And here we are at the second of our three Top Lists of the year. Once again, I break all the rules because, duh, they are my rules and I get to do that! ^_^ Objectively speaking, there’s no *way* anyone should use this list as a list of recommendations for anyone else other than me.
Strap yourselves in and get ready to disagree in the comments!
10 – Otouto no Otto
Yes, number 10 on my top Yuri manga list is not a Yuri manga. ^_^ It is, however, one of the most important LGBTQ manga published in Japan in 2015. In this manga, creator Tagame Gengoroh sheds every single trope for a pared down, crushingly beautiful and realistic look at a gay man visiting his dead husband’s hometown. This story runs in a mainstream men’s manga magazine and I desperately hope it paves the way for more realistic LGBTQ manga fiction in the future.
9 – Comic Yuri Hime, Rakuen Le Paradis, Comic Cune, Comic High and all the Mangatime Kirara magazines
Let’s face it, if it weren’t for these magazines which run Yuri manga, we wouldn’t have much Yuri manga. The fact that we can actually go to something like Bookwalker Global and click on “Yuri” as a category is because magazines like these, imperfect as they are, are supporting and investing in Yuri artists and in the end, that kind of financial support is what Yuri needs. So I’ll keep buying them, and once again, want to thank these folks for their investment.
8 – MURCIÉLAGO
I am pretty confident that no one else but me would put this ugly, violent piece of utter crap on a Top List, but that’s okay. I actually look forward to getting new volumes of this particular piece of crap. It has no redeeming qualities, it just happens to hit my soft spots for psychotic violent lesbians. This is not a recommendation for you to read this, just recognition that I do.
7 – Comic Anthologies (Mebae, Yu-Ribon, Freya Anthology, Valor, Beyond, Dates and others)
Anthologies are the best and worst of everything all at once. They are frustrating, when the stories rely on old, tired tropes, they are delightful when they do something never seen before.
On days I am despairing at the future of Yuri, I remind myself that while publishers in Japan may be relying on the tried and true to sell to the same people, crowdfunding allows us to push the boundaries of what we think of as “Yuri” all the time. And when a story in anthology is outstanding, it gives one hope for not only the future of comics, or of Yuri, but for humanity.
6 – Iono The Fanatics
Iono-sama is the exact opposite of Kumomori Kuroko, except for the lesbian part, but what this series lacks in violence and psychosis, it makes up for in sugary sweet and cool. I adore Flèche and Arata’s romance, silly as it is, and I find the clothing design and set pieces of the auditions amusing and comfortable. It was nice to get a perfect edition of this Yuri classic, complete with new Drama CDs, thus scratching another of my itches. All around a good thing and a series I would love to see more of, even if it was really all just the same thing over and over. ^_^
5 – Ai Rabu Yuu Yori Aishiteru
Sometimes a story hits me more after I have read it than while actually reading it. (Quote often, in fact.) For whatever reason, this story struck me as cute when I read it, but as I thought about it, it grew on me.
As I think about it, it comes down to one thing – the characters’ honesty. They talk about their feelings, and don’t let them fester. Kazumi, particularly, seems to be unusually honest and upfront about her feelings. The lack of drama plus the honesty combined to make this one of my top reads in 2015.
4 – Golondrina
This manga just completely flew under most reviewer’s radar. In Japanese, by est em, but not BL, it was beautiful and brutal. Chika was a very real protagonist, even if there were times you couldn’t like her, per se. From beginning to end, she’s a lesbian and in the end that is the thing that helps her find herself as she finally becomes La Golondrina. I really loved this series and was terribly sorry to see it end. But there is no doubt in my mind that it belongs on this list.
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Taking a moment for a deep breath, here, at last, after much consideration is my Top 3 Yuri Manga of the Year!
3 – Omoi no Kakera and Love Desu
Another series that I’m sad to see go, but I’m very glad was created at all, Omoi no Kakera started in one place and ended somewhere completely different. Throughout, it introduced all sorts of excitingly real things from actual lesbian and gay life and threw in a couple of tropey side stories for good measure. I looked forward to this every chapter and knew the moment I put it down that it would be here in the top three for the year. Takemiya Jin’s work is always exceptional.
When I reviewed Kuzushiro’s Love Desu, I began “At last, a Yuri manga that was written for me! I do not care if nobody else on the whole planet enjoyed this book, because I loved it.” And yes, that’s pretty much exactly how I feel about it. ^_^ I enjoyed the violence, the emotional torment, expressed through stabbing and shooting and the tender moments as they laid there bleeding and arguing over who would be uke. This was my kind of Yuri. ^_^
2 -Non-fiction Lesbian Comics
I mentioned these last year and will continue to mention these until everyone knows how amazing this new trend is. Where Otouto no Otto is opening up new avenues for gay fiction manga, lesbian manga has blossomed into a whole new nonfiction path. Stories like Manga de Tsuzuru Yurina Hibi, Doukyonin no Bishoujo ga Lesbian Datta Ken and the brand new autobiographical comic essay by Nakamura Ching, Okaasan Futari itemoii kana? all tell real stories of real people, living as lesbians, loving and building relationships and families. I honestly can’t get enough of these. I think they are the most important thing to happen to manga in years.
Finally…we come to our Number one Yuri manga of 2015! Have you guessed?
1 – Whispered Words
This surprising series came to a close this year breaking ground for a new publisher among our ranks and giving us the ending we’d always wanted – not just happily ever after, but happily accepted by peers right now.
It was a comedy, it was a tragedy, it made us uncomfortable and almost without anyone noticing, it was one of the few Yuri manga in which the characters came out to their friends and family and everyone loved them anyway. It was a hell of a series, and I am utterly thankful to One Peace Books for bringing this out in English so everyone can enjoy it. I know I certainly did.
My number one Yuri Manga of 2015 is Whispered Words, the English edition of Sasamekikoto, by Ikeda Takashi.
This is not a thing, per se. I’m not talking about the anniversary event, or any specific moment. But I thought it interesting and important enough to note that – despite not being Yuri specifically – this series has, for 15 years, made us all so very happy. And with the final period of the final novel it is officially over, so now is a great time to dig out the DVDs and novels and start all over again! For Sachiko, Yumi, Touko, Shimako, Noriko, Rei, Yoshino, Nana, Youko, Eriko (and, let’s be honest, especially for) Sei, let’s raise a toast to the 15th Anniversary of Maria-sama ga Miteru.
I always like to take a moment to thank the publishers who bring us the Yuri Manga we love and which become the anime we love. There are fewer Yuri anthology magazines than there were a few years ago, but we have more publishers than ever before.
This was something totally new for this year. I loved reading the auto- or semi-biographical comic Yuri essays that popped up in bookstores throughout the year Advice on being gay and confident from Makimura Asako, coming out letters from lesbian and gay people to people they care about, a Japanese TV talent who wants the world to know that she’s lesbian, an essay about the lesbian wedding in Disneyland – these tales tell the stories of real people who just want to be accepted for who they are by their friends and families and fans and government. These essays are everyday people talking to other everyday people. I’m loving them – and the hope they represent for LGBTQ folks in Japan.
Just out of curiosity, I took a look at past Top Ten Lists to see what I was thinking in 2004. It was entertaining, but not surprising, to find that I listed Yuri doujinshi artists on that first list. ^_^ Doujinshi has always been the breeding ground for good Yuri. Unfettered by publisher requirements, censors, limitations of audience or genre, artists are free to tell the stories they want to read.
This lady. I mean it. She’s got a load of work right now, with multiple series in Comic Yuri Hime and you know, everything I’ve read by her…I like. Her art hurts my eyes and her sense of humor hurts my brain, but she draws gag comedy that is incredibly smart, even as it’s incredibly dumb. It’s really time we give her the respect he deserves what with her cranking out all this stuff we’re enjoying and having a successful anime and all. Thanks Kuzushiro-sensei!
HOW COOL IS THIS? Answer: Very cool. Morishima Akiko is an artist I have been following for a ridiculously long time. To see her working with someone whose contributions to Yuri are indescribably weird and timeless and mindblowing is both unexpected and delightful. I have no idea if I’ll enjoy what comes out the other side, but it’s going to be interesting, that’s a given.
We’ve been collecting (and creating) writing about Yuri as a genre for about a decade here on Okazu and on 
This collection from Team Pärvelö had so many qualities that I liked. Variety in art, and story and setting – protagonists of color in a queer manga anthology, how wonderful is that? (Finland seems especially good at diversity in representation.) Refreshing, delightful, fun, smart. Lepakkoluola is the kind of thing that gives me hope for the future of Yuri. I know Hanna-Pirita’s gonna have a heart attack when she reads this, but Team Pärvelö – you did good. Your collection is #10 on this years’ list. ^_^ Please keep drawing and writing!
I wasn’t really sure that this was even a Yuri series after the first volume, but I liked the energy, and the characters and the use of the setting to tell some real, not always all that pleasant, stories about girls’ lives. And then it ended up being Yuri after all. And Morinaga Milk was once again able to draw girl cops. ^_^
Tanaka Minoru’s Rock It, GiRL! was different. The art was intentionally ugly, the characters, too, and the story never went where one might expect. And in the end, it was a loopy, quirky, and kind of charming look at nothing anyone of us would ever see. This isn’t cute idols or meteoric rise to fame – this was a story about blood and guts and singing your heart out and hoping like hell someone might listen, then being told you’re not good enough. I liked it precisely because it wasn’t the same story we’d seen time and time again.
This story was a bit of a dark horse this year. I figured it was a one-shot, lame Maria-sama ga Miteru clone, with no real meaning, but I was dead wrong. Not only was it delightful, it continues!
Amano Shunita’s Philosophia is, as I mentioned in 
I’ve raved about Takemiya Jin’s work a million times. I love, love, love her characterization, and she captures shocked realization in a way that I adore. What really sets this volume of her manga apart, is her unrestricted and unrepentant embrace of not only lesbian culture, but also otaku culture. This book is about us, with our fetishes, and our obsessions, our lusts and loves. Reading game is like looking into a disturbingly accurate funhouse mirror at ourselves, the otaku-rezu who read (and create and write and talk about) Yuri. ^_^;
From volume to volume I had no expectations for this series. I never knew where it might take me. And right to the very end, I had no idea whether it was going to string me along and dump me, or lift me up. As an emotional roller coaster, it was pure brilliance. The art, the story telling and the tension all combined to make this series one of my favorite manga of the year.
Whispered Words marks two major developments in English-language Yuri manga. A new publisher, One Peace Books, is setting up shop on the block and a major Yuri series that I didn’t think we’d ever manage to get over here is here! Sasamekikoto explores every possible Yuri trope all at once and manages to be sad and moving and funny and wonderful. And now we have it. I can guarantee that unless something *amazing* comes out in 2015, Volume 3 will be my top slot next year. ^_^ The ending is just that good.
I’m unabashedly besotted with Nishi UKO’s artistic sensibility. Her people are people – okay, ridiculously beautiful people, but people, nonetheless. They can be petty, snarky, obsessed, in good moods and bad, hungry, lonely, and she communicates these emotions with simple, short stories, exquisite art and a mature aesthetic that is rarely found in manga, much less Yuri.
lete and real and in our hands and on our shelves. At last!
manga. Now for us to have and watch and enjoy whenever we feel like it. The combination of Riyoko Ikeda’s timeless writing and Dezaki Osamu’s sharp eye for dramatic visuals have changed the way we view anime forever.
Squee. You may not remember why you liked it, it was so long ago. You may have made up stories in your mind about how good or bad it was. You probably forgot the dinosaurs and some of the worst Monsters of the Day ever. But when you watch the original anime and re-meet Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako, you’ll remember all over again why you love them. ^_^
It’s silly, it’s stupid, it’s full of painful gags and a duck that looks like a platypus, dumb service (especially for a shoujo manga) and made-up violence scenes that are pretty bloody (especially for a shoujo manga). But it has Yuri and if you can just take your brain away for 20 minutes at a time, it’s actually enjoyable in it’s own way. Urara and Momoka aren’t a real couple, but that’s pretty much a relief. ^_^
The Puella Magi Madoka Magica movies came out in theaters in the US and on DVD, thanks to Aniplex being so willing to keep up the high-saturation level of the series. They were an interesting alt-story to the Madoka TV anime, and had great visual impact…and, even if the story didn’t play out as positively as the TV anime, that was a good thing, too. This series is showing surprising longevity in Japan, so I’m not entirely sure if we’re saying goodbye to it just yet.
Rewatching this series was a real eye-opener for me. I had forgotten just how Yuri and BL this series was, and wow, does the action and art hold up well. As much as Tomoyo was the Yuri torch-bearer to generations of Yuri fans, she can barely hold a candle to her mother, Sonomi. This is one of the best “magical girl anime made for girls” series ever, really.
Riddle Story of a Devil was was a “Yuri” anime because we were told it was, but there was some interesting sexual tension and random partnering to make up for the lack of affection. The action was good, the plot full of holes, but as a modern version of Seraphim Call-like character scenarios tied up by a ribbon story, it was entertaining. It’s not timeless, but we looked forward to it being on air and enjoyed the heck out of it while we watched it. That’s a good enough reason for me to include it on this list. ^_^
I know you know that I didn’t much care for the anime. But setting that aside, it was a fairly significant series – a Yuri romance anime, nuthin’ else but Yuri. No gimmicks, no pretend drama, just straight up “Story A.” While I did not care for the thigh-staring, and the creepy male gaze of the camera, there is no doubt that Yu loves Haruka, Haruka loves Yu, they love each other. The end.
I toyed with making this my number one choice for the year. Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san was, to me, the most enjoyable advertised-as-Yuri anime of the year. It was silly, and actually funny in places, and light-hearted and goofy. There are any number of potential pairings and a few actual couples, but the anime kept the Yuri mostly in the imagination of the leads…and I enjoyed it. From the insanely adorable opening theme, right to every stupid animal pun, Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san made me smile.
I watched Book One of this series back in winter 2013, and marathoned Books 2-4 over the past few weeks and I have to say…this may well be one of the greatest animated series ever made. It blasts through the Bechdel Test and the Friedman Addendum…and it’s an awesome ride all the while. Legend of Korra has everything I’ve ever wanted in an animated series – amazing characters, great action and lovely animation and a female lead who has a life and family and friends and complexity and morally ambiguous bad guys. The stories are well written, the dialogue sounds human. And in Book 4 we got something else. We got the ‘ship we’d been keeping one eye on the whole time. We got Korra and Asami.
