The addition of Kinema Citrus to the team didn’t seem to me like it added any real production magic (nothing matching episode four of season one, for sure), so it just continued to be a well drawn if minimally animated affair, relying heavily on very cute and striking close-ups and facial expressions. And it’s /excellent/ at those, mind you. But still, largely business as usual. Thankfully Gochiusa’s usual business is a ton of fun.

There were some notable additions and enhancements. Chino’s Chimame-tai partners (Megu and Maya) played a much bigger role this season. It felt as if they were in almost every episode, and they may have gotten about as much screen time as some of the four older girls. This was a nice development not only because they’re two very fun characters, but because one of the other developments this season was Chino opening up to everyone around her a lot more. She’s still shy and has grown up a little too fast, but she makes a concerted effort to be more honest about her feelings, to laugh more easily, to smile more broadly. It’s a heartwarming transformation to watch, and I think having girls her age around all the time gave her the comfort level she needed to take those steps. Thanks, Chimame-tai!

The only new character this season was Mocha, Cocoa’s sister. I thought she was fun, although as a catalyst for Cocoa she didn’t accomplish quite as much as Megu and Maya did for Chino. Still, nothing negative came from her introduction. I think it just reinforced one of Cocoa’s traits (her desire to grow up and be a good onee-chan to the girls) rather than presented anything new. Mocha was hilarious while “stealing away” Cocoa’s imouto harem though. But I think I like her subduing the older girls even more. Suddenly the onee-chans have become the imoutos, what a dramatic role reversal! Really though, it was adorable.

As in most iyashikei/slice of life shows, there’s plenty of teasing at relationships in Gochiusa. And in the case of Sharo and Rize, this is actually one of my complaints about the show. Not that Sharo is in love with Rize, but that the show pushes against that line where I get a little uncomfortable at how needlessly reluctant it’s being to validate any of the relationships. I don’t want to overstate my issues with this, but it’s precisely because the story takes Sharo’s feelings more or less seriously that the brick wall named Rize becomes so frustrating. They feel a lot like Ayaya and Youko in Kinmosa, though for some reason I can’t put my finger on, I’m a bit more bothered by it in Gochiusa. Certainly they’ve not moved one inch from season one, and never will. Sigh.

On the other hand, I was pleased to see Chiya and Cocoa getting so close. They have exceptional chemistry, but they also feel like an unlikely pairing. I get Sharo/Rize, it’s the flustered kouhai/cool-but-actually-girly senpai dynamic, and that’s fine (when it goes anywhere). Chiya and Cocoa aren’t an obvious pairing archetype but they really work. In season one it felt like a really incidental thing, but in season two Chiya in particular really ratchets up her Cocoa adoration. While Cocoa is less direct about it, she always looks ecstatic to be goofing around with Chiya, in a way that feels distinct from her interactions with Rize, Sharo, and the Chimame-tai.

Great season overall, with a strong final stretch that raised my opinion of the series.

San Hai seems to mark the point where more Yuru Yuri stops being financially viable and we’re back to zero successful active yuri anime franchises. Sigh. But it was a truly wonderful parting gift, and getting to three seasons in the first place would have been unthinkable at the start. Because I was a big fan of the first two seasons I won’t say “third time’s the charm”, but it’s certainly the best Yuru Yuri has ever been!

It was evident in the Nachuyachumi OVAs that the tone was shifting a little. Less frantic, slightly more melancholy, a bit more subdued. And this ended up being a great change! It’s still hilarious, the characters are still unique and expressive, and the seiyuu performances are as good as ever. But I really appreciate when comedic slice of life shows slow down a bit. I’ve always felt that character-driven comedies get better when they dial back the punchlines and let scenes end with characters simply sharing a moment.

The relationships from the first two seasons naturally got a lot of play this season, and that means my favorite development this season was how often it paired up characters who rarely if ever interacted previously.

Sakurako and Kyouko is one great example. Because Kyouko is the irresponsible troublemaker of the group she doesn’t get to play a senpai role very often. Putting Kyouko alone with Sakurako (the only character derpier than herself) casts her in a different light. Sakurako idolizes Kyouko in all the ways that Kyouko jokingly self-aggrandizes herself. It’s hard to tell if this is more an ego trip or source of amusement for Kyouko – probably both. But it really does give her a chance to shine in episode eight, when she’s hanging out at the game center, setting Sakurako up for the slam dunk on the UFO catcher game.

It’s a small moment, but shows like this live and die on the small moments. For example, the totally unexpected and very welcome development of Chizuru. She was easily the flattest character of the first two seasons, but she gets two dedicated scenes in this season. The meeting with Kaede on a park bench did wonders for softening Chizuru’s presentation, and was followed up in the next episode by her opening up to two of her classmates, showing how she took Kaede’s advice to heart. It’s amazing what treating a character as more than a one-off gag can achieve, huh?

Then there’s Yui and Ayano. Damn there’s a lot going on beneath the surface there. Kyouko has always been there to mediate their interactions, and they’ve exchanged many a sympathetic glance of mutual understanding over Kyouko. But when they’re alone together they’re stripped of that Kyouko filter and what results is this delightful bumbling attempt to converse about… what? It’s the Yuru Yuri Bechdel Test, can two girls who love Kyouko hold a conversation that isn’t about Kyouko? They do manage though, awkwardly bonding over a shared appreciation of bad puns and an understanding that they actually have pretty similar personalities in some ways. There being this really vague tension over Kyouko just spices the interactions up a bit. It’s like a love triangle that’s actually interesting and not defined purely by romance.

I’ve only plucked a few examples from many. So many. San Hai was composed from start to finish of moments like these.

And it has Akari. Akari is one of my most beloved characters ever. She is a treasure to all of humanity. We even got less “Akari is so forgettable” jokes this time, which I was pretty happy about! They’d run their course, honestly.