Mori no Kuma-san – Anime Review & Episode Guide

Nowa is a bear. He lives in a fantasy world where all animal creatures can transform into beast or humanoid forms. One night, Nowa stumbles upon a dead woman's body on the beach. She has presumably drowned. There's an orphaned baby dog next to her corpse. Struck by the tragedy, Nowa takes it upon himself to adopt the puppy and become his guardian.

Nowa begins raising the puppy in his home. Airi grows very attached to his adoptive parent throughout adolescence. Although Nowa is a bear, he skips winter hibernation to take care of the child. After Airi has grown to a considerable age, Nowa leaves him in the care of his friend Kou. Then, Nowa finally goes into hibernation.

After waking up, Nowa is surprised to see Airi has matured drastically. The humanoid dog no longer looks or behaves like a child. Airi is sexually active and declares his romantic interest in Nowa. However, Nowa is resistant to entering a relationship due to their familial connection. He still sees himself as Airi's guardian. Nonetheless, Airi keeps asserting his sexual advances on Nowa, eager to win over his target's affections.

I debated whether to review Mori no Kuma-san since it crosses into "porn without a plot" territory. This 18+ BL anime has a laughably flimsy storyline and only cares about including as many raunchy scenes as possible. I'll take one for the team and write about it critically so you can know what to expect. The gist is that I don't think this series has any literary merit other than blatant smut. Mori no Kuma-san has little going for it besides crafting preposterous fantasy scenarios for the characters to have sex.

Mori no Kuma-san loses me from the very first scene. As soon as the protagonist picks up a crying baby, I realize that's his love interest and the feeling of dread sets in. Although they have no blood relation, I find the romance between an adoptive child and his paternal guardian icky. However, I know it's a ridiculous fictional story involving a bear and a dog. The premise is so unrealistic that I won't take my moral outrage seriously, even if the relationship dynamic bothers me.

There's a barebones story in Mori no Kuma-san. The anime begins by exploring Nowa's moral dilemma because he has qualms about romancing his foster child. Yet, these scenes are pointless since Nowa still has sex with Airi in every episode, undermining the internal conflict. Later, the narrative strays into a multi-episode arc about Nowa's nipples, of all things. I'm not even joking, but that subplot may be the highlight of Mori no Kuma-san. The series is impressive because thinking of these outrageously inane scenarios requires out-of-the-box creativity.

I'm not into steamy erotica with humanoid animals. Admittedly, the characters have close human resemblances, except they possess different ears and tails. Nonetheless, I can't overcome the psychological barrier whenever these beasts get frisky. It doesn't help that Mori no Kuma-san feels lewd and sleazy, operating almost entirely on lust. The anime offers such a shallow interpretation of romance. There's hardly a profound emotional connection between the leads, whose relationship doesn't develop beyond sex and minimal bonding.

The visuals in Mori no Kuma-san don't appeal to me. Several scenes have simplistic and sloppy artwork, not delivering consistent quality in each episode. I'm not fond of these character designs either. The leads have big lifeless eyes, anatomically incorrect bodies, and a weird perpetual blush on their faces. The uncensored version of the anime features explicit encounters, but the eroticism isn't aesthetically pleasing. When they have sex, there's too much sweat, tears, drool, and spit everywhere. Also, their nipples look like pacifiers! What's up with that?

Unsurprisingly, Mori no Kuma-san doesn't have much depth. The last two episodes show the slightest nuance as the story highlights Nowa's self-consciousness about his identity. The themes aren't complex, but at least it's something in a plotless anime. Otherwise, the rest of the series is packed with mindless fluff and titillating sex. Honestly, the story is pretty inoffensive once you move past the scandalous hookup between an adoptive child and his guardian. Even so, I don't recommend Mori no Kuma-san, which has no substance, little artistry, and too many iffy tropes.

Mori no Kuma-san, Toumin-chuu has a total of 9 episodes. Each episode is around 4 to 5 minutes long. The last episode is around 6 minutes long. It is a short BL anime, and you can finish the entire series in under 1 hour. The series started airing on July 4, 2022 and ended on September 12, 2022.

Mori no Kuma-san has a censored and uncensored version. The uncensored anime is longer and contains explicit sexual encounters that will help you understand the story better. Mori no Kuma-san is originally a manga created by Haruchika. It is adapted into an anime series, directed by Kazuomi Koga.