#if you haven't read the romance

[arataka-reigen]

I'm trying to start a movement here

[ID: The first 3 images are edited versions of the "Let's take ibuprofen together" meme. The captions now say "Let's read shoujo together". They each show a person holding their hand out to the viewer; a character from the series Benigyokuzui, Mob from Mob Psycho 100, and Jerma. / end ID]

ID provided by @siroofington thank you so much

[robinmage]

[s-aint-elmo]

*twirling my hair* do you have some good yuri manga recs?

(lying on my stomach and kicking my feet) i'm SO glad you asked!

to preface this i'll be excluding better-known yuri or yuri that's recently gotten its flowers (whether thru virality or adaptations) (e.g. in love with the villainess, love bullet, bloom into you, etc. etc.) and will instead be recc'ing works i don't often encounter in the wild. some will be more well-known than others, but all of these i've enjoyed and would encourage others to check out! under the cut because. this got. so long. i heart yuri <3

multi-chapter

the princess of sylph (ongoing; self-publishing): plot-heavy fantasy yuri between a bereaved princess with the aura of a thousand sad hamsters and a persistent nun whose silliness conceals a deep well of trauma. gushed about it plenty here. i recommend starting with the serialized version, the proceeding to the twitter version + extras. cw: blood, violence, dismemberment (nothing too graphic, more standard monster-fighting fare).

i love amy (completed): school loner strikes an unlikely friendship with the girl known (and feared) for her violent tendencies and single-minded obsession with the school prince. cute but striking and skilled art with a surprisingly nuanced handling of trauma and neurodivergence. cw: attempted child murder, animal death (non-graphic). there are also depictions of standard yandere fare (kidnapping, torture basements) but they're always presented comedically.

i see you, aizawa-san! (ongoing): girl who steadfastly pretends not to see ghosts meets one she just can't seem to ignore: a deceased classmate and former j-pop idol, who has taken to haunting their classroom. ft. art that harkens back to classic shoujo and a supernatural mystery centred on the relationship between the two leads--that one of them can't seem to remember. cw: blood, body horror.

school zone girls (on hiatus): slice of life yuri comedy ft. a massive interconnected web of girls spanning at least three schools. it juggles gut-busting comedy with genuine heartfelt moments of character growth and connection and expresses it all through a solid, dynamic art style. the sprawling cast also makes for incredible outsider pov moments that lets us really appreciate how far some characters have gotten. this genuinely motivated me to revamp how i approached ensemble casts for my ocs.

brides of iberis (completed): wedding planner unenthusiastic about her engagement falls in love with a bride she's taken as a client. bittersweet but deeply loving; and so compassionate to each and every character, even the men the female leads have relationships with. cw: infidelity.

destroy it all and love me in hell! (ongoing): model student finds her miserable, tightly controlled life unraveling after being blackmailed by the class truant into indulging her ugliest impulses. toxic yuri extravaganza eleganza between two girls desperate for escape and the catharsis of fucking! shit! up!!! also hits that sweet sweet "love triangle as a conflict of ideals" beat. cw: blackmail, coercion, bullying, violence, emotional abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse, adult/minor relationship.

yuri is forbidden for the yuri otaku (completed): passionate himejoshi enrolls in an all-girls private school to observe class s yuri in action, but never to engage in it herself--at least, until a misunderstanding wins her the resident gyaru's heart. a surprisingly poignant exploration of being queer in a repressive society and experiencing your queerness through the safety of unobtainable fantasy.

the superstar idol crushes on me today too (ongoing): failed idol-slash-middling radio personality finds an unwanted superfan in the country's biggest superstar. explores the merit of pursuing your artistic passions in the face of repeated failure, and what makes an emotional anchor in the fraught seas of showbiz. they are also just so so funny. what if i emphatically declare you my rival in show business but you've been in love with me since you saw me in a cooking show as a child actor and you take any excuse to spend time with me and have my attention with blinding enthusiasm

normality and monsters (ongoing): outcast weirdo witnesses the class idol devour their homeroom teacher in one bite and begs to be trained in the art of appearing normal. the art is snappy and charismatic, the monster design is properly grotesque, and the friendship of convenience between the two leads teeters between overcoming the monster's nature and just being a prelude to the monster acquiring a new meatsuit. cw: blood, gore, death, body horror.

a monster wants to eat me (ongoing): suicidal girl meets carnivore mermaid who promises to eat her if she develops a desire to live. it's been a while since i read this one, but the monster designs are once again sick as fuck and the drama of being cared for by a creature that finds you tantalizing is sooo juicy. cw: suicidal ideation, blood, gore, violence, body horror.

liar satsuki can see death (completed): high schooler who can see corpses before the death occurs strives to save as many lives as possible despite being branded a liar by the entire student body. this and ryouko's other manga, a walk to death, are pretty banging declarations on the value of living ironically (or maybe aptly) wrapped in so much death. blanket cw for blood, gore and death bc i tell you every mini-arc somebody dies in a fun new way and we'd be here all day if we listed them out.

anthology:

i'm the villainess but i'm being captured by the heroine?!: an anthology featuring heroines of otome games swerving hard and sweeping the villainess off her feet. i am such a sucker for villainess yuri. mean women forever. my favourite chapters are vol. 1 ch.1 and vol. 2 chs. 1 and 4.

honourable mentions:

my idol sits the next desk over! (completed): loner idol otaku ends up deskmates with her oshi and between jealous sabotage from a rival stan and the herculean task of acting normal around your fave, lands herself in the first and closest friend group of her life. one girl does explicitly have romantic feelings for another girl, but i bumped it down here because it isn't explored to the extent it could have been. it felt like it was setting up a slow burn only to end abruptly. do not recommend if you want a love story, do recommend if you want lonely people forging deep and enduring bonds of friendship.

the one within the villainess (ongoing): the villainess of an otome game reawakens for her condemnation and sets off on a path of vengeance for the sake of the beloved transmigrator who's occupied her body for years. it's ostensibly het, but to hear the way that the villainess speaks of her transmigrator, the first person to love her wholeheartedly and wish for her happiness and so inadvertently prevent her from becoming the hollow bitter woman she originally grew into...... like. that is yuri. like what if i knew your life in its entirety and loved you for it and i found myself in the position to give you the happiness i always wished for you to have. what if we wrote fix-it fic for each other on the fabric of the universe. what if we never even had a conversation but we knew each other the best and loved each other most. and we were both girls. do you understand why i'm insane about them. cw: blood, gore, violence.

[nellasbookplanet]

This is so funny I was watching this video on the topic of reylo fanfic-turned-traditionally-published-novels (it's a good video, watch it for a frank yet non-judgemental take on the topic) and in curiosity dug out this fanlore list of fics-turned-novels and found multiple novels on it that I've read, enjoyed (one in the last couple of months!) and fully didn't catch the fanfic roots of.

Really highlights the silliness of people who proudly proclaim their unerring ability to pinpoint whether a story started out as fic or not (and then proceed to point out various books completely unrelated to fandom simply because the author has written fic before, such as the locked tomb series or red white and royal blue), or who loudly state the assumed poor quality of said books despite themselves having read non of them.

[d8tl55c]

early in the morning after dead'nt, orange has a question.

usually he'd still be asleep long past now, but he wanted to ask about... TDL.

without the others interrupting.

so, he goes to chosen's door.

immediately this plan starts to slip off the rails.

no one knows where dark is.

...........because the others may or may not have spent the entirety of last night searching for him in every nook and cranny except there and they said they'd tell him if they found him and no one woke him up yet so

that means, the only logical conclusion is: he's in chosen's room.

so how is orange gonna ask chosen his question????

well, usually, chosen lets him just walk in.

s0!

here goes nothin

he opens the utterly silent door.

green made it special for cho, because they didn't want anyone to ever hear it being opened.

as a special bonus, yellow was able to code the door in such a way that it would never need any maintenance related to sound: its hinges and latches would stay pristinely quiet, forever.

so chosen doesn't wake up when orange sneaks inside.

they wake up when orange takes one step in, spots bright red, and fails to stifle a gasp.

"oh shit!!" orange whispers.

chosen's eyes peek over the covers.

"I'm sorry! i didn't know- uh, i would've- if um- i can come back later-"

they stare at him. "what's wrong." chosen prefers clear and concise, especially early in the morning.

"you-" orange carefully picks his next words. "and him-"

they're in the same bed.

"yep." chosen nods.

orange stands there.

then he shrugs.

"um, sorry. on our shows, this is always a big point of conflict. we don't know why. so i just didn't want to- you know. assume otherwise."

"oh. thanks...?" chosen blinks sleepily. "yeah, it's okay."

"okay!"

"you wanted something?"

"yeah, so-"

orange cuts off again midsentence.

TDL is beginning to stir.

dark emits the highest little squeak-whine that orange has ever heard (even compared to red's baby rabbits), and raises a hand to tug chosen back down to the pillow.

chosen turns their entire face to him, trilling.

they both perform a little brushy-brushy head bonk thing.

then chosen maneuvers their body (under the covers) so it, presumably, mingles more tightly with dark's.

this is satisfactory - for now. dark grumbles about it and stuffs his head under chosen's chin.

orange stands pixel-perfectly still by the door.

"you were saying?" chosen finally turns back to him.

"uh," orange stalls.

dark's eyes open.

he awakens with terrifying speed, untangling from chosen, hoisting up from the covers, and raising a warning fireball within milliseconds.

the room shifts into blazing color and stark shadows.

he shrieks,

"GET OUT!!!"

it seems dark does not, "okay" this situation.

orange drops, scrambles, and miraculously operates the door with enough precision to tumble out the other side unscathed.

silently, the door shuts itself behind him.

...

the fireball is put away.

...

"cho, why do you allow The Beast into your room?"

chosen snorts. "it was him who rebuilt you."

dark snarls. "are you SURE it wasn't some trick? you watched the whole time? i don't trust it."

"i trust him."

"why? how?? you do understand why i have reservations about it???"

"yes," chosen nods. "But I trust him."

They press their very cold head into dark's very warm head, and both of them sigh in relief.

"He brought me you."

dark huffs. "mm."

...

"and other things," chosen concedes. "you... weren't there."

"tell me."

...

outside, orange is still collapsed, upside down, against the wall, across from chosen's door, where he crashed earlier in his escape.

red has just found him while coming upstairs to check out the commotion.

"orange!? u okay?"

"yeap," orange strains. "all good."

"what happened?"

orange's hand flops on the floor towards chosen's door. "you were right. dark's in there."

red takes a second to digest this.

then his hands fly up to his mouth.

"what're they doing in there?????? did you see???"

"yes. i dunno."

"were they ? ? ?

fucking ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?"

orange squints at him.

through the door, two voices loudly interrupt,

"NO!"

the angrier voice adds,

"AND FUCK OFF!"

red squeaks and hurries back down the stairs.

orange sighs deeply.

this has been a terrible learning experience for all.

[khattikeri]

binged all of surviving romance last night after i put it on hold over a year ago and man. Man. story of all time i love lee yone's works so much

[nero-draco]

[fuzzyhairedfreak]

Okay Larian here's how you fix your reputation wrt Wyll being SO ignored by y'all's writing: Give us a fancy ball DLC that he is the star of. Let it be all about his life and his backstory, let us meet his childhood friends and enemies, let us defend his honor in a dramatic duel, let us do a fancy dance with him in front of all of Baldurian high society (whether we're romancing him or not) (seriously even the straight guys on reddit were sad they couldn't dance with him in camp without it being a romance thing). It doesn't have to be as high stakes as some other well known fantasy rpg video game's masquerade ball mission, and in fact I'd rather it wasn't. Rather than the Winter Palace, I'm looking for more of a Citadel DLC vibe if you know what I mean. Let there be some drama, a little plot to solve maybe, but mostly good party times with my friends, and getting to learn more about Wyll as a kid and teen, and Wyll telling us all the best gossip from back then. More interpersonal drama than plot. But most importantly, give Wyll romancers our the Sound of Music Maria and Mr. von Trapp showing the kids a folk dance on the patio. Give us our Pride and Prejudice (2005) no one else in the room moment. Our Cinderella and Prince Charming 'So This Is Love' scene. I'm begging

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

the trouble with learning a minority language is that once you've hit the upper-intermediate stage of actually reading books in the language and so on, it doesn't take very long to exhaust the books at your level that you have any interest in whatsoever, and then there aren't any more. so you read the ones you're not really interested in, but that feels like Work, because you're not really interested in them. but it doesn't exactly get better as you get more advanced because even the more difficult books tend not to correspond too closely to your preferred genres

[adelaidedrubman]

OCS (+SHIPS) AS TAROT PAIRS

i was tagged by my dears @corvosattano @jackiesarch @nightbloodbix @unholymilf @inafieldofdaisies @strangefable @simplegenius042 to take this uquiz for some flop kids and their cringe ships. sending tags out to @florbelles @henbased @belorage @poetikat @socially-awkward-skeleton @8bitpizzacoupons @stacispratt @shellibisshe @blissfulalchemist @deputyash @confidentandgood @roofgeese @firstaidspray @orionlancasterr @nonfunctioning-queer @purplehairsecretlair @v0idbuggy @nuclearstorms @direwombat @shallow-gravy @bluemojave @ladyoriza @strafethesesinners @clicheantagonist @cassietrn + please like this post if you would like to keep/start being tagged in games, switching over to opt-in exclusive like. next post probably.

THE DEVIL + THE EMPEROR.

there's only one religion for the two of you, and that religion is the other. you two are very nearly unhealthily obsessed with one another, and that's just how you like it. when they touch you, they can feel the blood pumping under the surface of your skin. your hearts beat for one another. when the day comes that one stops, the other will soon after. until then, you both will live out your lives in perfect, gothy paradise. deck: the tarot of vampyres.

KNIGHT OF PENTACLES + THE MAGICIAN.

if there's something you want, you will GET IT. nothing escapes your fingertips. after all, you're the power couple. your pairing sparks pure cosmic energy. you're fiercely driven to your goals - whether that be status, fortune, or power. you're also fiercely protective of one another. with the knight's earthy energy, you both prefer to purposefully make your way towards your ambitions, rather than playing cards too early or acting too loosely. meanwhile, the magician's half makes gives you a little fire. if they get too close, onlookers and threats to your relationship may get burned. deck: modern witch tarot.

THE TOWER + THE LOVERS

meeting this person shook your whole world. crumbling down is everything you thought you knew about life and love. their warmth, their generosity, their naivete, their knowing...! you don't know how anything made sense before them. all you know is that nothing will make sense afterwards. deck: the tarot of the divine by yoshi yoshitani.

[vulturevanity]

I know what you are

[just0nemorepage]

Where You See Yourself || Claire Forrest || 320 pages Top 3 Genres: Young Adult / Romance / Contemporary

Synopsis: By the time Effie Galanos starts her senior year, it feels like she’s already been thinking about college applications for an eternity—after all, finding a college that will be the perfect fit and be accessible enough for Effie to navigate in her wheelchair presents a ton of considerations that her friends don’t have to worry about.

What Effie hasn’t told anyone is that she already knows exactly what school she has her heart set on: a college in NYC with a major in Mass Media & Society that will set her up perfectly for her dream job in digital media. She’s never been to New York, but paging through the brochure, she can picture the person she’ll be there, far from the Minneapolis neighborhood where she's lived her entire life. When she finds out that Wilder (her longtime crush) is applying there too, it seems like one more sign from the universe that it’s the right place for her.

But it turns out that the universe is full of surprises. As Effie navigates her way through a year of admissions visits, senior class traditions, internal and external ableism, and a lot of firsts--and lasts--she starts to learn that sometimes growing up means being open to a world of possibilities you never even dreamed of. And maybe being more than just friends with Wilder is one of those dreams...

Publication Date: May 2023. / Average Rating: 4.17. / Number of Ratings: ~1740.

[six-of-cringe]

Because it's happened to me a billion times with other fandoms containing queer ships - if I were an outsider to the SoC fandom and just caught glimpses of fan works/posts, I'd have to wonder if Jesper and Wylan were actually canonically together or if fans just made it up so hard they tricked me into thinking it's real. like ok are these little crime guys actually in love this time or are we feeling left out again.

[hussyknee]

Everyone stop what you're doing and go read KJ Charles. She is a master class in queer historical fiction and writing diversity authentically.

[ladybender]

If planet espresso isn't a Futurama coffee shop au where the experience of running a coffee shop gets more realistic and deranged with every passing moment what even is the point

[rotisseries]

in honor of the byler cowboy fic I'm sharing this fever dream from my drafts of almost a month ago