seems challenged though I'll still give them credit for her having to figure out how to kill the viper instead of burning it up with a turbo dragon ball laser and some kind of edgy speech and pose to accompany it.
>>34833 did a better job of pointing out the more important flaws in this show though I'll still probably watch an episode or two more before I decide to drop it. It looks cute, at least. Though I wouldn't be surprised if it's one of those series where the original author made some "fucking why" level decisions that throw a wrench in everything. Also I want to fluff those bears.

>>34836
>this somewhat serious tone not only isn't done well but doesn't mix well.
I thought so too. It's jarring. Like watching a mafia crime drama with the lead actor wearing a clown costume for the whole movie.

I read the manga. It was probably one of the most boring, annoying, cruel things I've ever read. Wraps up an unintentionally hateable protagonist with bland design, and tops it off with murdering forest animals for no reason.
It seems like the anime is different, but going by what people are saying in this thread I assume that the spirit is the same. I was physically sick after reading halfway through the first volume, mostly because of the main character's pointless wolf genocide that's supposed to make her look strong but makes her come off more like a complete psychopath. Needless to say I won't be watching the anime, but don't be surprised if some abysmal plotline happens that makes you question if the people creating this show are evil or not.

>>34839
>wolf genocide
I don't suppose this is meant to take the place of boars in an attempt at grinding?

>>34843
Wolves are just treated as fodder to be murdered, so yeah basically just the "grinding mob". The manga tries and fails to make this look like just regular hunting, but the methods used are incredibly cruel. She essentially just jams pieces of ice right into their heads. I wouldn't consider myself squeamish or anything but the way it was portrayed upset me to a great extent, as if I was actually witnessing the evil of the creator within that very panel. I wonder what sort of life he must've had to come up with something like that.
If this anime has anything I would hope that it does not have that scene.

>>34845
You're being ridiculous. You think the creator is evil because in their manga they had someone kill virtual wolves in a way that's too violent for your taste.

>>34848
I think it depends how it's depicted.

>>34848
They were "real" wolves at that point because isekai, in spite of the girl's literal God powers making you think otherwise. She pretty much just walks in and murders about 50 of them to "test" her new powers by jamming pieces of ice right into their skulls. The manga pretends this isn't cruel by showing them getting skinned or whatever so I guess that's a little better than just leaving their corpses to rot.
I don't have anything against hunting but hunters have standards and don't try to brutalize their prey. This is just a 12 year old with a god complex doing whatever she wants with no repercussions. The scene wasn't gory but I still thought it was stupidly cruel and pointless to draw.
That's not even mentioning that the entire thing to read up to that point was a slog and felt like a joke. If you were to show someone this or that "smartphone isekai" and then preface it by telling them it was parody then they would probably never question it. It's aimless and boring and feels like I'm watching someone talk about how great they are, or would be if they were a snotty brat in a bear's uniform who was literally talking to God. It's not very funny and isn't very interesting at all.

>>34852
>They were "real" wolves at that point because isekai
What. Also, killing them instantly by piercing their brain is probably one of the least cruel ways of killing something. An arrow where ever on their body so they stop running followed by cutting off their head or whatever to finish the job is way worse.

>>34853
>What.
It wasn't a virtual world in-story. I assume the anime takes a different route with this, but in the manga it wasn't a VRMMO at that point. She was in a real world. Of course, the writing is terrible so for some reason she still gets MMO perks like an inventory screen for whatever reason.
I supposed the wolves technically aren't 'real' either way since it's a manga, but I was still disgusted looking at it.
>Also, killing them instantly by piercing their brain is probably one of the least cruel ways of killing something.
That's true. But instead of using an arrow, or a bullet, she jammed gigantic pieces of rock right into their heads. If I remember correctly there were also wolves who didn't get quite as lucky and got the ice jammed into their legs or stomachs instead. It was very brutal. And I do think there's a difference between a quick and clean kill and one where you turn their head into an unrecognizable soup.

I for one thought it was weird how everyone was so happy and cheerful for people who just saw their friends and family get killed. I dunno about wolfs, but I think it really says something about the writing when the little kid barely reacts to learning his neighbors were killed. The way the dad told him, made it sound like they were close.
Then there's the fact that ms kuma sent fireballs down the snake's mouth and blew it up from the inside. Up to that point I was wondering, since it's a snake is it possible it ate these people whole? and since it ate some of them very recently, could some of them still be alive? is she going to cut open the snake and- ...nope, okay they're all dead now for sure. ....is she going to check? ...is anyone going to ask? ...no? okay... ... ...Good job kuma!

People keep insisting it gets better in the second ep but from what I've seen already I can't be bothered to check.

I watched the second episode and it's until then they decided to wait to start explaining stuff for some reason. Also apparently there's yuri. But I'm dropping it anyway.
I don't know why anybody here has a problem with animal genocide. I've never played it much but maybe the fact that the creatures killed need to be dismantled for profit reminds me of monster hunter and it's with that in mind I'm not sure why morals are brought into question.

>>34938
>But I'm dropping it anyway.
Yeah same. I don't like like being tricked then told "lol jk we'll do it for real this time". If ep1 was meant to be some kind of example of what the series is like latter on, then I'm even less interested. But yeah, I just got done playing a game for 8 hours straight in which at one point you need "fox skin" to buy(not craft) an unlimited use quick travel item. But it's a really rare drop so that meant murderfying the fuck out of every single fox I saw till I got it. Same thing earlier on in the game when I needed a Boar skin to craft an upgrade for my storage limit. Sounds like Kuma wasn't collecting items from the wolfs though, but at that point they've probably killed so many they don't give it a second thought. Could also be she's killing them so they wont attack local villages, I dunno just a guess.

>>34938
>Also apparently there's yuri
Is it actually yuri (or even kirara-style shoujo ai) in any sense other than having "two female MCs"? People said that about bofuri too, so at this point I would be shocked (kuma shocked!) if those claims turn out to be valid this time.

Nice season finale, and the entire series turned out to be much better than I would have expected given the first episode and general isekai-esque description. it's really closer to Endro than Bofuri: more of a slice-of-life, and though her powers are a deus-ex-machina it really doesn't matter since unlike Bofuri the focus isn't on the wacky things they're doing but on the friendships and people she gets to meet. The ending scene also reminded me of that of Kemono Friends ("tabenaide kudasai... tabenai yo").

By the way, apparently a season 2 has been announced.

>>35273
Thanks for bumping the thread. I wanted something similar to Bofuri as I'm enjoying it a bit right now so I'll look into this show and its supposedly horrific wolf-killings.

>>35303
The first episode is anomalous with the pacing and tone of the remainder of the show; but other than that I think if you liked Bofuri and generally enjoy SoL there's a good chance you will enjoy this too.

>>35273
Season 2 is now airing.

>>35273
>and though her powers are a deus-ex-machina it really doesn't matter since unlike Bofuri the focus isn't on the wacky things they're doing but on the friendships and people she gets to meet
Normally the whole isekai cheat power thing makes me roll my eyes, but I admire how Yuna's devoted her powers to small but meaningful acts of charity and that she has the humility to reject the spotlight. This trope is so much less annoying when it's used in service to others, not just for the main character's self-aggrandizement.

Keeki keeeki fuwa fuwa keeki mainichi tabetai fuwa fuwa keeki~

I think s2e11 is the first time we've seen Yuna without her neet pajamas bear suit on, and the gap moe is too cute!