with an Anima Yell, she cried "go! fight! win!"

thoughts on a completely decent cheerleading anime from 2018 nobody remembers or really cares about.

It’s almost perfunctory, budgeting out scraps from your word economy to talk about moe anime. At least, it feels that way sometimes.

Since the early 2000s, there has been no shortage of series centered around adolescent girls and their daily school goings-on. A club or group activity is usually at the center of the affair, and different hair colors is a must. There are four or five main girls, along with a few supporting gals that — with any luck — a devoted fanbase will point to as the “real waifu.” This is such a stock phenomenon that I likely just described both a show you really enjoy and something you can’t stand.

So — why Anima Yell?

Let’s start simple: I like cheerleaders. For all of anime’s fixation on matching uniforms and sexualized feminine support of larger power structures, you’d figure more animators would be keen on it. But then — team sports with cheerleaders aren’t as much of a cultural institution and expectation as they are in America. The cheerleader is a uniquely American fetish, in some ways, because despite its global ubiquity few nations rally around cheer sports in the fervent, fanatical way we do.

This makes sense when watching Anima Yell, whose conception of cheerleading is detached from the reality of any cheerleader I’ve known or known of. There isn’t a big football or basketball team these girls want to cheer for. In fact, their investment in sporting is limited to nonexistent. I’m not entirely sure this crew would recognize every time they’re supposed to cheer, and why.

But then — that’s the fantasy of Anima Yell. These characters are ideals, not real people. You don’t have to listen to a blonde girl from Nebraska tell you why Tom Brady is the second coming of Jesus to spend time with a cheerleader. These girls care about cheering, each other… and that’s about it. As is the case with many of these “cute girls participate in an activity” series, much of their development and characterization is built around the elevator pitch of the show. It makes them easier to market that way, after all.

Of course, this impacts character depth somewhat. It always will, this practice of manufacturing animated child brides and selling off their plastic effigies. But I think demanding depth from a program like Anima Yell is a little disingenuous. You’re not here for the intimate emotional depth of these characters, even if it would be a nice accompaniment. No, you’re here because there’s a cute pink-haired anime girl with poms poms and you want to know what her deal is.

That pint-sized pinkie would be Kohane, who serves as the “enthusiastic one” — “dere dere,” if you’re nasty. Her entire raison d’etre — French for “her deal” — is to become a top cheerleader so she can do stunt jumps and please crowds of people. She’d like to start a cheer squad, but doesn’t have many friends and can’t rally together the numbers. But when former cheerleader Hizume transfers to her school, Kohane sees a golden opportunity and begins to hound her.

There’s only one problem: Hizume wants nothing to do with cheerleading when we first meet her. As we soon learn, she was kicked out of her old team for being so proficient, it made the rest of the girls look bad. She still secretly harbors a desire to get back on the field, but she’s given up hope of anyone wanting to be on a team with her. But when Kohone finds out about Hizume’s cheer-y past, she’ll do anything and everything a pink-haired anime adolescent can to rouse her spirits again. Her goal? Team up with Hizume, start up a Cheer Club, and make friends.

(I told you about those club anime, dog.)

While this might be the narrative impetus of Anima Yell!, it’s far from the “point.” In fact — like many moe slice-of-life programs — there’s not really a “point.” Before Yamakan was exposed as a sexual predator, a racist against Chinese folks, and anti- #MeToo blog boy, he once said that watching K-On! gave him chills. After being fired from Kyoto Animation for (allegedly) sexually harassing his co-workers, he watched the show and said it made him feel like there was no place in the industry for him anymore. Some may say he ensured that with his own behavior, but I digress.

K-On! also did not have a “point.” Both the 2009 anime and its sequel series, K-On!!, centered on a group of girls who wanted to play music together. The ins and outs of the shows focus on them buying equipment, learning chords, and struggling to maintain the motivation to be the pop-rock stars they dream of. Critics of the series tend to levy the criticism that that “nothing happens" in it, but that depends on your perspective. Does a group of girls who suck at music, like each other, and slowly get better until they can play a live gig sound like “nothing” to you?

K-On! engages on both a philosophical and emotional level, if not a cerebral one. There’s a core zen to the narrative and aesthetic approach of the series; a stillness and quiet that makes the high-energy characters feel a bit more believable. What made K-On! so revolutionary is that it was the anti-Lucky Star. That series often used stillness and quiet to evoke a surreal absurdity between its esoteric pop culture references and speedrun of aughts otaku ephemera. Viewed today, it can be sort of exhausting by the end of two episodes.

However, K-On! wisely pruned much of the zaniness — even being based on a four-panel comic strip — and the referential humor. As a series, it relies on simple character interactions and the minutiae of daily living as its primary selling points. This helps the characters to feel more human and less like archetypes, aside from their normal hair colors, and both seasons never feel like an attempt to commodify the characters. It avoids catchphrases and stagnant recitation to circumvent the enterprise of molding these girls’ own PVC effigies. There is no “how you doin?” in the way that Lucky Star is often eager to circle its own drain and remind us that the character does, in fact, still act like that.

In that sense, K-On! is more root text for something like Anima Yell! and other series like it than Lucky Star or, yes, even Haruhi. Because what K-On! did is provide honest, grounded pathos and a common, non-world-changing goal. At the end of the series, you’ve watched these girls go from not understanding how to hold their instruments to playing in front of the student body. This is not Josie and the Pussycats — an improbable story of a local band blowing up into an international pop sensation. The Light Music Club only ever achieves a modest success when we leave them off, like most bands. This is why K-On! is such a great program: it humanizes the local bands you might not ever check out by centering the struggle and the passion of its characters.

Anima Yell! does not do this. It is a sweet, well-meaning, and funny program with memorable characters. Watching Kohane recruit more girls into her cheerleading cause is infectious, as her joy and enthusiasm make for an entertaining performance. Plus, the animators give her the most focus when it comes to facial expressions, punchlines, and — most vitally — cuteness. The series spares no time ensuring that we find Kohane adorable, and to be fair, she is one of the main reasons I kept watching. Her design and her actress’ enthusiasm managed to snag me into spending 12 episodes with these gals.

But as far as the “struggle” and “passion,” Anima Yell! does not sufficiently ground itself for them to ever be felt. There are never major obstacles or struggles these girls run into; no financial limitations or scheduling conflicts or interpersonal disagreements. Kohane simply wants to cheer, and the other girls eventually all fall in line to make her dream come true. Despite their differing personalities, there’s a sort-of homogeneity that exists between the girls’ drive and motivation. Do they really all just want the same thing? Why are the other girls here? What do they get out of this, aside from the exact thing Kohane is getting? That’s the main problem here.

There are a few complications, namely in the form of lovable stalker turned dancer Kana, and in Hizume’s cheerleading past. But these are quickly resolved, leaving plenty of time for plenty of “set-up, swerve, punchline” sequences that will feel very familiar to anyone who’s ever watched a yon-koma adaptation. Unlike something like, say, Lucky Star or Azumanga Daioh, these jokes never really zing, sting, slap… any active verb, really. The humor is simply there, and on occasion, it elicits a laugh. But if someone were to ask me if Anima Yell! were a funny show, I’d have to be honest and say that it’s mildly amusing at its best.

So — why did I watch all twelve episodes of this? Personally, series like Anima Yell! are comforting. It’s an opportunity to see a cast of female characters work towards a common goal with minimal interruptions from male figures, and a total divestment from the obligatory romance that permeates just about everything made for teen girls in our breeder country. Our entertainment for young girls is woeful — YA fantasy faff, cutesy GNs from Scholastic, romance, romance, more romance.

Sure, Anima Yell and series like it may be “for otaku,” but the best examples in this genre feel uni-gender. A teen girl can watch something like Anima Yell! (or something better like K-On!) and not feel like their personality and bodies are vessels to service a larger infrastructure — i.e. marriage and procreation. For any teen girl who has simply hung out with other girls — or for those of us that didn’t get a chance to be teen girls — these programs can often serve as moments trapped in amber and more accurate reflections of lived feminine reality than what’s proffered in-country. The proliferation of women and girls (cis and trans) in the Western anime fanbase — and how much they’ve shaped it over the past few decades — are a reflection of that.

So is Anima Yell! a good show? It’s good if you know what you’re getting into. If you’re into watching a group of cute girls try their best and overcome obstacles, watch K-On!. If you’ve already seen K-On!, dig into some other KyoAni and into the first few crops of fluffy SOL (that’s Slice Of Life) also-rans — Hanasaku Iroha and Love Lab, come on down!

But if you’re like me — a simple woman who’s been into this stuff for entirely too long and every single new series is some riff on a trope from forty years ago to me oh god — then Anima Yell! is exactly the kind of inoffensive feminine comfort food you’re looking for. No excessive grossness, decent enough animation, a driven cast, good music — if you have no illusions about what you’re watching, these will see you through to the end.

Because that’s completely fine — isn’t it? To know exactly what you’re getting, admire the proficiency of it, and not ask for more. Taylor Swift isn’t good because she’s composing and singing sonic arrangements as complex as Steely Dan or venting raw lived pain like Ethel Cain. Taylor Swift is good because she knows how to make a damn good country-pop record. Whether or not you’re in the mood for it is irrelevant. Whether or not you even like it doesn’t matter. She’s good at what she does, and people who are into that particular genre (disclosure: me) can appreciate her on her own terms — as an excellent studio musician who knows exactly what she’s doing.

Anima Yell! is like Taylor Swift’s music, in that sense. There’s a vocal contingent who thinks it’s the worst thing since moldy bread, even with some valid criticisms. But none of it matters for people who’d like to simply watch cute girls do cute things in cheerleader uniforms and become better friends along the way. If that’s what you’re looking for, then here it is. No matter where you go, there you are.

anime I watched last week

— Dragon Ball (original, Z, and Super); you really want more than 4,000 words on it? From me? Within a month? Forget it.

— Frieren; my partner got into this manga, and decided to just put on the anime one night. really glad she did — this thing is great and I hope I have more to say about it.

— Lucky Star; this show is still funny, but five episodes in, I find a lot of the referential humor more grating than funny. Konata is still precious.

— Haruhi Suzumiya; finished my 9th watch with a partner who’d seen it and one who hadn’t.

— Anima Yell!; I have nothing left to say!

— If It Was For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat A Demon Lord; this series is embroiled in a lot of unfair controversy. The anime series is equal parts sweet and distressing, and I only wish the light novels had been adapted further than what we got. In love with this and will absolutely have more to say at some point.

— Strike Witches; I’m now one season into the World Witches saga and I’m in love. These girls and their silly mechanized Moon Boots are not only infectious to hang out with, but their struggle against an undefined alien race has shades of Metro 2033, and I think that’s legitimately incredible. A lesbian fan service show with Glukhovsky parallels is nothing to turn your nose up at! More soon.