Anima Yell!

Title:Anima Yell!
アニマエール!
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , ,
Notables: Animation - Dogakobo
OZAKI Yuka
Kohane Hatoya cannot help helping others. She is so selfless that her friend Uki urges her to do something for herself for once. One day Kohane happens to see a middle school cheerleading squad practicing, and is immediately transfixed. The only problem: her new high school doesn't have one of these. Kohane resolves that if such a thing does not exist, she will have to create it herself.

12 episodes
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent Stretch [series:3588#628]
(Rent- or Watch+)

(All episodes watched--twice):

Early on, I guessed that this show would have a predictable and simplistic plot, and, like most comedy anime, wouldn't be all that funny. While nothing about the plot has seriously surprised me, one thing that has is that this show is modestly funny after all. Not LOL funny, but funnier than average, and, in combination with its other assets, funny enough to be worth the time that is required to watch it. Hatoya's enthusiasm and plucky spirit are infectious, and are sort of a joke in themselves. Early on, I wasn't so sure. During episode two I was looking at the clock fairly often, which meant the laughs I was getting were struggling to justify the time that was being invested (the joke about a set of pom-poms hidden in a lunch box was good, however). But with time the show grew on me. I would describe this as a 'goofy comedy', that is, one in which there is little or no fanservice or innuendo, just simple jokes that it would be safe to let children hear, and a silly, naive main character. But whereas I dropped Tonari--another 'goofy comedy'--after four episodes, I continued to watch Anima Yell. Perhaps the details about how cheerleading is performed are fairly interesting; and perhaps there's more of a background story here, namely of a developing friendship between the five girls of the squad and a goal of becoming good at cheerleading. Episode eight was fun--the fifth and final member of the group had a plausible backstory, and the performance the girls gave at a basketball game was genuinely exciting. The animation wasn't space age, but the people choosing which shots and angles to include chose just the right ones to emphasize the teamwork and talent without needing fancy computer generated animation. For the episode as a whole, the word 'heartwarming' seemed appropriate. In the climax the girls aren't trying to win a championship so much as just give a credible performance. The question isn't whether they will take first place but rather whether they will complete their routine without screwing up, which is pretty realistic given how new they are at this. By the end we have come to like them and care how things will work out. That, perhaps, was ultimately the main reason I kept watching Anima Yell--and even watched it a second time after a couple of years.

Last updated Saturday, April 17 2021. Created Saturday, October 13 2018.

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