EN Wikipedia: Class-S is an early twentieth-century Japanesewasei-eigo term used to refer to romantic friendships between girls". The term is also used to designate a genre of girl’s fiction (少女小説, shōjo shōsetsu) which tells stories about the same, typically focused on senpai and kōhai relationships wherein one girl is senior in age or position to the other.[3]
Historical: The pre WW2 literature portraying romantic friendships (like 花物語 or 乙女の港) or similar relationships, or proto-yuri works like 「パリー東京」「さくら並木」 | L24??
May also include works that are historically related (i.e. 若草物語, which is cited as an early influence)
Nonfiction writings discussing either the genre, or the historical reality related to Class-S culture
Once a work is voted on, we decide on a start date and duration, and create a Home Thread for it. There is no structured weekly schedule within that duration. If there’s multiple volumes of something, we may create separate home threads per volume, if it seems beneficial.
I think it’s an example of something influenced by/borrowing from Class S, but not an example of the genre itself - since it doesn’t have any kind of sister/sisterhood system (I guess I should update the definition so that’s clearer).
I’m not opposed to it’s inclusion though, if others also are interested. Also it’s a favorite, and I’d love an excuse to read it with other people
I totally just spoiled myself on something (not entirely unexpected) for マリみて bc I ignored the “contains spoilers” warning while looking this up and now I’m looking forward to watching how that plays out
I added some polls to help figure out structure a bit, and get a sense of who plans to participate and stuff. So please vote, and lmk if there’s anything I’m overlooking or haven’t thought of
Depends on availability. Stuff that are on major streaming services, sure, but if you need to get a pirated version because it’s not available except as a bootleg VHS that sold only 30 copies, then maybe not…
I think that would apply for any media format, not just video
Even then though, “major streaming services” - not everyone will have access to the same ones (and also JustWatch can get pretty inaccurate about availability a lot of the time. So we can’t always reliably check availability like that). So that’s another thing to consider.
It seems like a touching yuri story (thanks for the reminder), but I don’t really see the connection here, besides whatever reference it makes (which I’m kinda curious to know)
青い花 works bc the setting and style are lifting a lot from Class-S (and you can find a few reviews discussing this). The main difference imo is the lack of a sorority/sisterhood structure
I’m kind of surprised that only two Natively users have read the first マリア様がみてる LN, but I suppose both the LNs and the anime are pretty old by now. It was having recently watched the anime with a group of friends that got me to pick up the LN – it was one of the earlier books I read in Japanese, so I have a soft spot for it on that account.
I was thinking a little bit, and for a lot of series stuff it may actually be kind of hard to pick a work out as being specifically class S, since to my understanding it’s kind of diffused broadly as a general influence into other things. But I’m pretty confident that at least reading 花物語 and some of マリア様がみてる would give you a pretty good idea of what to look out for in other works, to see how that influence pokes its head out. I really don’t know that we’re going to find a lot to really fill up a nomination list the same way you can with other clubs, honestly
I am really interested in this series for other reasons now though
I’m also surprised by this - tho I’m at 75%, so it will be 3 in a few weeks (I’m reading it during weekly JP lessons). Like you said tho, it did finish in 2012. (I was actually more surprised by the fact that it’s 37 volumes!!)
百合オタに百合はご法度です! ? 1 | L24 - mentioned as a subversion that’s examining the intersection between fictional yuri and more real-world wlw relationships.
I’m not sure how fitting this one is really
行進子犬に恋文を | L23?? (mentioned as a twist, since it’s set at a military academy rather than the typical religious-affiliated school)
The JP Wikipedia page mentions some works and authors that might be interesting to track down as well
Anyway, I think it’s fine having a smaller lineup too. Even the few we have already can keep us busy for a while (especially if we try to read the whole series of anything).
As an aside, the JP Wikipedia page linked to ejcjs - The Sexual and Textual Politics of Japanese Lesbian Comics: Reading Romantic and Erotic Yuri Narratives which has some interesting discussion of Class-S influence on yuri, and left me with a more satisfying answer to "why do all girls schools with ‘404 Men Not Found’ settings seem to be the default for so many yuri series?"And of course Class-S is largely related. I should probably reread it once it twice, before trying to summarize tho
At this point I’d struggle to articulate a proper, concise definition… Tho I’ll try to draft some sort of “here’s what the club is looking for/intending to include” in a bit.
Idk. I thought about it, but got kinda shy about it, since A - I’ve never run an informal club before, B - the club is still kinda figuring itself out. I think once I’ve added a “what we’re planning to include”, I’ll give it a mention there.
Edit: I added a “what we’re planning to include” to the OP, and updated the nominations table. So I guess I’ll go do that now
And now I feel compelled to consume a 3rd version of this story
Apparently I was had the last 3 replies in the 百合 manga/novel discussion thread, and can’t reply - so if someone else wants to advertise there, feel free. Edit: bbo already did it. Thx!!
what I was gonna put there
In case anyone else has a book club addiction like me this is of interest to anyone, there’s a recently put-together informal Class-S Reading Club. If you’re wondering what Class-S is, I’ll refer you to Class S (culture) - Wikipedia or エス (文化) - Wikipedia, but as a genre, it’s stuff like マリア様がみてる 1 | L29 , 花物語 上 | L38 , FLOWERS -Le volume sur printemps- | vndb etc that tends to take place in all-girls private schools, with a sisterhood system, and mostly involves romantic friendships of various kinds (often transient). Selections for the club range from early 1900s (with modernized kana/kanji) to presently running series, and various media formats.
Historically it was a very strong influence on yuri, and nowadays some works incorporate elements of it in various ways. 私の百合はお仕事です! | L27 for example is set primarily in a Class-S concept cafe, and its drama is very oriented around the sisterhood thing (with some other elements); 青い花 | L27 has an all-girls Catholic school setting (without the sisterhood structure) and similar type of storytelling to マリア様がみてる (tho much nicer environment), etc
Anyway we’re still figuring stuff out a bit, but feel free to take a look, if it’s of interest
I made a simple post. Just a link. Sorry for pestering you about that. I’m just a little annoyed that I started the Yuri discussion thread and then others started the Yuri BC without inviting me .
I still think class s refers to historic works and any modern examples you mention is rather class s inspired Yuri. I’m not sure if you have a misunderstanding about Flowers if you cite it as an example of class s instead of Yuri inspired by it.
I think it’s interesting Wikipedia cites Little women as an influence. Now that I think of it, it’s what the theatre club performed in 青い花! Maybe we can read little women. Or the reincarnation novel 転生若草物語 | L30?? (I’m mostly not serious, but I might nominate both the original and the reincarnation story in other book clubs at some point)
Actually I think I agree with you on that, despite that I’ve been loosely saying Class-S as if it covers both (I guess I’ll go edit that in my comment on the book club). So would you put マリア様がみてる as Class-S inspired yuri as well then? I guess I can just put Modern & Derived into a single “Modern (Inspired)” section.
Now that you mention that, I remember reading that 青い花 (and some other work I’m forgetting, maybe わたゆり?) performed that. I don’t really know anything about it, but given the historical connection, I think it would be a great pick. We seem to have it on the site already, as well: 若草物語 ポプラ世界名作童話 | L20 … though it also seems like there’s multiple editions… can you tell what’s what?
and now I’m looking forward to watching how that plays out
