10 Second Anime - Kuma Miko - Episode 5

Natsu plays his part in the village's disciplinary system, which puts Hibiki in a difficult spot.

Episode 5 - "The Opposite"

Heh.

So now we know what Natsu meant in the first episode when he said that the Mothers Association wanted him to be scarier to the kids. It was for their special timeout bear cave!

Of course Shouta the little troublemaker had to get more than he bargained for when he was punished for stealing. He's never doing that again!

What was great was how this scene tied in so perfectly with the mystery of why Hibiki suddenly asked Machi to go shopping with her.

I had speculated that Yoshio had asked her to go with Machi and "bribed" her with city council funds. But I didn't understand why she was so reluctant to admit to Yoshio that she had just come back from their girly trip. There was something else going on.

Natsu was happy that Hibiki had done this kind deed and that maybe Machi had made a female friend, but then Hibiki showed that coldness in front of Yoshio. Natsu's pretty smart, but how would he know about a certain girl's hidden motivations?

Enter the bear cave of discipline! Machi is a successor to the Kuma Miko role, but that means Natsu is too. Apparently, these bears like to gossip amongst themselves.

So what was this hidden motivation for Hibiki to be nice to Machi? Natsu told Machi to read between the lines!

There's only white space between those lines, Natsu...

Natsu trying to act tsundere for a clueless Machi was comedy gold!

I don't even know how Machi's brain works if the closest she could come to putting the puzzle pieces together was that Yoshio forced Hibiki to do his bidding because he had kidnapped her love interest. So close! Missed it by... that much!

I'm convinced that 80's music comes from a Shimomura commercial. And that the low prices but high quality "looking" clothes having a secret source is some kind of tag line.

It's a nice plot device, but the timing of Hibiki to shut up Yoshio when he was about to tell Machi that he had asked her to go shopping with her could only happen as a comedy gag.

Everything else fit, though. Hibiki would know all about how the disciplinary bear cave would work because, well, she spent a lot of time there.

Of course, it wasn't with Natsu, but his predecessor. Those bears like to gossip, so Natsu ended up knowing all about Hibiki's hidden attraction to Yoshio.

Their conversation and Hibiki's outrageous attempts at hiding her blushing was great comedy.

I was tickled that Yoshio came to Hibiki's workplace to ask her to help Machi and that she works at a pachinko parlor.

The tsundere Hibiki had to refuse the request at the time, but that soft spot she has for Yoshio made her do it anyway. On her terms and time schedule, of course. It's not like he was doing it for Yoshio, okay?

This is a comedy, so nothing really got resolved except the audience knows what's going on with Hibiki now. She also might be feeling more pressure to just admit her feelings for Yoshio. Pray for Yoshio's gut if they ever get together...

As for Machi, Natsu doesn't think she'll ever be able to discern what's in another person's heart. And that she'll probably be taken advantage of... Like an overprotective bear of a dad, Natsu only thinks in worst-case scenarios.

Also, he doesn't seem to think Machi will get much more of a fuller figure than she has now... Such a poor opinion of her, Natsu!