Anima Yell! is a series following Kohane Hatoya, a young girl who becomes enamored by the sport of cheerleading, and seeks to open up a club once she transfers from middle school to high school. Joining Kohane in her cheerleading activities are her clubmates and friends, Uki Sawatari, Hizume Arima, Kotetsu Tatejima, and Kana Ushiku. The series follows their various misadventures in high school and their various cheerleading antics.
The manga, written and illustrated by Tsukasa Unohana, was serialized in Manga Time Kirara Carat from February 26th, 2016 to August 28, 2020. It received a 12-episode anime adaptation by Doga Kobo, which aired as part of the Fall 2018 season of Anime.
This anime provides examples of the following tropes:
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Hizume has the darkest hair colour of the main five, is taller than the rest by at least an inch, tends to have a flat demeanour, is generally The Ace, and widely admired by her female classmates.
- Animal Theme Naming: In Japanese, the name of the manga is Animaeru!, which is a pun on the English word "animal". To further the pun, the characters are named after animals:
- Kohane Hatoya (pigeon)
- Uki Sawatari (monkey)
- Hizume Arima (horse)
- Kotetsu Tatejima (tiger)
- Kana Ushiku (cow)
- Inukai-sensei (dog)
- Kon Akitsune (fox)
- Kumagai-sensei (bear)
- Tamako and Suzuko Nekoya (cat)
- Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Kohane and Uki's interactions are full of this, with Kohane as the Boke and Uki as the Tsukkomi.
- Broken Bird: Hizume starts off the series in this, treating cheerleading as her Trauma Button due to the bullying she had during middle school (for being too talented). She gets better eventually, mainly because of I Just Want to Have Friends.
- Cat Girl: The Nekoya sisters. Aside from their last name literally having "cat" in it, they are vain and self-centered, tend to ignore their cheerleader squad in favor of strutting by themselves, and sprout Playful Cat Smiles and big black bar eyes while taunting others.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: While Kohane isn't really good at anything, she has a compulsion to help people. This is why she is drawn into cheerleading.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Uki will have this reaction whenever Kohane is getting too close or friendly with someone else, such as when she sees Kohane holding onto her younger brother Akane and teasing him.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Kohane will often twist anything she sees into her interest in cheerleading, much to Uki's chagrin.
- Club Stub: The cheerleading team, initially. As of the third episode, there are just three members: Kohane, Uki and Hizume, but that's enough people to establish an "interest group"—officially recognized by the school and can book rooms under that name, but it cannot receive any school funding.
- Coming-Out Story: The third episode has a rare instance for a Manga Time Kirara series, which tend to leave any homoeroticism to subtext. During the third episode, the main cast are consulted by Kon in need of relationship advice alongside her friend Kotetsu. They give all sorts of advice about how to attract a guy... until the girl reveals that she was actually crushing on another girl, a college student who tutors her. To the girls' credit, after a blink or two of surprise, they smoothly shift their advice from what a guy might like to what a girl might like.
- Cute Little Fangs: Kotetsu has them, but it's only really noticeable when she's taken aback.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The opening and ending themes are sung by the voice actresses of the cheer club members.
- Embarrassing First Name: Kotetsu finds her name embarrassing because her name isn't girly at all—it refers to a famous blacksmith
, and by extension, sword made by him. - Even the Girls Want Her: The girls in Arima's class admire her, and was displeased when Hatone appears to "hog" Arima.
- Evolving Credits: Ushiku is included in the ending credits from Episode 8 onwards after she joins the cheer club in that episode.
- Genki Girl: Kohane may well be the embodiment of this trope. She's always perky no matter the time or place.
- Idiot Hair: Kohane has one on the top of her head, fitting her ditzy nature.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: A lot of Hizume's decisions ultimately is based on this trope.
- Ineffectual Loner: Hizume begins her relationship with Kohane this way, but eventually loosens up to her and becomes part of her efforts to start the cheer club.
- Meaningful Appearance: Hizume wears a hairpin that looks like a horseshoe, fitting her Animal Motifs.
- Mondegreen Gag: Kohane's pronunciation of "cheer" as chair is a running gag for the first chapter/episode.Kohane: "CHAIR!"Uki: "Chair?"
- Instant Fan Club: Hizume finds out she has one after Kohane tries to hug her out of desperation when her cheerleading attempt didn't seem to win any classmates over while complaining about being isolated in her class. Afterwards they all start talking about how cool she is, and how they didn't feel worthy enough to talk to her. Consequently she ends up finding out how popular she really is, and a bodyguard team forms to keep Kohane away from her.
- Intimate Lotion Application: When the girls have to hike on the beach, they all need to apply sunscreen. Uki puts it on Kohane's back without issue, and the other girls all ask her to do the same. But when Hizumi offers to rub Kana's back, Kana gets extremely flustered about the idea of being touched by Hizumi due to having a crush on her, causing her to give a lame excuse and running off, much to Hizumi's confusion.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Uki breaks Ushiku's fall in episode 8 when she slips while on the roof. She ends up spraining her ankle during the fall, causing Ushiku to take part in the cheerleading event due to her being responsible for Uki getting hurt in the first place. Fortunately by taking part Ushiku learns that Hizume was having a lot of fun here compared to their old cheerleading squad, and decides to join as well.
- Only Sane Woman: Uki is the most normal of the girls, and acts as a straight woman to her best friend Kohane.
- Recognition Failure: Kotetsu fails to recognize Hizume during a cheering event since her face and upbeat attitude is a stark contrast to her usual reserved self. Later on when she sees Hizume literally switch her attitude, she finally connects the dots.
- School Club Stories: This series follows the cheerleading team in a high school.
- Schoolgirl Series: Anime Yell! follows the lives of several schoolgirls.
- Shrinking Violet: Subverted. Kotetsu seems like she'd be too shy and demure to express her true feelings, but other characters repeatedly get surprised at how blunt and forthright she really is — up to and including pulling on Kohane's cheeks when she gets pissed off in chapter 26.
- Sports Stories: This series is mainly about a cheerleading team.
- Staircase Tumble: Kohane has one during the first episode, and is saved by Hizume.
- Stalker with a Crush: Ushiku is seen from time to time spying on Hizume while she hangs out with the other cheer club members. She later confronts Uki about how they can get so close and comfortable around her. Even when she officially joins the club herself, Ushiku's obvious crush on Hizume can be seen.
- Start My Own: Kohane convinces Hizume to join her in setting up a cheerleading club at their school which didn't have one at the time. As more girls join, they eventually become an official club.
- Underdogs Never Lose: Subverted Trope. In the final episode, the Cheerleading Club give a lackluster performance where they slip up, choke, and spend more time giving mid-performance pep talks than performing stunts.Uki: Wait, we didn't even make it through the prelims?! Don't people usually somehow make it through in situations like this?!
- "YEAH!" Shot: One cut from the OP shows the girls jumping into the air arm-in-arm.
- Yonkoma: As enforced by Manga Time Kirara Carat.
