Manga with lesbian themes vs yuri

Post Reply New Topic

It seems a rather frivolous topic in a forum that deals with very serious stuff often. But I am wondering if any of you have read lesbian themed manga ( deals with lesbian themes not just a romance but actually goes in depth or is aimed at lesbian individuals) Do you prefer it over standard (Like the stuff you see in advertised more often.) yuri or shoujo ai? What things do you like best and least about it? What do you think of yuri and shoujo ai anyways? I have read some manga aimed at LGBT readers (lesbian to be specific) (read it online. I really should not.) and soft yuri aka shoujo ai but not really any aimed at gay men or yaoi/ shounen ai so I was asking about yuri/ shoujo ai because it seems yaoi and yuri have different devices to go with them. But to be truthful comparisions of both would be interesting.

What lesbian manga did you read? I've never read any, but would like to. The closest I can think of that I've read is Utena.

I don't really own any They were from sites like manga fox (I think the legal status is kind of grey there so I am guilty about using them . If I ever learn how to read Japanese or they get translated I will buy them. The most scans came from a scan group called Lilicious. It was stuff like Happy Picture Diary, Miss Sunflower(Not really about the LGBT community) and A SanFransico Story are two.) The only ones I own are R.O.D (Not really but it's strongly hinted from what I read and I would assume no focus is related to the LGBT community if thats what you want (great series if you love books ) and Joan (She identified as female but she was dressed as a man so her lover did not know (Not Joan of Arc, but a fictional woman who did many of the same things and heard voices from Joan of Arc) Medieval so all it really tells you is that those times in that place was hostile to lesbians and women in men's clothes(I love the whole thing it is so worth reading) ) I know of Girlfriends, Strawberry Panic, Mary Watches Over Us (Not the right name but close enoigh that it will get you the right anime/manga/book ( I have not read those manga) I cannot think of anymore but I am going to the bookstore soon, if they have any I will try to buy them (They have a ton of yaoi from a company called June) Anything called shoujo ai or yuri will have lesbian relationships in it. I heard Card Captor Sakura has a girl with a crush on another girl and Sailor Moon had it in the Japanese version of the anime (Not sure about the manga. I have not read that far yet, I hope that if it existed before it was not edited out because that really ruins it (You wonder what else did they erase) It also reeks of ... is homophobia the right word? When they do that. Googling it may help you out more than I can.

I could not find manga that centered on the LGBT community. I did however buy the Strawberry Panic manga and the first omnibus of Girlfriends. Strawberry Panic was really good and I loved the characters and couples in it, so I ordered the anime and novels. I related to some parts in Girlfriends (such as falling in love with a best friend) I really want to know what happens next but the second omnibus has not been released yet where I live. I do think I would relate better to the teenage romances better than to the one focusing on adult's relationships and identity just because I'm a teenager so the teen romances/crush stories might be more of what I have experienced. I am planning to see Maria Sama Ga Miteru because I heard great things about that one. (I may have a long wait and a lot of saving to do because I spent all my money I also forgot that I planned on spending it at the fair trade store too and used it all on manga ) I cannot give any reviews of yaoi manga because I don't have any, would you say it would be useful to read. Useful being key, not as in would it be a good idea or enjoyable (from a yaoi fan former friend I learned you can easily find really cute stories) but would it be useful to my knowledge base or give me new connections or perspectives or could I relate to it like I related to Girlfriends. I mean like the mainstream stuff in bookstores yaoi like June.

I always love Yuri but then again im a guy!

The female friend I used to have liked yaoi a lot. She read it and paired up characters from other series. She once asked me to read all the books in the library that has male couples in it in case there were any "good" stuff in it (there was not really any. In the books with female couples there was for sure. She was going to read the one that was pretty "bad" but the first part bored her and she quit (The first part had no romance it was just a girl at her Grandma's place.)) She was also a gay right suppoerter and open minded (why I don't think she is a gossiper) I always shifted toward yuri because it had girls in it though.

Interesting to look at the poll. I wonder what people meant when selecting other. I totally forgot what I picked. Maybe other refering to ones with teens but deals with more LGBT themes. I love Strawberry Panic though.

As a fan of both BL and GL*, I tend to find that each have their own set of issues. A lot of yaoi (which is why I like to call it BL or slash instead, to differentiate myself from the kind I'm about to talk about) is honestly really creepy. Consent issues, mostly. Also, I'm not really a fan of the seme/uke dynamic**. It's like, if I wanted to read straight stuff, I would. orz

GL, on the other hand, is usually pretty good at not being insanely rapey. However, I tend to find a lot of it boring, probably for the same reason I find most female characters in general boring. Anime and manga relies heavily on archetypes, and I usually prefer the male archetypes to the female ones. It's refreshing to read every once in a while, because the two girls are usually on the same level in a relationship in yuri, while the power dynamics are enormously skewed in yaoi.

So yeah. That's it for me. Also, I like Girlfriends, too***. U:

*Boys Love and Girls Love respectively
**Seme = top, dominant one in the relationship, usually a manly man; Uke = bottom, submissive one in the relationship, usually effeminate (sometimes to the point of pretty much having the body of a girl, hips and everything, except with manbits)
***If you're interested in reading its BL equivalent (as in, something more realistic compared to most yaoi, and also really adorable), then you should take a look at Complex. You can find it on Animea.

I don't think I could ever enjoy something without consent of both parties in the story. I find the mutual respect and love in love stories important to enjoyment of the romance for myself. I've read lots about the power dynamics of yaoi. I am going to get the second omnibus of Girlfriends next time I see it, it's really good and it ended at a cliff hanger when my volume left off. I'll have a look at Complex sometime.

I'm going to try and pick up volume 2 of girl friends when I go to manga night in a couple of weeks. I hope they have it in.

I really liked volume 1.

I've not really read too many others, I generally prefer anime and still quite lacking in that area too. There isn't enough of it!

I love Strawberry Panic though. (hoping to cosplay Amane at the end of the year. I have the wig and uniform, just need to lose weight for it.)


also Aoi Hana and Sasameki Koto.

I have 1 volume of Beautiful Skies of Houou High which I really enjoyed. Lesbian main character, gets sent to an all boys school and has to pose as a guy. Very funny. But 1 volume is all there has been and that isn't good. I want more of it!

I really need to read more manga!

woah, that totally reminds me. I started on that, but I never finished. U':
*needs a yuri buddy, lol*

I love Strawberry Panic!