Monday 15 August 2011

YuruYuri - Episode 7

It always feels a little awkward when a summer season anime has a Christmas episode but oh well, what can you do?  This week it's YuruYuri's turn to spread a little Christmas cheer at entirely the wrong time of year.


More specifically, the mainstay of this episode gives us Kyoko's idea of what makes a real Christmas treat for her friends - that being a "date lottery", where numbers are picked out of a box to pair up the various girls so that they can go on dates together.  Even though the lottery doesn't seem to be rigged, Kyoko ends up going out with Chinatsu with a surprising degree of success, while Akari gets on pretty well with Chitose, Sakurako and Himawari continue their usual love/hate relationship (well, mostly hate really), and Yui and Ayano... well, they just sit there really.

Of course, after Christmas comes New Year, and to close off the episode we visit the main quartet of characters as they go about their business receiving new year greeting cards, money and so on, even if only one of these items is of any interest to Kyoko.

Despite a somewhat shameful premise as this series continues to focus almost solely on the "yuri" part of its title, this was another solid and occasionally amusing episode - Akari's opening was the funniest thing on show (you can't beat a bit of "colliding with the camera" slapstick), but there were a few wry smiles and giggles to be had throughout.  Again, YuruYuriis a million miles away from becoming a classic anime comedy, or even a memorable one to sit alongside the likes of Minami-ke and Mitsudomoe, but it has improved as the series has gone on and it's gotten to grips with its characters, to at least help to while away the occasional summer evening.

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