Do It Yourself!

[neflight86]

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"First-year high school student Yua Serufu is a bit of a daydreamer and grew up in a relaxed family. One day, she happens to meet Yasaku Rei, the president of the school's DIY club and is roped into joining the club to keep it from being shut down. Together with a group of unique girls including Rei, who has a wealth of DIY knowledge thanks to her parents owning a home improvement store, and Takumi, a timid and withdrawn girl who has no DIY experience but turns out to be quite skilled at it, Serufu steps into the fun world of DIY crafts.

Source: Tokyo Otaku Mode"

Genre(s): Slice of life, DIY

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1,2

This was different (and better) than I expected. Firstly, Pine Jam finally hired some animators or began offering a living wage, because this animation is a marked improvement over their previous offerings. The soundtrack also is... alive with catchy beats and even some brass for levity. I have no complaints about the production thus far, which is great news when paired with PJ's existing strength of character driven stories.

I'm embarrassed to say, it took me over halfway into the second episode to get the joke that Yua's full name is an engrish "yourself"...

The first thing that struck me (after the uptick in animation) is the... dare I say cute relationship between Yui and her kuudere neighbor (and childhood friend) Suride. She ticks most of the adorable frenemy checkboxes within the first three minutes of the first episode. Her catty quips being absorbed with a positive spin by Yua never gets old, and her obvious longing to hang out with her should-be bestie is the only real source of tension to be found thus far. Love these two interacting, and she's not even in the club (yet).

Taking a step back, I expected this to be a series about affirming how much fun Yui is having (or has always had) doing crafts projects, but it turns out she is a complete novice... and perhaps a victim of fetal alcohol syndrome. This girl is clumsy and unable to hold focus on thoughts for minutes at a time, so forgive the joke, but her behavior goes beyond the typical airhead...

The tried and true 'we need club members' trope is a softball approach for introducing the rest of the cast, but it works well, and as evidenced by Hikage in episode two, the love of the activity itself doesn't have to be a primary motivator. The emotional connection can be just as strong. Speaking of other members, Yasaku hasn't really come into her own character yet, currently being the competent onee-san, but there is only so much screen time to go around in two episodes. I have high hopes for the characters and expect great things from Do It Yourself, as far as laid-back shows go. Recommended.

[neflight86]

3

Still precious. Plenty of engrish from the new blonde loli... Is there a term for that? Bloli?

Anyway, the OST continues to bring this up to the next level in mood and good vibes. There were hardly any concrete craftworks done this episode, but the show still managed to weave the hobby into the light onboarding narrative about homesickness.

It is cute that the mere notion of the 'new industrial age of humanity' (3d printers and such) is used by not one, but two different characters now to disparage the 'inefficient' act of building things yourself, even though the benefits are kinda obvious, if you have the skill.

[neflight86]

4

The parallel of Miku and Juliette both longing for a more... intimate and homey social life was interesting to be both be probed and acted upon. Miku's suppressed dere leaked out enough to get her invited to dinner at Yua's where her peculiar behavior went noticed as the two grew closer and their interests overlapped. Moving in was cute as Miku's mom seems no less an airhead (or softie) than Yui's when it comes to hammering out terms for their new guest. Add in one last girl to round out the main cast, and onward to a treehouse!