Yuri In Anime: Where the Girls Are

Girls, Girls, Girls: Getting Into Yuri Anime

If you are an anime fan who has just run into this genre and you are wondering what it is all about you might find that the topic of yuri anime is one that interests you. It is always important to remember that anime is more appropriately considered a medium than a genre; the term yuri describes only a small segment of anime in general and is, on it’s own, a distinct genre. As such, it can cover a great deal of ground and there is often a great deal of debate on whether a series should be called yuri.

At the most basic level, yuri refers to an anime genre that depicts the romantic relationship between two women. Some yuri will focus on the emotional relationship between two women, while others will tend to focus on the sexual relationship between them. Some yuri, despite being emotionally quite intense, will not have any depiction of sex at all, while at the other end of the spectrum, you will have extremely erotically charged situations that are presented purely for titillation.

It is important to remember that yuri is not meant for young children. While Japanese conventions do allow for more skin showing in media that is meant for children, yuri is specifically a genre for a mature audience. Even when sexual content is not present, it is not uncommon to find themes of abuse, misogyny and violent crime in yuri anime. Some yuri is aimed at women, while there is specifically a subset of yuri that is aimed at a male audience and even published in seinen magazines, which are geared towards men.

It is also worth mentioning the usage of the term yuri will vary between a Japanese audience and a Western one. In a Japanese context, yuri can refer to any intense romantic relationship between two women or girls, while in a Western context, most people tend to think of yuri as referring to anime and manga that are out and out pornographic in their depiction of lesbian relationships. This can lead to some muddling of the waters when you go looking for content that can be called yuri, so make sure that you read up on the different series before you decide.

One of the popular anime that can be described as yuri is Strawberry Panic, which revolves around the lives of teenage girls attending a private academy. One of the first scenes involves the heroine falling down a hill and meeting another character, who she finds so beautiful that she actually passes out! While there is no graphic content in this anime, the romantic relationships between the girls is fairly clear and dealt with head on.

Take some time and learn more about these anime; the media is all encompassing in that you are sure to find titles that you enjoy.