Chinatsu Chu - Musings on Yuru Yuri

At the time of writing this, this anime is still not ready for archiving. I've been waiting for Tonde to finish subbing the series, and now Doki is coming out with the BD releases. So many incomplete choices!

This was a by-and-by pick for me, as I was wary of an all-girl cast after A Channel. However, this was a purely comedic show driven by characters with defining traits, with a simple story as the backdrop. While the jokes became repetitive and boring  after a while, I managed to make it to the end of the 12-episode series without feeling incredibly irritated. The only thing I didn't like about this series, in the end, was the all-inclusive love polygon that was created.

At least it wasn't clearly ecchi.

Animation
The art-style was extremely cutesy, with large eyes, constant blushing, and hearts everywhere. It was also unrealistic, with various impossible colours for hair and eyes (the stereotypical anime look). The character designs were a little strange, in it that I often found myself wondering if they were in high school rather than middle school. Despite these comments, I did like the style; it fit the story very well.

The most touching "friendship" of the series.

Setting
This was a comedy-based slice-of-life featuring four main characters, though the cast grew very quickly to include others. I didn't see it from the very beginning, but all the characters were pretty much in love with each other (thus adding to the comedy and channelling the "yuri" part of the title). Other than this little bit, there wasn't much for a larger story. Pieces of information for all characters came out with successive episodes, so the concept didn't get stale, but it was really a very slice-of-life story.

...panda...!

Story Presentation
Given the simple story, this was comedy driven by the characters getting into otherwise unfunny situations. Due to this, this anime did have a little bit of a slow start, when I didn't find the jokes that funny. It really picked up beyond the first episode, right after I got to know the characters better. That's exactly how character-driven anime tend to work, so it did do well on that front. I did begin to get bored with the re-used jokes; how many times could I see Chitose getting an epic nosebleed before feeling it was humdrum? The only thing helping out the anime on this front was its length; were it longer, this formula wouldn't have worked so well.

What disturbing imagery. Why are they all smiling?

Characters
This was the strong point of the series; I doubt the jokes would have been any kind of humorous without the strong characters to define them. Of course, when I say "strong", the characters were actually pretty weakly-written with a serious lack of growth. However, the few defining traits that each one got essentially created a strong archetype. When all the characters interacted with each other, it was fun to see because no one person really fell into the background (even with Akari: that was her thing, after all). Had there been more development, I wonder if the anime actually wouldn't have suffered for it; the 2D nature of the characters allowed for the jokes to shine (before they got boring, at least).

There's always a student council for comedy...

Final Words
While I really liked this anime, I had to really work passed the overdone yuri connotations. I have nothing against yuri, but I didn't like how all the characters had to be in love with each other. That wasn't even the bit that bothered me; it was essentially one running joke of forced kissing leaving characters looking quite violated. I worked through it, but it always left a bad taste for me. Overall, this anime is a good watch for the comedy and ridiculousness, and most people probably had no problem with the "all-love" situation.

A big finale.

Scoring - [6.0/10]
After working through the first episode or two, the episodes became really good and it was a fun watch. The only reason I docked points was due to the fact that I didn't like the giant love polygon, but that's really a personal comment.

~Aaro

Yuru Yuri Eps10-12 [END]

I'm actually kind of sad that this anime has come to an end; I really liked most of it. I found myself watching this even though I was in no shape to make a post; I'm sure that reveals my true feelings for it. Final review to come in a few days~

This batch was as randomly compiled as usual; the episodes didn't particularly have anything to do with each other. Ep10 dealt with the second-years going on their school trip to Kyoto, leaving the (lowly) first-years with no screentime. Ep11 actually felt like it should have been the final episode; it dealt with a changed Kyouko almost disbanding the Amusement Club. Compared to ep12, which was an all-character sleepover in the Tea Club room, it was just a better fit.

That helmet strap is pretty long...

Ep10 began with the first-years lamenting that they had no screentime, and then an immediate jump to Kyouko and Yui on the bus ride to Kyoto. Kyouko, in typical fashion, was extremely excited and had all sorts of zany ideas (including going mountain-climbing in Kyoto, which was ill-advised seeing as how the city isn't mountainous). She ended up getting carsick, though it seemed all cleared up as soon as the bus arrived at its destination.

Why are they all blushing?

Kyoto, being the historical capital of Japan, is obviously filled with lots of landmarks, like temples. Surprisingly, the girls all seemed rather interested to see all of them. Kyouko, Yui, Ayano and Chitose stayed together for the entire day, whereas Chizuru was only seen here and there (solidifying her presence as a side character...). Various scenes showed Kyouko being vibrant and energetic, with Ayano chastizing her (and barely hiding her own excitement).

Public baths seem pretty gross.

The hotel accommodations placed the four characters into the same room, and Kyouko was extremely excited to go to take a bath. (So every Japanese-style hotel has a large bath, hm...) Though Yui feared for Chitose's safety, her nosebleeds were kept to a minimum. Kyouko suffered ill effects when she walked into the sauna, coming out all fainty-fainty. That went away pretty fast, as she was ready to go to the gift store with the other girls later.

Why don't you just get contacts?!

The night ended with a pillow fight, though Kyouko and Ayano decided to amp it up by only allowing a throw of the pillow if it was accompanied with feminine-speak (since Japanese differentiates between masculine and feminine ways of speaking quite a lot). Overall, it wasn't that amusing of an episode. It's not like something was done wrong; it felt more like there was something missing. I didn't laugh that often, which was pretty annoying.

Ah, cooties. The worst disease known to children.

Ep11 began with a flashback to the group when they were elementary children, due to the photo albums that had been brought to the clubroom. The personality differences were astounding; Kyouko was shy and demure, whereas Yui was the "captain" of the group. Akari, as well, was extremely outgoing, with longer hair (causing the buns to look less weird). As expected, the group had accidentally met Chinatsu when younger, as she had come to visit her grandmother one day and attempted to take over the playground. It was cute to see the different personalities of the well-known characters.

Hearts as symbolism for pain?

The problem began as Kyouko came back after leaving the clubroom for a while. She was a completely different person - namely, she was as rule-following and shy as in her younger years. When the girls finally had enough (after she began studying Fermat's Last Theorem), they realized that the cause was a tumble down the stairs she had taken earlier, causing a personality change. After asking the Student Council for help, Chitose deduced that another head trauma would fix the first one, and even offered some tools. Yui, being constantly worried for Kyouko, decided to try a "wait-and-see" approach instead.

Maybe her long hair was actually the trick.

Although many things about the new Kyouko was good - she bothered Chinatsu and Chizuru a lot less, and didn't drag everyone around for random schemes - eventually the group had had enough. Ayano was overworking herself in order to make up for her absence, while Akari felt even more unnoticeable since Kyouko wasn't ignoring her anymore (as twisted as that sounds). All of this culminated in Kyouko, being the club leader, making the decision to disband the club.

The sad scene before the pain begins.

The idea was that Kyouko, wanting to follow rules, was appalled that the club was using the Tea Club room without permission, and went to Ayano to apologize, finishing with the declaration that she would soon disband the club. Meanwhile, the girls all individually had their revelations that they didn't want the new Kyouko. The final straw was when Kyouko explained away the disbanding by stating that the club did nothing anyway. Yui kicked into gear, unable to let Kyouko do something so drastic. It's only fitting, considering that she was the one to always take care of Kyouko in their childhood. It's obvious that she's still watching out for her best friend.

Or, you know, she could have just died from blunt trauma.

This episode seriously felt like it was a better fit for the finale instead of ep12. The threat of an end to joyful days (the disbandment, in this case) is often how anime end, anyway. However, this was only the penultimate episode, ending with Yui having bashed Kyouko's head once more, causing another bump that reverted her to her usual personality. Everyone seemed happy with this outcome, except for the "new and improved" Akari, who had tumbled down some stairs while off-screen. How great would it have been for the series to end with the characters all surrounding the "main" character, ready to pummel her back to normal? Sigh.

Job security is always hard to get.

Ep12 began with Mari (Yui's cousin) doing the intro instead of Akari, something the "main" character was actually very broken up about. Beyond that, Ayano and Chitose approached the club, questioning why they hadn't left yet, and came to the revelation that they were planning a sleepover (with the Rise and Nishigaki-sensei helping out already). The sleepover quickly turned quite epic, with all the members of the Student Council also attending (along with Chizuru, most likely so she wouldn't be alone at home).

Maybe I get the homework - but not the food request.

I don't know what the random magic girl clip at the beginning was, really; Mirukurun died (on the moon) with Rivarun quite beat-up about it. I can't even begin to think about how many magic girl anime they were making fun of. Anyway, Kyouko had special pyjamas for all the members of the Amusement Club - a cat for Chinatsu, a dog for Akari, a panda for Yui and a tomato (?) for herself. When all is said and done, the pyjamas seem quite cute but I imagine they're hard to sleep in. For one thing, as Kyouko encountered, how do you go to the bathroom easily?

That's actually a very special skill.

Once the remainder of the cast arrived, Kyouko began the night's festivities with a series of games, using papers drawn out of the multi-purpose box. Akari against Sakurako while playing Othello went extremely well for the former, seeing as how her moves were apparently masked by her unnoticeable existence. Surprisingly, Chinatsu against Himawari in a game of cosplaying went for the latter's favour, although Chinatsu has had more time and exposure with her character, mostly because Kyouko was being biased. Kyouko/Yui against Chitose/Chizuru in charades didn't work so well, since Yui was unable to properly get into Kyouko's frame of mind. Since Ayano didn't have anyone from the Amusement Club to go against, Rise filled in...in a science experiment concocted by Nishigaki-sensei. It wasn't shown who "won" that one...

The set-up reminds me of Arakawa Under the Bridge.

The project that Rise and Nishigaki-sensei had been working on earlier turned out to be a bathing facility, which the girls took turns in pairs to use. Akari, naturally, ended up getting in an accident involving her barrel rolling through the woods and falling into the river (with her still inside), causing Kyouko and Ayano to have to bathe in the same barrel. I'm surprised Akari lived through her ordeal... Dinner went well enough (though Chitose had taken multiple breaks during preparation to tend to her nosebleeds since she could apparently sense things happening outside); afterwards, Himawari and Sakurako headed out to get the futons and Chinatsu ran off to get Akari.

The Kissing Monster! Destructor of Sleepovers.

The scene was set for the second-years to be the victims of serious mauling, care of Chitose. After having some chocolate, some kind of traumatized demon came out of her, going around and kissing everyone. It caused pretty much the same kind of reaction as Chinatsu's previous jumping of Akari had; the scene was somewhat funny, but the connotations were hard for me to get passed. I hated the previous Chinatsu-Akari scene, after all. The only way to snap Chitose out of it was to "overload" her, which was achieved by Ayano kissing Kyouko. The resulting splatter was quite the sight.

Main character gets the last line.

With that, one of the more enjoyable anime of this season has come to an end. (Well, to be fair, it was actually a scene where Nishigaki-sensei had set up a bomb as an alarm, set to go off at 7:30, and Akari was the only one almost "killed".) I dislike how ep12 ended, and I still feel like ep11 would be a better fit as the finale. Oh well; I didn't actually expect perfection or anything.

~Aaro

Yuru Yuri Eps08-09

Up until now, I'd been watching SHiN-gx/HorribleSubs, but I'd finally had enough of the (terrible) localization. This batch was an experimental one. I tried Asuka-subs and Coalgirls. When all's said and done, it was really not a very pleasant experience.

...twins...!!

This batch fluctuated on the "love-love" content, with ep08 having much of it and ep09 playing it down quite a lot. Both episodes had introductions of new characters - ep08 produced Chizuru, Chitose's younger twin sister, while ep09 finally fully showed the Student Council president. Overall, these two episodes only continued to increase my like of this series.

Yuru Yuri Eps06-07

I'm sad that it took so long to watch this anime this week; the blog work really took a lot more time than I had wanted. Meanwhile, with the visiting of relatives this week, I'm pretty much out of commission except for a few precious hours where I hide in a dark corner with my laptop.

I'm surprised that Yui isn't the "top".

This batch of episodes took the love-love to a new level, with blatant confessions from many of the characters. Of course, keeping up with the show's nature, none of them were taken seriously, thus not ruining the careful balance between the characters. Ep06 featured various past-times that the girls in the club engaged in (pictured stories, clay modelling, etc), while ep07 was a Christmas-themed episode that ended with New Year's Day.

Yuru Yuri Eps04-05

Watching these two episodes back-to-back with the previous ones really increased my attachment to these characters. Seeing their growth was very interesting, since this is a comedy anime and I didn't expect such advancements.

Super fanservice, all day long.

Ep04 settled the long-forgotten competition between Ayano and Kyouko (regarding the term tests) and then turned into a beach scene with lots of fanservice. Ep05 dealt with a visit to Comiket by the older cast members, while the younger ones hung out in pairs. It ended on a sour note with me, with a "sexually violent" scene performed purely for comedic reasons. While I await resolution on that situation, I have to note that these episodes really birthed the inkling that this might be dangerously close to a real shoujo-ai anime.

Yuru Yuri Eps02-03

I had initially intended to batch together eps02-04, but it turned out that I had a lot more to say. Surprisingly, I'm liking this anime a lot more than I had initially expected after watching the first episode.

Super loli!

I had previously drawn a lot of similarities to A Channel and, while most of them are still true, I have to throw in that Yuru Yuri has something that A Channel was sorely missing - comedy. The allusions to lesbianism is still in full-force with these two episodes, only getting more extreme with the introduction of characters that are honestly just fangirls. The over-the-top element is what adds to the overall hilarity; while an everyday life is depicted, these episodes add the humour that kept me going back for more. Ep02 sees the introduction of the student council (sans the president) and ep03 deals with Yui's living alone.

Yuru Yuri Ep01

With Pearz back to Toronto at this point, I can finally relax again. She's so high-maintenance~ Hopefully, today is not my last day with stable Internet , seeing as how I'm grabbing a flight to some island in China in a few hours. I need my anime and Wiki~

The four main characters.

So, Yuru Yuri, hm? I didn't know A Channel had a sibling, but here it is. It's incredibly reminiscent of A Channel, with perhaps a little bit more randomness. I hesitate to draw any definite conclusions, since A Channel began quite happily for me and then exhibited exponential decay. With the first episode of Yuru Yuri being very energetic and fast-paced, I'll continue watching this show with batch posts. (I know right off the bat that I don't want to do episodic reviews for this.)