Yuri to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito

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A Yuri storyline Classification System – Part 3

Posted on | July 26, 2009 | No Comments |

strikes

1. Chase/Getting together

  • C. Relationships triggered by a man’s actions

Surely the biggest cliche of the yuri or lesbian genre is the age-old porn mantra

“I never thought it could feel so good…with a woman”.

Or, in other words – a woman, having had sex with men all her life is happy with the fact that this is the best sex she’s going to have, until she breaks up with her man and falls into the outstretched legs of a handy lesbian who shows her that the grass really is greener on the other side of the hill. And it has an indent shaped like a woman shafting another with a supersized dildo.

This can be exploited in yuri manga in one of two ways. First of all, there are manga which have storylines in which the love between two women triumphs over the love between a man and a woman (for example, a woman’s love for her ex lesbian lover wins out in the end causing her to break things off with her fiance at the altar – how melodramatic.^^) or there are storylines in which something going wrong between a man and a woman cause the woman to venture over into the dark side into the waiting arms of the fairer sex.

The latter is discussed here. There are several points in a male/female relationship in which an opportunistic lesbian might think to intervene:

rakuen

  • 1. A girl is comforted after breaking up with a man

Lesbians who have a crush on their best friends – there is no better way to help them get over being dumped by a man then to take them out drinking (spiking their drinks, of course helps greatly), then when they’re nice and loose show them the benefits of all that experience you learned at university. (You didn’t think you actually learned your major did you? Shame on you.) In fact, this kind of story is quite similar to B2 type stories – though there is usually a deal more backstory to the two ladies in this case.

A good example of being dumped by a man resulting in finding love with a woman is in Akiko Moriyama’s series Rakuen no Jouken. Here, an office lady breaks up with her boyfriend and returns home drunk to find her travelling housemate has returned and for reasons of her own has chosen this time to confess her love. Yes. Confessing when your girlfriend to be is slumped over a toilet bowl is GOOD TIMING.

briars

  • 2. After a bad experience, a girl shows her that sex can feel good with the right person.

This one is the old “It’s better with a girl” cliche. The premise is extremely sensible – Men are rough and horrible with all the sensitivity of a meat tenderiser up your jacksie (which is grossly true). Therefore, when it comes to trying to make a girl feel good for her first time, its not surprising that many girls come away thinking they’ve been shortchanged with a teaspoon of manchowder for five excruciating thrusts and an extremely sore vagina. Then where else would you turn except to your friendly neighbourhood lesbian who thankfully lacks that embarassing sticky-outy equipment that men are so proud of. She’ll take you to heaven and back with just her fingers, a fat twig and a roll of stickyback plastic thank you very much. Then after you’ve fallen in love with her, be so good as to spread the love to all the others of your kind who suffered the same way as you did.

It was difficult to find an example for this one as I didn’t have one to hand. Yui Toshiki’s Boku no futatsu no Tsubasa has an arc in which having sex with a man cements the main character’s rampant lesbianism (as if it needed to be). Ei Itou’s Butterfly flutters is about how a girl’s dedication to be with her onee-sama is so great that she beats up the boy that’s molesting her. The closest one is probably found in Miho Hirose’s Briars of the Lady’s Estate where a disgruntled girl storms off from her boyfriend after he makes her wait 2 hours for a date (I’m sure I’ve waited longer ^^) and falls into the arms of a MILF well dressed and bored housewife. Lesbian loving ensues. At least in manga they don’t have to worry about the bad porn acting…

First Kiss Part C 006

  • 3. Old feelings resurface after news that an ex-girlfriend/crush has a boyfriend/is to be married

And then we come to snatching the girl at the altar. This category also includes storylines in which this causes a girl to reminisce and get over a past love as well as stories in which they are reunited and ride off into the lily-coloured sunset.

It’s pretty common for the news that an old friend is getting married to cause a reevaluation in one’s life, especially if you were involved with them at some point in time. Usually, this results in a mental socks-up-pulling and a getting on with life on your own terms. However, in the fluffy world of manga, it is sometimes the opportunity to flounce over to your friend’s house and announce that in fact you’ve loved them secretly for about 10 years so take that for your cliffhanger.

If I was in that situation and had to choose between a best friend in secret lesbian love for 10 years or the man I had dated for 10 years and was about to marry, it’s obvious which one I’d choose. 10 years of pent up lesbian passion with whipped cream on top please!

In Eiki Eiki’s  First Kiss where two girls who were together in high school but went their separate ways after one of them decided to start dating men. But after the other threatens to get married, I think we all know how it ends… Well, not quite at the altar, anyway.

 Mermaid_Line_-_Megumi_and_Aoi_3_01

  • 4. Being with a man affirms a girl’s sexuality

And lastly, the ultimate insult to men – Being so bad between the sheets that you turn your girlfriend gay. Well. Not really in this case, but it’s pretty close. In these types of stories, a girl who has often been with/propositioned by another girl sleeps with/kisses a man in order to affirm whether she is indeed allied to the oyster kissing clan. In other cases, a girl is jealous about her lovers previous exploits with the opposite sex, so she ends up sleeping with a man as a kind of revenge. But then happily in most cases, they all learn the error of their ways and the advantages of rubber latex over flesh and blood. In terms of disease transmission and pregnancy of course.

Amongst other things.

This idea is one of the currently running arcs in an oft quoted favourite of mine Octave by Akiyama Haru and also in the last part of First Kiss which I’ve already quoted earlier. However, the example that I am going to give is from a serialised Yuri Hime story – Megumi and Aoi (otherwise known as Mermaid Line). In the third part, Megumi, who is in love with the slightly confused Aoi starts going out with a man purely for appearances, because she is convinced that it will allow Aoi to get on with her normal life. Little does she know it will have the opposite effect and get her pining for her even more. Well duh…didn’t she realise that she was in a manga situation? 

Category: Editorials, Philosophy/Thoughts, Shoujo-ai

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