Kuma Miko vol 1 by MASUME YOSHIMOTO

Machi is a 14-year-old priestess of a shrine in the mountains of Japan. This little village is special because of their relationship to these talking bears. Machi is the companion to Natsu, a talking bear, and Machi is sort of responsible with keeping the relationship between the bears and the villagers a positive one. Machi wants to go to high school in the city, but Natsu thinks she’s too naive to survive in the city, worried that she will be taken advantage of because of her simple country ways.

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This title is pretty problematic. The dialogue is really choppy, and the story isn’t all that interesting, but the most problematic thing is a whole section on bestialty. One of the community members is telling a group of nine year olds the story of their village, because "they’re old enough now" to know the truth behind the talking bears. The legend has it that the village gave a maiden to the bears and instead of eating her, the bear had sex with the girl. The children are then introduced to Machi and Natsu, and they bombard her with questions about whether she's slept with Natsu and if that's her roll as priestess.

Later in the story, when Machi is given some other "priestess" clothes to try on (which are all pretty skimpy), the community member tries to get glimpses of Machi in her underwear as she changes her clothes. These major issues are not eclipsed by any sort of worthwhile story in order to redeem it, so this is definitely one I would not recommend for library shelves.

Sara's Rating: 3/10
Suitability Level: None

Publisher: One Peace Books
Publication Date: September 7, 2016
ISBN: 9781935548539 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 3/10, Manga, Animals