Yes. I know it is pretty late talking about 2018 in February 2019 (as of the date of this post). Thing is that 2018 was such an amazing year for yuri fans across the globe that it is still worth talking about for years to come. It was such an incredible year it received the nickname of “20-Gay-Teen” commemorating how much lesbian representation there was in media that year. The other letters of LGBT also got representation but of course we will only be talking about the “L” (and a bit of the “B” where necessary). In this edition of Yuri Talk we will be taking a look at some highlights of this bountiful year. Some notes before we begin:
- This will be a highlight reel, not a post discussing whether the shows, movies, games etc. were good or bad. There will be some personal shows. games etc I hold dear but that does not mean everyone will love them as much as I.
- These are things I have seen, played and read. There are plenty of other stuff I will not mention due to not having experienced it myself. Feel free to include other 2018 yuri highlights in the comments.
- I will be jumping around, meaning the shows will not be talked about in order/the season they aired.
- As always all kinds of yuri will be included, from soft or hard to shiro or kuro yuri.
- MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING…obviously.
Citrus
Let us start at the beginning with the show that kicked off this magnificent year. Say what you will about Citrus as a series but it getting an anime was huge. It was a faithful adaptation all things considered with a melodramatic soap opera plot and raunchy PG-13 scenes.
Hakumei and Mikochi.
We had a show about two women smaller than otters who may as well be a married couple.
Pop Team Epic.
An insane/nonsensical variety comedy featuring a female duo voiced by male and female seiyuu/voice actors who many times showed feelings for each other no matter how crazy of a relationship they had.
Chio-chan’s School Road.
Another (not as) insane comedy that was even gayer than PTE.
Jashin-chan Dropkick.
Oh…right. There was also Jashin-chan…Yup…Moving on.
Takunomi.
A show about four adult women who enjoyed having snacks and drinking alcoholic beverages. Alcohol = Awakening of inner gayness while drunk in one episode.
Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san.
A show about a girl falling in love with/becomes addicted to another girl who is in love with/addicted to ramen. Expect to learn A LOT about ramen and seeing sexy girls eating lots of ramen.
Tachibanakan Triangle.
A yuri harem show that could have been fantastic but suffered due to its episodes being short. (It was more enjoyable uncensored at least). One day we will hopefully have an ecchi yuri harem dream anime. On the bright side stealth and softcore yuri harem anime are available here and there so all is not lost.
Left to right:
- Slow Start
- Comic Girls
- Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san
- Anima Yell!
Girls Club (Cute Girls Doing Cute Things) shows with yuri goodness per year are nothing new but the ones that aired in 2018 were very special, embracing yuri in more ways than just “I love this girl but am too nervous to tell her directly” or “I’m not ready to take our relationship to the next level on screen”. Of course those kinds of yuri were included but each one had their own special kind of yuri alongside them, such as direct confessions and exploring/reflecting on your sexuality to name a few.
We had a continuation and successor of “Cute Outdoor Girls” shows both having its nice moments for Nation members to enjoy: Yuru Camp and Yama no Susume 3.
I am certain at this point readers will be like “But OG. Those are all school-life/slice of life shows. Isn’t there something with an extra spice added to it?” Patience dear readers. I was just getting to that.
Toji no Miko.
We had a show about shrine maiden warriors with superpowers. Several of the heroines and villains were gay. Not all were lucky though.
Gun Gale Online
A show about an intense MMO Battle Royale/Death Match style action/shooter with some lesbians here and there. The ending was both expected and unexpected at the same time.
Revue Starlight.
A show that was prematurely thought of as “just another idol show” but was actually Fight Club Theatre where EVERYTHING had a story to tell, the duels were crazy and the gayness delightful. #LAmourFrancais #BaKaren #BackToTheBanana etc.
Release the Spyce.
A show about gay ninja spies drawn by Namori. Just keep in mind it is not as complex as Princess Principal. Something many failed to realize.
Senran Kagura: Shinovi Master Tokyo Youma-hen
The second season of the Oppai Shinobi Show with several of them being as gay as ever.
Akanesasu Shoujo.
A show about traveling through the Multiverse/Alternate Universes and meeting different versions of yourself while fighting an evil force threatening to consume all universes. Not time travel mind you.
Hugtto! PreCure.
The 15th anniversary season of Pretty Cure was one of its gayest to date (Mind you there were other super gay seasons before it like DokiDoki, Suite and Mahou Tsukai). Ending makes sense if you do not think too hard about time travel. It is a kids show after all. Also there is no need to have seen previous seasons. The interested can jump in no problem. Think of it as a good starting point in the franchise for newcomers.
Mahou Shoujo Ore. These two are the same person.
Speaking of magical girls we had one of the strangest rom-coms in Mahou Shoujo Ore. There is yuri in it. Trust me.
Cutie Honey Universe.
Another legend in yuridom made her return this year as well.
- Uma Musume -Pretty Derby-
- Harukana Receive
- Hanebado!
Alongside the above mentioned Anima Yell! (Cheerleaders) we had other sports anime with lovely gay athletes from horse girl racing to beach volleyball and badminton. Best of which being beach volleyball as I mentioned in my Top 10 Anime of 2018 list.
Of course where there was light there must also be darkness. Magical Girl Site and Happy Sugar Life delivered. I have not yet finished the Lostorage WIXOSS sequel but I am almost certain it too had its fair share of yuri moments.
SSSS.Gridman.
A show centered around the relationship of two gorgeous girls and everyone around them. Patience and a keen eye are required. There are also numerous homages to the tokusatsu from Ultraman and various kaijuu series.
Planet With has a yuri side-couple.
Bloom Into You.
20-Gay-Teen started with an adaptation of a mega popular yuri manga and ended with another one.
We could not have a year of anime nowadays without idol shows. 20-Gay-Teen included idol shows of both…
Aikatsu Friends! main couple, Aine X Mio.
…the living…(There were other idol shows besides this one).
Zombie Land Saga.
…and the undead.
On a personal note I would like to thank 2018 for embracing the magnificence that is “Muscle Babes” at full force. Absolutely glorious.
In case readers are wondering: Uma Musume, Uzamaid!, Harukana Receive and Goblin Slayer. Note: Goblin Slayer does not contain substantial yuri.
In 2018 there were four anime movies starring lesbians (Two of which were romances):
- Calamity of a Zombie Girl
- Liz to Aoi Tori
- Kase-San
- Nanoha Detonation (Waiting for dem subs)
Koizumi-san’s Yuu.
Happy Sugar Life’s Satou.
Hanebado! ‘s Ayano.
We had some delightfully scary yandere gays this year. The three most prominent ones being the crazies above.
We had two lovely transgender girls (Maybe there were more but these are the two I am aware of). Both great characters, both having different stories to tell about who they were. One about acceptance (Lily, Zombie Land Saga), the other about patient retribution (Kiyoharu, Magical Girl Site). Speaking of the latter, “Best Revenge Plan Ever”.
Cool plug: Dear Rai-chan wrote an excellent article discussing Lily HERE.
Yuzu X Mei’s wedding. Citrus.
Satou X Shio’s wedding. Happy sugar Life.
We had three weddings. Third one is coming up in a bit.
Hiyori’s favorite ice cream flavor. Toji no Miko.
20-Gay-Teen showed us the official ice cream flavor of lesbians courtesy of Toji no Miko and Slow Start: Mint-Chocolate Chip.
Misha X Mimika, the undisputed destined couple of Uzamaid!
We had couples ranging from the young…
Miyako X Miss Riko from Bloom Into You.
..the adult…
Tama’s gay grannies. Slow Start.
…to the elderly.
Special Week’s moms. Uma Musume -Pretty Derby-.
Shirase’s Moms. Sora Yori ma Tooi Basho.
We had glimpses of two mothers raising daughters together. Unfortunately both couples suffered a loss but at least it is nice seeing same-sex couples here and there.
Cool Plug: Check out this editorial by Remy Fool discussing Shirase’s moms HERE.
RWBY Volume 6.
Fortunately RWBY Volume 6 kept its yuri mamas intact. You know what else is funny? If I am not mistaken this is one of only two adult couples on the show who have a loving, healthy relationship. Everyone else is like “I married a crazy person”. Right Doc? For more on my thoughts on RWBY up to Volume 6 along with its yuri go HERE.
Speaking of the Western region of yuridom they too contributed to the 20-Gay-Teen extravaganza.
Adventure Time’s Bubbline TV canon at last.
Ruby X Sapphire Wedding. Steven Universe. The show features other yuri Gems as well.
Netosssa X Spinerella. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Fingers crossed CatrAdora follow suit in the near future.
Harley Quinn X Poison Ivy. Injustice Universe. Not an image from the Injustice comics but you get the point.
Legend of Korra: “Turf Wars”. Comic Sequel to the animated series.
So in 2018 we had:
- Bubbline, who fans were waiting and hoping to see become TV Canon, finally do so.
- Ruby and Sapphire get married among other things.
- The She-Ra reboot blessed everyone with a potential main couple and a lovely side-couple (Who hopefully get more screen time next season).
- Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn get married in the Injustice comics. While it is an alternate universe and the Injustice series is known as one of the most unforgiving in the DC multiverse, it is nice to see one version of the couple tie the knot.
- KorraSami dating after the conclusion of the main series and near the end of the first sequel saga profess their love for one another.
As far as yuri manga, manhua/manhwa and webcomics go, there are A TON OUT THERE. Too many for me to keep track of. The three I have been keeping up with on a consistent bases are:
On to video games.
The three games that left the strongest impression on me this year were:
- Fatal Twelve
- Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk
- The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories
The irony is very much present. See, when it comes to Kuro (Dark) and Shiro (Light) yuri I will usually pick Shiro. However, all three of these games have a dark storyline…Trust me. None of these games are for the weak of heart, especially LoR.
When it comes to video games 20-Gay-Teen made an impact there as well. Besides more localized visual/kinetic novels (Steam and Sony censorship controversies notwithstanding) some other highlights include:
The Last of Us Part II having a lesbian protagonist in Ellie (It was marketed as such). This was known to fans who played the first game’s DLC, Left Behind, but the sequel getting an E3 trailer highlighting this fact was huge. Fingers crossed love prevails…
Another E3 bombshell was Assassin’s Creed Odyssey following the Bioware route by giving its male and female avatar several same-sex romance options. While the game was well received for the most part by yuri fans who picked it up there was some controversy with the recent (as of this writing) DLC content which forced the avatar, regardless of whether they’re in a relationship with someone of the same sex to hook up with a het partner…or something like that. On the bright side the developers acknowledged the complaints and took action to remedy the situation by making changes to the DLC story and assure yuri/yaoi players the rest of the planned DLC will not follow the het conclusion of this DLC campaign.
On an unrelated note: Thank you Ubisoft for Kassandra and her hot buff bod.
Atelier series has yuri again: The Dusk Trilogy of the Atelier franchise toned down the established yuri bliss from the Arland Trilogy. Then the Mysterious Trilogy came in and brought it back in full force starting with “Sophie”, ramping it up in “Firis” and ending with a bang in “Lydie & Suelle”. Furthermore, it was announced that in 2019 there would be a 4th entry in the Arland series along with an All-Star Atelier game. Expect even more yuri.
Marina X Pearl were confirmed canon in Splatoon 2’s Octo Expansion DLC campaign.
Deadpool 2 Yuri.
As far as live-action goes my knowledge is very limited because I hardly watch Cable TV outside of wrestling and late-night talk shows. When it comes to movies the one I have seen with yuri of some kind are Deadpool 2. Negasonic Teenage Warhead and her girlfriend Yukio. They were only side-characters but whenever they were on screen they were adorable and played a strong part during the final battle of the film. As the first lesbian couple in a modern Marvel movie (Dunno if there were any before then) it is a good start.
Other things I noticed is a surprise yuri couple at the end of “The Runaways” TV series and Batwoman possibly getting her own TV show in 2019. She made an appearance in the 2018 “DC-CW” annual crossover event.
Still have to watch Wynonna Earp. I currently have no interest in Orange is the New Black nor the upcoming 2019 reboot/sequel of The L Word. That could change but for now not really.
I could go on about the various romantic confessions and other awesome yuri moments but my point is made. 2018 had so many different options for yuri fans. Whether they liked what was available or not is up to them. As for me…20-Gay-Teen was the best year of entertainment media in my life by far.
Feel free to talk about the year and mention anything I missed out on in the comments. Movies, manga/comics, games, etc.
Here is hoping 2019 will, not exactly equal, but at least keep on providing yuri goodness.
The Yuri Empire 
Riverdale has Cheryl Blossom and Toni Topaz! Cheryl admits to having liked girls since middle school, and toward the end of season two the officially hook up!
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Riverdale eh? Cool.
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They are a couple in the Runaways 2017 comic as well (issue #17 page 20)
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Nico and Karolina are a couple in the Runaways show too! I’m glad they sped that part of their relationship up.
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That’s pretty cool.
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Wow. Lots of good stuff here. Gonna check out some of them. Thanks for the references.
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Enjoy dood.
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Holy crap, that was one hell of a write up, a fitting send off to a good year, nice one! I’m not even gay and I miss 20GayTeen already.
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It was quite the year. Will be hard to replicate that’s for sure. Not impossible but not easy either.
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Wow. Really good and comprehensive recap of the year. I expect the Yuri awards will be even tougher than normal this time (if you still plan on doing them).
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I’ll let everyone know my plans on that soon.
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In the Comic world:
We get some more Bubbline in the Adventure Time “Season 11” comics (Waited SOOOOO long for that)!
Kim Reaper is a cute comic about a lesbian couple, one is a temp grim reaper.
Welcome to Wanderland is a cute short comic series about an asexual girl and her lesbian princess best friend going in between a failing amusement park and the magical word it’s based on.
Lumberjanes still going strong.
Giant Days still has our adorkable lesbian Daisy.
and of course: the Life Is Strange comic!!! I will always be bae over bay!
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Ohoho. Didn’t know there was a canon comics sequel for Adventure Time. Oh wait. I remember there being talk about a comic continuation starring Simon and Marcy. That must be it.
Like I said with the manga there’s just so much yuri to keep up with, which is a very good thing.
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Oh! I also forgot! (Live Action) Season 2 of One Day At A Time! The daughter in it is an adorkably cute lesbian!
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Nice summary of some of last years highlights.
Though no mention of any novels that came out. I found The Psychology of Time Travel was my favourite to come out of last year. Another was The Wicked Cometh which is also good.
Though my favourite read of last year didn’t come out in 2018 but I only got around to it then was, Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. An excellent novel, and I recommend it to anyone looking for somthing to read.
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I don’t keep up with novels and books. I’m already bloated watching stuff, reading comics and playing games as is.
Your recommendations do sound good though.
Fingersmith. I remember watching the two-part series. It was good. Think I liked it a bit more than Tipping the Velvet.
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The Fingersmith is great, so are most of Sarah Waters’ other works. She does that whole Victorian lesbian setting very well.
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Thank you for detailing so many yuri shows! I watched many of them, but there are also a lot I am behind on or haven’t even started. Now I have a place to double check everything I missed 😁
Also, thank you for linking to my Lily post! :3
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Hope you enjoy the rest of the ones you want to finish.
You’re welcome. It was an excellent editorial about the importance of Lily’s character.
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What an amazing year we had. And it went really fast too. Oh well, 2019 started well for me, so this year it’s gonna be good too. Maybe it’s not gonna be as good as in 2018. But at this point, I’ll take what I can get. I feel blessed enough. I don’t have anything to add you’ve already covered it. Nicely done!
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An unforgettable year it was. 2019 so far has been promising. Hopefully it can keep up the pace.
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An utterly incredible year for yuri.
Nintendo Switch exclusive RPG Octopath Traveler had some yuri, thanks to its travel banter (similar to the skits from the Tales games). One particular conversation between the hunter H’aanit and the cleric Ophilia has the pair complement each other on their beauty, which is followed up by Ophilia asking H’aanit if she wants to spend more time with her.
The dancer, Primrose, also has some of this with the other female characters, too.
On the light novel side of things, Seven Seas started publishing ‘I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level’ in English last year. The entire cast of characters are female, though it’s more yuri family rather than yuri harem. Though saying that, the introduction of more characters in later volumes does start pushing it down the latter route.
‘I’ve Been Killing Slimes…’ is currently my favourite light novel series, and as such something I highly recommend.
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Indeed.
Oooh! Another JRPG to pick up when I eventually get a Switch.
Hope it’ll get an anime.
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What an incredible year for Yuri! Like seriously, the best one I can ever recall. I have a feeling we’ll only be going up from here! I enjoyed almost all of the shows mentioned here, though there are several I have yet to see. Knowing they exist is still pretty great though. And…YES! The canon yuri couple in RWBY are one of the only solid ones atm, though Renora is close behind. Everyone else is…complicated. I do very much look forward to hearing your official thoughts once you catch up, as there’s LOTS to talk about, even beyond what we already have. Thanks for recapping such a glorious year, here’s to another!
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A truly fantastic year it was.
Oh don’t worry. I’ll share as much as I can about RWBY once I’m fully caught up.
2019 is off to a pretty good start so far.
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I kinda dropped out of anime during 2018 so this article was a goldmine, got a lot of shows to watch now thanks to you 🙂 I also need to catch up on Symphogear and Yuuki Yuuna latest seasons, hope they didn’t tone down yuri there.
And, I can’t express how glad I am to see Mage and the Demon Queen on this list, I absolutely love it.
Highlights of 2018 TV-wise:
– Legends of Tomorrow – they’ve never shied away from Sara’s sexuality but in the third season they’ve introduced Ava as a love interest and cemented them as a canon wlw couple in the 2d half of the season (so in 2018). First half of the fourth season aired in the autumn 2018, Sara and Ava are going strong and have a lot of scenes together, and there is a potential second couple.
– Black Lightning – Anissa aka Thunder is a lesbian superheroine and is a part of the main cast. Her gf from comics Grace is in the show as well though she doesn’t have a lot of screen time yet (but there are strong hints for a bigger story with her).
– Wynonna Earp – third season was eventful, Waverly and Nicole are as wonderful as always but be warned season ends on a cliffhanger so I’d advise to watch it closer to fourth season premiere.
– One Day at a Time – second season continued Elena’s journey and introduced a love interest.
– Brooklyn-99 – Rosa came out as bisexual.
– Sense8 finale – SPOILER – Amanita and Nomi have a wedding at the end of the finale.
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Regarding Symphogear and Yuki Yuna’s continuations, don’t worry. They gayness remain strong in the seasons 4 and 2 respectively. Symphogear 5 premieres this Summer so I suggest catching up.
I see the DC-CW has had its fair share of yuri before Batgirl got a pilot. Very nice.
The other shows you mentioned sound quite enticing.
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Stunning. Even though I watched the majority of those shows, I didn’t realise it was all within one year!
Thank you OG again for your work, it’s thanks to you I even knew of these shows ^^
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Yup. How amazing is that?
I do my best.
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Gay moms and grandmas are an excellent thing. I’m hoping for even more yuri this year. 😀
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Indeed.
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Was surprised to see a female Goblin Slayer character who isn’t a non-threatening civilian/caster/archer, AND isn’t undermined by rape, as all the significant female warriors are. I looked the muscular axewoman up, of course she only appears in one scene, and I got triggered by all the rape victims. Still want to drop a nuclear bomb on that series and end it all.
Anyway, as an overview of the year, your post is certainly comprehensive.
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Read this a few days ago but wanted to let it sit for a bit as I thought up something decent to say.
First of all, what a year 2018 was. Like wow. Looking back at it all in a post like this really puts it all into perspective just how incredible a year it was for yuri anime and media in general. From anime to manga to games, there was so much across all these to satisfy all your yuri needs and then some.
Mainly looking at the anime side for me as that’s what I consumed the most of this past year, but man there were so many great shows in 2018 that deserve mentioning. I think you covered pretty much all of them (love that Kae pic for Takunomi by the way) and I’m happy to say I watched a good number of the shows you listed off there. I really loved a lot of them but for me if I had to pick one show to sum up the past year, I’d go with Bloom into You. For me it was a show I loved watching and I still find myself thinking about it long after it’s finished. I talked about it more in the Anime Corps Year in Review post, but yeah that show was really a stand out one for me. Kase-san gets a nod too for being incredible. I hope those girls get an anime at some point. I’d love to see more of their love get animated.
Just a quick point about Shirase’s moms, I somehow missed all of that. I know I watched that show after it had finished airing, so maybe in my efforts to watch it all quickly I glossed over that point. I don’t know, I just can’t recall that but it’s nice to see they had that in the show. Also if/when we get another season of Bloom into You I hope there is are Miyako and Riko moments. They’re another great couple that definitely deserves to be mentioned in this list.
Aside from the anime, I can’t really say too much about the games or movies or Western TV shows, I didn’t watch or play any of the mentioned ones, but it’s good to know about the yuri content in them if I ever get around to watching/playing them. I can say that I’m hyped for The Last of Us Part 2. Loved the first game so much and that E3 trailer was jaw dropping. As much as I want that game to be released soon, I also want Naughty Dog to have enough time to make it the absolute best possible game ever, so they can take as much as time as they need.
But yeah looking back at it all, it’s crazy to think all this happened in 1 year. So amazing and I hope this is a sign for what’s to come in the future. So far 2019 has started off with some great shows, but with lots of the year left there is plenty of time for more incredible shows to come out and wow us. Here’s to 2019 being even bigger and better than ever!
Thanks for putting this together and helping spread the love for yuri media!
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An amazing year indeed.
Bloom Into You lived up to the hype and then some.
Fingers crossed we get more adult lesbian couples, hopefully leading to the dream anime/cartoon starring or centered around one.
Still need to finish the first LoU. Will get to it eventually. Hopefully Ellie will get a happy yuri end.
Oh yes. 2019 is off to a good start for yuri fans also. Here;s to it keeping up the pace.
You’re most welcome good sir.
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20-Gay-Teen will be remembered fondly.
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Very much so.
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