Makoto's review of Do It Yourself!!

Must Watch

This Pine Jam original shows what it takes to be a good TV show. An engaging story that uses the tools provided to it masterfully. Yoneda Kazuhiro directs another TV show that dares to be itself, like he did in Gleipnir, but this time, the unwise critic cannot blame "edginess" and is forced to recognize this show for the warm hug it is. Acting wise, Inagaki Konomi needs to be in more things. This is my first contact with her, so I don't know her acting range. But she nails everything here. Ichinose Kana is a familiar voice from Carole & Tuesday and Darling in the FranXX that I also want to hear more in the future. Hook the art on this show to my veins... The focus is more on the tools the girls use and the objects they create as part of the DIY club. But the girl's designs are, although not perfect, so full of attention and care. There is a colorfull detail on the inside part(shadow) of their hairs, and their faces are always very expressive. The bandaids on Serufu are so iconic I can't believe this character is ever going to be forgotten. I'm not a fan of the super skinny legs and arms, but it grows on you after a couple minutes. The backgrounds are so pretty... It really has a ton of personality. You could expect a show about making objects using tools to be loud, as it would mostly be in real life, with all the tool noise and loud bangs. But the show is actually very easy on the ears. It is very well mixed, with clear audio and voice lines. The background music always fits and never tries to take center stage when it shouldn't. And the opening is a BANGER. DIY is not an anime about making random objects. It uses the DIY premise to explore mainly two things: The philosophy of doing things yourself in a world where you can easily get anything from a factory; and the relationship between the girls, but mostly Serufu, Miku and Jobko. On the first one, DIY takes place in an unespecified place in the future, where AI and automation are more prevalent than today. Drones are frequently shown flying around doing deliveries. This futuristic and convinient reality is contrasted with the passion for making trinkets yourself. But NOT in the manner that would be easier. Instead of making it a "future vs the past" or "manual vs automation" thing. The show never completely rejects the convenience and power of technology. Instead, it shows how technology can empower humans. The more tech friendly part of the cast constantly use software to achieve the DIY club goals. There are two schools the characters go to, one technologicaly advanced, and one a "normal" Japanese school. Symbolically, you can see how the technological school physically engulfs the traditional one, circling its area like a claustrofobic old building in a gentrified neighbourhood. But then again, this is never portrayed as a point of conflict. Technology and humanity cohexist.It's a very refreshing take. The second point of focus is the relationships. Serufu and Miku are childhood friends, and you are shown their conflicts after Serufu fails to get into the more tech school along with her friend. Jobko is also supposed to go to the tech school, but enrolls in the wrong one by mistake. The conflict is mostly around the distance between Serufu and Miku, and Miku's difficulty in expressing her emotions towards her clumsy friend. Jobko is dealing with the loss of her mom, and gradually opens up to the club and specially to Miku. The best part is, most of this is only clear after finishing the show. Instead of laying bare everything, and then letting the relationships play out. The shows only reveals clearly what each character is dealing with towards the end. This creates a sort of "in cora res" situation where you are put in the middle of the conflict with incomplete information. The rest of the cast bring some spice to everything as well. Mostly filling other emotional roles that what I would call the main trio can't fill, and also giving it more of a party vibe. On a more surface level, the plot is about the DIY club itself, and the members attempts to recruit more people to it. In their attempts, they intend to build a tree house to attract more eyes towards the club. The show is also very inspirational and instructional. As someone who can't do anything by himself. I found myself learning a lot about tool usage and basic wood work. Even though I'm more Serufu than anything else, I still found myself wanting to build something myself after every episode. I should warn that the least used to hearing foreigners speak english might find Jobko very annoying. she speaks English a lot, and some characters also say things in English from time to time. It doesn't bother me. But if you never left your rural town in Minessota and never heard non native English before, the English might bother you. Besides this, there is no reason to not watch this. It is serotonin in a file. Just go to Nyaa and get your fix.