It wasn’t until years later that I would find true lesbian character, first with the discovery of Bubblegum Crisis and GunSmith Cats and then with Plastic Little, (Image right) and many more. Priss had to be the greatest lesbian character I have ever ran into and I was so impressed by her character that it made me so much better about being myself. She didn’t care what people thought of her and fight for her own beliefs. It impressed me so much that I found myself searching for more Priss like characters. Over time I discovered that I had to go directly to the source, untranslated anime and manga, and became part of the underground anime community where I found more and more series with great stories and some wonderful lesbian characters that I wished to share with the rest of the world, and the net has given me the chance to finally do just that.

Over time I will be posting reviews, as many true shoujoai stories and lesbian character as I could come up with that are available in North America. I have added a small explanation as to why I believe said series is shoujo-ai or in some cases why I believe it doesn’t even though the mass fandom does. The reason for this is because I have found that many people are mislead by many of the online listings of what is Shoujo-ai for most just post the title and not much more. While many would list every character from Sailor moon as a lesbian I would not because there is no concrete evidence proving so. Some would not agree with some of the series we have listed however we do list why I believe it should be considered a shoujo-ai series and how much evidence there is. That being said, a series that shows two girls kissing will rank higher then a series that just has two girls hugging. Here is a list of how I rank things.

Questionable - These series hint a lot at there being a coupling however the story either never continues on with that subject or fans insist that there is a couple even with no evidence to really prove otherwise so it is up to the viewers beliefs.
Low - This can mean that there is a lesbian character, however they are only background or that there is mild suggestion hinting at a coupling.
Moderate - This usually refers to series that has lesbian characters but no relationships or not much interaction between the two characters, either a one-sided love that is kept a secret or something to that effect.
High - This will pertain to series that include a confession of love or the characters admitting to being in a relationship. Not much more.
Extremely High - Series under this category are dripping with sensuality and go to no efforts to hide the fact that the characters are gay. It will be rather obvious and usually is part of the central story. There will be a kiss or hints towards sleeping together or more.
Explicit/Blatant - Series that show the characters in a sexual relationship. Lesbianism is the centre of the story where nothing is concealed and everyone can see it.

Gender issues in Anime/manga
The last few years I've come across many anime and manga stories that focused majorly on the stress and struggles of Gender Issues, from simple cross dressing to passing as the opposite sex. Many of these stories deal with young teens trying to conceal their sex from others to the point of girls going to boy’s schools and so forth. Example: In Please Save My Earth there is a boy who feels he has the mind of a girl and has fallen in love with his best male friend and in Minto na bokura (see image on the left) a boy dresses like his twin sister to pass as a girl and goes to school with her. For the most part, I'm only focusing on stories that deal with these struggles in a way that, in my eyes, is true to the struggles of those with gender issues and not stories that make fun of the issues.

These stories include butch-femme, transgenders, transexuals, transvestites, intersexuality and gender roles that society forces on us. As such I have decided to try and list series that put gender issues into a good light and give youth some positive role models and stories to look up too.

Emotionally riveting series
I love stories that are emotionally driven and focus on real issues that people face in their day-to-day lives. As such I’ll be posting reviews of series that I found interesting, like controversial confessions, which is a series of short stories dealing with many of the struggles that teenaged girls suffer through in school, from bullying to suicide and drug addiction. I hope that some of you will find them interesting or more.