Just a "what if" of Akari and Himawari as children, with their stuff animals

Chinatsu chan is in Magic Knight Rayearth 2026

Reread the whole manga recently and I was pretty blown away by just how many unique interactions there were, so I thought I'd make a little tier list/compilation.

Akari x Yui: Pure sugar. It's a lovely subtle comfort they get from each other. Yui's sweeter with Akari than she is with anyone else, and the moments they're alone together are some of the best in the whole series.

Kyouko x Ayano: Speaks for itself. Adorable rollercoaster of a push and pull. Trying to guess whether or not Kyouko knows is also perfect.

SakuHima: Speaks for itself. Don't really have much to add besides the following.

Akari x Sakurako: Perfect counter to SakuHima. Akari is perfectly patient and helpful with Sakurako, just like she asks Himawari to be, but deep down we know that's not actually what she wants. It's also cute how Sakurako thinks highly of Akari and Akari sees the best in Sakurako.

Kyouko x Yui: Speaks for itself. I love just how many layers there are, but again I don't have much to add.

Kyouko x Sakurako: One that surprised me on reread. Sakurako bounces off Kyouko's bits better than anyone else, and the fact that Kyouko isn't used to people playing along adds so much.

Tier Gap

Yui x Ayano: Such a cute and unique dynamic that totally fits. They have great synergy and like each other but the awkwardness clearly gets the better of them. Seeing the steps forward and back are great.

Akari x Kyouko: Really cute teasing dynamic. You can tell they have a deep bond but Akari's not used to the new persona Kyouko crafted last year.

Ayano x Sakurako: Both cute on their own, extra cute when together. Ayano getting embarrassed is always great, but she's a great senpai. It's always fun how Sakurako looks up to Ayano and how she's oblivious enough to not realize the trouble she's causing her.

Chinatsu x Ayano: Ayano basically embodies the maiden that Chinatsu sees herself as, despite the fact that we know that Chinatsu is a foul demon from the depths of hell.

Chinatsu x Yui: Yui must thread the needle by satiating the foul demon while not losing her soul.

Akari x Chinatsu: The angel and the demon.

Chinatsu x Sakurako: Divine retribution.

Akari x Ayano: Pure sugar. Another case where they're cute on their own and extra cute together. They don't know each other that well but the moments they have are great.

Ayano x Chitose: Didn't like it as much as I expected, the missed opportunities bug me. We don't get to see how they met and developed their bond, which could have gone a long way. That said, this side of Ayano and Chitose is very sweet.

(That's the only unique Chitose dynamic I noticed, so plot twist, all along this post is me venting that Chitose gets no deeper interactions with anyone else. I know she's meant to keep her distance and observe, but that kind of disappointed me. Sorry for tricking you.)

Tier Gap

Chinatsu x Kyouko: Couldn't think of a Chinatsu metaphor so that's why its a tier below. Jk but I think KyoAya is just this dynamic but way better (still very fun).

Kyouko x Himawari: High potential but barely ever see this pair. Himawari has a hard time telling Kyouko off compared to how she is with Sakurako/Yui is with Kyouko, which leads to fun interactions.

(Himawari kinda has the same issue as Chitose but it's forgivable in her case.)

Yui x Sakurako: High potential, similar to above. Seems Yui knows Kyouko is putting on a persona but that Sakurako is just like this, so the way she treats them differently makes it fun.

Tier Gap

Chitose x Himawari/Chitose x Sakurako/Himawari x Ayano/Himawari x Chinatsu/Akari x Chitose (etc): Spend some together but pretty predictable dynamics, I didn't really pick out any finer details here.
I think one of my issues is that it's hard to tell how Chitose and Himawari really think of the others, and their personas are pretty consistent. I might have missed/discounted some stuff though, make sure to tell me I'm wrong in the comments.

I'm doney with the funny.

Hi everyone, I'm new to the series and today I've completed the second season of the anime, I was going to start the third one when i noticed that there was a movie to watch before (YuruYuri Nachuyachumi!).
I tried searching for it on multiple Italian and English site with zero results, anyone know where I can watch it?

sorry for my bad english, thank you all in advance

EDIT: Thank you all guys, I found both the movie and the specials!!!

@ YuiFunamii

Here's my take on Yui Funami and a redesign for her, one significant change is that her hair is longer now and she casually wears a zipper hoodie and straight cut jeans

Yui Funami

Yui Hirasawa

Yui Komori

Yui From Angel Beats!

Yui From Lucky Star

This might be the best gift i've ever received in my entire life. This how life sounds when you got a real friend ❤️‍🩹

I found that pretty curious.

random Hanako classmate getting some attention from Namori recently :3 wonder when she's gonna get a proper name, ppl started calling her "Mobuko-chan" on Twitter (as in random crowd girl)

And it's ChinaAka. Not surprising since chapter 212 will be there.

Source: Advertisement on Comic Yuri Hime for this month.

Reference: PORKSODA animation by @/cuptoast.

This truly is my last post on this, I finally have a concrete answer for why I think the show is deep, and I want to explain the characterisation I see on a deeper level by using an episode as an initial framework- the one where Akari travels through time. I wrote all this one shot, no AI, so forgive any errors please.

Summary of the episode:

• The episode follows Akari travelling back one year via a time machine that Nishigaki-sensei potentially built.
• It essentially continues to poke fun at Akari for having no presence, even while she is the protagonist of the episode, since all her attempts to change the past fail miserably as her usual luck continues.
• The ending however is extremely emotional and touching, since everyone is ofc really worried about her and is overjoyed once she is actually back.

Breaking this down:

The real ending of the episode is that this is one of those mini-stories written by Kyouko and on the surface level seems like the joke continues of Akari having no presence (she says this episode couldn't even end as my dream?!)

Brief on Kyouko's intelligence:

• What this means is that Kyouko is the one who thought the entire thing up.
  • As in, her imagination/deduction of every person is so incredibly precise to their core, that she breaks the 4th wall so intensely that she wrote a YuruYuri episode that is not only funny/entertaining in their world (Akarin joke), but is also funny/entertaining for us - she imitates Namori (who wrote the show), and is practically the only one to do so during episodes. You could argue she is Namori, however theories like those can't be proven, so I won't dwell on it.
  • The others break the 4th wall mainly during credit scenes/opening/closing songs being sung by them, etc.
  • Sometimes Yui/Chitose, etc (who are also really smart, but not as smart as Kyouko), do break the 4th wall during episodes, but it is NOTHING like how Kyouko does.
• In fact, when Akari realizes she indeed as time travelled since she sees her past self interacting with Kyouko/Yui, Kyouko is then heard humming the YuruYuri tune, she is THAT aware.
• Like how she repeatedly spoke to us during the "hand-gargle" cold episode, which is also an instance where Yui breaks the 4th wall during an episode, since when they visit Kyouko when she falls sick and catches a cold at the end of that episode, she says something literal like that is still going on?
  • but can be read on a deeper level like saying, oh even when you have a cold you are expected to keep that up for the sake of viewership (us), since it is like those paid promotional contract plugs for that episode where she is required to keep directly addressing us and Yui caught on.
• We also see her brilliance more literally in S3
  • (which btw the entire tone of S3 is literally this characterization laid bare, it's all of them taking of these masks and showing their true selves to each other since they have gotten that close once you see the show through this lens, and how their dynamic has developed over S1/2),
  • but the brilliance is when she reads the entire book Yui was reading in like 2 mins just so she could spoil it for her since Yui wasn't paying enough attention.
• Her neurospicy way to communicate is to use these convulted ways to express her affection for her friends since she gets way too embarassed to be honest
  • (like when they are looking at old pictures from their childhood, and we get the flashback episode where Chinatsu was a bully to them in the park and everyone tells Kyouko it was better when she was cute, and she yells those 3 things to them,
    • which basically reads as her saying i love you to Yui,
    • that she is neurospicy obsessed with Chinatsu/Mirakurun and loves her as a friend,
    • and how she loves having Akari around (Akarin), because I will get to this but everyone is CONSTANTLY expressing their love for Akari so subtly absolutely all the time).

Everyone loves Akari:

• Another thing is that, Kyouko's excuse for drawing this episode is that she was inspired by a movie, but the thing is, Kyouko worries about all of them.
  • This means, she imagined ALL her friends travelling back in time (because it is a fun concept to think about what your friends might get up to!!), and if you think about it, if anyone else got sent back in time, they would have fared a billion times better.
  • None of Akari's bad luck exists for them anyway, and all of them are smarter (Akari having no presence = her being the adorable idiot who loves everyone in the group but she sees things very literally and lacks the ability to capture this kind of convuluted deeper emotional communication style), which means all of Kyouko's imagined outcomes for them fared better (and remember she knows them well enough to be able to write stories that imitate YuruYuri episodes like how Namori would have written it, which means they are highly accurate because of how intelligent she is).
• So, she was inspired to draw, because she loves Akari.
  • Her inspiration stems from the realizaion that Akari probaby truly does want to change this par of herself that EVERYONE (including us) loves.
  • The story is basically a massive ass love letter telling Akari she is perfect the way she is, and that everyone loves her and would realize the second she actually Akarin's, because in the entire group, there is ALWAYSSS at least one person thinking of her.
    • Yui when she decides to skip and stubs her toe because she thinks of Akari,
    • Chinatsu when she praises Akari for having disposable chopsticks so they could play the Kings' game,
    • Sakurako when Himawari jokes she would much rather spend Christmas being coupled with Chinatsu and Sakurako says and I would rather be with Akari,
    • Nishigaki when she built the robot to have Chinatsu's face at the end of the Snow White play which specifically targetted Akari's fear (which seems like a gag) and Sakurako picks up on it just to be shushed immediately by Himawari (Sakurako is genuinely so incredibly intelligent) but Nishigaki built the robot because it rewarded Akari by overcoming her fear and continuing to be good - to be herself.
    • Nishigaki jokes the robot ran out of battery, but both Ayano and Yui pick up on the fact that it was a lie.
• Akari continues to be such a good girl despite all the terrible things happening to her because everybody continues tells her to keep at it, and that they love her as is.
  • The thing is, Akari does not realize this at all, she is yet a child.
  • With all the terrible things that happen to her, and break her little by little (the intense tear streak that rolls down), if she ever does reach a true breaking point (who wouldn't?), the absolute impact it would have on her to keep being herself when they tell her hey btw look at how much we have loved you throughout, and to never change.
• The delusional dreams Akari has where she is the protagnosit and everyone fawns over her is reality, that is literally how all of them are with her all the time in a super convuluted way, and she realizes this super subconsciously, but the whole gag continues to remain hilarious because we know Akari is nowhere near her actual breaking point, so it's okay to conitue loving her indirectly.
• As a btw, Akari loves bears (and they joke it is because of her buns), because she is literally a mama-bear with all of them.
  • Kyouko realizes this during their pancake-making episode at Yui's place when Akari makes a bear and Kyouko comments on it again.

Chinatsu is complex:

• As a side, Akari's bad luck is hilarious, but clearly has supernatural interventions at all stages
  • (it's why mama bear shows up at the park when Himawari/sakurako get lost during their walk,
  • it's why "God" sends a message to Sakurako to introduce herself properly in the time travel episode, referring to Akari,
  • it's why Akari's sister who is probably smarter than Kyouko even realizes the underwear is on her head and says this must be Akari's influence,
  • because for every terrible thing that happens to Akari, some supernaturally extremely good thing happens to them, and they all see it and love her for it, except for her ofc).
• It's literally impossible the amount of things that come her way, which is why when all the 1st years go over to Akari's house to have the study sesh and Chinatsu is freaking out by Akari's sister and shrieks, Himawari comments did she see a ghost?, which reads as a joke, but with this characterization becomes a genuine observation.
  • If your friend had this streak of terrible luck, even you would think she is cursed (Chitose sees a ghost in the bathroom anyway, in the episode we learn that she has a twin).
• Why I bring this up, is because Chinatsu is the one who sees her sister.
  • Chinatsu is repeatedly the one who is able to understand all of them, even the super neurospicy ones like Kyouko and Sakurako.
  • She repeatedly says that if she puts her mind to it, she can actually do anything,
    • like how she gets Mari-chan to love her when she dresses up as Mirakurun,
    • like when she is down with the craziest flu and still goes to school to make tea for Yui but excels at every single class anyway.
• Chinatsu clearly also falls in the neurospicy category, but her kind is the one that gets negative.
  • The hyperintelligent and capable ones who get easily frustrated with others, have negative thoughts, and are laser focused on their needs (Yui).
  • Chinatsu wanted to become like her sister and join the tea club because she absolutely loves her.
  • Chinatsu then falls for Yui and her entire focus falls only on her, while everybody else could go to hell.
  • Chinatsu admits this in the episode the 2nd years go on their school trip, and it's just Chinatsu and Akari in the club, she apologizes and says she loses track of everything else.
  • She clearly is a very good person and loves all of them, but also has a lot of inner turmoil while she struggles with this side of her, which really shows itself whenever she tries to be expressive like through drawing.
• Another interesting thing is that Chinatsu's sister is in love with Akari's sister, and Chinatsu is besties with Akari.
  • When Chinatsu's sister is talking about Akari's sister, Chinatsu's comment is oh she seems like Akari (another instance of love btw), which makes me believe that whenever she is over her heartbreak with Yui (why she keeps signing the super sad mug cup song), she could fall for Akari.
  • In S3 she already is way more expressive and affectionate and honest with Akari and thanks her for being there for her.
• As a btw, I think Chinatsu's intelligence is another reason why Kyouko loves her so much, Chinatsu (apart from Chitose), is consistenly the one who understands what Kyouko is saying, unlike Yui/Akari.
  • Like in my new favourite scene from S1E6 where Kyouko has the artist epiphany and realizes the true reason why she is able to continue being true to herself, to pursure what she loves, and doesn't feel the pressure to give in to society is because Yui loves her.
    • She ofc loves Yui, but the fact that Yui will always protect her despite her tough love, is why she is who she is, so even though her love letter story at the surface level reads like she is announcing she loves Yui, at a deeper level it shows how much Yui loves her since for Kyouko to even be able to express her love in this manner, Yui would have had to love her to begin with.
    • This is the conclusion at the end of their discussion in that episode, when Kyouko specifically asks Chinatsu do you realize what my epiphany story means? beyond the obvious that she loves Yui? and says that Yui loves her, Chinatsu is ONLY one who it clicks for after a minute, and Yui stays totally lost.
  • Another example of her intelligence is the isobe fries scene when Sakurako wants to say cheesy stuff to Himawari and Chinatsu realizes it,
  • also when Chinatsu notices that Sakurako has 2 sets of gym clothes and goes why? because clearly Himawari has a habit of forgetting her pair.
• As a second btw, in these mini stories Kyouko always portrays herself as her genuine self,
  • like going ~kya when she sees Yui with stars for her eyes,
  • or in this time travel example episode, the first thing she says is she wants to check everyone's future, to see how they are doing.
  • She would NEVER have actually said this in person, but Kyouko always draws with total passion, she draws everything she feels and expresses herself completely honestly through her art, which is why all her Mirakurun art work is actually basically just Yui and her relationship, which Chitose picks up on, and comments on, when they all cosplayed and Yui was Rivalrun pre transformation and Chitose was giga giga.
  • Chitose says you sure are popular Funami-san, when the kid technically loves Rivalrun, and Yui says it isn't me dummy, but she knows that isn't true and is embarassed.
• Edit: adding the fact that whenever Kyouko draw's Yui or describes her imagination (like when she suggests Yui/Ayano could be sisters), Yui ALWAYS looks/talks like herself while the others get a full makeover, but ofc she is capable of anything under the sun from her pov, this is the kind of deep romance I meant in my previous post.

Sakurako is amazing:

• Sakurako is portrayed to be incredibly intelligent, much like Kyouko (why they keep comparing the two), except they make the distinction that she isn't mature like her.
  • Sakurako to me reads to be the truest of the true neurospicy, which is why I think the show does such an amazing job at representation, because people can fall in any part of the spectrum (like Chitose/Sakurako/Chinatsu/Kyouko, arguably Akari, potentially will always stay adorably dumb).
• Sakurako basically only thinks emotionally, her entire world revolves around emotional value, she is why in the episode where Sakurako talks about how much she relies on Akari (when Himawari asks her why she joined the student council, and Sakurako says because Himawari joined it, and because she thinks it's cool to be fighting from the background, like how Akari does).
  • She explains what actually goes on in her head, where Chinatsu attacks Akari with Skeleton and Akari fights back despite being Akarin-ed, aka despite hitting rock bottom.
  • Sakurako (amongst Kyouko, her sister, and Chitose), are the ones who pay the MOST attention to Akari, and are also the ones which are most intelligent - which is counter-intuitive.
• When they introduce Sakurako's siblings, it's basically to make a point that Sakurako is as intelligent as they are, but her neurospicy-ness makes her totally socially inept, and this is something Yui/Kyouko realize when they run into all 3 sisters at the family restaurant.
  • This is also why Kaeda makes the comment that society's warped educational structure is not built for people like Sakurako to succeed, and she makes Sakurako promise to not give up, in the episode where Sakurako "kidnaps" her and threatnes to tickle her.
• This is why Himawari draws her with a super mature look in the episode where they are in art class, and Sakurako in turns draws her as super cute, because to Sakurako Himawari can truly be dumb sometimes.
  • She forgets the Akarin bit,
  • Sakurako is the one who thinks of asking for Akari/Chinatsu's help to sort out student council paperwork since they were technically not in a club because Himawari is worried about the amount of paperwork and wants to impressive the seniors,
  • Sakurako is the one who solves the wife marrying wife childhood flashback which had made Himawari cry,
  • when Sakurako tries to also hack the King's game like Kyouko did to get a kiss out of Yui (Sakurako wanted Himawari to kiss her, and Yui even thinks in her head, why does this seem familiar as it clicks that Kyouko basically rigged the entire thing to play out as it did, basically orchestraed the ENTIRE thing).
• Sakurako however is still not as smart as Kyouko, like in this King' game example, Sakurako is immediately shocked when Himawari says her number, because she realized that she was supposed to be that number, and Ayano was supposed to be Himawari, aka Himawari kisses Sakurako.
  • However Sakurako messed up, most probbaly because she forgot about Akari (Akarin indeed is a real phenomena, which is why as a group there is someone always loving and paying attention to Akari, but at no point do ALL of them remember her existence, which is the crux of the Akarin joke), and by messing up the numbers her plan fails because the whole thing gets shifted to the left.
  • Sakurako is again cool because she handles the fuck up very adorably while still being in control of the situation (the hand block is so fucking cute),
    • and Himawari in turn explains she was only letting Ayano kiss her because she was trying to respect what Sakurako said, which was that the Kings' word was absolute and hence showing her cute side.
  • She also shows her cute side when she wanted Sakurako to admit that Himawari was the one she wanted to go on a trip with and Sakurako realizes that, Himawari complains why do you have to be so condescending because she was basically pouting and asking for attention/love from Sakurako.
• Her entire oppai jokes is literally because neurospicy people develop emotionally way faster (which is why these guys are so freaking genuis even tho they are so young), which means she is also getting way more sexually attracted lol, but fails to communicate this in a manner that socially works well.
  • Himawari etc do realize this tho, like when Sakurako says your boobs are big because you are able to deal with cockroaches, since to her being able to deal with the scariest thing on the planet (roaches) almost equates to being more revered, it's something she says out of love and not just sexually, but because she thinks highly of Himawari.
  • This is also another reason why I think only Kyouko/Sakurako/Chitose/Chinatsu even crack sexual jokes, the neurospicy ones who are developing much faster.

Chitose being the most capable:

• I truly think Chitose is sometimes even smarter than Kyouko, but only because she has the emotional intelligence + also the social skills.
  • She understands everyone, all the time, and is always trying her hardest in her own way.
  • Ayano even comments in the episode where Chitose lists all the things she has achieved (which itself is INSANE), she says that Chitose is incredible.
• She is clearly in love with Ayano, and practically says that to her when she thanks Ayano as a reason for why she can be herself and Ayano says she is making her blush.
  • Chitose also asks Ayano if her wish came true to be better friends with Kyouko, when they were doing the fireworks thing and they were wearing Yukata's.
  • Chitose asks her if she is going to confess (which also btw she managed to write all that with a sparkler?), and Ayano indeed does confess in a way, but to Chitose.
  • Ayano does not realize it yet, because similarly to Chinatsu she is going through heart break in a way, but she clearly has feelings for Chitose too. They are together 24/7 365.
• Chitose is also amazing because she is probably the only on who loves Akari super bluntly, like in the episode where Akari gives her ice cream, but Akari's gets dropped due to some kids, the first thing Chitose says is don't be mad at the kids, they didn't mean it, don't lose your goodness basically.
  • This is another reason why in the time travel episode, when Akari finally makes it back, of course everyone loves her and is crying, but Chitose amongst the main 3 are the ones who actually speak in the order of worry for her safety and wellness (Kyouko seriously is vvv smart).

I could honestly keep going, because I have a million trillion thoughts like these, but one final point I want to make is that the fact that Ayano/Chitose/Himawari/Sakurako are in the student council means practically nothing.

• Yes at the surface level this is because it is a slice of life comedy approach.
• However, Kyouko makes a comment when she complements Ayano in her yukata and Ayano says ofc I look good, I am the vice-president, and Kyouko says is that relevant?/connected? in a tone that is deep, because she is trying to make a point that who Ayano is as a person and who Kyouko sees, is someone indepdendent of these social heirarchies and expectations.
• Throughout the series we have never felt like the student council is "above" anyone, especially because the club structures are so stark, on one hand you have 4 people who are part of a club that does nothing and wastes time, and the others who are part of the arguably most important club in the school.
• They would also of course be extremely popular/well known in the school, however through the lens that we see, they are all always equal, despite such a huge difference in their social standings.

I realized a big reason of why I saw the show differently is because I haven't rewatched this forever, but I have recently been trying to learn Japanese.

• I have become much better at understand, and so many of these subtle tiny things actually came from the original voice acting.
• It also makes total sense why I haven't seen as many posts/discussions talking from this pov (there is no way I am the first to notice this), because those discussions probbaly all live in some Japanese-only threads.

I also realized this felt so heart shattering (apart from the entire character complexity absolutely sweeping me off my feet), is because I am neurospicy too, and realized Kyouko's character is basically how I communicate.

• I get extremely awkward being blunt/honest when I worry about people and hide behind humour to communicate.
• Literally the last post I made is an example when I self-linked the Charlie conspiracy image, and making the birds/spies joke due to the self-realization on how it sounds when I read what I have written without actually being inside my head.
• My point is not that I think I am Kyouko, but that there was this part of me that I had never identified in myself, but that I absolutely love (I mean huge reason why I love the show is indeed Kyouko), and is actually something I very strongly relate to.
• It's also a huge reason why I think apart from the language thing I was able to pick up on their super indirect ways of communication, and probably why most people would never understand my pov, because it probably needs you to be a certain level of neurospicy to even get it.
• Another reason why I love the spectrum of the neurospicy representation, because maybe someone else's neurospicy might be represented by other characters on the show, and we could all do with some of that, to show how intelligent these people can be, while still being incredibly socially inept and dumb seeming.

It's also a huge reason why I decided to write this mega detailed "case study" and I don't care if nobody else gets this, but I have to pen this down or my conscience wouldn't rest easy!!! (I really do see the Kyouko in me!!! hiding how passionate I feel about this discovery in the show and myself by using humour, but I am also able to admit this because I am learning to be more vocal about my good qualities, this realization truly was earth shattering!!).

Edit: formatting + typos

For ref original post (rant) where I compared the show to grand blue dreaming due to the depth: link

I swear this is the last post but I have still been mulling over why viewing the show differently felt so earth shattering, and while I don’t have a concrete answer, I realised the biggest trigger by MILES was when I actually understood Sakurako. I started understanding how she communicates. All of her sentences make sense to me now, what she actually means when she fails to communicate in a manner in which others (except Chitose/Himawari/Chinatsu) fail to understand her.

Case in point: when Chitose is able to get Sakurako to not eat the pudding but Ayano couldn’t do the same with the rum raisin Kyouko had given to her in return.
Another example I can think of is the entire conversation these guys have during the isobe fries scene.
Edit: can’t believe I didn’t also mention my absolutely new favourite scene in S1E6 when Kyouko has her huge epiphany as an example (not for Sakurako, but also how Chinatsu is able to truly understand these guys).

I haven’t been able to find ANY discussion thread or videos from this perspective and I have been dyinggg to pend my thoughts down, but I also feel like I’m going insane, the type to convince people birds are spies but I SWEAR this feels like I’m watching the show for the first time ever. It feels like what dbz abridged feels to dbz, EXCEPT the show freaking does it to itself which is so indescribably genius and impactful.