No YNN report this week, we have bigger fish to fry. This year’s top Yuri anime list is a tribute to both the past and to the future of Yuri. ^_^

In the early ’00s when I began Okazu, there was very little of what we would now think of as “Yuri anime.” Yuri in anime was primarily one fetish among many; maybe a side character or plot sprinkled within a larger storyline. This is still alive and well in Yuri in 2018 and is likely to stay that way as long as someones somewheres in positions of editorial power think that it’s sexy to portray lesbian affection as a “funny” or, gods helps us “romantic,” obsessive disorder.

So, to set the stage for moving forward, we’ll begin with those regressive looks at love between girls in 2018.

Umamusume/Kakegurui/ Miss Koizumi Loves Ramen

Tied for 9th are three anime that all hit the same score for Yuri in their respective reviews here on Okazu. Yuri in these series was not a plot, it was a stand-in for characterization. Don’t know how to write a character with a personality? No worries, make her an obsessive lesbian! There, done and dusted. 

Yuri in these anime were a fetish, plain and simple. If this is the kind of anime you like, it works well enough.  Never quite good, but not intolerably bad, old-school Yuri makes a return in 2018. ^_^;

Magical Girl Ore

Take magical girls, add music idols, sprinkle every fetish we can cram into a parody of all of the above and hit “blend” and see if it’s palatable. 

It was, actually, palatable. The Yuri wasn’t going anywhere, it was always meant to be another piece of lace trim on the maid’s costume of a plot, but Mikage’s love is not questioned, or questionable. Its’s just that everything else in the series is. ^_^

Love To-LIE-Angle

If this series got out of it’s own way, it might be good. Unfortunately, the entire thing centers on the fetishizing of girls’ dorms, girl’s crotches and girl’s affection, turning it all into “humorous” and “sexy” sexual assault. Which makes it hard to sometimes remember that it is actually based on a Yuri manga from Comic Yuri Hime. Buried in the middle of a sexual harassment sandwich, with lot of creepy stuff for creepy folks as flavor-enhancers, there is a romance story, can you believe it?

Cutey Honey Universe

There is literally nothing older-school this year than Cutey Honey Universe. From lesbian shenanigans at Saint Jogakuen to Genet’s seduction of Natsuko, to Natsuko and Honey’s love for one another, this anime covered the whole gamut of Yuri. In keeping with the retro feel of 2018,  sweet  romance was paired with a massive dose of creepy fanservice and violence as one ought to expect with anything touched by my hero role model Go Nagai.

As an animated version of the original Cutey Honey manga, Cutey Honey Universe is, honestly, quite excellent. Even if it is eye-rollingly regressive.

Citrus

Speaking of of someone somewhere in positions of editorial power, there is nothing that says “happily-ever-after” like a vaguely incestuous relationship, filled with emotional abuse and sexual harassment. The melodramatic highway pileup that was Citrus was massively popular as both a manga and an anime. I won’t lie and tell you I liked it, but lots of other people did, and for that, this anime makes this year’s list. ^_^

Sailor Moon Crystal, Season 3

To round out this year’s look backwards, let’s stop and once again admire the wonderfulness that is Haruka and Michiru  – this time the manga version, animated in Sailor Moon Crystal, Season 3. 

This iteration of Haruka is way more manipulative of Usagi, using the younger woman’s infatuation against her, but her tender moment with Michiru is lovely – it will always be the first time so, so, so many young women saw affection like that represented in media. I am fascinated by how I just cannot like the Outers in this season…and really hope we’ll get the future seasons which will go a long way towards fixing that.

Happy 25th anniversary to a series that I’d never defend as “good,” but which changed my life forever. ^_^
 

Enjoying the Okazu End of Year Lists?

And now, we’re going to step away from the past with no regrets, and a final nod of thanks for the fun. Now it’s time to look to the future and see what we need to strive for.

Steven Universe

Yes, this is not anime, but it is so anime-inspired I feel it has a welcome place here on Okazu any day. This year Steven Universe premiered an episode that Rebcecca Sugar said had been in her sights since the very beginning…an episode about love. Sapphire and Ruby’s wedding was everything we’d hoped it could be. This cartoon has literally carried me through some of the darkest moments of the year. I am pleased as punch to name Steven Universe my #3 Yuri anime of 2018.

Bloom Into You

What can I actually say about this anime that I haven’t already said? (I’m not sure, but I better figure it out for my end of anime review! ^_^)

I have a complicated relationship with this series as a manga; no one was more surprised than I how far the anime went to alleviate some of my concerns.  Nicely animated, exceedingly well-voice acted, the characters worked so much better as an anime than I could have expected, it was quite remarkable. It’s not the best Yuri anime of the year, but in any other year, it absolutely would have been.

This year, however, we had….

Asagao to Kase-san OVA

The theatrical release of Asagao to Kase-san was a miracle. A small, relatively unknown series from an out-of-print magazine was transformed into the most beautiful little animated music video that grew into an astoundingly lovely movie. This movie, which could easily have been in and out of theaters in a week, just took up space for the entire summer in Japanese theaters, confident, and cool like Kase-san, while  we all bit our nails and watched, like Yamada.

And…there I was at AnimeNYC, while the male director and producer gently demanded we all understand this as a story about two people; a story of the development of a relationship, how these two girls in love learn to communicate, and deepen their bonds. This isn’t a “Story A,” it’s not melodramatic. It has less service and less drama than one could possibly have expected. Its lovingly made by people who clearly love the characters.

The Japanese Blu-Ray and DVD releases have English subtitles so you, too,  can enjoy this lovely story.

Asagao to Kase-san/ Kase-san and Morning Glories is…beautiful. It is touching. It is real.

Asagao to Kase-san OVA is the best Yuri anime of 2018.