This looks like a cheerleading anime. Involving small children. I will either need a trip to the dentist or bleach for mine eyes, I can already tell.
Anima Yell! is adorable for all the right reasons and I insist you go watch it now. The art design is cute, the music is fun, and the characters, both in design and characterization, are absolutely adorable.
Basic premise: Kohane, the cutie above, sees a cheerleading performance, falls in love with the spirit of the sport – the whole supporting and cheering on others thing – and becomes determined to become a cheerleader herself. She finds out her new high school doesn’t have a cheer club, and instead of being discouraged (for more than about five minutes), she decides to start her own, starting with one of the girls, Arima, from the performance who just so happens to also attend her school.
Though I was concerned at first that the show might be used as a poorly disguised vehicle for pedophilia, I was happily relieved to discover it is as far from that as possible. The characters are fifteen, and the show remains mindful of that throughout. The act and react the way children do, the dress the way children do, and they are never ever ever sexualized, by the other characters or by the show itself. Even during the cheer performance, there’s never the dreaded up-skirt shot, and the girls all wear shorts under their skirts, the way real cheerleaders do, to prevent even the possibility of said shot.
And the relationships between the characters are a sheer delight to behold. They obviously care for each other and support each other, and it’s just nice to watch Kohane and Arima build the beginnings of what will undoubtedly be a wonderful friendship.
Go watch Anima Yell! You’ll enjoy it. I promise.
Ace Anime Reviews 