Yuri needs both its Wholesome and Trashy varieties

Citrus is probably my personal favorite Anime of 2018.  

Citrus of course held an awkward place in the ecosystem of 2010s Yuri, being contentious already even when it was just a Manga as soon as the Anime dropped it was quickly the target of certain Yuri critics as the poster child of the kind of problematic “Trashy” Yuri they want to less of, with only Netsuzou TRap being even more hated.

I was a Citrus Stan who refused to watch Bloom Into You at the end of the year out of spite for how these people propped it up in contrast to Citrus.  Now here we are 6 years later and neither show has a second season to continue its story.  We both lost and in consequence got a few years of not much proper Yuri at all.  Now I’ve finally seen Bloom and it’s great, it was dumb of me to call it boring simply off the second hand vibes I got.  Also the Dub has Luci Christian.

Anthony Gramuglia released a video at the start of this June called We Need “BAD” LGBTQIA Representation.  And similar videos with similar sentiments have popped up before like one called something like “Good representation is boring representation”.  And I feel like someone saying this specifically in the context of Anime is overdue.

I don’t exactly agree with all the sentiments expressed in his video, I like my Edgy Trash to still also have some Heart hence my Elfen Lied is Wholesome Actually blogpost.  And comparing it to his older Anime Fanservice video I imagine he’d criticize Citrus for not going far enough.  I have long noticed a certain Semi-Puritanism in Anime discourse where some people feel like an Anime should only be Sexual at all if it crosses some line that makes you question how it was able to air on Television.  Never considering that for some people the exact level of eroticism shows like this have is exactly what we crave and is not a mere compromise.

Parallel to that is the complaint I know some will make of “why are they only Step Sisters, why not just go all the way if you want to appeal to incest feithsists”.  Step Siblings is a specific Fantasy on it’s own and not a mere Incest compromise.  It’s the fantasy of getting to live with someone about your age of whatever Gender you’re attracted to without the issue of having known them when you both were in Diapers.

So Citrus isn’t the Trashiest, and neither is Netsuzou TRap.  Not too long ago I would have suggested nothing could possibly surpass Prisma Illya.  But then this year we got Gushing Over Magical Girls.  If that isn’t “all the way” enough for you then nothing is.

Of course there are also the Classic Trashy Yuri to consider, from Strawberry Panic to Kuttsukiboshi.  There’s also Candy Boy which is a trashy premise on paper but utterly Wholesome in execution.

I’m starting to think 2023 might have ushered in a new peak era for Yuri.  The last year and a half has provided a lot to satisfy those who want Yuri that is as Unproblematic as possible.  But I gotta admit I kinda miss a lot of the madness only a Crazy 2000s Yuri like Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl could provide.