Yuri (genre) - Thematic History

Thematic History

Among the first Japanese authors to produce works about love between women was Nobuko Yoshiya, a novelist active in the Taishō and Shōwa periods of Japan. Yoshiya pioneered in Japanese lesbian literature, including the early twentieth century Class S genre. These kinds of stories depict lesbian attachments as emotionally intense yet platonic relationships, destined to be curtailed by graduation from school, marriage, or death. The root of this genre is in part the contemporary understanding that same-sex love was a transitory and normal part of female development leading into heterosexuality and motherhood. Class S stories in particular tell about strong emotional bonds between schoolgirls, a mutual crush between an upperclassman and an underclassman.

Around the 1970s, yuri began to appear in shōjo manga, presenting some of the characteristics found in the lesbian literature of the early twentieth century. This early yuri generally features an older looking, more sophisticated woman, and a younger, more awkward admirer. The two deal with some sort of unfortunate schism between their families, and when rumors of their lesbian relationship spread, they are received as a scandal. The outcome is a tragedy, with the more sophisticated girl somehow dying at the end. In general, the yuri manga of this time could not avoid a tragic ending, Ryoko Yamagishi's Shiroi Heya no Futari, the first manga involving a lesbian relationship, being a prime example, as it was "prototypical" for many yuri stories of the 1970s and 1980s. It is also in the 1970s that shōjo manga began to deal with transsexualism and transvestism, sometimes depicting female characters as manly looking, which was inspired by the women playing male roles in the Takarazuka Revue. These traits are most prominent in Riyoko Ikeda's works, including The Rose of Versailles, Oniisama e... and Claudine...!. Some shōnen works of this period feature lesbian characters too, but these are mostly depicted as fanservice and comic relief.

Some of these formulas began to weaken during the 1990s: manga stories such as Jukkai me no Jukkai by Wakuni Akisato, published in 1992, began to move away from the tragic outcomes and stereotyped dynamics. This stand side-by-side with dōjinshi works, which at the time were largely influenced by the immense popularity of Sailor Moon, the first mainstream manga and anime series featuring a "positive" portrayal of an openly lesbian couple. Furthermore, many of the people behind this show went on to make Revolutionary Girl Utena, a shōjo anime series where the main storyline focuses on a yuri relationship, which is widely regarded today as a masterpiece. Male-targeted works such as the Devilman Lady anime series, based on a homonym seinen manga by Go Nagai, began to deal with lesbian themes in a more "mature manner" too. The first magazines specifically targeted towards lesbians appeared around this period, containing sections featuring yuri manga. These stories range from high school crush to lesbian life and love, featuring different degrees of sexual content. It is at this point (the mid 1990s) that lesbian-themed works began to be acceptable.

The later 1990s brought Oyuki Konno's Maria-sama ga Miteru, which by 2004 was a bestseller among yuri novels. This story revisits what was being written at the time of Nobuko Yoshiya: strong emotional bonds between females, mostly revolving around the school upperclassman-underclassman dynamic, like those portrayed in Class S. Another prominent author of this period is Kaho Nakayama, active since the early 1990s, with works involving love stories among lesbians. Around the early 2000s the first magazines specifically dedicated to yuri manga were launched, containing stories dealing with a wide range of themes: from intense emotional connections such as that depicted in Voiceful, to more explicit school-girl romances like those portrayed in First Love Sisters, passing by realistic tales about love between adult women such as those seen in Rakuen no Jōken. Some of these subjects are seen in male-targeted works of this period as well, sometimes in combination with other themes, including mecha and science fiction. Examples include series such as Kannazuki no Miko, Blue Drop, and Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl. In addition, male-targeted stories tend to make extensive use of moe and bishōjo characterizations.