Forum - View topic"Romantic two girl friendship" = yuri?
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darkchibi07
 Posts: 5530 |
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While some of tropes in TvTropes.org can be pretty hilarious, there are some tropes that are rather informative. For instance, take the romantic two girl friendship trope which you can read here:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RomanticTwoGirlFriendship The epitome of that trope: Marimite Now the question is, why is this popular among the Japanese otaku? This trope has the ability to make it SEEM the two girls are in love with each other, but in reality it's merely hitting the border of subtext thus giving the girls more possibility that they're really straight (thus the trope of bait-and-switch lesbians). Does this give fuel the male otaku to go nuts with endless doujin images of the two girls while still being in content that they're officially not lesbians? And there's an insistence of throwing in genderbending plots or traps (ignoring dickgirls, that's more of a hentai thing) in the mix. It just seems to me there could have been real solid yuri romance series with similar straight-up intensity like those yaoi series Gravitation or even Junjou Romantica. But that trope (and sometimes even that bait and switch thing) keeps on "holding back" as if lesbianism was "look down upon". And for the record, Strawberry Panic and Kannazuki no Miko did pull it off but with the unfortunate (and I do admit it) bad writing. Granted there are a few manga titles in Japan out there that are challenging that like Milk Morinaga's Girl Friends, Ichijnsha's Yuri Hime publications, and (the one I have yet to check out) Takeshi Ikeda's Sasame Kikoto, but those are publishing at a slow rate so it may be a long while until more otaku starts accepting it for what it is in their fandom. |
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Craeyst Raygal
 Posts: 1383 Location: In the garage, beneath a 1970 MGB GT. |
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Shows with passionate girl to girl romance are out there, and in fact have been around for some time, but oddly enough I find they don't come up often in "yuri" discussions.
For instance, Devil Lady has Jun's love for her companion Kazumi as one of the central story points. spoiler[The climax of the relationship comes when Kazumi discovers she too is a Devilman, and she and Jun consumating their love, but Kazumi dying in an attack the next morning]. Also, in the original Bubblegum Crisis, it's made very clear that Priss prefers the company of women, particularly later on when spoiler[she falls in love with, but is forced to kill, a female boomer, and then in the following episode has to contend with the boomer's former lover, who was also a close friend.] For a more fun outlook, of course, one could always take a look at Miyuki-chan in Wonderland or Steel Angel Kurumi, but that's getting a little obtuse I suppose. |
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Mushi-Man
 Posts: 1537 Location: KCMO |
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I think you just about answered your own question. The reason why many people (I'm not saying all) enjoy that kind of thing is for the pure sexuality aspect of it. Also, depending on how it's done, this can lead to comedic moments (I have been talking about the not quite Yuri thing). In the case of actual Yuri I would say that it is widely excepted in the anime viewing community. I have seen plenty of yuri anime and manga series. For example; .Hack//SIGN is one of my favorite animes and it had yuri in it. This anime did not present it as a bad thing, just another life style. Also, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Code Geass, Read Or Die, Love My Life, First Love Sisters, Strawberry Panic, ext. These are all animes and mangas that have Yuri in it. Of course there are allot more out there, but this is just the ones that I can think of.
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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Is it wrong for me to say that despite being a straight guy, yuri just doesn't do anything for me?
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Eruanna
 Posts: 451 Location: Canada |
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Eh, Im a straight girl, and yaoi does nothing for me. Everyone has their own tastes. I think you pretty much nailed it, darkchibi07.
In the guys mind, then, "wow its hot to see those two together..... but hey, they arent really lesbians for real and I can still fantasize about one or more of them doing something with ME!" |
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Mushi-Man
Posts: 1537 Location: KCMO |
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Yeah, that's the idea at least. But it's not like it's anything new. This kind of sexual exploitation has been in anime for a long time. It's not going any where soon. And as for Unit 03.5-ish; I tend to agree with you. I just don't see what the big deal is. |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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I'm going to piss some fangirls AND fanboys off with this, but I find yaoi and yuri equally pointless, because no matter how you look at it, they're still gay for each other, and don't care about anyone of the opposite sex. |
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Mushi-Man
Posts: 1537 Location: KCMO |
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What? Are you saying that it's pointless to do that whole "on the fence" thing? Or are you saying that it's pointless to obsess over these characters because they are gay? Or are you saying that the characters themselves are pointless because they are gay? I need to know what you meant so that I know how to respond to it. |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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I'm saying that it's a bit odd to find it hot when two people of the same sex are all hot for each other when, if they were real people, they wouldn't give the person drooling over them a second glance.
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Mushi-Man
Posts: 1537 Location: KCMO |
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Oh okay, that makes sens. Yeah, I have to agree with you. It seems odd to me too. I guess everyone likes a different kind of thing. Thanks for clearing that up for me.
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18587 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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So what? Not everyone who watches that kind of thing is in the "man, I would like to insert myself in that situation" fantasizing mindset. Personally, I take the "two hot girls going at it = twice as much to ogle" viewpoint on yuri/lesbian content in any format. |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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The way I usually see it is that being interested in guy-on-guy or girl-on-girl is just a "phase" with some people.
Of course there are cases where that "phase" lasts well into some fans' 30s |
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4875 |
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It has nothing at all to do with "phases," I think. I know that I personally find the female form to be very attractive, so seeing two attractive females interacting with each other in a sensual/sexual manner is even more attractive. It also has the benefit of not containing the male form, which I don't personally find attractive. I don't really give a damn if two women in that sort of relationship in real life wouldn't have any sort of feelings toward me at all. The entire point of such situations is that they aren't real life; they present an appealing fantasy to the viewer.
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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I may just be old-fashioned, but it never appealed to me. I guess Japan has more diverse views on sexuality than some other parts of the world, but hey, not every anime fan is into two members of the opposite sex getting jiggy. Of course, I tend to avoid going into length about these things as there's a risk of pissing people off with your views, even if they are just opinions.
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Skylark
 Posts: 827 Location: ORE NO TSHIRT |
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I'm old fashioned kind of in my views on casual sex, but I don't mind yuri relationships (I try to avoid yaoi, being a guy and all.. sorry I just don't swing that way). It doesn't really have anything to do with being turned on by something i can never have (I could never have ANY anime character, haha). This might sound weird but I kind of like watching an awkward romance unfold and seeing how the individual sides of the romantic interest deal with both their feelings and the obvious effects of being in a relationship with someone of the same sex (ie, what families would think, friends etc; how they deal with their own beliefs and what they thought about their own sexuality up to that point). In the same vein (although this might be going a little off topic), I feel the same way when I watch incest-related anime (koi kaze, boku wa imouto ni koi wo suru) - for me it adds a more powerful level to the raw dealing with love thing. I tend to be pretty objective on the matter... my experience has been that one can't help who they fall in love with, and so I don't have any kind of moral qualms with it. It fascinates me to see the emotions on display in these kinds of stories, to see how people try to deal with the mixture of emotions inside themselves. |
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