Do It Yourself!!

What else do you expect? It's an anime that exists to fulfil its only purpose, showing high-school girls making DIY products by themselves. Do It Yourself knows precisely what it wants to do and wants to achieve, though I can't help but feel that it is somewhat lacking. You are safe from godawful drama and torturous bland main characters, to say the least. To start, the characters are not exactly well-written, everything about them is purely superficial, from character designs, personalities, dialogues, quips, and problems they face through life is all expected. As they made attempts to provide a few details to the cast, it doesnothing but sparkle a few glitters to their entirely classic character details. I'm not saying they are not likeable, it's just that every character exists to repeat the same lines just to sell you the character they are portraying, Serufu is clumsy and bubbly, therefore the voice actress will do nothing more than just sound bubbly. Purin, a.k.a Pudding is basically a closet tsundere who's a big fan of "TECHNOLOGY", Jobko has to sound like a foreigner speaking Japanese, Yasaku sounds reliable, so she has to be reliable. The character I least liked was Kokoro because her dialect is her trying to sound cute by putting nyan in every line, so it got on my nerves after hearing her saying it for a while. In conclusion, character development is kept simple and mostly nonexistent, only for moments where their club is threatened. In terms of style, Do It Yourself does a really good job of showcasing it. Like I said earlier, its simplistic hand-drawn style gives it a sense of charm as if it was a passion project and the music is really good too especially the opening. I don't have many words for it other than the word charming. I do like Do It Yourself!, but it would have been better if there were more times of serious and emotional character development, a bit less of DIY exposition dialogue (although fine as it is), and growing from their overreliance on generic dialogues and tropes. It's a decent show. Though, don't let this discourage you. Just watch if you just want to let out some steam.

After watching Do it Yourself, I’m not going to lie, I have had very strong urges to start yelling DO IT YUAAAA SERUFU when someone asks me for help on something, because you know, cringe anime behaviour am I right? Do it Yourself is very therapeutic, in that it makes you feel nice and happy after a rough day of work or school, and it might be even inspire you to start building some IKEA furniture. There’s a lot to like, from the wholesome friendships, some very fluid animation, the memes, and some of the relaxing music too. With all the big action hits this season,such as Chainsaw Man, Mob Psycho, and Bleach, this show might have flew under the radar for some of you, and it almost did for me, but boy am I glad that I watched this show, one of my favourites from this anime season. STORY: Technology is very prevalent nowadays, with many things turning electronic. The age of building things by hand has been far gone, but it doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable. Yua Serufu, the main character, notices this when her clumsy, accident-prone self, rides her bike into a pole and damages it. Someone comes along and fixes her bike, and it turns out, that person is the leader of the Gatagata Girls’ High School’s Do-It-Yourself club! Naturally, she gains a new interest in these crafts, and the once quiet DIY club room is alive once more! Purin, Serufu’s childhood friend, got accepted into the cutting-edge tech school, the elite Yuyu Girls’ Vocational High School, where the latest technology in science is explored. A little gripe I did have with the story is that they could have explored some more themes of tech vs DIY, but with the fun times in the DIY club making up for it, it’s honestly fine. The story isn’t anything really special, as it’s still just a CGDCT show, and more character driven than story driven. That said, there were still some interesting bumps along the way that made the story a bit more memorable. ART: It looks a little different from your typical CGDCT show, and it looks great! The art style is hard to explain, perhaps it looks like a colouring book? It looks very hand-drawn, and it’s very fitting for the DIY setting, as it looks less refined, yet looks perfect for what the show is trying to achieve. MUSIC: Some very relaxing music, as expected. It’s soothing and calming. The OP makes me smile every time. CHARACTERS: The characters were definitely a big reason why this was fun and entertaining throughout. The cast of characters stood out in their own way, and each of them were great characters. First, our protagonist, Yua Serufu, is a ditz, and you know she is based on how many band-aids are on her face. She might not have been the most resourceful person in the DIY club, but at least she strives to learn, and eventually, she does get better. Her relationship with her childhood friend, Purin, is where some of the better character writing takes place. Many childhood friends tend to drift apart after a certain time, such as the end of elementary school or high school, but here, there’s a good story of friends that drifted apart still caring for each other, and the friendship slowly building up again. The other DIY club members were also memorable, but none more than Juliet Queen Elizabeth VIII, also known as Jobko. The occasional English lines, combined with her jokes made every episode quite light-hearted, and even hilarious sometimes. ENJOYMENT: The show made me smile a lot, and that’s all you can really ask for. THEMATIC EXECUTION: The show has pretty simple themes, such as working as a team and some concepts of friendship. These themes were executed quite effectively. Some of the teamwork when building things was good, as everyone supported each other, and despite some members being better than others, no one ever put anyone down when there was a bump in the road, but just persevered together. OVERALL: There’s practically nothing I didn’t like in Do it Yourself, and that made it one of the most enjoyable series of the season, and perhaps even the year. It made me smile on a consistent basis, made me laugh a bit, and warmed me up after rough days. That’s all that I could really ask for. If you ask me if you should watch this show, I’d have a simple answer for you. DO IT! (YOURSELF)

A feel-good show through and through. Definitely one of the better original SoL CGDCTs available in recent years. The premise of this show is nothing out of the ordinary. As the title suggests, the show revolves around a group of HS girls who form a Do It Yourself (DIY) club. They make everything from scratch, from book shelves to bracelets, and even the club's holy grail, a tree house. The show simply follows the standard CGDCT formula. Even so, the interactions between the cast members are genuine and leave you smiling. Fan favorite and clumsy girl Yua Serufu, "Yourself" pun intended, is the main vocal point ofthe club that keeps the club in tact and has the wholesome genuine vibe. Jobko, my personal favorite, the tech-savvy girl, enhances the show with her English accent and occasional English word pronunciation. Everyone in the cast is necessary and complements one another. Even the pet pig is sometimes the brunt of jokes, and its reactions definitely left an impression on me. Art wise, it is very unique and definitely accentuates the vibe of the show. It is unquestionably one of the show's strong points. In terms of animation, it is nothing out of the ordinary, but it is very fluid. Even the show's somewhat low-resolution still frames contribute to the overall feel of the show. Pine Jam did an excellent job of making the show stand out. As for the OP and ED, they definitely add to the show's overall appeal. The OP conveys the message "Rise and shine, it is a brand new day for another exciting adventure", with the accompanying visuals doing the same. The ED, on the other hand, gives off the "Day has ended and it is time to pack up and go home" vibe, as do the accompanying visuals. Both the OP and ED have the opposite vibe and complement one another. Regarding the VAs, despite the fact that there are many new VAs on the block, I have to commend them on a job well done. As I previously stated, this is especially true for Jobko and her English accent and code switching. Honestly, this show is appropriate for all audiences, but it is clearly aimed at SoL / CGDCT fans. The pacing is slow, and the show gives you a relaxed and chilled vibe. It is one of your turn off your brain shows that you can watch whenever you want. This show is definitely worth watching. I would recommend it to anyone interested in trying out SoL / CGDCT shows.

*Do it Yourself!!* is so unassuming that one would be inclined to come away with the initial impression that it’s not anything more than just cute girls doing cute things: the woodshop edition. And you wouldn’t necessarily be wrong; on the surface, it plays the formula in much the same way as it has been employed in countless other anime before it. Niche hobby, relaxed atmosphere, low stakes, the whole nine yards(tick). Why should anyone walk into a show like this and expect something different, or different enough that it would become one of the more-pleasing anime of the season? Even if someone was willing totake a chance on it, goodness knows that the show also had its own uphill battle to climb. Fall 2022 was, to put it in one term, top-heavy. Between the highly-anticipated juggernaut *Chainsaw Man* and desired sequels *Bleach: The Thousand-Year War*, *Mob Psycho 100 III*, and *Spy x Family Part 2*, a show like *Do It Yourself!!* stood no chance of etching itself onto the landscape at-large. Even when *Bocchi the Rock!* managed to do it, that was an unexpected dark horse. A happy one to be sure, but an exception nevertheless. *Do it Yourself!!* thus seemed condemned to be lost in their wake, suppressed by the sheer extent of their mark. But that reality, in truth, is why the show managed to succeed so well. Whereas other shows announced their presence with boisterous explosiveness or an unexpected comedic jolt to the senses, *Do it Yourself!!* started more gradually. When we’re introduced to the anime’s world, its aesthetic is markedly cutesier and more juvenile. That is not an insult in this case; rather, it’s a perfect visual sign that the show will kick back its feet and let simplicity take the reins. The aesthetic of the show, when it’s not adopting its musically jazzy time in montage or its delightfully-catchy OP, feels fresh out of a children’s coloring book – the color palette employed is simple, but it propelled by its splashes of beautiful lighting and animations. It is not the type of animation that will be immortalized forever, but the level of care gives its simplicity more verve and spunk. Serufu is likewise a charmingly-simple protagonist, klutzy and always seemingly with her head in the clouds rather than her feet on the ground. There’s a disarming appeal in how she always takes misfortune on the chin (sometimes literally given how often she’s covered in Band-Aids), allowing herself to be impressed by others around her or have her friend Purin’s insults bounce off her like rubber, much to Purin’s consternation. She coasts on by, often right into a telephone poll. She meets Rei, the senpai of the show, who introduces her to the world of DIY crafts after helping fix Serufu’s bike, and one clever little pokingly-fun pun later, the show sets itself into proper motion. Coming to stop by the club include the shy-but-capable Takumi, the self-confident and obscenely-rich Juliet Queen Elizabeth VIII (which, yes, that is her name, and it is glorious), and the energetic and ninja-like Shii, all while Serufu’s old friend Purin watches the oddball group from afar. “Oddball” not only defines the group as a whole, but it similarly characterizes the humor. *Do it Yourself!!* does not rely nearly so heavily on setups and punchlines; if anything, the way I described the pun earlier as “pokingly-fun” is the most-appropriate descriptor. Given the sometimes-weird nature of the characters, both individually and as a group, any time is prime time for a little barb, a little cutoff, or a little moment for someone to be temporarily fascinated with someone else. Scenes therefore have a little spark that allows comedy to come from any direction and from essentially anyone. They have their moment arise naturally out of the dialogue and dynamic, then gradually fade away into the background. So when Shii scampers up a tree like Spider-Man or Rei and Takumi obsess over a mutual love of manga, the scene carries on seamlessly when the moment is done like no pause had occurred. But when it decides to pause, it works well! DIY is not just a little framework to make the show fit into some kind of mold. *Do it Yourself!!* wisely takes the time to let us know how exactly the various goods and crafts are made, which is more than can be said for other shows around niche hobbies in its genre. I’ll confess upfront that I have never been blessed with good hands for DIY. I am not a woodworker, handyman, or anything closely resembling that nature; putting together a chair this past summer was more hassle than I’d like to admit. Not all of the crafts are immediately feasible—I wouldn’t know where to get my hands on a decent UV light for hardening gels—yet I didn’t care. The show treats its audience like it treats Serufu, a newcomer to this type of craft that might need help knowing what to do and when to do it. The show, in essence, takes it upon itself to be the teacher. I cannot say that I remember how to make everything the show demonstrated, but I enjoyed seeing the process at work and play out into finished objects. The care in showing the crafts be made step by step is not the only way the show shows its cohesiveness. It’s made clear throughout the narrative that the club members are not just a hodgepodge of girls hanging out together and doing whatever is in the anime’s name. Rather, they are and actually function like a team, actively seeking to help one another when something either goes wrong or needs to be worked on. Especially as the increasingly-apparent competence of the other DIY Club members makes its presence known, Serufu is notably left behind. Jobko, Rei, and Shii are all good with their hands, but even early on, newcomer Takumi works to create the colorful mosaic to hang outside the school’s clubhouse. Serufu bumbles about trying to do something as plain as work an electronic screwdriver correctly. This does beg the question of why let the narrative focus so much on Serufu. The show, fantastically, has an answer. Serufu is a walking accident waiting to happen—put the hammer down, Serufu!—but her contributions to the club are not limited to simply making things. I remarked before that one trait to describe her was “disarming,” which each character at various points in the story comes to experience for themselves in her wake. Even when the show operates under the veneer of giving the other characters their time in the sun, Serufu is always right beside them, encouraging them with unapologetic, sincere positivity and getting them to admit or realize something about being in the club that they might not have either understood or wanted to admit, or perhaps even wanted to try. To put it in terms the show would use, if the other club members are the tools in the shop (the saw, the screw, the hammer, and the straight-edge), Serufu is the superglue that keeps it all together. Serufu’s usefulness to the story is only insubstantial if one limits their understanding of the DIY Club and DIY as a whole to the things that are made and how finely-polished they are. If Serufu were out of the picture, it’s fair to say that everyone’s lives would have been a lot lonelier. Because she’s so enthused, there’s a mutual admiration that is collectively shared among everyone in a way that comes across as so earnest and sweet that it makes the mundanity meaningful. Serufu’s handiness comes not in the house for Meat—it makes sense in context, I promise—nor the charms they make. Her handiness is in talking with Purin on the boat, cute nicknames, always trying to make new friends, and letting the good times roll. The DIY Club, with all its members smiling and enjoying themselves, is her masterpiece. It may have been forged from incongruous parts with the instruction manual thrown into a paper shredder (after getting jammed first because, let’s be real for a minute, it would happen if Serufu did it), but hold their form they do. *Do it Yourself!!* never could have wrestled with the larger monoliths that the season had, but it didn’t need to. What the show did was adopt something plain with just enough of the right blend of sugar, spice, and everything nice. It needed no high-fantasy; it just needed a saw. It needed no bloody splashes; it just needed a lot of Band-Aids. In setting itself apart from everything surrounding it, it carved its own cozy little corner handicraft in my anime season, and whether one wants to observe from a distance to see the overall shape or get in close to see the times Serufu accidentally screwed in something incorrectly, it was wholly its own. In that sense, the show “did it itself,” which is so beautifully poetic in its own way.

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