"And thus we have a-"
" NO! "
"...And thus we have a love tria-"
" OH GOD NO! "
"......And thus we have a love triangle in this yuri you like so-"
" NONONONONO! WE WERE SO CLOSE! WE WERE ALMOST FREE! WHY MUST WE FOREVER CARRY OVERUSED CLICHES AROUND WITH US LIKE A SCROTUM FULL OF HORSESHOES? "
Oh Yatzhee, thank you for helping me always knowing what to say and how to say it
But cliche is the engine that runs yuri. Cliche is what makes yuri so enjoyable. If you don't like cliche, why are you reading yuri? Cliches are an easy way to pack in a ton of meaning into one small spot because they're easily recognizable. They're what make pop fiction and romance fiction, well, popular. They're great to use in writing, regardless of what your creative writing teachers say. And besides, experimental fiction is a chore to read and pretentious. Innovation isn't always fun when you're seeking out derivative romance fiction. Even Takemiya Jin, the revolutionary queen of yuri style, uses love triangles (The way she picks apart and nukes older yuri conventions in the first chapter of Fragments, though, is exquisite).
And as long as the writer can breathe some new life into the cliche, like here with interesting characters and a fun story, rather than just mindlessly use old tropes, it's fine. And good yuri doesn't even have to do that.
Calling a love triangle cliche is rather odd, though. It's a standard story archetype. Like, you wouldn't say it's cliche to end a chapter with a hook, or to have a rising action followed by a climax, would you?
What the fuck.
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