YuruYuri Nachuyachumi OVA

I heard they were making another production of the series and thought it was going to be the third season of those amusing lolis. Well, not really. I have a feeling they might be just doing some test market about the nostalgic factor because they come up with YuruYuri Nachuyachumi OVA instead. Uh huh. Unlike your ordinary OVA, this one lasts for 1 hour 3 minutes! OMFG! If they had labelled this as movie, I would have skipped it because for some unknown reasons, I don’t know why I am averse to anime movies. So it is like they discovered this loophole of mine and released it as an OVA and thus the reason why I checked it out. This means if an OVA lasts 500 hours I might sit down and watch the entire thing…

Summer’s here…
WTF?! Manly lolis???!!! Our casts are turned into manly lolis?! Speaking in English and with that Engrish accent, they have Akari pick out what they’re going to do next. Camping? Alrighty, let’s go camping then! They open the secret hatch under the floor and dive in for the opening credits to begin.

It is such a hot summer that Chinatsu is feeling lethargic. In the clubroom, she accidentally spills the tea on her skirt and gets disheartened when Yui sees this. She might misinterpret this whole thing. Thankfully she didn’t. As she tries to help her dry, Kyouko walks in and sees this ambiguous sexy scene. She doesn’t know what is happening but would love to join this horny act! Akari returns after buying ice cream for everyone. But since it is still hot, she searches the closet for a fan. Hmm… A cooking kit? Searching further, not sure if Kyouko is really hoping for a corpse! Thankfully it is not and turns out to be a tent. She has an idea to go camping. This is when Ayano bursts in to scold Kyouko again to hand in her paper for the summer vacation. Suddenly Ayano blushes upon hearing that they are going to go camping and turns into a complete tsundere.

Himawari and Sakurako see Akari studying at the cafe. Sakurako tries to show off drinking a hot beverage but burns her tongue. With Chinatsu texting Akari, Sakurako wants to help reply. Akari should have known better. Because she texts about Akari is in a sexy swimsuit. She should have even known better than to give it to that troublemaker to amend things because this time she wrote how Akari took her swimsuit off! Almost would have sent it had not Akari took her handphone back. Anyway Chinatsu did rush over, believing Akari was in her swimsuit. Sakurako is jealous upon seeing Himawari drinking her hot beverage like a pro so she makes a freaking funny face to make her laugh and throw her off her lady-like behaviour. Then she gets a deserved head bump.

During the student council meeting, Sakurako brings up about going camping. Kyouko then barges in to use the air-cond as she pleased. Kyouko also tries to persuade them to go camping and Chitose agrees as she starts fantasizing a nose bleed worthy tragic-cum-romantic scene between Kyouko and Ayano. How do you persuade the student council president to let them all go? Kyouko takes their pudding hostage! Well, if they want to go, just go lah. And so all the girls tell their respective sisters about their upcoming summer camp.

On that day, Chinatsu shows Yui some very ugly pig charm that should ward bears off. I think it’ll even ward ghosts away. Kyouko arrives all dressed casually and minimally so Yui makes her dress more appropriately. Akari arrives late and they deduced that although she left early, she helped some grandma along the way. And true enough it happened. I guess the reason why Kyouko wanted to take this certain train line because it had Mirakurun designs all over. She makes Chinatsu cosplay as she takes photos of her here and there. And she got so obsessed with it that she almost missed the train! Yui had to do all the heart pounding work before she gets left behind. As they ride the train, they decide to do an item check. Then they realize, who was responsible for the tents?! Don’t worry. Kyouko has got it specially delivered. Chinatsu has made some food but the rest remain sceptical. Hmm… Sandwiches look okay. Let’s hope it is not just the looks. Bracing for the worst as they take a bite, they surprisingly find it good.

The quartet continue their journey as they take a bus and hike to the destination. Yeah well, the student council girls are here thanks to Nishigaki driving them. What a comfortable ride with lots of fun. So this is the special delivery Kyouko was referring to? After unpacking their stuffs, Nishigaki leaves with a promise to pick them up tomorrow. The girls start setting their tent and as usual, Kyouko fools around not doing any real work. After finishing, they walk around and come across a see-saw. They start discussing its name in Japanese in which everybody remembers it with a different name. Let’s just call it see-saw okay? Kyouko saves Yui from a spider (it was just hanging and nothing threatening) and uses this chance to get all close to her. Maybe she just wants to cuddle…

As they prepare food, they realize they don’t have meat because Sakurako was in charge of it and she messed up somehow (the curry brand says 120% meat but you know it isn’t really meat). Therefore, I don’t know why everyone appoints Kyouko, Sakurako and Chinatsu to go to the store and get their meal. Yeah, their dinner depends on it. The troublemakers try to pester Chinatsu to get junk and even bluff that Yui would agree to this but Chinatsu isn’t buying it. Then they start arguing about what flavour goes best with potato chips.

Akari helps Chitose start a fire. She wonders why she always gets nose bleeds. Chinatsu explains about her fantasizing and does one while she’s at it. However when she realizes that if she tries to explain it in words, it sounds a lot embarrassing. She can’t continue and Akari is frustrated. When Ayano comes by to check on them and ask what they were talking, Chitose flusters greatly. She can’t say… Meanwhile, I don’t know what Kyouko is thinking since she is trying to blow up the fire using her recorder? How can she when she got all the holes closed? In a distance, an explosion occurs. Could that be Nishigaki? The curry dinner turns out delicious.

Kaede is writing in her picture book how Sakurako would overeat and true enough, she and Kyouko have tummies big enough you would think they are pregnant! However Kyouko still has room for dessert and thankfully Ayano earlier made some pudding with the cooking set. Kyouko and Sakurako start thanking Ayano while rubbing their cheeks on her. Her flustering is a great source of fantasizing for Chitose.

After the nice meal, there is only one thing left to do: Kyouko suggests kimodameshi! Chitose agrees and as expected, she rigs the pairing. Yeah, Himawari and Sakurako got each other again. It’s always them together, eh? Chitose and Yui go first and nothing much happens. Next is Himawari and Sakurako but the latter is very much afraid of the dark. A little bug drops on Sakurako’s head and she starts running off in fear. She is the one with the flashlight. Himawari in the dark… When Sakurako returns, she exaggerates the scary story to Chinatsu and Akari who are now scared sh*t on their turn. As they trudge into the darkness, they heard something rustling and Chinatsu becomes the very frightened one. Meanwhile Chinatsu’s sister calls Akane, hinting that if she is alone, she can come over to keep company. Too bad, Akane is surrounding herself with Akari memorabilia and having the time of her life! No real sister? Sister products also can!

Himawari lectures Sakurako of her abandonment as Yui notices a very strong grip mark on Akari’s arm. I wonder how tight Chinatsu squeezed it. Finally it is Kyouko and Ayano. Chitose won’t miss this chance and is going to eavesdrop what they’re saying. Kyouko has Ayano talk about the things she likes and the latter murmurs one of them being her. Since she didn’t hear it, Kyouko bugs her to say it again. At that point, they hear a loud crash and get freaked out upon seeing this horror thing. They really make a dash for it. So this bloody zombie head is just Chitose nose bleeding too much?

With everyone working up a sweat, they head to the public bath the clean themselves up. Kyouko starts running around and as Akari tries to stop her, she slips and banged her head. Sakurako tries to sneak up on Himawari washing herself but was sprayed cold water. Then everybody dips into the mini hotspring and by the time Akari and Chinatsu are going to join them, it is so freaking cramped. Still got space, you say? As it is getting cold at night, Kyouko has brought along animal pyjamas for them. Of course she has to be different because it’s that tomato pyjamas! Akari is already sleepy so I guess they’re calling it a night.

Next morning, some of them have trouble waking up especially Himawari. But Sakurako says the right (or wrong) thing to make her instantly wake up: All the blood is being redirected to her boobs. Everyone has a refreshing view of the town. Personally, I thought it just looked pretty normal with the way the art and all… Kyouko leaves a message that they were here behind on a piece of wood. Nishigaki comes to pick them up but since all the girls would rather travel back together, she will only be transporting their stuffs. Yui realizes Kyouko has give them the runaway since they took a train to this bus station when they could have just took a bus straight here just because she wanted to ride the Mirakurun line again. The girls ponder when they’ll come back here again but they look forward to other bigger plans like camping by the sea and the festival. Ah yes, the fun never ends.

Camp Champ… Or Chump?
Oh yes. This series still hasn’t lost its touch despite it feels like ages ago since I watched the second season although it has only been a couple of years. Like always, there are always good and bad stuffs when you watch something this nostalgic. Of course when you have watched both the seasons and then you watch this single OVA, it feels like there is something lacking that would have given it the greatest oomph. Perhaps it is because the focus is on the main 8 girls and despite their sisters only make cameo appearances, it felt missing. Because some of them have really wacko personalities and thus as amusing as some of our wacky main characters like the troublemaking Kyouko and Sakurako, tsundere Ayano and fantasizing Chitose. Yes, it serves to bring back the nostalgic memories of this series when we see their trademark personalities.

But the one thing we missed that was a running gag during the TV series and not shown here is Akari’s existence! Not to say that every episode in the TV series would have her reminding us about this but it is enough to think that she’s the character that everybody loves to forget. In this OVA, looks like she has overcome it and part of the cast. Maybe they’ve forgotten about it? Well, good for you, Akari. Despite I said this series hasn’t lost its touch, it feels less funny compared to the TV series due to the lack of crazy nonsensical antics. Nothing extreme. I mean, how extreme could you get camping in the woods? Expecting some bear to show up and chase them all over the mountains and then stumbling upon a secret alien base? Only if they make a third season… Hint, hint. Oh wait. They already announced they would. Wohoo! The lolis are saved!

To sum up this good news, the opening theme, Yuruyuririnrinrinrin is a lively and fun piece that should get you into the pace of what this OVA and series overall is all about. The ending theme, After School Days is equally fun and lively to hear. In a nutshell, this OVA is best watched after watching two seasons of YuruYuri because you’d understand the characters better beforehand. Otherwise you would be thinking wouldn’t it be dangerous for young girls to go camping all by themselves without adult supervision? Sure, girls like Kyouko can laugh danger in the face with a kick but you can never be too careful… There are lots of types of bears who want a piece of our lolis. Like the Pedo Bear… So keep them lolis safe till the third season arrives!