Manga / YuruYuri

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

"Akkari~n!"

"Ha~i!! Yuru Yuri, hajimaru yo~!"

After finding the keys to the disbanded Tea Ceremony Club's club room, Kyouko Toshinou ropes her childhood friend Yui Funami into forming the Amusement Club to pass the time. When the severely Out of Focus Akari Akaza and Cute and Psycho Chinatsu Yoshikawa start their first year and join the club, a Four-Girl Ensemble is born. With the lazy, free-for-all antics of the unofficial club happening behind-the-scenes, student council vice-president Ayano Sugiura and her best friend Chitose Ikeda become involved, naturally pulling their juniors Himawari Furutani and Sakurako Ohmuro with them headlong into the Amusement Club's silliness.

YuruYuri (aka Happy Go Lily aka Lazy Lily) is a Slice of Life comedy manga written and illustrated by Namori. The manga began serialization in Ichijinsha's yuri anthology Yuri Hime S in 2008, later moving to the main Comic Yuri Hime magazine in 2010, where it is still ongoing.

As one of Yuri Hime's most popular series, it has naturally spawned a number of spin-offs and anime adaptations.

Manga Spin-offs

• YuriYuri: A one-shot anthology focused on much more serious lesbian romance.
• Risetto!!: Set in the same school, but focusing on a pair of freshmen trying to make a doujin game.
• Ohmuro-ke: A series of web comics released after each episode of Season 2, which focus on the lives of the eponymous Ohmuro sisters and their respective circles of friends.
• Touzainanboku!: a prequel focusing on Nanamori Middle School's four teachers in their high school days.
• That Time Only Akari Got Reincarnated as a Slime: An isekai parody of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime where ... well, just read the title.

Anime Adaptations

• YuruYuri! & YuruYuri!!: Adapted by Doga Kobo and aired in 2011-2012, with Masahiko Ohta as director. Licensed by NIS America as Yuruyuri: Happy Go Lily and can be legally watched on Crunchyroll and Hulu.
• Nachuyachumi!^note A cute way of saying Summer Break, i.e. "Summer Vacachuun": Produced by Pony Canyon and TYO Animations and aired in the first half of 2015, with Hirouki Hata as director. A trilogy of OVA films chronicling the Amusement Club's summer vacation during the lead-up to San☆Hai!.
• YuruYuri San☆Hai!^note Let's Go! or Yes, Three!: Adapted by Pony Canyon and TYO Animations and aired in fall 2015. Can be legally watched on Crunchyroll.
• MiniYuri: A chibi web series aired in 2019 as promotion for the tenth anniversary OAD, YuruYuri,.
• YuruYuri,^note The comma is pronounced 'ten': Produced by Lay-Duce and aired in 2019. Adapts a few additional stories inside a frame story celebrating the manga's tenth anniversary.
• Ohmuro-ke: Dear Sisters & Ohmuro-ke: Dear Friends: Adapted by Passione and Studio Lings and airing in 2024. Two 40-minute films adapting the spin-off manga Ohmuro-ke.

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YuruYuri provides example of the following tropes:

• Accidental Kiss: Season 2, Episode 12. While trying to give a fake stage kiss to Kyoko, Yui has to quickly duck to avoid a flying Akari inadvertently kissing Kyoko.
• The Ace: Parodied when Chinatsu gets a cold and becomes absolutely flawless at everything she does, including art class.
• A-Cup Angst: Most girls angst about this as a recurring theme.
  • As a Running Gag, Sakurako always goes jelly upon seeing Himawari's impressive chest (and, on one occasion, Akari and Chinatsu going into a Heroic BSoD).
  • At the Beach Episode, when Ayano and Kyouko find Yui's bust a significant threat.
  • In Season 1 Episode 7, while Sakurako goes on a "date" with Himawari at a diner, the latter is innocently reaching for things on the table, causing her breasts to bounce a little. Sakurako gets a bit angry at it, then tells her that boobs aren't allowed, while squeezing one of them. Himawari is understandably confused about what Sakurako just did.
• Adaptation Deviation:
  • In the manga, the Tea Ceremony Club room was inside the main school building. It was Doga Kobo who moved it to a separate traditional-style building on the school grounds. Even though TYO undid pretty much all of Doga Kobo's other changes in favor of their own (including moving the school from the edge of a sprawling forest to the middle of the city), the club room being outside the school was the one thing they kept.
  • In the manga, Akari wears a middle school uniform in chapter 1, and then accidentally forgets to put on her school uniform and tries to go to school in her street clothes in chapter 2. The anime swaps the order of events, ironing out a minor continuity error.
  • In the manga, Kyoko gives the Amusement Club nicknames based on their hair color matching a type of fruit. She comes to Yui, is stumped by her black hair, and then quips, "A (rotten) banana." The anime has the exact same exchange, but it doesn't work since Yui's hair is now plum-colored.
  • The anime cut out or toned down the No Fourth Wall aspects of Not Allowed to Grow Up. So the joke of "School Trip R", that the second years are repeating the school trip they took last season but are still in the same grade, isn't really made as clear as it's supposed to be.
• Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: In the season two finale (an anime-original episode created by Doga Kobo), Sakurako's sisters attend the Nanamori Middle School play, which stars Kyouko (and Yui, to a lesser extent). But in "The Girl Falls Into Darkness", a straightforward adaptation of a manga chapter by a different studio, they don't recognize each other.
• A Day In The Lime Light: After being the Butt-Monkey for so long, Akari gets almost all the attention in Season 2 Episode 11. Then it turns out to just be a story that Kyouko wrote.
• Aesop Amnesia: Kyouko cries about Chizuru being mad at her. The next day she's on it again.
• All Just a Dream:
  • The first half of Season 2, Episode 1, where Akari is the object of adoration by the rest of the cast.
  • At the end of Season 2 Episode 11, after it's discovered Akari's time travel was just a story Kyouko wrote, Akari gets mad and wishes that Kyouko could have at least invoked this trope beforehand.
• All Love Is Unrequited: While the Ship Tease between the girls is made much more explicit than in most Schoolgirl Series, most of it is one-sided...which is, of course, Played for Laughs.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: In-Universe — Kyouko describes an anime she's watching where the main character's childhood friend is following the main character around in secret, brings extra lunch to school every day but never giving it to her, and keeps track of all her friends. Kyouko calls it a "heartwarming Romantic Comedy", while Yui says that it sounds more like the actions of a Stalker with a Crush, and she would become a Yandere later on.
• Amusing Injuries: When a character gets whacked on the head, sometimes a big bump will grow almost instantly on it. And occasionally with Instant Bandages already on it.
• Art Evolution:
  • In the earliest chapters, everyone's heads are significantly larger in proportion to their bodies. Himawari has long luxurious plaited twintails◊, before shrinking down to barely nothing.
  • The second season used a lot of original material since Doga Kobo ran out of manga. By the time Namori wrote enough chapters for a third season, Doga Kobo and its Production Posse had moved on to Himouto! Umaru-chan. Production duties were instead assigned to TYO, who made a much more straightforward adaptation, which included:
    • Removing all of Doga Kobo's original flourishes, like Akari's Couch Gag introduction.
    • Shifting the focus away from comedy and towards the Kyouko/Ayano ship in earnest.
    • Relying on static shots of characters talking, without the gonzo kinetic style of a typical Masahiko Ohta series.
    • Completely changing what all the locations looked like (presumably since the two studios are in different parts of Tokyo and used different RealPlaceBackgrounds).
    • Making the color palette darker and more muted.
    • Replacing the distinctive Doga Kobo "halo" hair highlights with what look like cigarette burns and making Yui's hair black, as in the manga, rather than Doga Kobo's plum hue.
  • When it came time for the tenth anniversary special, Studio Lay-Duce (who'd already worked with Namori on Release the Spyce) apparently disagreed with the change in direction. Though they kept the hairstyle changes, everything else was much closer in tone and style to the first two seasons.
  • The Oomuro-ke films seem to aim for a balance between the first three seasons. They're sedate and laidback and tend to eschew music like the TYO season, but they also frequently punctuate their serene atmosphere with the kind of well-timed Manga Effects and funny faces the Doga Kobo seasons trucked in (albeit to a lesser degree).
• Art Shift:
  • Every time Chinatsu has an Imagine Spot about getting together with Yui, she and Yui will be depicted in a different shoujo-esque art style.
  • The introduction segment to the Nachuyachumi OVA, where the girls are drawn in an exaggerated macho manner reminiscent of series like Golgo13. Oh, and everyone is speaking in Engrish (with Japanese subtitles!), which means that the whole segment is parodying Western action serials as well.
  • The moody atmospheric intro shot of the OVA, together with the music, could be reminiscent of Oriental action films.
• Ascended Extra: Though Mirakurun did originate in the manga, the anime adds a lot of original content about her and Kyoko's career as a Mirakurun doujinshi artist, including two separate trips to Comiket.
• Associated Composer: For the Doga Kobo seasons, the director Masahiko Ohta employed his go-to composer Yasuhiro Misawa. Misawa has a very distinct style that relies on sparse, hi-hat-driven percussion and repetitive stop-and-start pizzicato melodies that lend Ohta's shows a whimsical, exuberant, off-beat feel. However, when production shifted to TYO for the third season, they did not retain Misawa's services. As a result, the Nachuyachumi! OVAs and season 3 have a completely different score, more subdued and low-key, that doesn't really stand out like Misawa's scores do and often uses silence or buzzing cicadas in lieu of instrumentation. Although Ohta didn't return for the 10th anniversary special, Misawa did, turning in a score very similar to his work on Ohta's seasons.
• Autopilot Artistry: Chinatsu Yoshikawa is normally such a terrible artist that her "paintings" make anybody who look upon them want to gouge their eyes out. However, after coming down with a cold, she goes to school anyway to see her crush, Yui. Somehow, her sickness turns her into The Ace at everything. She sketches a flawless pencil drawing of Yui in art class, scores an effortless three-point shot in gym while fainting, cooks the most delicious-looking meal her Home Ec class has ever seen, recites a passage from her English textbook in perfect English, and writes out Pi on the chalkboard to over a hundred places. Yet, in her fevered state, she dismisses it all as 'a slump'.
• Bad Liar: In Season 1 Episode 8, Ayano assumes that Chitose is this when the latter says she's going to tell lies and at the end of the day Ayano can try to figure out which ones were lies. She says things such as a ghost in the bathroom, that she has a twin, and that Kyouko was smelling Ayano's shoes. Ayano then tells her to reveal all her lies, and then Chitose says she lied when she said she was going to tell lies, so all the things she mentioned were in fact true, much to Ayano's shock.
• Bait-and-Switch: Chapter 196. Chinatsu keeps doodling pictures of her friends in her freakish, horrifying style, and Sakurako can't figure out what they're supposed to be. Then Chinatsu hands her a doodle of a hideous, gaunt, ghoulish screaming girl, and Sakurako ... immediately pegs it as Himawari.
• Big Brother Attraction: Inverted with Akari's older sister Akane (who was originally male, but this was retconned), who has a complex for Akari.
• Bilingual Bonus: In the OVA, the Amusement Club and Student Council are going camping - so in the interests of safety Chinatsu (nicknamed 'Chiina') employed her arting and crafting powers and created some Bear Repellent Bells! She comes super early out of excitement, and upon seeing Yui gives her one. While still reeling from the shock:

  Chinatsu: Bear Repellent Bells!

  Yui: 'Made in Chiina', huh..?

  Chinatsu: Yes!!~☆

  • The whole intro to Nachuyachumi OVA is this.
• Bland-Name Product:
  • Comuket, which refers to the real life doujinshi convention Comiket.
  • In the manga, Pucari Sweat (from Pocari Sweat), Fanchi Orange (Fanta Orange), and Pukki (Pocky).
  • The first episode of ♪♪ has loads of them, such as Mattari brand ping-pong balls and a SIGA UMA Catcher machine.
  • Season 2 Episode 7 features a "Popy Ph3" video game console running "Nanamori Quest II".
  • The second episode of Nachuyachumi!+ has Yui and Kyouko playing a Super Smash Bros. stand-in, and later everyone playing an Animal Crossing stand-in.
• Blank White Eyes: Happens to Akari a few times after a particularly traumatic experience.
• Bloody Hilarious: Majokko Mirakurun, a parody of Magical Girl shows, runs on this alongside Comedic Sociopathy, with over-the-top violence committed by both the good and bad side, and copious amount of blood shown on-screen.
• Blue with Shock: Several girls display this from time to time, especially when Chinatsu's nightmarish crafts are involved.
• Blunt "Yes": In chapter 198, Kyouko decides to impersonate Chitose in gym when they're timing their 100-meter runs.
  Yui: Isn't that wrong?
  Kyouko: Of course.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine:
  • Kyouko and Yui. Especially when Kyouko uses the nicknames for them that Akari came up with, "Kyuppi & Yuppi".
  • This is part of a reveal in one manga chapter, where Yui is acting uncharacteristically silly and Kyouko is acting uncharacteristically seriously. As it turns out, the entire club drew roles out of a box, and Yui drew "boke" and Kyouko drew "tsukkomi".
  • Akari and Sakurako attempt a routine for a group flower viewing, with Akari as the boke and Sakurako as the tsukkomi. Unfortunately, Sakurako flubs the responses every time.
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Yui summarizes the season 1, episode 4 preview with "tests, summer vacation, the ocean, fireworks, and Chitose nearly dies".
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • Usually happens in the intro of episodes, such as Akari accidentally bumping into the camera and asking the cameraman if he's okay, with the camera shaking up and down for "yes".
  • When talking about preventing colds in Season 2 Episode 2, Kyouko mentions "hand gargling", her portmanteau for "hand washing" and "gargling", a few times, while looking towards the camera and giving a thumbs up, to which Yui immediately asks who she's talking to.
  • The Fourth Wall gets savaged a lot more often in the manga, to make announcements (like when the series got picked up for animation) or once to explain how they're Not Allowed to Grow Up — and in a quarterly magazine no less, leaving Himawari and Sakurako agonizing over the fact they'll never get to settle their rivalry with the student council elections that are being perpetually skipped over by the magazine's publishing dates.
  • Chapter 137 begins with Kyoko noticing Yui pulling out her hair. They then have an overwrought, emotional, impassioned exchange about how Yui can always rely on Kyoko when she's distressed, with dramatic close-ups filling whole pages and lots of dramatic pauses. When Yui reveals she was just pulling out split ends, Chinatsu asks, "Was that really the best use of all those pages?"
• Brick Joke:
  • The pudding in the Student Council's fridge.
  • Kyouko's rum raisin ice cream.
  • The ping-pong balls.
  • After Chitose reveals that all of her April Fools "lies" were in fact truth, they're elaborated through cutaways, except for the sexy underwear, whose story is revealed at the end of the episode.
  • During the Beach Episode of the first season, all the girls run into the ocean and we are shown a shot with nine girls instead of the expected eight. Come Rise's introduction and we are shown the same shot and a few more clearly showing she was always there.
  • At the beginning of season 3 episode 3, Chinatsu paints a portrait of Akari that elicits shock and horror from her classmates, but the audience doesn't get to see it. But in the second half, right when the audience least expects it, it makes a surprise appearance.
  • Chapter 201 is mainly focused on the Amusement Club, but Sakurako randomly pops up just in time to see the others plotting what looks like a murder with an axe. She promptly hightails it out of there. Then, she pops back up on the very last page to see Kyouko, who has what look like bloodstains all over her shirt, fleeing from the others. (Sakurako doesn't know they were splitting watermelons.)
• Bust-Contrast Duo: The Belligerent Sexual Tension Student Council Duo Sakurako and Himawari are always together and while Tsundere toward each other and Sakurako is prone to fights they are actually more than great friends. (which is not lost on the rest of the cast)
• 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 misfortune up a notch.
  • Ayano is this to Kyouko.
• By the Lights of Their Eyes: Season 1 Episode 10.
• Call-Back:
  • At the end of Season 1 Episode 11, Ayano and Chinatsu display the wooden swords purchased in last episode, as the group prepares to cure Akari's head injury-induced Personality Swap with another.
  • The wooden swords reappear, fully intact, in Season 2 Episodes 2 and 10; the latter reappearance served to confuse the sophomores who didn't realize that they've taken their second-year school trip twice.
  • One scene from Season 1 Episode 5 gets three callbacks — Akari's broken, empty-eyed expression (complete with dramatic Single Tear) after a Forceful Kiss from Chinatsu: Season 1 Episode 12, after a choco-intoxicated Chitose gives her three Forceful Kisses, Season 2 Episode 10 after a forceful massage by Chinatsu and Season 2 Episode 12, after the Chinatsu-bot falls on her face.
  • In chapter 12 of Ohmuro-ke, Sakurako tries to give Hanako the P.E. shirt that Himawari stretched out in chapter 9 of YuruYuri.
• The Cameo:
  • In "It Will Be an Unforgettable Day", Nadeshiko and her friends from Oomuro-ke can be seen exiting the movie theater while Ayano waits outside.
  • In Oomuro-ke chapter 85, Mari-chan briefly appears as one of girls meeting a local mascot.
  • The Amusement Club appear at the beginning of the Oomuro-ke: Dear Sisters film, but when Sakurako runs over to join them, Himawari grabs her by the shoulders and pulls her back. Thus indicating to the audience that this spin-off will not be focusing on them.
• Camera Abuse: In the introduction to episode 7, Akari trips and hits her head on the camera.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Ayano toward Kyouko.
  • Sakurako and Himawari.
• Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: Sakurako becomes upset when her close friend/rival Himawari decides to spend some time with Chinatsu.
• Cast Full of Gay: Just what would YuruYuri be without this trope...
• Censor Box: A variation of this is used during one of Chitose's fantasies. Pixellation follows on occasion.
• Chain of Deals: The first five minutes of Season 3 Episode 8 plays out like this for Rise. She first gives back a notebook Akari dropped for a cough drop, gives that to Kyouko who's coughing for a pic of her in Mirakurun cosplay, gives that to Ayano for a hairclip, to Chinatsu because her hair bobbles broke for an energy drink, to a drowsy Himawari for glue, to Chitose because she broke her glasses for a small sewing kit, to Yui to fix a button on her uniform for senbei crackers, to a hungry Sakurako for a toothpick, and finally to Nishigaki so they can share takoyaki together.
• Characterization Marches On: The first four chapters were so rough Namori redid them years later. The redone opening page has Kyouko mocking Akari's original first words, a childish plea for them to give her presents. Akari gets mad and tells her to stop saying such strange things.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Turns out Rise was the 9th girl during the Beach Episode after all.
• 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.
• Childhood Friends:
  • Technically Akari, Kyouko and Yui are all childhood friends, but since Kyouko and Yui's parents were friends, both girls are of the same age and therefore always shared classes and are something of a pair, the show treats the two of them more directly as this.
  • Himawari and Sakurako, on a good day though the two always have a massive amount of Belligerent Sexual Tension.
• Childhood Marriage Promise: Sakurako and Himawari did a variety of this when they filled in a marriage license together as little kids.
• Chromosome Casting: A female example; all of the main characters are girls due to most scenes taking place at an all-girls middle school, and there isn't a single male character of note. It sometimes gets to ridiculous levels, like how everyone attending Comuket is female despite how the event's real life counterpart, Comiket, tends to have more male attendance.
• Clingy Jealous Girl:
  • In Season 1 Episode 4, Kyouko imagines writing a wish where Chinatsu shyly allows herself to be kissed by her. Then and Chinatsu writes that very same wish, except directed to Yui. Kyouko changes her wish to simply getting more sleep (a shower in the manga). Yui is reluctant, but then gives her a kiss on the forehead. Which prompts Kyouko to smack Yui on the head out of jealousy.
  • Chinatsu herself falls into this in Season 1 Episode 6 while Kyouko is telling a story where she and Yui fell in love with each other. She smacks Kyouko's drawings to interrupt the scene as it's playing out.
  • Practically all of main girls towards Akari during the first half of Season 2 Episode 1. Turns out it was All Just a Dream.
  • Sakurako has a big hissy fit in Season 2 Episode 3 after a few days without Himawari to tutor her, instead spending time teaching Chinatsu to knit a scarf. This culminates in her tearfully lashing out at Himawari in the middle of the classroom.
• Color Failure: Happens to Ayano in the first half of Season 2 Episode 6, then Kyouko in the second half.
• Comedic Sociopathy: Especially Akari, whose bad luck and helplessness is one of the recurring jokes.
• Comically Missing the Point: Himawari tells Sakurako to shape up and be more like Ayano. As a result, Sakurako spends a day imitating Ayano. The only lessons Sakurako learns are to keep her hair in a ponytail, wear tights, and yell "TOSHINOU KYOUKO!!!".
• Connected All Along: Yui forms an online friendship with another girl when playing the MMORPG Namo Namo Fantasy 14. And wouldn't you know it, of all the people in the world, said friend turns out to be Nadeshiko, Sakurako's older sister.
• Continuity Nod: Season 2 Episode 6 has one toward Season 1 Episode 5.
• Cosplay Otaku Girl: Kyouko.
• Couch Gag: The opening scene in which Akari tries to tell the audience that the show is starting, and how it fails. Dropped in season 3 in favor of Cold Opens.
• Counting Sheep:
  • Yui and Kyouko do this in one of the Image Songs.
  • In chapter 175, after a single sip of coffee keeps Akari up till 2AM, she tries counting sheep to go to sleep. Unfortunately, Kyoko starts mumbling numbers in her sleep and messing her up.
• Covers Always Lie: In chapter 88 of Ohmuro-ke, Hanako reads a manga with the deceptively cute cover and title of "The Cow That Gives Milk". It's actually a horror story that terrifies her so much she crawls into bed with Sakurako for comfort. Sakurako, being Sakurako, teases her about it. When Hanako dares her to read it, it terrifies Sakurako so much they both drawl into bed with Nadeshiko.
• Cranial Eruption: Appears prior to, but most prominently in Season 1 Episode 11 where it gives Kyouko (and later Akari) a Personality Swap.
• Crazy-Prepared:
  • One of Akari's more noticeable traits is that she has everything prepared for emergencies, such as band-aids and chopsticks.
  • In Season 2 Episode 6, Akari wonders why Ayano isn't at Comiket with them. Yui tells her that Ayano didn't seem to like coming the previous year, so she and Kyouko felt it was best not to drag her to the event again. Then a flashback from the previous evening shows a pumped Ayano ready to go, having studied up on Comiket, and waiting for Kyouko's phone call. She ends up waiting all day, and finally gets a call in the evening, only for Kyouko to ask for help carrying things home from Comiket. Cue Color Failure on Ayano, with her hanging up, and then immediately getting a call from Chitose, consoling her.
• Cross-Popping Veins: Happens quite often.
• Crying Wolf: In Oomuroke, and its film adaptation Dear Sisters, Nadeshiko and Hanako angrily confront Sakurako about eating Nadeshiko's ice cream from the fridge. Sakurako protests that she didn't eat it, but they refuse to believe her because, well, she's Sakurako. They pressure her to own up to what she did. But then Nadeshiko calls her mother and asks her to buy more, only for her mother to casually mention that she ate it. Sakurako gloats over her sisters and gets them to dogeza while rubbing their own words about owning up to their misdeeds in their faces, and they mumble their apologies to her. But then, they move on to the topic of Hanako's missing yogurt, and suddenly Sakurako breaks out in a cold sweat.
• Cute and Psycho: Chinatsu comes off as fairly sweet in her first appearance — and afterwards (especially around Yui), but many moments of pure, burning insanity can be seen in her art and actions.
• Cute Mute: Rise's 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, just offscreen.
• D-Cup Distress: Provides the trope image. Himawari always feels embarrassed (especially around Sakurako) by the fact that she is incredibly stacked for a thirteen-year-old.
• Dark Magical Girl: Rivalun to Mirakurun, in the Magical Girl Show Within a Show Majokko Mirakurun.
• Deadpan Snarker: Yui.
• Decoy Backstory: Chapter 51, "A Certain Scientific Power Outlet", had science teacher Nana Nishigaki tell a touching story about how, when she was a girl, her only friend was her robot dog. But one day, it stopped moving. So, with tears in her eyes, she dedicated herself to the sciences so she could reunite with her beloved friend ... and then she reveals she just made the whole story up to mess with them.
• Decoy Protagonist: Namori didn't have a clear direction for the manga at first^* she redid the first four chapters years later and took potshots at her early characterization on the opening page, and when she introduced Chinatsu and the Amusement Club love triangle, Akari's page time plummeted. In keeping with her fourth wall-breaking style, Namori had the others discuss Akari's lack of presence and come up with ways to make her stand out in the narrative. Namori settled on "girl who wants to have presence but fails miserably", which she later said makes Akari a more interesting and relatable character. But as Namori developed her surreal aesthetic further, gradually that aspect of Akari's character faded away and she just became the childlike Friend to All Living Things of the ensemble.
• Deep-Immersion Gaming: A brief one occurs in Yui's dream during episode 5 of season 2.
• 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.
• Denser and Wackier: Doga Kobo really cut loose with the anime original material. Compare the first half of "Farewell, Protagonist, Until We Meet Again", a fairly straightforward adaptation of a manga chapter and its typical "everyday life" theme, with the second half, a Fractured Fairy Tale that has Chizuru whip out tommy guns to try and murder Kyouko and ends with Nishagaki-sensei's scenery robot going on a rampage. It's almost shocking to stream the low-key season three, which has a very different style with almost no anime-original material or wacky slapstick, right after the season two finale.
• Disguised Horror Story: In-Universe. "The Cow that Gives Milk", a childish-looking book that Hanako and Sakurako read in Ohmuro-ke chapter 88, which turns out to be a horror story that makes both of them glomp onto Nadeshiko.
• Drum Bathing: Akari and Chinatsu do this in episode 12. Hilarity Ensues when Akari stretches her arms out and her barrel comes loose and rolls downhill.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness:
  • Mari's expression when Chinatsu turns out to act altogether unlike Mirakurun.
  • Yui also assumes this look upon sight of Chinatsu (and especially Kyouko) letting go of sanity.
  • Akari in Season 1 Episode 5 after Chinatsu forcibly kisses her, again in Season 1 Episode 12 after Chitose forcibly kisses her, once again in Season 2 Episode 10 after a forced massage from Chinatsu, and in the finale of the second season when Chinatsu-bot falls on her face.
• The Ending Changes Everything: Chapter 187, "Scrutinizing Gaze", has a very weird aesthetic. It shows the student council at work and bickering amongst themselves, but depicted entirely from one angle like they're acting in a stage play. Then it starts introducing more and more weird cutaways, like hands using Wite-Out and Nishigaki-sensei sitting in the corner. Finally, on the very last page, it's revealed the whole chapter has been a POV shot from Matsumoto Rise.
• Engrish: The entire introduction to the Nachuyachumi OVA is like this.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Used in the Mirakurun Show Within a Show in the first part of Season 2 Episode 6. Rivalun and a minion stole some balls Mirakurun was playing with and animated them into attacking Mirakurun. A few of the balls are shown more explicitly, and seem to injure Mirakurun to the point that even they wonder if they went too far, and order the balls to stop. Turns out Mirakurun used a Ninja Log to escape, then proceeded to beat the tar out of them and release the balls from their control.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin:
  • The title itself, "YuruYuri", as in "easygoing girls' love". To lesser or greater degrees of accuracy, the lesbian subtext of the girls' relationships are there for everyone to see.
  • "Mirakurun's" Rivalun couldn't possibly be The Rival, could she?
• Eye Catch: Initially, the anime had a separate, rather long and elaborate, Eye Catch for each of the main cast, complete with individual themes. San Hai's static eyecatches were rather more story-oriented than the previous seasons and have a hand-drawn appearance, accompanied with the featured character's actions and quotes.
• Facepalm of Doom: Un-superpowered one by Chizuru to Kyouko so she doesn't jump her again◊.
• Family Theme Naming:
  • The Ohmuro sisters all have flower-related names .^MeaningHanako ("flower child"), Sakurako ("sakura child"), and Nadeshiko ("dianthus").
  • And Himawari (Sunflower)'s sister is Kaede (Maple).
  • The Akaza sisters, Akane and Akari.^Meaning'Aka' (あか) is a common word meaning red-colored (赤). It refers to both sisters' bright red hair, thus Meaningful Name.
• Fan Convention: Some chapters/episodes revolve around the characters going to Comuket, a bland name version of the real-life biannual doujinshi convention Comiket.
• Female Gaze: Chinatsu watching the perspiring, messy-haired Yui downing a can of drink after a game of ping-pong.
  • Also Chinatsu watching Yui's back, clad only in a towel, while she's vigorously and violently scrubbing Kyoko's back with a sponge.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: In the manga, Chitose informs Ayano she has a twin sister. In a later chapter, said sister is introduced when Kyoko confuses the two of them and gets stumped why "Chitose" is ignoring her. The anime shows the two stories back-to-back, making the "twist" blatantly obvious since the solution is foreshadowed five seconds before it happens.
• Foreshadowing: During the Beach Episode, some viewers noticed that there are 9 girls running towards the sea but it should only be 8. A few episodes later, we find out this was a deliberate Early-Bird Cameo of Rise Matsumoto.
• Fractured Fairy Tale: The second half of Season 2 Episode 12 is basically the main girls' School Play take on Snow White... complete with their eccentricities taking the bulk of the tale, starring Kyouko as an Extreme Omnivore Snow White, Nana and Rise as the evil queen and the (barely audible) magic mirror, respectively, Chizuru as the BFG-wielding huntsman (allowing her to project her animosity to Kyouko, triggered when Kyoko theatrically pleaded for her life), and Seven Elves portrayed by Ayano (Tsundere), Chitose (Glasses), Yui (Retorting), Chinatsu (Evil), Himawari (Boob), Sakurako (Stupid) and Akari (Remarkably Unremarkable). The poisoned apple was turned into a tomato (associated with Kyouko after she wore a tomato-themed pajama during last season's finale), and Yui also doubled as the Prince Charming.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: Subverted in chapter 165, where Sakurako and Ayano play a prank on Himawari and Chitose by pretending to swap bodies. Then played straight when Himawari and Sakurako get into an argument and headbutt each other, causing them to swap bodies for real. As the chapter ends, the narration states they headbutted one more time and returned to normal.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: At the very end of Season 2 Episode 3, Akane can be seen entering Akari's room with a huge chocolate heart. However, because the scene is quick, and it zooms in on her, then the chocolate she's holding (complete with camera jarring), you won't see her face unless you pause it.
• The Friends Who Never Hang: While most of the main girls have shared at least one skit with each other, the interactions between Akari/Ayano and Chinatsu/Chitose are nearly/completely non-existent. While this could be justifiable due to the fact that they aren't together in any of the main groups (Amusement Club/Student Council or First/Second Grade), the fact that both Kyouko and Yui have interacted or shared time with either Himawari or Sakurako (which share the same characteristics of not being together in any of the main groups) makes it a lot more jarring.
• Full-Name Basis:
  • Ayano will never refer to Kyouko by anything other than "TOSHINOU KYOUKO!"
  • "AKAZA AKARI!"
• Geographic Flexibility: In seasons one and two, Nanamori Middle School is on the edge of a sprawling forest with a giant ravine. In season three (animated by a different studio), the trees around the Tea Ceremony club room are just one little copse in the middle of a suburban neighborhood.
• Ghost Leg Lottery: Sakurako draws a ghost leg diagram on the ground, which includes a loop-de-loop and several other nonstandard lines.
• Girlish Pigtails: Chinatsu and Mirakurun.
• Glasses Curiosity: In chapter 198, Kyouko and Chitose put on each others' gym shirts by accident. Kyouko yoinks Chitose's glasses to complete the illusion. Both girls then stumble around blindly, unable to see.
• Go Out with a Smile: When Nishigaki-sensei blows up the student council room and the student council get caught in the blast, Ayano, Chitose, and Himawari all stare in horror while Sakurako winks and sticks her tongue out.
• 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. It doesn't work. Cue yet another nosebleed from Chitose.
• Gratuitous English:
  • Kyouko in Season 1 Episode 10, while on top of Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto:
    Kyouko: I can fly!
    Yui: (in Japanese) Don't do it!
    Kyouko: (pointing at Yui) You can fly?
    Yui: (in Japanese) No, I won't!
  • In Season 2 Episode 2, Sakurako suggests that they only speak English. However, all they can say is "Delicious!" and "This is rice."
  • This clip here is a pretty standout example. It should be noted that while the pronunciation is bad, the actual dialogue is pretty much in perfect English.
• Heel–Face Turn: 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.
• Heroic Sacrifice: The end of season 1, episode 12 has Akari sleepily stop a bomb alarm clock Nishigaki put out. While everyone else is outside brushing their teeth, Akari sleepily starts the bomb again, which goes off and collapses the tea club building. Everyone then looks to the sky and laments about how Akari sacrificed herself to save everyone... only to have her burst out of the rubble a moment later and chastise everyone for saying she was dead.
• Holding in Laughter: In the sixth chapter, Kyouko determines Akari lacks presence and holds an intervention to decide on her new character traits. They come up with an invisible girl who has Torpedo Tits and makes the sound effect "Akariii~n!" Yui and Chinatsu double over, quivering, as they try not to laugh.
• Hopeless Suitor: Chinatsu with regard to Yui, who appears seems either oblivious to her feelings or just doesn't care. Chinatsu later becomes so incredibly obvious that nobody can miss it, but her... ardent approach tends to put Yui off.
• Hostile Show Takeover:
  • In season 1 episode 6, Kyouko dons an Akari mask and does the Couch Gag in place of Akari.
  • In the Doga Kobo seasons, every "On the Next" had the character giving it declare themselves as some form of protagonist, except Akari.
• I Lied: In Season 2 Episode 4, Nishigaki-sensei tells the Student Council a heart-wrenching story of why she became a scientist: when she was younger, she had a toy robot dog who suddenly stopped working one day, and she vowed to study enough to fix it one day. Rise asks her what really happened, so she tells the true story: her interest in science started with a science experiment, back when she was their age, involving batteries and a lightbulb. She decided to plug the wires into an outlet, causing the bulb to explode, which also started her fascination for Stuff Blowing Up.
• Imagine Spot: Chitose and Chizuru in fantasy-goggles mode.
• Improbably Female Cast: Aside from Mirakurun's arch-nemesis Ganbo, who is of questionable origin, the show has no named male characters and it avoids using them as background characters as much as possible. Even in Season 1 Episode 7, the (heterosexual) romantic couples are all framed with the mens' heads out of view. It's only at the end of the episode when we see one of Akari's younger male relatives from the front.
  • Even Akari's older brother was retconned in the manga into a girl, Akane, which soon reached into the anime.
  • This goes to ludicrous levels in Comiket/Comuket episodes, and there is not a single male in sight, which of course is realistically impossible, given the large male demographic in such events in Real Life.
• Instant Bandages: One instance happens in Season 1 Episode 4 after Kyouko smacks Yui on the back of her head after the latter gave a kiss to Chinatsu, which the former wanted.
• Internal Homage: In chapter 87 of Oomuro-ke, Nadeshiko and her friends find the key to the roof of their school and debate what to do with it, harkening back to Kyouko and Yui discovering the key to the Tea Ceremony Club room.
• Intertwined Fingers
• It's All About Me: When Yui announces she's made an online friend in Namo Namo Fantasy 14, Kyoko rolls on the floor and whines, "What do you need to make friends for when you already have me?!"
• Iyashikei: The anime's first two seasons, which were produced by Doga Kobo, were mainly definited by manic comedy and slapstick, but once production shifted to TYO Animations the pace and atmosphere slow down to focus on the girls enjoying a relaxing summer break together, with a much more mellow atmosphere. It aims for a much more relaxed type of humor compared to the shenanigans present in the Doga Kobo seasons.
• Jump Scare: Right before the credits of Season 2, Episode 8: As Chinatsu is snuggling Yui, it suddenly cuts to a Chinatsu-Art-inspired credits sequence. That would be fine if not for the screamer-esque screeching out of nowhere accompanying it.
• Large and in Charge: SUGIURA AYANO!!!
  • The tallest in her age group, even taller for her upright ponytail, she is very much the voice, the firebrand, the elected council (vice) president (the actual student council president is ghostlike). In complete contrast, Ayano is the only character with the presence to have a nonstandard background at the end of her eyecatches. With Chitose in tow (often literally), she is in the habit of blasting right into any setting, most often yelling for TOSHINOU; KYOUKO!! and framed in a Dutch Angle.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Once upon a time, Sugiura Ayano finds herself approaching the door of the Student Council room from outside, when she suddenly hears... odd sounds emanating from within. And what does it sound like, but that Sakurako has finally decided to consummate her childhood marriage with Himawari!! After some eternal seconds of standing stock still and listening, Ayano cracks and blasts in loudly yelling, only to be met with Sakurako's scream of warning. She looks down and sees a snake parking itself on her foot...
  • At the beginning of the beach episode, (once again) Ayano tells Kyoko she better not have done 'something stupid' like forgotten her panties. Then at episode's end, it turns out Ayano didn't bring her underwear!.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • Season 2, episode 10 opens the same way season 1, episode 10 did, up to the point Sakurako interrupts the scene and yells that she wants to go on a trip too. In-universe, it's just a random outburst that Himawari witnessed.
  • Chspter 187. The punchline is the chapter's weird aesthetics are due to it being a POV shot from the student council president.
• Leitmotif: Each of the main characters has one, which is worked into their eyecatch and two Image Songs.
• Lighter and Softer: Season 3 of the anime has much less sadistic comedy, the cast feel more stable and endearing towards each other, Chinatsu has fewer Yandere moments and even Chizuru has mellowed down considerably.
• Lipstick Lesbian: Save for Yui, the entire cast are lesbian and very feminine.
• Lost in Translation:
  • Ayano's eyecatch features her posing in front of Buckingham Palace, a reference to her catchphrase "Bakkin Buckingham".^note  Buckingham Penalty However, the English language subtitles changed the line to "Fine Irvine", so the backdrop becomes a complete nonsequitur.
  • In "No Self-Awareness", Himawari tells Sakurako to be like Nadeshiko-san. "Nadeshiko" is both the Japanese feminine ideal and the name of Sakurako's older sister, but the subs just use the first definition. Becomes a nonsequitur when she then tells Sakurako to mimic Ayano instead.
• Love Dodecahedron:
  • It's starting to shape up into this with Ayano > Kyouko > Chinatsu > Yui, maybe Yui > Kyouko and due to Chinatsu kissing Akari, Akari started developing feelings for Chinatsu.
  • Kyouko > Yui is visible unless Kyouko is just teasing Yui with her comments, actions, and fanfic.
• Love Triangle:
  • Type 5. Kyouko is crazy for Chinatsu (at first for the cosplay potential), but Chinatsu is in love with Yui. Yui is caught inbetween Kyoko and Chinatsu.
  • There is another strange one - Chinatsu's older sister, Tomoko is obviously in love with Akari's sister, Akane, who in turn has an obsession with Akari. Akari knows nothing.
• Lyrical Dissonance: Kyouko's song on the second CD album, "Jigoku no Soko e mo Tsuiteiku" ("I'll follow you to the bottom of hell") is presumably the same song she mentioned in the karaoke episode. A happy pop song sung from a stalker's point of view, with lines like "We'll be together forever", and "I'm staring at you from behind the bookshelves".
• Made of Explodium: Pretty much anything Nishigaki-sensei touches. That includes the time machine Akari used to go back one year in time. After Akari asks Nishigaki-sensei to look at it, she "fixes" it by replacing batteries. After Akari returns to the present, some characters point out that Nishigaki-sensei got her hands on the device, the time machine explodes.
• Magic Skirt: In the openings, even when the girls are jumping around or standing with the wind blowing, their school uniforms stay firmly in place.
• Medium Awareness: The couple of pages that were made in colour have the characters show this trope.
• Medium Blending: The Dear Sisters OP inserts the animated Sakurako and Himawari into real footage of a street in Japan.
• Megaton Punch: Kyouko receives two after trying to do The Glomp on Chizuru after the latter walks offstage in episode 12 of Season 2.
• Modesty Shorts: Sakurako wears this in a segment in season 2, episode 9. Just as well, as she does a handstand at one point.
• Mood Whiplash: While the show goes from comedy to light drama occasionally, the ending of Season 2 Episode 8 goes from a lighthearted outing with Chinatsu hugging Yui at the end, followed immediately by the ending which is drawn Chinatsu-style. The opening sketch of the next episode also shows her drawing style in the background, which freaks out Akari to the point that Yui comments that her eyes rolled over inside her head in shock.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: Played for Laughs in episode 12 of Season 2. During a play of Snow White, Chizuru (who is an Ayano/Chitose shipper) plays the huntsman while Kyouko is Snow White. Chizuru fires her gun, which hits the spot between Kyouko's legs, then laments that she missed. She then pulls out 2 [[Thompson_submachine_gun Tommy guns]], Guns Akimbo, and begins firing at Kyouko, and only gives up when she runs out of bullets.
• Negative Continuity: More than once it seems like the main cast have been vaporized by one of Nishigaki-sensei's explosions, but it will have consequences. Examples include the anime's second season finale and the manga's chapter 174.
• New First Comics: The "Beginnings" arc in vol. 11. Namori rewrote and redrew the first four chapters to remove some Early-Installment Weirdness, like Akari yelling "Yay, give me some presents!" or Yui sneaking a peek up Kyoko's skirt, as well as to add humor closer in style to later volumes when the series found its footing.
• Nice Character, Mean Actor: Partially inverted with Chinatsu while cosplaying as Mirakurun. Whenever she performs, she usually tries to put on a Nice Girl act. But she either screws up by doing something like eating her Magical Wand (which was a breadstick) or break character right as Mari comes back into the room. However, Mirakurun releases such awesomely tremendous levels of violence upon the opposition, that they are not so dissimilar after all.
• Nightmare Face: Chinatsu delivers one of these when the sight of Akari and Yui hugging for a photo sheet makes her jealousy levels skyrocket.
• Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: Chinatsu's drawings strike fear and horror into everyone who sees them, except for herself... and her sister.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant:
  • Chinatsu when she creates pretty much anything from food to art.
  • Akane also invokes this from time to time, such as the jarring effect used when she's first seen at the end of Season 2 Episode 3, as well as Episode 9, when Chinatsu, then at a sleepover with the Akaza sisters, can't sleep after watching a horror movie. After calming down by imagining Yui, she lowers the blanket from her face. And sees Akane right above her, complete with Scare Chord, who then puts her hand right over poor Chinatsu's mouth, mostly to keep her from waking up Akari while she gets her DVD back.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: When attempting to make Akari stand out more, the club eventually decides on an invisible Akari with Boob Missiles that has all of her sound effects as "Akarin".
• No-Dialogue Episode: Manga chapter 92, focusing on Rise, is naturally free of any spoken words (or even a chapter title), following her as she makes trades with the rest of the main cast.
• No Ending: Doga Kobo's irreverent run on the series ends mid-explosion, with our confused heroines looking over their shoulders and mumbling "Eh?" as they're on the verge of being incinerated. However, since it was Doga Kobo's original material and since it was significantly wackier than the already-significantly-wacky manga, when TYO made a third season years later they skipped right over it and continued adapting the manga as normal.
• No Romantic Resolution: None of the romantic attractions the characters have for one another have shown any kind of progress, whether in the manga or the anime. Considering the kind of series it is, though, it's likely not meant to have any romantic resolution anyway.
• Nosebleed: Chitose gets these during the numerous times takes off her glasses.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Lampshaded once.
• Not So Stoic: Ayano makes a lot of puns. Yui cracks up over every single one.
• Not What It Looks Like:
  • In chapter 163, Himawari shows up to school with a hickey. She protests that it was caused by her little sister when they were asleep, but she still panics over other people getting the wrong idea.
  • In the OVA, Chinatsu spills some tea on her, making it look like she wet herself. Yui walks in and is shocked at first, though Chinatsu quickly explains herself. Of course, she needs to change her clothes, so Yui offers her track suit. As Yui is helping Chinatsu to change, Kyouko walks in, seeing Yui's hand on Chinatsu's wet skirt.
    Kyouko: "Whatever pervertiness is going on... I want in!!!"
    Yui: "You misunderstand, you pervert!"
  • In chapter 201, the Amusement Club are trying to figure out what to do on the last day of summer. They decide to split a watermelon, but all they have is an axe. Sakurako walks past by chance and thinks they're plotting a murder, causing her to hightail it out of there. At the end of the chapter, Yui, Akari, and Chinatsu chase Kyouko (who has watermelon stains all over her white shirt) down in order to force her to do her summer homework. They cross paths with Sakurako again, who sees Kyouko running away with what looks like blood all over her. That's where the chapter ends.
  • Chapter 204 has Sakurako knock herself unconscious juggling basketballs. As Himawari sits with her, Sakurako mumbles something, causing Himawari to lean forward to hear better. By pure chance, that's when Chinatsu walks in and sees what looks like a kiss through the hanging curtain around the bed.
• Oddly Named Sequel: YuruYuri♪♪. The notes are pronounced "fuwa fuwa" (fluffy fluffy).
• One Dialogue, Two Conversations:
  • This usually happens whenever Yui and Ayano are alone together.
    • In chapter 67, they attempt to make idle conversation, and constantly misinterpret the other's reaction to their puns.
    • In one chapter, Ayano encounters Yui hunched over trembling. Ayano thinks something serious happened to Yui, and Yui is too embarrassed to admit that she just stubbed her toe while skipping.
  • Chapter 70 has this between Himawari and Sakurako. Himawari thinks Sakurako is depressed because she can't study well, and Sakurako thinks Himawari is worried about her breasts.
• One-Gender School: Nanamori Middle School is an all-girls school. This is a Yuri series, after all.
• Only Six Faces: The main difference between the girls' appearance is in the hair, and variety of facial expressions, but they have really similar faces. Akari and Chinatsu have near identical faces, just as well as Kyouko and Sakurako, and Ayano and Himawari.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Kyouko notices that Akari barely gets angry at anyone and asks her to say "I hate you", when she does it it's enough to shock Kyouko into a depression. She does this later to both Yui and Chinatsu, with the same results.
  • Sakurako drops her childish act and hostility towards Himawari upon learning that Himawari was starving herself.
• Out-of-Character Moment: The whole second half of Season 1 Episode 11 is essentially the aftermath of Kyouko 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. Hilariously used to her advantage at the end of Season 2 Episode 4. While walking home sharing an umbrella with Kyouko, Akari's shoulder is getting a bit wet because she's outside of the umbrella slightly. Instead of moving the umbrella over more to Akari's side, Kyouko suggests they walk in a line, with Akari behind Kyouko. It seems to work, until a car passes by, and splashes water on Kyouko, Yui, and Chinatsu. Kyouko wonders if Akari avoided the splash because she was "offscreen" at the time.
  • Another time is Yui noting Akari won an Othello match against Sakurako by using her unpresence to conceal one of the stones:
    Yui: Akari, you're terrifying!
• Overdrawn at the Blood Bank: Chitose has this almost in episode 12 of the first season.
• Parlor Games: In chapter 196, the underclassmen play visual shiritori in class (as in, they pass a note around and doodle the next word in the chain). Which is all well and good, except for the fact that Chinatsu is part of their circle.
• Perverted Drooling: Chizuru's reaction to her lesbian fantasies, in contrast to her twin sister Chitose's nosebleeds.
• Plenty of Blondes: Three blondes in the series - including the scientist Nishigaki-chan.
• Pose of Supplication: Twice within a minute by Ayano in Season 1 Episode 2.
  Ayano: Double shock!
• Potty Dance: In Episode 10 of Season 3, Akari does a hands-free version of this.
• The Power of Friendship: In chapter 166, the Amusement Club has to brave a terrible storm to make it home. They pull through by relying on each other and have a heartwarming moment where they bond over their strength as friends. Yui declares, "Let's get out of here alive, and then...let's hang out tomorrow." It's then immediately subverted when The Tag shows them all laid up in bed the next day with terrible colds.
• Production Throwback: The Ohmuro-ke Spin-Off web comics are named after Minami-ke and were released alongside the second season, which shares a director (Masahiko Ohta) with Minami-ke.
• Public Domain Soundtrack: Season 2 Episode 7 used "Spring" from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. The girl who uses it? Akane, whenever she has a quality time with an Akari dakimakura (hug pillow) and Akari's belongings.
• Queer Flowers: The English loosely translates to Lazy Lily, and the story follows Akari and her childhood friends. Every one of them is a lesbian.
• Rainbow Pimp Gear: One chapter describes Kyoko's outfit as being like an avatar who only wears the free event items handed out in an MMO.
• Real-Place Background: Most of the series takes place in and around Takaoka, a city in Japan's Toyama prefecture. Many local landmarks can be seen throughout, most commonly Takaoka's train station.
• Refuge in Audacity: In Season 3 Episode 1, Akari's "Masochist Cider" can is an exact copy of the real-life cans of A&W Root Beer.
• Repeating So the Audience Can Hear: Normally played straight by Nana Nishigaki, but subverted in chapter 160. The students are counting on her to "interpret" Matsumoto's speech to the school, but Nishigaki's expressions (and occasional pyrotechnic display) only confuse them on what the speech is even about.
• Rescue Romance: Parodied. After Yui tells off Kyouko for her overly aggressive advances on Chinatsu, the anime cuts to Chinatsu's Imagine Spot in which Yui is literally her Knight in Shining Armor
• Retcon/Rewrite: In the manga, Akari's siscon brother was changed into a siscon sister as evident by this picture◊ and this one◊.
• Revisiting the Roots: The Doga Kobo seasons directed by Masahiko Ohta made such an impression on the anime landscape that the studio pivoted almost-exclusively towards making moe Slice of Life, several of which — Himouto! Umaru-chan and Gabriel DropOut — were also directed by Ohta and proved to be successes in their own right, thanks to his idiosyncratic, gonzo style and penchant for memorable anime-original material (like Akari's iconic Couch Gag). However, TYO Animations went in a completely different direction for the OVAs and the third season, turning in a muted (both color-wise and music-wise), low-key, Truer to the Text adaptation. The third season was then followed by an OVA that basically aped everything Ohta did at Doga Kobo (including hiring his Associated Composer Yashuhiro Misawa) by making a bright, bold, colorful adaptation full of gonzo animated slapstick.
• The Rival:
  • Ayano sees Kyouko as one, but the feeling isn't mutual.
  • Himawari and Sakurako are rivals to each other.
• Rocks Fall Everybody Dies: The second season finale. Sort of.
• Rooting for the Empire: In-Universe — Rivalun from Majokko Mirakurun has lots of fans, despite being an alien invader.
• Rubber Face: Yui does it to Kyouko in Season 1 Episode 3 — and throughout, as does Himawari to Sakurako.
• 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.
  • Akari constantly disappearing.
  • Nishigaki-sensei has lots of Stuff Blowing Up.
  • "Her hair ate it!"
• Say My Name:
  • TOSHINOU; KYOUKO!! is said by Ayano a lot.
  • And reversed in the OVA: Sugiura Ayano!!
• Schmuck Bait: In Season 2 Episode 9, several girls are studying, when they decide to call Kyouko and ask for tips on cramming since she's so good at it. Kyouko tells them to place the book on the bed, then do a headstand on it, followed by prayer. When Akari asks what to do next, Kyouko then just tells them 'twas a lie.
• School Forced Us Together: The Amusement Club was initially formed by Kyoko and Yui who took over the abandoned Tea Ceremony Club building and they are soon joined by Akari and later Chinatsu, who was trying to join the Tea Ceremony Club recently but stayed because of her attraction to Yui. As the name implies, the Amusement Club serves no purpose other than for its members to amuse themselves.
• Schoolgirl Series: The series fits this genre to a T, focusing on a group of middle school girls and their Slice of Life antics. However, there's much more explicit Ship Tease between the girls than most examples since it runs in a Yuri Genre magazine (though most of the girls' feelings for each other are one-sided).
• Sdrawkcab Name:
  • Used in Season 2 Episode 10, by saying "Akarin" backwards ("Niraka"), which un-Unperson an invisible character (except poor Akari).
  • Also used in the next episode. After Akari is stuck on the time machine, it disappears right after some girls say "Akarin" like in the intros. "Niraka" is then uttered when she reappears.
• Secret-Keeper: While Akari doesn't know about her sister's obsession with her, when Kyouko peeks into Akane's room, she sees a lot of evidence in there. Then in Season 2 Episode 11, after Akari is invited into her room, Akane cleans up everything inside and stuffs all of it inside her closet. It gets to the point where her sister can't sleep because she's sharing the bed with Akari.
  • During the anime episode appreciation party:
    Yui: You knew!!?
    Kyoko: (placid smile) Yep.
• Selective Obliviousness: In Season 1 Episode 11, Yui shows to Chinatsu a picture in their album of their preschool days. They tell her about a girl who once tried to pick a fight with them at the local playground. An incensed Chinatsu vows to beat up said girl should they meet one day. Then Akari looks at the picture, and realizes that said girl is none other than Chinatsu herself, then on a visit to her grandmother. She decided to say not a word about it, because Chinatsu doesn't remember.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Pretty much everything involving Akari seemingly getting a big break, such as the first half of Season 2 Episode 1 and Kyouko's story in Season 2 Episode 11 about Akari's failed attempt to retcon her past.
• She Who Must Not Be Seen: Nadeshiko's girlfriend. Her only "appearances" are in phone conversations with Nadeshiko where the reader never gets to hear her side of the dialogue. Since her identity is unknown, it's not impossible that she is one of the classmates shown during school scenes.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • Chitose greatly cheers on Kyouko/Ayano.
  • Chitose's twin sister, Chizuru, who supports Chitose/Ayano.
• Shout-Out:
  • Season 1 Episode 5 is titled "When Akari and the Cicadas Cry".
  • When Kyouko asks Yui what superpower she would have, Yui says she would be able to warp. In Kyouko's imagination; after Yui warps, she loses her clothes.
    • When Akari says she would like to talk to animals, Kyoko imagines Akari talking with a mouse (who's under attack by a cat) and telling it to use Kage Bunshin.
  • Another Naruto reference is Mirakurun being attacked by balls controlled by Rivalun, and using Kawarimi (substitution), which leaves behind a doll with a face like the one left by Hatake Kakashi in the Naruto anime.
  • The Christmas episode of Season 2 gives a homage to The Silence of the Lambs.
  • In Sakurako's imagine spot in Season 2 Episode 7, Akari's hair buns acted as a power limiter, and she went Super Saiyan after taking them off.
  • In Season 2 Episode 10, the girls have a talk at Kiyomizu-dera, alluding to a similar discussion in Lucky Star.
  • Season 2 Episode 11's title, "The Akari who Leapt Through Time", is a homage to The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
  • While discussing how to scare Ayano, Kyouko crawls out of a television.
  • In the first episode of the third season, after Chinatsu renders Kyouko unconscious so she could be alone with Yui, she flashes a Psychotic Smirk reminiscent of Light's infamous smirk. She even utters Light's iconic line while doing it.
    Chinatsu: "Just as planned!"
  • To Citrus, a fellow Comic Yuri Hime series:
    • In season 3 episode 5, Nadeshiko is seen reading a magazine with a panel of Yuzu.
    • In season 3 episode 11, Chinatsu reads a tankobon in the Amusement Club room.
  • The ending of the third season has definitely taken some pointers from the ending of Kamichu!. Shake those maracas, Akarin!
  • Nachuyachumi+02 features extremely faithful recreations of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Animal Crossing: New Leaf.
  • Akari uses her lack of presence to conceal game pieces, a tactic formerly used by Momoko Touyoko from Saki.
  • In Nachuyachumi Epilogue 2, Chinatsu and Kyoko have a sumo wrestling match that devolves into blatant Street Fighter II special moves.
  • Chapter 51 is titled "A Certain Scientific Power Outlet".
• Show Within a Show: Majokko Mirakurun, a Magical Girl series. Kyouko is the character concerned with how Chinatsu is the image of the eponymous character, to the point where Kyouko is determined to get her in costume.
• Skinship Grope: Chitose does this to Ayano.
  • And Kyoko to Yui:
    Kyoko: Hmmm, excitement... (*grope*) Excitement!!~☆
• Single-Stroke Battle: Himawari and Sakurako attempt this while duelling with fireworks but they're taken off them before they can do any damage.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Himawari and Sakurako, towards each other. In almost every single scene where the two are together, they're constantly angry at each other, and often exchanging Lightning Glares at each other.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Sakurako and Himawari's scenes follow this format, although it's generally more slap than kiss.
• Sliding Timescale: YuruYuri debuted in 2008, when most people still used flip phones. But it's been running for so long that the prequel manga Touzainanboku!, about Nanamori Middle School's teachers in high school, uses flip phones to signify that it takes place over a decade ago.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: Chitose and Chizuru.
• Smash Cut: The end of "Farewell, Protagonist, Until We Meet Again". The Amusement Club and the Student Council put on a warped version of Snow White that ends with a rampaging robot — originally designed by Nishigaki-sensei to handle the scenery — running amok, then running out of batteries and collapsing. As the OP plays and the girls break character to rush onstage and take a bow for their adoring audience, the robot begins to smoke. As a bright light rapidly intensifies, Akari, Kyouko, Yui, and Chinatsu look over their shoulders in confusion and collectively ask, "Eh?" SMASH CUT to the happy ending theme.
• Snake Versus Mongoose: The anime adaptation uses a mongoose and a snake to represent the rivalry between Sakurako and Himawari.
• Sneeze Cut
• Society Is to Blame: The... profound plea from Himawari's little sister Kaede about Sakurako's craziness. It's so profound Sakurako actually stops fooling around with the poor little girl and begs her for mercy.
• Special Edition Title:
  • The opening of season 2, episode 6 is one of the Show Within a Show Majokko Mirakurun. It's later revealed to be part of a video Akari and Chinatsu were watching.
  • The credits of season 2, episode 8 replaces the usual with one with another about Chinatsu obsessing over Yui, all in Chinatsu's nightmarish style.
  • Season 2, episode 11 opens with just the logo and a snippet of the first season's theme, to signify Akari going into the past.
• Spin-Off: YuriYuri, Risetto!!, Ohmuro-ke, and Touzainanboku!
• Spit Take:
  • In Season 2 Episode 3, Akari is drinking milk when Sakurako makes a funny face, causing her to spit the milk out.
  • Himawari does one in Season 2 Episode 10 after overhearing Nadeshiko's suggestive comments on the phone.
  • She has another one in the OVA. As she is in the cafe with Akari and Sakurako, sipping her tea, the latter starts making a face to piss her off. This was because Sakurako couldn't drink "lady-like", while Himawari could, but Sakurako decided to spoil it.
• Sprouting Ears: Ayano, Kyouko and Sakurako at different points.
  • Also Chizuru (in the blu-ray booklet).
• Stock Footage: Chinatsu's hair devouring ping-pong balls and other small objects that have the misfortune of landing in it. Accompanied by a shrill scream.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: In Oomuro-ke chapter 89, after Hanako and her friends have a competition to see who can hold her breath underwater the longest, Kokoro wins by a landslide. She claims she got good at it by practicing ninjutsu in the bath by breathing through a straw, eliciting a frosty stare from Hanako. When Hanako goes home that night, The Tag is Sakurako practicing ninjutsu in the bath by breathing through a straw, eliciting another frosty stare from Hanako.
• Stripperiffic: Rivalun wears a bikini top, resulting in a very embarrassed Ayano when she's forced to cosplay as her.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Nishigaki-sensei is so obsessed with explosions that almost every scene with her involves something blowing up, or at least her talking about combustion.
• Stylistic Suck: In the vol. 11 afterword, Namori recounts an incident where she passed somebody on the street who had a Yuru Yuri tote bag. Despite being the artist who made the artwork, the afterword's illustration is just crude stick figures of Chinatsu and Yui.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: In chapter 87 of Oomuro-ke, Nadeshiko and her friends talk about eating lunch on the roof like in a drama/manga. They then discover the rooftop key, lying abandoned on the ground. After debating among themselves what to do with it, Miho resolves to open the door ... and chickens out because it's against the rules. The scanlator notes point out that high schoolers eating lunch on the roof is more of a cliche than a reality, and this makes Oomuro-ke more realistic than most manga. It's especially surprising given its parent series is about four girls squatting in the middle school's Tea Ceremony Club room with zero consequences.
• Talking in Your Sleep: In chapter 204, after Sakurako knocks herself out, Himawari accompanies her to the nurse's office. She sits next to her best frenemy, toying with her, until Sakurako starts mumbling in her sleep. Curious, Himawari leans closer and listens closely as the unconscious girl asks ... if Himawari got fat. The next panel is an establishing shot of the school as Sakurako screams in pain.
• 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. Her drawings scare other characters as well, such as when sending out New Year's greeting cards.
• Theme Naming: The four teachers at Nanamori Middle School each have the kanji for a cardinal direction in their name.
• Third-Person Person: Both Akari and Sakurako's younger sister Hanako.
• This Billboard Needs Some Salt: Kyouko Chewing the Scenery(literal version) in the last episode of the second season.
• Throw the Dog a Bone:
  • The first Couch Gag of season 2 is a grandiose entrance for Akari, on a stage, complete with elaborate costumes, animatronics, and an audience cheering her name. And no, nothing goes wrong.
  • The curtain call in season 2, episode 12. At first, it looks like Akari's getting the short shrift because she doesn't appear along with everyone else, but that's because she gets to be lowered down from above, and gets her own time to bow and have everyone cheer for her. And no, nothing goes wrong.
• Timey-Wimey Ball: The focus of Season 2 Episode 11 after Akari travels back one year in time.
• Tone Shift: Season 3 is much more sedate compared to the manic insanity that characterized the first two seasons, since it was animated by a different studio with none of the production team returning. It is also a more direct translation of the manga, with few of the embellishments and original material Doga Kobo brought to it.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Rum raisin ice cream for Kyouko.
• Tsundere:
  • Both Sakurako and Himawari are harsh towards each other, with a smattering of Slap-Slap-Kiss.
  • Ayano is extremely harsh on TOSHINOU KYOUKO but becomes extremely blushy and sweet Type B whenever she gets closer to her.
• Twincest: Chitose and Chizuru in Season 1, Episode 12, and Season 2, Episode 3. It also seems Chizuru has a longstanding crush on Chitose in a few episodes.
• Two Decades Behind: The manga is contemporary, but Namori's video game references seem to be exclusively from the mid-90s, including Square-esque turn-based, class-based JRPGs and Street Fighter II.
• Umbrella of Togetherness: In Season 2 Episode 4, after the main girls are caught at school without umbrellas when rain started pouring, Chinatsu got some loaned ones from the faculty. While sharing one with Yui, Chinatsu has her arms around her the entire time in the next scene.
• Un-person:
  • Played for Laughs with Akari, who oftentimes gets put in the background. Hilariously in Season 1 Episode 8, both her and Chinatsu "disappear" after a narrator announces they've met their screen time quota, and promptly turn into outlines of their characters.
  • Happens again at the beginning of Season 1 Episode 10, with the addition of Himawari and Sakurako, who disappears with Akari and Chinatsu which then gets directly copied for Episode 10 of the second season. Kyouko shows up in a popup balloon, and mocks them for it, prompting Yui to smack her in the back of the head, and restore them by saying "Niraka". Except poor Akari, who gets cut off mid-sentence to roll the intro credits.
• Unexplained Recovery: Chapter 174 ends with Nishigaki-sensei blowing up the student council room and seemingly killing Ayano, Chitose, Sakurako, and Himawari. They turn up a few chapters later, perfectly fine, and the incident is never mentioned again.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Himawari and Sakurako's relationship. The two are frequently exchanging barbs, but they're willing to help the other in times of need. In Season 2 Episode 10 Nadeshiko observes how much they have grown since signing a mock marriage contract back when they were preschoolers and concludes that they look Like an Old Married Couple.
• Vocal Evolution: In "You and Me and the Student Council", Sakurako's voice sounds an octave higher and five years younger than the obnoxious, throaty howling we all know and love.
• Was It All a Lie?: Mirakurun delivers a parodied example 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.
• We Want Our Jerk Back!: Season 1 Episode 11 focuses on Kyouko going into a Cranial Eruption-induced Out-of-Character Moment, where her personality changes so drastically to the point of actually wanting to shut down the Club. Yui breaks down crying. Parodied almost immediately afterwards where Akarin's personality changes just as drastically. Everyone readies their random blunt objects and surrounds her.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: From the very first episode. Up until now, there is no mention of Kyouko seeing Akane's room.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Akari wouldn't want to live forever, because seeing the death of all of her relations would be too painful for her.
• Who Would Want to Watch Us?: While no one in the cast appears to notice, there are strangely enough YuruYuri doujinshi for sale at Comuket.
• World of Technicolor Hair: Most characters have unusual hair colors, like bright red, purple or blue. Funnily enough, it's typically the characters with normal hair colors who are pointed out; Yui's normal black hair gets lampshaded when the rest of the Amusement Club can't think up a fruit-based nickname for her, as does Sakurako's light brown hair when discussing Sentai colors for members of the student council:
  Kyouko: Purple, white, blue, light brown.
  Yui: Wait. That last one...
• Worst Aid: Chitose's solution to Kyouko's personality change due to head injury was to hit her in the head again. Her choice of tools for that was a paper fan, a hammer and a crowbar.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In chapter 199, when Kyouko is trying to find her friends while blindfolded, she pretends to bash her leg on a table and go down in pain in order to exploit their empathy and make them rush to her side.
• Yank the Dog's Chain:
  • The first segment of season 2 sees Akari having become massively popular and adored by her friends. Throughout the day, they're constantly doting over her and trying to win her favor. It looks like Akari's finally caught a break... except it was all a dream and she's still unremarkable in real life.
  • In season 2, episode 11, Akari returns to her original time after having been gone a week. Her disappearance worried everyone else sick and they're all grateful to have her back. Too bad it was part of a story written by Kyouko.
• 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.
  • Another has Akari going into a panic over the smaller panels because she's claustrophobic.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Season 2 Episode 11 focuses on Akari exploiting her accidental time travel to retcon all the bad first impressions which she blames for causing her to go Out of Focus. She constantly fails, and ultimately leaves things as they are after Akane convinced her to retain all her good memories of the past year.
• Yuri Fan:
  • Chitose, who often fantasizes about Kyouko/Ayano (and sometimes other pairings).
  • Also, Chitose's twin sister, Chizuru, who fantasizes about Chitose/Ayano.

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