YuruYuri

YuruYuri
Cover of the first manga volume featuring Akari, Yui, Chinatsu and Kyoko (from right)
ゆるゆり
Genre	Comedy, Slice of life, Yuri
Manga
Written by	Namori
Published by	Ichijinsha
Magazine	Comic Yuri Hime S Comic Yuri Hime
Original run	June 18, 2008 – ongoing
Volumes	11
Manga
Reset!
Written by	Namori
Published by	Ichijinsha
Magazine	Caramel Febri
Original run	2010 – hiatus
Anime television series
Directed by	Masahiko Ohta
Written by	Takashi Aoshima
Music by	Yasuhiro Misawa
Studio	Dogakobo
Licensed by	NA NIS America
Network	AT-X, TV Aichi, TV Hokkaido, TV Osaka, TV Setouchi, TV Tokyo
Original run	July 5, 2011 – September 20, 2011
Episodes	12
Anime television series
YuruYuri♪♪
Directed by	Masahiko Ohta
Written by	Takashi Aoshima
Music by	Yasuhiro Misawa
Studio	Dogakobo
Licensed by	NA NIS America
Network	AT-X, TV Aichi, TV Hokkaido, TV Osaka, TV Setouchi, TV Tokyo
Original run	July 2, 2012 – September 17, 2012
Episodes	12
Manga
Ohmuroke
Written by	Namori
Magazine	Nico Nico Seiga Niconico Yuri Hime
Original run	July 2, 2012 – ongoing
Volumes	1

YuruYuri (ゆるゆり, lit. Easygoing Yuri) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Namori. The series began serialization in Comic Yuri Hime S from June 12, 2008, before being moved over to Comic Yuri Hime in September 2010. An anime adaptation by Dogakobo aired in Japan between July and September 2011; a second season aired between July and September 2012.^[1] A spin-off web manga, Ohmuroke (大室家, Ōmuroke), began release on Nico Nico Seiga in July 2012.

Plot

Taking place at the fictitious Nanamori Middle School in Takaoka, Toyama,^[2] the series revolves around the daily lives of the Amusement Club (ごらく部, Goraku-bu), consisting of Akari Akaza, her childhood friends, Kyōko Toshinō and Yui Funami, and her classmate, Chinatsu Yoshikawa; along with the school's Student Council which is made up of its own set of unique characters.

Characters

The Amusement Club

Akari Akaza (赤座 あかり, Akaza Akari)

Voiced by: Shiori Mikami

Akari is a polite red-haired girl who is supposedly the main protagonist of the series. However, due to her rather small presence and plain personality, she is often forgotten about or pushed into the background. One of her only unique features is her odango hairstyle. A running joke is that Akari's lack of presence gives her the ability to become invisible, accompanied by the sound "Akkari~n!". Kyōko and Yui are her childhood friends, while Chinatsu, Sakurako and Himawari are her classmates.

Kyōko Toshinō (歳納 京子, Toshinō Kyōko)

Voiced by: Yuka Ōtsubo

An optimistic and selfish blonde girl who is the substantial main protagonist of the series. Kyoko is an otaku, having a bit of similarity to Konata Izumi from Lucky Star. She is often causing Yui trouble and crushing on Chinatsu, who resembles her favorite anime character, Mirakurun. Despite her lazy attitude, she often gets high scores in tests after cram sessions. She enjoys eating rum raisin ice cream and is also a talented dōjin artist.

Yui Funami (船見 結衣, Funami Yui)

Voiced by: Minami Tsuda

A cool-headed girl who often acts as the voice of reason, usually when it comes to keeping Kyōko in check. Yui is good in cooking, leaving Chinatsu to be obsessed with her food. She is a reliable friend and usually lives alone in an apartment complex, but actually feels lonely without anyone else around. Although generally quiet, she will sometimes burst into stifled laughter upon hearing Ayano's puns. She likes playing video games.

Chinatsu Yoshikawa (吉川 ちなつ, Yoshikawa Chinatsu)

Voiced by: Rumi Ōkubo

Akari's pink haired classmate who originally wanted to join the Tea Ceremony Club, but ended up joining the Amusement Club as the Tea Ceremony Club was already abolished. Chinatsu is often competitive to Kyoko when it comes to Yui, despite Yui being oblivious to what they are fighting for. She is often chased after by Kyōko due to her resemblance to Mirakurun, though she herself has a passionate crush on Yui. She generally acts cute, especially in the presence of Yui, but she occasionally shows dark thoughts and a terrifying lack of artistic skills.

Student Council

Ayano Sugiura (杉浦 綾乃, Sugiura Ayano)

Voiced by: Saki Fujita

The Student Council vice-president who is often not too honest with her feelings for Kyōko and always refers to her by her full name. As a diligent student, she constantly sees herself as a rival to Kyōko who always manages to beat her in tests. She often makes puns on place names and likes crème caramels.

Chitose Ikeda (池田 千歳, Ikeda Chitose)

Voiced by: Aki Toyosaki

A member of Student Council who is almost always seen with Ayano. Though she has a gentle disposition, she has various yuri fantasies whenever she takes her glasses off, almost always pairing Kyōko together with Ayano, which often leads to near-fatal nosebleeds. She speaks in soft Kansai dialect and likes tsukemono. Whenever she gets drunk (or eats chocolate in the anime), she goes on a kissing rampage.

Sakurako Ohmuro (大室 櫻子, Ōmuro Sakurako)

Voiced by: Emiri Katō

A cheerful candidate for the Student Council vice-president next year. She has blonde hair and a petite build, which she often has a complex about. She and Himawari are constantly arguing as they are both aiming to become vice-president, though they do seem to hold feelings for each other. She is also quite friendly towards Akari. She and Kyōko are quite similar, but she appears to be much lazier than Kyōko when it comes to school work.

Himawari Furutani (古谷 向日葵, Furutani Himawari)

Voiced by: Suzuko Mimori

Another candidate for the Student Council vice-president next year. She has blue hair and large breasts, which often leads to her being teased by Sakurako. She generally behaves in graceful manner and speech toward everyone except Sakurako. Despite this, she does appear to hold feelings for her and often helps her out with her homework.

Rise Matsumoto (松本 りせ, Matsumoto Rise)

Voiced by: Saori Gotō

The current student council president who has very little presence and often speaks in a whisper-quiet voice that only a few people such as Nana can understand. She is Nana's "Explosive Friend", because she always suffers the explosions she causes.

Family members

Mari (まり)

Voiced by: Maaya Uchida

A daughter of one of Yui's relatives. She is a fan of Mirakurun, though does not take kindly to Chinatsu after learning her personality doesn't match her image.

Chizuru Ikeda (池田 千鶴, Ikeda Chizuru)

Voiced by: Momo Kuraguchi

Chitose's twin sister, who looks identical to her except for eye color, but has a completely different personality. Much like Chitose, she often takes off her glasses to invoke yuri fantasies, albeit she prefers to pair Ayano up with Chitose and drools instead of having nosebleeds. While she has a strong love for Chitose, she strongly dislikes Kyōko as she constantly tries to play pranks on her and is seemingly a barrier against her fantasies.^[3]

Akane Akaza (赤座 あかね, Akaza Akane)

Voiced by: Yui Horie

Akari's older sister who is nineteen years old and attends a university. She is secretly infatuated with Akari, often doing various perverted things with her belongings when she is not around and reading lots of doujins about sisterly incest.

Tomoko Yoshikawa (吉川 ともこ, Yoshikawa Tomoko)

Voiced by: Ayano Ishikawa

Chinatsu's older sister who is also 19 years old and is in love with Akane.

Kaede Furutani (古谷 楓, Furutani Kaede)

Voiced by: Aya Uchida

Himawari's younger sister who is six years old.

Nadeshiko Ohmuro (大室 撫子, Ōmuro Nadeshiko)

Voiced by: Chiwa Saitō

Sakurako's older sister who is eighteen years old. She also has small breasts like Sakurako, but she is very intelligent.^[4] She is in a romantic relationship with a girlfriend, who has shared a futon with her.^[5]

Hanako Ohmuro (大室 花子, Ōmuro Hanako)

Voiced by: Rina Hidaka

Sakurako's younger sister who is an elementary school student, and is eight years old, both Hanako and Nadeshiko think Sakurako is lazy and stupid.

Others

Nana Nishigaki (西垣 奈々, Nishigaki Nana)

Voiced by: Ryōko Shiraishi

A science teacher who is constantly trying various experiments, often using Rise as a test subject, and has a love for explosions, which are generally caused by her experiments. She is one of the few people who can understand Rise's quiet voice.

Hiro Takaoka (高岡 ひろ, Takaoka Hiro)

Voiced by: Haruka Yamazaki

Akari and Chinatsu's classmate, who is an admirer of Kyōko's doujin works and is the heroine of Namori's other manga, Reset!.

Ai Miwa (三輪 藍, Miwa Ai)

Nadeshiko's classmate.

Miho Yaena (八重野 美穂, Yaena Miho)

Nadeshiko's classmate.

Megumi Sonokawa (園川 めぐみ, Sonokawa Megumi)

Nadeshiko's classmate.

Mirai Souma (相馬 未来, Sōma Mirai)

Hanako's classmate.

Kokoro Ogawa (小川 こころ, Ogawa Kokoro)

Hanako's classmate.

Misaki Takasaki (高崎 みさき, Takasaki Misaki)

Hanako's classmate, who sees her as a rival.

Mirakurun

Kurumi (胡桃) / Mirakurun (ミラクるん)

Voiced by: Ayana Taketatsu

The heroine of the fictional magical girl series, "Majokko Mirakurun". When transformed, she greatly resembles Chinatsu.

Raika (雷香) / Rivalun (ライバルん, Raibarun)

Voiced by: Aoi Yūki

Another magical girl who competes with Mirakurun. She is secretly Kurumi's classmate.

Ganbo (ガンボー, Ganbō)

Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa

A spherical robot who is Rivalun's boss.

Media

Manga

YuruYuri began its serial run in Ichijinsha's Japanese manga magazine Comic Yuri Hime S on June 18, 2008. In September 2010, YuruYuri was moved to Comic Yuri Hime when Comic Yuri Hime S ended its publication.^[6] Additionally, the series has been released in eleven tankōbon volumes, published between July 17, 2009,^[7] and February 1, 2014.^[8][9] As of December 2011, over a million copies of the manga have been sold.^[10] The manga was briefly released in English on the online reader site JManga before it shut down.^[11] Another manga series set in the same universe, Reset! (りせっと!, Risetto!), began serialization in Caramel Febri magazine in 2010, but is currently on hiatus.^{[citation needed]} A spin-off web manga by Namori focusing on the Ohmuro sisters, titled Ohmuroke (大室家, Ōmuroke), has been released on Niconico's Niconico Seiga service. The series first released chapters alongside episodes of the second anime season between July 2, 2012 and September 17, 2012, before resuming on Ichijinsha's Niconico Yuri Hime web manga publication from February 17, 2013.^[12][13] The first tankōbon volume was released on August 1, 2013.^[14]

Anime

An anime television adaptation of the manga series was announced in the May 2011 issue of Comic Yuri Hime.^[15] Produced by Dogakobo under the direction of Masahiko Ohta,^[16] the series aired in Japan on TV Tokyo between July 5 and September 20, 2011. A second season, titled YuruYuri♪♪, aired in Japan between July 2, 2012 and September 17, 2012.^[1][17][18] Both series were simulcast by Crunchyroll.^[19][20] The series won the Television award at the 17th Animation Kobe Awards.^[21] NIS America have licensed both seasons in North America and will release the first season in a premium Blu-ray Disc set on September 3, 2013, with the second season to be released in early 2014.^[22]

For the first season, the opening theme is "The Great YuriYurarararaYuruYuri Incident" (ゆりゆららららゆるゆり大事件, Yuriyurarararayuruyuri Daijiken) by the Nanamori Middle School Amusement Club (Minami Tsuda, Rumi Ōkubo, Shiori Mikami and Yuka Ōtsubo), while the ending theme is "Let's Go at My Pace" (マイペースでいきましょう, Mai Pēsu de Ikimashō) by the Nanamori Middle School Amusement Club. For the second season, the opening theme is "Yes! YuYuYu☆YuruYuri♪♪" (「いぇす！ゆゆゆ☆ゆるゆり♪♪, Iesu! YuYuYu☆YuruYuri♪♪) by the Nanamori Middle School Amusement Club while the ending theme is "100% Middle Schooler" (100%ちゅ～学生, Hyakku Pāsento Chu~ Gakusei) by the Nanamori Middle School Amusement Club. The opening theme for episode six is "Yonde Mirakurun!" (よんでミラクるん!) by Ayana Taketatsu while the ending theme for episode eight is "Girl's Power" (ガールズパワーで, Gāruzu Pawā de) by Tsuda and Ōkubo.

References

External links

• Manga Official Website (Japanese)
• Anime Official Website (Japanese)
• YuruYuri (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia