SemiOT, but still of interest I hope. Anyone ever see a yuri FAQ before? >_>

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WHY A YURI FAQ?
I haven't actually seen a yuri FAQ, so I figured I could write one. I bet I only
have a limited knowledge of anime in comparison to some fans, so suggestions on
how this FAQ can be modified or help make it into more of the standard FAQ
format you're welcome to help, and I'd be happy if someone'd put it on a
webpage or something. #^_^#


WHAT'S YURI?
'Yuri' is a term that is Japanese for the word 'lily'. The flower has become a
symbol of love between two women, and is often used in artistic depictions
(along with conventional cherry blossoms and rose petals that symbolize
romance). Its counterpart is 'Yaoi'. Yuri usually implies a more sexual
relationship between adults, while 'Shoujo Ai' (girl love) concentrates more on
general romance and deep love of younger women. Unlike Yaoi, which is an
acronym, Yuri is an actual word, as well as a girl's name. Since this is pretty
annoying when you're trying to do a decent web search, some fans prefer the
term 'shoujo ai'.

SO WHY ARE YOU USING YURI?
It's rolls off the tongue better (so to speak.)

SO A YURI GIRL IS A LESBIAN.
A bisexual girl can still be a yuri girl, as long as the relevant relationship
is with another girl. Hence I will be using the term Yuri Girl instead of
lesbian. Many characters also do not have strict categories of preference.


DOES ANIME HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HOMOSEXUALITY?
Sort of. Mainstream Japanese culture's general discomfort with the subject is
more of it being a deviant of then norm, in contrast to the heavy religious
stigma it has in the West. While homosexuality is explored a lot in anime, it
reaches an odd impasse of a looser depiction of Japanese society that occurs in
anime versus holdovers of traditional social rules. Unfortunately, because of
social stigma, a lot of yuri relationships seem doomed to failure. A handful of
them tend to last thru a whole series, while some are done away with relatively
early.

'DONE AWAY WITH'?
Replacement and Elimination are the most common ways of doing this. Replacement
is when it's deemed a male character would make a better companion. The old
female companion was simply a holdover until something better came along (the
author sometimes gives the rebuffed girl her own lover).

Elimination covers everything from separation (such as moving away or the end
of a friendship) to the outright destruction and/or death of one of the girls
in some direct or indirect way.

THAT SOUNDS LIKE A COPOUT.
It is.

DOES YURI HAVE (SEME x UKE)?
If you're already familiar with yaoi or don't know what Seme and Uke mean, skip
this paragraph.

I KNOW WHAT IT MEANS. THAT'S WHY I ASKED.
Well, let me explain to the newbies.
In yaoi, pairings are often written in the format of '(masculine character)(X
symbol or /)(feminine character)' The dominant character's name is always
written first. This character is usually more masculine, stronger, or taller
than his lover. However, authors like to explore personalities so often fan
setups will have stereotypically dominant characters be submissive ones,
depending on what part of the personality is relevant to the story (e.g.,
strong seme-ish characters who are emotionally awkward can be depicted as uke
if their partner is protective of them). Thus A-kun/B-kun & B-kun/A-kun refer
to 2 different kinds of stories.

While yuri doesn't seem to have this setup, characters _do_ tend to fall into
the masculine/feminine set-up (the order of names is arbitrary). One character
stereotypically is very male looking, or wears exclusively boy's clothes, or
uses male pronouns, or is into sports, etc. Romantic pairings in general often
fall into polar personalities types (Energetic/Quiet, Happy/Angsty,
Naive/Jaded, Childish/Mature)


WHAT ARE SOME TYPES OF YURI GIRLS?
Canon: Self-explanatory, these are who are Authorially Declared lesbians
without question.

Yuri bait: Generic term for any girl who is often placed in a yuri pairing by
fans for whatever reason. Many of them may fit some of the profiles listed
below without being canon lesbians.

Yuri magnet: A character with a seemingly mystical charisma who somehow draws
all kinds of fan girls to herself. She's sometimes shy about the attention or
misunderstands it.  She's almost always Yuri bait in fanfics. [Hikaru: Magic
Knight Rayearth, Mai: Maze]

Unrequited Angster: The classic example.  This girl is in love with her
best/closest/oldest friend, but it's obvious that the other "doesn't feel that
way."  It's usually mandatory that the target of the affections has no clue of
this, no matter how painfully freaking' obvious.  Exacerbating the situation is
how the target of the affections is usually in a Cosmically Destined
Relationship.

Huntress: A strong and confident personality are more important in spotting her
than her appearance. Aggressive in her interests and pursuits, they often like
cute innocent naive girls. Sometimes villainous, diabolical or otherwise
overdramatic about her pose-inducing brilliance (extreme examples being
psychotic). Sultry, beautiful and passionate, if anyone's getting laid in a
series, it's her. [B-ko: Project A-ko, Juri: Utena, Solude: Maze, Nova: Magic
Knight Rayearth]

Genki Yuri Fan girl: A character (usually younger or more immature) who
idolizes another girl as a role model. Sometimes a humorous hyper-genki ditz,
she's distinguished from a normal fan girl in that she often declares her love
dramatically in odd situations, or gets extremely jealous when folks act
touchy-feely with the object of her affection.
Sometimes the character is sophisticated and confident instead of hyper-genki,
and idolizes an older classmate, instructor or boss. They may use peculiar
honorifics - Friendly and respectful ones included - to refer to this elder.
[Wakaba: Utena, Princess Mil: Maze, Maya Ibuki: Evangelion]

Embittered: Post-traumatic victims of romantic angst. They usually abhor
romance or are unfriendly/cold because of a tragic past romance. In rare
situations, a new love brings them out of this rut, but don't count on it.
[Juri: Utena]

Puppeteer: Sometimes a Huntress, they often use someone else's affections to
control manipulate another into doing things for them. Often sees the other
mostly as an amusement or sexual object.  In the Yuri fan base where angst is
quite prevalent, these types are sometimes hated with a traitorous vengeance.
Yuri Puppeteer types seem to be _very_ rare, while heterosexual ones are more
common. [Shinori: Utena]

Glamour Butch: More a variation that a type. In lots of anime, particularly
shoujo, any character, male or female, who is declared _very_ attractive is
usually delicately beautiful. Hence even varying degrees of 'butch' characters
are beautifully handsome/androgynous. [Haruka: Sailor Moon]
Silly Pervert Girl: Found in humorous stories, she's bubbly, cheerful, and VERY
affectionate, who likes to glomp and used for comic relief. [Alliele: El
Hazard]

Shrinking Lily: Pun on the Shrinking Violet. Often an Unrequited Angster, she's
a meek girl who is too shy to declare her love, or one who is simply content to
see her love object happy regardless of her own personal feelings. She may have
a large fanbase, who often get annoyed at the writer for ignoring them.
[Tomoyo: Card Captor Sakura]

Rough Girl:  Almost synonymous with tomboy. Doesn't HAVE to be a yuri girl, but
worth mentioning. A rough girl is a character who is indelicate in some form or
another. She may eat a lot* (Lina: Slayers) or drink a lot [Misato: Evangelion,
Urd: Oh My Goddess) or be a slight freeloader. While not the most intellectual
character, she has street smarts and is clever. She often has stereotypically
unfeminine qualities by Japanese definition, such as being very tall or very
strong or having a small chest or bad manners. Sometimes they're self-conscious
about it and try to become more feminine.  (Though ironically, they tend to be
very pretty anyway.) Conversely, a Rough Girl may be buxom and shapely and
teasing, but prone to violence or rudeness. She may flirt with other characters
if she's confident about herself.
(* Note that Loveable Ditzes tend to eat more than Rough Girls.)

Since they often break many culture stereotypes, they are popular with American
audiences. They also tend to get looked over romantically by writers unless the
plot specifically calls for it, or are conscious targets for angst. In
fan-contrived Yuri, they often get paired with delicate, quiet girls or female
avatars.


WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH MANGA/ANIME/OAV CHARACTERS WHO ARE YURI BAIT BEING
DIFFERENT?
Anime Enhancement Syndrome. Anime has a tendency to exaggerate personalities
that existed in the manga they originated from. Unlike Manga, which may only
come out biweekly, anime gives writers a lot more time to flesh out a
character. To make this easier however, characters are often
stereotyped/simplified to a comfy template to some degree when written in an
anime. OAV personalities often seem different from anime personalities, too.
This includes making some yuri girls more 'butch' than their original
counterparts or outright making characters gay when it wasn't as blatant
before. Some readers somewhat resent this so-called 'butchification', as it
implies a character must act 'male' to be in proper relationship.

WHY ARE GUYS IN MAGICAL GIRL ANIME SO STUPID?
Yuri tends to be very prevalent in mahou shoujo anime because most of the cast
tends to be _female_, with only a few males here and there. They make deep
emotional friendship/bonds with each other, so it's a short jump to contriving
yuri. Conversely, males tend to be rather unimportant to plot and daily
storytelling in the long run, and may be rarely seen or underwritten.

HEY, I SAW SOME GIRLS SWOONING OVER SOME LADY CROSS DRESSER. DOES THAT COUNT?
Not really. One humorous play on consists of heterosexual girls getting
infatuated with androgynous characters. While _sometimes_ genuine, this is
often used for humorous intent. In real life, Japanese girls put a big
separation on idol-worship and actual love/passion. Older androgynous
characters often have mature qualities that the girl admires, and has a
handsomeness they like. However, this is NOT always to be confused with actual
passion, since the boyish looks may be used as a 'substitute'. Usually the girl
gets a bad reaction when reminded their idol is a woman. If it's a true
affection, the girl mentioning she realizes the person is a woman yet likes her
anyway is a good sign of validity. (A similar example can be found when male
heterosexual characters get crushes on feminine-looking male cross dressers,
though apparently they don't make the separation as much and get edgy
afterwards.)

WHAT ABOUT KISSING?
Tricky. Kissing in public is generally frowned upon in Japan, and this is
reflected in anime. However close female friends in anime may kiss (usually the
forehead) for emotional reassurance during a crisis. But there are some key
signs to look for:

1. Kissing in public. Japanese couples generally don't kiss in public, so doing
is an VERY blatant, and somewhat rude, show of love.

2. Nicknames. Using cutesy nicknames is sometimes indicative of special
affection, especially if the nickname seems out-of-place for the receiver, like
a sugary nickname for a tough character.

3. Position. Passionate or loving embraces are to be judged on their own merit.
A kiss on the cheek after a crisis is fine, but if they're pawing each other or
it's a lip kiss that's long enough to time a boiled egg you should be
suspicious.

4. Look for special effects, especially romantic visual cues, like rose petals,
pastels or misty camera shots, particularly around two characters who are
_clearly_ female.

OK, FINE. WHAT ABOUT IF THEY HAVE SEX?
Well, yeah sex implies they sure must like girls, duh. However, be careful it's
not simple HLA.

HLA?
Hot Lesbian Action. Happens more often in fanfics or H-doujins but traces of the
"HLA" attitude exist in anime as well, to varying degrees. The most common is
"porn sex" where two girls have sex more for the excitement of the
viewer/reader.  It's usually rather clear that both girls "are just letting of
steam and would prefer to be with guys." Meaning that there would be no hard
feelings at all if a guy claimed one or both of them. F/F couples have often
been defined as "not as important" or "not really sex"  (Many lemons aka "anime
sex fics" have a female partner being careful not to tear the hymen because she
wants "to stay a virgin until her first guy".)  This may include Pity/Mercy
sex.

Paradoxically, this premise may have roots within Yuri itself. Some people see
physical love between women as pure and uncarnal. Which could be fine, if it
didn't imply it wasn't 'real sex.'

WHO ARE THEY?
Err, I meant the nouns. Pity & Mercy are not characters, you goof.

WHAT'S THE TENCHI SOLUTION?
In the anime 'Tenchi Muyo!', a boy named Tenchi has two women vying for his
affection, an example of the Insolvable Love Triangle that pops up a lot in
anime. Fans are aware that Tenchi is descendant from royalty, and that his
kingdom allows for having TWO wives. This has been explored in fanfics, and has
been dubbed the 'Tenchi Solution'. It refers to the angst-free solution of a
love triangle becoming involved in a 3-way relationship.


WHAT'S COSMIC DESTINY & WHY DO PEOPLE HATE IT?
Popularized in fantasy mahou shoujo. A geas that declares 2 characters are
destined to be together romantically. There's a high romantic premise in many
cultures that some people are just made for each other, and will find each
other no matter what. While the premise is quite sweet, it's sometimes not
handled well in writing. Sometimes the two characters are little more than
acquaintances until they are informed in some Dramatic Fashion that they a
destined to be together. This sometimes leads to a contrived spontaneous
discovery of deep love for someone they hardly know. While this could be easily
fixed later on by having the 2 characters interact more with a get-to-know-you
deal, it's often simply looked over as they move on to being lovey-dovey. This
setup is often the cause of many alternative fan pairings, including yuri ones.
Another annoying facet of this is that since males in mahou shoujo are
sometimes underwritten or ineffectual in actual plot, the relationship often
doesn't seem very deep during the non-Dramatic Plot scenes.

WHAT ABOUT CHARACTERS WHO DON'T LIKE BOYS?
Character who declare they 'don't like boys' don't count. This is a common
phrase used by sassy characters annoyed at the immaturity of young boys.
Phrases like 'Don't like men' or 'Don't prefer men' are more telling.


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"Wow, your powers are amazing... hmm, well, I should head to the grocery store
now..."
- Keiichi Morisato, Oh My Goddess! OAV #1

ICQ# 53439891