While manga, whether we talk about shonen, shoujo or seinen, often displays elements that are distinct from Western literature, as a whole it is easily recognizable. You can use the same tools you analyze East of Eden with to look at Lone Wolf and Cub. If you can parse A Midsummer Night’s Dream then Urusei Yatsura should be just as comprehensible to you.
Yuri however, is distinct enough that it is worth talking about what is intrinsic to it. This is very much an evolving work in my mind and I welcome feedback as it evolves. For this point I’ve considered some of my recent reads in Yuri and re-read volume 1 of Eclair. I intend to expand this over time so consider this a work in progress.
For future reference this is dated June 18th, 2023.
Common Yuri Relationship Themes
I think these are important to deconstruct so that we can speak with more precision about the nature of yuri relationships.
One theme drives everything else in Yuri - love. This includes five types of love that serve as sub themes:
Familial Love - While the first three are all common in Yuri, familiar love is the least common.
Familiar Love - While at risk of sounding similar to familial love this is very different. Familiar love is about shared experiences, sometimes, traumatic, sometimes not but it binds the persons together in a way that becomes a unique bond.
Philial Love - I avoid the word platonic because of its non-sexual denotation. Here philial represents a deep long lasting friendship and could be sexual and/or romantic as well.
Romantic Love - Most audiences are very familiar with this concept.
Sexual Love - While love and sex are often separated the emotions connected with physical attraction should not be understated and are important here.
It is important to underscore that several of these afflictions are not sapphic or lesbian and while yuri comics are often sapphic the genre has enough diversity that it shouldn’t be defined as such.
Secondary Factors in Girl Love
Aesthetic Attraction - This can be a bond between girls who appreciate each other aesthetically but their connection does not necessarily become a form of love or may co-exist with a form of love. It is common with romantic and sexual love but exists in stories with platonic relationships as well.
Mania - This is a false form of love, representing obsession. It is different because it is not reciprocated in any form. This is unusual in yuri which mainly focuses on sweeter story plots.
Playful Flirting - What the Greeks called Ludus. This encompasses several concepts from the so called Bi for the Guys to fan service or just for fun. This is a form of relationship where two girls flirty, perhaps have a skinship, but it is meant to be fun or provocative not escalate.
Power Exchange - Sometimes confused with BDSM, power exchange does not necessarily include any bondage or sado-masochistic elements and can take place in what are seen as very vanilla relationships with a wide variety of forms of love or none.
Skinship - This relationship term was originally coined to describe the close physical bond between a mother and child but is now used more broadly. It can now describe the close bond in a relationship that has a physical component, for example two platonic friends that enjoy holding hands and cuddling. This is often combined with Playful Flirting relationship when the girls want to be provocative. It is considered more intimate than a sexual relationship though can certainly be combined with one.
Ambiguity is a common theme in the genre, with character feelings and even the exact form of conflict resolution often unclear to the reader and open to interpretation. “The Hairdresser” is an example of this, where the characters have a relationship at the end but the nature of it is unclear. It might be a mild form of devotion though one clearly has some level of aesthetic attraction.
In “A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow” both characters are ingénues and everything is ambiguous throughout. In “The Hairdresser” a girl attracted to another does her hair, they clearly develop a relationship at the end but what kind is left in doubt.
All Yuri has one central false conflict and one or more true conflicts. The false conflict mirrors western romance literature and is the resolution of the status of a relationship between two women.
The tone of resolutions is diverse ranging from happily ever after to tragedy and bittersweet endings far more common than in English western literature. Additionally, even the tone can be ambiguous.
This is attributed to a critical difference between Yuri and Western romances. While both revolve around a central relationship conflict the resolutions are very different. Western romances may factor some self revelation in the build up to resolution but resolving the relationship itself resolves the conflict. This is to say the conflict is external.
In Yuri the true conflict is internal to one or more of the main characters. The resolution of the relationship between them is a side effect of internal conflict being resolved but optional. Nothing may change in that relationship or it may be ambiguous.
Because so many plots center around resolving ambiguity and conflicts in relationship most plot roles address sides of those issues.
The Devout - This role is paired with the Goddess. The devout is a character absolutely fixated on another character. The devout could be a yandere but often is a kind soul who is genuinely devout and willing to put their own emotions aside for their Goddess.
The Enigma - This is a character we don’t get to see the internal voice of and is often unexpressive. They are an object of interest from other characters and we often don’t know their feelings until the end and even then may only be implied. Their job is to react. Kai-san from “Happiness in the Shape of a Scar” from vol 1 of Eclair is an example. Note that being an enigma is not about being emotionally reserved but their viewpoint as to the relationship is unknown. In “Human Emotion” from volume one of Eclair we see that the minx is very reserved and probably autistic while the enigma is very vocal and expressive.
The Goddess - The goddess is the object of devotion by a Devout character. They may be beautiful and accomplished or may be very average. They may be aware of the Devout’s dedication or may be unaware of it. They do not have control over being a Goddess, it is determined by the focus of the Devout on them.
The ingénue - This girl is naive and is likely interested in other girls but not even aware of it herself. Often paired with a Minx. Examples: Yuma-chan from NTR.
The Minx - Is interested in another girl sexually and/or romantically. This does not preclude other types of relationships as they are often friends as well. May have many self doubts and not be as sophisticated as they appear. May be aggressive and a combination of their doubts and interests are usually a major driving force behind the plot in stories in which they appear. Examples: Hotaru from NTR. Both characters in “The Unemployed Woman and the High School Girl” are minxes, an unusual point of conflict. The aggressiveness of the minx can mix into themes in a variety of ways, for example in “Master for 1/365” the minx positions herself to be the slave of the enigma until out of frustration she makes a physical ploy.
The Opportunist - Is either pan or they see practicality as more important their sex choices, can often happen because what they are opportunistic to is erotic acts in a relationship and may occur because they acknowledge other feelings of connection and use physical as a pan easy way to reciprocate, the opportunist is a manipulator though it may be a result of self defense mechanisms
The Tourist - This character has just wandered into a Yuri story and really has no place in it. Often used open endings and plot twists.
The two combinations of the Minx and the ingénue and the Minx and the Enigma are the most common pairings because indeterminate relationship is one of the most common storylines in the genre.
The Emo Queen - The emo queen rarely show feminine embellishments even if they are attractive, they are socially withdrawn and only interact with others to push them away. This is often a persona created as a defense mechanism and the person actually wants to connect to others.
The Girl Next Door - The Girl Next Door is pretty, sexy and relatable. They are desirable but don’t put a lot of effort into their appearance being genuine and down to earth.
The Ice Queen - Unlike the Emo Queen, the Ice Queen doesn’t so much push others away as create a barrier of non-interaction around herself. She is usually very good at her job and respected whether she is an office worker or student. They often have a less severe personality outside of their school or work.
The Kawaii Girl - This girl is obsessed with fashion, make up and in general being girly. She is probably attractive and at least emulates popular behavior and may have a big social media following.
The Non-Human - This is taken from the 1948 novel of the same name by Osamu Dazai. This character is in many ways a more extreme version of the Emo Queen that is not a persona but a true state. This person has reached a point of social alienation and depression where they no longer qualify to be human beings. Trigger warnings often abound when a character is Non-Human. These are unusual in yuri.
Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon
Hinako is a pretty girl who calls fashion magazines her text books. At her office girl job she is fashionable, attractive and a daily lunch partner of other girls even when she can’t afford it because she spent so much on beauty supplies. She desperately hopes that by fulfilling social expectations she will be normal, attract the right man and maybe be happy. Asahi is five years older and respected at their workplace. She keeps to herself and brings her lunch. Hinako wonders why Asahi isn’t afraid of being alone.
One night crying in the street Hinako is discovered by Asahi who shares donuts with her on a park bench. This starts a relationship based on empathy and respect which grows from there.
Hinako - (archetype) Kawaii Girl, (plot role) Ingénue
Asahi - (archetype) Ice Queen, (plot role) Enigma/Ingénue
Story and art by Shio Use
Began English publishing in 2021
I really enjoyed this series and consider it very good. First it was nice to have a series about office working age characters instead of school girls for a change and the discovery of two homo-erotic but asexual characters was nice.
From Wikipedia: “Yuma and Hotaru have been best friends since childhood. Yuma would protect Hotaru from things such as bullies, and made it her job to look after her. Now, the two are second-year high school students, but Hotaru is anything but innocent.”
Yuma - (archetype) Girl Next Door, (plot role) ingénue
Hotaro - (archetype) Girl Next Door, (plot role) Minx
Story and art by Kodama Naoko
Began English publishing in 2020
This was actually the first yuri work I read so it has a special place in my literary affections. NTR is a cheeky title as it is meant to invoke NTR as an abbreviation for ‘netorare’ a genre focused on cheating. And the female characters are effectively cheating on their boyfriends. Some yuri fans don’t like the work because of the aggressiveness and mind games played by Hotaro though they are born out of insecurity. Also it is one of the racier yuri series with risque fan service but I do worry that sometimes the innocence of yuri goes a bit bar in ignoring female sexuality.
Strawberry Fields Once Again
Pure, an attractive outgoing girl starts attending Akira’s school. Akira pushes everyone away and swears off romance after seeing her parent’s relationship collapse though she still enjoys playing otome romance games. Pure immediately upon meeting Akira declares her love claiming to be from the future and Akira’s future lover. This story sounds crazy but it turns out that Akira’s shut-in brother has been working on a time machine.
Akira - (archetype) Emo Queen, (plot role) Opportunist, Goddess
Pure - (archetype) Girl Next Door, (plot role) Devout
Story and art by Kazura Kinosaki
Began English publishing in 2020
Three volumes in English as of June 2023
I’ve read the first two volumes and the start of the third at this point. I am enjoying it but it is not a must read. It is notable for having a science fiction angle that is unusual in yuri. It also occurred as I read it that more recent yuri I’m reading treats lesbian relationships as more normalized and less commented on.
The Summer You Were There
From English publisher: “Shizuku is a shy high schooler who hardly talks to other people. Instead, she loses herself in writing, crafting a novel that she never intends to show anyone. But when her cute, popular classmate Kaori gets her hands on Shizuku’s manuscript, everything changes. Kaori suggests that, in order to give Shizuku material for her next book, the two of them should start dating! Can this mismatched pair create their own happily ever after?”
Shizuku - (archetype) Non-Human, (plot role) Goddess
Kaori - (archetype) Girl Next Door, (plot role) Devout
Began English publishing in 2022
Three volumes in English as of June 2023, fourth scheduled for Jan 2024
I’ve read the first two volumes and so far am really enjoying it. The developing relationship may warrant later changing the plot roles but some trigger warning for possibility suicide thoughts need to be included. Also the developing story that is only hinted at for Kaori is giving me I Want to Eat Your Pancreas vibes which concerns me. Overall, yay.
Non-Yuri Works Recommended for Yuri Readers
I Want To Eat Your Pancreas
turnnoffyourmind
jacobvanloon
vaporwave
theartofmadeline
tangentwithtanner
dededos
kianamaiart
baratheonpilled
