Actually Morishima Akiko wrote some of the first yuri stuff in Anise Magazine in 1997 when the thing first came out, Happy Picture Diary. Not sure if it was yuri or stright up Lesbian due to the comic it came out in. She was one of the first to work for Yuri Hime back when it was Yuri Shimai. I think this page http://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/yuri_friends shows that Morishima Akiko, Fujio Mijabi, Akio Mitsu and Amano Shuninta are Lesbian or bisexual or Pansexual with a favortism towards female.

Coincidentally the writers mentioned above did in the mid to late 2000's and even early 2010's from when the comics came out on Dynasty Scans were the most revolutionary, some had adult lives like Wife and Wife, Office Romance Women's Division, and most of Amano Shuninta's work. These are some of the more revolutionary writers. Also ones like Poor Poor Lips by Goto Hayako are in the adult life yuri. Mira did 2 Yuri back in 2013-2014 that were adult related or similar like Earth Girls. I seems that the genre is starting to trend away from just strictly schoolgirl but also it seems the the Yuri is getting more diverse in it's storylines even with the Schoolgirl setting take The Real her, Moe is into being a submissive to somebody she has fallen in love with, Yuuki who is a natural born dominate and does not know she id it till she finds out from Yuuki what those terms are from Moe. Other Schoolgirl yuri are going into more after high school like Chatting At The Amber Teahouse if you read it on Dynasty Scans you will see more of the story after high school.

last edited at Jan 23, 2017 2:22AM

I think the furthest back yuri in an anime I remember seeing was CCS - but ofcourse Tomoyo's feelings were always one-sided.

I bet If it had been made nowadays they would of done more with the yuri subtext or showing of her feelings etc.

And I agree with the earlier poster - there is far more yuri /subtext in anime and manga than there was 10-15 years ago. Most notably in anime - and it is also more normalized.

last edited at Feb 21, 2017 2:39AM

Thank you for sharing this article. It's very interesting. I'm happy for how yuri genre has grown. There are negative effects that come along, of course, but in a positive light, this is truly a happy moment.

The rest is just my wishful thinking and personal thoughts, don't mind me. I like yaoi and yuri. Without yaoi to introduce me to the world of same-sex romance, I won't like yuri. There is always a saying "you will become gay if you like gay stuffs" or something similar. As a girl, liking yuri as well felt weirder than liking yaoi before. But that's nothing now. Anyway, I personally want a growth in yaoi genre as well. As I'm more active in yaoi-centered fandom outside Dynasty, I've seen many things from yaoi fans that sadden me so much. Of course, this also happened in yuri world. However, yuri is slowly growing for the better, taking the fans along as well. I want yaoi to take the the same step (as far as I can see, none right now - sure, webtoons have yaoi now, but many are similar to the original yaoi - more forceful. There's little ammount of sweet and fluff yaoi out there. Yuri!! On Ice normalized the homosexual couple, but the fans are...quite embarrassing). Same-sex romance genre in fiction might affect reality. They might change the mainstream world's view about homosexuals to the better. That's a true revolution for me - for them to be equal in the real world.

On another note, I also wish for peace between the three forces - het, yaoi, and yuri. The three are romance, just with different genders/sex, the works have variation, and overall similar in terms of "loving someone" - I see no point in fighting. That is all.

Wooooooow!!!
simply awesome! <3

This article is great! Thank you for sharing!