YuruYuri

Genre: Comedy
Age Appropriate: Pre-teen
Emotional Response: goofy girls, girl crushes
Notable Features: young girls, school related comedy, lack of presence
Language: Japanese
Length: 2 seasons, 26 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Ok, I guess

"Akarin!" - Everyone

YuruYuri opens with a storyline about Akari, a young middle-schooler starting a new school year. She comes with new friends and old. Right away, the series goes into her lack of presence. There is a new girl, who is a first year, who describes her as invisible. As the series moves on, it becomes apparent that the series is more about the friends as a whole. The four main friends Akari, Yuki, Kyoko and Chinatsu - are a part of the Amusement Club - a club that has no real focus outside of hanging out. There is the occasional attempt at doing something, but it often just leads to comedic situations. The series is primarily shenanigans, in and out of school, between the girls. There is some rivalry between the VP of the School Council and the Amusement Club, but turns out shortly that it has more to do with a crush and/or competition than anything malicious. The key to YuruYuri is the Yuri part. The series is full of girl crush triangles, including two fantasizing twins. There aren't any male characters at all! At the bottom of the storyline, and girly fun, the series is really about Akari and her battle with her self-esteem.

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YuruYuri is cute. There isn't any real substance at all, though. This is part of the reason the synopsis isn't very long. I don't really mind watching something fluffy after a few serious anime, but this was too fluffy. I didn't get enraptured by it at all, and had to force a few episodes down my throat. Actually, that sounds a little harsh. It really was cute. And the comedy bits where they're expression their crushes for each other are pretty excellent. There is plenty of innuendo and sparkly fantasy moments, but nothing blatantly inappropriate. I didn't have any laugh out loud moments, but maybe a headsmack or two. Things I did enjoy: Yui's little sister. She's adorable. It wasn't really to my taste, but if you don't mind the girl-girl crushes, it's probably not a bad series for a middle-schooler. If there is any type of moral to this story, it's about self-esteem. In general, though, I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone, unless they specifically asked for something like it. It was ok, I guess.

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