Yuri and Alcohol, who knew that this combination would make for such a fun Slice of Life, Cute Girl Doing Cute Things show but this season "Kamiina Botan, Yoeru Sugata wa Yuri no Hana" manages to surprise me in many ways. To me, this show is a more unique take on the CGDCT genre I've seen in a while because inherently, the "things" that they are doing are not exactly "cute", but the anime is able to illustrate how cute it is through the characters, visuals and OST. Character All the characters are fun, especially when seeing how their dynamic changes when they drink. Their characterization isalso done pretty well so far.

Botan is a flirty, affectionate drunk who "blossoms" into a yuri magnet when she downs her liquor. She is more honest, which makes her interaction with the cast interesting, as she essentially helps the cast open up about themselves, especially Ibuki, who always seems to put up more of a guard.

Ibuki is a loner who prefers to drink alone, kind of like Rin from Yuru Camp, probably because she views her hiccups as a social hindrance. She is definitely the most level-headed character when calm, acting as the straight man for the entire cast despite being the first character to interact with alcohol. Seeing Ibuki slowly be honest with her feelings is absolutely adorable. Ibuki and Botan's relationship is really endearing. Their yuri moments are a delight to watch.

Kanade, where do I even begin with her? She is basically a walking disaster from the looks of it. Every moment she is on screen, she is either smoking or drinking or both. In 10 years, she is going to look and sound like shit. Having said all that, I can't help but enjoy her character for the absolute wreck that she is. She is also a sleepy drunk who admires Ibuki a lot. The more yuri ships the better, I presume.

Akane is potentially my favourite character in this entire show based on her taste of music alone. I mean this woman is into Radiohead and Pink Floyd. That single-handedly makes her the coolest character in this show so far. Yaeki is probably the least interesting character as of ep 3. She is the more temperamental one in the group and seems like a sad drunk from the looks of it. Her relationship and interaction with Akane seem pretty intriguing. I hope they will develop this aspect further to flesh out her personality more.

I am not particularly fond of alcohol myself, but the show's way of depicting the joy of drinking really makes me itch for some myself, whether that's a good or bad thing. All of the scenarios the author created for alcohol consumption break up the monotony of the show and make the Slice of Life elements fun and interesting.

Music
This show also has my favourite OP this season. The shaky close-up of all the characters helps to illustrate an intimate feeling like you are watching a compilation of all the moments they filmed during their college life. It makes me feel nostalgic in a lot of ways. The lighting, color, and camera filter make this OP particularly fantastic. The different EDs are basically glimpses into the characters' lives and they are drawn beautifully.

The OST is really good as it is able to enhance the emotional scene while keeping the chill and calm atmosphere for the entire show. The highlight so far is the Radiohead - Let Down inspired track they use for ep 3. I know that Kid A is the record they reference, but the track sounds a lot more like Let Down from OK Computer.

Animation
Ep 3 also went with a more experimental route with its animation and editing. It reminds me a lot of the Monogatari series with a mix of the loose animation style Masaki Yuasa used for Ping-pong. I feel like this helps to spice up the episodes quite a bit in a fun way. One complaint I have is the color they chose for the show. I am not that fond of the desaturated tone. The show looks kind of drab and lifeless at times, but it is nothing that deters my enjoyment of the show so far.

This show has a lot of potential to become one of the best soulful slice-of-life, CGDCT shows. I hope they can keep up this level of quality for the rest of the show's run.

Thank you for reading