Aoi Hana was exceptionally good. I still really like Miyabi Fujieda's work, though. They're really cute, free of fanservice, and the character's don't hide the fact that they're lesbians or in love.
Other than that, I really enjoyed Pieta, even if it was a tad subtexty.
edited 8th Apr '10 6:25:02 PM by Miijhal
I consider myself fairly eclectic in terms of my yuri tastes and I've tried to enjoy a wide palette. Luckily yuri seems to be a fairly diverse genre so you don't need to take in the racier stuff if you don't want to.
Interestingly enough, Aoi Hana actually has more sexual titillation than some fully canon yuri stories. Most of the stuff by Miyabi Fujieda is a slight bit more tame (although Iono The Fanatics is a slight bit more racy). First Love Sisters is also tamer than Aoi Hana unless you automatically equate moe with Fanservice.
edited 8th Apr '10 7:08:28 PM by CBanana
and that's how Equestria was made!Interestingly enough, Aoi Hana actually has more sexual titillation than some fully canon yuri stories. Most of the stuff by Miyabi Fujieda is a slight bit more tame (although Iono The Fanatics is a slight bit more racy). First Love Sisters is also tamer than Aoi Hana unless you automatically equate moe with fanservice.
It's not necessarily that I don't want to, but it's a slippery slope, y'know? I mean, I start with streaming Aoi Hana off of Crunchyroll, and before you know it, my hard-drive is full of hentai of more questionable origin.
I don't think that's likely to actually happen, but today seems to be my day for Insane Troll Hyperbole, so hey, why not. Really, it's mostly just because I don't know where to find anything except what's on Crunchyroll or the Madman site, and haven't bothered to look, since video games have been taking up most of my time lately, and if there's one thing I don't need, it's more timesinks.
(I'm still not necessarily talking about anime specifically, but again, it's easier to write coherently this way. It does bear mentioning that I'm more inclined toward anime in general, though; based on what little I've read, black-and-white manga tend to make my eyes hurt before long.)
edited 8th Apr '10 7:19:52 PM by SuperDimensionman
Summary: "Boy who crossdresses for ridiculous reasons blackmails lesbian who acts similar to a teenage boy. Nosebleeds, homophobic slurs, sexual harassment, threatened rape, and a complete absence of hilarity ensues."
Sounds like my sort of thing, then.
And to be honest, it doesn't sound "mean spirited" except for the minor Take That! bits at Mari Mite.
edited 10th Apr '10 2:44:04 PM by DEFCON1
Truthfully, I can't stand humour that could be viewed as promoting misogyny. It's just the way I'm wired. It means my very nature forces me to detest Maria Holic because of that.
Consider it an anti-recommendation since you did ask for an opinion. Erica sums it up
far more thoroughly.
What I will say is this - I found the anti-lesbian "humor" painful. At one point, Mariya calls Kanako "lesbo girl" and it really, really upset me. It was meant to be hurtful to Kanako. We're supposed to find humor in her reaction to this. But, when in a single panel she pleaded with her dead mother, "why is everyone picking on me?" I lost it and started to cry. If you found that line funny, I hate you. It's as simple as that.
Now, see, it's clear Mariya's just being a bitch. And I'll say this: offensive humor is funny because it's funny, not oyougettheideawhyamigoingoverthis. Hell, I laugh at Asian stereotypes (doesn't help when a lot of Asians are just poking fun at themselves in stereotype roles). I can look past the supposed homophobia/misogyny (yes, I'm an un-PC bitch), and I do like Random Humor.
[/flamebait]
I'm not always the most politically correct person myself but I'm only human and by the way I'm wired, certain things set me off and upset me. Misogyny is one of the things I just can't stand even in fiction. You're free to disagree with me, but you're not going to change my mind about detesting Maria Holic.
and that's how Equestria was made!Wasn't trying to.
I remember someone bitching about Mari Mite on the dead Complain About Shows You Dont Like Darth Wiki page, because it kept running on UST and baiting people with it for much of the season. Talk about missing the point...
I just brush it off with, "Oh, that's Mariya for you".
And I still wonder if it would be better tolerated were it gender-flipped...
Heaven doesn't want me, and Hell's afraid I'll take over.I have decided to buy Sono Hanabira Ni Kuchizuke Wo. I mean, it's cheap enough at USD $20 and I'm told that quite a lot of care has gone into it.
Problem is, it's only purchasable as a download, and I use an old desktop for buying stuff because it doesn't go anywhere else on in the internet except for expressly that purpose. If I download the file on that computer, is the copy protection such that I won't be able to run it on my laptop?
edited 11th Apr '10 7:52:10 PM by zeroplusalpha
Play Again? Y/NI've only seen half of Simoun. Me and a friend are going to marathon the rest once he gets some free time. So far, the anime has been reasonably decent.
and that's how Equestria was made!Would you say the fanservice is awkward/grating? I'm... iffy about picking it up because it's awkward enough to have a Yuri series on my shelf for all to see without it being really fanservicey, and most of what gets brought over here is either hentai, extremely fanservicey, or all subtext.
edited 22nd Apr '10 1:20:02 PM by Miijhal
I usually don't mind Fanservice just as long as it doesn't rob a character of their competence. That said there is Fanservice deliberately inserted in the anime.
Fanservice in Simoun mostly consists of various skin-tight training outfits, Shower Scenes, and kissing rituals. Also the commercial break eyecatches
can be fairly Fanservice filled.
Well, I can let you know that there is no full frontal nudity in Simoun (at least not up to episode 15).
and that's how Equestria was made!I always wonder about how the Japanese view the word "lesbian". I've heard a lot of different things. One person told me that lesbian means exactly the same thing in the West that it does in Japan. I've also heard that it has significant political and negative meanings to it. Also, I've heard that yuri and lesbian are essentially interchangeable in terms of meaning. All things considered, I don't know what the heck "lesbian" means in Japan and I tend to think that the Japanese don't have a consensus meaning on it.
and that's how Equestria was made!Mind you, if 2chan is anything like 4chan (which it probably is), I wouldn't take any comments they say seriously since anonymous image boards are the ultimate example of the GIFT principle.
and that's how Equestria was made!

The more I read this thread, and posts like this one, the more I feel like I'm inevitably going to have to consume some kind of yuri hentai in order to get the whole ordeal.
I honestly * think that starting with Aoi Hana ruined the entire genre for me, by being too close to a sort of non-fallacious golden mean. To read this thread, it seems like on one side, it only gets more ecchi and fanservicey from there, and on the other; vague and subtexty.