Fall's Profile

Over 3 years ago, I first dropped Neon Genesis Evangelion. Now I'm going to bite the bullet, even if it ends up completely destroying my teeth, and even if it only begets misery--I'm going to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion and finish it this time.

Fairly recently, I watched my very first Yuri (Shoujo-Ai) anime: Sakura Trick. And I enjoyed it. It had a unique blend of comedy most of the time and, more than anything, the main leads weren't twiddling their thumbs throughout the entire series until the last 10 minutes where they finally kiss in the climax. There was A LOT of kissing in this show, but that's far preferable to the kissing-is-sacred mentality.

Most romance anime--or rather, romance stories in general--never end up delving deep enough into either the characters or the relationship between the characters. Or when they do, the characters don't even end up being that interesting. What Sakura Trick explores is the relationship between the two leads, but inevitably ends up touching on the two as characters, as well.

Sakura Trick posed a question at some point throughout the show: What is love? Throughout the show, it goes about answering this question in different ways and also poses different variants of the same question: Is this love? If I had to say what I liked most about the show and why I kept watching it, that would be it. The characters and couples exist as different takes on the question, and I enjoyed how each one ended up answering it in a slightly or significantly different way.

Sakura Trick is very light-hearted. It does end up being dramatic at some points, but it's not melodrama. It's...'realistic drama', I suppose? At any rate, it doesn't outstay its welcome and the atmosphere feels largely authentic and believable.

One thing I did dislike about the show was the drama it creates between the secondary couple. Most of the time, it ends up coming off as cheap drama, particularly in one of the later episodes. In spite of that, I did mostly enjoy their interactions and the message they represented: The fun times will inevitably pass, so we should do as much as we can until it's all taken away from us. Tie up as many loose ends as possible, and regret as little as you can. Create the memories that will act as your foundation; the stuff that will keep you keeping on. You should do what you can while you still can, basically. Because it's impossible not to do things you will regret; life is the epitome of regrets. If regret is inevitable, then enjoy yourself as much as you can until the moment that regret strikes you down. The power of fate--that is, the inevitable--is something that is often trivialized and forgotten. Fighting fate won't yield you any happiness--resigning yourself to it fate is what will bring you happiness. It's ridiculously arrogant to think that anyone can trump fate. That fight is meaningless, pointless, unwinnable and most of all, it will only beget misery. Self-awareness is important--realise when you are deluding yourself. That's somewhat of an over-analysis, but all the same, I really loved how they dealt with that theme in Sakura Trick.

In addition, while the comedy is tasteful, I felt it ended up detracting from some of the characterisation. The characters, unfortunately, turn out somewhat shallow at the end of the series, though this is somewhat forgivable because the manga is still ongoing.

When I went into Sakura Trick, I wasn't really looking to watch an anime about lesbians (though, admittedly, I was hardly put off by the idea); I was looking for a different take on romance. I was sick of the same old formula, and fortunately, Sakura Trick was a healthy escape from that.

I also ended up watching Yuru Yuri in hopes of finding something similar, but unfortunately, it only has romantic undertones at best. It's quite similar in terms of comedy, however. Similar to Sakura Trick, at it's best, Yuru Yuri also dissects and develops its characters. It's not 'just' a comedy anime. It's a character drama at times. In some ways, similar to Sakura Trick, it's a coming-of-age anime that explores these characters throughout their adolescence. This is a far heavier theme in Sakura Trick, however. Yuru Yuri's comedy got drier a lot faster than Sakura Trick's did, and Yuru Yuri's characters seem to lack some of the depth seen in Sakura Trick's characters. Admittedly, there isn't all that much deep characterisation of the characters in Sakura Trick, but because romance was a prominent theme in the show, they were given a lot more opportunity to explore the character's personalities, strengths, and faults. It does ultimately end only mid-way through the story, meaning that the characters likely have depths untold. Could its characters possibly exist in reality? Unlikely. However, the themes it delves into are relatable enough to make up for that. It touches on unrequited love in the last quarter, which I think they handled quite nicely. They even tied it in with its most prominent theme: What is love?

Yuru Yuri does actually delve deeper into its characters in the latter half of the show, but not in any great detail. Many of the characters are left as generic as they started, with Kyoko being the biggest exception. Kyoko is a compelling and endearing character that may sometimes get on your nerves. But she's more than that. She has feelings. She has insecurities. She is someone who could exist in real life. At the end of the day, if you understand her and know why she is the way she is, you can connect with and empathize with, or perhaps even admire her. She is a believable character, a feat that Sakura Trick never achieved with its characters. However, the rest of the cast is hardly as well-rounded as Kyoko, which is ultimately why Sakura Trick has a better cast of characters overall--the characters are for more consistent. Yuru Yuri's star is Kyoko. Sakura Trick has two main protagonists, but they don't stand out all that much from the other characters--hell, sometimes you even wish that another not-actually-gay-couple were the stars of the show. But ultimately, Sakura Trick is primarily about relationships, and Yuru Yuri is primarily about characters.

I'm always searching for unconventional and/or experimental shows that stand out from the crowd, and the Yuri "Shoujo-Ai" genre is one such example of this. And so, I will continue to search for and watch more of these shows in hopes of discovering new perspectives on the same material. That's the academic reason, anyway...

Current Yuri "Shoujo-Ai" Anime: Maria-sama ga Miteru Haru 2nd
Next Yuri "Shoujo-Ai" Anime: Oniisama e...