A year of “Yuridemption”?: LGBTQ+ Representation in Animation in 2025 [Part 1]

In December of 2024, I published my post examining LGBTQ+ representation in Western animation and anime, noting that twenty-six anime with direct, or indirect, yuri themes aired. This included some of my favorites, with yuri subtext, like Dungeon Meshi, Girls Band Cry, My Deer Friend Nokotan, Mayonaka Punch, Pon no Michi, Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night, Train to the End of the World, Narenare: Cheer for You!, Dungeon People, Acro Trip, Soaring Sky! PreCure, Wonderful Pretty Cure!, Nijiyon Animation (season 2), Shy (season 2), Love Live! Superstar!! (season 3), and The Stories of Girls Who Couldn’t Be Magicians.

Others had more direct yuri themes, like Whisper Me a Love Song and Beloved Zako Streamer. In Western animation, there were many outstanding series with queer representation, like Hazbin Hotel, Ark: The Animated Series, My Adventures with Superman, Batman: Caped Crusader, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, Arcane (season 2), and Star Trek: Lower Decks (slightly).

Toward the end of 2024, OG-Man optimistically said that 2025 could be “the comeback year of Yuri anime” and said that 2024 was not necessarily bad, but could have been better, with 2025 having “the potential to be the comeback year for Yuridom…[a] year of Yuridemption if you will.” [1] The year began with BanG Dream! Ave Mujica (named Ave Mujica – The Die is Cast when it began airing), an anime about “band gays with extra angst.” It was followed by Momentary Lily on January 2nd, Sorairo Utility on January 4th, Flower and Asura on January 8th, Witchy Pretty Cure!! Mirai Days on January 12th, and The Rose of Versailles anniversary film on January 31st.

Ave Mujica, Witchy Pretty Cure!! and Momentary Lily aired on Crunchyroll. Sorairo Utility and Flower and Asura aired on HIDIVE. This division showed that these streaming platforms were competing for queer viewership. The Rose of Versailles anniversary film aired in theaters (and later on Netflix). It was a film based on a series with some subtexual yuri. It was evident that Flower and Asura leaned more toward female friendship rather than textual or subtextual yuri. Erica Friedman made this clear in her review of the series, stating that it had no yuri. While I don’t agree with that assessment completely, the series undoubtedly joined other anime which focused on intimate friendships between girls which were romantic.

Another series, which I learned about an Anime Feminist review, was entitled From Bureaucrat to Villainess. Premiering on January 10th, the series centers on a bureaucrat, and father, in his 50s, named Tondabayashi Kenzaburo. He is reincarnated as a “villainess,” in an otome game world, named Grace Avergne. He uses skills from his previous life and limited otome game knowledge to act elegantly and befriend people. As such, there are trans and queer themes, along with some subtext between Grace and Anna Doll. The latter, a heroic protagonist of the game, develops a liking to Grace. This disrupts the existing timeline, even though Grace/Kenzaburo didn’t want this to happen.

In terms of Western animation, the fifth season of Harley Quinn premiered on January 16th. There were additional claims that Tokki, a female friend of Jentry Chau, in Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld, in Seoul, was bisexual. The post where this was reportedly said has been taken down. Previously, it was hinted that Jentry’s great-aunt, Gugu, who had previously been in a relationship with Zhongkui, and kissed a woman named Sena Cho, might be bisexual. The Riverfork High School vice-principal, who is voiced by out gay actor/singer Sean Allan Krill, was reportedly shown to be gay through a newspaper headline in the episode “Moonie Phases.”

With Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur on hiatus at the time, and the end of other series with LGBTQ+ characters in 2024 (Hailey’s On It!, Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld, and Arcane), when Harley Quinn began streaming it’s fifth season, it was one of the only series with such characters airing at the time. The only others included Ark: The Animated Series, Batman: Caped Crusader, Hazbin Hotel, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, and X-Men ’97.

The first episode of Harley Quinn season 5 began with Gotham in chaos. Harley and Ivy tried to find their way in this new world, while Metropolis was in pristine shape. They begin living together in Metropolis, planning to cause disruption yet again, in the new city. Both women continued to remain deeply in love with one another, whether kissing, having sex, and the like. They start living in Metropolis, full time, in the second episode of the season. Ivy’s origin story is revealed. She thinks that she killed the man who caused her powers to manifest by trapping her in a from which exposed to her a certain substance.

Later in January, on January 18th, it was revealed that there would be an upcoming set of short films, based on Lycoris Recoil, entitled Lycoris Recoil: Friends are thieves of time. Staff members that worked on these films included technical directors for specific episodes, such as: Takashi Sakuma (episode 1), Tsuyoshi Tobita (episode 2), Kōta Mori (episode 3), Takayuki Kikuchi (episode 4), Motoki Nakanishi (episode 5), and Masayuki Sakoi (episode 6). Also, Shingo Adachi was script writer for episodes 1 and 6, Shū Mori for episode 3, Yoshikazu Tomiaga for episode 4, and Ken Yamamoto for episode 5.

Adachi was a storyboarder for episode 2, along with Imigimuru as storyboard script writer for episode 2. Adachi previously did key animation on the Princess Principal opening sequence. Sakoi storyboarded and served as episode director for various series episodes. Some worked on episodes of 16Bit Sensation: Another Layer (Sakuma, Imigimuru), 22/7 (Sakuma, Shū Mori, Kōta Mori), Yohane the Parhelion (Sakuma, Nakanishi), Love Live! Sunshine (Tobita), Tropical-Rouge PreCure (Tobita), and Revue Starlight (Kōta Mori). Others worked on ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess (Kōta Mori), Akebi’s Sailor Uniform (Kikuchi), Asteroid in Love (Yamamoto), Bloom Into You (Nakanishi), Flip Flappers (Sakoi), and Strawberry Panic! (Sakoi).

Series with yuri subtext, like Sorairo Utility, Momentary Lily, Ave Mujica, and Flower and Asura, often leaning more toward female friendship rather than anything overtly romantic, dominated. At the same time, season 2 of The 100 Girlfriends premiered on January 12th. That series features the polyamorous relationship between Rentarō Aijō and his girlfriends, which number six in all by the end of season one (Hakari Hanazono, Karane Inda, Shizuka Yoshimoto, Nano Eiai, Kusuri Yakuzen, and Hahari Hanazono). It grew as the season continued. This began with Kurumi Haraga in the first episode of that season and continued with Mei Meido, Iku Sutō, Mimimi Utsukushisugi, and Meme Kakure as the series went on.

In the post-credit scene of the fourth episode, of The 100 Girlfriends second season, Hahari declares she saved Mei Meidi because she was cute, hinting that Mei may be bisexual, since she may have feelings for Hahari. On the other hand, Hahari may be bisexual too if she has feelings for Mei. It’s hard to know for sure. Apart from that, Nico Minoru, a protagonist in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, which began on January 29, 2025, is bisexual. While she is shown as such in the comic Runaways, in the animated series she states she will ask out Peter Parker’s crush, Pearl Pangan, if he doesn’t do so. It is heavily implied she may have some feelings for Peter too, making the story that much more interesting.

On February 7th, the second part of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur began streaming on Disney+. In the episode “Love Actually,” Merle and Matsuye, two women in love with one another, with one of them having a pride pin on their bag, come for a dinner. They are members of the Hot Tomatoes with Mimi, the grandma of the series protagonist, Lunella Lafayette. That month, Lil Kev premiered. It featured Darnell and Omar, who gay friends of Uncle Richard Jr. That series is still airing.

On February 14th, Senpai is an Otokonoko: Sunshine After the Rain, an anime film continuation of Senpai Is an Otokonoko, a 12-episode anime adaptation of a manga by Pom, began showing in Japanese theaters. It focused on a high school student named Makoto Hanaoka who crossdresses as a woman despite his mother disapproving. Another protagonist, a bisexual girl named Saki Aoi, falls in love with him. His childhood friend Ryuji Taiga also has feelings for him, creating a love triangle. This series may have a second season too. If it did, it would focus on how one can have love people regardless of gender.

Many months later, in late August, the 82-minute film began streaming on Crunchyroll as divided into four episodes. In September, I said that the film was a “bit of a masterpiece,” writing that it depicted queerness in a complex and layered way just like the series. Makoto defines identity in “the way he wants, not necessarily as male, female, or non-binary, but something outside of identity boxes.” He makes the biggest statement of the film by returning while dressed in a female sailor uniform. Prior to this, he had changed back into his male clothes every single time before coming home. In this case, Makoto gives her no choice but to at least tolerate or accept him. By the end of the film, she indicates she does accept him, in some way, with her acceptance of him implied.

The film depicts Saki struggling with the presence of her mother in her life again. She rejects Makoto as someone who isn’t special and is helped by two fellow schoolgirls. They encourage her to confess her feelings to Makoto. She does so publicly and openly over the school broadcast system, where everyone in school can hear her. She declares that she is deciding for herself what she wants, and what she sees as special (him). After Makoto calls out to her, she opens the window, confessing her love. With a teacher at the broadcast room door, she jumps out of a two-story window to escape, slides down a tree, and asks him to date her, with her hand outstretched. Clearly taken by her gallantry, he, unsurprisingly, says yes. The film ends unfortunately for Ryuuji because he also has a crush on Makoto. Even so, they all remain friends with one another. Although the film wraps up things nicely, it would be great to see some more animated episodes, perhaps in an OVA.

In early March, a series entitled Oh My God…Yes!: A Series of Extremely Relatable Circumstances premiered. That series features gay aliens, centers around three Black women, specifically Tulip, Ladi, and Sunny, and has two bisexual protagonists. In the second episode, Sunny mentions one of her exes is a robot girl (Strawberry) and a man, with series creator Adele “Supreme” Williams saying her character spreads chaos but isn’t a tomboy. Tulip breaks up with Strawberry after sleeping with a man. She seems to fall in love with a male spider, showing that she is bisexual too. March would be when Bearbrick, a musical comedy also known as BE@RBRICK, would premiere. It would include Janet and Denise Hazard, one of the mothers of Denise Hazard. The previous month, Common Side Effects had begun. It featured a recurring character named Agent Harrington, who is briefly in a relationship with a mycologist named Amelia “Mushroom,” before both broke up.

On March 22nd, Let’s Make a Mug Too compilation film premiered. It centers on female friendship between the protagonists as they work on pottery together. The series, which has two seasons in all, ran from April 2021 to December 2021, with an original net animation beginning in early April 2024. That same month, many yuri-ish series premiered. This included Rock is a Lady’s Modesty on April 3rd, with possible “band gay goodness.” It was followed by I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level season 2 on April 5th, with a “protagonist and her family of precious babies, loving dragon wive…a big elf and ghost ‘cousins’ and a very naughty empress.”

The next day, Maebashi Witches premiered. It was followed by A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof, also known as Ninkoro, A Ninja and Assassin Living Together, or Ninja to Koroshiya no Futarigurashi, on April 10. Bōsei no Volicia: Dai Nishō: Gunjō (Volicia of Pluto #2: Ultramarine) premiered on April 21. Then Mono, based on a manga by Afro, the same author who created Laid-Back Camp, premiered on April 12th. Of these series, Mono, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level season 2, Food for the Soul, and A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof streamed on Crunchyroll. Bōsei no Volicia: Dai Nishō: Gunjō was on YouTube. Rock Is a Lady’s Modesty was on HIDIVE as was Princess Principal.

Although only yuri-ish and leaning more toward female friendship, You and Idol Pretty Cure aired in Crunchyroll, along with The Apothecary Diaries Season 2. The latter has no yuri. However, it is focused on a female protagonist. Despite that, fan fiction writers mostly do not write about yuri relationships, weirdly, despite the focus on women in the series itself! Hopefully, that changes in the future. At this point in 2025, mostly yuri-ish series served as replacements, in a sense, for series like Sorairo Utility, Ave Mujica, Flower and Asura, and Witchy Pretty Cure!! Mirai Days, all of which ended in March.

Along with the aforementioned series, short films, which spun off from the Lycoris Recoil series, began airing. There was the female friendship/comradery in Maebashi Witches, and an unexpected entry. What I mean by the latter is the recent anime adaptation of Anne of Green Gables, a 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy M. Montgomery, which didn’t even feature at all on some yuri sites. Entitled Anne Shirley, the series focuses on an eleven-year-old orphan girl of the same name who ends up living on Prince Edward Island in Canada. She makes her home at the now-famous Green Gables. In the process, she becomes close with Marilla and her brother Matthew, who serve as her parents-of-sorts. She also gains a friend in Diana Barry, who she calls her “bosom friend,” which Wiktionary defines as “a very close friend.”

While the series is not yuri by any stretch of the imagination, it can be argued that there are Class S themes, since Diana and Anne have an intimate female friendship, echoing those sisterly relations in Maria Watches Over Us. Erica Friedman said that Anne and Diana have a “deep emotional bond.” In fact, one scholar once said, at the end of an article examining lesbian desire in Montgomery’s books on Anne Shirley, that Anne consistently “establishes intense relationships with women.” Although she achieves acceptance in her community by marrying a man and ultimately producing children, she “manages, in matters of sexuality as in everything else, to disturb complacent attitudes.”

Otherwise, the slice-of-life anime, Food for the Soul, made by the same people who created Non Non Biyori, premiered. That series, also known as Hibi wa Sugiredo Meshi Umashi, seemed like it could have yuri subtext, at the very least. However, as it went on, after it premiered on April 13, it was clear that the series would focus on female friendship instead. The next installment will examine LGBTQ+ representation in animated film, series, and other media from mid-April to mid-September.

Notes

[1] Using their guide, other posts, and other sources, it is clear there were ten series with indirect/weak yuri themes, like Witchy Pretty Cure!! Mirai Days, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level season 2, Ave Mujica – The Die is Cast, Bad Girl, Lycoris Recoil animated shorts, Momentary Lily, Sorairo Utility, Turkey!, A Mangaka’s Weirdly Wonderful Workplace, and Harmony of Mille-Feuille, plus five more with more direct yuri themes: Rock is a Lady’s Modesty, A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof, There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless…, and This Monster Wants to Eat Me. Adding to this are two shows with weak yuri subtext: Maebashi Witches and Flower and Asura. Both emphasize female friendship rather than anything else. There are three other series also centered on female friendship: Food for the Soul, Ruri Rocks, and Anne Shirley. 

Additionally, there’s seven others: Lazarus (has a queer character who had a lesbian lover named Inga), You and Idol Pretty Cure (some subtext especially in episodes 17-18), first episode of I’m Living with an Otaku NEET Kunoichi!? (introduced a character with green hair (voiced by Ayame Momochi) identified as having a “crazy psycho lesbian” personality), From Bureaucrat to Villainess (some subtext between Grace and Anna), Please Put Them On, Takamine-san (lesbian romance between Ellie and Rurika), Once Upon a Witch’s Death (yuri subtext), Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray (yuri subtext according to posts here), and Grisaia: Phantom Trigger (some weak yuri subtext). Arguably, See You Tomorrow in the Food Court has some subtext too.

Basically, there are the direct yuri themes in A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof, There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless…, Lazarus, and This Monster Wants to Eat Me, while in the others, there was only yuri subtext, for the most part. Also, Women Wearing Shoulder Pads and Long Story Short featured lesbian characters. All of this comes to a total of 31 series, five more than 2024. I said in my previous post that “twenty-six anime with direct, or indirect, yuri themes” aired in 2024.