376th G-View: Anima Yell!

Alongside cute gay vampires in Fall 2018 the Yuri Nation was also blessed with cute gay cheerleaders, or should say “chairleaders”. This is Anima Yell!

Genres: Comedy, Slice of Life, Sports, Yuri

Themes: Cheerleaders

Number of Episodes: 12

G-Rating: 11/10

Plot Summary: Kohane Hatoya is a girl who loves to be helpful to others. After she moves from middle school to high school, she becomes fascinated with cheerleading, and she starts a cheerleading club at her high school.

Genki protagonist Kohane.

Like many of the more enjoyable Girls Club (Cute Girls Doing Cute Things) anime out there the better ones are those with twists in them to balance the token GC traits and tropes. In Anima Yell! it is of course cheerleaders. Like most shows with a theme viewers are educated on the basics with occasional advanced lessons on said theme. In this show basic cheer techniques and poses are taught along with the obvious physical and mental conditioning required. There is also a brief lesson on making pompoms. This should be a given but it takes more than having a sexy or fit body to be a cheerleader. Just like every physically demanding sport in existence. While this is not a “tournament” style sports anime it does take the sport as seriously as any of them when the girls are not being cute and silly or some gushing over others in the team. It does have the “gather team members” narrative along with each teammate having their own personal struggles so it feels more like a relaxed sports show.

When not being cute and sexy our heroines follow the tried and true Girls Club formula for comedy.

In a year with some of the best Girls club shows out there I would have to say that Anima Yell! was the funniest. From the basic premiere all the way to the wonderful finale there was not a single episode my gut did not bust from laughter. Of course this depends on viewers’ sense of humor but most of the jokes were great. It is one of those shows I feel the delivery was usually on point.

Arima, the pro who found her smile again thanks to Kohane’s “Cheer Power”.

While our heroines’ routines and performances are “basic” compared to what sports aficionados are familiar with during halftime or end of quarter periods the ones done by our adorable heroines are enjoyable and…”cheer worthy”. I could not resist. It was as fun watching as it was rooting for the girls to do their best.

The presentation, like in most Girls Club shows, is…”cheerful” (I did it again) and colorful. The animation is wonderfully bright and the soundtrack has some standoff tunes in it, featuring insert songs (some of them remixes) longtime anime fans might be familiar with. Songs like “Love and Joy” and personal favorite “Motto Aishiaimasho”. The OP is catchy and the ED is my #1 ED of Fall 2018. So good. Obviously a Girls Club show is not complete without its solid dose of sexiness. Anima Yell! delivered there as well.

From left to right: Uki, Hizume, Kana, Kohane, Kotetsu.

Before we get to the main event let us briefly go over our five heroines:

-Kohane as previously mentioned is the genki lead. She is super happy most of the time and loves helping others. Her personal dilemma has to do with a certain fear.

-Hizume is my favorite character for one reason. Jokes centered around her were my favorites. She is best known for her droopy expression that rarely changes. She was traumatized in the past. I will only say this much. As far as I know ONLY JAPAN was able to master the way of making trauma funny without it coming off as offensive.

-Uki is the classic tomboy who likes cute things deep down. She hesitated a bit before joining the team but aside from being shown how cool cheering was she had a much bigger motivation.

-Kotetsu is the cute one of the group. Her personal dilemma is the simplest one on the surface. She also has a surprising trait.

-Kana. The last member to join who is spotted every now and then but is not formally introduced till the third quarter of the show. She is the tsundere of the group. Her personal dilemma…is possibly the gayest of all.

Besides the lovable quintet there are other noteworthy side-characters worth keeping an eye on.

I will not say much about the yuri. Just know it is as “in your face” as it gets. There was even a surprise moment that got the show trending. Something rare for Girls Club anime in the mainstream.

Overall Anima Yell! is a lot of fun. The characters are wonderful, the presentation colorful, the performances very enjoyable and the yuri plentiful. Another highly recommended show for Girls Club aficionados.