ANI-MANGA EXTRAVAGANZA!!

YOSSHA!!

It is time, my lovelies -- it is time to unleash a world of anime and manga on all of you for ONE SOLID WEEK. I have been planning this series of posts for at least one month now and, at last, the ideas are being realised in print.

Nerds, please rejoice. And for all the doubtful, concerned readers out there, never fear -- take note and open those horizons to a brand new scene with a whole lot of women, all queerly-drawn.

And I do underline the QUEER aspect.

As in Western culture, there is a definite genre in Japanese literature that appeals to women of the lady-lovin' persuasion and to the gentlemen who happen to support (and drool over) them. Yuri, or literally "lily," is a catch-all term used in Japan to denote all anime, manga, or other related entertainment media that features lesbian content. Yuri can either focus on the sexual and explicit aspects or the emotional aspects of the relationship, the latter often being denoted as shojo-ai (or "Girls' Love") in the West.

Now, as I am fascinated with language and the evolution of words, I found it interesting that North American audiences once used the term "yuri" to describe the most explicit examples of the genre, more specifically the hentai (or pornographic) section. According to the information I found on Wikipedia (I know, only the most reliable sources for Miz Moffatt! *Sarcasm*), the evolution of the West/Japanese terms is thus:

"Following the pattern of shōnen-ai, a term already in use in North America to describe content involving non-sexual relationships between men, western fans coined the term shojo-ai to describe yuri without explicit sex. In Japan the term shōjo-ai (少女愛?, lit. girl love) is not used in this meaning, and instead tends to denote pedophilia (actual or perceived) , with a similar meaning to the term lolicon (Lolita complex)"

Now, prior to reading this article, I was partial to the term "yuri" to describe works pertaining to queer women. Maybe I am just lazy and prefer two-syllable words over three-syllables, I don't know. But, knowing that "shojo-air" in Japan refers to another genre that I find entirely objectionable, well -- yuri will do just fine for this blogette.

In the early twentieth-century, Japanese lesbian literature took the form of Class S stories that depicted intense, though platonic, emotional attachments between a more senior student and a junior student. However, the ultimate message of these works remains heteronormative. While the girls experience powerful attractions to one another, it is understood as a transitory period that enables girls to flourish into caring wives and mothers in their adulthood.

In the 1970s, yuri began to appear in magazines targeted toward young girls, however the outcome was still quite similar. The formulaic conventions of the genre in this era prevented the couple from remaining together -- an older, more sophisticated woman pined after a younger, more awkward admirer, but the relationship was doomed from the start. Once their relationship was made public, both families treated the news as a scandal and the tales often ended with the death of the older partner. I find it interesting that queer narratives tend to conclude with partners dying or insurmountable odds prying the lovers apart. Even now, it's amazing how that plot structure persists in our cultural collective.

But, I digress.

It's not until the 1990s that yuri fans were introduced to fulfilling, sweet, and more genuine depictions of romantic and sexual bonds between women. Tragic outcomes and stereotyped dynamics weakened and allowed for series like the ever-popular Sailor Moon to introduce a more positive portrayal of lesbian relationships. Ah, Sailor Moon -- it was the first mainstream series in Japanese print and animation to not only depict powerful, ass-kicking, magical girls, it was also the first to depict an open lesbian couple. Of course, if you were a young'un in North America when the dubbed anime was released, you would have understood this relationship within a more sterilized, confusing fashion. Even with the censorship of queer characters, I know for certain that the show still influenced my proto-lesbian self and helped shape my perspective on attractive, fierce women.

From that moment onward, lesbian characters have garnered a wider following and are featured as the cornerstones of entire series and magazine serials. On one hand, there's the masterpiece Revolutionary Girl Utena, a shoujo anime series featuring a prominent yuri relationship. On the other hand, male-targeted works such as Devilman Lady began to explore the more "mature" aspects of lesbian relationships. The first magazines targeted toward lesbians appeared around this period and featured stories ranging from high school crushes to lesbian love stories played out in real time with varying degrees of sexual content. In the present day, it seems as though yuri content is free to blend with other genres including mecha and science fiction and thus generate new, diverse stories for readers in love with yuri manga.

And, here we are now -- right on the cusp of diving into the latest yuri series and a whole new stomping ground for creative, queer girls and male fans alike. I am busting at the seams to share more with you, but I need to pace myself here. I could easily inundate you given that the genre has expanded as much as it has in recent years. But no, we shall leave that until later this week.

Here we go, girls -- let the Ani-Manga Extravaganza BEGIN!