the flowers bloom when you let go. when you stare back at it all—the waters, the flowers, the trees, their destruction, their regrowth—will you see something else? will you finally let go? look at what it did. no, look at what You did. you and the art you've perused. you and the things you've engaged with created all of this. but for some reason you keep going back to this one thing for some reason, this one moment in time...why? what leaves you so stuck?
i have had this...2 to 3 year fascination with the anime sakura trick. i don't get why, i genuinely don't.
it's quite a popular show made in 2014 that...exists. people called it male-gazey, hell even i've called it that when i was originally going to talk about it. look at the average rating and some of the recent reviews for it, and i think you'll get what i mean. it doesn't really get much praise now in people who engage with yuri often, and i totally get why. it's pretty middle of the road, and i wouldn't really suggest this over much else if i'm honest.
but...something wasn't clicking for me when i was writing that. when thinking about it i couldnt terminate my thoughts by concluding it as a fetishistic show or that it was because it comforted me when i watched it or that it was just entertaining, even if it was a little bit true. there's something more that's hitting me. something else that involves it.
this isn't a defense of sakura trick. i don't seek to defend something i don't particularly think is up to par with other things before or after it. it is neither an attack on it. to me, it is just a thing that is just inoffensive at best, and a little bit banal and repugnant at worst. i just don't think there'd be much to say if i were to try to paint this as an attack or a defense of sakura trick. i...i'm just not sure how to grapple with it, knowing what i do know now. i'm just not sure about how i'd explain my fascination with it so...let's walk together.
sakura trick mainly involves two women: yuu and haruka. the two friends have a high school life, and they want to closen their relationship with each other despite being on opposite sides of the classroom they're in...and they essentially get that. funny high school moments with their classmates and friends, normal if romanticized lives, a bit of watered down lesbianism. not much is worth saying about it in general.
there's not much that needs to be said about this show. i think if you transform the plot points a little, you'll eventually end up stumbling onto a different show that already exists. i feel the sa—...hold on.
as a yuri anime, its popularity cannot be understated. it has found its way into the world and is one of the few who get to enjoy the privilege of being known to an audience far wider than those who are even just a bit familiar with yuri, especially during its time. a cursory look at websites cataloging anime and articles listing yuri anime will show how well known it is. however, as time went on, its reception has steadily been on a downward decline. much of its praise has been fairly old and people started to look back on this piece of media as something was weird and a little repulsive, even if it did awaken some feelings inside them. it's understandable when i look at it once again. it often feels li—...it often feels like rewatching this is hurting my soul.
as such, the influence it has had over the genre of yuri as whole can't go unnoticed. for better or worse, and probably worse, it has shaped the way in which we think about what yuri looks like.