Do It Yourself!!

Episode 8

This week on Do It Yourself!!, as the construction of the treehouse looms closer and larger, the enormity of the task finally begins weighing down on the girls of the DIY Club. Also, Purin pouts a lot. Clearly, the anime knows what I'm here for.

Although it remains stalwartly lighthearted in tone, this is the most seriously that the series has dealt with a very core component of the DIY lifestyle: failure. Think about it; nobody is born knowing how to hammer a nail or work a circular saw. We all need to be taught that, and nothing is a better teacher than screwing something up. I'm sure even the club veteran Kurei has a proverbial pile of woodcraft skeletons in her closet. So Serufu's and Jobko's anxieties here aren't anomalous, and while the girls do try their best to soften the blow to Serufu's confidence (to little avail), I like that the show itself doesn't shy away from depicting that friction. Comfiness is paramount, but so is the dedication to DIY.

In both cases, as in real life, these brushes with failure don't spell the end of anything either. For Serufu, Takumin gently suggests her talents might be better applied away from jewelry and towards design and planning. And she's right! Seriously, pause the video and take in that entire illustration. Serufu shouldn't be left unattended around any drill bits, but the girl's got an imagination the size of Jupiter, and she can draw. Naturally, her concepts need some fine-tuning before they can begin to be considered feasible by a gang of teenagers, but that's what the planning process is all about. It's a basic tenet of brainstorming. You want a wide and wild array of ideas, because you never know when or where that eureka moment will strike. Serufu did exactly what she was supposed to do, and I'd kill to have her capacity for creativity. She's thinking about the treehouse of the future.

On Jobko's end, she suffers from a related but much different problem: volunteering for a task that ends up overwhelming you. It definitely fits her character. She's a confident braggart, because she is by any definition a child genius, but even she has her limits, especially with a time crunch added on top of everything. While she's too embarrassed to come clean in front of the club, she is humble enough to ask Purin for help. Considering their cohabitation and prior heart-to-heart moments, it's satisfying to see their relationship deepen further. It's good to have a friend you can rely on; it's even better to have a friend who knows AutoCAD. And hopefully this inches Purin closer to finally joining the DIY Club activities in earnest. She's going to hit critical tsundere mass one of these days.

Featuring both mistakes and triumphs, these narratives refute Serufu's small act of self-deprecation in front of her mom, when she lists all the other club members' strengths. DIY is a big umbrella, so Serufu's bound to find her niche somewhere, whether it's with her artistic gifts or with her can-do attitude. Even a round peg will eventually go into a square hole if you hammer it hard enough. And if you have enough bandages for your fingers.

Themes aside, DIY's coziness also doesn't disappoint this week. The montage in the B-half is probably my personal highlight, mostly because it provides space for the airy and whimsical soundtrack to shine. Ryōhei Sataka's score has been a consistently fitting accompaniment—never obtrusive, and tonally seamless with the mood of the anime. I also get a kick out of the subplot about Kurei and Takumin's continued bonding over the obviously yuri-infused adventures in Sunflower Girls. If Purin doesn't wise up quickly enough, it's possible she and Serufu won't be the first pair to do some intraclub dating. The aprons are very cute too. This whole show is cute. It's artisanal cuteness.

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Do It Yourself!! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Steve is a regular freelance contributor to ANN and also the guy who called Arataka Reigen an internet sex symbol that one time. Feel free to roast him on Twitter about this. Otherwise, catch him chatting about trash and treasure alike on This Week in Anime.