Today is a very special one for all anime fans. It’s Moe Day, because the kanji for moé (萌) looks like the date October 10 (十月十日) when written in vertical kanji characters. To help celebrate this special day, J-List is having a Moe Day Sale and Giveaway. Click to see details!
The New Bloom Into You Yuri Anime
I’m the biggest yuri fan I know, always creating complex mental delusions in which pretty much every female anime character is secretly in a lesbian relationship with every other girl. I trace this tradition of “yuri shipping” back to the to the legendary “morning after” Lucky Star poster from Megami Magazine from 2007. When I saw there was a new yuri anime this season, Bloom Into You (Japanese title Yagate Kimi ni Naru), I knew I’d be watching.
Bloom Into You is a sweet story of Yuu, a newly-minted high school student who loves the high romance of shoujo manga, especially scenes where a boy confesses his love to a girl. She encounters her senpai, the attractive and confident Touko, as she’s being confessed to by a boy, but Touko turns him down because she “doesn’t feel anything special” for him. When Yuu joins the student council with Touko, she’s surprised when the older girl takes her hand and says, “I think I’m falling in love with you,” even though in Yuu’s world, that’s not something girls do. Will they find love and start dating? I’m on the edge of my seat.
But what kind of yuri anime will Bloom Into You be? Let’s look at some other series that have been released in the past…
- Fanservice-y “yuri-bait” made to entice males to watch, like Sakura Trick, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya or Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid. (Some fans might group Citrus in this grouping.) As a guy, I can say with certainty that the strategy works perfectly.
- Casual yuri shows in which the female-to-female attraction drives the plot, which usually doesn’t go anywhere. Yuru Yuri and Comic Girls are good examples.
- Even lighter yuri series in which there’s almost no implied yuri at all, except what fans manufacture in their own minds…which doesn’t stop us from sharing fanart, doujinshi and so on. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, Yuru Camp, Kin’iro Mosaic and Hibike! Euphonium are some examples.
- Comic yuri background characters who aggressively want to possess one of the female characters. Kuroko from A Certain Magical Index is the most famous of these.
- Trope-breakers, which purposely avoid being straight yuri stories. Maria†Holic, about a girl who finds her perfect female lover only to discover she’s really a cross-dressing boy, and Scum’s Wish, a huge mass of crisscrossing relationships with a delicious yuri center, are two such examples.
- Finally, series yuri anime shows, that really try to explore the complexities that arise when girls fall in love with girls. Aoi Hana is the best example of this, and I’m pretty sure Bloom Into You will fit in here nicely as well.
Do you like yuri anime? Will you be checking out Bloom Into You? Did I miss any of your favorite series, above? Tell us on Facebook or Twitter!
There’s nothing better than awesome chocolates from Japan, and J-List has a ton of special products for you, including Japanese Kit Kat, Pocky, March of the Koalas and more, ready for you to order. Best of all, we’ve got a lot of snack items on sale at a special discount! Browse the new chocolate items from Japan now!
