Yuri & Shoujo-ai
Ever on the lookout for new things to read, I recently discovered manga, or Japanese comics. Manga and anime offer numerous titles featuring lesbian characters or sub-plots. “Yuri” and “Shoujo-ai” are jargon terms amongst fans for lesbian content, sometimes explicit, in manga, anime and related fan fiction. I remember reading fan fiction for Xena and Seven of Nine from Star Trek Voyager ten years ago.
Some famous lesbian story series include Sailor Moon, Revolutionary Girl Utena and Maria-sama ga Miteru or “Marimite” for short. The English translation is “The Virgin Mary is Watching.” Marimite follows the students at Lillian Jogakuen, an all-girls Catholic school somewhere in Japan. It focuses on the relationships between the girls, set against the backdrop of the Student Council, known as the Yamayurikai.
There seem to be definite gender roles in the couples (older more masculine, aggressive; younger more feminine, more submissive.) I’m glad to see someone else in addition to Katherine Brooks scripting Catholic girls’ school love stories!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria-sama_ga_Miteru
