I am proud to say that I have been a fan of the yuri genre for years. The common question I get from people is “Which yuri manga titles should I start reading?” and in this feature, I will be sharing to you some of my top 3 favorite yuri manga that are best for beginners. I actually have a long list of titles but these three stand out for me.
Girl Friends by Milk Morinaga
Girl Friends is a yuri manga created by Morinaga Milk and is considered as her most successful work. It centres on the shy and studious girl named Mari whose life took a different turn when she became friends with her classmate Akko. As days went on, Mari realizes that she grows different kind of feelings towards her best friend.
This is one of my favorite yuri manga of all time and this is the first series I always recommend. It’s light, fluffy, cute, and the characters are quite memorable too. The first time I read this was during my college years. I recently read this again and I still get the sweet yuri feels every time.
Citrus by Saburouta
Citrus focuses on the life of the upbeat girl named Yuzu and the serious student council president Mei. Yuzu’s life changed forever when Mei moves in with her—and to realize that they are both stepsisters! Both girls have lingering feelings for each other and they are tested with the random school and slice-of-life situations that both have to face.
I noticed that a lot of yuri fans started out in this manga series. Its art and unique story are something that one random person looking for manga wouldn’t ignore. The volume cover arts for this manga alone are just so convincing that you have no second thoughts of buying it if you’re into yuri like me. The manga is still ongoing and it has an anime adaptation next year!
Octave by Haru Akiyama
What happens if you have a former idol member and a songwriter under one roof?
To summarize, Octave is about a girl named Yukino who moved to Tokyo after she couldn’t stand the countless rumors and bad treatment she experienced in her own hometown. A former idol group member, she decided to get a new start of life by working as an assistant manager for a modeling company even if it was not much to her liking to due to the work environment. She then meets a music composer named Setsuko who instantly took a liking for her. They slowly get to know each other better while dealing with the broken fragments of their past lives.
This was one of my first mature yuri manga that dealt with real-life situations like sex, conflict of interest, moving on, dating, and so on. I don’t want to spoil much about this series but if ever you encounter this series, I suggest you give it a read. In fact, Setsuko and Yukino are also part of my top Yuri OTP (one true pair) list.
So, these are three of my yuri manga recommendations. Hope you get to enjoy these series and recommend them to others too. More yuri and girl’s love features soon!
