Ask John: Why Don’t Yuri Anime Include Sex?

Question:
Why is it that fan-named “yuri shows” don’t really have any yuri in them? Ask any yuri fan what the staples of the genre are, and you get titles like Utena, Mai Hime, Maria-sama ga Miteru, Strike Witches, Lyrical Nanoha, Noir. Except none of those shows go anywhere near actual lesbian relationships besides some subtext, hinting, and a little close friendship. Am I just missing my “yuri goggles” in that I don’t see these relationships as obvious lesbian love relationships? Are yuri fans so starved of actual relationships that they see it all over when its really not there?

Answer:
An irony does surround the yuri anime genre, but this irony extends beyond the fact that numerous anime series widely categorized as yuri anime don’t literally star lesbians or include any lesbian sex. The irony lies in the fact that a most important distinguishing factor is the definition and perception of the genre term “yuri” more than in the literal content of any given anime. Exactly what constitutes yuri anime depends less on the literal content of the anime and more on how one chooses to define “yuri.”

Although the literal genre name “yuri” developed in the early 1980s, the literary concept of lesbian romance in Japanese popular literature dates back to the early 1900s and author Nobuko Yoshiya. Her pioneering of the “Class S” theme of intense adoration between schoolgirls has become a staple of modern yuri, prominent in anime including Utena, Oniisama E…, and Strawberry Panic. The “Class S” concept that preceded and inspired the modern yuri genre doesn’t necessarily include sex or even overt lesbianism. In effect, one of the founding principles of yuri is simply strong respect, affection, and devotion from one girl projected onto another. Although shows like Lyrical Nanoha and the first season of Pretty Cure have no overt homosexual theme, the shows are sometimes associated with the yuri genre because the platonic affection and devotion between the lead female characters is as strong and deep as romantic love. If the modern yuri genre was partially inspired by platonic affection between girls, at least referring to shows like Futari wa Precure and Lyrical Nanoha as having yuri themes seems reasonable.

Anime television series can depict fairly graphic sex; shows including Gantz and Aoi Bungaku have done so. However, overt yuri television series including Strawberry Panic, Simoun, Aoi Hana, Sasameki Koto, Kashimashi, and Mariaholic don’t include graphic sex. Being mindful of the fact that the term “yuri” originated out of Japanese lesbian community and is based on a literary tradition targeted at female readers, it’s ironic that anime which do depict graphic lesbian sex are typically not targeted at a female audience. Anime including Shoujo Sect, Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo, Stainless Night, Nageki no Kenkou Yuuryouji, G-Taste, and the Cream Lemon “Escalation” series feature predominantly or exclusively graphic lesbian (or in the case of Nageki no Kenkou Yuuryouji, at least all-girl) sex, but all of these titles are primarily targeted at male viewers rather than the female audience normally assumed to be the demographic for yuri themes.

The seemingly ironic absence of lesbian sex in the most recognized lesbian anime has less to do with the actual content of the shows and more to do with the definition of “yuri.” If “yuri” is literally defined as lesbianism, than the absence of graphic sex in yuri shows like Maria-sama ga Miteru, Strawberry Panic, Oniisama E…, Utena, Blue Drop, Kanamemo, and Aoi Hana does seem odd. If “yuri” is defined as the Japanese literary genre of “girl love,” involving both intense affection and idolization as well as overt lesbianism, and targeted primarily at a female audience, than there’s no conflict with referring to shows like Aoi Hana, MariMite, and Utena as “yuri” despite their lack of graphic lesbian sex. Strictly insisting that “yuri” be defined as depictions of lesbianism results in conventional hentai for male audiences like Shoujo Sect, Cream Lemon: Pop Chaser, and G-Taste being classified as “yuri” anime when these shows don’t include any of the aesthetics, romance, or emotion that female audiences expect from yuri anime. Personally, I think that perceiving yuri as shoujo with homosexual instead of heterosexual romance is a more useful and appropriate means of classification than defining yuri as anime that depicts lesbian sex. Traditionally, it’s the romance and emotion between girls that’s more relevant to defining yuri classification than the physical consummation of sex between girls.