Season 1 Overview

The main goal of the Hidamari Yuri-Levels Project is to provide a database for interpretation and analysis that can be used in discussions of yuri in the show, but I would be amiss to not put forth my own interpretation of the data. Since every first season episode has now been analyzed, this is the proper time to begin the analysis of the larger trends of the show. The analysis of Season One will look at patterns of data within the season for episodes and characters, determine an Aoki reading for the season as a whole, determine an overall Ume reading for each character, and provide explanations for these figures.

Analysis of Episode Readings
These are episode yurilevel readings ranked from highest to lowest:

1. Episode 08: 1.7505A
2. Episode 05: 1.5996A
3. Episode 12: 1.5197A
4. OVA 02: 1.5116A
5. Episode 04: 1.4438A
6. Episode 01: 1.3837A
7. OVA 01: 1.3372A
8. Episode 10: 0.7669A
9. Episode 07: 0.6447A
10. Episode 09: 0.6206A
11. Episode 02: 0.6117A
12. Episode 03: 0.6066A
13. Episode 11: 0.5410A
14. Episode 06: 0.4957A

Figure 1: Aoki Readings per Episode - Season 1

The linear regression gives a slight but statistically insignificant increase in yurilevels through the season.
One trend that stands out is a very sharp divide between high-yuri and low-yuri episodes: the first half of this list has readings all over 1 Aoki, while the second half clusters around 0.6A. What is making the first half high in yuri, and what is driving down the second half?
If the general consensus on Hidamari Sketch xHoneycomb is to believed, then the “lewder” (more sexual) episodes may the gayer ones, since both trends were independently observed multiple times. However, it’s the exact opposite that seems to hold true. Using a rough definition of lewd content as any with overt sexuality or nudity, the following episodes would be considered to have substantial lewd content:

• Episode 02 (Yuno’s dancing in the first scene)
• Episode 03 (Yoshinoya modeling her cosplay outfits)
• Episode 05 (Miyako undressing and changing Yuno)
• Episode 06 (the first swimsuit episode)
• Episode 10 (Yoshinoya’s performance at the festival)
• Episode 11 (Yoshinoya’s honorarium)
• OVA 01 (the second swimsuit episode)

With the exception of Episode 05 and OVA 01, these episodes had a reading of less than 1 Aoki. Using simple arithmetic means, the average “lewd” episode had a yurilevel reading of 0.8512A, while the remaining episodes had an average yurilevel reading of 1.2678A.
The remaining episodes’ high yurilevel readings are usually driven up by displays of close friendship or affection between characters: Episode 01 has Yuno and Miyako playing together in the snow, Episode 08 has Hiro tending for Sae when she collapses from overwork, Episode 12 displays Chika’s relationships with Yuno and Sae, and so forth. These episodes have consistent if low yurilevels in every scene, rather than spiking to 3s and 4s in certain moments and staying yuri-free the rest of the time. I’ve referred to this as “low-level” or “friendly” yuri, and the episodes which display the most of it are the ones that show up in the top half of the episode rankings.
As has been mentioned in the write-ups several times, yuri is considered the “purest form of love,” meaning it is viewed as a type of love that is platonic, solely romantic, and non-sexual or otherwise lacking in lewdness. The non-lewd episodes (the ones that show more platonic, friendly yuri) are 48.9 percent higher in yurilevel readings than their lewd counterparts. We are still early in the series and I expect lewdness and yurilevels to increase starting around xHoshimittsu, but so far it’s looking like yuri may well indeed be a pure of love (the investigation is not tracking incest and as such defining yuri as the purest form of love is not possible).

Trends in Yurilevels of Characters
There weren’t any major surprises from seeing the Ume readings visualized:

Figure 2: Ume Readings per Episode - Season 1

Generally the individual yurilevels rose and fell with the overall episode reading, while occasionally (as in Episode 09) one character would significantly raise the readings by being especially gay. No characters seemed to substantially increase in yurilevels over the season.

Season Yurilevel Readings
To determine the readings for the season as a whole and for the characters across the season, rather than take the averages of the individual episodes I treated the entire season like one very large episode and modified the equations in the Methodology accordingly. Season One had 16575 seconds of scene time across 296 scenes, with a combined 570 yurilevels.

Season 1: 1.0585A
Overall Season 1 was somewhat gay but not especially. Most yurilevels came from the aforementioned displays of close friendship, rather than overt romantic gestures. On the season level, the lengths of individual scenes was much less important than on the episode level, which is why the final reading is fairly close to the simple mean of the individual episode readings (which was 1.0595A).

Characters:

1. Chika: 1.735U
2. Sae: 1.577U
3. Hiro: 1.274U
4. Miyako: 1.040U
5. Natsume: 0.818U
6. Yuno: 0.745U
7. Landlady: 0.692U
8. Yoshinoya: 0.198U
9. Kawahara: 0.000U

Chika’s final readings were heavily weighted since she only appeared twice and had one episode with strong readings. Second place went to Sae and third place to Hiro, both of whom had substantial and consistent yurilevels throughout the season. Miyako stayed just above 1 Ume while Yuno fell below, mostly because Yuno was weighed down by having more scene time in general (over 2000 more seconds of it than the runner-up, Miyako, and almost 6000 more seconds than Sae). From the portion of the show that has already been finished, I've noticed that Sae and Hiro are usually presented together and their characters are more often than not defined by their relationship, with most of their yurilevels coming from interactions with each other. Yuno and Miyako get significant readings from each other, but their relationship is additional to their characters. As such, it's reasonable that Sae and Hiro would get the highest readings of the Hidamaris. Like Chika, Natsume only appeared twice and had a modest reading once, so she still landed above Yuno. The Landlady was somewhat uneven with her yurilevels, but got increasingly gay as the season continued and ended at seventh. Yoshinoya, who appeared in every episode of the season, did not even reach 0.2U, since much of her scene time was devoted to her cosplay obsession and she only interacted with the other characters sparingly. She’s also by far the lewdest character on the show, so it could be further evidence for the tentative hypothesis above that lewdness decreases yurilevels. Finally, Kawahara only appeared twice and didn’t get yurilevels either time, ending with a firm 0.000. She is still included in the investigation since she will continue to appear throughout the other seasons.

Figure 3: Yurilevels of All Characters - Season 1

The U readings of the Hidamari residents will be tracked from season to season to determine which is the gayest Hidamari. It currently stands at Sae, but there are still three seasons of data to analyze.

Figure 4: Yurilevels of Hidamari Residents - Season 1

Expectations for Season Two

Hidamari Sketch x365 will probably have more consistent yurilevel readings since the show will have a better-established identity and mood. Yurilevels may go up slightly, but for most characters I don’t expect significant increases (with Natsume as an exception).

Season Two analysis will begin tomorrow, but will likely not be finished until late January as I’ll be away and unable to continue the investigation for the first half of the month. The expected timeframe for the completion of the investigation is currently late February to early March.