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AKA: ゆるゆり♪♪
Genre: Shoujo-ai / Slice-of-Life Comedy
Length: Television series, 12 episodes, 24 minutes each
Distributor: Currently licensed by Nippon Ichi Software America, and streaming on crunchyroll.
Content Rating: 13+ (Suggestive content, blood)
Related Series: YuruYuri, YuruYuri OVA
Also Recommended: K-On!, A-Channel, Hidamari Sketch
Notes: The second season of the anime based on the manga by Namori, which currently runs in Ichijinsha's Comic Yuri Hime / Comic Yuri Hime S magazines.
Rating:

YuruYuri S2

Synopsis

Finishing middle school, Akari Akaza joins the high school Amusement Club, composed solely of her two childhood friends, Kyouko Toshinou and Yui Funami. Chinatsu Yoshikawa, Akaza's classmate, soon becomes a member and we find ourselves with four girls in a clubroom with nothing to do - guess what happens.


Review

In light of this show's general content, I have to say that I have never written a review as superfluous as this one. Why do I say that, you may ask? To put it simply, if there had not been a break - a literal period of time between broadcasts - I severely doubt many people would notice that there ever was one. YuruYuri's second season is simply more of the same in every way. This is not to say that is necessarily a bad thing (Hidamari Sketch has been doing the same thing for years and I still wouldn't give up a single episode) but the second season of YuruYuri seems to carry that sense of repetition to all the ends that a cynic might expect.

Let me repeat, if you have watched the first season of this show then you have already seen the second. It offers nothing new in terms of comedy, drama or even cuteness that the first season has not already covered (and it was repetitious in and of itself). So yes, Kyouko still runs around being a lazy and crazy, Yui is still playing her role as the 'straight man', Akari is still being picked on by the world at large and Chinatsu is still evil. The only characters that seemed to have changed at all are Sakurako and Himawari whose signature fighting has been pushed to the background to create a relationship that is essentially a more extreme version of the Yui / Kyouko set-up - wasting what little comedy potential they had as a pair. Funnily enough, the show itself actually comments on how similar Kyouko and Sakurako are but sadly, highlighting a problem doesn't make it go away.

Another problem is that while the first season was also repetitive, it contained the occasional scene of true comedic merit like the introduction of Himawari's sister, Chitose's truth and lies game or Chinatsu's first picture book. Even leaving aside the gaping hole this show dug in my patience reserves, this season just didn't have any of those moments and it damn well needed them.

In the end though, if you really love what YuruYuri does and you hunger for it like I hunger for new episodes of Hidamari Sketch or Natsume Yuujinchou then I have no reason to dissuade you from watching this. Another benefit is that anyone could easily jump straight in here and never feel out of place having not seen the first season. Everything that was good about the first season remains and if you want that then go get it, I won't be joining you though.

I'm marking it down from its predecessor because, even leaving aside the complete lack of new material worth mentioning, it lacks those moments of cleverness that made its forebear a three star show. Once again though, shoujo-ai fans and lovers of all things moe can add a star.Aiden Foote

Recommended Audience: Early teens and over. Suggestive fantasies, nosebleeds and the occasional forced kiss are the only real objectionable content. It is clean show in general for a show about teenage girls chasing after each other. Some people might also be offended by how much the universe seems to hate Akari.



Version(s) Viewed: Digital Source.
Review Status: Full (12/12)
YuruYuri S2 © 2011 Namori / Ichijinsha / 7FEC
 
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