Trivia / Yuki Yuna is a Hero

• Actor Allusion:
  • This isn't the first time Itsuki's dreamed of becoming an idol.
  • In the second Washio Sumi movie, Sonoko had a dream where Sumi became an Idol Singer. Sumi's voice actress, Suzuko Mimori, is famous for voicing Umi Sonoda, a (school) idol who shares a lot of traits with Sumi herself.
  • One of the nicknames Sonoko tries giving Togo in Sonoko After and the visual novel that adapted that adapted it is "Mimorin". Mimorin just so happens to be Suzuko Mimori's popular nickname among her fans, especially those who came from the Love Live! fandom.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: For a long period of time, My Anime List rather infamously categorized the anime as School/Slice of Life, even after the revelation that it was a Magical Girl Warrior show as well as its extremely dark Tone Shift two-thirds of the way in. They did eventually correct it, though.
• The Danza: Togo Mimori is voiced by Suzuko Mimori.
• Follow the Leader: Follows in the footsteps of "darker" Magical Girl series such as Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and Puella Magi Madoka Magica
  • Interestingly, also to Princess Tutu since both series have the protagonists overcome hardship imposed by a god-like being after discovering the truth and succeed with reprecussions.
• Hey, It's That Place!:
  • The series is set in Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. Kagawa is especially famous for its udon noodles, the girls' favorite food. Most of the background art for the girls' hometown is based on locations in the city of Kan'onji, and the show also makes use of other local landmarks.
  • Several scenes are set at local parks, including Kotohiki Park and Sanuki Mannou Park.
  • The Kotohiki Hachimangu shrine appears in several episodes.
  • The ruined suspension bridge seen in the OP and in many background shots is the Great Seto Bridge, or what remains of it in the series. Fu and Karin fight each other at Great Seto Bridge Memorial Park in episode 9.
  • Young Togo visits Marugame Castle in flashback in episode 10.
    • In Nogi Wakaba is a Hero, Marugame Castle is also the Heroes' headquarters and the site of a major battle.
• Japanese Mythology: The fairies are all directly named after various Youkai and other spirits; for example, Gyuuki is named after a hostile spirit that eats people and spits poison, while egg spirit Aobouzu is based off of a Buddhist monk spirit who tries to convince young girls to hang themselves.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: All of the supplementary material released after the anime expects you to know about Togo's and Sonoko's relationship and Togo not having to use a wheechair anymore.
• Portmanteau Series Nickname: Most fans have settled on YuYuYu or occasionally Yuu³. The official website also uses YuYuYu.
• Sleeper Hit: For the first half of its run Yuki Yuna was seen as a rather generic, if serviceable, Slice of Life/Magical Girl series (it had already broken the Manabi Line by Episode 5). However, Episodes 8 and 9 caused a massive surge in pre-orders, so much so that sites like Amazon ran out of stock twice. Although not nearly on the same level as Madoka (and to be fair, very few anime can make that claim), it still outsold season favorites such as Cross Ange and Psycho-Pass 2 to become one of the Fall 2014 season's bestselling anime. And it became such a hit, that Pony Canyon, after establishing its U.S. division, warranted an English dub, despite its new U.S. branch being new to the American anime sales industry.
• What Could Have Been
  • According to interviews, Togo was originally planned to "fall into darkness" in the last few episodes. They scrapped the idea because "it was turning into a common pattern," a polite way to say that it sounded incredibly cliche. They had her become a panicking Well-Intentioned Extremist instead. This may have been a subtle Take That! to Rebellion, which features its own dark-haired heroine doing exactly that
  • Makoto Uezu, one of the writers, originally wanted a darker ending but was shot down by the rest of the production crew.
  • The original pitch by Takahiro was originally going to be a much more battle-oriented series, with more complex outfits for the Heroes and the fairies having humanoid battle forms.◊
  • The group dynamic and the girls themselves changed quite a bit during preproduction:
    • At first the story only had four girls; the writers wrote Karin in toward the end of production to act as a Foil to the other girls. This is a change most people agree was for the better.
    • Itsuki was originally a more serious younger sister◊ with Tsurime Eyes and a ponytail.
  • Episode 9 was originally meant to contain a scene between Itsuki and Karin, but it got cut for time which the producers regretted. Jukai no Kioku contains a lot of scenes between them.
  • According to the writers at an anniversary event, Gin's fairy would have been Nurikabe, a youkai wall that blocks travelers and extends infinitely if you try to walk around it. Fitting for the Hero who died defending her friends against impossible circumstances.
• Word of Gay: Togo's VA has stated that she "overflows with love beyond friendship for Yuna." Not that anyone was surprised. The booklet that came with the third Blu-Ray/DVD release further confirms this, stating that as Togo looks at Yuna throughout the series, "her heart is that of a maiden in love." Also, the kanji used for love, 恋 (koi), is explicitly used for romantic love. You could say Togo is Yuri for Yuki Yuna.

Flower Motifs

Each of the Hero Club members is associated a specific flower, from the opening to their Transformation Sequences to the Battle Aura they emit when they go Mankai. Flower petals also fall during each title card, with a Hero's flower falling in an episode that focuses on them.

• From Yuki Yuna is a Hero:
  • (Both) Yunas have Japanese Cherry as a motif.
  • Togo's flower is the Morning Glory
  • Fu's flower is a Cinquefoil
  • Itsuki's flowers are white Canterbury Bells.
  • Karin's flower is Azalea.
  • Sonoko is associated with Rose, especially blue roses.
• From Nogi Wakaba is a Hero:
  • Wakaba's flower is Chinese Bellflower.
  • Chikage's flower is Red Spider Lily.
  • Tamako's flower is Morning Star Lily
  • Anzu's flower is Hoary Stock.