First Impressions - YuruYuri

Despite the name of the show, it's hardly what I'd call a "Yuri" anime, although it does have some aspects of that genre, but mostly used for comedic purposes rather than romantic or dramatic purposes. The main character, Akari, with the red hair, is the subject of a running gag that she is very plain and easy to forget. She is, in fact, so underused that you wouldn't think she's the "main" character at all. But I suppose when it comes to these slice-of-life shows, there isn't really a main character, per se. Of the four main characters, there is blond-haired Kyouko who somehow has the best grades in the school, but is otherwise a ditzy and obtuse girl who makes perverted jokes. Then there is Yui, on the far left with the dark purple hair, who is more mature, and even lives on her own, which seems pretty weird for a middle school girl. She, Akari, and Kyouko have been friends for a long time, and seem a lot more like sisters than friends. The girl on the far right, Chinatsu, is in the same grade as Akari (The two of them are younger) and became friends with the three of them because she thought they were members of the Tea Club at school, which brings us to...

They have a club at the school called the "Amusement Club" where they are basically sitting around doing nothing, or whatever they want. Think the SOS Club from Haruhi, but way less interesting, with less aliens and such. And that's just the beginning of the amount of "not interesting" this show piles on.

The slice of life genre is becoming very crowded ever since hits like Azumanga Daioh and Lucky Star popularized the genre, and there seems to be a very bad sort of formula brewing. Four characters who have various personality traits go to school, have some sort of activity together, or are friends somehow, live out their lives in front of us, with often exaggerated situations happening. Bonus points if they are cute girls, can evoke some sort of moé reaction, and then extra bonus points if any of them hit on each other or make panty jokes. This show is sadly falling right into this horrible new cliche, and it's sad to see, because some of the jokes are actually quite good. Unfortunately, though, the show will probably fail to catch the attention of most fans out there, especially ones who have already seen Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star, or any of the other copy/paste jobs that have hit this genre in the past several years.

So, in closing...
First Impression of YuruYuri: Not impressed, but with some good moments. Completely average. In other words, only watch this if you really have nothing else to watch.