Sophora Rylith: 百合姫

Citrus is many things; adorable, heartwarming, gut-wrenching, problematic as hell, and one of my favorite yuri stories of all time. However, as much as I love it to death, it also happens to be one of the most controversial yuri manga out there.

People were initially drawn to Citrus when it first came out because of the “shock value” of the main couple being step-sisters (even though Candy Boy and Kuttsukiboshi already did this, but we don’t talk about those, do we? 😊), with many assuming it would just be another exploitative fanservice yuri like many that came before. However, as the series went on, it not only gained its expected haters, but a surprisingly large amount of lovers as well. People praised it for the reasons I mentioned and others, while others criticized it for numerous other reasons. To this day, Citrus has, without a doubt in my mind, the most divisive fan base I’ve ever seen in a yuri manga.

Despite the divide and controversy, and the numerous legitimate problems the manga actually has, people continued to read new chapters as they came out and still do to this day. Whenever I visit the comments section on my (TOTALLY LEGAL) manga reading website, I encounter comments ranging from “OMG luv this so much best yuri ever” to “WTF this is abysmal worst manga ever Saburouta should be lynched.”

Okay, that last bit might’ve been an exaggeration, but still, why do people, both fans and haters, continue to read this manga?

Is it because of Yuzu, her adorable antics and her undying gayness?

Is it because of Harumin and all her… Harumin-ness?

Or is it because of Matsuri, who is actually best girl and anyone who says otherwise can fight me?

Actually, no. Believe it or not, I think the reason people keep coming back to this manga is because of the character who has been the source of nearly every criticism this story has recieved:

(See this precious little smile? Enjoy it. It’s like, one of 3 times she does it in the entire series)

Yes, Mei Aihara, or Mei-tron as she has been dubbed by many, is the reason people continue to follow Citrus. Now, before you die of laughter, please bear with me and allow me to explain.

Mei is a character who is hated by many, and loved by few. The few that love her claim her to be a fragile, misunderstood soul who just needs some hugs and kisses in life, preferably from a certain blonde. Those who hate her REALLY seem to hate her. They say she’s a selfish, emotionless, brain-dead sociopath who has done absolutely nothing to earn Yuzu’s unconditional affection. While I agree with both sides of the argument to some extent, I think the reason people are so split on her is because, in truth, nobody completely understands her.

Saburouta has done a wondrous job writing Mei in my opinion. She’s essentially created an anomaly; a character unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, and this can be seen as both good and bad. But the main reason I think people are drawn to Mei is because of the universal question all Citrus fans are forced to ask at some point: “What in the holy name of the yuri goddesses is this girl thinking?!?!”

Look at this panel from the manga and tell me honestly. What is going on in that noggin of hers?

Mei gives expressions like this all throughout the series, often featuring her favorite line: “……” (thank you @akceart over on Twitter for this joke 😘). They’ve spawned multiple paragraph-long essay length explanations dissecting and analyzing what she’s truly thinking. The explanation varies depending on the circumstances, but the outcome is always the same: no one can come up with a definitive correct answer.

Among people squealing over Yuzu’s cuteness and gushing over Harumin’s fabulousness, the majority of forums and comment sections I’ve come across have featured these in-depth analyses in abundance. It truly baffles me that people are so dedicated to understanding the phenomenon that is Mei-tron, but I think that’s all part of her appeal.

Plus, all this mystery makes the rare scenes where she actually does show a recognizable emotion so much more engaging. Case in point…

People can complain about Mei’s character flaws all they want, but the fact that we still don’t understand her completely likely means that, until Saburouta gives us an answer, neither the hate nor the love she receives is warranted. All we can do is wait as the story lives on through Citrus+ to see if we will ever get a true look inside the mind of Mei Aihara.

The victims of white supremacist violence deserve to be mourned. Full stop. 

I have seen this shit happen to multiple groups (Black people, Muslims, Jews, etc.) after multiple tragedies, so let me be clear: 

We do not ask if Muslim refugees are suitably feminist before advocating on their behalf. We advocate on their behalf because they are suffering and it’s the right thing to do. 

We do not ask what the congregation’s policy was on gay marriage after a racist shoots up a Black church and murders African-Americans joining in prayer. We mourn for the victims and speak out because it is the right thing to do. 

And we do not fucking ask if Jews murdered by a neo-Nazi in the sanctuary of their synagogue were Zionists or not before mourning them and offering the survivors our support because it is the right thing to do. 

If you withhold your support for victims of white supremacist violence until they have passed some sort of so-called progressive litmus test, then you are on the side of the white supremacists. I don’t fucking care how leftist you think you are, if you pull this shit, you’re an enabler of hate. 

The pink flag was made by a racist, biphobic, ableist and was made only for lipstick lesbians anyways (which means the vast majority of lesbians were never represented by it). As such there’s been a push for a new flag, and someone did a poll to see which one the majority liked, and my version which was this one:

Like, on an aesthetic level, your colors are fucking bad. They’re ugly. You picked the dullest blue and pink, and what I’ve been calling a “Wal-Mart floor gray” bc

Yeah. Your colors are bad and dull. I’m not even a fan of the ace flag and it still did a better job at use of color w/ It’s monochrome black white gray stuff, you just threw the gray in there for ace lesbians which,

1. Is a massive insult to ace lesbians everywhere residing their meaning to some fuck ugly gray color

2. Is just taking from the already pre existing ace flag

And the problematic aspects of this flag! Bc fuck there’s so many.

The blue to represent “he/him lesbians and butches” is so fucking gross and tone deaf. Not all he/him dykes are butches. I’m a he/him femme. You’re grouping me w/ butches and putting us both under the same color. Also, blue? Seriously? You made the masculine color blue. Really revolutionary and #unproblematique here giving masculine women and women who use he/him pronouns the blue stripe. It’s great. Really.

The pink is a fucking mess in itself. Again, by making the femmes pink, you are unnecessarily gendering colors. Lipstick lesbians are a subset of femmes. They’re their own group within our group that exist separately from other femmes. Lipstick lesbians have their own culture. I do not feel a connection w/ their identity and your decision to group us together is fucking limiting and degrading to both groups.

Your decision to group nb and trans lesbians together was also shitty. I’m an afab nb, my identity and existence and struggles are entirely different than a trans womans but you just went “LOL BOTH NOT CIS” and threw em under the same color.

The pink flag is staying. It’s reached mainstream, and we as a community have stripped it from its original meaning and creator. The creators original intents are so fucking far divorced from it that 99.99% of people don’t know about her and those that do only just found out.

The lipstick symbol was removed, again, symbolically removing the original creators intent from the flag. It’s not just for lipsticks and the fact that you think as a community we should drop this symbol that we’ve lovingly sewn our own meaning into - it’s fucking gross and pathetic. Your poll means nothing. The flags not going anywhere.

Literally exclusionists just made it up to take power away from Bethany because Bethany has a large following, is a popular inclusionist, is against exclusion in all forms, and is openly queer.

And spreading lies to take down queer people is a nasty thing to do.