Erica Friedman's Guide to Yuri

so prepare yourself for some gratuitous bouncing breasts  LOL the japanese are so nice arent they?

 Thank you, Erica Friedman for inventing Yuricon!

LA, just like what smithie said, anime is japanese animation that you can watch, while manga is japanese comic books. Yuri, however, is some kind of 'genre' in the anime&manga world, about lesbian relationship.

Not to mention there's also another genre called Yaoi, and it's about gay relationship, in which it's more popular than Yuri, cuz oddly enough, housewifes and even straight young girls just looove seeing two boys in love :P

Confusing at first, but you'll get the hang of it once you read a few chapters of a manga or watch some anime episodes.

Excellent kudos and plug to Erin and Lililicious.

"I can explain why I like, but not why I love."

I'm a anime and manga freak! Basically any cartoons. I'm quite suprised, Japanese are quite open to homosexuality really. This yuricon thing is actually pretty acceptable in Japan. The Japanese are very commited to anime, look at the storylines, it's all about aliens and magic thing. That's what makes it cool. Like any other kid I like to watch Dragon Ball or Pokemon, the 1st yuricon I watched was Sailormoon but my favourite is Maria-sama ga Miteru or Maria Watches Over Us in English. It's so cool! It's a romantic story and very open to lesbianism. The girls just sweet. ROD TV is pretty cool too. But I'm really looking forward to this Strawberry Panic! The picture's cute. Hihi I love strawberries..

whatever they say I am, that's what I'm not..

Thanks for the informative article.  I've been a comic nerd of galactic proportions for many years.  However, I've always kind of skimmed over the manga/anime portion of my monthly Wizard magazine.  This was partially out of disinterest but also for financial reasons--I'd hate to find myself in a scenario where I was plunking down even more money on a weekly basis to feed my geek hunger.  Yet, I've always wanted to know a bit more about manga/anime so that I could be a bit more well-rounded in my knowledge of comic art and storytelling.

I may have to just bite the bullet and buy myself some manga.

An Otaku here!!!!, definitely yuri manga and anime has more fans now, and also a lot of series to choose, my favourite one is Simoun, but Kashimashi girls are really cute, also the girls of Ichigo Mashimaro as you said this anime is really Funny, Miu and her ninja complex...funny.

I saw Mai Hime and... well, it has some fanservice but i think is good, the story, the characters, and i know Shizuru is a little crazy but I just love her Kyoto accent.

I have watched all of Straberry panic and Simun and they both rock the fiking world lol. Simun is very frustrating though even though there is a lot of girls kissing girls the two girls that you want to get together in the end take so long to get it together lol.

STRAWBERRY PANIC IS THE BEST YURI ANIME THAT EVER EXISTED!!! it gives me hope for the future that anime is so wonderfully. look it up on youtube!!!

And has anybody heard about Claymore, i´ve heard that has yuri, but mostly in the manga, but the animation is really good, made by Madhouse the same that made Death Note.

I liked Strawberry panic... but, the animation is too bad, Simoun is a lot more better, also Maria-sama.

Every Yuri fan should have these incredible books. I insist ~~d:

Erica, as editor, has done an amazing job in bringing together volume after volume of pure Yuri. It's wonderful to know that not only are there hard working Yuri arts and writers in the world, but that they're accessible through these books!

Keep up the excellent work, Erica!

First of all, thanks for this article. :)

The only yuri I've watched is Strawberry Panic and I really liked it. At first it was all too weird - the three schools, the many characters, the complicated names, the different Japanese titles (-sama, -chan, -san, etc.) - but it slowly grew on me and by the end of the series I was completely hooked to it. I strongly recommend it.

After finishing Strawberry Panic I wanted to watch more yuri anime but I didn't know what other stuff would be good. This article gives a few ideas, which all seem interesting, so thank you very much!

I would really recommend for yuri to watch bleach. Its a rather complex anime, and manga, and it has two and sort of three notable, and lovable!, lesbians.

first there is Chizuru Honshō who is an open lesbian who is introduced in the first episodes by trying to grab Orihime's, another characters, breasts. Tite Kubo, the creator, isn't really shy about lesbians. Chizuro is a minor caracter really, but just immensely enjoyable through her antics on screan and in the manga.

second and third are Soi Fong (also Soifon) and Shihoin Yoruichi. Thier relationship is shown through flashbacks mainly, but are so well done in my opinion. Soi used to be Yoruichi's subordinate and was in love with her - Kubo doesn't shy from that - but the flashbacks explain Yoruichi left without a word one day to follow a man Soi hates, Urahara Kisuke. The flashback ends with Soi hating her for a century, vowing to surpass Yoruichi and hunt her down to kill her, but of course a confrontation occurs 100 years later. oi and Yoruichi fight and Soi reveals how torn up she was when Yoruichi left her without a word and I don't completely want to give away the plot.

The YoruSoi episodes, as the yuri fans lovingly call it, are few and far between, but like all good shows *coughxenacough* subtext is everywhere and abundant. Plus it's possible the YoruSoi relationship will continue as Kubo has shown interest in throwing Soi and Yoruichi together often for main plot reasons.

Plus after certain episodes a sort of deleted scenes are shown, and in one Soi tried to give Yoruichi a box of chocolates!

Whew...long post, and its my first. I saw an anime post and was devastated to not see YoruSoi in it, but then again, it's considered a kids show so im not too shocked. But i wanted to share the YoruSoi love ^.^

In the old forum I wrote about the lesbians of bleach, but nobody was watching bleach at that time.

Yoruichi is one of my favourite characters of bleach, and I liked the yorusoi relationship I hope that is true what you say about yoruichi I want her back in the story, but you forgot to mention one more lesbian in bleach, one of the Vizard I can´t remember her name, she is always reading magazines about girls or something like that, they mention it a few times both in anime and manga, I really think Kubo Tite is a little obsesed with lesbians.

For Elevown: I have heard about Hen but I haven´t read it, or seen the anime (there is a Hen anime??) but there is other manga called "Maka-Maka" is more erotic than Hentai, but very good too, the drawing is the best and is in colour, we all know is unsual in manga.

There is so much to say about Yuri and I'm thankful to Erica that she outlined that whole world so incisively on this platform.

Regarding Anime I would recommend Utena, Noir and Brother Dear Brother. Especially to ppl who want to avoid sheer fanservice and search for explosive pairing material for tragedies.

For me RG Veda offers with Kendappa and Souma Yuri icons par excellence. Clamp's poetical drawing style is enchanting and I guess a fierce and dramatical love between women in an epical fantasy story is a rare sight. ...if someone starts with "oh but Xena" ...has really low expectations in fantasy 

*cheers*

Always glad to see more on anime.

Gunsmith Cats manga has yuri, too. :)

It's strange there was no mention of Hen in here, as ridiculously awful as it was, it was still entertaining.

I mean, who wouldn’t enjoy watching a confused school girl with impossibly huge tits that looking at them is painful enough and an attitude of a 6 year old brat parading around in a mega short skirt.

I for one, sure did.

One of the 'people' that had very much to do with my accepting my sexuality was Haruka Tenoh (the butch from the Sailor Moon series).

At first i though that she was a boy, but when i found out that she was in fact a girl the fact that it didn't shock me made me wonder.

After Sailor Moon i watched Maria sama ga miteru, Strawberry panic, Kannazuki no miko, Yami to boushi to hon no tabibito and R.O.D (to name just the yuri and not the yaoi). And i never get tired of watching how schoolgirls react when they find out they like other school girls :P

sailor moon really changed my life and i am grateful that Takeuchi-sensei wrote it. (^_^)

You could watch Strawberry Panic on YouTube.

It's quite interesting but after that you will like feel like the whole story is really unreal. It's like everyone and anything is lesbian. Aren't teachers supposed to be disapproving of it? But it's not the case in strawberry panic. It's quite weird but some of the characters look kind of cool! :)

Yami to Bōshi to Hon no Tabibito is a great anime for yuri, most of the female characters tend to be after one or both of the female main characters, not sure if it's available in English but it's still good subbed.

There's also a good anime called Noir, it's not actual yuri but it is implied. There's also Ouran High School Host Club, it's predominantly het and yaoi but there is the odd yuri kiss and most importantly there's the The White Lily Group (lily being japanese for yuri), a female supremicist group who go after the main female character, Haruhi.

It's funny that you've mencioned Yami to boushi because I've always considered it as an "Anti-yuri" XDDD

But only because the ending is not so... yuri friendly XD

Really nice article! I'm happy to see that there is Yuri in america! That's always nice, i've been a yuri fan since a long time ago, in fact here in Mexico we do have a very strong community that supports and enjoys Yuri, so I'm glad to see that finally Afterellen.com is getting more interested in this.

Well almost everything is already said, but just for those who have already watched Mai Otome and want to see more of that fantastic show, you can find on the internet the OVA's (extra chapters), they're 4 and they really worth it.

The OVA's of Maria Sama ga miteru are also avaliable now, with much more Yuri (a lot more yuri *w*)

And just to finish, if you're into action and pretty ladies with guns don't miss Noir and Madlax, excellent Animes you have to watch. And for those who want something new look for the newest yuri series called "Venus vs Virus".

So that's it! Have fun and enjoy.

Comme disait Jeanne D'Arc : " tu verras de quel bois je me chauffe " ;)

Seven Seas, which has shown great interest in expanding Yuri titles her in the west, has just announced a few more licenses yesterday. One, Hayate x Blade, is a delightfully wacky comedy set in a crazy school for girls in which the students fight with swords for fame and fortune. There's one openly lesbian character (Jun - who *always* wins character popularity contests) and a lot of lesbian coupling possibilities.

7S made more announcements that I've detailed at Okazu. But HxB is the best of the bunch.

Cheers,

Erica Friedman

Hungry for Yuri? Have some Okazu!

http://okazu.blogspot.com

I've seen all of these series. I adore Strawberry Panic! It is the second best yuri out there. It comes in a distant second to Kannaduki no Miko. KnM has more of the traditional action packed anime with a beautiful yuri story at the heart of the series.

Well written article! Kasimasi is a waste of time in my opinion. I hated the ending to a large degree. Read or Die, while entertaining, leaves much to be desired. But Mai Hime and Mai Otome are amazing series and certainly worth the watch even with only a lesbian sub plot. Yamibou is a gorgeous series as well. The art, music and twisting plot are truly wonderful. Once again, it did leave me feeling a bit empty at the end.

My suggestion to folks who haven't seen much anime but want to see great yuri: Stick with Strawberry Panic (romance), Kannaduki no Miko or Mai Hime (action). Unfortunately, SP isn't yet licensed that I am aware, so the other two are easier to come by (even via Netflix). I also highly recommend you stick to the original Japanese with subtitles (dubs can be so brutal and childish).

I did like Kashimashi, but I do understand what you said about the ending...

I liked it, but it did feel like something was missing... well... just the first ending, because I really really really liked the OVA of Kashimasi (Yes, there is one OVA wich brings a second ending to the series, one that might make a lot of fans happy)

I don't know if it's still on youtube but i'm sure it must be there somewhere.

I loved this article, so few people understand or even try to watch anime much less read manga. There's an unfortunate supposition that it's for kids since it's animated. I say to these people that they have obviously never head of Bible Black or other Hentai. Thank you, thank you thank you for mentioning Utena and ROD, they're some of the very best anime's out there , the lesbian characters only make the plots even better! The original film? It's one of the best I've ever seen!

A series I like that has two really great lesbian characters is Burst Angel, the characters Joe and Meg are a subtle sort of couple, but it's a lot clearer once the series ends. It's sort of a western in a sci-future Tokyo it has humor and remains entertaining through the whole series. There's also a character or two in Azu Manga Daioh that are lesbian even if it never comes to anything.