In shadowy smoke-filled rooms the darkly illuminated masterminds of fandom plot the tastes of otaku worldwide. They slowly have infiltrated all levels of anime and manga production with their sleeper agents. Over time they have insidiously increased the potential for fanboys to ship their favorite girls together.  Some crazy people might have written fan-fictions about the girls from Azumanga Daioh or been Juri Arisugawa fans less for her complex personality and more for her doujinshi potential but they were the minority. But now the sleeper has awoken and shows like K-On!, Lucky Star, and Toaru Kagaku no Railgun have brought their unified vision of a yuri-wonderland to the forefront. Their war was won before anyone realized a shot had been fired. OK. That is me being silly plus that it ignores the fact that guys have been liking girl on girl action since time immemorial. But I have noticed a strangely silent but extremely aggravating male fandom appearing that is bolder and bolder while at the same time remaining largely unnoticed.

There needs to be a word for fans who see yuri everywhere. This goes beyond just liking seeing girls together, that is not where the interest lies because quite frankly that is unsurprising to anyone. It is more about people who see yuri in every friendship, in every show, and believe there is always an underlying context from the creator. This mirrors the extreme fujoshi (we talked about it a while ago) but I don’t really see anyone complaining that these yuri fans are “ruining” anime as is thrown at the yaoi community. Perhaps it is who I talk to on the internet, perhaps people don’t recognize them, or perhaps it is a classic double-standard.

Continue reading →