The word yuri literally means "lily", and is a somewhat common Japanese female name. In 1976, Bungaku Itou – editor of Barazoku (a magazine geared primarily towards gay men) – first used the term Yurizoku (Lily Clan) in reference to female readers in a column of letters called Yurizoku no Heya (Lily Clan’s Room). It is unclear whether this was the first usage of the term because a different magazine column used the word yuri in place of “lesbians” in communications, and doujinshi circles were already using the term to refer to lesbian-themed explicit or non-explicit works.

The term yuri is used in a slightly different way in the West than it is in Japan. However, the core meaning remains the same. It is just the type of content that is different.

In the West, yuri was initially used to describe the sexual side of the girl-girl genre, with the term shoujo-ai (girls love) – following the same pattern of the established Western term shounen-ai (boys love) – then being coined to describe the purely platonic part of the genre. The term shoujo-ai in Japan is not used with the same connotations as it is in the West, and in fact, is often in reference to notions of pedophilia.

Luckily the West is adapting to the original usage and while shoujo-ai as a term is losing relevance on some big anime-related websites, it is still somewhat usable in other parts of the web.

Girls Love is used by Japanese fans most notably in the doujinshi community, where events with names such as “Girls Love Festival” are held. Major publications rarely, if ever, use the term and will instead use yuri as a general term.

So pretty much, as word of advice: stick with the original term “yuri”. Don’t use shoujo-ai while in Japan, or better yet, don’t use it at all.

As far as I can remember, Strawberry Panic, Kannazuki no Miko, Simoun and Maria-sama ga Miteru were the shows that sparked people’s interest in yuri in the TV anime world and ever since, we keep getting handfuls of shows that are centered around a yuri theme. However, this is still somewhat of a niche genre and one-shots are still quite common. It’s very rare for a yuri anime to end up financially successful and with several sequels, as is the case with so many harem, slice-of-life, and shounen anime.

While bonafide yuri shows pop up every now and then, yuri themes are present in other genres and are mostly used as a form of comedic relief and/or fan service. Such themes are found in many slice-of-life shows with all-girl casts (Sabagebu, Non Non Biyori, Yuyushiki, Kiniro Mosaic). Although these shows are labeled as slice-of-life, fans categorize these shows as “yuri-centric” mainly because the main characters are all female, with emphasis put on strong girl-to-girl friendship. There are no male love interests to be found and the humor revolves around the girls being put in awkward and often suggestive situations. Spotting any subtext is the name of the game here.

To bring things together, yuri can be divided into 3 distinct categories:

• Yuri-centric slice-of-life (very common)
• Non-explicit yuri (uncommon)
• Explicit yuri (very rare)