Shoujo-Ai, shoujoai, yuri, anime lesbian, fanfiction

Welcome to the Shoujo-Ai Archive. This site is dedicated to serving the shoujo-ai anime fan community. The word "shoujo-ai" literally means "girl love", and has been adapted to denote lesbian relationships, frequently in anime and manga.

People like to read shoujo-ai for a variety of reasons. For some of those who have a soft spot for warm-and-fuzzy-feeling romantic stories, it is the appeal of seeing a nice girl-girl relationship, which while not rare, is also not as common in anime fanfiction as some of us would like.

Others get bored with predictable everyday situations in anime fanfiction, where the roles in relationships are clear cut: the man's job is to defend, provide food and shelter and be manly, while the woman's job is to support the man, keep the food and shelter straight, and be demure. In a lesbian relationship, these roles are not clear cut at all; the relationship becomes exciting and unpredictable again.

There are also those (many are heterosexual males) who like to see their favorite female character(s) involved in a romantic relationship. Rather than watching or reading about a female-male relationship and concentrating on the girl (while mentally blocking out the guy), it is more satisfying to see a female-female relationship and concentrate on both of the girls. This also allows the character to be depicted in a relationship without appearing as "some other guy's catch".