The Heroic Kigurumi Chapter 07: When You're Not Taken Seriously Again

Acting bizarrely on something equally strange for the first time is understandable. But, give it enough times to be seen, and people start to get used to it. The extraordinary, becomes ordinary once more. And this is more or less what you would expect if you start living around the same area as these people.

So what about visiting another place for the very first time, "once again"? Looks like our kigurumi hero Yuna is about to bear (pun intended) the problems that she once had... when villagers didn't take her seriously.

"You know, I've never even heard of this 'kigurumi' thing, but it just looks soooo cute!"

We've established in the last few episodes of Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear that the Foschurose family are this kind of chill aristocrats who are mostly portrayed as benevolent and non-abusive of their position. The father, Cliff in particular, was extensively shown as a goody two-shoes, who went out of his way to correct some livelihood error that would otherwise be completely irrelevant to his and his family's lives. They also kind of represent the elite portion of the town, as opposed to Fina and gang who pretty much represents the common folk.

"Well, this kid could 'bearly' wait, you see. For her, your company has been a delightful addition to this traditionally festive, but personally formal occasion."

In this episode, the Foschurose family has yet another opportunity to showcase this, as they are given the responsibility to attend the king's birthday celebration. Nobility PR aside, this also gives the series a good opportunity to have something set completely outside Crimonia for once (like, farther than even episode-one village) without breaking its slice-of-life elements. This is all while setting up the lore of the story's world.

"Yuna, your wild actions here as a guild member also affect the town as a whole."
"Heyy, you're the GM, so you're supposed to know that I didn't do anything wrong!"

Specifically for Yuna though, this is yet another opportunity to once again play the "strange person" card. Because let's face it, after six episodes, no matter what batshit crazy thing she does back in Crimonia, the townsfolk there would probably just shrug and identify it as her quirky attitude. Oh, some giant-ass monster carcass was brought back for dismantling again? Well, it's just another manic Monday for that bear kigurumi lady.

In other words, they're already used to seeing the almighty bear kigurumi do her work, or whatever it is that she is trying to accomplish.

"All these nice stuff... maybe I should try to mingle with your everyday affairs too."

Going back to the episode's objective, daddy Cliff apparently left Noire in the care of Yuna, since he was still trying to finish some sort of business and cannot travel with them. True, this sounds like your typical protagonist-centric plot device. But she's basically known as the most powerful adventurer in Crimonia at this point, so having him personally request Yuna is more than understandable.

As for why Yuna agreed despite her disdain for nobility... well it's a special visit to the kingdom's capital city. Besides, who can even say no to Cliff Noire?

"By the way, this is Fina. She'll function as our goody-goody aristocrat PR today."

And so off they go. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Fina is also included in this trip. She does offer that sweet, sweet social balance for that consistent "noble" portrayal of the Foschurose family.

"These are members of the Farrengram family. They'll be important in the near future but, we can forget about them for now."

One minor detail that would most likely be addressed on later episodes is the fact that the road to the capital suddenly had monsters stronger than usual, as well as the first appearance of the Farrengram family in the anime adaptation. For now, Yuna only encounters the granddaughter Misana and family head Gran en route to the capital so far.

"Not gonna lie. I actually kind of missed these reactions back in Crimonia after they started getting used to my presence and my kigurumi."

As Yuna and gang arrived at the capital, the main theme of the episode finally starts to kick in: the weird and wacky lane once again. Most of the strange reactions and odd looks from Crimonia back from the first few episodes, is mostly shown again in this episode. In fact, Yuna even comments about this very fact herself, claiming that it's been a while since she saw those reactions from ordinary people.

"I've missed you dearly Noire! You know, sometimes I wonder why Cliff and I even had to live politically apart like this. It's not like we had a falling out or even divorced." 

But the highlight of this "odd visitor" theme is, of course, none other than the appearance of the rest of the Foschurose family members. Starting with their mother, Ellelaura. She is shown to portray the... you guessed it, quite-young-looking-to-be-a-mother anime trope (even though she is actually already in her mid-thirties).

"Hmm, your character intro here sounds way more vulgar attitude-wise though."
"Why... does that seem like I'm such a troublesome person to deal with?"

While she has shown a bit of surprise when she meets Yuna in person, her demeanor was still otherwise quite normal. This is due to the fact that folks back at Crimonia (Noire and Cliff specifically) have already told her about Yuna in advance. Part of the received introduction also included Yuna's informal ways, which definitely added to the interest of this cheerful and (relatively) young noblewoman towards the weird kigurumi hero.

"Well, that's a triple negative for her. I'm Yuna by the way."

Ellelaura aside, the much stronger emphasis on reputation and appearances definitely goes to Noire's elder sister, Shuri. Her reactions are the ones that are technically the most natural when it comes to Yuna and her bears. That is, she expresses a stronger sense of both caution and wonder to the unexpected visitor.

"But this kid's too young for the job!" "Yuna may be a kid, but she's strong."
"Uhh, you two are missing the bigger misunderstanding here."

In fact, the long-gone trope of Yuna's "ridiculous" outfit being unrelated to her power and skills are once again conveniently revived for this interaction. Shuri was vehemently against the idea that someone so young, especially wearing such goofy outfit, could be strong enough to be appointed as Noire's escort.

"You know, your mom may have been planning for this all along."
"I know, but I have to try and prove you wrong somehow."

This then led her to challenge Yuna to a duel...

"Never thought this kid would beat me to a pulp like this."
"You guys are never really going to correct that are you?"

... which of course she lost to. Many times. All the way until the afternoon.

Then someone finally had the good idea to actually ask Yuna her age, which turns out to be almost the same as Shuri's. Still, having known the existence of someone far better than her, even if their age was the same, was a good lesson to keep Shuri's head at level.

"Looks like,...I should have offered them food immediately in the first place."

The rest of the episode followed the familiar formula of bringing modern Earth delights to what otherwise is usually a medieval fantasy society. This starts with the pudding from the previous episode, which looks like the epitome of Yuna's destiny with eggs in this series.

*insert NPC dialogue here*

She then comes across potatoes (another rather special crop in terms of Earth history), and even cheese at the local capital market, which seems to have been brought all the way to the capital city from some distant locality.

*gasp* "You eat those by HAND?!"

With all these special ingredients in hand, she went ahead to (re)create burger and fries, the end result of the burger steak foreshadowing earlier this episode. Shuri and Ellelaura claims it seems to difficult to eat it with a knife and fork, but... seriously? Haven't we all tried to eat it that way at some point, like when eating while using a keyboard? Anyway Noire and Fina simply eats it by hand as Yuna instructed.

"I feel like the genre of this MMO I'm playing is changing bit by bit."

Finally, a short discussion about pizza was made. Yuna's mouth-watering description of the delicacy definitely caught the attention of the four, who are now craving for something they have never even seen once in their life.

However, as the great kigurumi hero has stated, it is quite a chore to make, bear kigurumi-based anti-stain magic notwithstanding. She admitted that she would rather be the one eating it than the one making it.

Wise words Yuna, very wise words.