|
In Asian countries, the bonds between girls are strong. Girls spill their guts to each other, take bath together, and hold hands while shopping. Sleeping together or adjust each other's bra is common place. This is just between normal girls.
The split between sexes is also greater during the teenage years. Many girls won't have a friend of opposite sex until way after high school. Unpopular girls like Yutaka, lacking attention from the guys, often seek out other girls for emotional support and form interdependence with each other; usually they seek out types of girls they'd wish to be themselves, and develop an admiration which is similar to romantic love to outsiders. Some girls will even open admit they're a "couple", which is most of the time code word for best friends. This is also not uncommon.
When a girl develop relationship like this, it really doesn't mean they're gay. Many of these girls do not see their female "love interest" as the same as a boy friend, and very few will actually admit they ONLY like girls. I think when you go that far, you are indeed an lesbian. Girls like Yutaka still likes men, and will accept a boyfriend if a guy shows interest. But for her developing emotions, Minami is her safe place where she can freely show affection without feeling self-conscious. In many girl-only schools around Asia, these type of relationship is quite common place (as Marimite fans know); however, great majority of them will end up being raging heterosexual by the time the graduate from high school. A few will discover they're actually gay, and stay that way.
I'm not sure what kind of girl Yutaka really is, but at this point, I am quite comfortable with her "affair" with Minami. This is just a puppy love that's somewhat common between girls in Asian societies. If you grew up in the West and adopted its homophobic tendencies, don't judge so fast. The girls are not yet and probably will never be real life Yuris. They're just very, very comfortable being with each together, that is all.
|