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.

Hidamari Sketch OVA 02

Hidamari Sketch OVA 02 includes the four Hidamari residents, Yoshinoya, Natsume, and Kuwahara. The episode deals with Hiro receiving a love letter and the reactions of the other characters, especially Sae.

Scene 1: 00:08 - 00:29
C: Yu
Yuno comments on the winter weather. She has a clock with herself and Miyako on it, but the minute hand covers up whether or not Miyako is holding her hand (a tasteful and commendable display of censorship on the part of SHAFT). Since it’s possible but not confirmed, she only gets a 1.


Scene 2: 00:29 - 00:34
C: Yu, Mi
Miyako apologizes to Yuno for being late. It’s no different from their usual routine and there’s nothing to really suggest deeper, more yuri feelings, so neither of them get yurilevels from it.


Scene 3: 00:35 - 00:46
C: Yu, Mi
Yuno and Miyako leave the apartment building. Again, no yuri to comment on. 0s for both.


Scene 4: 02:23 - 02:46
C: Sa, Hi, Yo
Hiro finds a letter in her shoe closet, shocking Sae and intriguing Yoshinoya. Hiro is initially bashful to say she received the love letter, but since it’s from a boy she gets no yurilevels from it. Sae responds by temporarily dying, which starts an episode-long suggestion that Sae couldn’t bear to see Hiro date a boy, which is both uncomfortably possessive bordering on abusive and very gay of her. It’s only implied here, but becomes more explicit later on, so for now Sae just gets a 2. Yoshinoya’s excitement doesn’t suggest yuri, since she’s interested in seeing a heterosexual relationship. She and Hiro each end with 0.


Scene 5: 02:50 - 03:18
C: Yu, Mi
Yuno and Miyako discuss their test and the weather outside. The conversation itself doesn’t show particular yuri, but it’s relaxed and open enough that they each get low-level yurilevels from the familiarity they display. Each get 1.


Scene 6: 03:18 - 03:58
C: Yu, Mi, Sa
Sae tells Yuno and Miyako about Hiro’s love letter. She describes it as shocking and says the blood in her face disappeared, again showing the major emotional impact the letter and its associated threat of Hiro in a relationship with a boy has on her. The way she phrases it makes Yuno and Miyako think Hiro was the one who sent her the letter, raising Yuno and Miyako’s yurilevels for showing that they assume there is a deeper dynamic at play in Sae and Hiro’s relationship. Everyone gets 3.


Scene 7: 04:19 - 05:09
C: Yu, Mi
While the principal teaches their history class, Yuno and Miyako speculate about Hiro’s letter. Miyako wonders if a love triangle is present; while this would usually mean she thinks Sae and Hiro both like the same boy, in context with the previous scene it’s more likely she again thinks Sae loves Hiro. It’s a very brief thought and the theory that Miyako’s triangle had Hiro rather than the boy at the at the junction is only one interpretation, even if it’s the most likely one, so Miyako just gets a 2. Yuno’s reluctance to speculate keeps her at a 0.


Scene 8: 05:09 - 05:31
C: Yu, Mi, Sa
Sae returns to Yuno and Miyako’s classroom. She continues to be upset, but not as much as in other scenes, so she only ends up with 2. Yuno and Miyako don’t get a lot of speaking time and get more 0s.


Scene 9: 05:31 - 05:59
C: Sa, Yo
Yoshinoya enters the classroom and tries to wring information about the letter from Sae. Like in Scene 4, her interest isn’t yuri and she gets another 0. Sae continues to be flustered about the letter and storms off in a huff when Yoshinoya tries to get her to talk about it, but it’s even less clearly yuri than in the previous scene and she only gets a 1.


Scene 10: 06:01 - 06:06
C: Yu
Yuno wonders what it would feel like to get a letter. She doesn’t specify whether it would be from a boy or girl, so it doesn’t impact her yurilevels.


Scene 11: 06:11 - 06:36
C: Yu, Mi
Yuno and Miyako continue to wonder about the letter and how Hiro will react. Sae has by this point confirmed that a boy sent it, but the two seem as excited as they did before it was clarified, suggesting they would be okay with a defiled Hiro and freezing their yurilevels at 0.


Scene 12: 06:36 - 06:53
C: Yu, Mi, Sa
Sae returns once more. At this point, she appears to be in the anger stage of the grieving process, furiously denying that Hiro will accept and raging at the letter-sender’s invitation to meet on the roof. This scene is the clearest indication thus far that Sae is very deeply affected by the thought of “losing” Hiro, and she handily gets a 4. Since Sae’s panic takes up most of the scene, Yuno and Miyako barely get to talk and get 0s.


Scene 13: 06:54 - 07:29
C: Hi, Yo
Yoshinoya again tries to get involved. Hiro gets little screen time here, and Yoshinoya continues to be unconcerned about whether the letter is yuri or not. Both get 0s.


Scene 14: 07:31 - 08:22
C: Yu
Yuno thinks more about the love letter situation and imagines an encounter between the letter-sender and Hiro. She gets some yurilevels for wondering about Sae’s reaction, but doesn’t connect it to any romantic feelings she interprets Sae as having so it’s only a minor increase. Her imagined meeting on the roof doesn’t involve Hiro, who only passively stands while the boy compares her to Fauvism, so there’s nothing to interpret concerning her mental image of Hiro. Yuno ends with a 1.


Scene 15: 08:22 - 08:35
C: Yu, Mi
Miyako asks Yuno to go. Yuno initially thinks Miyako is asking her to go to the roof, either to watch for Hiro or for Miyako to make her own confession (admittedly, the second interpretation is because I forgot Yuno was thinking about watching Hiro). She gets a 1 for implying, and Miyako gets a 1 for asking her to lunch.


Scene 16: 08:36 - 09:44
C: Yu, Mi, Sa
Yuno and Miyako join Sae at lunch. Sae has by this point reached the despair stage, staring blankly into space and failing to assure herself that the boy is nice. She also vehemently and repeatedly denies that Hiro would ever agree, but it comes off as her projecting her emotions onto Hiro rather than a thoughtful analysis of what Hiro would do. Yuno and Miyako further this by using the same word to refer to Sae’s panic, “childish,” that Sae used to explain why Hiro would say no. Yuno compares the situation to a girl’s manga and has a subsequent positive thought about the boy, invalidating any yurilevels she could have had for the scene. Miyako wonders what would happen if Hiro said yes, also keeping her yurilevels down. Sae gets another 4, Yuno and Miyako each have 0.


Scene 17: 09:44 - 10:13
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Nt
Natsume taunts Sae. Surprisingly, she doesn’t come off as very gay, a marked contrast to later appearances, instead seeming here to be just kind of a bitch. There’s one very quick suggestion when Natsume says “romance doesn’t always turn out the way you predict” and then is shown blushing, with a sweat drop and a slight frown, that she may have feelings for Sae, but I noticed this on the third rewatching of the scene and I can’t tell if my own personal interpretations of her character are affecting her readings and forcing me to try to find something that could suggest yurilevels. I’ll instead defer to my original interpretation of the scene and give Natsume a 0. Sae’s response to her is to insist that she has nothing to apologize for in relation to her denial that Hiro is flirting with heterosexuality, giving her a 1. Yuno and Miyako only appear briefly at the end to make another “Miyako is an insatiable one-man swarm of locusts that devours everything in her sight” joke and get 0s.


Scene 18: 10:15 - 10:59
C: Yu, Mi
The principal dismisses the class early on account of the sudden disappearance of Yoshinoya. Yuno interprets his comment to not do anything “inappropriate” as being somehow connected to Hiro’s love letter, conveying that she considers heterosexuality as something that should not be done, or at least not done in public. If a boy-girl romance is shameful in her mind, it stands to reason that other alternatives, particularly girl-girl, would be more acceptable. Since it’s not spelled out, Yuno only gets a 3. Miyako’s action in the scene is to ask Yuno to go the second-year’s classroom, showing an interest in the outcome of the letter that isn’t noticeably yuri. She gets a 0.


Scene 19: 11:01 - 11:39
C: Yu, Mi
Yuno and Miyako talk about kissing and find Hiro’s classroom empty. When Miyako jokes that Hiro and the letter-sender could have kissed at lunch, Yuno’s response is to cling to Miyako’s arm, suggesting that she sees Miyako as a source of comfort during times of confusion and expressing this comfort physically. Rather than respond with equivalent physical contact, Miyako opts to keep teasing Yuno by saying Hiro had “mouth-to-mouth.” Whatever reason Miyako has for enjoying seeing Yuno embarrassed, it displays a very close friendship between them. After seeing the empty classroom, they both imagine Hiro walking away with a generic faceless male while Sae lies prostrate on the ground, one arm stretched out desperately towards her. This interpretation of the day’s events increases their yurilevels further by very clearly indicating what they think Sae’s reaction means about her*. Yuno gets 4, Miyako gets 3.


Scene 20: 11:40 - 13:38
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi
Hiro reveals that she turned down the letter-writer during the morning. Yuno and Miyako each call her action mature, get slight yurilevels for their appreciation of their sempai. After they have their turn, Sae’s response takes up a large portion of the scene, first showing surprise, then relief that “it’s over.” Hiro gives her reason as wanting to live freely and without romantic attachments, but very soon after places a hand on Sae’s wrist and asks if she was worried during the affair, possibly suggesting her excuse is just a cover for the real reason that she can’t separate from Sae. Sae soon after launches into a montage (a literal film montage, at that) of scenes depicting Hiro caring for Sae, reinforcing that she is a nurturing figure for her and bolstering the interpretation that Hiro chose Sae over the boy. They both get 4, while Yuno and Miyako get 1.


Scene 21: 13:39 - 14:33
C: Hi, Yo, Ku
Hiro sees Kuwahara tending to Yoshinoya on a stretcher. Yoshinoya dreams of being confessed to by a boy, keeping her yurilevels at 0. Kuwahara seems to only be acting in her role as nurse, so doesn’t get any yurilevels. Hiro, as the observer, stays at 0 as well.


Scene 22: 14:33 - 15:07
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi
Yuno explains the previous scene. No yuri to discuss here. Everyone has 0s.


Scene 23: 15:07 - 15:21
C: Mi, Sa
In a series of flashbacks, Sae repeatedly visits Yuno and Miyako throughout the school day. Miyako eventually asks why she keeps coming to their classroom and Sae responds that she doesn’t know what to say to Hiro. It gets her about a 2 since it’s not as obviously yuri as other scenes, while Miyako stays at 0 since her question doesn’t appear to be rhetorical.


Scene 24: 15:21 - 21:26
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi
The Hidamaris discuss relationships. Nearly the entire six-minute scene is centered on the increasingly less ambiguous dynamic between Sae and Hiro. It opens with Hiro saying she thought Sae was angry at her through the day and asking Sae why she got “frantic” when Hiro received the letter, to which Sae responds by hastily saying the letter was just sudden. Sae keeps up her blatant lies when Miyako asks if she had ever received a love letter, claiming she received innumerable confessions in another allusion to her obviously false middle school romances. Later, Hiro expresses regret for turning the boy down, but only because it could have given Sae material for her novel, displaying either that she views her romantic life not in terms of her own well-being but in terms of how it can help Sae or that she is constantly trying to think of ways to aid Sae. When Sae calls this an “impure” reason to love, Hiro asks if pure love would be more preferable, to which Sae hesitates. Consider that yuri is often assigned the description of “the purest form of love.” Either this is a liberty taken by the subtitle group (though that is always a possibility and it’s hard to invalidate yurilevels for it without bringing the entire investigation into question), or this is the single most blatant moment of teasing in the first season of Hidamari Sketch. If the scene stopped there, they would both more than qualify for 4s already, but it just keeps going: Sae goes on to claim that all artistic boys (i.e., all boys at Yamabuki High School) are weird or stupid, in an attempt to invalidate all potential romantic interests for Hiro, and towards the end of the scene, in rapid succession Miyako says she would want a wife like Hiro and Sae says she can’t imagine doing housework, setting up a functional pairing between the two as husband and wife. If there was anything higher than a 4 in the investigation Hiro and Sae would both get it. The strong focus on Sae and Hiro pushes Yuno and Miyako to the periphery most of the time. Yuno mentions that her first love was her father, which doesn’t detract from her yurilevels since it’s portrayed as adorable instead of romantic, and that she has never received a confession. The lack of confessions doesn’t affect her yurilevels either, since it means she has been overlooked by both men and women. Miyako says she would want food instead of a letter and spends most of the scene generally being a gourmand rather than a lesbian. Final yurilevel readings are Yuno with 0, Miyako with 1 (for the wife comment), and Sae and Hiro with the strongest 4s that ever 4ed.


Scene 25: 21:28 - 21:40
C: Yu
Yuno reflects on the drama of the day. There’s no specific references to the preceding episode and no indications of yuri, so she gets a 0.


Scene 26: 21:42 - 22:09
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi
Yuno and Miyako greet Sae and Hiro at the shoe lockers a few days after the main episode. Sae overreacts to the thought of Yuno and Miyako getting love letters, but in terms of feeling left out instead of being possessive. Yuno and Miyako frame their giving of letters as being a popular trend, so the yurilevels they receive for it are reduced. They get 1, while Sae and Hiro stay at 0.

Final Yurilevel Readings: (both Aokis and Umes are out of 4):
Episode: 1.5116A
Characters:

1. Sae: 3.270U
2. Hiro: 3.209U
3. Miyako: 0.919U
4. Yuno: 0.614U
5. Yoshinoya: 0.000U
   Natsume: 0.000U
   Kuwahara: 0.000U

---

In the write-up for the last episode I wondered whether very long scenes were artificially raising the episode yurilevels. Here I wondered if they were decreasing the yurilevels: Scene 24 is a six-minute behemoth oozing yuri out of every frame; mathematically, though, several short high-yuri scenes will contribute as much as one long high-yuri scene if the characters are consistently gay for extended periods, which Sae and Hiro definitely were. It’s unprecedented in the investigation for two characters to get above 3 Umes in one episode (Hiro broke 3 all the way back in Hidamari Sketch 01 for, among other reasons, getting a 4 in a six-minute scene), but it’s reasonable since the entire focus of the episode is Sae and Hiro’s relationship and the deep desire Sae has to never let anything take Hiro from her, no matter how unsettling that desire is to anybody looking at it from the outside. Miyako and Yuno each got low readings since they were pushed to the side, commenting on the main action like a Greek chorus, and the supporting characters all got 0 for about the same reason.

Further analysis will continue with Hidamari Sketch x365 01.

---

*Namely, that she is gay.

---

Corrections: 1/6/13: Kawahara's name was misspelled three times as "Kuwahara," which has now been fixed. 1/27/13: Kuwahara's name was misspelled four times as "Kawahara," which has now been fixed.
8/24/13: Yamabuki High School was initially mislabed as "Yamabuki Academy." The name has been corrected.

Hidamari Sketch OVA 01

Hidamari Sketch OVA 01 includes the four Hidamari residents plus Yoshinoya and the Landlady. The episode focuses on Yuno, Miyako, Sae, and Hiro going to the public pool during summer.

Scene 1: 00:05 - 00:44
C: Yu
Yuno wakes up on a summer’s morning. This episode marks a change in translation groups from FuktLogic to SpoonSubs, and because the groups may have differences in how they choose to translate things yurilevels could be affected as a result. For this scene, however, it isn’t a concern since Yuno barely talks and conveys no yuri to begin with. She has a 0.


Scene 2: 02:19 - 02:47
C: Yu
Yuno prepares soumen for the others. Preparing food for the others is an indication that she wants to be close to the others, but whether this is friendly or more than friendly is unclear, and she ends up with a 2.


Scene 3: 02:47 - 05:30
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi
The other Hidamaris come to Yuno’s apartment and discuss their summers. Most of the scene is focused on the characters talking about their laziness. At one point, Sae interrupts the conversation to call Hiro amazing, an unexpected turn that suggests positive opinions of Hiro are always near the forefront of Sae’s thoughts. Yuno adds on, saying Hiro is cool, but Hiro tries to politely brush off these statements. Also of note is that when Hiro mentions having bought a new swimsuit, Miyako very quickly decides that they all should go to the pool as soon as possible, making it sound as if she wants to go because of Hiro’s swimsuit. She gets strong yurilevels as a result, ending with 3. Sae also gets 3, Yuno gets 1, and Hiro gets 0.


Scene 4: 05:34 - 06:24
C: Yo, La
The Landlady walks to Hidamari Apartments and sees Yoshinoya working on a summer project. Yoshinoya is monitoring morning glories, which represent “love in vain” in the Victorian language of flowers, but who this love is directed towards is not clarified. The Landlady acts as an observer here, likely stopping to watch the entire scene of the principal standing guard to keep Yoshinoya from running away and not to stare at Yoshinoya. Since that’s still a possibility, she gets 1, while Yoshinoya stays at 0.


Scene 5: 06:25 - 06:29
C: Yu
Yuno walks to the storage closet. There’s a rainbow in the bumper image, but generally that would only increase yurilevels if it was emphasizing anything yuri in the scene, and the scene is just Yuno opening a door. 0.


Scene 6: 06:32 - 06:42
C: La
The principal thanks the Landlady for taking care of the Hidamaris. Her response is more a stammered out nicety since she’s still in shock from the principal’s display of physical prowess, so no yurilevels awarded here.


Scene 7: 06:44 - 07:05
C: Mi, Sa, Hi
Miyako, Sae, and Hiro wait for Yuno but decide to leave without her. Nothing yuri to comment on. 0s for everyone.


Scene 8: 07:08 - 07:15
C: Mi, Sa, Hi, La
They run into the Landlady, who has brought them a watermelon. The three don’t speak and don’t get yurilevels, but the Landlady gets minor ones for the gift (which could be either a display of benevolence on the part of their landlord or a present to get closer to them). She ends with a 1.


Scene 9: 07:20 - 08:05
C: Mi, Sa, Hi, La
Miyako, Sae, and Hiro talk with the Landlady. Miyako is very happy about the watermelon, hugging it and rubbing it against her face in a spontaneous display of joy, but Sae and Hiro are reserved about their reactions, opting to politely thank the Landlady for it. She downplays her gift by telling them to think nothing of it, and there isn’t much in her mannerisms that suggest subtext to this request. Her continued interest in the well-being of her tenants gets her small yurilevels, though. She gets a 1, Sae and Hiro get 0s, and Miyako, whose reaction to the watermelon quickly translates into gratitude to the Landlady, gets a 2.


Scene 10: 08:08 - 08:56
C: Yu, La
The Landlady looks for Yuno but is unable to find her, and Yuno inflates a beach ball. Landlady’s attempts to find her get her a 1, but Yuno doesn’t get any for spending the scene being adorable instead of gay.


Scene 11: 08:56 - 09:07
C: Yu, Sa
Sae sees Yuno playing with the beach ball. Yuno’s embarrassment at being seen comes off as shameful instead of romantic, but her attempt to save face by excitedly showing Sae the beach ball could be seen as Yuno trying to display that she is still a worthy companion for her. Yuno gets 1, and Sae gets 0 for her general inaction.


Scene 12: 09:08 - 09:32
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi
Everyone goes into Hiro’s bathroom. With everyone focused on the watermelon, there’s no significant yuri to comment on and they all get 0.


Scene 13: 09:38 - 13:40
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi
The Hidamaris go to the public pool. Many of the yurilevels in the first part of the scene come from Yuno, who gets friendly Y with Sae and Miyako from playing with the beach ball and more substantial yurilevels for hugging Miyako to keep from sinking and then engaging in a double hand-hold (a brazen and shocking act, especially in a public area where it is clearly shown that there are children around). She later falls asleep against Miyako’s shoulder, displaying a high level of comfort and closeness toward her. Other yurilevels come from Sae and Hiro discussing the man at the water slide. Hiro initiates the conversation by calling her nice, and Sae immediately responds with blushing and attempts to tear down his character, as if she interpreted Hiro’s comment as him being a potential romantic interest for her. The way Sae responded to his instructions is subsequently poked fun at light-heartedly by Hiro, prompting further blushing by Sae. Their entire exchange is strong evidence of yuri, especially from Sae to Hiro. Overall readings for the scene are Yuno and Sae with 4, and Miyako and Hiro with 3 (Miyako doesn’t get a 4 for the double hand-hold since she’s only the recipient and doesn’t equally reciprocate).


Scene 14: 13:40 - 13:43
C: Yo
An extended shot of Yoshinoya setting up for the subplot where she swims in the school pool. The scene is a still image with no dialogue, and Yoshinoya gets no yurilevels for it.


Scene 15: 13:43 - 14:03
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi
Yuno goes on the waterslide. The only yurilevel readings are Miyako’s question if she’s alright afterwards, displaying concern for Yuno and getting her a 1. Everyone else remains at 0.


Scene 16: 14:03 - 14:31
C: Yo
Yoshinoya enjoys the pool but is found by the principal. The rabbit on her kickboard isn’t an indication of yuri, merely her refusal to leave behind childish things, and she gets a 0 for the scene.


Scene 17: 14:34 - 16:57
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi
The Hidamaris take a break from swimming to eat. Aside from eating together, nothing much conveys yuri from them, and they spend most of the time talking about the merits of different places to swim. Yuno mentions that she would grab onto a friend’s back in the pool to play, but this doesn’t get as high yurilevels as it could in context of Yuno’s utter inability to swim. She gets 1, the rest stay at 0.


Scene 18: 16:59 - 18:04
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi
After leaving the pool, the four wait for their bus. Yuno asks if there is a pool closer to Hidamari Apartments, prompting Sae to ask if she was comfortable at the large public pool. Sae’s question suggests she is trying to look out for Yuno and make sure she’s comfortable, and she gets slight yurilevels from it. Miyako also gets slight yurilevels for her encouraging words to Yuno that she’ll eventually be able to swim. She and Sae each get 1, Yuno and Hiro get 0.


Scene 19: 18:07 - 18:53
C: Yo, La
The Landlady thanks the principal for letting her swim in the school pool, and Yoshinoya and the principal engage in a water gun fight. Yoshinoya and the Landlady don’t interact with each other, with the Landlady acting just to give the principal a water gun and then appearing satisfied that he has used it to vanquish his foe. Neither gets yurilevels.


Scene 20: 18:57 - 19:37
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi
Yuno, Miyako, Sae, and Hiro eat the watermelon the Landlady gave them. They all enjoy the watermelon, but Yuno is the only one that redirects this appreciation towards the Landlady, and even then it’s to call her simply “nice” and suggest writing a thank-you card. She gets a 1, and since nobody else convey significant yuri they all get 0.


Scene 21: 19:38 - 20:07
C: Mi, Sa, Hi, La
The Landlady stops by and asks Miyako, Sae, and Hiro where they are from. Her interest in their home areas initially seems like it could be yuri, but is revealed in the next scene to be a transparent excuse to leech souvenirs from them. She gets 0, and since the others are only there to respond to her questions and none of them do so in any particularly yuri way the also get 0.


Scene 22: 20:07 - 21:30
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi
The watermelon finished, they light fireworks. In some of the shots, Yuno has her legs very clearly parted and it’s unclear if she’s wearing underwear. I put one of the shots in question into GIMP (an open-source photo-editing software) and used the Eyedropper tool to compare pixels from Yuno’s face, chest, and left leg to pixels from the area between her legs and found that, since her crotch was significantly lighter than the other areas (with a saturation value of 9 as opposed to an average of 17 in the rest of her body), she was probably clothed down there. Still, her action suggests that she is comfortable enough around the other Hidamaris that she doesn’t need to keep her legs closed, a lewd sort of camaraderie but one that nonetheless gives her strong readings. Through the rest of the scene, the Hidamaris have comfortable conversation about their plans and all of them at some point show interest in each other. Yuno gets additional levels for requesting that they communicate with her over the summer. Final readings give Yuno 3, and the rest 1.


Scene 23: 21:35 - 22:07
C: Yu
Yuno plans what to tell her family about when she sees them. Her cork-board is covered in images of the other characters in their swimsuits, some in lewd poses. While strongly suggesting yuri, it could just be the action of someone with low self-esteem trying to assure herself that she has friends, which would fit Yuno’s character. Because of the ambiguity, she only ends up with a 3.

Final Yurilevel Readings: (both Aokis and Umes are out of 4):
Episode: 1.3372A
Characters:

1. Yuno: 1.819U
2. Sae: 1.797U
3. Miyako: 1.670U
4. Hiro: 0.971U
5. Landlady: 0.638U
6. Yoshinoya: 0.000U

---

This episode, more than any other, shows the influence one long and high yuri scene can have on the overall readings: Scene 13 took up one-fifth of the episode time and contributed more than half the episode’s yurilevels (if it was taken on its own, it would have a reading of 0.7196 Aokis, higher than some entire episodes). Is this system fair? Should an episode be so heavily weighted by one especially gay scene? It’s something that I’ve thought about during the investigation, and my conclusion is this: since scenes such as Scene 13 are often the focal point of an episode, if they have very high yurilevels then the episode as a whole will be considered particularly gay upon review. These readings are a reflection of the conscious decisions of the creators (Ume Aoki, SHAFT, or both) to place focus on specific scenes and to give those scenes high yurilevels. In this episode, Scene 13 was the bulk of the time spent at the pool, and this episode was undeniably a fanservice-y swimsuit episode. It stands to reason that such a scene would impact the episode readings because the producers have decided it should impact the viewers’ impressions of the episode itself. Consequently, I’ve decided the system of weighing scenes by length is valid, but if your opinion differs or there is a flaw in this reasoning that should change the methodology I invite you to share your views.
Back to the episode itself: Despite being a rather lewd episode, with lots of shots panning slowly over the characters in their swimsuits, yurilevel readings across the board were fairly high (except for Yoshinoya). Yuno usually appears in all but a few scenes in an episode, but here her total scene time was only slightly higher than the others since there was a long stretch in the first part when she was getting the beach ball where she didn't appear, and thus her steady 1s throughout the episode and her 4 in Scene 13 were enough to push her to the top of the character rankings for the first time in the investigation. The Landlady’s increased focus in this episode gave her the most total yurilevels she’s gotten thus far, but they were low and spread out, keeping her below 1 Ume. Everyone else’s readings were about consistent with established trends.

Further analysis will continue with Hidamari Sketch OVA 02.