Yuru Yuri

"Why are girls more susceptible to same sex or bi-sexual orientation? Who knows, but it sure does make a good source of comedy material in the anime world"

Yuru Yuri (literal translation Easy-Going or Slow Yuri) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Namori about three schoolgirls... wait am I missing someone? Guess not. They took over the former room of the tea ceremony club (may I add how manly tea is?) to form their own "amusement club" Yea because in Japanese highschools it isn't illegal to just take over another club room for your own amusement. I know I used to make the ... boy's toilet my secret base. (It's ok, guys doesn't even like to use our toilets) Cause seriously which guy hadn't secretly used the girls toilet because he can't stand the odor in the guy's toilet. That is until they see the huge pool of blood and get traumatize for life.

Yuru Yuri is a generic "moe-slice-of-life" anime with those moments of dialogue and acting that could be interpreted as overly homoerotic, but not as much if you know the real context. As funny as it is, the whole "X girls just hanging out and having fun" where X denotes the number of the main cast (which is normally the Four Girl Ensemble), is nothing new to the anime scene. But some people, even myself, enjoy this moment or repetitiveness.

So as the story progresses more girls join the main casts to form the ultimate Lesbian Full Cast in their hilarious mishaps. You can never have enough middle school girls in one story right? I hope I don't sound like a pedo here...
Worry not as eventhough with the introduction of new characters, the 3 main girls are still the stars of the plot. (Seriously, I feel like I'm forgetting someone)

Art wise, on a scale of 1 to 10 on the moe-art-meter, this anime scored an 11. Seriously, if you do not even smile or give a faint grin on your face when you see their big beady, glowing eyes then you sir, HAVE NO SOUL! The character were filled of emotions. Heck, I wish I could understand Japanese so I wouldn't have to read the subs and miss all those visual cues. Overall, the character designs makes you go Uguuuuuu~ even if you're not a pedophile.

As for sound, definitely hands down, my favorite opening and ending theme for this season. No. Possibly for this year so far. It's catchy, it's upbeat, and it never gets old for me for some reason. If you get on a public bus or you're taking the subway train and you see a guy with headphones on bobbing his head, that would probably be me listening to the opening and ending theme song. Eventhough most of the seiyuus are new or haven't been given sufficient roles, they were able to execute their characters personalities quite well.

Characters! Because the whole selling point of Yuru Yuri is their characters!

TOSHINO KYOUKO!
It's a universal rule that if you want to mention her name you must shout her name in a harsh tone. This lovable girl is the center of all the comedy that is happening in Yuru Yuri. Smart, talented, manipulative and downright annoying but in an amusing way. Her sexual orientation is still questionable though. She's supposedly the main character but I keep forgetting there was someone there in the spotlight before her.

Funami Yui
She plays the older sister role within the whole cast. Indepent, reliable, you know the type that end up being the "Yuri Target" by the female cast. She's very vulnerable to jokes involving word play. On a plus point she's a bit like a kuudere with her monotonous voice and attitude over her friends.

Yoshikawa, Chinatsu
Cute at first sight but holds a deeper alter ego who is actually very intolerant. She's in the centre for the love triangle between Yui and TOSHINO KYOUKO!
Well I wouldn't put it as a triangle because it's more like a straight line.
TOSHINO KYOUKO! ---> Chinatsu --->Yui
Her sexual orientation, though, is confirmed to be lenient towards yuri.

Other casts includes
Sugiura Ayano who is the student council president and fierce rival of TOSHINO KYOUKO! eventhough the latter doesn't really acknowledge it.
Though, she herself might be falling in love with TOSHINO KYOUKO!

Ikeda Chitose
This woman single handedly taught me the power that bestowed upon people with low vision. The ability to fantasize in real time using your other senses as your vision sense is low, your other senses such as hearing is magnified. Her fantasies and nose bleed had become a running gag in the series involving Ayano and TOSHINO KYOUKO!

Himawari Furutani and Sakurako Ohmuro
Guess what's more annoying than a tsundere girl? Two tsundere girls! Seriously, this two childhood friends forms the tsundere couple which is funny but a sight for sore eyes as well. Oh and both of them revolves around the whole "Boob Gag" which is the whole Big breast vs Flat Chest.

Overall, from what I first expected from the season preview, this anime beats beyond my expectation. I'm no fan of yuri, I've never even watched any yuri anime before this. So it' safe to say that even if you're homophobic, you would still enjoy this anime to the fullest. The comedy aspect is great as it covers a huge range of variety from Comedic Sociopathy to breaking the fourth wall with the audience. Not to mention the entertaining 10 seconds running cycle between every intermission is somewhat entertaining. As the title suggest it, Slow Yuri because on a yuri scale of 1 to 10, this anime would probably score a 4 as the yuri theme is only as suggestive as the audience would imply it to be.

Haremu Kingu,
Signing out...

Seriously, I still have a feeling I left someone out. Can someone please tell me who it is?

Azuriin~!
Hai! Yuru Yuri review, hajimaru yo~!

“Meh, here’s another god damn moe blob slice-of-life. I don’t understand why people like shit like this…”
If this is your mindset, then even without saying it, you know you should pass up on the offer; however, if you have do have an interest in slice-of-life anime, comedies, or shoujo ai (You should note that shoujo ai is not a major genre. It doesn’t have as much yuri as you would expect from its title), then go for it. I started watching Yuru Yuri thinking it would be fantastic, and do you know how it turned out? Yuru Yuri absolutely amazed ... me by how it was more than fantastic, it was glorious! I do not even remember the last time I have laughed so much. I know that I laughed in every episode and I loved every minute of it. Do you know what else? I am actually quite sad that the show is over, but as they say, “all good things come to an end.”

What is anime? Anime is a form of entertainment. If you find anime unentertaining, maybe you should pick up another hobby (I’m looking at you, Mister “I rate everything 5s and below”) and think about it. Next question: Does entertainment need things like “plot”, “development”, or “climax”? The answer is no. Entertainment is something that entertains you. It is most does not have to have any of those things. Recently, many anime watchers are too stuck up in their ideals that all slice-of-life shows are bad because they lack a plot. I can only reply by saying that slice-of-life entertains me to no end. Tying this all back to Yuru Yuri, I can clearly say that Yuru Yuri gave me such an abundance of enjoyment that I can only agree that Yuru Yuri is indeed a good anime.

So does Yuru Yuri have a story? Does Yuru Yuri have development? Does Yuru Yuri have a climax? It probably does not more than it does, but does that stop it from being entertaining? You can bet it does not. If you think you could enjoy Yuru Yuri, if you are not a slice-of-life hater, you will enjoy Yuru Yuri. If you watch the beginning of the first episode, you may think it looks exactly like a stereotypical slice-of-life, but don’t be fooled! That opinion will change very quickly! Every episode made me laugh. Some episodes made me surprised, some episodes left me shocked, and some even left me sad. Yuru Yuri can definitely bring out all of these emotions and more, but still have you smiling at the very end of each episode.

Opinions are always hard to form on art style and quality. You can hate it, love it, or don’t mind it. If you’re like me, art doesn’t play that big of a role and you’re excepting of most art styles. So how is the art style for Yuru Yuri? It’s fantastic to me. The character designs are pretty darn cute and the animation flows nicely and sometimes reminds me of Gurren Lagann. Art actually takes a big role despite being your typical anime. The art switches to fit the mood, and in one episode in particular, the art is definitely interesting… I won’t explain though, as I don’t wish to spoil the fun, but it definitely left me laughing. Bottom line? The art style is cute and definitely fitting (The facial expressions always make me laugh), and the animation certainly flows smoothly.

And what do we have for characters? Surprise, it’s your typical four cute girls doing cute things, right? Yes and no. If you continue to watch the show, there’s only three main characters… no wait… uh… In any case, there are more than just your four main characters. We also have the four members of the student council that frequently (almost every episode, so they might as well be main characters) appears and interacts with your four main girls who are members of the Amusement Club. Our lovely protagonist is Akari, who appears at the start of each episode, actually has the least amount of presence. You may think it’s a bad thing, but it’s not because that’s the joke. It’s referenced to in every episode and it’s a genius joke that never ceases to make me laugh. If we were to name the true main character, it would most likely be Kyouko, our hyperactive and fearless leader. She’s hilarious and makes everything enjoyable. Yui, her close friend, plays the straight man and gets embarrassed easily leading to very laughable situations. Chinatsu, our typical pink haired character, has a somewhat nasty personality, but her cosplay and hilarious art makes up for it. Finally, we have our student council members who are recurring characters for each episode. Ayano, the vice president, has a love interest, the most prominent source of Yuri in the show, with Kyouko. Ayano’s a bit of tsundere making her a likable character, but she also has a hilarious way of speaking where she will put the first syllable of the word at the end. Next, we have Chitose who has nosebleeds and is fond of KyoukoxAyano. Her twin sister, Chizuru has a drooling obsession for ChitosexAyano. Chitose has much more of cheerful personality in contrast to Chizuru who is cold. Chitose has much more aire time than her younger sister does, though. Finally, we have the two first year members of the student council, Sakuraku, who is a “baka” tsundere, and Himawari, who is the breast/ojou-sama factor. Hilariously, Sakuraku and Himawari are tsundere for each other leading to endless hilarity. Furthermore, the creator of the series went as far as submitting a marriage proposal under their names. Truly, that’s genius!

Yuriyurarararayuruyuri~ The OP and ED are hilarious and are more of an acquired taste. If you don’t like them, you’ll either end up finding them annoying or end up loving them. I personally find the use of the anime title in any OP genius. The soundtrack was fantastic, there wasn’t any piece of music that made me want to kill myself; furthermore, the music smoothly fits each scene to ensure the viewer receives the right emotions. And how about that voice acting cast? First, we have the pro, Toyosaki Aki (Chitose), returning for another voicing role as well as another well-known voice actress, Fujita Saki (Ayano), who is famous for Miku’s voice if you didn’t know; however, the four main characters are all voiced by fairly brand new voice actresses who are only taking on their first or second roles. And how did it turn out? These girls did a fantastic job. Their voices were brilliant. I can absolutely see them, Ootsubo Yuka (Kyouko) especially, rising to the top in the future because she did a marvelous job.

So did I enjoy this series? You can sure bet I did. And you know? If you have any interest at all, you’ll enjoy it too and end up laughing hysterically! I promise. To those of you who have actually stuck around to the end of this review, I thank you graciously for taking the time to read it. To those of you who are reading this after finishing Yuru Yuri and disagree with me, I only wish you tell me a few things:

Tell me you didn’t laugh when you saw what was in Akari’s sister’s room in episode one.

Tell me you didn’t laugh when Akari is totally blocked/loses her presence in the beginning of the episode three.

Tell me you didn’t smile at the Higurashi reference, or tell me you weren’t shocked at the sudden development in episode five.

Tell me you weren’t scared as hell in episode six.

Tell me the presence jokes don’t continue to make you laugh in episode ten.

Tell me you didn’t almost cry in episode eleven.

Tell me you didn’t enjoy Yuru Yuri.

“Yuri your way to success! Vol. 1” -Now with footnotes!

Approximately 12 years ago, we were introduced to a certain J.C.Staff series about a girl from Osaka and her five friends. A couple of years latter, KyoAni presented to us a self-entitled otaku and her friends: the twin-sisters and the smart-but-clumsy bishoujo¹. Those stories would go around these girls and their (barely average) easygoing high-school paradise.
Interesting? Entertaining? What is the point? It doesn't really matter, deshou?
It just happened that the community saw it was good, the industry saw it was profitable, and from that on, we started watching shows about cute girls doing ... cute stuff for no apparent reason (both us and the cute girls).

The story:
Oh... the story! Yuru Yuri main plot is the daily events of Akari, Yui, Kyouko, Chinatsu (don't forget to add the -chan!). As middle-school students without a serious goal to achieve, YuruYuri focus on showing these girls having... fun! As the opening song itself explain "My real job is to 'student'! What's with that?" so all the key events of this series are pretty predicable and are related somehow to their school/hang out activities. The typical school slice-of-life.
But this isn't the real reason why 90% of us watches it anyway.
I bet you interpreted “fun” on the previous paragraph in a malicious way, huh?
While those easygoing and relaxing events of their daily life would give a fair amount of entertainment, seeing cute girls expressing their affection to each other in a PG-13 way is also pretty entertaining! And perhaps the key part of it: delivering such a thing without the inclusion of a douche male protagonist neither having to label the series as he-he-hentai! is what draws the attention of crowds to it. That said, straight from the first episode, it becomes clear that "Yuri"² moments are one of the key components of Yuru...YURI storyline.
Besides from being astonishingly cute and having these girl-love moments, the series strongly bets on their visual gags, practical jokes and references as save-points, keeping the viewers from being bored during long scenes or dialogues. A proof that it works can be easily found online, it's the amount of internet “memes” that were created from scenes of YuruYuri.³
Anyway, I digress.
There's no point into further developing this topic. Someone who is reading this didn't got here by accident and most likely have a backlog on series like this. If YOU happen to be one of these people and is now nodding in agreement, the reviewer thanks you for cooping with it. *brofist*

Following the same idea of the story, characters of YuruYuri are what one would expect of a show about easygoing school-girls. In a nutshell: They're patterned.
We have the clumsy, resident airhead MC; the admirable, dependable senpai; the polite, dependable "notice me senpai!" kouhai and finally the over-hyped, loose cannon senpai.
Not to mention they are all, obviously, CUTE.
Why are they always four? ...who is producing this, anyway!?
Oh, not to be forgotten, there are also the often forgotten supportive characters! They are there to add a bit of spice to the overall sweetness, some even have a separated story arc just for them which is great considering the flow of the story since it helps to keep the attention level. To be honest, these characters even get more screen-time than a certain MC ...you'd find out sooner or later.
Along the story progression, some other characteristics of theses girls become easy to notice and the classical tsundere/yandere/dandere⁴ action finally shows up.
Hahi, That was it!? Actually, there isn't much to digress about... giving a further explanation on these characters would spoil the first two episodes and completely ruin the mood. But still we want you to believe this is character driven so.... can we pretend we explained why, and you pretend you got it? *pshhh! No mod's gonna see this!*

In the era of moe, what isn't moe is a pagan non-believer!⁵
The artwork! Oh yes! *nosebleed* did I already mention it is... cute?
What kind of reviewer describes every aspect of the show with one single word?
Well, watch it and then we can discuss.
Just like its ancestors mentioned in the beginning of this review, YuruYuri's artwork is simple but well colored and surprisingly detailed at close ups. The “moe” factor is obviously part of it, which means, you won't find a character that is “ugly” at all.
Worth mention: animators did a very good job with characters' eye design. They doesn't have that artificial feeling to them neither artificial lightening, which makes it really fit the overall coloring.

yuriyurararara yuruyuri yuriyurararara yuruyuri yuriyurararara da-i-ji-ke-n!
Ain't I missing a “Kyarun!★~”!?
It doesn't takes much to create a OST for a slow paced school slic- *stabbed*
Still, it wouldn't be a lie ...to some extend.
The OST really matches the pace of the story, meaning, we get lot of relaxed synthetic instrumentals AND some funky remixed opening/ending. If you think you've heard these songs before, it's not a problem at all. Since this kind of series always use the same tempo and arrangement for their songs, sounding similar is just part of ride. Both the OP and ED are also performed by the main characters' seyuu-tachi. They're at the same time hilarious and addicting... during the first 5 episodes. Later on it gets really annoying and you'll just skip it all together.

Overall, YuruYuri is way more enjoyable than it seems. Really.
Not because it later turns into a full ecchi yuri R+ hardcore anime (!?), but because it manages to -somehow- make you laugh for 288 minutes. Who would imagine a school slice-of-life about pure teenager girls could be this fun? I wouldn't.
So, if you're wondering about watching or not, accept the challenge and get started on it already. The entertainment value may vary from person to person, however, it will absolutely manage to take a laugh from you, even if it's just with a short Higurashi⁶ reference (Heh, is that a glace of curiosity?) or a quick reference joke with the YuruYuri Akari x Aria Saga Akari and her signature expressions "waaay!" "hahi!".
Secure your loli and prepare for impact! A furious ride into the amusement world of these girls is about to begin!

The Footnotes:
¹ – extremely beautiful, cute, amusing, girl. Notorious examples: Anything Key/Visual Arts produces in collaboration with KyoAni.
² – Yuri is a modest synonym of Shoujo Ai, girls love, lesbianism, girl-on-girl action, etc.
³ – Seriously, YuruYuri related memes were all around /a/ by the time it aired. Ask Mr. Google.
⁴ – Japanese slang used to describe one's characteristics. (e.g: the tsundere is the girl who is violent (tsun) but loving (dere) towards the one she cares about.
⁵ – Yes!!! YuruYuri is 100% MOE, meaning, they can't possibly be less cute. UrbanDictionary gives a pretty neat explanation: “Moe is when your heart gets a boner.“.
⁶ – Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Cute series.
obs: credits to @MAL Ikusagami for the insight of the review title.

I'll just add the obligatory disclaimer now. This is my first review so I hope I've done it right.

If you've seen anything like Lucky Star or perhaps K-On then you're no stranger to the "Cute girls doing cute things" genre that has been shorthand called Moeblob anime. Yuru Yuri is the same as those except there is one difference. Everyone in this anime is by some degree wanting to do various sexual things to the same sex.

Lets start with introducing the basic cast. From the left in the picture up top we have Funami Yui a sort of Tomboy and Responsible character. She's close friends ... with Toshinou Kyouko and Akaza Akari. Next is the Blonde Toshinou Kyouko, she's a wild sort of character but ultimately Yui manages to keep her in check which kind of helps when she tries to molest Akari or Chinatsu. Akaza Akari is the anime's main character I guess however she suffers from not being able to stand out very much and ends up being ignored. She's a year younger than Kyouko or Yui but that hasn't stopped them being friends. And lastly is Yoshikawa Chinatsu the newcomer to the group who admiration for Yui touches on romantic feelings while rejecting the many advances Kyouko tries to make towards her. Other characters include the student council which includes the vice president who has a deep rivalry with Kyouko but is in fact just wanting to be her friend(Can you say Tsundere), a girl who enjoys immersing herself in lesbian delusions of the vice president and Kyouko in various risque situations and two girls who fight between themselves for the position of Vice President however they really appreciate eachothers companionship(Once again Tsundere)

The art isn't bad but it's not good either. As common for moeblob characters they have large heads and absurdly big eyes.

The Music is pretty generic but for some reason the Opening theme is quite catchy. I found myself quickly humming along to it

Lets face it there's little to no plot in this show so if you're going to be watching it you'll be watching it because you either enjoy the genre or because you want something to just sit down and enjoy without thinking too hard. It's for this exact reason that I think I myself enjoy Yuru Yuri so much as I have enjoyed A-Channel in the previous season.

Yuru Yuri is a shoujo ai anime that focuses on 4 school girls as they form an amusement club. The cast is stretched out shortly after to more characters, and with the exception of Ayano and Chitose, who become the most reacurring characters with the exception of the four mains ones; Kyouko, Yui, Chinatsu, and Akari.

The main joke of the story is Akari, and the fact that she is considered to be the main character of the show but never stands out. She is noticed for being unoticed, even making jokes about her having the power of invisibility.

Toshinou Kyouko is the main focus of the ... show. She reminds me of myself, a crazy and relentlessly random girl who could shout out or come up with any weird or wacky idea on the spot. Toshinou is just plain loveable, the very basic term to describe her.

Yui, the tough one or guardian in the group. She is not necessarily a barbarian or roughian, nor could she be considered a tough-guy kinda girl, however she maintains a type of quiet atmosphere around here, and often acts as the voice of reason or the keeper of order of the group

Chinatsu is the mean and somewhat snobby one of the group. She makes no attempt to hide her feelings for Yui, and is often seen rejecting Kyouko. I didn't really like Chinatsu that much, and infact i would classify her as the least liked character in general, of the four, however yuru yuri wouldn't be the same without her.

As for the opening and ending songs, I have never, and I mean ever, seen a more enjoyable opening and ending for anything, let alone any anime. This is the only anime i would look up on youtube just to watch, and the ending is really catchy as well. Both are well suited for the spirit of the show.

And that brings me to plot, there isn't much in the way of plot, the show revolves around the characters, what they do, how they react with eachother, and over all it works. The comedy in the show is great, I have laughed myself to tears on a number of occasions, and well besides the cuteness of the show, there isn't much else to say except job well done. For what would be considered another generic slice of life anime, i loved it from start to finish. 10/10 and it is at the top of my list of favourite animes.

I would also class this as one of the best Shoujo Ai animes released in a long time. I think this was very well balanced, they kept the shoujo ai element but didn't make it the centerpiece, which most shoujo ai animes do.

Yuru Yuri is one of those shows I was curious about, wondering why it was so popular. I decided to give it a go, and I can't really understand why so many people like it so much.

My biggest issue is two things: The characters are incredibly bland and annoying, and it's not very funny... At least to me.



Honestly, it was difficult finding any of the characters likeable. The only two I enjoyed throughout the whole run were Kyoko and Akarin. Everyone else is basically a walking stereotype like Ayano, Yui, or Chitose. Ayano is your textbook tsundere and really loves Kyoko for no real good ... reason. Sakurakou and Himawari are just there for the breast jokes. Chitose only exists to impliment some yuri fanservice... Do you see what I'm getting at here? Everyone feels like they're simply pawns to make an unfunny and predictable joke. It was so one-note and by the book that I had a hard time laughing at anything.

I really disliked Chinatsu in particular because she ended up being so unlikeable. A very stuck-up and pretentious girl who's only defining trait is hating Kyoko and being madly in love with Yui. I'm not exaggerating when I say that's what happens when the show tries focusing on her, one of those two things happen. Or maybe both. There also was a part in episode 11 that made me dislike her even more, but I won't spoil it. Nothing about her is a good character to me, and the show would have been much better if she wasn't part of the main cast.




Now for the jokes, which unfortunately don't land well most of the time. Like I said earlier, a lot of the comedy stems from the characters which are all very stereotypical so you can see what's coming a mile away. What's worse is that they like to really hammer in the same jokes over and over across the entire season. Was Chitose getting a nosebeleed and fantasizing about Ayano and Kyoko being together not funny the first time? Well too bad, because it's going to happen many, many other times! You can really tell what's going to come up just because it all is painfully predictable. There were a few times were they threw curveballs and made me laugh, but it was very few and far between. There's one joke in particular which just felt way too mean spirited, which is Akarin barely having any screen time despite being the supposed protagonist. It's a cute funny joke at first, but overtime it just ends up being kinda hard to watch because it feels like the world is against her and nothing goes her way. There are even times where she doesn't appear for an entire episode just because of a short gag in the beginning. Maybe I'm looking too deep into it, but I really didn't find that funny and just became grating after a while.


So overall, I really wanted to like Yuru Yuri, but just ended up really bored and wanting it to be over near the end. The characters did absolutely no favors as they made the show very bland and predictable, and hardly any of the jokes landed for me.

Trashy Pandas
“Hey, want to hear about the new anime I started?”-Me
“Yeah sure. What's it about?”-Mitch
“It's a show about a group of ravenous lesbian-”-Me
“NOPE!”-Mitch

So goes a short conversation with my pal Mitchell. I started watching Yuru Yuri just a short while ago and I was able to come to the conclusion that “Yuru Yuri is a show about a group of ravenous lesbian middle-school girls who do zany things while staying semi-PG or mostly PG-13.” (Me) Yuru Yuri is a great anime when it comes to sound track, characters, and animation style because the characters are impossible to hate, the sound track fits perfectly with the ... mood, and the animation style just works.
“Yuru Yuri.. Hajimaru yo!” — Akari Akaza

I Characters
First of all, the characters are really enjoyable to watch and listen to. Each girl has her own kind of cuteness and adorable personality. Akari and her “lack of presence” in the anime is humorous and I personally think it's cute. Kyouko has her flamboyantly hyperactive personality which makes her stand out more than any other character. Chinatsu is just straight adorable. Yui on the other hand is much more tame than the rest of the Amusement Club and has a very level head. She is definitely my favorite of the group. As for the other characters, I can say that I love them just as much: Chitose with her extreme amount of fantasies, Ayano with her little tough facade that she always puts up, and Sakurako and Himawari (shipped so very hard by me) who I swear love each other but don't want the other to know. All in all, the characters are each unique and interesting to watch.

II Soundtrack.
“Yuriyurararara Yuru Yuri!”(YY OP). The OP for Yuru Yuri was the strongest attention getter for the anime; I found myself downloading it within the first few episodes and not being able to wait to hear it again. The OP does a wonderful job of setting the mood for the anime: lively, friendly and silly. The tempo is very upbeat and the song mostly uses high notes, which emphasize the characters of the anime. High pitched, upbeat OP for a show about cute middle-school girls. Works like a charm. As for the soundtrack during the anime, I can't say that it really stood out that much. I honestly don't even remember any musical moments. The ED was pretty good. I didn't pay much attention to it because I was busy sorting out pictures and screenshots that I took during the episode. In the end, the OP is what really makes the entire soundtrack for Yuru Yuri.

III Animation Style
The animation style of Yuru Yuri fit wonderfully with everything and works to make the show stand out. As anyone would expect, a show about cute girls would have a cartoony, cute animation style. Effects were handled nicely whenever some silly scene would come up: exaggerated and over-the-top cartoony style made scenes really pop out. However, I found the character designs to be rather lackluster. Each girl had the same exact school uniform on, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it got a little boring after a while. The only thing that made the girls able to be physically differentiated was the hairstyle, color, and accessories. I did like the hairstyles, but I feel very meh about it. The art/animation style did great work at making the anime feel exactly how it was meant to be: silly and cute.

IV Plot
There is not a whole lot to say about the plot except that it has no real depth, but manages to work for the anime. For a show about lesbian middle-school girls that love each other, partake in silly adventures, and do crazy things with each other, the plot fits well despite having little depth. The plot is defined in the first episode and then takes a backseat while the Amusement Club has its fun. Yes, the plot is the formation of the Amusement Club and it could be argued that the plot is around the entire time. Beyond the forming of the Club in the first episode, the plot takes no real direction beside the “sub-plots” (adventures) for the girls and their cute romance-esque “stories”.

V Romance
The romances for Yuru Yuri were pulled off extremely well by showing that cute girls could love each other without being explicitly sexual. While some sexual situations are hinted at through Chitose's fantasies and through most of the episodes, there is nothing explicitly sexual about the girls. While there is a lot of emphasis on Himawari's large breasts, there is no explicit images of her or any other girl. I really love the lack of sexually explicit material because the show would have had an entirely different feel if the material was in the show. Please do note that I am referring to sexually explicit as in graphic nudity like in Sekirei or High School DxD or ect. As for the romances themselves, they are very adorable and will make anyone smile.

VI Theme
The only real theme that I could pick out is loving your friends and cherishing the time you get to spend with them. Clearly displayed in each episode, the girls love each other and enjoy the time they spend together. There isn't much more to say about this. Love you friends and love the time you get to spend with them.

In conclusion, Yuru Yuri gets a 9/10 and the Pandas Seal of Approval for its excellent characters, art/animation style, soundtrack, romance and superb kawaiiness.

1) This show has "Yuri" in its title, it's comedy, and it's slice of life
2) I like yuri, I like comedy and I like slice of life
3) Well, the third step is obvious, isn't it? I just had to give this a shot.
4) .......

Okay, maybe some things don't mix after all. Yuri and slice of life don't make a fusion as good as I hoped it would.

First of all, I found this show boring. Nothing really happens in it. Okay, some of my favorite anime don't have much going on (it is slice of life after all), but when an anime doesn't have much going ... on, it doesn't automatically mean it'll be boring. Sadly, that is the case with Yuru Yuri.

Then it's the characters. They're all just bland and uninteresting. Sure, they look pretty, but their personalities didn't appeal to me. Except Kyouko, who is a bit interesting as a character (a bit), the others were boring, or just plain annoying.

Yes, I like yuri and that haven't changed after watching this. But this show taught me that there is a time and a place for yuri, and that it doesn't fit just everywhere. Yes, while watching Yuru Yuri, I was actually bothered by the yuri element.

Why, you ask? Well, I was annoyed by the fact that all girls here were lesbians, bisexual, or at least curious. Not only it doesn't work that way in real life (yes, I'm a realist when it comes to this type of stuff; I may be wrong but that how I work), it's just unnecessary. I really don't mind lesbian characters, on the contrary, but not when everyone is hinted to be a lesbian, and nothing is actually revealed (their sexualities or... some actual "action" except harmless kissing). Oh, and I also felt uncomfortable at some forced kissing scenes, especially since the girls are underage.

Also, there was this running gag with the chick who takes off her glasses and fantasizes about yuri moments while watching her friends, then gets nosebleeds. And everyone else seems to be cool with it. Okay, it was funny the first time, the second, the third... but after the tenth time, it became annoying. Not only that, but she also has a twin, and we even had some slight incest hints. Some fat perverted otaku will probably find it cool and hot, but I just found it repulsive. I don't mind that stuff either when I'm watching hentai, but here, it just seemed wrong.

To be honest, I didn't really hate this show; if I did, I would've rated it lower. It has some funny moments and situations, some episodes were slightly better than the others, and I just can't hate the yuri element, even if I'm annoyed with it, which was the case here.

At the end, I must say this: just because I wasn't thrilled with it doesn't mean it's bad, or that it isn't for you. I'm very well aware that Yuru Yuri is fairly popular, and that many people like it, and I respect that. This was just my personal opinion of it (and I have a very, very specific taste), so I can't say I wouldn't recommend it to you. If you like yuri, comedy and slice of life and if you think that they can mix (unlike me), try watching it. Chances are, you'll like it more than I did.

So this anime is basicly Japanese lesbian middle-schoolers doing cute and entertaining stuff (the yuri stuff never gets past sort-of unintentional kiss). If this sounds entertaining or fun to you, then congratulations. You will probably find this anime very enjoyable.

There is honestly not too much else to say about this anime. The characters are charismatic and likable. The interactions between them are well written and feel very natural. The overall art and animation are nice, good on the eye and quite a joy to watch. The opening and ending is good.

Honestly there is not much to say about this show, which of course does ... not make it bad. At it's core it is a very well written, well executed, funny and relaxing slice of life anime. As I said if you found the first sentince to be to your taste, than you will love it. If you are not into these kind of things well....there is nothing to see here for you.

This anime is a difinition of a relaxing and joyful slice of life anime done right...with a bit of soft yuri.

I watched Yuru Yuri all three seasons back in late 2015, and not only that it's one of the best slice of life comedies I've seen, but it's also one of the best anime I've ever watched, because it's so damn light-hearted and funny! The things that I really love most about Yuru Yuri is how pleasing for me to watch, and I really love the endearing characters, with each of them having unique personalities. Every single character has her own personality and behavior, and they have a relationship with each other, hence the word "Yuri" in the title.

It began with Akari Akaza being ... a protagonist of the show, and she gets to join the Amusement Club alongside her friends, Kyoko Toshino and Yui Funami. Eventually, Chinatsu Yoshikawa was convinced to join the Amusement Club as well, in which she was originally intended to join the tea ceremony club with her older sister. As the time went on, Akari were lacking in presense, considering the fact that other girls in the Amusement Club had more screen time, particularly Kyoko. Fortunately, this doesn't stop Akari from being such a memorable character, because her running gag of the "lack" of presence is also what makes her special, and she's really charming.

My favorite character of the show is Himawari Furutani, because she's one of the coolest, most graceful characters I've seen in the anime. She's also extremely nice, but she gets to argue with Sakurako Oomuro, because Sakurako gets jealous of Himawari's physical values, such as her breasts being annoying to Sakurako. Despite of that, Himawari does appear to hold feelings for her, and she often helps her with her homework. Himawari is voiced by Mimori Suzuko, and she's one of my favorite seiyus since I've listened to her as Umi Sonoda!

I have to say that Yuru Yuri is definitely one of my favorite anime of all time. The characters are really entertaining and funny, every episode is great, and the voice acting is incredible. While some other slice of life anime were occasionally funny, this one is consistent, because I hardly get bored of it in one bit. Also, Himawari is one of my favorite anime girls. Yuru Yuri is the best slice of life comedies I've personally watched. I literally love everything about it.

This show made me feel really uncomfortable at worst, and maybe got a chuckle at best.

The main problem with YuruYuri is that the characters are 13 years old, yet are depicted in suggestive/outright sexual contexts. This combined with incest and forced kissing are just not the right mix for what should probably be a wholesome SOL anime. There's a few episodes which really did nothing except make me feel gross, and I nearly dropped the show twice.

The show actually has a few funny moments, and an alright set of characters. I only had real issue with Chinatsu, a self-imposing prick who does nothing but subtract ... from the anime. The best episodes were the few without her.
There's also this running gag where Akari has "little presence" but this gets old quick and feels more like cheap bullying for laughs.

In short (toward the beginning) this show is essentially a softcore lolicon Yuri fan-service compilation with some storyline to keep it going. It picks up a little but gains no real depth, and feels like it's written to be enjoyed by probably the worst guy you'll ever meet. Incels unite!!

Watch it if you want but it's not a big recommendation from me (and I normally love any SOL show), I've heard okay things about season 2 so might watch that, although I heard those same things about this season, and it's clear how that turned out.

After watching this anime I had to do a review on it. This anime gave me a good laugh over all. All the main and side characters are funny in there own way. This anime reminds of the anime Strawberry Marshallows more than any other anime, if you havent watch it or read it, do so and you see what I mean. I personally enjoy shoujo ai/ school life/ Moe anime so i automatically fell in love with this anime, Plus the comedy, wrap it all up in one. The first two episodes may start off slow but i guarantee you gonna enjoy it ... alot after the first three episodes passes. Definitely a must watch anime, that if you like comedy, school life or shoujo anime or all three.

If you're wondering what Yuruyuri is about, the title really says it all. The girls go to school and do something "fun." The girls bring in some lesbian jokes in the premise.Outside of providing a silly, outrageous good time, that is. It's all deeply stupid and quite fun.
Yuru Yuri is pretty pointless and episodic. There's no chance to make a compelling arc. A club the purpose of which is to facilitate the doing of nothing.
The Characters of this show are simply ... sketched, and are distinctively cliche. Akari is the nice girl type with a "not so main character-ish" presence, Yui is the smart, cool one, Chinatsu is similar to Akari but poses a dangerous threat of sadism, and Kyouko is the energetic and irresponsible one and so on. Much fun is similarly had with the three tsunderes in the student council, and the glass girl Chitose, who often takes off her glasses to nosebleed-fantasize about her classmates. There's so little variation on the usual character themes that whenever there's any crossover it gets hard to tell characters apart. It takes a particular kind of viewer to enjoy something like Chitose's fantasies, during which things are pretty normal until she takes those damned glasses off, but if you're that kind of viewer, you're unlikely to find a funnier series with better characters than this.Characters are quickly and simply sketched, and are distinctively cliche. Akari is the nice girl type with a "not so main character-ish" presence, Yui is the smart, cool one, Chinatsu is similar to Akari but poses a dangerous threat of sadism, and Kyouko is the energetic and irresponsible one and so on. Much fun is similarly had with the three tsunderes in the student council, and the glass girl Chitose, who often takes off her glasses to nosebleed-fantasize about her classmates. There's so little variation on the usual character themes that whenever there's any crossover it gets hard to tell characters apart. It takes a particular kind of viewer to enjoy something like Chitose's fantasies, during which things are pretty normal until she takes those damned glasses off, but if you're that kind of viewer, you're unlikely to find a funnier series with better characters than this.
Yuruyuri Character designs, objectively speaking, are standard to the point of plainness - the way they are used being far more interesting than their appearance. Backgrounds, particularly the Yui's apartment and the Amusement Club room, are well-detailed and fully sufficient to their purpose, but they're given to little scene time to be called impressive. There's fanservice to be sure and plenty of naughty, but not dirty,particularly involves Himawari's boobie gags and Chitose's delusional fantasies
Overall Yuruyuri is a cliche and pretty dumb show, but delivers good enough to make everyone laugh.

Welcome, lovely fans. It's a new year and you know what that means. Yes, it's time to start the year out right with yuri anime month. Okay, so some of you may remember that last year I dedicated January to reviews of anime involving the peerless, titanic-ally talented Hayashibara Megumi. Yes, I could do that again, but this year I'm going to watch yuri instead. Let's start the month with something I actually haven't seen. Written by Namori and brought to the screen by Dogakobo Studio, this is Yuru Yuri.

The anime opens with three girls starting middle school. After classes they get together in ... the tea club room because the tea club got disbanded and they decided to use the room for their amusement club. So you have a small group of girls going through school and humour based on their everyday lives. It's sort of like A-Channel if all of the characters were lesbians. Wait... something's not right about that sentence. After staring at it for twenty four seconds, I've figured it out. Let me rephrase that. It's sort of like A-Channel if the characters were more obvious lesbians who got to snog a bit. Now, the reason I'm not comparing it to K-on, Azumanga Daioh or Manabi Straight is that Yuru Yuri has the same sense of humour as A-channel. No, that doesn't mean that the jokes are the same, they're actually both pretty unique in that regard, but the aesthetic that makes up the humour is the same. The jokes may be different but the sense of comedic timing and the definitions of what qualifies as funny seem pretty identical. And no,I will not explain what an aesthetic is, you should already know it. Seriously, it's one of the basic principles they teach you in your first year of highschool literature. Now, if you really don't know it, Google is your friend. Sorry, but it would take longer to explain in detail than the review is probably going to be. Okay, so the story is the same one you get in virtually every comedic slice of life school story. But, it's a comedy so what I'm really going to look at is whether or not it's funny. Well, most of the time it is. I compared its sense of humour to A-Channel, and there's a reason for that. There are some repeated setups that are funny most of the time due to varying punch lines. For instance, there's a repeated gag where a member of the student council, Chitose, gets a bloody nose because she's fantasizing as a result of two girls being homoerotic. What generally makes it funny are either her fantasies, which are always based on what the girls happen to be doing at the moment and never get overly fan-servicey or explicit, (yes this anime has a sense of class) or the humour comes from the reaction that the other girls have to her. That isn't to say that the jokes always work. There are a few that fall short and two that are more facepalm worthy than anything else. Still, altogether the unfunny jokes would probably only be around half an episode long, which leaves you with eleven and a half episodes worth of material that ranges from decent to hilarious and that's pretty good.

Now, I know I've made a lot of comparisons to A-Channel, so you might be glad to know that I'm going to refrain from doing that when talking about characters. Honestly, there isn't much to compare. The characters in Yuru Yuri aren't anything like the characters from A-Channel. If I were going to compare the characters to any other anime cast it would have to be Koihime Musou, another yuri comedy from Dogakobo. This isn't to say that they're exactly identical, but both anime have characters with very particular quirks who may not be the strongest on their own, but have really great interactions that make them shine and lead to some really funny moments. So, I do like the characters in this. They wouldn't be sufficient for a deep character driven piece like Monster, but for a semi-zany comedy they're pretty close to ideal.

Let's talk about the art. I know, I've said this every time I've reviewed an anime with a similar art style, but I don't care for the art in this. It's not quite as basic as A-Channel's, there are some finer details that Yuru Yuri includes that it didn't, but the art is pretty close to the same. The characters still have plain features with different hairstyles, no noses or noses that are just dots, and I still don't know how they keep their glasses on, very basic backdrops and items. Now, let me stress that it never looks bad. It is bright and vibrant, which does arguably suit the series and, arguably, since it's set in middle school rather than high school, it might work a bit better in Yuru Yuri than it does in other school anime that use a similar style while being set in highschool. Still, I don't care for the art style as a matter of preference. I think it's too basic and kind of lazy. Not just in Yuru Yuri, but in every anime I watch with a similar style. If you're fond of the general style, fine you might like this anime, A-Channel, Manabi Straight and some others a little more than I do as a consequence, but I can't really help not liking the art. How much do you want to bet that a fanboy is going to send me a long, whiny message about how I shouldn't review anime with that art style if I don't care for it because they end up not liking the final score? Because, you know, I base my entire rating on the art. Wait... what?

Yuru Yuri has a really strong cast. Now, I can't speak for some of the cast in general since this is my first exposure to some of them, such as Ookubo Rumi and Ootsubo Yuka. In fact, most of the main cast doesn't have a lot of roles outside of this. It's kind of a pity since they do a really good job and I do hope they all get plenty more work in future. The music is... fun, I guess would be the best way to describe it. It's cheerful, upbeat and vibrant. The only real complaint I have about it is that the opening theme is audibly auto-tuned. It's still fun to listen to, in fact I'm listening to the full version while I write this (It's just so bloody catchy), but I do find that a little annoying.

The yuri factor is a whopping 9/10. There are girls with stated crushes on one another, girls kissing each other at several points and just a lot of general homoeroticism. Now, with that said the reason I didn't give it a full 10 is simply that there aren't any actual lesbian couples. There are girls who flirt back and forth and may very well end up as couples in the next season, but no actual couples in this, in spite of the occasional kiss scene. I understand why they did it that way, since these are middle school students and most middle school kids don't end up in serious relationships, but I still think that an anime needs a canonical lesbian couple to get a full yuri rating. Now, there might be that kind of relationship between the student council president and the science teacher... eww, but I really can't tell with this one. Nishigaki sensei says they have a forbidden relationship as "explosion buddies" but I can't tell if it's entirely literal or literal and metaphorical. I kind of hope they're just on friendly terms since it would be pretty messed up otherwise.

So, all I can really say in closing is that Yuru Yuri is energetic, funny, yuririffic and it has some great character interactions. On the downside, some of the les-yay is potentially squicky, thankfully there's not much of that though, and the humour does fall short on occasion. If you enjoy A-Channel you'll probably like this as well since they do operate under the same humour aesthetic. As for me, I liked this a little more. I thought the humour and characters were just a little stronger overall. My final rating is a 7.5/10. If you're a fan of school comedies like Azumanga Daioh, Manabi Straight, or especially A-Channel, give this a go. If you don't care for school comedies, this probably isn't going to change your mind, unless your only complaint about school comedies is that they need canonical lesbianism instead of the heavy subtext most of them have. If that is your sole reason for not liking school comedies this might be what you're looking for. Next week, yuri anime month will continue with a look at a pink-haired maid and the girl with glasses she loves.

If you think your too good, or much of 'cool' guy to watch cute moe anime, your missing out!

Story 9/10: It's slice of life, so not much of a plot. Each episode is pretty straight forward, with your usual school themed stories. However it's so funny and so well written it doesn't feel cliche at all.

Art 9/10: Yeah it's cute moe art, I didn't think I'd like it but it grew on me and I thinks it's adorable! So the moral, don't judge a book or in this case anime by looks alone.

Sound 10/10: Oh that opening theme, it's so catchy! I find myself ... humming it all the time, it just a wonderful theme!

Characters 10/10: The characters are what really make this show. There all very original for the most part, like an MC who lacks presence so much she's not really the MC. One girl who is a slightly perverted doujin artist and has a huge crush on another girl who looks like her favorite anime character. Another girl who nose bleeds everytime she takes her glasses off because of her Yuri fantasies. We also have a Tsundere, well three in fact, and two of them like each other! A Tsundere crushing on another Tsundere... how does that not sound hilarious! The cast is just great and will always make you laugh.

Enjoyment 10/10: I haven't laughed this much at an anime since I watched the early Fairy Tail episodes, this anime is comedy gold. It's also filled to the brim with girl x girl love and inuendo. It's just fun, it's just impossible to not have fun watching this anime!

Overall 9/10: Yuru Yuri is a barrel of laughs with more then plenty Shujo Ai! If you like to laugh and love your Yuri/Shoujo Ai, you will love this anime!

From an aspect of ゆり, expect lots and lots of make out scenes with cute little girls. If you are into that stuff, this is the kind of hentai for you. We are talking softcore action going on here.

Ha, pervert. Bet you just went to go look up some scenes and you were about to call my review misleading, huh? That is, if you kept reading anyway, you are also probably curious as to what the rest of my review is about after that line I delivered.

Alright, so actually, this anime has a very misleading name. If you reread it, it is not called "ゆりゆり" ... it is called "ゆるゆり" and the "ゆる" part actually means calm, loose, leisurely; that kind of stuff. It is basically implying that they are going to show you lots of close scenes to girls kissing, but for the most part will just tease the more perverted viewer. And it also means that their friendships are close enough to be considered ゆり nature, but still a lot more ゆる in them.

My review will be one of those ones that actually avoids spoiling things, but still gives off some information that will convince you to watch at least one episode. That way, some other reviewer does not ruin the experience for you. But, when you do watch this one, what you will truly get out of this anime is a surprisingly good comedy, characters and setting.

It is definitely similar to Lucky Star in terms of calmness and its humor feeling so natural that you would very well believe that the voice actors themselves are fighting when their characters do. It even has a few points from ぱにぽにだっしゅ with some rapid-fire comedy; something I never thought I would see outside that particular anime.

It delivers a sense of natural jokes that do not feel forced like most anime do and it even has a tone of randomness that does not come off as annoying; another rare trait to see in an anime. Its twists will also give you at least one laugh if you are not a very happy person. This is one of the few that says it delivers what it does and successfully does so, but even more. Do not scoff this one off if you are looking for a natural, random comedy. Especially if you have seen Lucky Star, I recommend this one right away.

You would be lucky to find an anime similar to its style. At least, in terms of its natural humor to be specific. This one also continues beyond its original seasons as of recently, so you are in for the long run if you begin watching this. I believe it is even close to entering mainstream status due to its very positive reception which means it could go on for a while. But, it is one of those rare mainstream anime that is not just popular because it is popular, but because it is actually funny. It even has a spin-off as well.

If you are expecting some light hentai action here, then you are for sure out of luck. It only has close moments and maybe (...) but you just have to watch it to see. If you are expecting the same as your private time videos, then I would just go ahead and pass this anime by.

But, If you are looking for a nice, calm comedy that can deliver just as much randomness as it can natural humor, you better start watching ゆるゆり right away as it delivers plenty of what you seek in this genre.

Going into Yuru Yuri, I thought that it was going to a slice of life anime with heavy yuri in the middle of it. I was kind of right, and in the process, I found one of my favorite slice of life animes.

Story:
There is no real story in Yuru Yuri. It has that Hidamari Sketch feel where you just see the main characters do whatever comes up, talk to each other and just live their lives. Pacing is a bit slow on the first couple of episodes and they didn't get down their comedic timing yet, but it picks up real quickly. Depending on the ... type of person you are, you're either gonna love or hate the fact that nothing really happens. Me, I personally don't mind, as long as I laugh, it's all good, and you're definitely laugh. So it's an 8 for me

Art:
Art is great, each episode, you'll find another sort of anime-y face which will make of course, make you laugh. It's pretty simplistic in it's art, nothing too amazing, but that's good because it won't distract you from what you're suppose to pay attention to, which is the characters and the interactions. The characters all have vastly different hair styles with a different hair color so you can tell them apart easily, which is good since there's 8 main characters you follow. Not much to say from me, just loved the anime faces they make, 10.

Sound:
The seiyuu's do a great job to match the voices of their respected characters. Whether it be aloof, a tsundere, or a pervert, they do the voices well and it helps distinguish their personalities. The background music is pretty chill and sometimes silly which fits the anime, so I have no complaints. The OP and ED is pretty damn good, both catchy and the seiyuu's do a good job singing them. To me, 9

Characters:
As said before, they're all distinct due to hairstyles hair colors and personalities. You've got your typical aloof characters, tsundere girl, dumb character, "notice me senpai" character and all the sorts, but one character sort of rubbed me the wrong way and that's a character who imagines yuri between two characters. You will either tolerate it or sort of find it uncomfortable which I did because the yuri scenes happened pretty frequently in the early episodes and was pretty long. Thankfully, the whole yuri imaginations slowed that and made it better by making it less. Other than that, I still remember all the characters, I can name all of them and they're all memorable. Just cause they didn't know how to make their characters work together, I give it an 8.

Enjoyment:
Definitely one of my favorite slice of life animes, great comedy, fun characters and I can always just go back to a random episode if I feel like just seeing it again. Anyone can jump into it if they don't mind seeing a bit of yuri. Enjoyed the songs too, both very catchy and worth listening to cause it makes me dance. Fun anime, 9.

What sound DOES a panda make?

Story:
I read somewhere that Yuru Yuri can be translated as "relaxed lesbians". That's pretty much what this is. It's a cute little slice of life comedy...with lesbians. That doesn't mean we get to see tons of fanservice or breast-grabbing or butt-touching, it's just the setting for this anime. There are a couple of girls that do have a crush on each other, which makes for some of the comedy, but much of it comes from the characters themselves, disregarding their sexuality. Actually, it's much tamer than I expected it to be, which I'm okay with. But putting the yuri bait ... aside, is it funny? In my opinion, yes.
8/10

Art:
It's moe-style. That should tell you everything you need to know, but writing nothing else would make this paragraph look pretty pathetic. There are a few cases of art shift, especially with the girls faces, which are hilarious. I liked it for its colorfulness and slightly wacky animation.
7/10

Sound:
When an opening is so damn catchy you sing it at work and make everybody around you give you weird looks, you've done it right. I usually bitch about random j-pop songs used for anime, but for a show like this, what would be more fitting? Same goes for the ending song, which is almost as catchy. The voice acting is fine, there was no role that I'd say didn't work.
9/10

Characters:
Are they stock characters? Probably. But that doesn't have to be a bad thing if they are used right and in this case, they are. Akari is so incredibly stereotype that she becomes an effective parody of a main character. Kyouko is a lot of fun, though she can be a bit too much from time to time. Yui is a great straight "man" to the madness and Chinatsu is a bitch in sheep's clothing, which is not groundbreaking, but not common enough to be boring. The side characters were likeable too. For some reason I especially liked Ayano, even though I'm anything but a fan of tsunderes (maybe it's because most are just terribly written?).
9/10

Enjoyment:
Yuru Yuri was a lot of fun to watch. I liked the comedy, I liked the characters, I liked the pacing and I even looked forward to watching/hearing the opening and ending, which is something I usually don't do. It was a good idea to divide the series into multiple 12 episode seasons, so you can portion it and not overdose yourself with it (what I surely would have done). Absolute recommendation for anybody who's looking for a slice of life and/or comedy anime. I'll only give it a 9 though, because if I DID watch more than 12 episodes in a row, the whole thing might grow stale on me sooner or later.
9/10

Overall:
8.4/10

Despite the "Yuri" in its title, this show doesn't even come close to being a Yuri anime show. It's more on a Shoujou Ai side but there are no lesbian relationships here.


[Story]: (7/10)
After finishing Middle School, Akari Akaza joins the the tea ceremony club along with her two childhood friends, Toshino Kyouko and Yui Funami. Soon, a 4th member joins named Chinatsu Yoshikawa.

Ok, doesn't that synopsis remind you of some slice-of-life show that you most likely have heard of or have watched already? I think it was that show from Kyoto Animation...That's right..K-On!. I really don't want to compare both shows even though the ... similarities are obvious so I'm moving on.

The story of the show is.....Well....nothing. It's just a simple slice-of-life "cute girls doing cute things" kind of show except most, if not, all the characters are lesbians. Although, like I said in the opener, there are no lesbian relationships here so if you're here for that then this is not the show for you. There are occasional scenes where they would tease the viewers, showing the 2 characters being lovey dovey towards each other but that's it. The show will not go as far as dating.

The comedy is what you'd mostly expect in a lesbian anime show..For example, Chitose having a nosebleed due to her yuri fantasies, Toshino being obsessed with Chinatsu, Chinatsu being obsessed with Yui, a lesbian tsundere acting like a tsundere. The question is are the jokes funny? Ehh, the jokes are decent but not the funniest.

Most of my review will be on the "Characters" category so this section will be short.
______________________________________________________________
[Art/Animation]: (7.5/10)
The animation isn't really anything special or even great..The background just looks so plain and it lacks details and the character designs are average at best. In short, it's decent. Then again, this is a slice-of-life show so.....

What I do love is the "Akarin" intro. The Akarin intros are just so cute and every episode, I looked forward to it even though it was only about 15 or more seconds.
______________________________________________________________
[Sound]: (8/10)
The soundtrack isn't really anything special either. The OST's that would play in the background when they're fooling around or when they're having a normal conversation aren't worth mentioning. Now the OP and ED theme song(s)

The OP theme song is Yuriyurarararayuruyuri Daijiken" by Nanamori Chu?Goraku Bu and the ED theme song is My Pace de Ikimashou" by Nanamori Chu?Goraku Bu. The OP theme song is not the greatest OP I've ever heard but it is damn catchy. Especially when the "Sakura saki" lyrics plays, that gets me everytime. The ED theme song is also pretty catchy..I just love Yui and Toshino's voice.
______________________________________________________________
[Characters]: (8/10)
What you have here are 4 main characters who all happens to be lesbians. There are no boys in this world and everyone in this universe is a lesbian. Ohh, the joys of living in a world with no boys...I'm going to leave that to your imagination. Time to talk about the characters..

First, we have Akari, a protagonist who gets treated like a side character. She has a hair dumplings that can supposedly come off and can turn invincible when the word "Akarin" is shouted. I honestly feel bad for her character because of how she is treated in the show. Then there's Toshino Kyouko, a supposed protagonist of the show. She is an otaku, an energetic girl and she can't shut up for even a single second. Toshino = Best Girl! period. She's the main driving force of the show and she's just hilarious. Although, her jokes can get somewhat repetitive. She also "loves" Chinatsu. Then there's Yui, the calm, leader/senpai-like of the group. She's the one who keeps Toshino in check. Finally, there's Chinatsu, a girl who later joined the tea club. She's like an evil mini-yandere..She'll do everything to get close to Yui.

Then there's a bunch of side characters that are forgettable NOT!. To be honest, I love all the side characters. Each of the side characters are funny and likable in their own way like Ayano's tsundere side and her puns that somehow makes Yui laugh, Chitose's yuri fantasy of Toshino and Ayano and her nosebleeds, Himawari and Sakurako's constant arguments. and etc.
______________________________________________________________
[Enjoyment]: (8/10)
I'm a fan of Shoujou Ai shows and even though this anime didn't have any lesbian relationships, I still love this show. It's a nice slice-of-life to watch like K-On except they're all lesbians.
______________________________________________________________
[VERDICT]
"Yuru Yuri" is a great slice-of-life series with a supposedly Shoujou Ai scenes. If you like watching "cute girls doing cute things" or you're a fan of it then this is a must watch show. Just don't hold your expectations high on the comedy because it's average at best.

[OVERALL]: (8/10)

Pros:
+Great Slice-of-life show
+A show Shoujou Ai fans can enjoy
+Average comedy
+All main and side characters are great in their own way

Cons:
-Plain Animation

When you put a bunch of girls, many of whom have questionable sexual orientations, in a club aimed solely at the entertainment of themselves, what do you get? Yuru Yuri!

Quite honestly I was questioning myself for a while whether I should watch this series or not. After reading the title and understanding the literal translation of the title, "Slow Yuri", my first impression was less than favorable. I'm not a huge fan or ecchi or yuri, in fact I tend to shy away from these anime genres that I usually perceive as taboo. I decided to give this series a go and watch it ... parallel with A-Channel (which is also a very good series in my opinion). What does this have to do with anything? I was actually able to appreciate this anime a lot more while watching this anime with A-Channel.

It seems like the mold for Slice-of-Life lately is four girls hanging out together doing random things while hilarity ensues. Actually this isn't always the case. While watching Yuru Yuri, I was laughing hysterically from the beginning to the end of every episode in contrast to my feeling of warmth and content after watching a channel of A-Channel. What I'm trying to get across here is that each slice of life anime has a different style and evokes a different type of emotion that makes you feel good in the end. This is important because I see many reviews and critics giving critical comments against a certain series because it "doesn't compare to anime giants like K-On!" I dislike this immensely because they don't appreciate the series for what it's worth. For Yuru Yuri, the series is supposed to make you laugh until your stomach hurts. I mean, a bunch of moe girls with questionable sexual orientations attempting normal tasks in the most ludicrous ways is absolutely hilarious. Of course you begin to question your status of pedophilia after realizing you're watching a bunch of moe middle schoolers, but hey! They can make you smile on the worst of days. In the beginning I thought I would be disgusted, but in the end I absolutely loved the series and have no regrets watching this series.

Before I go into the review, I want to point out that this is a Slice-of-Life anime. If you're not entertained by characters doing everyday things or cute character designs then avoid this. You should also avoid this if you are revolted by even the slightest bit of yuri or ecchi content, because about 70% of the series is driven by yuri or ecchi comedy.

Onward with the review:

Story (6): Let me clarify this. This is not a gauge of how much I enjoyed this series. It's the actual story itself. Slice-of-Life anime are notorious for having little or no plot that drives the series, just comedy or that warm fuzzy feeling inside after watching to friends make up after a fight. Slice-of-Life comedies always focus on multiple subplots that only serve as a means to bring about laughter from its viewers. At times there might be a sense of reflection, even deep reflection from one or two of the characters, but these are not necessarily the plot drivers you see in series like Madoka Magica. In Yuru Yuri, the story focuses on fours girls who are part of the "amusement club" that seeks to entertain its members by doing fun things. This isn't really a plot, but more a setting of both what the characters are like and what they will do in terms of their actions. Of course, this is not story, just setting. So I gave the series the fair rating like I do with all the other Slice-of-Life anime I've seen come up lately, because it's all the same setup.

Art (7): This and character can really affect the actual popularity of Slice-of-Life series. Okay, so the artist can put together a bunch of girls in the usual after school club doing hilarious things. However, the questions about defining the series begin to appear: Can the artist make the characters and art stand out? Can the artist compliment the characters with appropriate settings and background that can help bring out the character's colors and design? There is no doubt about those facts here. Pony Canyon did an excellent job here animating these adorably kawaii girls together. The backdrop and general setting of when and where this series takes place is simple. This keeps the lighthearted and comedic mood of the series. It never hurt my eyes, and I was always smiling with the cute designs of the moe characters in Yuru Yuri.

Sound (7): I must say I really enjoyed the music of the series, especially the Character Songs, the OP song. and the ED song. All of the songs were upbeat and happy. It was like reliving the Caramell Dansen period of my life. I really enjoyed the songs here a lot. The sound effects and background music during the actually show were the same to me as any other Slice-of-Life anime. It's not bad at all, in fact it compliments the scene and action that the characters are in. However, that same statement can be applied to a lot of other anime so again I'm going to say sound effects and background music are good, but don't amazingly stand out.

Character (10): I really liked the characters here. I find it similar to the characters in Lucky Star where characters fill in some sort of niche role in order to satirize the otaku community. We all know Yuru Yuri isn't a satire, but the writer of the series made a colorful cast of characters and uses them in amazingly hilarious ways.
We have Toshinou Kyouko, the Genki Girl, who likes to go about doing her own things selfishly and blantantly who of course is stopped by the Bokukko, Funami Yui who serves as the voice of reason.
We have the Yandere, Yoshikawa Chinatsu who is completely obsessed with Yui-senpai and despises everyone else.
The Ikeda twins, the Meganekkos who are also perverts as well, revealing their fantasies at critical moments creating anti-climax or creating a lot of chaos in their wake.
Sugiura Ayano, the glorious student council VP and tsundere about Kyouko (both whom Chitose always yuri fantasizes about).
The tsundere pair of Furutani Himawari and Ohmuro Sakurako who fill the roles of dekapai and pettanko respectively and play the role of the humorous takahashi couple.
There's more to the characters here than what I've described, but with these details and more character depth, this motley crew of characters will have hilarity following after them like a dog chasing after a squirrel.
I feel like I'm forgetting something. Oh well time to move on with the rest of the review! xD

Enjoyment (9): Again the sense of comedy is just awesome. Putting the most generic characters of anime together as moe middle school girls in an ecchi and yuri comedy is simply genius. I frowned at it before, but now I find myself entertained and generally lighthearted after watching the series.

Overall (8): Pretty much everything I said above in a nutshell. I liked this series a lot because of the comedy and laughter brought about by the cute, yet refreshing cast of characters in the series. The jokes and gags are satisfyingly devious and can make you smile any day. If you're looking for some quick, cute, and devious comedy, Yuru Yuri is definitely your best bet.