Yaoi and Yuri H anime

The world of anime and H anime fans is rich and diverse, with many subcultures and niches. Two such subcultures are Yaoi and Yuri.

Yaoi (pronounced "yah-oy" or "yah-oh-ee") is not a real Japanese word, it is "otaku", slang created by anime fans. It refers to manga and hentai that feature men in romantic relationships. This is similar to shōnen-ai and BL (boy love), which also deal with romantic relationships between (young) men, but with one major difference " Yaoi is sexually explicit.

One thing that might surprise you about Yaoi hentai is that is generally created for women. The art is drawn by women, the plot lines are written by women and the target market is women who find sex between two male characters erotic/romantic - similar to the many men who are turned on by lesbians. But despite its female-centred production, Yaoi has generated quite a following among gay men as well.

The relationships in Yaoi, interestingly, tend to repeat the same clichés seen in hetero relationships " but using two men instead. In most of the couples, there is usually a designated "feminized" male called an "uke" (or receiver/bottom) who is often shorter, weaker and/or younger than his partner and a "seme" (or attacker/top), who tends to be bigger and have darker hair. Often, many traditional female stereotypes will be applied to the male uke, such as reluctance, shyness, "romanticness," etc.

Some Yaoi artists like to play on these cultural stereotypes, moving toward characters that are more interchangeable or using characters with reversed stereotyped personalities.

There has even been a trend towards making "muscle yaoi," where both male characters are strong and muscular, with less feminine character traits.

Similar to the Yaoi genre is "Yuri ", manga and H anime with stories of lesbian relationships.

Actually, two words are used to describe anime/hentai with female-female romantic relationships: Yuri usually is used when referring to more explicit sex between two women (that is, lesbian porn) and the term shōjo-ai is typically used to refer to non-sexual (but still romantic) relationships between two female characters.

Similar to the term Yaoi, Yuri is also considered an "otaku" term " Japanese lesbians do not actually refer to themselves using the terms yuri or shōjo-ai.

The word Yuri is Japanese for Lily. Often noted as the first to use of the term "Yuri" to refer to lesbian relationships is Ito Bongaku, the editor of "Barazok," a gay men's magazine, who, in 1971, called lesbians in Japan "the lily tribe", yurizoku.

Some suspect that the term Yuri became commonly used for this style of hentai partly borrowing from Ito's "lily tribe" as a cliché and partly as a reference to the ideals of women being beautiful, pure, innocent, etc., which is symbolically associated with a white lily.

In fact, Yuri plots often do start out quite innocently, typically with two girls who were originally presented as straight or inexperienced, who are then are inexplicably drawn to one another and "get it on."

As with Yaoi, many people enjoy Yuri's twist of stereotypical gender roles, though often there is still a more dominant partner and a more submissive partner (just like in hetero hentai).

Typically, couples will consist of an upperclassman, the "senpai" and a less experienced lowerclassman, the "kouhai."

One famous Yuri couple that you might be familiar with are two characters from the series Sailor Moon: Sailor Uranus, who had short blond hair and wore a boy's uniform, had a lesbian relationship with Sailor Neptune, who was shorter with long aqua hair.

Even within Yuri there are sub divisions: we have "shonen yuri," created by men for a male audience, which tends to feature more explicit sex and less romantic plot lines; there is "shoujo yuri," created by women for a female audience, which often has less sex but more emphasis on relationships; and finally, what some call "pure" yuri, which is written by lesbians for a lesbian audience.

No matter the gender of the author, artist or reader, Yuri and Yaoi H anime is important because it provides options, demonstrates different lifestyles and contributes to breaking boundaries and changing how people view relationships in hentai and in the real world.