Yuri Is Love, Yuri Is Life

[Nosebleed]

Yuri Is Love, Yuri Is Life

A Comprehensive Guide On Yuri

It wouldn't be a stretch to say Yuri is possibly the genre I find myself indulging the most in. One could even say I wish for a world where everyone is a female and they can make science babies. But as reality isn't that forgiving, I have to make do with fiction.
But this post isn't about me (though it may or may not have been triggered by the fact I hit 10,000 posts today), it's about cute girls doing cute things other cute girls.

I often find people either not liking or not finding any particular interest in yuri, but whenever I ask why exactly that is most just say it's either because it's just pointless fanservice or because they don't see the appeal of it, namely because they're of the opposite gender most of the time and can't really connect.

But the world of Yuri is a big one, a really reallyyy big one and I'm someone who believes there's always a way to enjoy something, you just need to look for the appropriate material.

I started out not being interested in yuri at all, absolutely 0 interest (in fact I remember even saying I didn't like it at one point), but through the proper channels I eventually came more and more in contact with it and now it's a dominating force in the media I consume and boy it sure feels great.

My goal with this post is to try and explain most things related to the genre, debunking some myths and try and give some suggestions and provide example material to look out for if you have any interest.

1) Terminology

Yuri vs Shoujo Ai

I wanted to get this one out of the way as quickly as possible, some sites like to have these two terms next side each other as if they're meant to define different things.
But I'm not one of those people that believe in this redundant separation so let's get this out of the way: Shoujo Ai is not a real thing.
In the websites that use these two terms, the main and absolutely arbitrary definition is that Yuri is meant to tag works that involve more physical, often sexual (on MAL and VNDB the Yuri tag is only used when there's hentai involved) works and Shoujo Ai is meant to describe more romance, less sexual focused series.
But this causes a lot of confusion and it deteriorates the original meaning of the word Yuri, giving it a sexual nature when that was not its original intent.

In Japan, fictional works involving homosexuality between females is either called Yuri (百合, "Lily") or Girls Love (ガールズラブ, gaaruzu rabu).
Shoujo Ai as a term in Japan is not used with any of these meanings and instead tends to denote pedophilia (actual or perceived), with a similar meaning to the term lolicon.
The term Shoujo Ai was coined in the West after the spread of Yuri in 2000 and it picked up some of the connotations for one reason or another and now it's actually used to separate two genres that were always the same thing to begin with.

Yuri was never intended to imply sexuality, this notion comes from Western ideals and the annoying existence of the term Shoujo Ai which still needlessly confuses some people.

Yuri is simply love between two girls. Nothing more, nothing less, there's no implications that are meant to come with it, it's simply meant to describe that the work in question has lesbians and it's redundant with Shoujo Ai because of that.

I'd really like for this ridiculous separation to disappear in these websites, it creates needless stigmas associated with the genre and more often than not I've found myself mentioning the Yuri genre and people thought I was automatically talking about 2D lesbian porn. For works containing sexual scenes, why not just use the hentai tag that most websites (including VNDB and MAL) already have, why do you need the creation of an entirely new term that completely changes the meaning of the original?

And for those that advocate that Shoujo Ai is meant to imply a more toned down less explicit relationship, well that's why the Subtext tag exists! (see below)

So next time you talk about Yuri or someone mentions Yuri, know that they're likely not automatically talking about porn, and the next time someone mentions Shoujo Ai, tell them they're a horrible human being

Subtext

Subtext or Undertone are words often used to describe works in which the Yuri in itself is not explicit but rather implied. (once again making the Shoujo Ai tag pointless).

There's variying degrees of this and it's one of the more subjective tags out there.

While there are works that really push the Subtext tag such as Yuru Yuri (hell the yuri is even in the title here), others are incredibly mild things that more often than not require the viewer/reader to make the connection in their heads.

A lot of slice of life shows like A-Channel or Kiniro Mosaic thread the yuri line very thinly by often having one of the female characters be overly clingy or react in embarassed ways in front of their supposed love interest.

Subtext provides a good deal for people who are not looking for intense and exaggerated interactions but rather more mild things. And it also allows for the yuri fans to have all of their wild fantasies and ships (see below) while at the same time not overwhelming the viewer with yuri content.

A lot of people pass off subtext as just friendship which again brings up how subjective this term can be, but it's safe to say that it's a rather nice compromise over using words like Shoujo Ai.

Source: K-on!

Shipping

Shipping is universal, fan pairings have existed in fiction for quite a long time now. But I'm bringing it up here because, in my opinion, shipping is one of the better things about being a Yuri fan, and for a couple of reasons.

For those who don't know what shipping is, it's essentially the endorsement of a romantic relationship between 2 (or more) characters (canon or non canon, typically the latter).

So why is shipping awesome?

First off, I'll talk about the general issue I see with heterosexual fictional couples: the male counterpart typically sucks.
Male characters are often poorly and vaguely written in order for otakus to self insert themselves in them, they follow very generic traits and tropes most of the time and have girls flock around them like pidgeons searching for breadcrumbs. This is boring most of the time and doesn't make you want to cheer for the main couple.

This is a problem in series targeting both male and female audiences.
Male characters in series targetted at females also tend to follow all these prince charming tropes and they are generally speaking more uninteresting than the female lead.

So how do you solve these problems? Well of course you throw the male protagonist in the trash and you put the female heroines together!

This also opens endless possibilities for shows where there's an all-girls cast, you can just pair them together because f*ck rules and males.

Secondly, female characters in general tend to be more well fleshed out either because the writer is a man and men typically like girls and so they pay more attention into making the girl a more interesting character, or because they're female and female writers generally have a better balance when it comes to writing characters.

And last but not least, because it's cute!

Note this is absolutely not to say heterosexual couples can't be cute, of course they can and there's hundreds of examples of it, but allowing yourself to ship same-sex couples really opens the doors for many, many fantasies.

Source: Akagi and Kaga from Kantai Collection


2) Yuri In Different Mediums

• In Anime

Anime is, quite frankly, the worst medium to look for if you want a good source of Yuri material. There's only a few dozen series that are legitimately about relationships between girls and some of them are really fanservice-y.

This is basically the most untouched medium when it comes to Yuri and this is where shipping and subtext really is prominent, lots of all-girls cast shows tend to have the girls be close to specific characters, implying a closer relationship between the two, and this of course drives the fans nuts, but the actual cannon material usually never goes that far.

Most shows really don't go too far with Yuri for fear of poor sales since it's not the most popular genre so they find this to be a compromise.

Source: Sakura Trick

• In Manga

Manga is by far the best medium if you want to get a kick out of the Yuri genre. Due to less restrictions there's plenty of authors, both male and female, that create a plethora of works for all kinds of people that enjoy Yuri.

There's cute 4-koma manga like Majyo to Houki to Kurobuchi Megane and there's serious more touchy stuff like Girl Friends. It's a medium that has a lot to offer and it's of course where all the yuri doujin artists typically make their fantasies come to life so you can enjoy your ships in a more vivid way.

Source: Yuri Mekuru Hibi

• In Visual Novels

Visual Novels aren't as representative of the genre mainly due to the demographics they target which is primarely male, as well as the people who produce it, who are again primarly male, and thus most of the visual novels tend to be eroge focusing on cutesy characters with little to no story and a primary goal of showing h-scenes.

This is not to say there haven't been some meaningful works before like Lonely Yuri and to some people even the SonoHana series is a fairly good Yuri series, but you know this latter one is still primarly a nukige no matter how cute it is.

There's untapped potential here for Yuri to flourish, but sadly most of that potential is consumed by nukige. And hey I'm not saying I don't like my yuri nukige (I'm translating one after all), but this also limits the appeal of it to only those who enjoy such works.

Source: SonoHana 3

3) Yuri Can Come In Many Forms

One of the main misconceptions is that when someone mentions Yuri they automatically must mean that a series is primarly focused on a relationship between girls, and while this is obviously the general rule when it comes to romance heavy series, Yuri is really broad and can encompass all kinds of genres or even just be a secondary genre.

The beauty of Yuri is that you can enjoy it while watching/reading completely unrelated series. Shows like Yuru Yuri or Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya introduce Yuri as a secondary plot device, thus not smothering the viewer with constant yuri but rather have the main plot progressing like any normal story would and have cutesy yuri interactions on the side.

In manga, the world is basically limitless with lots of yuri manga not really focusing on the yuri but rather in everyday interactions while introducing some yuri on the side, and this is one of my favorite things to read, it allows me to enjoy relaxing manga while still getting my share of cute girls being cute with each other.

Manga such as Saki even hardly focus on Yuri and just leave that as Subtext while focusing on the mahjong tournaments. And other series like Akuma no Riddle who are more open about the yuri in them can have other more important matters going on in them, it doesn't have to turn into a lesbian fanservice fest.

This is what I hope people who aren't fans of yuri (yet) understand, Yuri is available in lots of ways for all kinds of people and there's plenty of series that can ease in the Yuri while having an overarching plot for you to enjoy, so one should always be open minded about this.

Source: Shimaism

4) Yuri Romance Is Awesome

Of course while there's a lot of series where Yuri is only in subtext form or only exists as a secondary plot device, a lot of Yuri manga is still centered around romance between two (or more) girls.

As I mentioned before, one of the great things about Yuri are the typically more well fleshed out and varied casts of characters since female characters generally speaking tend to be more appealing to the public. But that's not the only thing.

Yuri romance can easily be more intricate and fascinating to read about due to social implications and stigmas the settings of the stories often have, where sometimes the characters struggle with their sexuality and have to come to terms with it.

It also allows for new layers when it comes to love triangles by having females and males involved at the same time, this makes so many stories more refreshing than your average heterosexual love triangle plots that most people are already used to and saturated from.

A lot of people refuse to read/watch yuri romance because they can't relate since they're either male or straight females, but I believe this is a really poor way of looking at it. Of course I myself can't really understand what being a lesbian feels like, but that doesn't mean the goal of the story should be me self inserting into the characters or try to empathize with them, the story is the one that has to bring out the characters in a way that the reader can comprehend and form a connection with.

Relationship problems aren't different whether you're straight or not, human beings regardless of sexuality can relate to human problems, so while I can't exactly comprehend what it feels like to have a different sexuality or be of a different gender, if the story manages to portray to me what the problem is and how it makes the characters feel, I'm going to empathize with them either way.

Because a character crying over a broken a heart is the same whether their love interest is a guy or a girl. Because a character wanting to be together with someone else and to all those romantic things is the same whether they're a girl or a guy, because having society look down on you, regardless for what reason it is, is always a painful thing to go through for anybody.

That's why when I read good Yuri manga, I don't have to worry about whether or not I can understand a girl's mind or how it feels to be a lesbian, because the story itself, if it's a good one, can deliver that to me in a tangible way so that I don't have to self insert myself in it.

And this is why I've recommended plenty of Yuri manga to both guys and girls, straight and not straight, because it's a universal genre everyone can enjoy, it just takes an open mind to go about it. Good stories will always be good stories, they will never require you to be different for you to enjoy them

Source: Citrus

5) Where To Start?

I've blabbed on and on about Yuri so I think it'd be a nice way to finish this off by helping those who are interested in widening their horizons and where they should go to find Yuri content. (note this is only stuff I've personally read and found interesting as recommendations)

For Anime (primarly focused on romance)

• Maria-sama ga Mitteru
• Yuru Yuri
• Strawberry Panic
• Aoi Hana
• Sasameki Koto
• Yuri Kuma Arashi
• Candy Boy
• Kanamemo
• Sakura Trick

For Manga

More serious stuff

• Girl Friends
• Citrus
• Blue Friend
• Gokujou Drops
• Sasameki Koto
• Aoi Hana
• Omoi no Kakera
• Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan
• Chouchou Nannan
• Hana to Hoshi
• Himawari-san
• Watashi Sekai o Kouseisuru Chiri no You na Nani ka
• Anything written by either Takemiya Jin or Amano Shuninta

Less serious stuff

• Fu-Fu
• Stretch
• Futaribeya
• Yuru Yuri
• Kanamemo
• Lily Love

Silly Stuff

• Majyo to Houki to Kurobuchi Megane
• Shimaism
• Yuri Mekuru Hibi
• Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san
• A-Channel
• Kiniro Mosaic

For Visual Novels (English Only)

• SonoHana series
• Lonely Yuri
• The Upcoming Lilium x Triangle Shameless Advertisement
• Hanahira
• Amaranto
• Katahane
• Aoishiro

Important Note: All these series have a primary, or at least noticeable focus on Yuri, needless to say if I were to make a list of all the series where I personally see subtext or ship characters together, this post would never end, but I trust that as people start getting into the genre they will be able to look for stuff themselves that they enjoy the most, and if you're ever in need for something you can always ask me

Aaaaand that is all, I hope this post was helpful to some, or at least entertaining, I had fun writing it and ranting about my passion for Yuri so I don't regret anything.

I'll see you on 20,000 posts

[Flutterz]

tl;dr: Yuri is amazing

Seriously, it must be such a great feeling to be the first man in space

 

I'll see you on 20,000 posts

So... in a year?

 

Oh, and grats, I guess

[jeftai]

[Lewycool]

What.. People say "Shipping"?... I Just call them couples.............. ((Nao and Reika is the best couple))

 

 

Also really? No Aoishiro? Please nose. 

 

 

Everyone should go and read Yuri Mekuru, even if you're not big into Yuri. 

 

And every one.. Everyone should read Citrus it hasn't got that crappy art style that only targets men (lolis and overly done cuteness). The story is reeeeally goood too 

 

Strawberry Panic is great for people who have a liking to yuri but are only starting to watch anime's targeted at this Genre. 

 

If you're a hardcore Yuri fan go for Maria-sama ga Mitteru. It hasn't got your lolis and your overly done cuteness. But the story and the art is perfect in my eyes. 

 

 

For people who want casual yuri go for: 

• Yuru Yuri
• Sasameki Koto 
• Aoi Hana

 

Girl friends and Blue Friend is sooooo gooood <3 

 

 

And a side note Yachiyo in Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san is female me. 

[Nosebleed]

What.. People say "Shipping"?... I Just call them couples.............. ((Nao and Reika is the best couple))«

Shipping is endorsing the relationship, you can still call them couples, but the term is mostly used for when they're not canon couples in the source material so the fandom uses the word ship instead so it doesn't confuse people.

 

Also really? No Aoishiro? Please nose. 

Sorry, never played it

But I'll include it on the list.

[Cyrillej1]

Yaay for yuri!

 

One of my favorite yuri anime is Kannazuki no Miko (just ignored all the robot fighting & guys in it, lol).

 

I also really liked yuri manga Moonlight Flowers, Octave, and Husky & Medley.

 

Just wanted to mention them since they weren't listed

[Nosebleed]

Husky and Medley is actually not a work of fiction and is based on real life events that happened to real people. 

Definitely worth a read.

[Cythnar]

-nosebleed- (hurrhurr) Yuri2Hot4Me. NoCanHandle.

Seriously, I've never gotten into yuri. Mostly because I like to place myself in a protagonist's shoes, so to speak. Helps get in the feel of the atmosphere. So I mainly stick to works with male protagonists. Probably weird, yeah?

As close as I've gotten to "yuri" would be Hyperdimension Neptunia. 

And, well, yeah...

 

Not exactly yuri by most stretches, lol.  Maybe oneeeee day! Either way, extremely well done, Nosebleed. It's almost enough to persuade me to the dark side!

[Abyssal Monkey]

I saw the thread title and orgasmed.  I've said that thread title far too many times.

 

I still love when I hit random on Batoto and a yuri oneshot comes up.  I just read it because more often than not, its amazing 

 

Due to this, its probably where at least 70% of the romance I read comes from.

[Nosebleed]

Ultimately I can't force people to like something they don't like of course, but I think it's always possible to open people's minds a bit, or at least try to get them to test the waters, especially because I know I started off not liking yuri myself and now I ended up translating yuri eroge. Everything is possible!

[Getsuya]

Please add Flowers and Hakuisei Renai Shoukougun to the VNs list. Both are great recent yuri VNs everyone should try if they can get through the Japanese.

[Abyssal Monkey]

Speaking of you translating eroge, finish it already!  Damn, I wanted Sonobira 10 to be out, but it looks like yours is gonna finish first.

 

Anyway, the last Yuri I read that I can remember the title of was Himitsu no Recipe.  SoL Yuri Romance might be some of the best stuff ever for contracting diabetes.  I'd have to go back and try and track down all the other stuff, but that's for when I make my diabetes post on this thread 

 

For whatever reason, Yuru Yuri just doesn't do it for me though.

[Meat_Bun1]

Great! Now I have a list of manga to spend all night reading read through in between everything seeing as I have already gone through most of the VN list.

 

Yuri romance can easily be more intricate and fascinating to read about due to social implications and stigmas the settings of the stories often have, where sometimes the characters struggle with their sexuality and have to come to terms with it.

...

Relationship problems aren't different whether you're straight or not, human beings regardless of sexuality can relate to human problems, so while I can't exactly comprehend what it feels like to have a different sexuality or be of a different gender, if the story manages to portray to me what the problem is and how it makes the characters feel, I'm going to empathize with them either way.

 

Because a character crying over a broken a heart is the same whether their love interest is a guy or a girl. Because a character wanting to be together with someone else and to all those romantic things is the same whether they're a girl or a guy, because having society look down on you, regardless for what reason it is, is always a painful thing to go through for anybody.

 

Nailed it right here!

 

Congrats on 10k posts!

[Yuri Hunter]

These words are brighter than Hitomi. My level is rising +-+

 

[Zakamutt]

I'd recommend adding Simoun to the anime list. It's a sci-fi show with war and shit but it has some real yuri going on as well and is just good in general

 

also aaeru took her name from it www

[Kosakyun]

Now this is what you call comprehensive.

These things restore my faith on the word.

[starlessn1ght]

Uh... Is there no yuri LN?

[Getsuya]

Uh... Is there no yuri LN?

Strawberry Panic is a yuri LN available in English. Highly recommended. It has a very different angle on the plot than the anime did. Maria-sama ga Miteru is also technically an LN and the translations of the books are available online if you search for them.

[starlessn1ght]

Strawberry Panic is a yuri LN available in English. Highly recommended. It has a very different angle on the plot than the anime did. Maria-sama ga Miteru is also technically an LN and the translations of the books are available online if you search for them.

 

So why didn't Nosebleed put LN examples? I was just curious, actually, I'm not interested in GL.

[Nosebleed]

I don't like reading LNs, that's why I didn't list any.

Should have been fairly obvious since I mentioned I'm only listing stuff I've personally read, but there you go.

Also Yuri in general is much more uncommon in that medium.

[Getsuya]

There's really only the two, honestly, so I don't think it really matters. People can watch the anime and if they're hooked in by Maria-sama ga Miteru or Strawberry Panic I'm sure they'll stumble upon the LNs.

 

Edit: Also can we add Hayate x Blade to the manga recommendations? Thanks in advance.

[Suzu Fanatic]

Aoishiro is probably the most natrual portrayal I've seen so far when it comes to yuri - that and Strawberry panic. But even then they do it in a way I can't really stand. =/

 

I like yuri, but they either make it too goofy/candy-coated, purely implied with no actual expression, or as if it's perfectly acceptable and nobody in the world would ever doubt or question it.

 

I admit i'm probably in the minority, but I've always wanted to watch a semi-serious yuri romance that looked not just at the bonds of those involved, but how they deal with it as a sociatal topic - do they worry about what others think? Do they question their own preferences? etc. I mean, they are at an age (or the age of most cast members in this kind of anime) where they question everything, including their own feelings~

 

EDIT: though I have yet to read any manga - could be that would open some options to me.

[Joshua1207]

Yuri <3

 

Aoishiro is probably the most natrual portrayal I've seen so far when it comes to yuri - that and Strawberry panic. But even then they do it in a way I can't really stand. =/

 

I like yuri, but they either make it too goofy/candy-coated, purely implied with no actual expression, or as if it's perfectly acceptable and nobody in the world would ever doubt or question it.

 

I admit i'm probably in the minority, but I've always wanted to watch a semi-serious yuri romance that looked not just at the bonds of those involved, but how they deal with it as a sociatal topic - do they worry about what others think? Do they question their own preferences? etc. I mean, they are at an age (or the age of most cast members in this kind of anime) where they question everything, including their own feelings~

 

EDIT: though I have yet to read any manga - could be that would open some options to me.

 

 I would recommend reading Girl Friends. Its my favorite manga and it takes itself rather serious. You won't have the complaints you listed here when reading it.

[Nosebleed]

Manga is definitely the go to source for serious yuri.

Anime hardly delivers. I'd say Sasameki Koto is probably the more semi serious anime.

As far as manga goes, definitely recommend Girl Friends.

[Suzu Fanatic]

I'll have to give Girl Friends a shot, thanks for the recco.