"Is this the age of Yuri?!"
It sure is!
I wish...so far the best yuri anime ever released is Inugami To Nekoyama, a short episode series, and Sakura Trick, a series where girls kiss each other literally just to kiss each other...lol
ONE DAY THOUGH, I BELIEVE WE WILL HAVE A FANTASTIC YURI ANIME! A REAL ANIME TOO! No three minute long episodes! IT'LL HAVE A PLOT! AND ROMANCE! WON'T BE OVERDRAMATIC! IT'LL JUST BE GOOD! AND THAT DAY WILL BE BEAUTIFUL DAMMIT!
silently waits for the Girlfriends anime that will never come...
Honestly you're forgetting some very important anime -Sweet Blue Flowers, Yuri Yuri, Love Live, Strawberry Panic, and Maria Watches Over Us.
Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san is cute but there's hardly any development for it's type.
Sakura Trick is great and mostly comedy. Sweet Blue Flowers and Strawberry Panic are great and a mixture of romance and drama. Yuru Yuri is great and comedic slice-of-life. If we rule out very short OVA series like Kuttsukiboshi, Sonohana, and Shoujo Sect (one of my favorites and truly a great show) then those four are undoubtedly the best.
I've seen every yuri anime there is to see and considering that 99% of all the "good" ones you guys are listing are NOTHING but implied relationships and the majority of the rest is excessively over dramatic or just not very good, really not sure what points you're trying to make here.
Wait, I didn't even notice this, you think Yuru Yuri and Love Live...are more yuri than Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san...Love Live isn't even actually a yuri so it's not even gonna get it's own section lol, first of all. And Yuru Yuri is one of those series that is yuri in the loosest sense of the term because there's a couple girls who admire other girls and one girl who fervently kisses the others SOMETIMES. Not that I dislike Yuru Yuri since it's a pretty fun show but its BARELY yuri. In Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san half the storylines are about the attraction the girls have for each other and how often Inugami-san tries to act on that.
Sweet Blue Flowers (I'm assuming that's Aoi Hana even though I've never heard the name Sweet Blue Flowers myself) is one of the most overdramatic series, not even just yuri series, ever made. And yeah, it touched on some important points of reality regarding lesbian relationships that most series don't but considering the fact that it's STILL overdramatic as fuck and incomplete as an anime, I can't agree with you. Not to mention large parts of that series are incredibly boring.
Strawberry Panic. somebody already said this, IS INCREDIBLY OVERDRAMATIC to the point where it just ruins the series for most people (aka me). And it's not even the "we're touching on real points regarding lesbianism" overdramaticness that Aoi Hana did but just ridiculous overdramaticness throughout the entire fucking series lol.
Sakura Trick was pretty good but I won't call it great because, let's face it, there was very little development for anybody besides the president. Our main characters had A LOT of shit they could've developed through but literally just didn't. Basically they had too much fanservice in the form of kissing for the normal anime viewer (that wasn't secretly perverted lol) to really enjoy in the way I meant.
Sonohana and Shoujo Sect ARE FUCKING HENTAIS lol! And Shoujo Sect AGAIN is incredibly overdramatic, I mean somebody dies COMPLETELY OUT OF NOWHERE lol.
Kashimashi...I honestly don't know to explain this one besides...it's just not very good...I mean it's not terrible or even bad either but to call it great? Can't agree with you there. It was just pretty boring and I'm really not sure that a yuri series that start with a guy turning into a girl because aliens isn't exactly the kind of yuri series that the all around anime viewer is gonna love lol.
Kuttsukiboshi ALMOST qualifies and, had it had ANY more character/plot development, it would be almost perfect, even though it is pretty close to being hentai but completely disqualifies itself when they fucking ruined it with that pointless fucking plot twist at the end that straight up ruined the series for most people (myself included).
Sasameki Koto is pretty fucking great (totally forgot about it) and I can't really argue anything there except that, I think (can't totally remember), the anime doesn't cover the entire series so it doesn't really feel satisfying in the slightest and because of that the anime winds up being somewhat forgettable.
And let me just thank all of you for not bringing up Kannazuki No Miko as a great yuri anime because then I would finally have found the real problem to all of this lol.
I'm pretty sure that covers all the series that were mentioned and if I missed some then my bad but I'm just not gonna check lol. I think you misunderstood what I meant originally. What I meant when I said we'd never had a great yuri anime. I meant we've never had a yuri anime that was ACTUALLY yuri and really good in regards to plot and overall entertainment value that is just, frankly, enjoyable for EVERY type of anime viewer there is (something a fucking hentai won't be, seriously why even bring those up lol). Sasameki Koto got pretty close but due to how unsatisfying the ending of the anime is it loses a large part of its value and winds up being somewhat forgettable.
I mentioned a Girlfriends anime because I feel that series was perfect in regards to what I've been talking about: It had plenty of character and plot development, plenty of good romance WITHOUT BEING OVERDRAMATIC AND STUPID, it isn't boring, there isn't excessive amounts of fanservice, it covers some realistic issues with a lesbian relationship, and it's just an all around a good yuri series. It's the kind of series that anybody can enjoy without looking for fap material or just being an all around yuri lover. We're never gonna enter the "age of yuri" for anime at least until there's a yuri series that EVERYBODY can enjoy, both yuri lovers (like all of us) and the normal everyday anime viewer who doesn't care, as in love or hate, yuri. Because when THAT happens that's gonna trigger more and more good and enjoyable yuri animes to be made because now the anime companies won't be producing animes just for some niche group of yuri loving people but for a broader audience, lessening the risk they'll be taking by releasing it.
So no I don't think there's ever been a truly great yuri anime.
No one mentioned it so I will. What about Akuma no Riddle? That's certainly yuri and has a comprehensive plot on its own aside from any perceived couple. You seem to know what you're talking about so I just want to know what you have to say about AnR.
And I know the ening was bleeeeh and it finished ahead of the manga like a lot of the others you mentioned, but I don't think it ever got super stupid or overdramatic.