~In praise of evil yuri~
Posted on | February 17, 2008 | 13 Comments |
Yuri is a strange thing. It was interesting to watch that particular episode of Genshiken with Ogiue and Ohno discussing the different kinds of Yaoi without thinking of all the different kinds of Yuri stereotypes. Since yuri has grown both as a counterpart to Yaoi and as almost a side story to regular heterosexual relationships in anime, there are certain character types that always spring to mind when thinking up a yuri storyline.
The Evil Yuri is a character type that I kind of developed an understanding for in my Fanservice Guide a few months ago. Usually, they are of a major personality type “Vamp” or sometimes “Tsundere” with minor proficiencies in relationship envy and extreme protectiveness.
Evil Yuris are a relatively new creation – the classical yuri stems from the shoujo manga depiction. Think flower petals floating down around them, with one masculine type short haired tall girl wielding some kind of edged weapon and a swooning poofy haired feminine yuri wrapped around her in a lily-scented embrace. Or her unrequited counterpart – supporting her love silently from the sidelines, selflessly stepping aside for the scruffy hero to sweep her love up in his manly arms and ride off into the sunset. As yuri has developed as a story device and relationship type, writers seem to have become less frightened to try out new personality types for their characters.
To those of you that partake in hentai perversions (ahem), evil yuri will not be a new idea. The idea of evil bisexual women in hentai taking advantage of the unwitting but ultimately consensual victim is fairly widespread. There are several examples in Bible Black; with Kitami-sensei in the original series and progressing to Imari and Alethia Crowley in the new seasons.
Hentai evil yuris are, however only one half of the spectrum of the character. Evil yuris can loosely be divided into two groups – those of the vamp persuasion who have significant sexual charms or social influence and choose to use this in pursuit of other innocent girls, often in a ruthless fashion. The girls are obviously in awe of these classical beauties and instantly fall into their arms. Just like real life.
A case in point for type 1 Evil yuri is Hanazono Shizuma of Strawberry Panic fame (or indeed Chizuru of HEN and Shinobu of Shoujo Sect). They are in fact a direct parallel to the more well-known male character of similarly loose morals. Only more aesthetically pleasing. The character art usually plays upon the “Tall sporty girls are irresistable to their female underclassmen” anime sterotype, with girls leaving piles of confession letters in their shoe lockers and squeeing with ultrasonic fervour if their sempai so much as adjusts their necktie. In this case, the evil part of their personality is the skill with which they manipulate their younger admirers, usually using and discarding them with a frequency likened to rabbits on honeymoon.
Type 2 evil yuris are a different kettle of fish altogether. Their main personality type varies widely but common themes are tsundere or normal types. Their womanly charms may be considerable, but usually they don’t care to use them to seduce a large number of ladies, instead choosing to pursue one girl in particular. Their evilness instead stems from the fervour by which they pursue their favoured girl and the violence by which they reject her other admirers. Te most convenient thing about introducing a type 2 evil yuri type character is that the viewer if s/he is that way inclined, may keep the thought in the back of their mind that there is no actual yuri intent, while yuri fanatics can squeeze as much fandom out of the situation as is humanly possible.
Type 2 examples range widely from the “borderline-best-friend” such as Tamami from Mahoraba ~Heartful days~ or Kuro-tan of Kodomo no Jikan, to the more outward relationships of Chikane (of Kannazuki fame, of course) – though in some episodes she may be considered more of a type 1 ^_^…
By choosing between these two types of evil yuri personality, different moe possibilities open up. In the type 1 evil yuri, the moe situation comes from the pure rampantness of the continuing seduction as the slightly confused younger girl lets herself get swept up in the wave of feminine wiles and seduction flowing freely from the evil yuri’s ample bosom. Or in other situations, the attraction of the relationship is the stark contrast between the evilyuri’s usual wham-bam-thank-you-maam style of relationship and her gentle path to finding true love…
Type 2 relationships, as you might know by reading all my raves on fanfiction – are all about the subtext. Since many of the relationships between type 2 evilyuris and their intended targets continue to be unrealised and are often overshadowed by the main heterosexual relationship, the moe moments come from the very littlest things. A short scene where the two get stuck somewhere together, for example, or the inevitable reverse breast grab in the ofuro. This, combined with tsundere-esque beetroot-red-steam-gushing blush attacks make up the bread and butter of these relationships.
So, in conclusion – the new and evolving age of yuri, where efforts are split between purest fanservice and variously successful attempts at touching same-sex relationships, has given birth to the character of the evil yuri as a personality type. In essence, both types of evil yuri are an attempt to cater for the fanservice crowd – the first type for people who prefer things in text, and the second for those others who prefer their yuri in subtext. In the future, I hope that more storylines may use the evil yuri character to better effect by creating an in depth storyline that can develop this essentially shallow personality into someone pleasant to read about.
And no, Kannazuki no Miko fans, in-depth storylines do not include mechas.
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February 17th, 2008 @ 9:04 pm
Evil Yuri excellent topic to bring to light Yuribou ^_^. I love Kuro’s yuri tendencies in Kodomo No Jikan. The evil yuri type is one of everyone’s favorites or just the yuri type I will take either. Also in Azumanga Daioh Kaorin and Sakaki’s relationship. Evil yuri types were thankfully born from hentai along with many other interesting types *_*
Excellent entry once again Yuribou, You were gone for a while I was starting to wonder if you had died from malpractice or something lol.
February 18th, 2008 @ 12:29 am
We need more yuri vamps please!
February 18th, 2008 @ 1:22 am
Wouldn’t Shizuru of Mai-HIME and Tomoe of Mai-OTOME count as Type 2’s? They both had obsessions with just one girl (Natsuki and Shizuru, respectively) – and while one wasn’t necessarily EVIL, they both ended up being so obsessive that it was hard to tell the difference given the length they were willing to go to in order to secure the target’s ‘affections’. They just have to want, and be unscrupulous enough, to do about anything in order to be ‘evil’.
I’d have to say Type 2’s are more interesting to watch, in a way – if for the dramatic value that they create through their actions. Type 1’s… well, they’re manipulative and casual, but the Type 2’s tend to be written with more depth, IMO.
February 19th, 2008 @ 4:59 am
Yum….yuri vamps $_$
“Shizuru of Mai-HIME and Tomoe of Mai-OTOME”
Yeah I think so yet I kind of forget who they are for the moment. But yeah I still remember a lot of those shows. Mai-OTOME for sure though.
(Still thinks Kuro-chan from Kodomo No Jikan is the best) ^_^.
February 20th, 2008 @ 1:48 am
Shizuru of Mai-HIME went yandere for Natsuki after she got ‘rejected’… which led to the ’shootout’ at the church, IIRC. Tomoe, on the other hand, trapped Shizuru in a jail cell, and released her on the condition that she ‘loved her back’ – with the additional lie about Natsuki’s status and how it depended on Shizuru’s behavior.
February 20th, 2008 @ 3:10 am
Don’t forget the lezbots from strawberry panic. I’m not a big fan of flower petal sapphic love, being a real life lesbian myself. However, I don’t care for the crazy stereotypes depicted in many “yuri/shoujo” animes. Why can’t they have a girl who likes a girl, without implied or obvious forced sex and affection?
February 23rd, 2008 @ 8:23 pm
“Why can’t they have a girl who likes a girl, without implied or obvious forced sex and affection?”
Well HappyHappyJoyJoy, it is a somewhat simple reason ^_^. See most all of the production staff and creators of yuri/shoujo animes are guys. And most guys like forced sex and affection between two girls or implied sex then the whole two girls who just truly love each other and who are innocent in doing so.^_^. So that is the reason why they can’t have a girl who likes another girl innocently lol. Hate to be the one to expose the truth but I feel obligated too.
February 24th, 2008 @ 3:08 am
YuribouFan: There’s Koyuki’s innocent love of Natsumi in Keroro Gunso, and last I looked Mine Yoshizaki is a guy. She likes her, and it’s FAIRLY innocent.. or at least Koyuki knows when to back off; the anime has it more innocent than the manga, which has Natsumi protesting when things get a bit TOO.. ahem… forceful. Not an evil yuri situation by any means.
But it’s kinda weird to ask about why they can’t have ‘obvious forced sex’ in a post about evil yuri and the types of obsessions which lead to either the ’seduction of the innocent’ scenarios, or the forcing-of-affections-on-the-target situations.
May I also suggest Kashimashi the manga, which has less-dire scenarios than the ones mentioned in the evil yuri section above, even if it’s kinda fanservicey?
February 24th, 2008 @ 7:01 pm
Kashimashi is pretty fanservicey, but yeah, I agree with Haesslich, it is less dire, and I thought it was pretty fun to watch.
I think the whole thing about the ‘appeal’ of the ‘evil yuri vamp’ is the fact that they seem to have this mojo or screen presence that makes the other girls swoon, and seeing them work their magic is a bit of fun sadistic entertainment- kind of like, dare I mention this horrible example, but hopefully my point gets across- that movie Alfie, where Alfie is such a womanizer, but ends up getting tamed.
I dunno, it’s kind of fun to watch the evil vamp reforming in the end- but then again, it’s also fun to have them continue being bad girls…something inherently sexy about them getting their way.
In any case, it is what it is, and for me, it’s just entertainment- obviously, for example, Strawberry Panic scenarios would never exist in real life- the whole anime is one huge parody, afterall- but it’s fun.
Kinda like watching soaps.
February 24th, 2008 @ 7:04 pm
After reading what I wrote I realized that all of it was incomprehensible. So let me summarize that:
-People like to watch anime for entertainment
-Anime as entertainment tends to catch viewers when it is more sensationalized than real like- like soaps
-People like to escape and watch dramas
-Yuri vamps are hawt
Obviously yuri vamps irl I wouldn’t have an opinion of, but we’re only speaking about anime yuri vamps of course.
February 24th, 2008 @ 7:58 pm
“Yuri vamps are hawt”
Agreed
February 27th, 2008 @ 1:17 am
@Yuriboufan
Thanks! lol I realize that’s the truth of the matter. = p I really don’t mind if it’s the same stereotypes, as I will watch anything decent as far as anime goes. Just wishful thinking on my part to have anime similar to ‘Love My Life’. My gf likes to watch any yuri regardless. So, if she’s happy, then it’s fine with me too.
February 28th, 2008 @ 3:35 am
@HappyHappyJoyJoy
You’re very welcome! Glad I could expose you to the light and the real nature of Most all guys lol. Yeah same here if the anime is decent and the story is ok then I will watch especially if there are hot girls in it ^_^ hey I am guy lol. Wishful thinking is what makes the world of anime and manga so much more expansive and wondrous.
“My gf likes to watch any yuri regardless.”
Awesome. I have never had a gf that likes yuri or hentai for that matter. But once again this is Most guys dream is a gf that will watch yuri hentai and regular hentai with them I wonder where all this girls are ^_^.
“So, if she’s happy, then it’s fine with me too.”
That’s a great way to be. Relationships last the longest when you think like this. For me this would also be true in Most cases with my gf’s if she’s happy then it’s fine with me too ^_^.
Nice talking to you HappyHappyJoyJoy if you have any other questions on the true nature of MOST guys then just ask me I can answer them in the most brutally honest way possible ^_^.
Later
YuribouFan