shoujo ai

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 少女愛 (shōjo ai).

Noun

shoujo ai (uncountable)

  1. (anime, manga) Anime and manga that explore emotional, but largely platonic, homosexual relationships between women[1].
  2. (slang) A genre of manga, anime, or hentai featuring lesbian sex and romance; yuri.
  3. (slang) lolicon.

Usage notes

(japanese vis-à-vis western usage): As of 2009, the term yuri is used in Japan to mean the depiction of attraction between women (whether sexual or romantic; explicit or implied) in manga, anime, and related entertainment media, as well as the genre of stories primarily dealing with this content.[2][3] The "wasei-eigo" construction "gāruzu rabu," occasionally spelled "Girl's Love" or "Girls' Love", or abbreviated as "GL", is also used with this meaning. Yuri is generally a form of fanspeak amongst fans, but its usage by authors and publishers has increased since 2005.[4][3][4][2] The term "Girls Love", on the other hand, is primarily used by the publishers.[3][5]

In North America, yuri has initially been used to denote only the most explicit end of the spectrum, deemed primarily as a variety of hentai.[6] Following the pattern of shounen ai, Western fans coined the term shōjo-ai to describe yuri without explicit sex.[6] In Japan, the term shōjo-ai (少女愛, - lit. girl love) is not used with this meaning,[6] and instead tends to denote pedophilia (actual or perceived), with a similar meaning to the term lolicon (Lolita complex).[7] The Western use of yuri has broadened in the 2000s, picking up connotations from the Japanese use.[3] American publishing companies such as ALC Publishing and Seven Seas Entertainment have also adopted the Japanese usage of the term to classify their yuri manga publications.[8][9]


See also

References
  1. What is Shoujo Ai / Yuri
  2. “Joseidōshi no LOVE wo egaita, danshi kinsei no "Yuri būmu" gayattekuru!?”, in (Please provide the title of the work)‎, Cyzo, accessed 2008-03-21
  3. “Interview: Erica Friedman (page 1)”, in Manga‎, About.com, accessed 2008-05-17
  4. Morishima, Akiko (January 2008), “YurixYuri Kenbunroku”, in (Please provide the title of the work) (in Japanese)
  5. “Comic Yuri Hime official website”, in (Please provide the title of the work)‎ (in Japanese), Ichijinsha, accessed 2008-01-19 Ichijinsha classifies their yuri manga publication Comic Yuri Hime as a "Girls Love" comic magazine.
  6. Friedman, Erica. What is Yuri?. What are Yuri and Shoujoai, anyway?. Yuricon and ALC Publishing. Archived from the original on 6 April 2005. Retrieved 20 May 2005.
  7. Miyajima, Kagami (April 4, 2005) Shōjo-ai (in Japanese), Sakuhinsha, →ISBN
  8. “ALC Publishing”, in Yuricon‎, accessed 2011-12-05
  9. “Yuri on the Seven Seas!”, in (Please provide the title of the work)‎, Seven Seas Entertainment, accessed 2007-11-20
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