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The Suzy Zedisnotdead Yuri Awards master post
February 2, 2025 at 1:31 PM UTCI have been on estrogen for the past 4 months, I’m finally living my life as a woman I was always meant to be. At the time of writing, I’ve just had a consultation for laser facial hair removal, and am due for my first session soon.
Why am I saying this? Well, that’s because that sort of explains the insanity you can see in the following paragraph.
I uh… started getting into yuri. REALLY into yuri. You would not believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly I got interested in yuri. I mean, you may think someone reading all of Whisper Me A Love Song and Bloom Into You is into yuri, but that’s just peanuts compared to me.
(I would like to apologize to the Douglas Adams family estate for the preceding paragraph)
In any case, as I was reading more and more yuri, I figured I’d start giving them fun little awards. Initially, I did it as a thread on Bluesky:
But I also wanted to get way more into writing, so I rewrote my entire website, and started writing this post. This is also a “living” post, so I’ll keep updating it as I see fit. Oh, I also threw out some awards that were more related to what I was reading at the time.
And one more note before we begin: in the original Bluesky thread, I only posted the title and the cover of the work. This time, I’ll put in some extra words about it - but unfortunately, because time is linear, it’s been quite some time since I’ve read some of them, so some of them might be few in words, or straight up incorrect. Give me some slack please.
Therefore, without further ado, here come the awards!
The Disaster Lesbian Award for Dumbest Love Interest
This was the first award I’ve given, and essentially what started this whole shebang - and it goes to Hiroko from the irreplaceable Ayaka Is In Love With Hiroko by Sal Jiang. The way Hiroko is absolutely clueless about Ayaka’s advances drives the majority of the plot, and while some of those situations seem like they’re just there to introduce misunderstandings to pad the runtime, the payoff of the whole manga is legendary. But Hiroko really is dumb sometimes.
The Concord Award for Manga That Ended Way Too Early
Even after all these years, How Do I Get Together With My Childhood Friend still pisses me off. And not because it’s bad, mind you, it’s actually really really good and cute. But there is just one thing…
Spoilers for How Do I Get Together With My Childhood Friend
What pisses me off, is that it ENDS AT THE BLOODY CONFESSION. We get all this buildup, all this great character moments between the girls, only to end IMMEDIATELY AFTER THEY START DATING?!?!?!
What were they thinking?!?!?!
The “Lesbians React To” Award for Best Reaction To Getting Kissed
This is a really obscure pick, because I stumbled upon it totally randomly while looking through the Dynasty Reader “Biographical” tag - Husky and Medley. It’s a story based on a 2chan thread made by a girl (nicknamed Husky), who has a crush on her classmate, nicknamed Medley. In the beginning, she’s just trying to find her weakness, for fun, but over time, the girls start flirting and develop feelings for one another. This all culminates in quite possibly the greatest reaction to the first kiss of all time.
HOW ARE YOU GENTLEWOMEN?
ALL YOUR LESBIANS ARE BELONG TO US.The Honorary Lesbian Award for Most Yuri Heterosexual Romance
I really need to talk about this in depth, but I absolutely love the relationship of Kyousuke and Miyoshi from The Day He Became A Woman. Like I said, I don’t really want to go too in depth in this post, because this manga is REALLY REALLY important to me.
The Cop-Out Award for Least Satisfying Ending
As with HDIGTWMCF, If You Could See Love an amazing manga from one of my favourite authors (Teren Mikami, my absolute GOAT), with an ending that just is rushed to all hell, and does not pay off what was established IN THE SLIGHTEST.
Spoilers for If You Could See Love
The story centers around the main character, Mei, having to pick between two girls that have a crush on her. In the middle of the story, the author introduces a polyamorous triad that includes the school nurse and Mei’s teacher. It’s clear that they’re introduced to make Mei realize that being with both of them is also an option. Except right at the end… there is just no payoff of that. I don’t know, maybe I’m reading too much into this, and it’s actually just meant to be giving her a push… but they imply it REALLY HEAVILY, and also given Teren Mikami’s contributed to a poly yuri anthology, I’m choosing to believe that the manga was a victim of external meddling.
The 9000 Meter Sprint Award for Yuri So Good It Made Me Physically Exhausted
But if we’re talking about yuri with great setup and payoff, there is nothing better than one of my Top 3 yuri of all time - Whispered Words. All of the characters are as human as they come, with all the struggles that comes with. This manga is also a master class in misunderstandings and not realizing your own feelings, both tropes that most manga do poorly. However the way they’re the core part of the narrative just makes it all work. And in my opinion, its culmination is at the end of Volume 2.
Spoilers for Whispered Words manga volume 2
The moment where Ushio realizes how much she’s been hurting Sumika with what she thought was her type in girls, all of the emotions flooding her, as she realizes she’s hurt the person who stuck with her no matter what, making her burst into screaming, tears and violence is utterly heartwrenching.
And the part after that, where Sumika learns that Ushio’s been admitted to a hospital because of the arm she broke in her outburst, is such a good payoff for it and their relationship as a whole. Sumika immediately runs to her aid, despite the fact that at that point in the story she’s pretty much resolved herself to never being seen as her potential partner, but she still loves her. And the moment they meet and see each other, and Ushio realizes she’s run to her, worrying about her, you can see sparks of their love finally being realized.
Reading those chapters, I shit you not, actually made me physically exhausted. That was the first manga that’s ever made me feel like that– actually scratch that, the first anything that made me feel like that.
Can you tell I love this manga? I love this manga. I hate that the anime only has one season. Please go read it.