Yuru Yuri’s latest yuri packed endeavor returns to the gag centric format – tagging alongside the student council and relevant tsunderes, whilst also giving a bit of focus towards the long-forgotten “main characters”.
A theme of this episode upon its opening moments, and into the middle half, is “allergies” – rounds of comedy with no topic to base them around would fail to strike with as much intensity, particularly when the series has to sustain high caliber comedy on a consistent episodic basis. One needn’t think too heavily about any of that however as Yuru Yuri definitely succeeds with little effort – the ever-adorable violet haired tsundere of the seitokai, Ayano, is the stem of many of the points of humor in this episode.
Aside from the several jokes and amusingly awkward situations regarding her cute sneezing, one has to of course also find pleasure in Ayano’s rather exquisite facial expressions – they satisfy in their cuteness, yet one should also recognize the ballet of traits spun together to make the visage so expressive. Yuru Yuri’s character designs have an aura of superiority to them – and the faces are definitely one of the main reasons as they sustain a simplistic and lighthearted appearance true to the series, but employ some elaborate specifics to keep it so.
Now of course, the comedy also leads to the all so delightful yuri moments – Ayano’s snotty nose becomes a subject of interest as she’s stuck in an unfavorable position as result of her allergies, yet she’s rescued by Toshino Kyouko’s tissues, a scene to only be surpassed by some Toshino Kyouko ice cream later on. Yet before that transcendental scene of gratifying yuri implications takes place – another moment simply too brilliant is presented prior, a solution to allergies in the form of wearing a gas mask, the seemingly foolproof method of allergy relief.
On that note, it should be reiterated that just as another character happens to mention, Ayano is certainly immensely cute regardless of what she’s fitted in.
And continuing onward, skipping a few items of less substance, there’s a monumental moment to be remembered for all-time in which an unfortunate incident for Ayano jeopardizes her beloved pudding – however, the situation is ultimately turned into one of great reward as she manages to exchange the sweet milk-based dessert in question for another by the name of “ice cream”. Yet the achievement is not that the cup of ice cream is “rum raisin” in flavor, but that it was a gift from Toshino Kyouko – Ayano’s unspoken yuri love interest.
However, it’s not long till horror and tragedy comes to devastate the misfortunate seitokai tsundere as her childish underling in student council affairs and dishonest emotions, Sakurako, devours the treasured dairy product like a vicious animal. It’s quite terrible to witness – yet it’s concurrently just as hilarious as well. This segment takes place during some tidying up – and this portion of the episode is quite a treat in its overall collective of comedy, cuteness, and intimacy.
It should also be said, Sakurako has truly become a highly lovable character – she previously was nothing more than a whiner, and she still is, yet we’re now familiarized with her background and deeper feelings, both of which do well to show that despite her easily irritating attitude, she’s very sincere.
In contrast, Akari is becoming more so unlikable for a variety of reason – mainly as her personality has some hidden arrogance to it which makes it difficult to sympathize with her at all, something which certainly doesn’t help with her already lacking position in the series. She essentially has nothing as a character except her teru teru bozu hairbuns.
Even with that accounted for however, it’s nothing with a negative impact on the series – Akkarin’s just all too ill-fated in this fantastic slice of life with a fetishistic romantic twist.
