Ask John: Why is Shoujo Ai Anime So Rare?

Question:
I’ve seen a lot of Shouen-ai out there, but little shoujo-ai. I’m a big fan of Maria-sama ga Miteru, because it’s such a pure and wonderful love story. Why do you think there aren’t many shoujo-ai such as MariMite (though the show is kind of taboo) when there are popular stories such as Yami No Matsuei?

Answer:
The most straightforward answer is, of course, supply is determined by demand. If there aren’t a lot of girl with girl romance anime titles it’s theoretically because there’s not a great deal of interest in them among Japanese anime viewers. In fact, numerous news reports from sources including Web Japan, the Mainichi Daily News, and Japan Today have acknowledged Japan’s current obsession with “jin’ai,” or “pure love.” The “pure love” genre is characterized by idealized honest, heartfelt, innocent and deeply romantic relationships. Pure love has been a popular sub-genre of Japanese computer games primarily for male players for several years. Now the genre is a sensation among middle-aged Japanese women that have become ravenously addicted to live action “pure love” soap operas including “Winter Sonata” and “Sekai no Chushin de, Ai o Sakebu.” These programs are about classic romantic courting between an innocent girl and a chivalrous, caring young man. Unlike contemporary real life superficial and hurried relationships, the relationships in jun’ai programs are tender, passionate and all consuming. According to the Mainichi Daily News quoting Japanese psychologist Takashi Tomita, the appeal of pure love and its handsome, young male stars among older Japanese females is a variation of the Japanese male “lolicon” fetish. While Japanese men fetishize pre-teen girls to compensate for their lack of confidence in their sexual ability, Japanese women involved in loveless relationships and marriages that have become mundane are attracted to the symbols of idealized “perfect” caring and affectionate men portrayed in pure love productions. “If these women are so caught up in an imaginary world, it’s proof of just how they’re incapable of dealing with their reality. If their relations with the opposite sex aren’t particularly good, they’re bound to chase after an ideal that appears before their eyes,” says Tomita.

There are shoujo ai (girl with girl love, as the term is used by English speaking fans) anime series available apart from Maria-sama ga Miteru. Notable titles include Oniisama E… (known in America under the loosely translated title “Brother, Dear Bother”), Shoujo Kakumei Utena, Yami to Boushi no Hon no Tabibito, and Kannaduki no Miko. And although not primarily a romantic story nor one that emphasizes its girl with girl relationships, Devilman Lady also contains several overt lesbian relationships.

As I previously mentioned in my discussion of overt lesbianism in anime, typical male Japanese viewers aren’t particularly interested in female with female relationships, and the popular trends among Japanese women seem to gravitate toward either beautiful men loving each other, or Japanese woman envisioning themselves in caring relationships with attractive and attentive young men. The “hero worship” prevalent in Japan, especially among school age children, is the foundation of anime series including Utena, MariMite, Rose of Versailles, and even Hana Yori Dango. It’s a logical progression to extend hero worship into romantic idealization, which may, in fact, explain why there are many of the shoujo ai anime titles that there are.

Addendum:

The following informative criticism was submitted by the translator that voluntarily translates the “Ask John” column into Japanese language. In response, some small revisions have been made to the above article, most significantly the exclusion of the use of Card Captor Sakura as an example.

Err, John, I say I have respected for your intelligence on Japanese pop-culture for a long time, but I have to say that today’s article contains some errors.

First of all, Shojo-ai is not the antonym of Shonen-ai. In Japan it usually means pedophilia.

Second. You seem to mistake Jun-ai fever in Japan. I don’t know “Sekai no Chushin,” but “Sonata” fascinated middle-aged women from their 40s to older. It is news to me that their husbands get involved in Lolicon. Few young Japanese women did show interest in either “Sonata” or “Yon-sama.”

In addition. The word of lolicon is not such popular currently in Japan as you believe. “Moe” is used frequently, though. For example, “Sakura-tan, moeeeee.”

And please keep in mind “moe” is a kind of otaku males’ jokingly showing their faults. I think very few indeed want to fall in love with actual elementary school girls.

The relationship between Sakura and Tomoyo in CC Sakura is not yuri. In contemporary Japanese there is/was an interesting word called “ichiransei-oyako,” which means one-egg mother and daughter. They are so akin and on good term with each other that they look as if true sisters rather than the pair of parent and child.

The typical mother of ichiransei-oyako tapes her beloved on her own, especially in school sports. Why does Tomoyo love to tape Sakura? It is because they are the parody of ichiransei-oyako. It also implies Tomoyo is Sakura’s mother as well as she is an affectionate girl. Please remember Tomoyo’s mother is a cousin sister of Sakura’s dead mother.

A lot of yuri novels began written in Japan before WW2 in Japan (many young girls loved “Little Princess” as romantic yuri at that time), and Shonen-ai is a variation of yuri appearing in the early 70s with Hagio and Takemiya.

In Japan “yuri” does not imply lesbian pornographic anime/manga. It means anime/manga/novel describing tender relationship between young females such as “Maria-sama ga Miteru” (Mari-mite). I think Mari-mite is a parody of, rather than a successor to yuri novel. In fact, many males viewers including you loved the series.

I doubt Devilman Lady belongs to yuri. It does to lesbianism in anime and manga for males, like Kusanagi in GiTS the manga.