Do It Yourself!! – 01

「DIYって、どー・いう・やつ？」 (Dī Ai Wai tte, Dō Iu Yatsu?)
“What is DIY?”

Cute girls doing cute things? Yes. Cute girls doing DIY furniture? Absolutely. From the studio that brought you Kageki Shojo!! and Gleipnir here comes a slice-of-life series about a couple of girls just learning the ropes of DIY mastery. Based on a manga serialized on Manga UP! Published by Square Enix believe it or not, this story follows a couple of young girls as they try to make their way through life while at the same time doing DIY projects, from simple arts and crafts all the way to completing woodwork, this is a slow-paced story with some excellent art animation to boot.

Do It Yourself!! Follows the story of Yua, Serufu (get it?) (Inagaki, Konomi) a high school student whose aloof nature alludes her. She is a sleepy head with a connection for animals, making her character instantly likable, in fact, a little too much so, as she has both a cat and a dog, and a pig who all live in harmony on her bed during the night, but during the day play peacefully with each other. Yua goes to a less elite school than her fellow rival, a childhood friend, and proper neighbor, Suride, Miku (Ichinose, Kana). But turns out their schools are not exactly too far apart, but instead joined together like some kind of genetic sister joined at the hip.

For most of the first half, in fact, around 75% of the episode – is spent introducing the character and letting their personalities run wild, in fact, the episode crawls to a halt because of this issue with the pacing, however this large prologue to the proper DIY hook of the show is rather welcomed as its slowness invites the viewer to sweep in and let their anxieties flow, the art is also quite gorgeous with little CGi, but some sprinkled here and there for good measure, however, the vibrant summery backgrounds and the 2D character animation all but makes up for it.

It is not until an unlucky bolt strikes Yua and her bike breaks down, it is here where a tomboy-looking senpai shows up Yasaku, Rei (Sakura, Ayane) and does quick work of her bike fixing it with no problem, however, Yua is slow at taking the world around her, so she misses her opportunity to thank Rei properly, with a loose tangent this is how Yua starts going deeper into this world of DIY.

Is DIY associated with some kind of slow-life way of living, or is simply our protagonist Yua way too much of an airhead to live her life otherwise? While Yua is learning English and listening to her teachers talk about history like it’s some sort of actual lesson, Miku is learning about cutting-edge technologies, using 3D printers, and building machines from actual human cells that can be used in actual surgeries. The dichotomy is palpable. However I’m sure this 3D printing storyline is sure to make a comeback in future episodes, I would very much like to see where this anime takes such technologies and how it represents them. It’s already futuristic by implying Amazon drones fly above the streets delivering packages all day long. However, this futuristic setting is used to contrast the more handmaid approach the DIY club takes towards making stuff.

While other people can simply buy store-made things, the philosophy that permeates throughout DIY culture seeps into the show and the philosophies behind its storytelling, however, although the story grand might not be, the narrative is quite enjoyable, especially how Do It Yourself presents a simple premise and a mirror to its own, by embracing the spirit that DIY excels at giving. Doing things with your own hands is that much more satisfying than just buying them off the shelf and filling that empty capitalistic void, while soon after; needing to go out and buy more stuff in an endless cycle. DIY (the idea) and the series by proxy, quickly give off that belief and allows the viewer to stand with it in an unceremonious harmony between the two. Unceremonious because like I said before this is one slow show, don’t expect anything DIY to happen in the first 15 minutes or so – not that it’s bad or anything in fact I quite appreciated Do it Yourself for that. It’s not until Yua gets her hand dirty with wood and tool that we actually start feeling the hook of the show, taking something away that might actually serve us in our own DIY journey. Aka actually learning while not completely feeling like an edu-anime.

I’m quite interested to see where this goes and it might actually be a nice watch to include in my Tuesday lineup, however, I’m all capped up with slice-of-life series and promptly need something else. I’m looking forward to hopefully Seiken Densetsu filling that fantasy fix I so desperately need this season, and hopefully giving me something to talk about each week that is not oh this character did that, and so on and so forth. So in other words I might not be up to review this one week by week, but I will certainly be watching. As it has undoubtedly picked my interest.

Do it Yourself features beautiful art with incredibly colorful and vibrant backgrounds while at the same time indulging us in a story involving girls doing cute things and building their own furniture to boot. What’s not to like? Get ready this is your cozy anime to curl up in a nice blanket with a warm beverage of your choice, it’s certainly a safe bet for a good time!

Full-length images: 36.

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