Look, Louts! Lilies! - Yuri For A Hope-Flung Present and Hopeful Future
Look, Iāll be frank. I typically try to keep to a more formal tone when I write for this blog. Iām not in a formal mood. It is JuneĀ October 2020, and I, like the rest of you, have been under quarantine for a little over three almost seven months now due to the Covid-19 virus. Throw in a eensy, teensy bit of massive political movements and change in response to police violence and racism, and an increase of police violence and racism in response to those movements, and I think itās fair to say itās been a tumultuous couple of months. Except, strangely, it also hasnāt been, because so much of this time has been characterized by ennui and isolation. Stressful, yet soul-numbing. In short, itās been a very weird place to be in.
So, weāve all found our different ways to cope. My sisterās way has been getting really into succulents(?), and my way has been buying digital manga and video games. Iāve finished stuff Iāve put off for literal years and bought stuff I had heard was good but wasnāt that hyped to get into. And somehow, the one thing Iāve really gotten into has been yuri?Ā
Now, yuri has a very long and rich history, as well as its own sets of conventions and nuances, so it is with a great, great, GREAT deal of respect that I say that Iām going to simplify it for this essay as āJapanese media with a particular focus on romance between womenā for brevityās sake. If you want to know more, thereās actually quite a lot thatās been written about it in English, but Iām aiming this essay at English-speakers who have had at least a little experience with yuri and more than just passing knowledge.
Because you see, Iāve found that yuri fans have a lot of things to say about yuri! And a lot of those things really bug me!! āYuri is only fetish quasi-porn written by men,ā āyuri is only bland wholesome fluff,ā āyuri is only high school drama,ā so on, so on. It made me mad, but it also made me realize something: a lot of people simply must not know how big this field of lilies truly is! How else can we get people saying āyuri is oversexualizedā and āyuri is sexlessā as gospel truth? Somethingās not adding up here, guys!
So, all that is to say Iām doing something different for this blog: Iām writing up a recommendation list of yuri. A large chunk of it will be stuff Iāve read and can officially give my seal of approval to, while some of them are just titles Iāve heard of that I think will interest others. All of them have been specifically chosen to counter common untrue things Iāve heard about yuri as a whole. I hope you can find at least a few things on this list that you will enjoy and help you keep your head as the encroaching darkness lurches yet a few inches closer!
1.Ā āYuri is all schoolgirl stuff! Whereās the sci-fi, the period pieces, the action, the fantasy?ā
What It Is: A light novel series written by Iori Miyazawa (illustrated by shirakaba). Ongoing, four volumes at time of writing. The story is being adapted into a manga by Eita Mizuno, and an anime adaptation directed by Takuya Satou will be airing in January 2021.
What Itās About: It was on her third trip to the Otherside that Sorawo Kamikoshi almost died, and it was on that same trip she was saved by an angel. Toriko Nishina is a beautiful and confident young woman who also happens to have intimate knowledge of the Otherside, a dangerous yet captivating world that Sorawo canāt help but being drawn to. Toriko convinces Sorawo to join her on her expeditions to the Otherside, fighting off bizarre creatures that have somehow been ripped out of Japanese urban legends and finding strange artifacts in order to make a little extra cashā all the while keeping an eye out for someone dear to Torikoās heart.
What I Think: Otherside Picnic is heavily inspired by the novel Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and features several creatures and scenarios from ghost stories, net lore, andā thereās no other way to put thisā creepypasta. On paper this sounds deeply unoriginal, so itās pretty surprising that OP has an incredibly strong identity. The idea of fusing horror with a yuri love story excited me enough the moment I heard about it, so when I finally got to read it for myself, I was delighted to find that the horror elements and the romance elements are both quite strong.Ā
I will say that thanks to the authorās commitment to following his sources of inspiration to the letter sometimes causes him to undercut his own writing (good example: in one arc thereās an ominous train that keeps being mentioned, causing the reader to dread its arrival with each passing page, but seeing whatās on the train will inevitably fall flat in comparison to the readerās imagination), but those moments are made up by the more original momentsā the things that are left unseen and unexplained.
The place where the story truly shines is the relationship between the two leads. Sorawo and Toriko are great characters, both incredibly charming and deeply flawed, and they achieve a great chemistry with each other right off the bat. Sorawo is a very interesting protagonist, one who turns out to have a deeply tragic past that has made her into a reclusive, somewhat selfish young woman. Whatās great is that Toriko, vivacious and confident, everything Sorawo isnāt, accepts this part of her, in a way. Toriko flat out admits sheās not looking for a particularly virtuous person to accompany her, but an āaccomplice.ā A big part of the appeal of OP is seeing these two āaccomplicesā bounce off each other, and eventually come to care about each other, all playing against a background of some genuinely spine-crawling horror. Otherside Picnic is a truly underrated series, and I deeply hope that the anime adaption next year will finally get it all the eyes it deserves (menacing phrasing very much intended).
Where To Get It: The light novels are published by J-Novel Club and can be found via various digital platforms and bookstores. The manga will be published by Square Enix Books starting May 2021. The anime will start airing on January 4th, 2021.
What It Is: A manga by Dr. Pepperco. Three volumes, complete. It inspired a stage play that ran for a while in Japan, but not much information is available about it in English.Ā
What Itās About: Hanako has two goals: to meet Victor Franks, the mysterious author who pens the books she adores, and to become a writer herself. Despite having the mettle to travel to England on her own to pursue her dreams, she soons finds that itās difficult for a young, unwed Japanese woman to dream in 20th century London. However, her luck seems to turn around when she meets Alice Douglas, a noblewoman who offers her a job as her maidā as well as a surprisingly warm friendship. Alice even offers Hanako a way to meet her idolā¦ but at the price of a horrifying request.
What I Think: In the afterword of Volume 1, Dr. Pepperco openly admits that Goodbye, My Rose Garden was the result of them trying to marry all of their favorite tropes (āVictorian maids! Loads of frills! An English family manor!ā are some standout items), and this is apparent in the best way possible. GMRG is a lush period piece that will likely appeal to fans of movies like The Handmaiden and Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, with loving attention paid to details like clothes and settings.Ā
The relationship between Alice and Hanako is quite charming, with Alice supporting Hanako as much as she can while still taking every available opportunity to tease her, while Hanako constantly surprises Alice each time she shows her moxie and strength. Itās an adorable, sweet dynamic, yet a dark, melancholy weight lurks in the background in the form of Aliceās requestā in short, itās a relationship that feels tailor made for me. Still, I believe this ādarknessā never threatens to overwhelm the story, only enhance it in such a way that the reader will soldier on, hoping for a happy ending for our two leads. With an engaging plot and gorgeous art, this is a great manga for both longtime yuri fans and newcomers looking for an introduction to the world of yuri.
Where To Get It: Seven Seas Entertainment has translated the first two volumes, with the final one coming to English soon all three volumes into English.
What It Is: A visual novel by paleontology, a Japanese doujin circle.
What Itās About: Mizuno Sachiko is a designer who is haunted by visions of Takako, her vivacious childhood friend and former lover. Narasaki Hibiki is a psychiatrist who wants to help Sachiko make sense of these hallucinations. Takako isā¦ confused, trying to figure out why she keeps losing her memory and why she and Sachiko drifted apart despite being so close. Seabed is a story that spans the pasts and presents of these three women as they attempt to find and understand the truth.
What I Think: At first glance, Seabed seems simple, but itās a bit of a hard story to explain. In a way, there isnāt much to explainā itās a very slow, down-to-earth story that gets almost tedious at times. I think it would be a hard sell to someone who isnāt used to visual novels, but I could imagine it being challenging even for fans. All Iāll say is this: if you give Seabed a chance, it will draw you into a surreal, gentle, melancholy tale akin to slowly sinking beneath the water of a strange, yet not unfriendly sea. For its simplicity, itās got quite a few surprises in its long, long runtime, and any attempt to explain further will just ruin an experience thatās meant to wash over the reader over time. The only thing Iāll say is the one thing I think everyone knows: the climax will make you cry.
Where To Get It: Seabed is published in English through Fruitbat Factory and is available on Steam, Itch.io, and Nintendo Switch.
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