Hello,

I'd like to get your opinion about something. You see, I have a friend who I'd like to hook up on yuri. He never read any manga or watched any anime. We agreed that I'll show him one or two series that he will read from the beginning to the end to give it a chance. What series do you think would be the best to show him?

Oh and the series must not be mainly about sex, those are no good. It can be slightly NSFW, but nothing too explicit. That means titles like Shoujo Sect are out of the question.

I was thinking about one of these (my personal favorites):
[list=*]
* Girl Friends[/*]
* Hoshikawa Ginza District 4[/*]
* Kimi Koi Limit[/*]
* Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry-Blossom Pink[/*]
* Prism[/*]
* Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter[/*]

So, what do you think? Would you recommend one from the list above or some other series entirely?
Thank you for your input :)

I'd totally recommend Girl Friends or yuri work by Morinaga Milk in general. Prism is a good choice too.

Sasameki Koto is a absolute favourite of mine so I would highly recommend it. Pure Water Adolescence, Flower Flower... Maybe some Gokujo Drops? Hm, now that I think of it, maybe not.

Or works by Otsu Hiyori like Aqua Blue Cinema or Your Cuteness. Works by Miyabi Fujieda like Inono Fanatics and The Miko's Words and the Witch's Incantations are good too.

Thanks for your reply.
I have not read Sasameki Koto, Pure Water Adolescence or Flower Flower so I don't know about it :-)
Gokujou Drops is way too NSFW to use.

Aqua Blue Cinema and Your Cuteness are good choices, I have no idea why I haven't thought of them. I love Otsu Hiyori ><
Iono Fanatics and Miko's Words and Wich's Incantations are only very lightly yuri and don't focus on the romance as much as I'd like.

Thanks again for your suggestions!

Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter is NSFW, if I remember correctly. Lol.

If you want to introduce someone to yuri, shouldn't a series about girls falling for girls for the first time a good way to start? Like the series Resounding Echo? There's many more, but I can't seem to remember now. sigh

I wonder, though, if it's too much to introduce angsty yuri to non-believers the first time around... -.-'

I think 'Girlfriends' is your best choice. It's not all about sex, it's got a good level of romance and even displays the confusion that girls go through and actions they might take when trying to decide how they really feel.

mimiq89 wrote

Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter is NSFW, if I remember correctly. Lol.

If you want to introduce someone to yuri, shouldn't a series about girls falling for girls for the first time a good way to start? Like the series Resounding Echo? There's many more, but I can't seem to remember now. sigh

I wonder, though, if it's too much to introduce angsty yuri to non-believers the first time around... -.-'

It's true that Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter is a bit NSFW but I think it's not too explicit.
Resounding Echo would be good but it's are a series of stories instead of one single multi-chapter story and as you said, there's quite a bit of angst.

biggbran77 wrote

I think 'Girlfriends' is your best choice. It's not all about sex, it's got a good level of romance and even displays the confusion that girls go through and actions they might take when trying to decide how they really feel.

Yeah, I also think that Girl Friends would make a great choice. After all, it is my #1 Manga ;)

Depends on what your friend's personal preferences are? You could probably get him hooked on yuri if you tailor your selection to whatever genre he's naturally inclined towards. That said, I think Octave would be a good candidate for consideration. It's fairly complex and manages to promote yuri without completely isolating the heterosexual world, as some yuri manga/anime will do. :)

Zenphor wrote

Depends on what your friend's personal preferences are? You could probably get him hooked on yuri if you tailor your selection to whatever genre he's naturally inclined towards. That said, I think Octave would be a good candidate for consideration. It's fairly complex and manages to promote yuri without completely isolating the heterosexual world, as some yuri manga/anime will do. :)

It's true Octave is fairly complex, that's why for someone who is just starting to read yuri it might not be such a great idea to start with such a heavy story. You want to let them get their foot in the door, walk around a bit and get to understanding the beauty behind yuri. Once they've gotten used to it then you can recommend something like Octave.

last edited at May 28, 2012 2:30PM

Yeah, my thoughts exactly.

Octave is a great series but it is very complex (compared to many other series).

As for his personal preferences... well, that's hard. I know he enjoys a good comedy and action. He watches shows like Doctor Who, Red Dwarf or Family Guy and movies that star a strong, badass protagonist.
While it's true that romance is one of the genres he doesn't like, I'm fairly certain yuri romance can appeal to him. After all, I don't particularly like romance genre as well but I love yuri romance. :D

MousE0910 wrote

As for his personal preferences... well, that's hard. I know he enjoys a good comedy and action. He watches shows like Doctor Who, Red Dwarf or Family Guy and movies that star a strong, badass protagonist.

Then, I guess you could appeal to his comedy side by showing him some yuri gag manga or something along that line. But I guess that's out of topic since you want to introduce him to romance...but I think flirting is part of romance, no? =)

As for action, I guess there's not much to go there. I doubt there's a lot of yuri action manga...unless you count the magical girls...

last edited at Apr 26, 2012 12:10PM

Hayate x Blade is yuri action and comedy. Licensed tho, and not on the Dynasty reader.

Marimite, Kannazuki no Miko are what I would consider great entry-level yuri series. Both are not exactly typical though (Marimite is Class S, Kannazuku no Miko is shounen). Also the more appropriate medium for getting into those two would probably be anime.

I haven't read Girlfriends yet, but Morinaga Milk is always good. Aside from her, the next "representative" yuri author I would think of is Morishima Akako--Hanjuku Joshi being the series I'd recommend, although it does eventually feature a fair degree of sex. I think if you want to show your friend stuff that most yuri probably looks like those two series (Girlfriends or Hanjuku Joshi) would be good introductions.

last edited at Apr 26, 2012 7:48PM

Morinaga Milk is always a good start for beginners. If you want to start off slowly and then gradually pick up speed then the anthology 'Even If We're Not Friends' and eventually 'Kisses, Sighs and Cherry-Blossom Pink are also good choices.

It seems that Morinaga Milk is the author to go with, just as I thought. Girl Friends was the first series I thought of that I could use and you all only strengthen my opinion.

Yuri gag mangas aren't usually serious enough to really go anywhere and both Marimite and Kannazuki no Miko focus more on friendship and action respectively than on yuri.

Hanjuku Joshi seems like a pretty good choice as well.

Well, since most of you recommended either Girl Friends or Morinaga Milk in general, I'll go with that.

If anyone's interested, I can post whether he started to incline towards yuri or not after reading the series.

Thanks again for everyone's opinions!

Feel free to let me know. I'm always ready to welcome a kindred spirit into the realm that is yuri manga. Good luck.

last edited at Apr 27, 2012 5:03AM

When it comes to pure squee factor you can't beat the works of Fujieda Miyabi. Of course Otsu Hiyori is up there too for the cuteness factor. I would definitely recommend Sasameki Koto to any begginer. mmmm Japanese lesbians, I want one.

If you go with Fujieda Miyabi I would recommend either 'The Miko's Words and The Witch's Incantations' or 'Chatting at the Amber Teahouse'. For Otsu Hiyori I recommend 'Aqua Blue Cinema'. These are all good stories for a beginner that represent the yuri factor pretty well but don't involve sex.

last edited at Apr 28, 2012 2:01AM

Anything Otsu Hiyori in my opinion! Stuff that doesn't have too much yuri goodness. Ahah. Lonely Wolf, Lonely Sheep or Blank (ah gahd....how Blank mover me so...)..... or hm.... maybe my suggestions are too aaaaangsty? Lol. C:

Haha, well, this is way too late to help you out, MousE, but thought I'd chuck this in anyway (in case this sort of thing ever comes up again). Definitely support the recommendation of Girl Friends, though it's important to let the person know that it's a little longer than most yuri series tend to be. I also highly recommend Ebisu-san and Hotei-san. It's a great little series about two office ladies who become involved through rather difficult circumstances and eventually end up together. It's SFW, it's cute, it's touching, and I just adore the art style.