Yuru-Yuri

From left to right: Akari, Chinatsu, Yui, Chitose, Kyouko, Ayano, Himawari and Sakurako

Yuru-Yuri stars three middle school girls, Kyouko, Yui, and ... um, y'know, wosshername. (checks hand) Akari, that's it. When the tea ceremony club disbands from lack of interest, they take over the room for their own "amusement club," which is an excuse to goof off and hang out with much silliness ensuing. Eventually, a new cast member shows up in Chinatsu, a new student who just wanted to join the tea ceremony club and the club ends up using her to complete their Four-Girl Ensemble. After a bit, student council members Ayano and Chitose and their juniors Himawari and Sakurako get involved in the story and even more silliness ensues.

Yuru-Yuri is a Moe Slice of Life comedy that originally ran in the Girls Love anthology Yuri Hime S. An anime adaptation debuted on the Summer 2011 Anime season. From this series, the audience can expect a fair bit of Les Yay and Breaking the Fourth Wall humour. There is also a Spin-Off of manga one-shots called Yuri-Yuri, which puts the romantic entanglements in a more serious light and subsequently scores considerably higher on the Yuri-scale.

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Tropes used in Yuru-Yuri include:

• A-Cup Angst
  • Inverted and played straight: Himawari feels that her abnormally large bust size alienates her from the rest of the girls, which is always followed by Sakurako going jelly.
    • Once, it managed to depress overhearing Akari and Chinatsu.
  • Played straight again at the beach when Ayano and Kyouko find Yui's bust a significant threat.
• Aesop Amnesia: Kyouko feels bad about things she did to Chizuru. The next day she's on it again.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Chinatsu comes off as fairly sweet in her first appearance (and around Yui), but her true self can be seen through her art and actions.
• Black Comedy Rape: The finale takes it to the extreme, with Chitose going nuts after eating chocolate and making out with everyone.
• Bland-Name Product: Comuket.
  • And in the manga, Pucari Sweat (from Pocari Sweat), Fanchi Orange (Fanta Orange), and Pukki (Pocky).
• Blank White Eyes: Happens to Akari a few times after a particularly traumatic experience.
• Brick Joke: The pudding in the Student Council fridge. And Kyouko's favorite rum raisin ice cream.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall
• Brother-Sister Incest: It's suggested that Akari's brother has a complex about his little sister.
  • Sister-Sister Incest: It becomes this after Akari's brother was retconned into a sister.
• Butt Monkey: Akari. Taunted by nature, toyed with by cameramen, ignored by her own friends, getting forcibly frenched by Chinatsu and Chitose... Girl can't catch a break.
  • Episode 12 takes Akari's Butt Monkey status to its extreme...
• By the Lights of Their Eyes: Episode 10.
• Call Back: At the end of episode 11, Ayano and Chinatsu display the wooden swords purchased in the last episode, as they group prepares to cure Akari's head injury induced Personality Swap, with another.
  • Episode 12 has another one from episode 5. Akari makes the same face after being forcibly kissed by Chitose, as she did when kiss by Chinatsu last time, complete with dramatic tear dripping down.
• Camera Abuse: In the introduction to episode 7, Akari trips and hits her head on the camera.
• Cast Full of Lesbians
• Censor Box: A variation of this is used during one of Chitose's fantasies.
  • Pixellation follows on occasion.
• Chekhov's Pudding: Kyouko found one in the student council's fridge... with Ayano's name written on it. A few scenes later, Ayano came back into the student council's room looking for it.
• Comedic Sociopathy
• Comic Book Time: Lampshaded.
• Couch Gag: The opening scene in which Akari tries to tell the audience that the show is starting, and how it fails.
• Cranial Eruption: Appears prior to, but most prominently in episode 11 where it gives Kyoko (and later Akari) a Personality Swap
• Cute Mute: The student council president, Rise Matsumoto. Her mouth moves, but the only one who can hear her is Nishigaki-sensei. Also revealed to be present during most of the events of the series, but just off screen.
• Dark Magical Girl: Rivalun to Mirakurun, in the Magical Girl Show Within a Show Majokko Mirakurun.
• Deadpan Snarker: Yui.
• Decoy Protagonist: The opening and ending credits, as well as the first few minutes of the first episode make it seem obvious that Akari is the main protagonist. However, she loses focus quickly (i.e. mid-way through the first episode) which leads the girls to talk about it and try to make her stand out more. Also, Kyoko (who gets the spotlight after Akari loses it) says on the previews that she is the main character.
• Defeat Means Friendship: The dialogue we hear from the Mirakurun movie in episode 7 suggests this.
• Demoted to Extra: This happens to Akari in the manga, after which the cast tries to help her getting noticed more.
  • In the anime, they do this in the first episode already.
• Detached Sleeves: Part of both Mirakurun's and Rivalun's costumes.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Akari in Episode 5 after Chinatsu forcibly kisses her.
  • And again in episode 12 when Chitose forcibly kisses her.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Yuru-Yuri (YMMV on how true that is).
  • Yuru means slow, slack, or gentle. And that's very much true.
  • Rivalun couldn't possibly be The Rival, could she?
• Eyecatch: The anime has a separate, rather long and elaborate, Eyecatch for each of the main cast, complete with individual themes.
• Foe Yay: Between Kyouko and Ayano. Also, Himawari and Sakurako.
• Full-Name Basis: Ayano will never refer to Kyouko by anything other than "TOSHINOU KYOUKO!"
• Girlish Pigtails: Chinatsu and Mirakurun.
• Going Commando: Ayano forgot to bring her underwear along with her to the beach. She uses her yukata to keep her safe from a possible case of scandalous Vapor Wear.
  • She doesn't get away with it. Cue yet another Nosebleed from Chitose.
• Heel Face Turn: It's strongly implied in Mirakurun The Movie that Raika-chan/Rivalun? decided to work together with Mirakurun.

Mirakurun: If we work together, we can defeat anyone!
Raika-chan: I suppose I must. After all, I'm so nice.

• Hey, It's That Voice!: Ayano Sugiura is voiced by Saki Fujita. The voice provider for Miku Hatsune.
• Hostile Show Takeover: Every "On the Next..." has the character giving it declare themselves some form of protagonist, except Akari. In episode six, Kyoko (in an Akari mask) does the Couch Gag in place of Akari.
• Imagine Spot: Chitose and Chizuru in fantasizing mode
• Fundamentally Female Cast: There are no named males in this series, and it avoids using them as background characters as much as possible. Even in episode 7, where a surprisingly rational number of males are shown, they never draw faces for them, always panning the camera behind or below the head. Until the very end of the episode, which shows one of Akari's younger male relatives from the front. It was a New Years' miracle.
  • Even Akari's brother, in the manga was changed to a girl in the anime and Ret Conned into a girl in the manga.
• Instant Bandages
• Intertwined Fingers
• Leitmotif: Each of the main characters has one, which is worked into their Eyecatch and Image Song.
• Les Yay: What did you expect from a show named Yuru-Yuri?
• Love Bubbles
• Love Dodecahedron: It's starting to shape up into this with Ayano>>Kyouko>>Chinatsu>>Yui, and Chinatsu kissing Akari.
• Love Triangle: Type 5. Kyoko is crazy about Chinatsu (for the cosplay potential, if nothing else), but Chinatsu is in love with Yui (at least in part for offering to protect her from Kyoko). Yui is rather indifferent about the whole thing.
• Medium Awareness: The couple of pages that were made in colour have the characters show this trope.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Chinatsu when she draws or sculpts.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: When attempting to make Akari stand out more, the club eventually decides on an invisible Akari with boob missiles that ends every sentence with "Akarin".
• Nosebleed: Chitose gets these during the numerous times she uses her Shipping Goggles.
  • Her twin sister Chizuru instead gets drooling. Eeyyuuuwww.
• Not So Stoic: Ayano makes a lot of bad puns. Yui cracks up over every single one.
• Odango Hair: Akari, whose buns can seperate from her hair in Imagine Spots.
• Otaku Surrogate: Kyouko
• Out-of-Character Moment: The whole second half of episode 11 is essentially the aftermath of Kyoko bumping her head on a flight of stairs one fateful day.
• Out of Focus: Poor, poor Akari... see the image above? Her face is even blocked by Kyouko's right foot!
• Pettanko: Many of the girls angst about this as a recurring theme.
• Pose of Supplication: Twice within a minute by Ayano in episode two.

Ayano: Double shock!

• Retcon/Rewrite: In the manga, Akari's siscon brother was changed into a siscon sister as evident by this picture and this one.
• The Rival:
  • Ayano sees Kyouko as one, but the feeling isn't mutual.
  • Himawari and Sakurako are rivals to each other.
• Rooting for the Empire: In-universe, Rivalun from Majokko Mirakurun has lots of fans, despite being an alien invader.
• Running Gag: "I'm not praising you!"
  • The box Kyouko keeps at the amusement club. Every time it appears it has a new title written on it, with the previous one crossed out.
• Say My Name: TOSHINOU KYOUKO!!
• Schoolgirl Lesbians
• Sempai-Kohai: Chinatsu refers to Yui very formally as "senpai".
• Shipper on Deck/Yuri Fangirl: Chitose, who often fantasizes about Kyouko/Ayano.
  • Also, Chitose's twin sister, Chizuru, who fantazises about Chitose/Ayano.
• Shout-Out: The fifth episode is titled "When Akari and the Cicadas Cry".
• Show Within a Show: Mirakurun, a Magical Girl series. Chinatsu reminds Kyouko of the title character, to the point where Kyouko is determined to get her in costume.
• Skinship Grope: Chitose does this to Ayano.
• Single-Stroke Battle: Himawari and Sakurako attempt this while duelling with fireworks but they're taken off them before they can do any damage.
• Slap Slap Kiss: Sakurako and Himawari's scenes follow this format.
• Slapstick Knows No Gender
• Smart People Wear Glasses: Chitose and her sister Chizuru
• Sneeze Cut
• Society Is to Blame: The... profound plea from Himawari's little sister about Sakurako's craziness. It's so profound that Sakurako actually stops it and begs her for mercy.
• Sprouting Ears: Both Ayano and Kyouko at different points.
• Stripperiffic: Rivalun, resulting in an very embarrassed Ayano when she's forced to cosplay as her.
• Terrible Artist: Chinatsu's slideshow caused poor Akari to go speechless with horror and develop Blank White Eyes and Kyouko and Yui to desperately try to make it end by any means! Chinatsu, of course, believes she is a good artist.
• Trademark Favourite Food: Rum raisin ice cream for Kyouko.
• Tsundere:
  • Both Sakurako and Himawari who are Tsundere for each other.
  • Ayano counts when TOSHINOU KYOUKO's name is mentioned.
• Twincest: Chitose and Chizuru in the last episode.
• Was It All a Lie?: Mirakurun delivers one to Raika-chan/Rivalun? Mirakurun The Movie.

Mirakurun: Raika-chan, are you my rival?
Raika-chan: Don't look so betrayed, no one made you trust me.
Mirakurun: Are you saying that, when you tutored me, and treated me to a dinner, Was It All a Lie??
Raika-chan: You are so trusting. Getting close to you was easy.

• Twelve-Episode Anime
• We Want Our Jerk Back: To the point that Yui breaks out in tears.
• Who Is This Guy Again?: Akari.
• Who Would Want to Watch Us?: While no one in the cast appears to notice, there are strangely enough Yuru-Yuri Doujinshi for sale at Comuket.
• Wise Beyond Her Years: Himawari's sister.
• Yonkoma: A special manga chapter is done in this style. One of the strips is about Kyouko attempting to come up with a punchline for the fourth panel. She fails.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Nearly everyone. Himawari actually has blue hair.
• Zettai Ryouiki: Mirakurun, and anyone cosplaying as her, wears this.