Spoiler warning!
I have already made my own “Yuri Anime Legends List” that displays all the yuri or yuriish characters from anime and Visual Novels, who I find somewhat remarkable, be it in a good or a bad way. So this time I want to do something similar, but instead of just listing characters, I want to hand out specific awards, for either yuri shows, couples or single characters.
Before I start, please note that I have certainly not watched each and every yuri anime there is, which is why I don’t know all the yuri characters out there. So if you come to disagree with one of my picks and think another character deserves the award more, keep in mind that I might simply not know the said character.
Oh and one more thing. Since there are still not that many pure Yuri anime, I’ll also consider choosing shows or characters from anime that only have subtext.
Best Yuri Anime
In my opinion Strawberry Panic surpasses them all, even Kannazuki no Miko. It’s an anime with a cast that is 90% made up of yuri characters and it almost solely focuses on the girls’ relationships and their problems. That’s like exactly what I want to see! Still it’s not the perfect yuri anime, which is why I hope that I can someday hand out this award to another anime instead.
Best Yuri Couple
This will be a controversial one since I’m pretty sure everyone has their own favorites, but I’ll simply go with Chikane and Himeko in this one, because when watching this show, their love story was probably the most heart-wrenching yet lovely thing I’ve ever seen. No matter how often I re-watch this show, this couple just never gets old and I wish there were more doujinshi and even fanfictions about them.
Most memorable moment
For this one, I was looking for something that stays in mind even after years, which apparently is hard to find since there are a lot of different scenes that you just won’t forget that easily. But here’s what I came up with: Remember the last scene between Natsuki and Shizuru in Mai Hime, in which Natsuki kisses Shizuru? It’s not just the kiss, it’s the whole scene that I consider one of the most memorable (yuri-ish) moments of all time. I don’t really care whether some people claim that this kiss only happened to distract Shizuru, because that’s simply not how I would interpret it. But Mai Hime in general was full of memorable scenes, basically any scene Shizuru took part in.
Best Kiss
That was probably the hardest decision of them all, but I’m sure most of you will agree with me, that the first and unfortunately also the last kiss Himeko and Chikane shared in episode 12 was the most heartwarming thing I’ve ever seen in anime. It was the perfect timing for the kiss to happen, their pose while kissing was just beautiful and the fact that you know they have to part afterwards, makes this scene just so very bittersweet and simply the best kiss ever.
Worst Kiss
I think everyone who has watched “Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito”, remembers the one and only kiss scene between Hatsuki and Hatsumi. Not only did it happen during a dream, it was also completely ruined when they finally parted and that string of saliva slowly vanished from between their lips… Maybe that’s just me but this really ruined it. Just to make it clear, the kiss itself was not bad at all, if I had to name one that simply looked bad or one that felt weird in one way or another, I could’ve named a bunch of other anime here, but the simple fact that this little scene destroyed the whole story that had built up until this point, just makes this the absolute worst kiss in yuri history.
Best Ending
Anime with yuri subtext as well as “unfinished” yuri anime such as Sasameki Koto or Aoi Hana cannot be named her, so the number of possible choices is quite limited. In the end, the only great yuri ending that came to mind was the ending of Strawberry Panic and even though I felt quite sad for Tamao, Nagisa and Shizuma’s last scenes together were just beautiful and the most fitting ending for this show~
Worst Ending
And again, I have to name “Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito” because it doesn’t only have the worst kissing scene, but also the worst ending. I mean seriously, we witnessed Hatsuki going through so much hardship, risking her life on numerous occasions and still continuing to go forward to find her beloved Hatsumi again and in the end, the one thing this anime worked towards for the whole time, just didn’t happen.
They don’t become a couple, no even worse, to appease the yuri fans, they came up with the worst solution ever. And that is having Hatsuki carry a baby, who will then turn out to be Hatsumi… This is no joke, Hatsumi is going to be the mother of the person she was in love with. This is wrong on so many levels! Seriously, who came up with this shit?!
Craziest Yuri Character
Funny enough, in this category, I actually had the choice between quite a lot of different characters, but there is only one that really left such a big impression on me (in a very negative way) that I could never hand this award to any other character than Liang Qi (Canaan).
Yup this crazy bitch (sorry for that, this is really the most fitting title for her) deserves this award like no other. To call her batshit crazy would be an understatement in her case. Let’s just face the facts, she’s violent, cruel, short-tempered and simply mad. Also I think she’s both a sadist and a masochist, which I didn’t even know was possible…
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| GET SOME GET SOME GET SOME! |
Most Perverted Yuri character
Again that’s a hard decision, but in the end, it came down to Kuroko (To Aru Kagaku no Railgun) and Yuuna (Sono Hanabira), who are both undeniably huge perverts. For example, just imagine this one scene, in which Kuroko tries to use some questionable aphrodisiacs on Misaka to get closer to her and eventually sleep with her. Ok she failed, but that doesn’t change the fact that she tried to do it, multiple times even!
However I should probably stop talking about Kuroko, since the real winner of this award isn’t her, but Yuuna. Many people say, that she is the sexiest character of the whole SonoHana cast, but I would just call her the biggest pervert. Not only is her libido something to be afraid of, she also has some really questionable fetishes that I simply don’t want to explain any further in here. However, what you should be most afraid of, is her manipulative yet very effective ways to get what she wants. In the end I think that this probably makes her a pervert who can actually act out her fantasies, how nice for her and how nice for Nanami, I guess…?
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| Nanami (left), Yuuna (right) |
Creepiest Yuri Character
In this case, creepy doesn’t mean crazy or disturbing, so Liang Qi won’t get another award. This time I think someone else deserves it far more and that would be Ume Shiraume (Ben-to). She’s strong, sexy and she knows what she wants. But best of all, if she doesn’t get what she wants naturally, she gets it her way and even though “her way” is really creepy, she’s a total pro with what she does and I wouldn’t mind if she were to have her way with some other girls as well.
Most hilarious Yuri Character
No doubt about that, Kanako Miyamae is the most hilarious lesbian character in anime of all time. Well she’s not intentionally funny, it’s more like her delusional mind as well as her deep love for the same gender make her do some really hilarious things. Furthermore her nosebleeds are just legendary!
Most misleading Yuri Couple
I think many of you have seen “Shinsekai Yori”. In my opinion this is one of the best anime 2013 had to offer so far and I, just like many other yuri fans, started watching this because of some very promising events of that took place in this anime. So while watching episode 8, I was convinced that Maria and Saki must be one of the most beautiful yuri couples I have seen in a very long while…
For some people, the eventual course of their relationship might have been obvious from the very beginning, while it wasn’t really for me. So maybe my yuri goggles just blocked out the obvious fact that Saki only clung to Maria so much because she couldn’t have Shun, but still somewhere I hoped that their relationship would last longer than just a few episodes. However I as well had to realize that all the yuri and even yaoi scenes that were thrown at us in episode 8 didn’t really mean much in the end.
Most teasing Yuri Couple
Maria and Canaan just kept having their little special moments throughout the whole series and it is clear that the two of them care deeply for one another, but it’s not so clear whether there is more to that. So the anime leaves hints here and there, but it never confirms their relationship and while this is the case in many other anime with yuri subtext, it especially bothered me in this one, because those two just look so great together…
In the end I was disappointed, who would have guessed?
Best Confession
This anime played with my fragile yuri heart so much and had me going from excited out of my mind to completely depressed within just a few minutes. Seriously I kind of hate, yet love the way this anime had its ups and downs and it’s probably the way we had to wait until the very end of the show for the two main characters to finally get together, that Shizuma’s final confession felt so overwhelming. It was both tragic, considering Tamao’s feelings, but also absolutely heartwarming seeing Shizuma finally admitting her feelings and confessing them in front of the whole school. Haaa… I think I now need to re-watch Strawberry Panic~
Best Tsundere
Let’s make it short since you most likely saw that coming: It’s Ayano Sugiura, who else would it be? Maybe Shizuku or Reo from the SonoHana games? Admittedly they are both great tsundere characters, but no one beats Ayano, NO ONE!
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| I-I’t not like I like you or anything, b-baka! |
Best Yandere
Even though most of her yandere-actions happened under the influence of some, let’s just say, dark powers, she can still be considered a yandere in one way or another. And she was pretty badass when fighting everyone in her way as well, especially when she went totally nuts, killing Haruka. That was such a thrilling and awesome scene!
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| The Yandere look |
Cutest Yuri Character
Ok, with this one you might disagree with me, since my description of cute might differ from yours. So there is a great deal of cute yuri characters out there, but only a few of them really make me squeal whenever I see them. Which is why one of the only characters that comes to mind right now, is Sanya V.Litvyak, the cutest of all the Strike Witches.
Yup, you heard that right, I’m not going with Lucchini, I’m choosing Sanya because I just can’t resist this type of character. She’s small, rather silent and shy and she got cute cat ears. But best of all, half of the time she has some screen time, she’s either sleeping or sleepy and as weird as this might sound, I just can’t resist a combi like that.
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| Awwwww~ |
Best Yuri Harem
Are there many yuri harems? The answer is no.
Should there be more yuri harems? The answer is hell yeah!
So who’s got the greatest harem? In my opinion that would be Kaede from Kämpfer. Even though they are all a little clumsy and mess up pretty often, they’d still do anything for Kaede or should I say, they’d do anything in order to get rewarded by Kaede? The OVA makes it quite obvious how exactly she rewards them and it seems they are quite satisfied with her 😉
Characters everyone wished to be Yuri
In this case, I had the choice between NanoFate or MakixRico, but the latter pairing is just not big enough to really deserve this award, which is why I choose NanoFate. I guess a lot of people really view them as a couple, but I would say their relationship is only almost confirmed. I mean it’s true that they are raising a child together and they sleep in the same room, even in the same bed, but the anime still didn’t spell their relationship out to me, which is why I simply can’t see them as a confirmed couple.
Nonetheless their fandom is huge! We have a whole scanlation group dedicated to translate NanoFate doujinshi, there are tons of fanfictions about them and this pairing has been around for years and is still one of the most popular ones. I know that there will be more movies or even anime of the Nanoha series and even if I doubt it, I still hope that one day, they will actually confirm this pairing.
Nonetheless their fandom is huge! We have a whole scanlation group dedicated to translate NanoFate doujinshi, there are tons of fanfictions about them and this pairing has been around for years and is still one of the most popular ones. I know that there will be more movies or even anime of the Nanoha series and even if I doubt it, I still hope that one day, they will actually confirm this pairing.
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| by Tokoharu |
Most suffering Yuri character
Yet again I had the choice between two characters, namely Chikane Himemiya and Akemi Homura, but since the latter is not really a confirmed yuri character, I had to go with Chikane, whom I would have probably chosen anyway.
Thinking back on the anime, there are 3 things that make Chikane one of the most suffering and sacrificial characters of all time;
1. She had to bear the pain of seeing her fated one loving someone else
2. She willingly joined the bad side in order to make the person she loves the most hate her
and lastly
3. She was fated to die by the hands of her one true love.
Poor Chikane…
If you have some more ideas for other categories, feel free to tell me~
YuriReviews and More 
Not a bad idea to make an all-time yuri award rather than an annual one. Your choices are all good ones. Props for praising ChiMeko as they are the creme de la creme of yuridom.
NanoFate came before YumiKuri. Nuff said.
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I'm also thinking about making something similar to this at the end of the year, but probably not with that many characters.
Maybe I should have added another category “Most popular Pairing (Recently)”, so I could at least name YumiKuri in this one 😉
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Methinks Homura might get confirmed once the third movie finishes up, but we'll see. And honestly, there are very few characters in anime/fictional media that can say they've gone through as much as she did. Only one who I can think of to beat her out would probably be Nagato Yuuki, but she's not really a candidate for a yuri character.
I mean, she experienced seeing the person she presumably loves dying in countless ways, watched her friends get killed in all manner of gruesome deaths. Continually failed her mission, and in the end (though the movie might end up fixing things), she still ended up with being unable to be with the girl she had been through countless time loops to try and save.
I mean, we don't even know the details of everything that Homura went through. we only saw a tiny glimpse of her suffering. She could have experienced everything that you listed as well. I'm sure Homura tried so many different things to stop Madoka from becoming a magical girl/dying.
I'm not really with a lot of the decisions in the list, but I can definitely get behind Ayano, Shiraume (though I sorta think Haruka from Kanamemo deserves it more xD) and Shin Sekai (Really never understood why they put that in there except to just do a little bait and switch 😦 )!
Is there any reason manga-only characters/game characters aren't in here at all? Maybe do a Manga/game list next? Might be hard to find some good videogame characters for some of the categories, but I'm sure you could find a lot of manga characters.
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Actually, now that I think about it. I think Ayaya from KinMoza probably should get the Tsundere award.
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You know you can look forward to my awards as long as yuri potential shows continue popping up and I can still host the awards ceremony, both of which I hope will continue for a long time.
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So you think the 3rd Madoka movie will be more yuri-ish than the anime and first 2 movies? That would be so great and the previews looked promising, still I can't imagine this to happen.
You're right about Homura. She suffered a lot and had to go through hell repeatedly but it's the same for Chikane, considering the fact that she is or was also trapped in a similar cycle.
But I think it's kind of hard to compare something like this, since we only saw specific moments of previous cycles in Homura's case and only a few scenes of the life of Chikane's former self.
Totally forgot to mention that this was an anime list only and yeah I know I put in some Visual Novel characters as well, but initially it was meant to be only about anime characters.
I'm planing to either make another Yuri Awards list with only Manga characters and a similar one with Yuri Manga legends.
But with manga characters it will be pretty tough, since there are so many more to choose from…
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I've only found out about your blog a few months before I made my own, so at the end of the year this one will be the first of your award ceremonies I can really witness and I'm surely looking forward to it 😉
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And this is exactly why my manga section of the Hall of Fame is smaller than the other two sections. Too many great ladies to choose from who made a major impact in the manga scene. This year, I can currently think of a select few, two or three.
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It's probably easier to only choose some characters from recent manga but I'll need to catch up on some manga before I'll do that.
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So, just for curiosity, as it would be a perfect yuri anime for you, or what manga you think could be adapted in a good anime?
Also, interesting post.
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That is a good question.
I'm not sure about the perfect yuri manga, but I think manga like Girl Friends or Citrus would be quite great picks.
Girl Friends for example would make a totally cute and funny yuri romance, while Citrus would most likely attract viewers who like drama, a more grown up romance and in general a more serious story.
I won't say that I'm unsatisfied with the choice of yuri anime for 2014, but I think there are better picks than Akuma no Riddle or Sakura Trick, even though I probably shouldn't say anything like this before even having watched both shows.
Anyway, I think there are a lot of yuri manga with great potential, but they will probably never be considered, which is a pity. Also I fear that the yuri anime for 2014 will not be that popular, which might make yuri anime adaptions even less likely to happen in the future…
But I'm worrying too much, so let's see how things will turn out.
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Can Maria Holic be regarded as a real yuri anime? In China, most of Yuri fans do always mind the differences between “real yuri” and “fake yuri”….. Maria Holic, Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru, and Girl Meets Girl are generally regarded as “fake yuri” so you won't find any discussion of them in most of yuri forums in China, even some forums fobid talking about them, which is sort of “beyond Yuri”…….. So I've been really surprised to see “Maria Holic” in some American yuri fans' watchlist.
There's a “Yuri Manga/Donga/VN Guides” which was made by a Chinese Yuri fan: http://tieba.baidu.com/p/2428164328 However it's in Chinese but you can still read the covers of the anime. In the first sentence of this post this Yuri fan listed out the specific genres of Yuri works which he will introduce next.
1：正统百合作品（明确的表明女性恋爱关系）入坑必看作品
2：百合向作品（多为描述女性之间的暧昧关系，没有明确的表明恋爱关系）
3：含有百合成分的非百合作品以及可YY百合的作品
1. Unadulterated (or “Pure”?) Yuri Works (clearly claiming the loving relationship between females which s a Yuri fan obliged to watch);
2. Yuri-tendency Works (most of them describing Yuri-affairs, and no clearly claiming the loving relationship);
3. Other works that cotain a trace of Yuri or make people think of Yuri.
(Well it's really hard for me to translate them…. >_<) 1~10F are of the first sort, 11`31F are of the second sort, 32~37F are VNs of the first sort, 39~44 are Manga….. The list is not finish yet. The author even made a video: http://www.bilibili.tv/video/av661082/
It seems that the author doesn't like Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito, either, for you can't find it in the list. But I'm so curious. Why? Since Yamibo, the largest Yuri forum in China, is actually named from Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito.
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You know many people view Maria Holic as “anti-yuri”, a show that only makes fun of the genre and mocks the yuri character Kanako.
I had a similar conversation with someone a while ago, but I can simply not see why I should see this anime so critically.
Anyway, you asked why I listed it, since it's not considered a yuri anime in your country or at least in some forums.
Answering this is simple. Kanako is a lesbian, no doubt about that and she shows that she is in almost every episode.
For me, a show doesn't have to come with 2 yuri characters to be called yuri. Of course we have to differentiate these kinds of anime and decide how “yuri-ish” they actually are, just like the ones in the Chinese forum did.
So Maria Holic is not a fully lesbian anime, since it only has one yuri character, but leaving it out of the list of yuri anime would be wrong in my eyes.
I can understand why shows like Girl meets Girl or Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru shouldn't be on the list, since those two really are “fake yuri” shows.
And it might be true, that Kanako will at some point end up with Mariya, but even if she does, all her crushes on girls and in general all the yuriness she brought into the show won’t just vanish with this outcome. It will be a totally stupid outcome, that’s for sure, but that doesn’t make especially the first season any less yuri-ish.
Have you watched “Yamibou”? I did some years ago and I pretty much enjoyed the whole thing, but this anime comes with one big problem, which probably put off many viewers. I’m talking about the ending. I’ve never been so disappointed and even irritated with an ending as I was with this one. The ending totally ruined the whole story and the yuri ending that I was hoping for, never happened. Instead they came up with the idea of Hatsuki being pregnant with Hatsumi…. This was so random and stupid, so no wonder yuri fans don’t like this one all that much.
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I have watch Yamibou but not Maria Holic. Yeah I also felt strange when I saw the ending of Yamibou, although the scene of that kiss is quite good. Particularly about the “pregnant”, some yuri fans say that it's too “cruel” for both Hazuki and the yuri show, since Hazuki has to find a male in order to get “pregnant”.
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I was also wondering about that. The show didn't make it clear whether Hatsuki actually found a boyfriend or whether she just “magically” got pregnant.
I think many fans wouldn't like the idea of her being with another man and simply because we didn't see her with one, I just force myself to believe that it happened without one.
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Natsuki and Shizuru left a great impression on me, they really marked an era as they were the first lesbian characters I saw. They will always have a place in my heart, and no matter how old the show is i would always love to read a new doujin or a fanfic about them. I like both characters a lot.
I don't particularly like tsundere characters but i find Ayano super cute, and i can't help but wanting to help her to find happiness with her beloved TOSHINO KYOUKO!! I love her ~
As for anime, i don't really watch much of it, i like it but i prefer shows with slow pace, maybe some slice of life with overly moe characters, full of comedy and i apply the “missing y chromosome” rule, haha. But this is a nice guide for me to reconsider watching the “classic” yuri anime, thanks (: and dunno, maybe sometime around winter vacations…
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I agree with you, Shizuru and Natsuki will always have a special place in my heart and I just can't stop reading fanfictions about them, those are so great~
Oh and I'm happy you found this entry helpful, I think I'll add some more awards whenever I come up with new ones 😉
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Wow. Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito looks like the show is the only worst show only yuri genre. Actually agreed to that award since I haven't seen it before. Some nice awards that I like even I don;t like some of the shows. Nice job.
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Thank you 🙂
I think Yamibou is not the only bad yuri anime, there are more, Kuttsukiboshi for example.
But calling it entirely bad is probably wrong. Basically it was more or less only the ending that really irritated me, the rest was ok I would say.
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Hey there, it's been awhile since I've been on here (Jordan). And I agree with most of this list. (Elise). How did you like the fanfiction about Kannazuki no Miko by the way :)?.
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Hey there, nice to see you (two?) again 😉
You mean “Capturing a Heart”, right?
I think I started reading this right when you recommended it to me, but I didn't get far.
It started out really great, because I loved the setting, or well the fact that this was going to be a more or less normal love story, but the further I got the less I really enjoyed it.
Not that it was bad or anything, but things between Himeko and Chikane happened too fast for my liking, so I think I stopped after reading only a few chapters.
I know I'm super picky…
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About Yamibou, the ending isn't really all bad if you understand it. The thing is, they tried to incorporate several endings from the original eroge; the anime doesn't have one ending, it has three.
– Hazuki forgets about Hatsumi but still feels the loss, than gets pregnant with her.
– Hazuki doesn't forget and sets out to find her again
– Both return and end up together. That's where the bedroom scene comes from, it's not really a dream. This one also happens to be the canonical true end of the eroge.
Nifty idea, too bad the execution turned it into a mess that's hard to comprehend, especially if you are unfamiliar with the the eroge the anime is adapted from. Add the general negative attitude in this fandom's schizophrenic tendency to read between the lines (only really accept a relationship if it's spelled out or sealed with a kiss but show the back of a guy in one panel and the girl is a man-hungry whore) and you can see why this got such a bad rap.
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I knew this was all based on a game, but I really didn't know about the three endings.
It's a shame they didn't go with the last one and only added a part of it as a dream. They even chose the worst ending of them all, which I just can't understand.
Ah well, at least I now want to play the game, since it seems it makes more sense than the anime and Hatsumi and Hatsuki really end up together.
I doubt there is an English version, but it's worth a try.
Thanks for clearing things up 😉
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Himemiya Chikane, my anime love O___O
I wish she was a real person. But then she wouldn't want to by my girlfriend anyway… ahh damn. Lucky Himeko.
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Haha I know what you mean, she's also one of my favorite anime characters of all time.
But Himeko is a great match, so we have to live with that 😛
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Yeah….the manga pool is way greater out there. I haven't read Sakura Trick (except for chapter 0) or Akuma no riddle because they're getting anime adaptations. I'd rather not spoil the story before having seen it.
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For me it's quite the opposite.
I've never really seen a manga I've read get an anime adaption, so I'm pretty hyped about Sakura Trick and Akuma no Riddle.
But I usually prefer Anime over Manga as well.
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While I just can’t agree with any positiv comments regarding the outcome of strawberry panic
(I think Shizuma didn’t deserve things to go her way just like that), I agree with all other entries.
Especially Sanya being Cutie #1.
Even in 2018 she’s still my No1 and I also find Sanya x Eila to be one of the cutest and most heartwarming “canon-by-subtext”-couples ever.
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Wow, the first comment since late 2013! This is so old, but I still agree with my picks 😀
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Well well you did writr this long time ago and I v jist came acrosd your article, but I nevertheless have to say a few words…
Namely thsnl you for properly honoring Kannazuki and Strawberry panic and their characters because they deserve it even nowadays after more than 10 years since being created! People hate on them without right and it saddenes me! Thank u also for giving them the proper rewards, even nowadayz I d vote the way you did back then, although I v watched quite a few yuri anime and non yuri butwith yuri characters. Yet SP and KnM still remain among the best if not the best. Both Shizuma and Nagisa and Chikane and Himeko have the most beautiful love stories, no matter what. I am just so sad Himeko and Chikane became fanserviced and sexualized by the author😤 but they remain my favs.
Also thank you for saying out loud Yumi, despite having such opportunity to be awesome, became so twisted and ugly with thst ending. Peoole say around they loved the anime so I was really afraid I was the only one seeing the ending as a truly twisted and disgusting thing caring such an awful message toward lesbian community.
Much resoect your way!
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