Characters:
The clumsy, ignored, and plain Akari. She's the absolutely normal girl every shoujo has, albeit a little clumsy and awkward. Her lack of presence is the cause of her distress.
The selfish, easygoing, and perverted Kyoko. She's a famous mangaka, and her class' highest scorer even though she's a slouch. Her gluttony and laziness are her most shinning traits.
The lustful yet calm, and cute Chinatsu. She's the best at making tea and the worst at drawing.
The nice, mature, and independent Yui. She lives in an apartment by herself, and is often found at the center of the four main characters mentioned above.
Then, there are the secondary characters: The vexed but shy Ayano. The wet-dreaming, nose-bleeding Chitose. The jealous, and dumb Sakurako. The big-breasted and lady-like Himawari. The mute student council president, Rise. And Nana, the science teacher whose inventions are all explosive.
Relationships:
The relationships are linear and obvious: Akari is ignored by everyone. Kyoko loves Chinatsu, and often crashes at Yui's apartment. Chinatsu adores and looks up to Yui, and is constantly avoiding Kyoko. Yui is the one keeping Kyoko away from Chinatsu, and having them all at her apartment every now and then. Ayano secretly loves Kyoko but pretends she doesn't tolerate her. Chitose is Ayano's best friend, and the one encouraging and advising Ayano. She day-dreams a lot about intimate scenes between Kyoko and Ayano whenever she removes her glasses, and that causes her nose to bleed. Sakurako is extremely jealous of Himawari's big breasts. She always fights with her throughout the two seasons, but appears to be heavily dependent on her.
Analysis:
The music is slightly above-par, and is catchy and enjoyable. The animation and design are amazing. And the final episode would account for all the rest, meaning: You can watch the last episode without losing much content. It was really good.
The anime is truly fantastic because of what it teaches us about the art of making anime. It serves to be as the perfect model of what NOT to do in an anime. Here is a huge list:
*The characters are heavily contrasted, and that does not reflect any social reality.
*The relationships feel like they were planned or written by a robot: They're linear.
*Each character has a list of habits and traits that aren't shared with anyone, and that is neither the case in Japan, nor in anywhere else. It doesn't feel real at all.
*Each joke is thoroughly and excessively explained in a way that would make it pointless.
*Everything can be expected from the start of each event, so there's not much to anticipate.
*Each character tries hard to be a full representation of her characteristics.
*Everything is commented on. There seems to be no understanding between any character without speech.
*No imagination or thinking is left to the watcher. Every reference or notion has to be pointed at.
*Responses are forced and unnatural. So are the reactions. No flexibility.
*Repetition. All events are similar, and all reactions and responses feel like they're repeated.
*Full exploitation of the relationships between these characters, and all characters' characteristics.
*No character development whatsoever. The episodic nature of the anime makes it closer to a cartoon than an anime.
*No story elements or moral. The series' main and only goal is entertainment.
*Typical characters, typical scenarios, and predictable events.
*The children are unrealistic, and overtly frank in an awkward way, which makes one wonder if the developers ever saw children in their lives.
And with these notes, which are so easy to notice, most anime studios can start making good anime devoid of all these cliches. The only thing this piece-of-garbage anime is ever good for is showing us how horrible an anime could be, with looking and sounding as beautiful as the budget allows.
We all know that anime does not have to be realistic, but characters do, and so should relationships, reactions, and traits. It's alright to exaggerate or bend reality a little, but doing so without limits makes the anime unwatchable. The story, the setting, or the events can be unrealistic, and that's alright, but the characters should be relatable so that the watcher can relate himself to the anime, and have a worthy experience. This is a key in arts, and so should it be in anime, even if anime is more about entertainment.
Overall:
There is not much to be gained from watching Yuru Yuri. Both seasons are mediocre at most and extremely boring. The experience is dull; we don't get any idea about the Japanese culture, nor are we entertained, which is ironic, because that seems to be the main objective of the anime. No new types of characters, no new or even inspired events, and most certainly, no originality.
If there was anything worth anyone’s time in the whole series (24 episodes), it is the last episode, which was, by a whole deal, better than the rest.
