I’m going to discuss Yuru Yuri in this article. I think it is pretty obvious from the title that we’ll be dealing with lesbians, or possible lesbians (I am pretty sure Akari the red-haired, airhead protagonist is not a lesbian) here. TV Tropes call these situations “exactly what it says on the tin” (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin) and my roommate would say that “the name says a thousand words”. So if you’re easily offended by such materials, feel free to skip reading what is ahead, although I can assure you that there’s nothing too obscene or unacceptable in Yuru Yuri which literally means “easygoing yuri” according to Yuru Yuri’s article in Wikipedia. (tl;dr yuri (百合) means “girl’s love”. Don't read if easily offended.)Contrary to the title “Yuru Yuri” which seems to suggest that the show would have a heavy dose of yuri, the yuri (or at least serious yuri) content in Yuru Yuri is actually quite mild compared to other yuri titles such as Maria-sama ga Miteru or Miyuki-chan in Wonderland (I have not watched these two titles). There are occasionally boob grabbing or secret admiration going on between the girls, but the main genre of Yuru Yuri is still, well, comedy. The show is meant to make you laugh, not to make you feel disgusted or high. It isn’t really all that bad actually. Yes, the hints of yuri is pretty strong compared to other similar shows that have yuri as a sub-genre such as Saki or Sailormoon or even Negima, but like I said, it is still pretty mild. Let’s see… in Yuru Yuri there are hints of kissing, stalking, siscon or even twincest in Yuru Yuri, but seriously, they’re not really a big deal even for lesbian haters. The girl to girl kissing scenes occur mainly in the fantasies and delusions of Chizuru (white haired girl). However, there’s a rare occasion in the first season where Chinatsu (pink haired girl) force kisses Akari saying that she wanted to practice her kiss before she kisses her senior Yui (purple haired) whom she has a crush on, and the latter passes out, seemingly half dead from the shock of the kiss. Again, that is not a big deal as we the viewers were supposed to laugh at it and not take it seriously as neither Chinatsu nor Akari were really in love with each other or had the intention to kiss. Indeed we’re supposed to laugh at it. If it were serious yuri stuff, Akari would have had a deep emotional trauma and would have stayed at home and be absent from school the next few days, and that Chinatsu would end up going to her house and in order to calm her down, comforts her and starts a relationship to “take responsibility” or whatnot. See, now you know what I’m talking about when I say “mild”.As for stalking and being a siscon, well, that’s the worse Yuru Yuri can go. Here’s the scenario: an elder sister stealing her sister’s panties and sniffs on it while she read siscon mangas and wears it on her head. This is now Akari’s sister Akane is, and you can see how scary she may be with her closed eyes and evil but warm smile when she talks to Akari. Her room has a sign “do not enter” pinned onto the door, and a scary aura emitting from the room as if it belongs to a criminal who has kept all her weapons and evidences of crime. She must have loved her sister so much but stalking? That’s just too regrettable in my opinion. She could have easily done what she wanted. I guess Akane also has her own self-control mechanism – she stalks but she does not, um, attack. Fortunately (or unfortunately, you decide) that’s the yuri limit of Yuru Yuri.As for twincest, there’s Chizuru who is ultra protective of her twin sister Chitose. Both have different personalities and while Chizuru nosebleeds while she fantasizes, Chitose drools while she fantasizes, both on yuri fantasies. We’re supposed to laugh at it, remember? Well, I find it funny, but when I think of it again, I was turned off. I didn’t like Chizuru’s violent and unpleasant personality. I don’t mind quiet characters like Yuki Nagato, but Chizuru is not only quiet, but she actively “shoos” people off. That is something I find disagreeable. In the last episode of the second season of Yuru Yuri, you see her with a shotgun. One should never hand a shotgun to a dangerous girl like that. (I can sense the presence of Gasai Yuno from somewhere, smirking…)I don’t know what else to say. I enjoyed Yuru Yuri but I wouldn’t really recommend it unless you’re bored and wanted to watch some anime that doesn’t have a strict storyline. Each episode of Yuru Yuri is an independent story and there is no need to watch every episode continuously to make sense of what is going on. And guess what, Ayana Taketatsu (who did Azusa in K-On and Kirino in Oreimo) voices Mirakurun, the magical girl in the anime-in-an-anime. Did you expect that? :DI'll be writing about Tari Tari next. This is one real slice of high school life.
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