479th G-View: Do It Yourself!!

Cute girls building cool stuff along with an adorable blossoming romance. If this has your attention read on to find out more as we take a look at Do It Yourself!!

Genres: Slice of Life, DIY, Crafting, Arts and Crafts, Yuri

Number of Episodes: 12

G-Rating: 8/10

Plot Summary: Serufu is a clumsy injury prone girl along with her childhood friend Miku, aka “Purin”. The plan was to attend the same high school together. However, things did not turn out the way they hoped. Although Serufu was not too bothered Purin’s reaction said otherwise. On her way to school she tripped and broke her bike. Just then an older girl stopped to help repair it. Wanting to meet the cool girl she was led to the “Do It Yourself”, or “DiY” club. It was about crafting and building things the old fashioned way. Intrigued Serufu would become enthralled in the club and meet like-minded girls all while Purin watched from a distance.

Left to right: Club president Yasaku, Takumi and Serufu.

Like many Girls’ Club shows before it centered around a theme in DiY viewers learn about crafting and building cool things such as furniture, decorations using crystal bits, signs and even a building or two. It feels like watching a mix of arts and crafts and carpentry. Also like other Girls’ Club shows expect to see the cuties doing cute things and once in a while show off their good looks depending on their figure.

As mentioned what sets it apart is its theme. When the girls get to building they go all out sowing and explaining the intricacies of what they are building or crafting in each episode. There are only so many things I can add after reviewing as many Girls’ Club shows as I have over a decade. Most thread on familiar ground. This is not a bad thing at all for fans of this Slice of Life genre. All I am saying is viewers know what to expect. All a fan can hope is the activities being fun and the girls being worth watching do fun stuff and go through character development. Fortunately DiY does both quite well. Each girl is shown has a particular talent as viewers watch them realize their potential.

One thing worth mentioning is what felt like a tertiary theme on the show. That being discussions about technological advancements and the relationship between humans, science and technology. I call it tertiary because while these topics are brought up from time to time and are eventually answered with a pretty good speech in the climax of the show they are not as important to the girls as the things they learn being part of the club. Still a neat topic that somewhat reminded me of the Wall E movie. The main development is about the girls’ sense of discovery and friendship.

Some of the girls’ personal developments go a bit deeper such as this American girl. Without revealing too much about her I will say fans of “Engrish” speakers will have a ball with this girl. I dare say she is one of the most “Engrish” characters I have seen in my life. This is a compliment by the way. I greatly enjoyed hearing her mix Japanese and “Engrish” in almost every discussion.

This girl has an interesting origin I have not seen very often in anime. That and her physical attributes are most impressive. That is all I will say about her.

As hinted in the summary main girl Serufu is a lovable clumsy injury prone airhead. There is a running gag about how many times she gets hurt. For some reason the inside of her mouth is pale white. An interesting distinguishing feature. Speaking of being an airhead she has a vivid imagination and often disappears into her thoughts. Keep this in mind because her imagination plays an important role. Besides that there is more to her than getting hurt all the time and laughing it off.

We will talk about the main event later. Know that these two have something that ties them together blessing cultured viewers with delightful moments.

Takumi, aka Takumin is the quiet cutie of the group. When she steps out of her shell she becomes delightful. Then there is the club president Yasaku. She is a token cool tomboy who looks intimidating at first but is quite sweet. Keep the latter in mind about her.

The show features excellent adult women too such as the girls’ moms and the lovely club advisor Nurse Haruko. Much appreciated older beauties.

Before we get to the last character let us quickly go over the presentation. It goes for a simple and effective art style. It does not look like much at first glance but the animation goes a long way over the course of the show. It was a pleasant surprise. The soundtrack is fun and chipper befitting the show.

Expect to see her puff or pout very often.

Finally we come to the main event. Purin. Let me put it this way. Purin is the reason this show is a Grade 2. I am not an expert at “Tsundereology” so it took me a long time and some help to understand what her deal was, aka why she was such a mean tsundere while pining for Serufu from a distance until it became crystal clear near the end. Heck it felt like a certain episode in the first season of BanG Dream expanded across multiple episodes. Suddenly it all made sense. There may be another pair as I alluded to earlier but yuri fans are to pay close attention to Serufu and Purin’s story.

Overall Do It Yourself!! is a simple and very enjoyable show about cute girls working on arts and crafts and carpentry building cool stuff. There is a discussion about advancement in technology vs human ingenuity but it does not play as big of a role in the story though the message is nicely presented. Like most Girls Club anime the cast of cuties are a lot of fun and equally fun to watch do cute things and become stronger over the course of the show. Also be sure to pay close attention to the main duo’s story throughout the show. Recommended to GF aficionados.