First - ignore all the hate directed at Citrus online. Give it a chance and make up your own mind. Other reviews and discussions will mock you for enjoying something they call trashy and melodramatic. They mock you for being entertained by something they have deemed so basic and depraved. And yet, after you've watched a few episodes you're thinking, 'why do I like this so much and why do I want to see more if everyone says this is garbage?'
It's because Saburouta is punching WAY above her weight on Citrus. It's like someone took Jane Austen and plonked her down in modern day Japan and asked her to write a yuri manga. Yes, the very thing that all those haters will mock you for seeing in Citrus that they claim doesn't actually exist - the excellent writing, the deep character development, the touching emotional content - really is there, and it's been written quite purposefully and skillfully.
To begin, let's put aside that this is yuri for the moment. Yes, you know it is, I know it is, everyone knows it is. But the point of Citrus is absolutely not the fact that it's yuri. Saburouta could have written this story with two asexually reproducing spores as the main characters and it would have been equally as compelling. The fact that it's yuri is not implicitly fan-service, and if you've read the manga you will know that Saburouta dishes out the fan service in such tiny servings as to lack any nourishment whatsoever. More on why this is an issue in a moment.
Let's get the other elephant in the room out of the way - the non-consensual sexual content in the first episodes/manga issues. Remember that this is a work of fiction and the reader is not meant to condone or approve of the actions of any of the characters. This is the classic dramatic question of, "is evil something you are or something you do?" To begin with, Mei has been taken advantage of, used, and basically treated like an automaton by dear old gramps ever since her Dad left (we'll get to that later). At the beginning of the story, there is no Mei - there is just a robot that does what needs to be done in the name of the Aihara family. She has no mother, no father, and the only affection she has ever known has been the cruel affection of the jerk teacher that she was arranged to marry even though he was planning on leaving her once he had the academy. She has literally never had a proper emotional relationship with anyone, and all she understands is the use of physical affection as a means of controlling others, as she has been controlled herself. But yes, you say, Mei should know better. She should know the difference between right and wrong! Oh really? Who taught Mei right from wrong? That's right, no one! She's acting out the only way she knows how. And, by the end of episode nine after the run-in with Matsuri - shock of all shocks, Mei has learned right from wrong because never again in the entire series do we see Mei act this way. And guess who teaches Mei wrong from right by her actions - Yuzu does.
I'd also like to address the actions of Matsuri that a lot of people have a problem with - don't forget that Matsuri is just a kid. Remember being a kid? Remember how bad your judgement was, and how you did a lot of stupid things that people called you out for? Again, you say, Matsuri should know right from wrong. But again, who taught her right from wrong - her workaholic, absent parents? Right. Matsuri isn't capable of understanding the consequences of her actions, something that Yuzu points out to her several times. "Relationships are not a game" and "love does not come as easily as it does in a manga" says Yuzu to Matsuri. Matsuri is similar to Mei (as Mei informs her on the train, and why Mei forgives Matsuri so easily) in that Matsuri is literally a kid alone in the world. But instead of closing herself off to the rest of the world like Mei did, Matsuri sought out attention - the bad kind - online with her "clients". Mei isn't joking or being self-sacrificing when she tells Yuzu "that girls needs you". Mei understands more than anyone, despite Matsuri's actions, that Matsuri needs a source of goodness and love in her life. This is why Mei says that Yuzu is "one of those meddlesome people who give you love even though you didn't ask for it". By the end of episode nine, Matsuri has very subtly grown as a person and again, never does any of that bad stuff again for the rest of the series (so far).
Let's get to the relationship between Yuzu and Mei. They are, quite literally and figuratively, the yin to the other's yang. And let's get one thing out of the way right now - Mei and Yuzu are as gay as the day is long from the outset. This is why I said this story could have been about two asexually reproducing spores - the fact that they are gay has nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing to do with this story. Why do I say this? Because neither Yuzu or Mei are struggling with their sexuality, ever. Being gay is so natural to them that they never question it. Need proof? Remember the scene where Yuzu is reading the sister manga, and Harumin (who wins as best friend in a manga/anime ever btw) suddenly scissors her. Yuzu *freaks out* and Harumin says "this book shows positions for two women". Why is Harumin so casual and Yuzu so freaked out? Because to Harumin, that position means literally nothing other than a curiousity - Harumin is so confident in her heterosexuality that she can do that without worrying what it means. Yuzu, on the other hand, is mortified because scissoring means something completely different to her - it means an expression of love, an expression of love she one days hopes to share with Mei. Which is what makes it such an uncomfortable situation with Harumin, for whom she has only a friendship type of love.
And Mei, well, Mei is just super gay. And this is where Citrus is worth a deeper look and a rewatch or two. The thing you need to know about Mei is that she falls for Yuzu *for real* in episode eight. You know after Yuzu takes Mei to say goodbye to her father, Shou? After Mei sees Matsuri awkwardly kissing Yuzu in the street? Yeah - right there. That's where Mei falls for Yuzu. The cute little finger twidding scene with her stuffed bear followed by the passionate hug of Yuzu - right there. And here's where the central conflict of the series begins: Mei simultaneously loves Yuzu but also wants to push Yuzu away because of all the baggage that comes with loving Yuzu. Mei is pissed off with herself for being in love with Yuzu, and every interaction for the rest of the anime/manga is an expression of the internal love/hate that Mei has for Yuzu. This is what makes the story so bittersweet - we love Yuzu, Yuzu wants Mei to love her, Mei wants to love Yuzu, we want Mei to love Yuzu, but....Mei just can't allow herself to do that. If you've ever been in a similar situation, you know what's up.
But back to the gayness. Saburouta never asks us to question that they are gay, as is the case with most "will they or won't they" yuri - we are meant to accept it as easily as the both of them do. So Saburouta has taken the standard yuri trope and cast it aside.
I believe that Saburouta very purposely drew Mei and Yuzu as lesbians from the outset for the very reason that this anime/manga is getting so much hate - she wanted to remove the ability of the audience to fetishize the relationship between Yuzu and Mei. For the typical yuri audience, this is anathema - it defies the whole reason they read yuri in the first place. Citrus is, as its core, a very cute and bittersweet love story that most people - gay, straight, or otherwise, can relate to.
In Yuzu, Saburouta has created one of the most likeable, and dare I say loveable characters in manga/anime. Yes, her earnestness and plucky, can-do, kampai attitude is a standard trope, but there is way more to her than that. She actually shares a lot with Mei and Matsuri, parental attentiveness-wise. Her Mom is cool but absent, and new Dad Shou literally married her Mom just so that Mei would have a place to live away from gramps and he's off who-knows-where-doing-who-knows-what. The very first scene of the anime/manga is Yuzu hanging out with the slutty mean girls doing the teen-sex-talk thing. Yuzu desperately wants to belong somewhere, even if it is pretending and exaggerating with the nasty gyarus. She is the light to Mei's dark, again, literally and figuratively. Where Yuzu is overflowing with kindness, love, goodness, and understanding, Mei is a completely dark and vacant empty vessel. Over the series, you watch as Yuzu's love flows into Mei and completely changes her. But what about Mei, what does Mei do for Yuzu? Let's face it - Yuzu is a scatterbrained airhead. She acts without thinking, she has very little personal discipline, and would be distracted by a squirrel playing outside the window. For Yuzu, Mei is a much-needed reality check. When Yuzu is off floating around in teddy bear clouds, Mei is the one who is there to make sure her feet don't get out beyond reach. And Yuzu realizes this and also changes her behavior to be a more diligent student (with mixed results). The two of them are inextricably intertwined and their lives cannot be complete - at all - without the other.
This is why Citrus, and Saburouta, are absolute genius. The subtlety, the way that you can go back and rewatch past episodes re-read past chapters with present knowledge to unlock the motivations of the characters is brilliant.
