Ask John: Why Do Yuri Anime Need to Sanction Their Relationships?

Question:
Why do a lot of yuri anime/manga series feel the need to include a gimmick to sanction the relationship, such as an all-girl boarding school (e.g. “The Last Uniform” and “Strawberry Panic”) or gender reversals (“Simoun” and “Kashimashi”). These two gimmicks in particular say to me that relationships between girls is okay only when there aren’t any boys around or when the person the girl is in love with is really a boy or will be a boy in the future. There are plenty of yuri series about honest, lesbian relationships that don’t rely on gimmicks, so why do a lot of series feel they have to justify a girl-girl relationship either by the situation or by someone’s true gender?

Answer:
From the outset I’ll have to explain that I’m not familiar enough with yuri manga to adequately discuss them. I’ll have to limit my examples and discussion solely to anime. In the realm of anime, qualifications that seemingly justify same-sex romance aren’t limited to girls. Suki na Mono wa Suki Dakara Shoganai!! and Gakuen Heaven, along with Marginal Prince (which isn’t a full-fledged boy love series but deals with relationships between boys) occur in all-boys schools. Homosexuality is not especially well tollerated in Japan. The same may be said of America. I can’t disqualify the accusation that anime frequently seems to establish extenuating circumstances that explain and justify homosexual attraction, as though suggesting that homosexuality is all right when heterosexual relationships aren’t practically possible. However, there are examples of anime that depict gay relationships or homosexual attraction as a legitimate alternate lifestyle. Himeko and Chikane of Kannazuki no Miko have a girl-love relationship in Kannazuki no Miko despite the presence of available boys. El-Hazard, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Air Master, and He Is My Master, for example, include female characters attracted to girls despite having ample opportunity to persue heterosexual couplings. I’m not the first person to point out Yoshiya Nobuko’s influential series of “Hana Monogatari” short stories published from 1916-1924 introduced the literary concept of classmates in all-girls schools developing deep adoration and affections for one another. That influence is still seen in even non-yuri contemporary anime like Kareshi Kanojo no Jijo and the current Taisho Yakyuu Musume. However, ultimately, I think there’s a simple and apolitical reason for the backgrounds that frequently frame shoujo ai in anime. The titles that seemingly rationalize lesbian attraction are frequently anime targeted at male otaku viewers.

Cream Lemon’s “Escalation” series, Queen’s Blade, Shoujo Sect, Strike Witches, Iczer-One, Blue Drop, Kashimashi, Hen, Kanamemo, ICE, Strawberry Panic, and Pink Noise 4: Body Jack are anime that feature yuri themes in settings without men around, or involve lesbian relationships in which one of the girls was previously male. All of these anime are targeted at male viewers. The exclusion of male characters, or the caveat of gender switching allows male viewers to enjoy the depiction of lesbianism without feeling excluded. In a setting in which girls consciously choose other girls instead of boys, the male viewer may feel personally rejected. If anime targeted at male viewers serves as vicarious wish fulfillment, male viewers don’t want to see stand-ins for themselves being unnecessary or unwanted. However, if there aren’t any boys around, the male viewer doesn’t have to think, “She’s choosing another girl instead of me.” Or, in anime like Hen, Kashimashi, and Body Jack, the male viewer can literally project himself into the lesbian relationship.

In anime for male viewers in which the protagonist character has lesbian tendencies, like Kannazuki no Miko and Yami to Boshi to Hon no Tabibito, the lesbian attraction is explained and justified because the girls are childhood friends whose long friendship has evolved into love. That’s agreeable to male viewers because it doesn’t create the impression that the girls are consciously rejecting men. In anime including Ghost in the Shell and Mnemosyne the leading ladies are seemingly bisexual, which allows their anime to evoke lesbianism without alienating male viewers. In series for male viewers like El-Hazard, Ultimate Girls, Project A-ko, He Is My Master, and Steel Angel Kurumi, the lesbian character is not the protagonist. That situation allows these shows to include lesbian jokes and themes while still making the show’s leading girl available to the male viewer.

Yuri anime for girls, like Oniisama E… and Maria-sama ga Miteru, are set in all-girls schools in order to create an atmosphere of dainty refinement and elegance that excludes rough, unrefined masculinity. In these shows, men aren’t excluded to create a justification for homosexuality; men are rejected because the exclusive company of girls is preferred. Similarly, boy love anime typically marginalizes or excludes women, not to force the men into homosexual relationships, but rather because the predominantly female audience is more interested in seeing a cast filled with handsome men.

I won’t deny that many yuri themed anime seem to propose that lesbian relationships are natural and acceptable only when “normal” heterosexual relationships aren’t possible. But I don’t believe that Japanese artists are trying to villify lesbianism or depict it as a lifestyle motivated by desperation and extreme circumstances. I think that most homosexual relationships in anime are depicted in the settings they occur in to satisfy the expectations of viewers, not as a means of making social critique. On the contrary, I think it’s admirable that Japan produces so much mainstream comic and animation art depicting affirming, loving, positive homosexual relationships while depictions of gay characters and lifestyles remain quite taboo and controversial in American comics and animation.