#diy!!

[immoren]

[animedogoftheday]

Today’s anime dog of the day is: 

Pochi from Do It Yourself!! (2022)

[anime-cafeteria]

[kleenex4u]

[animehouse-moe]

Do It Yourself!! - CGDCTT: Cute Girls Doing Cute Things Themselves

For anyone that isn't already watching this wonderful and warm slice of life series: what are you doing? Overloaded on crazy anime this season? Feeling like you've got a heavy and full schedule of series? Take a break, and watch Do It Yourself!! The perfect reset on the dense and packed fall season that follows a DIY club in their antics, and as I'll explain impassionedly with episode 6 as an example, gives a great perspective into DIY work and everything that makes it great.

The first thing I really enjoyed was the girls getting all excited over the hardware store. Getting to peruse all the various options and available tools like a fun DIY version of a kid in a candy store. It's definitely something that I can say is relatable. Walking past aisles of new and shiny power tools on sale, thinking of the great deals and all the things you'd be able to get done with a proper hammer drill, how nice that solder kit looks for making changing out/upgrading your keyboard switches (yes, I don't use hot-swap switches currently, sue me) way easier. Anyways, I digress, it's cute, it's apt, and a great little segue to place them into DIY mode.

We swiftly move into Rei's room though, which aside from being cute and organized has loads of DIY projects, some of which even happened in the anime already!

Once again, going past the purpose of cuteness and fun, I really love how the DIY element is integrated into the daily lives of the characters. It was used to create a warm and fun environment for Jobko where she could be happy and comfy in her homestay with Purin, and here it really drives home the "nothing goes to waste" mentality that can accompany DIY in general. So many little pieces like a tablet stand, or a chair, or even a little decorative board, it's really fun to see just how many pieces of DIY stuff litters Rei's room and how much personality it gives it.

After the girls have their fun and get into a sidebar conversation about Shoujo manga though, we get into the real DIY of the episode with the girls making seashell beach necklaces, coffee drippers, and tablet stands!

I love the level of detail they go into with each of the crafts. Using the correct tools, having little tips and creative additions, they do such a wonderful job of making the project engaging to the viewer, but also providing insight and accuracy to it. The tips about layers for the resin art? Really solid, and the little trick with the hair dryer? Loved that they added it. To go a step further though, Rei talks about bubbles appearing in the resin during the process, but you can actually use it to your advantage! Of course, you want the lower layers to be without bubbles, so make sure you pop them as they appear or heat up the resin before it cures so that it can work the bubbles out of itself. Anyways, with the wave part of the beach scene in resin work like Rei's, you can use the bubbles from the white resin as extra details/foam in the waves and it can look really pretty.

Moving on, we get to see Kokoro and Rei work away on some Coffee Drippers, and they do a solid job for the most part. They provide some solid tips for drilling symmetrical pieces of wood, and the tip about using tape to prevent burrs/rough entries on wood can be a good tip. My only gripe is that using tape to secure two pieces of wood for drilling through them is a bit flimsy compared to clamping, but at the same time I'm lazy and just use my one hand to keep stuff in place so I can't really talk😅.

They do a really solid job with the majority of the steps they walk you through, but have a few personal disagreements here and there. You don't really to drill holes all around the circle you're cutting out, just a single access hole will typically do for making a cut with a jigsaw.

This piece is probably the biggest offender though, and twofold at that. The simple issue is the translation. In Japanese, they call the tool a "Setsudanki" , which directly translates to "Cutting Tool", but most handypeople out there know it as a Chop Saw, not a circular saw. Chop Saws are static saws that are brought up and down on the material in question to "chop" them, as the name implies. A simple error, but one that should be corrected because Circular Saws and Chop Saws are pretty different. Anyways, the more complicated issue is they don't mention any protection or precaution for cutting metal that will spark. It can get hot if you get any on your skin so it's best to be careful when cutting metal with power tools. Again, maybe the advice isn't the greatest coming from a person that'll run a concrete saw without earplugs and only wearing sunglasses, but I at least want to encourage safety in others.

The learning doesn't stop with Coffee Drippers though, as Jobko walks us through their approach to making a tablet stand. As a quick aside I really love Jobko's character and how well each episode makes use of her. The perfect bridge between technology and practicality, she always finds a way to integrate the two in an inoffensive and positive way, whether neither takes away from the involvement of the other. Also, I just love how detailed they get with the technical drawings she uses. Walking a perfect line of pretty and practical, they're really detailed and wonderfully standardized, basically exactly what you'd expect of a proper technical drawing.

One little detail that they skip over though that's really useful is the gluing of some of the pieces. It's definitely not super structural given they don't clamp it or let it set, but it solves a really important problem when securing pieces together. She only uses a single screw on the piece in the image below, and that creates a problem on its own. It's a single point so the two pieces can rotate around it freely, which isn't exactly great for a product. Jobko solves this by gluing the pieces together as well as added security, good job Jobko👍!

So, case study closed, not only are these cute girls doing cute things, they're doing it themselves, and doing it accurately! It's really great to see and only adds to the overall warmth and fun atmosphere that the show provides. They find a perfect way to inject the DIY and creativity in a way that fits the girls wonderfully, ending the episode with setting up a little space in Rei's family shop for the crafts they made, and it really sells the best parts of this story.

Do It Yourself!! really prides itself on the passion that it passes along for DIY, not just as an individual activity and a space away from the blistering and startling pace of growth in technology in daily life, but as a space to happily coexist in alongside your friends full of passion and creativity. Finding projects to do together, creating stuff by hand to gift to your friends, getting to spend that time together away from screens, just happiness that you can't find without an activity like DIY, and they do a wonderful job portraying that in all the episodes so far. It looks so fun and enjoyable, like something you want to pick up with your friends and try out. And I say do it.

[tophee]

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[billerak]

Do it Yourself Ended

I'm gonna fucking die today I wanna cry so hard

[noeberri]

Absolutely itching to draw them

[a-subscription-box]

asking for advice on reddit.com

[hobohobgoblim]

Because we can remake him. We have the technology.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1665263199/cookie-cutter-the-chicago-rat-hole

[wakewithgiggli]

I've seen several sites mention this, it's real.

Do not make the MISTAKE of thinking you need to put your side forward. The Guardian is transphobic as fuck, and will twist your words. DO NOT ENGAGE.

By the way, this is in the aftermath of the Cass Report, and the goal will be to make Trans DIY something that needs to be regulated or stamped out. DO NOT ENGAGE.

[anturus]

Y’all, my little nephew, who’s nickname is “Cabbage,” wanted a “punk jacket,” like Uncle Kade’s. (EMPHASIS ON LITTLE, be nice)

So, I asked him what kind of patches he wanted on it, and this is what we came up with. Just need to sew the patches down and line the vest. I can’t wait to finish it and send it to him.

[anime-cafeteria]

[kleenex4u]

[animehouse-moe]

Do It Yourself!! - And Why You Should Watch It

It's curious how Cute Girls Doing Cute Things (or CGDCT) always ends up in an interesting hobby. Yama No Susume is mountain climbing, Yuru Camp is camping, and well, Do It Yourself!! is do it yourself.

Of course, most CGDCT anime will always have additional stuff tacked onto them in various formats, but the most pertinent will be the messages it sends. Do It Yourself!!, as well as most other CGDCT series, doesn't get in your face about it but rather massages it in as a core aspect of the series. It's not making the sentiment known verbally, but rather visually and between the lines.

What is the sentiment you might ask? Well, to sum it up, DIY!! sets out to explain the joy and passion of making things with your own hands, whether as an individual or a group, and what it feels like to do so. More generalized though, DIY!! takes a nonspecific look at technology and how it's influenced the modern day, and presents a window into different lifestyles and their perceived happiness. A little heavy, yes, but they do a damn good job of working it in while still making it happy and warm.

They start right away with things like how houses look, or even something like the difference in approach between a pair of schools. The entire purpose of the visuals is to present a dialogue.

Blue, cold, and empty versus warm, full, and happy. Between the two characters Purin (top) and Serufu (bottom) they present a strong dichotomy. Purin's mother is shown to hardly ever be around while Serufu's mom appears right away and is a frequent staple of the series.

Do It Yourself!! plays this sort of comparison up very frequently to drive a stake between the technological future and the applied present. And I'd say it works very well, they never outright say "technology is bad" nor do they propose that DIY is the superior/best method for everyone.

Instead, what DIY!! does is illustrate how isolated and distant technology has made society. Always looking at a screen, always distant from one another, always taking away from experiences. Technology is shown to be something that gets in the way, that frequently stops people from connecting with one another in reality. And with this sentiment DIY!! takes it even further.

There's quite a few memories and flashbacks from characters, and none of them include technology. They're largely happy memories that focus on the feeling of the moment that they're in. They remind the characters of what was, and what they want to do moving forward. It's a huge aspect to both Purin and Jobko's (who's introduced down the road) characters. And this is where DIY!! really shines. It uses the DIY Club to draw together a group of girls over varying interests and desires, and creates entirely unique memories that were only possible because they took that step back from technology.

It's incredibly warm and positive, and even to a degree emotional due to some aspects of certain characters. DIY!! gives a great reminder to what's possible when you take the time to look away from a screen and follow what's directly in front of you. Whether it's daydreams about building a treehouse, or memories of building one with your mother, all the girls find a drive and passion behind what they want to do, and it creates irreplaceable memories that will last a lifetime.