Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why is Yuri Anime So Popular Now?
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Toyokaaaa
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Wdym "now"? Always was.
Seriously, yuri fans are just a bit more vocal now, but yuri was always big part of Western anime fandom. It's true that more yuri anime get maid nowadays and more manga comes out too, but even when it was "niche" there was a content. And thanks to more anime, more people get exposed to the genre. It's just like more shoujo anime=more shoujo fans. |
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Thundercracker
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I miss Strawberry Panic and Sasameki Koto.
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John Thacker
Posts: 1006 |
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Also worth noting that, at least traditionally, both the BL and yuri genres are made for a primarily non-LGBTQ+ audience, with the stereotypical fan being a het member of the other sex who perhaps enjoys the frisson of violating taboos as well as preferring looking at two members of the opposite sex (often violating prescribed gender roles.) I have known plenty of Japanese real life BL and yuri fans who were anything but accepting of real life queerness.
Most of what's called yuri, at least by viewership and sales, is yuri for the male gaze, most BL is for the female gaze. The reality of numbers makes that most profitable (as does the insistence on plausible deniability and innuendo and subtext, to the point where people will claim that anything with same-sex friendship is yuri or BL, even if the actual subtext seems quite lacking. Conversely the amount of yuri or BL doujinshi for shows without the least bit of canon innuendo has always been popular.) Hence also the Class S stereotypes of homosocial environments leading to behavior that can be dismissed as a product of an environment without alternatives, experimentation, etc. Yuri on Ice was notable for avoiding this, treating the situation as normal rather than violating a taboo.
It has to be understood in the appeal of violating a taboo for many (though not all) fans. Japan has incredibly low rates of out of wedlock births, and that complements the NTR genre's appeal rather than contradicting it. Certainly in the more porn like genres, the 男の娘 genre adheres more to a Greek understanding of sexuality than our modern LGBTQ friendly understanding. |
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Minos_Kurumada
Posts: 1010 |
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I don't get it, BL and yuri has always been popular.
Hell, I would say at least half of Hero Academia's popularity comes from fujoshi. Lest just be honest here though, it's for the sexy factor and fujoshi are an unlikeable bunch, just remember what happened to the Tokyo Ghoul's mangaka, I am quite sure that when Deku inevitably ends up with Uraraka the same is going to happen to Horikoshi. |
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Fedora-san
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There's also the fact most shows works that get called yuri by fans are not actually yuri by definition or execution. No where does Lycoris Recoil ever classify itself as yuri or does the manga adaption run in a yuri magazine. That example being cited is especially ironic given the amount of fans who sent harassment and toxicity towards the production staff on Twitter because they didn't get their yuri ending and felt betrayed even when the show made no promise of the sort. That being said we are getting an actual yuri ttle this year with I'm In Love With the Villainess. Although previous titles like Citrus tended to be criticized for being fetishy and aiming at the male gaze so who knows how the reception to that title will be. But to answer the question, cute girls have always been popular so it's no surprise people like the idea of two cute girls being together. |
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Vaisaga
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The most popular "yuri" shows are usually ones heavy on the subtext that rarely go all the way with it. Full on yuri shows rarely do that well. I forget which series but one even had the creator come out and say it didn't get a second season because it sold poorly. So the key seems to be to appeal to yuri fans while also giving non-yuri fans 'plausible deniability' that the characters might be straight after all.
As a non-yuri fan even I wish they'd stop being so half baked about it. That way yuri fans get what they want and I can avoid the show all together. As it stands I get a lot of harassment, including death threats, just because I'd rather see Kumiko end up with Shuuichi instead of Reina. Since there are so few yuri shows to pick from, yuri fans are understandably defensive about anything they can get. |
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TsukasaElkKite
 Posts: 3951 |
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I love the influx of yuri manga licenses for English release.
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darkchibi07
 Posts: 5469 |
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It does feel like the stars aligned really well starting with Lycoris Recoil that just so happens that subsequent seasons after that we got solid yuri and yuri-adjacent titles (though I kind of wish The Executioner and Her Way of Life spear headed it first). But, hey, I'm all for it and just hope there won't be a dry spell.
Dd you completely miss The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady last season? Hell, there's Yuri is My Job that's airing this season right now! |
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Heishi
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I miss Kannazuki no Miko.
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egozi14
Posts: 100 |
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Dk where you was in the last 2 and half decades, but Yuri was always there ;p
Nice analogy about Yuri and BL though~ |
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5317 |
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Being male I don't always know if girls in Yuri are friends or lovers, as heterosexual relations between females seem to be closer than with males.
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veryveryotaku
Posts: 1 |
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The reason is simple.
Japaneses otakus won't accept an waifu that isn't pure, so it is better if the girl doesn't have any interaction with any men. Thus the only possible relationship an anime girl can have is with another girl. Proof? Rushia from hololive, the storm began because people thought the VA had a boyfriend. The fans felt they were betrayed. I'm not even talking about the character having a boyfriend, but it was just the real girl who gave her a voice. When Granblue Fantasy had a collab with Love Live, there were fans who got angry because their favorite idols had interactions with male characters from the game. There are no males in the love live anime. https://www.sankakucomplex.com/2018/07/19/fans-on-granblue-fantasy-x-love-live-event-dont-talk-to-my-idols/ I don't think people in Japan care about LGBT stuff. It is just that it is the only way for an anime girl to have any interaction with another character, without tarnishing their purity. |
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Vaisaga
Posts: 13227 |
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Yes, women are socialized to have fewer barriers between each other than men. One of the most common arguments I hear when I say "I don't think they're lesbians" is "If a male and female did the things these two girls do you'd think they were a couple!" If anything men and women can more intimate with each other without being a couple these days. |
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garfield15
 Posts: 1517 |
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Yeah, this the real key. Actual yuri romance that is serious about it doesn't do particularly well. It's the teasing and light yuri that gets the most attention
Always has been |
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MagicPolly
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This might be me being ignorant since I don't know much about the history of yuri and haven't read Erica Friedman's book, but what makes this different than BL? Why aren't similar shows (ie idol, sports, things that get called "fujobait") called BL the same way that Lycoris Recoil is yuri? |
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