The Kigurumi Hero's Judgment and Adventurer's Values

The subject of appearances is a central feature of the show Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear. If you have read any of my extensive reviews of the episodes, characters around her always get to learn the hard lesson only when it is already right in front of their faces.

The entire second season isn’t different. But what’s fascinating for the first part of this cour is the way expectations are reversed, and that even Yuna herself isn’t beyond judging others over their looks.

As expected, the students in training are taken aback by what seems to be a very unrealistic attire for a veteran adventurer. But instead of assuming that she’s just a massive weirdo, they jumped to the conclusion that she’s a rich spoiled kid that simply “bought” her adventurer’s license via piggybacking. This is quite funny, since the average audience of this show already knows that Yuna absolutely despises the social elite for like, almost the very same logic.

So for the better part of this short run, the four students assumed that she is nowhere near being an adventurer. This unintentionally became a benefit in two ways. First, this further strengthened their resolve to pass the exam by themselves. Second, their alertness never waned, since they didn’t really feel that safe even with Yuna around as their official escort. Even after acknowledging the abilities of Yuna’s pet bears, they just dismissed her, and mostly treated her as a burden.

Back on Yuna’s side, her mind also automatically assumed a lot of stuff about the kids. For one thing, she did not take their resolve that seriously. It was part of building a sense of responsibility, sure. But when push comes to shove, she probably thought that like any other cowardly noble, they’re going to hightail out of a sticky situation quickly.

The crux of the episode, as expected, came when the party finally encountered something that the kids cannot possibly hope to handle in combat: a Black Tiger. Yuna once again showed her overpowered stuff, and the kids were finally convinced of her worth as an adventurer.

Yuna also had a good change of heart, by the way, finally realizing the true heroic nature of the kids, and acknowledging their will to do what is right even when faced with surmounting odds.

All in all, it was a good start to a new season, which back then (when it was aired) would have been split into two separate episodes. If the trope of Yuna being internally ridiculed started to become stale to you, this might be a refreshing change.

Still, don’t expect anything cerebral to come out of the conversations. This is still essentially a slice-of-life series, meant for you to relax and enjoy watching, possibly with a kigurumi onesie of your own.