Otherwise why get Morishima Akiko involved in the manga side of the project in the first place?
And why deliver panties fan service in character design pics? Ikuhara's gathering the crowd. That of course means that yuri fanbase is part of the targeted audience. It doesn't however mean we gonna end up with yuri :)
Oh, and Morishima's also a great mangaka - it's a great reason to work with her!
It is neither a sequel nor a prequel. They were both 'supposed' to be the same story, with the anime being the adaptation of Morishima's manga version. But from what I know, the two versions are going to be completely different (though occasionally using the other for source).
My humble guess is that Ikuhara and Morishima agreed on a set of key facts of the story premise, theme, and character personalities. Then she started making an actual story while Ikuhara used it as a source material to play with to eventually produce what he wanted.
Take that as you will, but I'm going to be pissed if Ikuhara waters down the yuri content of the anime simply to pander to the audience. Cause sadly, yuri doesn't sell well... At least we can hope Morishima won't sell out and take the manga down that route.
I think this is a work of Ikuhara more than a work of yuri. I mean, it's not really about delivering to the yuri fan base, rather than raising the topics he really likes and has something to say about. I have good reasons to believe that YKA is a lot about the homosexuality and its acceptance by the society in the first case.
reading quotes from his wiki, he prefers yuri subtext to het romance simply because het romance tends to take over the story a lot. So, I'm expecting the yuri to take a backseat in the anime :/
I think what he says (or rather what's been translated) is not really his truth. I think he likes yuri a lot but doesn't what to be public about it, hence the yuri subtext in his shows. As for the romance, be it het, yaoi, or yuri - doesn't matter as it equally takes over a story. So yuri romance in a yuri setting is likelier to be broken. What kind of relationship ends up in the subtext - we'll see. But the Kureha-Ginko-LifeSexy triangle is pretty well established in the manga at least.
his last show was totally ruined in the second half because of it.
no! "What Ikuhara was trying to say is the 2nd half is actually where everything begins!" lol. It's where the main theme of the story is actually touched upon. It was great. But it's difficult to grasp if you're not ready to think a lot about it.
