I was the one side in that argument stating that she said, in her interview, that she didn't consider the story she's currently writing as yuri (ie, romance between girls), but as "female close relationship" or something. Ie, Gal Pals. Or subtext.
Afk was arguing that she implied "so far", I was arguing that she's talking about the whole story in general.
Not yuri then. Friendly affection between girls. The warmth of having a gal pal who is really close to you, like a soulmate, and really understands you.
This chapter really drives the point home.
This reminds me of an episode of People Watching. The entire thing is about how popular culture heavily devalues friendships and tries to center everything on sexual relationships despite that being "Fucking lame."
Dating someone doesn't have to be a sexual relationship, romance doesn't have to be sexual. Yuri can be a whole lot of everything, including platonic. "Nettaigyo wa Yuki ni Kogareru" is listed as Subtext on here, but I've seen a good amount of people and other websites classify it as Yuri.
Also as for the video you linked, I feel it largely centralizes around the concept that men and women can be friends, without it being sexual or romantic. However there's also a very good comment on that video talking about relationships and the fears people have, the last part of said comment is "Their relationship is primed for a powerful and stable romantic relationship, but they refrain from moving their friendship to a romantic stage from fear of losing the existing trust and support. It is ironic, and in my opinion, bittersweet.", which I think is a very good point. People CAN just be friends, but they can also be more than friends without things being sexual or even romantic. It's a complicated topic, and feelings are hard to sort through, as humans we're messy unsure creatures.
With this manga we're on a website that focuses on sharing romantic F/F comics, and so a lot of people want to see them at least date, hold hands, fall in love and bond over music. I don't think everyone on here wants to see them fuck. I do think whatever relationship the author goes for should be interesting. There's nothing wrong with platonic friendships, nonsexual romances, and sexual relationships. Everyone has their preferences.
I'm a bit mixed. On one hand, hell yeah female friendships forming over a beautiful hobby that gets them kinda ostracised from others. On the other hand, it feels very much like galpal erasure of gay girls because they're just really close friends. Nothing's final until the author says so of course, but the path seems to be getting clearer.
I will definitely still follow this story, but just a bit disheartened now.
Yeah there's also I think the gay erasure aspect to consider here. Where so many same sex relationships just get dismissed as purely friends. As I said in my comments above, this series can still be Yuri, Women's Love, or however you want to define it where they're in something along the lines of maybe a platonic love relationship, that isn't romantic or sexual, but they're still more than friends.
Thank you, FluffyCow. This is an excellent comment and I mostly agree. I don't think Sumiko will show them being sexually explicit, but I have a feeling there will be lots of attachment and strong emotion between Mitsuki and Aya. Maybe Sumiko will lead up to those sexual moments with passion, emotion, and intensity, but it will be left to the reader to discern with their imagination or with subtext.
