Oh god. All this sudden talk about the author saying this isn't going to be yuri has reawakened memories of the "Budokan" dumpster fire.
If the problem is between shoujo ai and yuri (for whatever reason being assumed to mean pornographic), then for me the situation is rather cut and dry. The shoujo ai tag is as rife with abuse as the souls tag is on Steam. In many of the cases of shoujo ai tagged manga I've read most, if not all, of them have been serious cases of bait and switch and you could go through them with without ever seeing a single confession, romantic date, or actual kiss (we're talking on the lips, no quick peck on the cheek or forhead). In a lot of cases, the characters don't end up together but end with being "just very close friends", if sometimes even that. I wouldn't trust a shoujo ai tag one bit.
Yuri however is very specific on what your going to get: a light, fluffy, "moe as f" romance with hand holding, kissing, and if your really lucky, maybe even a kabedon. I think if someone's going into yuri expecting graphic porn/50 shades nonsense then they're not checking the right websites for their manga.
Yuri delivers, shoujo-ai is about as reliable as calling Romance of the Three Kingdoms a BL novel.
That said, if this does turn into a total bait and switch, I will be sorely disappointed. Especially after how obvious the author has gone to make them clearly be romantically attracted to each other.
That all being said, I really hope someone has the wherewithal to get this book licensed in the US.
last edited at Apr 30, 2023 11:23AM