But anyways, moving on.
Story: 8
Slice-of-life stories have to be rated on a completely different scale than most other ones. It's unfair to complain about lack of depth or the plot being boring and nonexistent when the whole purpose of a slice of life is to have no plot. In shows like this, all focus is on the characters, not the story.
With that, I think this show's story is a bit better than most. There's not a lot to go off of, but I personally like the idea of seizing an abandoned club room to form a fake club so the girls can hang out. Otherwise, the story is nothing special, even for the genre; the scene changes usually between the club room, the school, and every now and then someone's house. There are episodes where it'll change to a beach or Okinawa or something, but that's about it. Typical genre locations.
If you want a somewhat absurd but still more dynamic story, there is a doujin crossover of Yuru Yuri and Fate/Zero. Yeah, don't ask. Do go read it though, it's surprisingly not bad.
Art: 9
Cute girls doing cute things with cute expressions and cute school uniforms. Really, that's all there is to be said. No flashy special effects or cool looking designs, just cute. Everywhere.
If I'm not wrong, Doga Kobo is the studio behind Yuru Yuri. They aren't as well known as studios such as Madhouse or KyoAni, but their animation style is solid. I, for one, love the cutesy character design and the simplicity of it. The color palette isn't being abused to create girls with vibrant and strangely odd hair colors, everybody is normal. Just normal.
In short, there's nothing wrong with it. Points because it's cute, not a masterpiece because there's nothing special about it.
Sound: 8
While I'm not a huge fan of the opening and ending music, that can be foregone. With most shows, music is used during episodes to set the atmosphere and played during action scenes or montages or whatever, and with slice-of-life anime, it's generally just used to build up to a punch line. It isn't really something to be harped on, I found myself enjoyed most of the music from the show, and I especially liked the short music clips during the half-time.
I've never and will never be picky about sound. The only exception to this rule is when there's something definitely off about them.
Character: 9
"What makes a character interesting is their personality. What makes them unique is the way they interact with the people around them." It's probably been said before, but those are my own words. I believe it's true because if you go by personality alone, there will *never* be a character that is completely unique. There will always be many other "tsundere" characters, or many other airhead characters, or many other stoic characters, and it's no easy feat to design a character that is wholly unparalleled.
With that being said, the characters are cute. None of them really seem boring, although they aren't exactly in-depth. There's little quirks and traits that make them who they are, and if not then there's a relationship with someone else that makes them stand out. For Akari, her lack of presence. For Kyouko, her relationship with Yui. For Chitose, her OTP shipping (that causes nosebleeds) of Kyouko x Ayano. Yui is usually the "tsukkomi," but there's more to her than just reacting to the punchline.
All in all, I loved the characters. There's no need to have truly unique characters to have a good cast. As long as they all interact together and have at least some sort of defining trait, that's good enough for me.
Enjoyment: 10
Hey, I love slice-of-life shows, and this isn't an exception. When you need a break from all the dramatic action and supernatural, just pick up a show like this and relax. It works for me!
This show in particular wasn't anything new or amazing, but the characters are cute and it doesn't get boring (first episode of Lucky Star, anyone?). I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to watching the next seasons and OVAs and specials and whatnot.
Overall: 9
It's nothing special, as I've said many times, but this show is worth a watch if you're a fan of slice of life. I found it cute, funny, relaxing, and surprisingly dark at times (episode 4, for example). Still, it was a good watch and I'm glad that someone recommended this to me.
