Citrus

Citrus is a series that is tragically misunderstood; a story with far more substance and depth than word of mouth would lead you to believe. Not long after this show started airing, it’s become easy for people to write off any element in the story as a means to arbitrarily wring out some voyeuristic lesbian action, rather than stopping to think of the purpose it actually holds for the narrative. When a sexual assault occurs, viewers assume that it’s romanticizing such an action and therefore condones it. When an emotional barrier props up, it’s assumed to be nothing more than a way of piling on more drama. These premature assessments are commonly made when shows like this are perceived as simple fetish material, framed as horribly misplaced criticisms that leave Citrus in an undeservedly contemptuous light; as a guilty pleasure unworthy of further analysis or appraisal. Citrus is not mere fetish material, does not promote or romanticize sexual assault, and provides layered and well-developed characters whose actions are realistically influenced by both internal and external conflicts. A bittersweet feeling perpetuates as we follow naive teenagers consistently characterized as those who are lost and confused, behaving in ways that are less than ideal, but are hurdles along the way of a gripping and emotionally compelling tale that is certainly rough around the edges, but well worth the ride. There’s a common conjecture about Citrus saying that it treats sexual assault as a form of love and the blossoming romance is in the form of Stockholm syndrome, neither of which are true in the slightest. Firstly, while the actions of Mei Aihara undeniably walk on the borderline of sexual assault, none of these instances are framed as romantic or mutual in any way. The first of these depicts Yuzu struggling while Mei lashes out her aggression. Following this is a low shot with Mei, spitefully uttering “that’s what it felt like” in response to Yuzu’s innocent curiosity about Mei’s romantic affair. Nothing about this is painted in a positive, approving light. Subsequent events like this are blatantly shown to be a byproduct of Mei’s misconception of how relationships work, or a means to vent her frustration. The sheer discomfort is emphasized through both the cinematography and the expressions of the characters involved. This does not mean nefarious actions like these are excused, as the story never does. Yuzu always retaliates to these actions once she regains control over herself during these events. Depiction and endorsement are not the same thing, a fact that should always be considered with regards to a story like this. Another thing to address is this: the assaults are by no means the foundation of the leads’ romance, and that is a myth that should have passed long after this show had aired. Yuzu develops feelings for Mei long before the first assault occurs, which is most evident during the scene where she is lost in thought about witnessing Mei being kissed by Amamiya. Her focus is squarely on Mei’s behavior and what kissing must feel like for her, with Yuzu’s own attraction to Mei not even apparent to her. Overall, when proper attention is brought to the characters’ actions as well as the framing, it becomes clear that the criticism of Citrus romanticizing assault holds no truth whatsoever. I'd like to make a point here that not all opinions are equal, and opinions on Citrus based on the conception that it romanticizes or normalizes assault and abuse are invalid and therefore wrong. A valid opinion doesn't require high intelligence or sophisticated taste or anything like that. It requires a correct interpretation of the content, one that is often not taken through first impressions or face value. Citrus and its content is highly reliant on context and characterization. Just as these confused adolescents struggle to understand each other and themselves, wondering who and what to believe, viewers are left on their own to base judgement on characters’ behavior and what they say, save for some frequent monologuing by Yuzu. And even then, her own thoughts aren’t always reliable. Content that comes off as questionable or discomforting to certain viewers is perfectly explainable through indirect characterization, a method of storytelling that challenges the brain beyond just relying on narration and monologues to provide answers without viewer effort. Viewers share frustration and confusion with the characters themselves, and the payoff is all the more rewarding because of this. The character Mei Aihara exemplifies this most of all, as she is a person whose subtle mannerisms bring light to a personality misshapen by the worst of circumstances, and very applicable to reality. Mei is a character with practically no conception of right and wrong, let alone the idea of consent, and has never been shown, or had any experience of, what a true romantic relationship is like. The only proper relationship she has ever had in life was with her father. After he left, Mei felt as if she was being abandoned by the only one she was ever truly close to. It’s clear that prior to where the main story begins, Mei has had no emotional support ever since her father’s absence. She is used and neglected by her grandfather, is constantly taken advantage of by her fiancée, and is under perpetual social pressure to follow her duties accordingly for days on end. As a result, Mei’s attitude towards romantic and sexual relationships is completely distorted. Her one and only understanding of love relationships is through physical contact, of which she uses to control people just as she has been controlled herself. This is symptomatic of being in a sexually abusive relationship like she had with her first fiancée; she doesn’t value her own body and is incapable of interacting with people normally. In many situations, whether it's a love relationship or otherwise, Mei passively accepts everything that is piled on her with no concern for her own well being, a trait that is consistently apparent over the course of the story. On the other end, her way of taking control of situations is her sexual advances towards Yuzu, who understandably objects to these actions. The main point is that Mei only acts in the way she knows how. This conflict of hers isn’t a singular matter, but numerous elements about her past and how she was raised which come together creating the version of Mei we see throughout the story. Mei is depraved, misguided, and some could even say mentally ill. And again, none of these elements are used to justify Mei's behavior. It's merely a case of cause and effect, one which leaves morality out of the question entirely. Being so used to her strict upbringing, Mei frames every scenario as a bargain or exchange rather than a desire, even if she doesn't necessarily intend it. Her feeling obligated to follow in the footsteps of her father to gain his affection encapsulates this quite well. Having received no unconditional love since her father’s disappearance, this is the way of thinking which governs almost all of the decisions she makes. For this reason, she’s perplexed as to why Yuzu bothers to do all these unconditional favors. The answer to this is simple: Yuzu cares about Mei. Unconditional love is a foreign concept to Mei, and this trait continues to subconsciously affect her even long after she has experienced the true virtues of a genuine human relationship. (*cue the beginning of episode 10*) The psychology of Mei is one of the main things which the story lives through, and is one of Citrus' most fascinating aspects. As frustrating as her actions can be at times, the consistency of her character and the relatability of her plight makes her highly sympathetic, and as such Yuzu’s efforts to make things right for her, however reckless and brash, are very admirable. When you consider everything I've previously stated, it turns out that Mei has every reason to act and behave …

Tinseltown has been coming under fire as of late. Celebrities' misdeeds are being exposed publicly on a weekly basis like a new sporting event. The #MeToo movement giving a platform to voice sex scandals that have gone unnoticed for far too long. Scrolling through your timeline, plastered on the TV screen, announced over the radio during daily commutes, the subject matter of countless memes, the focal point of water-cooler conversations; no matter where you turn, there it is. Accusation after accusation. Transforming popular figures into pervert pariahs overnight. Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Bill Cosby, Louis C.K., Dustin Hoffman, Brett Ratner, James Woods, Bryan Singer, Casey Affleck; an endless potpourri of bigwigs—the 21st Century witch hunt in full swing. No one is safe. And while all of this is going on, halfway across the globe, there's Citrus, minding its own business as it idly trolls along turning sexual assault into a provocative byproduct of step-sisters "bickering." While people are pooling together with torches and pitchforks in hand, shining a light on any sexual misconduct occurring in the dark recesses of the entertainment industry, Studio Passione persists with the biggest "whatever bro" shoulder shrug. What the rest of the world concerns itself with isn't going to stop them from showing girls casually molesting each other on their scheduled programming. It's actually pretty impressive. Fucked up, but impressive nonetheless. I guess you could extend that sentiment to Japan in general. Creating "fucked up shit" in a carefree manner has become something like their calling card: Has mass shootings and domestic terrorism been a hot-button issue? Well here, have some Inuyashiki. Concerned with gender politics? Don't worry, we got you covered with Skirt no Naka wa Kedamono Deshita. "If you want it, we got it." seems to be the motto, as they peddle anything and everything in the endless pursuit of creative freedom. Which brings us to the latest foray into the "fucked up shit" unofficial canon, Citrus. From the land that gave us distinct high-school dramas like Orange, we're handed Citrus, the undesirable fruit. The anime tells the tale of– oh, who are we kidding? It's about sexy-time with female characters. It's all lip service unless it "services the lips" of the females involved. It's pretty average-looking too, the ugly kind of average-looking. Hoards of CGI models in green linen jackets. Flat buildings without detail, walls bare of personality. Real-life-inspired locations washed of any distinct features. Stainless steel structures, straight shapes stretching on endlessly without purpose, without care. Floorboards and walkways copied and pasted into an endless loop of lethargic worldbuilding. A kind of artificial sheen to everything. Devoid of human touch, the undeniable look of computer-generated polish. Clinically sterile and evenly lit. The feeling of being done to the bare minimum. Uninspired. Uncaring. Unconcerned with anything unless it's "sexy-time," and even then, it's barely a passing grade. Everyone has dark hair and moves forward in a unified step as if puppets to their boring world. A lifeless march towards an all-girl school, a place where our Yuzu would be attending. Yuzu Aihara is the rowdy rebel, our ball of "life" in a world lacking it, and unfortunately our main lead as well. The unlikable side character in any other show given a chance to take center stage to problematic results. Makeup caked on, strawberry blonde hair puffed up, cleavage out in the sun, skirt hacked up, buttermilk tan, all manner of frilly things, school outfit altered beyond recognition, a personality as loud as her appearance; a self-proclaimed gyaru and a shameless attention-seeker at that—this is "much deep" cuz spunky gurl in a world of conformists. And standing as her polar opposite, there's Mei Aihara, a soon-to-be molester dressed up as a Mary Sue. She suffers heavily from PerfectGirl-syndrome: honor-role pupil, top of her class, student council president, poised, admired by everyone, the chairman's granddaughter, built like a walkway model, good at literally everything she does. She probably farts out Chanel No. 5 too. You get the drill, she's as interesting as wallpaper. Perfect to a sickening degree. Well, that's all before she decided to turn her new step-sister, Ms. Rowdy Rebel, into her personal play-thing. And who better to bring this together than Takeo Takahashi, a man that's equally known for his hentai contributions as he is his "safe for work" content. Citrus certainly has that kind of attribute to it. That sort of sleazy undercurrent that flows throughout every moment, well-intention or otherwise. Camera-panning that ogles the female form without concern for respecting boundaries. Narrative threads meant to help audiences relate to the cast quickly expedited to get to the next sexual encounter. Endless monologues for every characters' dilemma—subtlety isn't allowed in this universe. A sense of objectification, even if it's in regards to actions expressed with consent. Nothing is ever pure. Everything smeared with the fingerprints of hedonistic high-gloss. Even smut like 2017's Scum's Wish, at the very least, had small spurts of respect displayed for its cast, occasionally loosening its vice grip to allow a chance to express feelings openly. By comparison, everything in Citrus feels bought off. An act of slave-like procurement over the characters' bodies that's too readily apparent to ignore. Awkward half-chubs spurred on by involuntary stimuli. In a meta-sense, we're also made victims of visual misconduct (go figure). It's the kind of eroticism that arrives quickly and leaves you feeling dirty. An anime that will have a heated shower scene where non-consensual groping occurs, then follow it up with this dialogue exchange: "No!"–Yuzu pushes away in abject horror– "Why are you doing this!?"–her eyes closed, as she stands there naked and vulnerable. Mei innocently answers back without hesitation, a tone of motherly matter-of-factness: "Because you looked like you wanted me to touch you." The scene ends, never to properly address the disturbing exchange again. As long as the money shot was secured and a few man-tents were pitched, nothing else matters. This is the kind of "feeling dirty" I'm referring to. I love perverted content as much as the next guy, but sometimes, what Citrus attempts to do is genuinely off-putting. Sexual harassment shouldn't be confused with love. And if it is, a level of accountability needs to be put in place to avoid idealistic handwaving. But this is a show that thinks that if it holds a "this is wrong" PSA after it indulges in sexual misconduct, that it's suddenly not culpable of wrongdoing. An anime that sells Stockholm syndrome as a shot of Cupid's arrow. Where fighting sexual harassment with sexual harassment is treated as an actual solution. Serious issues trivialized to create marketable eroticism and comedic gags. Any act of earnestness is completely lost in a title devoid of finesse. After a while, you sort of just roll with it. Jokes at the expense of serious issues. Illogical reasoning made by characters to justify their actions. You might even buy into the lack of audiovisual effort as a part of the "theme" to contrast everything against Yuzu's personality. Of course, you'll be wrong, as even her living quarters and look has been rendered flaccid, lacking in any sense of creative vitality or noticeable effort. It's all very surface-level. Pedestrian sleaze that isn't arousing enough to keep the Kleenex nearby nor respectful enough to genuinely stimulate discussions regarding the content on display. And that's perhaps this show's biggest downfall in a nutshell: it's vanilla, but a souring type of vanilla. A type of middling existence occupied by works of far more distinction than itself. If you're interested in the taboo themes that this anime addresses, there's…

Some spectators consider themselves sophisticated, modern and avant-garde. However, when they become aware of some social taboos, they change their mind and create a disapproval towards some topics. One example, the lesbian romance. Citrus has potential but fails with some distasteful scenes as described below. The Ugly: The story mistake love with rape and forces affection from a lame sexual assault. In this world, Weinstein’s behavior would be considered romantic and not the act of a sick predator. The Good: As the plot progress you can observe the protagonists’ insecurity, problems, and feelings. The Bad: Unrealistic begin. Some characters are not well developed because the time is not enough to let them grow. Citrus introduces a homosexual storyline where we can see a lesbian nexus, yet you don’t need to fear it. No matter your gender, you can enjoy some parts of the narrative. The plot isn’t as bad as some writers want us to believe, but it’s not surprising either. Besides, the series begins with some weird and awkward moments that sink the possibility of a good romance, and I consider them fictional and unrealistic. On the other hand, Citrus emphasize the inexperience and the doubts in a relationship and tries to establish a link between the protagonists. In some scenes, you can sense the character’s feelings. Sadly, in this modern era the taboo persists, perhaps for a woman, it is easier to tolerate this type of bond. Finally, Citrus is a Yuri anime, if you cannot bear this kind of affinity, it is better to stand aside and ignore the adaptation, or you might end up disappointed. The story The story isn’t as marvelous as you can expect, the author sometimes mistakes rape with love, though. Also, the only way explored to conceive the romance is through the physical force. For example, it is ridiculous comparing intimacy with a sexual assault under the diplomatic motto “since I love you, I can obligate you to adore me.” In a real world, this concept will be judged as rude and out of place, it will generate repulsion, a restriction order and could end with a visit to the jail. Those actions could lead the spectator to misinterpret the characters’ feelings and leaves the personal problems, fears, doubts, the lack of experience, and psychological aspects in the missing objects box. In the case of Yuzu, she does not know how to approach Mei, so the storyteller merely throws her over Mei literally, and the latter doesn’t hesitate to assault Yuzu. Can you accept it as a romance? Furthermore, this keeps happening during all the adaptation. If you read the manga, those scenes aren’t intrusive, you can pass them faster but in the anime the director focus and prolong them. Call it fanservice, hentai or sexual harassment; it does not fit the feeling setting momentum. In addition, this erroneous idea creates a false meaning of a lesbian link. From my perspective, a lesbian is like a straight; the relationship rules are alike. Why does the author use a weird and a wrong approach to initiate the attraction? Thus far, the plot fails on producing a good start for the romantic connection, it just leads the characters to a forced rape, deceiving the spectators with a cheap and fake drama. Nevertheless, the narration improves as it advances. I am not considering Citrus as a masterpiece, but the progression is acceptable. As the series continues, we can observe the inexperience of a usual acquaintance, the doubts, the pain, the suffering of the protagonists delivering the audience a better development and a different perspective. While the story picks up, it still has some defects such as the recurrent fanservice. If the social taboos do not slant the viewer, you could enjoy Citrus, though. Unfortunately, the lack of sense at the beginning ruins the possibility of a more vibrant narrative, a palpable romance and leads to the audience’s boredom. Going further, you can notice some pacing problems. You need to be honest with yourself because some characters were just placed to fill a scene. The casual spectator will only watch the first episodes and decide if skipping the show. Since the issues appear from the start, Citrus will be readily considered a bit grotesque, a raw passion and a potential drop. Finally, the overused sexual assault as a “comedy” (for some) or as a “romance” change the plot and the enjoyment. If you can survive those scenes, you can see the character’s authentic feelings. Honestly, I like Citrus manga, but the anime has been highly criticized by some unpleasant development that leads to a different meaning. In conclusion, you cannot compare intimacy with ravishment, and you cannot exploit the sexual assault to propel a romantic or comedic moment. For some viewers that scenes show affection, for others is a rape. In my case, SOME are sexual abuse and unnecessary. Lastly, the twelve episodes present a portion of the story and not all the published material and the most significant parts of the series still on the source. The characters Yuzu. In the beginning, she displays some atypical feelings for Mei. Since she has no experience in love or relationships, she could fool the viewers with her naivety, show an emptiness and a similarity with a mundane generic girl. However, as the story progresses, we can see her emotions, problems and real doubts. Mei. Some can judge her as a cold and expressionless robot. Since she is the school president, she might look strong. Nevertheless, inside she is baffled and seeks to follow her dad’s steps. She will give up everything to keep alive her family legacy and traditions. Also, she cannot communicate her emotions and has vast inexperience in the relationship area. Thus, always leads her to mistake love with sexual assault or perhaps she just enjoys doing that. Matsuri. I consider her introduction misplaced. From nowhere she arrives and creates some problems just because Mei needs an opponent. Her feelings for Yuzu are vaguely explained. Sara: Added in a similar way to Matsuri but her nature is the opposite. She is Yuzu’s rival, and her sentiments appear almost instantly. The rest of the characters help the narrative progression such as Harumi and Himeko. The art and sound Technically speaking, Citrus has a beautiful animation, clean and fluid with excellent drawings catching your attention. Despite the plot issues, you will enjoy it. The camera angles and planes blend well with the narrative and the emotions; they focus on the details. One negative aspect, the unnecessary fanservice scenes. You could misinterpret them and will sink the real story. The series has good sound. They give us a remarkable OP and ED. Honestly, I like the OP, the tune and rhythm combined with the lyrics create a fabulous composition. Enjoyment Citrus isn’t an anime for all tastes. The social taboo may make the observer indispose from the beginning. However, after some episodes, the story improves, and you can feel some character’s emotions. I like some aspects of the plot. It isn’t perfect and has a weird unrealistic start letting you with a big question mark, “is it going to be worth my time?” Thus, in combination with the “sexual assault” scenes could lead your apathetic side and make you drop the series. Finally, the manga is superior. It shows a significant evolution with better pacing. I understand, sometimes most of the spectators avoid this genre, but if you reached this point of my review, perhaps you could watch the anime and read the source to feel Yuzu’s emotions in a more desirable approach. I wanted to give Citrus a high score my conviction prevents me. I cannot accept the constant use of a sexual assault as a romantic or comedic filler that impacts the plot negatively. As I said, Citrus isn’t for all the tastes. Lastly and talking in general, you need to be broad-minded and don’t bury a show just for a sexual preference. You can criticize but don’t stigmatize the lesbian topic. If you dislike…

If I got a dollar every time this show featured a kiss scene, I’d probably be filthy rich now. No, not really but you have to admit, there’s almost an absurd amount of kissing in this show known as “Citrus”. To me, this show is a modern example of a trashy soap opera made with the intention of cash grab. Adapted by the manga of the same name, Citrus is one of the few series in recent years that decided to take on the idea of lesbianism and turn it into a modern day drama. In anime form, it’s defined more as yuri/shoujo-ai. As someone who has read parts of the manga, Citrus focuses on the concept of female relationships. Unfortunately, I can’t really express any hope after reading the manga. This anime adaptation set off red flags from the start and isn’t able to fix them. It’s a shame really. Diving into this show may feel a little uncomfortable at first if you’re not used to this type of genre. The first few episodes makes it clear that there’s more going on between main characters Yuzu and Mei. Although they don’t have similar personalities, it’s shown that Yuzu feels an uneasy attraction towards Mei after getting into some compromising positions with her. Throughout the show, the both of them engage in many activities that adheres to lesbianism. The anime doesn’t hide the fact that there’s seems to be mutual attraction as each episode ventures on. Other characters gets involved in their story but the main focus is on this pair. And to be honest, it feels pretty embarrassing to watch. The show tries to be a love story but instead filled with laughably bad dialogue and clichés. I also can’t remember the number of times I shook my head at how their relationship developed. That’s actually what holds the show back a lot. Relationship dynamics in Citrus dances with an immense amount of teenage feelings and attempts to make it seem complicated. However, it ends up being washed up with little value and doesn’t seem to know what to make of its characters. Individually, Yuzu and Mei aren’t actually bad characters. At least from a realistic point of view, Yuzu is a normal girl who wants to explore romance and grow up. She’s also a bit of a daredevil and isn’t afraid to speak her mind or help others when in need. On the other hand, there’s Mei with a personality as cold as the snow. My impression of Mei is someone who would be incredibly difficult to be friends with. Her values are high standard and she never seems to let people get close to her, with perhaps the exception of Yuzu. We also get some background story about the two characters in later episodes to make viewers understand them more. However, that’s pretty much the extent of it. Yuzu and Mei are basically carrying this show while other characters are hardly worth talking about. I mean, there’s Yuzu’s best friend Himeko but she gets annoying every time her mouth opens. Harumi Taniguchi’s borderline obsession with Mei is incredibly obnoxious to watch. Oh and who can forget about Matsuri? It seems the show tries to make the audience hate her as much as possible. The Tachibana sisters introduced in later episodes are hardly likable either with their oddball personalities. The point is, most of these characters are one dimensional and hardly develops. In fact, I would say the characterization in this show really shoots itself in the foot with how certain episodes conclude. And that’s too bad really. Besides the characters and story, it seems Citrus loves to service the fans. While it’s not as explicit as some scenes in the manga, there’s quite a bit of kissing in the show. If you fancy make out scenes and yuri fan service, then this might be the type of show for you. I’m not going to lie though, it can be a bit of guilty pleasure at times. However, it gets tedious fast and after you’ve seen it a dozen times, it almost feels senseless. That being said, Citrus does do what it’s intended to do: bring out teenage feelings from characters and making a trite soap opera out of it. If there’s one thing to smile upon Citrus, it would definitely be the visual quality. To put it simply, the show is vibrant, colorful, and is full of life. The character designs are attractive and really enhances the feminine charms of the cast such as Yuzu and the Tachibana sisters. The way characters expresses their emotions is also highlighted through the choreography that’s hard to ignore. In many ways, the technical quality of Citrus is a sight for eyes to feast on. Whether it’s the fan service or characters themselves, it’s definitely there to impress. There’s not too much to go on about soundtrack as both theme songs gets its point across with the teenage drama style performance. However, the character voice mannerism is what makes some of the characters feel consistent with their roles. Yuzu is the most prominent example as she often speaks her mind and has a voice to match with her personality. Mei has a much colder voice tone that reflects her reserved persona. However, there’s also other characters that I can hardly stand whenever they speak. In particular, Matsuri’s voice sounds like she’s a 12 year old. Get ready for the ear plugs… By the time I finished Citrus, I had to question myself why the anime is even called that. The literal definition of Citrus is a type of fruit that has somewhat of a sweet and bitter flavor. Does that stand as a personification of the show’s themes? Who knows but I honestly find this show more than just bittersweet. What could have been a chance to make monumental history turned into a sour experience.

Please note this review is intended for those that have already finished watching Citrus and while care has been taken to minimise story related spoilers there may still be spoilers within character analysis. You have been warned. When sisters meet unexpected sparks fly and an unlikely romance blossoms Based off a popular manga series of the same name Citrus is a Shoujo and romance anime that takes place within a school setting and gives us the opportunity to see what will happen if you not only find yourself welcoming in a stepsister into your family from your mothers new marriage but also the actions that can happen if you were to fall in love with the stepsister that you just welcomed into your family. While Shoujo animes aren’t usually a genre that I'm really interested in when looking at the premise as well as the background source material that it makes use of I felt that the series itself certainly sounded interesting. Interesting enough in that I decided to give the series a chance. The first episode of the series I felt did a great job of introducing both the setting of the series which is the school and of the two main characters Yuzu and Mei. In particular, I felt that the sense of rivalry that developed between them from that moment was interesting considering how later events would play out. Looking back, I'm glad that I decided to give this series a chance as the series was one that I really enjoyed. The overall story of the series takes place at a famous and popular all-girls school situated in Tokyo that is well known for is strictness and conservative nature and follows the life of Yuzu Aihara a newly transferred student that moved to the city to join her recently remarried mother. As Yuzu, a fashionable and fun-loving girl transfers to the school and encounters the conservative and strict nature of the school she encounters the schools beautiful but strict student council president Mei Aihara who whether through fate or destiny is also Yuzu’s new stepsister. While clashing with Mei both in school and at home Yuzu soon learns that attraction and hatred just like love and hate are two sides of the same coin. As Yuzu and Mei clash with each other they also start to learn more about each other and slowly but surely the two start to bond and get closer with each other and slowly cross the line that divides the sisters and become something more. While slowly bonding with her new stepsister Yuzu as she gets used to both the school and the city also meets and makes a number of new friends while also encountering ones from her past. These include the arrogant but understanding student council vice president Himeko, the cunning and deceptive Junior high school student Matsuri and the Tachibana sisters Sara and Nina who while having differing personalities also have a close and loving bond between them. The overall story of the series covers roughly the first four volumes of the source material. Yuzu Yuzu Aihara played by veteran seiyuu singer Ayana Taketatsu of Sao and Youkoso fame is one of the main characters of the series and is the main protagonist of the series. A bright, fashionable and fun-loving girl by nature Yuzu at the beginning of the series was a newly transferred student that had just moved to the area to live with her mother who had remarried. While carefree and positive Yuzu was also someone that had a lot of self-confidence but did not let that make her arrogant and instead was something of a free spirit being both positive and friendly to everyone that she meets. As a result of these traits Yuzu was someone that was able to make friends easily and in this, it can be seen that she’s someone that’s very loyal to her friends and would work hard to help them and support them when they need help while hating it when she is unable to help them. While relaxed and carefree by nature it can be seen that Yuzu is also someone that can get serious at times especially with regards to helping her friends with their problems a side of her that I felt was a great contrast to her relaxed nature and fitted well with the two sides concepts that the series makes use off. In line with Yuzu’s carefree and free spirit type personality Yuzu is also someone that is noted to hate being constrained by rules especially those that restrict in how she should dress. This stems mainly from the fact that Yuzu is someone that believes that it’s the right of high school girls to be able to dress and act the way that they want in order to take advantage of their youth and any rules that prevent that will only be a bad thing for them. In line with this aspect of her personality Yuzu while mostly being someone that prefers to not stand out is also someone that’s also bold enough to make her views on subjects that concern her known even if she was to face censure when doing so. As the series goes on and as Yuzu gets to both know Mei better and encounter and befriend more characters in the school Yuzu’s personality gradually starts to change as she finds her life becoming more intertwined with that of Mei. At the beginning of the series Yuzu while carefree was also someone that was rather stubborn with her beliefs and often had arguments with people that had different views to her. As the series progresses this side of her personality gradually changes, and Yuzu begins to show more consideration to others while trying to rein in her more brash behaviour and try to think of the consequences of an action before doing them. This change is best shown in Yuzu’s willingness to admit her own mistakes and attempts to take responsibly for her actions and any effects that it had whether on the school or her friends. At the beginning of the series, Yuzu and Mei did not have the best of relationships or the best of first encounters and it can be said that their first feelings on meeting each other as sisters for the first time was hated and dislike rather than happiness and joy that would be the expected. Unlike Yuzu’s carefree and freethinking nature that values independence Mei’s personality, in the beginning, was the complete opposite being rule-bound, and strict which Yuzu applied to both Mei and her family. As the series goes on and they get to know each other more this feeling of antagonism gradually softens, and Yuzu starts seeing and treating Mei as family. As the series goes and Yuzu gets to see and understand the pain that exists within Mei she becomes somewhat determined to break through the shell of sadness that Mei has erected around herself fighting hard to get through to the real Mei that was behind it in a determined attempt to give her what she had craved the most in her life which was love and a place where she can belong too. As a result of this journey, the bond between the two gradually grows deeper as Mei slowly opens herself up to Yuzu’s determined attempts to help her and in the process creating a deeper relationship between the two that Yuzu never expected. The character of Yuzu I felt was an interesting one that was both well designed and developed as the series went on. Its been a while since I had seen Ayana Taketatsu in a lead role, but I felt that she did an excellent job of portraying the character of Yuzu. Mei Mei Aihara voiced by veteran seiyuu Minami Tsuda of Guilty Crown fame is one of the main characters of the series. The new stepsister to Yuzu Mei’s personality and attitude is markedly different from Yuzu in more ways than one. An attractive and intelligent girl by nature Mei is the very image of a cool beauty that deals with every situation with calm and logical solutions that hint at her level-headed nature. A quiet and composed girl Mei is someone that believes fervently that rules are the very pillars of society and that without it society would only be in chaos. This is a belief that Mei believes greatly and tries to inspire the students of her school in her capacity as student council president. While a quiet girl …

Peak fiction, complete masterpiece, best thing I have seen in years. After getting through over 1000 episodes of mid piece filler I finally watched a real anime and im never going back. 12 episodes of pure action and drama. Gave me chills every minute. Characters are insanely well written and so is the story. I hope everyone gets to know the feeling of finally getting home to watch Citrus after 8 hours of physical work at car part factory. It made everything so worth it. k??? r????? omnia palmia pappa vessassa kuremiko mcdonalds 1337 s1lent dead canary san quentin the chair

Ive watched 12 episodes of this anime, I have calculated every single angle and aspect of this anime ranging from the story, art, sound, character, and enjoyment and from this I have deduced that the main character may or may not be a lesbian. Fuk this doGshit anime Texual Evidence: In the intro, features 2 girls, Mei and YuzuBitch kissing and that was my first clue to this claim that they may be lesbian. My second piece of texual evidence was from the christmas when Mei tried to s8x with YuzuBitch but to my displeasement they did not have fuck so Im not sure if they are lesbians at this point. Counter Claim: Some may argue that they are in fact lesbians but according to my calculations it does not seem this way because they did not have fuk. Overall: I will have to write this anime a 2/10 because i am clueless as to whewther they are gay or what. Highly Recommand.

Not a lot can be said of this anime except that it was literally written to fetishize lesbian women. To begin with, the story is basically 100% trash. There's nothing really redeemable about it. It's about a girl who basically sexually assaults her step-sister. After a while, her step-sister thinks it's love. That's pretty much it. NOTHING ELSE HAPPENS. Even as someone who indulges in shoujo, I really hate the sexual assault tropes that they try to normalize. The art is the only part I have no complaint about. Everyone is gorgeous and the backgrounds are so well done that I wished I could just watch it on mute half the time. Not to mention that all the characters' eyes were simply breathtaking. The sound could have been better. The opening and closing theme were a little annoying and they just got on my nerves. The voices of the characters were alright. Oh god, the characters. There is no development. Whatsoever. The characters are stagnant, fetishized stereotypes of lesbian women (or pan, as it seems in Sara's case) and there's nothing beyond that. After watching this, I feel uncomfortable knowing it probably served as something for people with a lesbian fetish to jerk off to and nothing else. There is no plot or characters pretty much-- this anime exists purely for those who looks for lesbian smut and nothing else. I didn't enjoy this. I dreaded watching the episode every weekend as it came out. It was terrible. I watched a lot of airing anime this year (which I usually don't do) and this was always the worst part of my weekend, spent banging my head against a wall and going "why?". As one of those OCD people who has to finish all the shows I start, this was torture for me. I would recommend this if you: like lesbian smut for the sake of having girlxgirl in it, like the classic sexual assault trope, like the pretty art I would NOT recommend this if you: are big on consent, were looking for real romance, wanted real plot, wanted real characters/character development, hate fetishism of sexuality I wish I had read an honest review about this before I started watching. Anyways, have a great day everyone!

This is absolute beutiful in therms of animations, characters, style, and that's why i liked it . About the story, this anime is about 2 girls who fall in love, and that's ok!! but the fact that they are sisters but went for it, is crazy, and as i watched it there was scenes that made me realize that this anime was made by mens and FOR mens, as some scenes in the middle of the story didn't had to be there and it was just so people stick more(bc the scenes are mostly sexualized). Besides that, this anime is good, great animation, the develope of the characters is good, the places are beutiful.

This anime will always be my guilty pleasure. The relationship between Mei and Yuzu is so good(in a toxic way) and I forever defend the anime adaptation. The pacing is solid with consistent fan service and lovers quarrels to keep viewers engaged. The character cast is fine, albeit underdeveloped (besides Yuzu and Mei). Yuzu is extremely well developed and her mission to understand her and Mei's feelings is very genuine an beautiful. Mei is a bit more linear, being the 2nd protagonist, but this is not to say she does not make significant changes over the course of the show. The first "antagonist" is meh but not great and the 2nd one is downright filler and is only their to force a divide in the romance. The show is strongest when its focusing on the romance and not external situations. Many discuss the ethics and morality of Yuzu and Mei's relationship, and while I understand the thought, this is a show meant to portray an unrealistic and taboo love. Attempting to morally condemn the show is a misunderstanding of the point. To conclude, this show just does everything for me, and while I understand the hate, I just cannot bring myself to not love this one. Overall: not for everyone, but a favorite of mine.

I have never, in my life, felt this compelled to write a review about an anime. I was on board with citrus for the first 75% of the anime, I really was, before I realized why I'd had this weird tinge in the back of my brain that made me ultimately uncomfortable with the entire anime. It's not the stepcest, it's not the pushing each other around and pulling at each others clothes although it's still pathetic how yuri and sexual assault go hand in hand in anime. No, it was the fact that the main character, Aihara Yuzu, is the classic abusive relationship victim. She's not the perfect protagonist, and she makes her mistakes, but she without a DOUBT, makes solid leaps and bounds early on in character progression. She sees her mistakes, she sees her faults, and she actively works on herself in an effort to appease and comfort Mei. In turn, Mei rewards her by treating her like garbage at almost every step. What is once seen as being shy, or reserved, turns into full mental and verbal abuse towards Yuzu. Every time Mei seems to make some sort of character progression, she undermines herself by reverting back to being terrible towards Yuzu who is always, actively, trying to help create some sort of peace. Even the near psychopathic side loli character ends up being more redeemable than Aihara Mei. Yuzu does NOT know when to stop, and give up. In my opinion, that should've been very early on in the anime. It's almost uncomfortable to watch her be consumed almost obsessively by this love for Mei that Mei doesn't really shoot down. Yuzu is being led on and taken advantage of for a large portion of this anime. I'd say watch this anime, if only you want to learn more about what abusive relationships look like so you can better see signs of it in your day to day life and try to help anyone suffering in an abusive relationship.

I'm going to write this review coming from the manga, a manga which I liked in spite of its flaws, in spite of its disturbing aspects. In a nutshell, the manga tells the tumultuous relationship between two very different high school girls: - Yuzu is a deeply kind girl, capable of selfless acts but still immature and somewhat fragile emotionally. She also has some rebellious streak and is depicted as a gyaru at school. - Mei is a very disturbed girl, who was taught to bury her own sense of self and to always behave according to her environment's expectations. She's shown to be talented, rigid and uncaring, but she's also self-loathing and cut from her own emotions. Although some of those points aren't obvious at the beginning of the story, they explain most of the toxic aspects of their relationship: Yuzu perceives early on that Mei is in distress but the way she tries to help is often awkward, and her own feelings toward Mei tend to confuse the issue even more. Mei robotically acts according to what she believes Yuzu desires, but brutally backpedals as soon as it brushes her inner stuggle, or fails to understand the consequences of her actions. Yuzu is hurt, forgives, bounces back to action. Rince and repeat until Mei's truth is laid bare. Unfortunatly, the anime misses every mark and re-interprets all of the protagonists' actions in a simplistic way that destroys whatever depth the original story had. Yuzu is reduced to a dumb and klutzy girl. All the complex and toxic situations that happened because of Yuzu's and Mei's clashing personalities are turned into Yuzu's mere blunders. Mei is no longer a tortured teenager unable to cry for help, and that hurts Yuzu to avoid acknowledging her own struggle… Instead, she's just a bright girl that harasses Yuzu for no reason, or as retaliation for the other girl's blunders (or shock value, or fan service, take your pick). In other words, anime's Mei is just a "perfect" girl and everything is anime's Yuzu's fault. And because of that, the anime loses everything that made the story interesting. In a way, it's fortunate that it cut the story short and adapted only the beginning of the manga… Otherwise it'd have quickly become obvious that it had no story to tell, nowhere to go. If it's not too late, don't waste your time with this pathetic excuse for a yuri story and go read the original manga. It's noticeably more disturbing, but the characters have depth, evolve and converge toward an ending that works well (if a bit heavy-handed).

Being a fan of yuri is hard, atleast when it comes to anime. The list of all yuri shows is very, very short, and most of them suck real bad. And so every new show that resolves around such themes always gets a lot of attention. With Citrus, the expectations were big. But sadly enough, it didn't fullfil many of them. For what made Citrus so interesting to begin with is that it's the first full-on yuri show without the element of moe in a long time. Now that's not saying that I don't like moe, actually it's the complete opposite, but seeing a show that tries to add a bit of drama and reality into it's greater themes really did lit up the fire of expectations, for both, the fanservice and the story. And the story, for the most part, is the main reason Citrus as an anime completely failed in what it tried to do. It resolves around the relationship of new step-sisters, Yuzu and Mei, who don't get along very well at the start. It's just a matter of time before Yuzu, the more lively out of the two, gets kinda obsessed with her sister and after sharing their first kiss, falls in love with her. However, Mei has a lot more admireres than Yuzu thinks and that is soon to be revealed... While the story doesn't try to be very complicated, you can't but feel that not much thought had been put into it. It it completely shallow, without a clear original idea and even though the promised drama is kinda there, it is actually the thing pushing the whole anime down. The way story develops is also very questionable, as instead of focusing on it's main couple, the anime constantly brings-up weird and non-relevant characters that somehow manage to create a fuss between the girls. Propably the best way to describe the character cast would be saying that they're just not very impressive. Starting with the better, Yuzu is not a terrible main lead. She has this outgoing and dumb personality which I was never a really big fan of, but since it's so common in RomComs I kinda got used to it at this point. There are not many positive things that I could mention about her but she's just the kind of girl that is hard to really hate. Unlike some of the other characters. For example the second main lead, Mei. Who is, by any means, a bad character as a whole. Her melancholic attitude, her bitchy assertiveness and even her forgettable design all forge a very uninteresting character whom I couldn't care less about. The way she makes the biggest poor soul out of herself while constantly mentioning her somehow depressing past, which is by the way not depressing at all, is also not a very good way of making such a shallow character look better. While the supportive cast was supposed to have positive impact on the growing relationship of Yuzu and Mei, by throwing some dramatic moments into their faces, they didn't really deliver either. There is Himeko, who started off as the biggest and most annoying Tsundere ever while also being a student coucil vice pres which is great combination indeed (sarcasm). Then there is Matsuri, who is supposed to be one of those bitch-ass characters. The problem with her is that her bitchiness is on the complete wrong side of things. I mean, comparing her to Akane from Kuzu no Honkai for example, Matsuri losses that battle on every line. She, unlike Akane, uses pretty lame tactics to get attention, her reasons to do so are not really valid and overall she just acts like a total kid. I mean, she doesn't just act, she literally is a kid. There is hope tho, and that is Harumin. Thank god for once atleast a little likeable character that saved many episodes purely by showing her friendly and funny attitude. There are also those two twin sisters who appear towards the end of the show, but since their addition worked only as another reason for Mei and Yuzu to argue and then make-up, they were pretty much completely irrelevant. I mentioned drama, right? Yes, I did. On the scale of forcing Drama, Citrus would propably rank somewhere around the likes of Kuzu no Honkai, which I mentioned already I know please don't kill me for it. Which in itself wouldn't be such a problem, if the drama was the show's only goal. The mentioned Kuzu no Honkai, for example, was undoubtedly a very over-dramatized show. However, because the drama (and sex, but these two were related) was the show's only intention from the start, it was able to take it's sweet time with it and actually make it good. Which is the main problem of Citrus. It doesn't take it's time with anything. The jumps between comedy, drama and kissing are way too damn fast and unlogical to the point where you'll never even take the dramatic moments seriously, because they were literally trying to make you laugh like half minute ago. The cycle of every episode is almost always the same too. Starts off lightly, then something occurs, then Mei gets mad, then Yuzu cries for whatever reason, then she saves the day and then they kiss. And it's like that for the majority of the show. Another area in which Citrus does terribly at is building relationship, which is something RomComs should be all about. Seeing your favourite couple coming from a blushing duo to full-on lovers mode is an important development aspect to this kind of anime. Citrus however, does it all wrong. Instead of resolving the whole story around Yuzu and Mei and giving them the time to fully develop their relatioship by themselves, the show constantly introduces new random characters that create some love drama through which then tries to continue the story. Not only this kind of appoach won't work because the ones pushing the story are not those who should, it also takes away any kind of satisfaction the moment they actually end up together, because outside of some rare moments, they just haven't had any remarkable time to set-up this kind of ending. Credit where credit is due tho. What I really liked for example are the personal changes of some characters. Himeko in particular. You see, she starts off as the biggest and loudest Tsundere ever, but as soon as she gets rejected, she redeems herself and becomes a fairly respectable character for the rest of the show. Which is a good change compared to other harem-like animes when even the characters who get harsly rejected never actually stop with their sexual intentions. I also already mentioned that Harumin was a very likeable character herself and I loved whenever she appreated on the screen. The whole yuri fanservice also wasn't very bad. Once I started ignoring the complete unlogicalness of the kissing situations, I got to enjoy them quite a lot. Though it's needles to say that there is almost no way of fucking up this sort of thing. Two girls kissing each other will always be hot. I still feel like they could've pushed the whole fanservice a bit further tho, and it's also a shame that Harumin never got any. The overall art was good, but not anything breathtaking. The scenes look polished and clean, but little is actually animated and almost every background is just a static image. I should also add that the character desings weren't very appealing to my eyes. They were either forgettable or just not very well looking. The fact that a lot of characters were using earrings, which is a thing I hate in and outside of anime, didn't help the whole art situation either. And the sound was.. okay, I guess? I don't really know. The voice-acting wasn't the worse but I can't even remember if the show had an OST, which means it had but it was just very shallow and beyond forgettable. ---- Citrus had a tough task coming into anime. There are tons of yuri fans, but only a handful of yuri anime. And having to adapt one of the more popular yuri manga didn't lower the expectations either. Even though however, Citrus as an anime fails at almost everything it tries to do. It's drama is not good, it's comedy is not funny and it's characters didn't hit the spot either. It still somehow manages to make the thing we all w…

This story would've worked exellently as a dark psychological drama, as a romance though, it is an abomination, and the relationship between the two leads will tell you exactly why Let's start with Mei Mei is an abuser, plain and simple, we can analyze why she becomes the way she is, and we will in a moment, but nothing excuses her appaling treatment of Yuzu Now why is Mei the way she is? The most likely catalyst is her being put in an abusive situation with her arranged engagement, on top of the already toxic family enviroment. Mei's abusive behaviour is driven by anger, anger towards her fiancé who's s******* abusing her, anger towards her grandpa for putting her in that situation by arranging the engagement, anger towards her dad whom she feels abandoned by, all of which she projects onto Yuzu as she becomes everything she most loathed, this is what's called redirected aggression Yuzu on the other hand is the classic empath Always putting others needs above her own, even at her own expence, always trying to fix people, and always taking on all the blame whenever things go wrong. She has also previously been in a toxic platonic relationship, making her a that much easier target for falling into a toxic romantic relationship One scene where Yuzu is wearing a backpack with the word "provide" written on it is very telling of her character, as she's always providing emotional support for others while never accepting it for herself Everything written up there would've made for an extreamly riveting exploration of the human psyche, but it is in no way behaviour that should be romanticized, which is unfortunately the direction this series takes things

*spoilers, language* trigger warning: sexual assault, incest, and harmful stereotypes of lesbians Let’s talk about problematicism. This isn’t a word, but if it was, let’s go ahead and slap it on Citrus. That’s what this show is, problematic in every way but its core. Let’s slap dreadful and sickening on there as well. Citrus, at the surface, is a simple show that could go to many places narratively. We then meet the MC. Yuzu Aihara just stepped out of an 80s movie/ poorly written Episode story (props to you if you know what those are) and has entered a new, private all-girls school. Her mother was recently divorced and remarried to the son of the Chairmen of the School, whose daughter is the student council president. So we’ve got a typical start of a romance school anime, nothing out of the ordinary here. However, not ten minutes in, after an OP that sounds like it has been pulled out of the bucket of standard anime OPs and riddled with incestuous hints at what’s to come (aren’t you just so excited?), is a scene where Yuzu, as she is arriving on the school campus, and in many violations of this school’s strict dress code, is explicitly touched sexually, without consent, mind you, by the student council president, whose name we later learn to be Mei. Mei’s hands are everywhere a stranger’s hands shouldn't be, and Yuzu has repeatedly said “stop, leave me alone”. That probably just took you off guard since, you know, her stepsister just sexually assaulted her. And she just walks away like it was nothing. I wish I had counted how many times a character sexually assaulted another character in this show. I am positive I couldn’t count it, on one hand, let alone two. And it’s not just the occasional throw of the skirt or grope, it’s full-on, I’m ripping off your shirt and trying to kiss you while having an emotional break down by BOTH of the MCs, Yuzu and Mei alike. And this continuously happens throughout this excruciating series. None of the characters get any sort of punishment, chastisement, NOTHING to even point out that their behavior is predatory and wrong by any of the other characters, mostly because the two who are doing it to each other are stepsisters and have come to terms with the fact that is just a part of their sisterly relationship. But the point still stands, sexual assault should not occur this often in anime where it is glossed over and used as a plot point to further the story. But I digress, and I shall continue to my next qualm with this anime. Due to this show’s status as a romance anime, it is, naturally, going to be character-driven. Character-driven shows usually aren’t hard to pin down. As a writer myself, I find it much easier to create character-based stories, especially if I am writing romance. But the characters, in a character-driven story, need to, you know, have character. Firstly, let’s discuss Mei Aihara, the chairman’s biological granddaughter and, to put it simply, the most fucked-up character of this show. In the first episode, she kisses Yuzu without explanation after it is revealed that they are going to be living together because of her mather’s remarriage to Mei’s father, and Yuzu confronts her about her romantic relationship with their teacher that she witnessed. Mei claims she is clueless because she has not been kissed, so she shuts her up with a big ole, unconsented smooch, leaving Yuzu writhing in confusion, but also arousal as it is portrayed. But this doesn’t stop here. Oh no, there is still more incest to come. At the end of the third episode, Yuzu visits Mei after she has been taken away by her grandmother due to Yuzu’s embarrassment of the family name, and while they are having just sisterly “come back home” talks, Mei throws Yuzu on the bed and rips her top open, beginning to cry as she attempts to make physical contact with her stepsister. And then, more simple things, she calls her father “professor” because he teaches her so much, she can’t make up her mind about what she wants to be with Yuzu. She never shows emotions and is constantly leading the characters in this show on, just to throw them off when push comes to shove. Mei Aihara needs HELP, this character is irredeemable. The only redeemable character, to be frank, is Yuzu’s best friend who has to put up with all these character’s bullshit, props to her. For my final point, I’m going to touch on something that this anime contributes to on a wider scale, harmful LGBTQ+ stereotypes, especially towards women who are attracted to women. For simplicity’s sake, I’ll say lesbian. Lesbians are constantly suffering from the stereotype of being called predatory, promiscuous, or just sick and messed up in the head. So for this show to just come out of the water with lesbians who are sexually assaulting their stepsister is frankly appalling. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself, this show genuinely makes me sick at my stomach because the people who watch this without being aware of those stereotypes are going to take it at face value and think all lesbians are like the girls in Citrus. This show is hurtful and harmful to lesbian representation in anime, and the folks over at Studio Passione need to learn from their mistakes. Was there anything good about this anime? Other than the animation, I can’t think of any. The pure idiotic writing of this show sucks the life out of you as you watch it. I binged it, and I can honestly say, do not binge this show. If you want to watch it and get it out to the way to laugh how bad it is, then do it, but take caution cause this show is downright awful in so many ways. I hope to see this show in the dictionary definition of these words: problematic, dreadful, sickening. That’s what this show is.

Citrus is a yuri romance manga that started in late 2012 and just recently ended. Although it looks like a second manga called Citrus Plus is planned. I don't know if it's going to follow the same characters nor have I read the manga. Early this year the studio Passione, also behind Rokka no Yuusha, aired a twelve episode adaptation to cover the first part of the story. So, let's see how that went.  Story: Aihara Yuzu finds her life turned topsy turvy when her mother suddenly remarries and the pair relocate, forcing her to enter a new school. Things turn awkward immediately when she unknowingly breaks the rules and finds herself afoul of the young student council president. She returns home for a surprise, she has a new step-sister and it's the same student council president she met earlier, Aihara Mei. To make matters even more awkward, she finds Mei really attractive.  Let's start with the problems with the series. There are two major ones. The first is that, like Love Stage, it doesn't have a great first impression. I will say, to Citrus's credit, it isn't nearly as bad since the initial encounter between Yuzu & Mei involves a stolen kiss and not attempted rape but it's still not a great way to begin a romance. The big one, however, is more reminiscent of the bad episode from Sasameki Koto. In that episode, we had a young girl act deplorably only to be instantly forgiven with no real consequences and her behaviour was never mentioned again. Citrus has the same type of thing with a character named Matsuri except her actions are even worse and they span a couple episodes. She's introduced about halfway into the series and decides to try and seduce Yuzu. But first she needs to deal with Mei, which is where the deplorableness comes in. Now, I'm not opposed to having an antagonistic character who's absolutely atrocious as a person but the problem here, and in the aforementioned Sasameki Koto, is that they try to treat the characters as sympathetic. And that doesn't work when you have characters act this horribly. Not without a lot of time and effort put into redeeming them. Which neither series does. Their plots end and they basically say they're sorry and get told not to do it again and that's it.  Moving on to the positives, I'll give Citrus credit for having romantic content between siblings in a way that's only mildly sleazy, and that's entirely based on the stolen kisses early on. Because it makes sense for two high school kids who are suddenly tossed together as step-siblings to still be attracted to one another. The series also does feature some strong scenes. Some of them are quite funny, and usually involve Yuzu making an ass of herself. While others have a bit of an awkward tension betwixt Mei & Yuzu with enough positivity to make them kind of sweet little moments. The best part, by far, is the whole arc with the twin sisters, Sara & Nina. Those three episodes are where the series gets elevated to fantastic. It's funny because it goes from the low point of the series, with Matsuri the sociopath, to the high point with the twins and it's kind of hard to believe these were written by the same person. Characters: I've already covered the basics of what's wrong with Matsuri's character and the handling thereof. Needless to say, she's the worst character in the series by a wide margin. As for the other characters, there are aspects of Yuzu, Mei and their budding relationship I really like. The awkwardness has verisimilitude. Yuzu's conflicting feelings of wanting to be a good sister but also being greatly attracted to her new step-sister is compelling. Mei's desire to be needed and her drive for exceptionalism versus her uncertainty over how to proceed is also good stuff. But then there's the way things are initiated betwixt them and the way it gives a poor first impression. Harumi is a fun character. Sara is a sweetheart. I also really like what little we get of Mei's relationship with her wandering father. So, quite a strong cast with one very notable exception.  Art:  Here's one area where I have to give Passione a lot of credit, their artwork is really great. The characters are well drawn. The backgrounds and various world objects look good. The animation flows smoothly. It is a good looking series.  Sound:  Our main heroines are voiced by Taketatsu Ayana & Tsuda Minami, two strong actresses who deliver fantastic performances. We've also got Kubo Yurika, Kanemoto Hisako, Fuji Yukiyo, Matsuzaki Rei and some others who are really good at what they do. Even Izawa Shiori, voice of the worst part of the series, doesn't perform badly. She just got stuck with a shit character. Takahashi Ryo put together a strong soundtrack for the series.  Ho-yay: In addition to the obvious budding relationship betwixt Yuzu & Mei, Mei's childhood friend blatantly has feelings for her. Yuzu has some kind of flirtatious moments with Harumi but a lot of that is Harumi teasing Yuzu after seeing her yuri manga. Sara's whole arc revolves around her developing a crush on Mei who she refers to as "her destiny." In short, this is one of those series where the only important straight character seems to be Yuzu's mum. And I wouldn't exactly be surprised if the latter part of the manga introduces her female "friend" who seems to always visit while her husband's away. Which he always is.  Final Thoughts: There are plenty of things to like about this series. The last arc especially. Unfortunately, it's really weakened by those three episodes heavily featuring Matsuri & by having the relationship begin in a poor way. Would I watch a second series? Well, yes. This may well be like Sasameki Koto where the manga gets past the point that made up the seventh episode of the anime and it just stays consistently fantastic afterwards. In which case, the bad part's out of the way. But, by the same token, this isn't a good yuri series thus far. It manages to average out to being decent but there are plenty of better ones out there. I'll give the first series a 6/10. If they do come out with a second one I'll give it a go but I'm not really going to go out of my way to go through the manga or anything like that.

Out of 100 Nobles watching... 42 were impressed. 35 got sick of the durdling plot. 15 just want characters in shows to be humans acting like humans doing human things instead of weird aliens acting like what their science division determined what they think humans WOULD act like. 8 would like Yuzu to have more lines of dialogue than just "Mei!" Straight to the point. Citrus presented an interesting concept for a romance story. Our Gyaru protagonist (woo!) Yuzu falls in love with her new-to-the-family slightly younger step sister. The show sets up a plot that would have this couple face the problems that come with this sort of relationship as well as Mei's (the younger step sister) obligations to her biological family. If the show stuck to this it could have been something really powerful and probably had a lasting impression on me. The show didn't keep things simple though. Instead the story fell back on the worst kinds of romance tropes with each arc introducing some new character to throw a wrench in the protagonists relationship. Instead of focusing on a story that was well grounded in reality we delve into strange melodramatic tropes and reasoning's for character actions and it just comes off feeling hollow. Something every romance must do is balance the conflict in it's story. If things get too heavy or absurd than the suspension of disbelief allowed for immersion is broken, or the viewer will get frustrated at characters not acting like sane human beings. Citrus absolutely failed in this regard. The OP and ED was fairly typical and nothing to write home about and the same few tracks were recycled for the entire show. The art style had a really indistinguishable shoujo look. With a bland visual aspect the story needed to carry this one but the relationships exampled in this story were just plain toxic with the exception of Harumi Taniguchi who was a pretty legit friend in all honesty. Citrus was like a waiter carrying a platter with a fresh and interesting Yuri romance to my table, but on their way over they kept stopping at other people's tables, forgetting what order was mine and bringing me the wrong thing. I only have so much patience and Citrus really tested it. I completed the meal, but have no intention to come back for more.

Let me tell you a story. Back in high school, I had a group of four friends. Myself, Florete (yes, that's my actual name), Danielle, Annie, and Melanie. One day we were at a restaurant together and while we had ordered different foods, we all ended up with mashed potatoes as a side. However, we all ate them differently. Danielle, who doesn't like flavor, had them plain. Annie liked pepper, but not salt. Melanie didn't like pepper, but loved salt. I loved salt AND pepper. After we were done eating, I turned to Melanie and gave her a sweet kiss, with tongue. You see, Melanie was my girlfriend, and she's also my sister. Danielle and Annie rolled their eyes at us, the whole "this again" thing, as we had our fun. You see, salt strengthens us, so when we eat salt, we kiss, and it magnifies our power. We're also super gay lesbians, so combining salt with yuri is an astounding combo. Years later, Melanie - who is my sister and wife (sometimes I call her "Wifester." She doesn't like it) - and I, Florete, were lounging around the house being gay when we discovered this anime called Citrus. It starred lesbian sisters similar to us and was generating mountains of salt all across the internet. Loads of yuri and a mountain of salt? We've never felt stronger! Yuzu is like me. We're go-getters, the older sibling, the troublemaker. We know what we want but sometimes we're too stupid to know how to go about getting it, so we just do something random and things somehow turn out alright in the end, maybe. But that's why our sister loves us so much. Mei and Melanie are also fairly similar. They're on the quiet side, but also smart and calculating. It took them some time to realize their love, but when they did, they knew how to accept it. You'd expect them to be on the receiving end of affection more often, but when in the bedroom, they can be surprisingly aggressive. Melanie hasn't assaulted me, though. Yet. Sigh. Also, like Mei, Melanie is basically a walking lesbian magnet. We can just be walking down the street and girls will just start gravitating towards her, on their phone or checking their make-up, without even realizing what's happening. Sometimes the girls don't even yet realize that they're gay, and I swear she's turned a few straight girls gay by now. It's crazy and awesome. But it is annoying sometimes, because some will actually go after her for real, and then I have to tell them to go find their own sister to love because this one is mine and mine alone. One rival is kind of charming, the next is a little awkward, but by the time the third comes along I'm getting a bit sick of this nonsense. I get it, she's attractive, can we move on now? What about our other friends? Well, Danielle was closer to me, and Annie was closer to Melanie. Danielle was a great bff, pretty much always there whenever I needed someone to hang with or talk to without Melanie, although I never quite understood just why she was so attached to me. Annie, well, she was my first love rival for Melanie. Charming in its own way, that "Wow, my sister-lover is desired, that makes me feel good that she chose me instead" feeling. We got past it. Real talk now. I get it. By its very nature, our story is a bit squeamish, awkward, uncomfortable. Some people out there will be disgusted by the mere thought of it, others will try to have an open mind but be turned away when they see what it took for us to get there, some of the things we did. But there are others, those who will appreciate, those who will understand what we went through, those who aren't looking for an average rom-com, those who will follow and enjoy our story BECAUSE it's like this, because there really is a lot to love here. There are happy times. There are sad times. Good decisions and bad decisions. We don't care what anyone else thinks. We're in love. FAQ Q. Is your name really Florete? A. Of course it is. Q. Are you and Melanie blood-related? A. Hmmm...perhaps. Q. Did you actually review Citrus? A. Didn't I, darling? Didn't I? Q. But you didn't say anything about animation or acting and such! A. Sigh...Must I really? Q. Yes. A. Fine. It was good. Decent. If you're not a stickler for the technicalities you won't notice anything (Mei's English dub voice is really perfect, though). If you are...well, I'm not, so I can't help you there. Watch the trailer, or something. Q. I have no further questions. A. Thank you, internet voice.

As a manga reader, there’s many things that must be addressed. For one, since it was 12 episodes long, I knew it would end in the shittiest arc possible. I hated it in the manga, I hate it here as well. Second, the adaptation was close to perfect, unfortunately the presentation of certain scenes were overly expressed more than it needed to be. With the 90% Rape and the 10% Consent, I felt a need, a need to think about this again. Let me get this straight, as of right now, I enjoy the manga. The latest chapters started spicing things up. However, since the anime adapted such a crappy arc in the first place, there comes no surprise to when I say that I hated the second half of the anime. Citrus is a Yuri manga that decided to show up after a long time since its announcement. It’s one of those series where you say “fuck it, there’s yuri.” When I first made my review, I gave it an 8, simply for the fact that I’m biased towards yuri and am basically obligated to watch it for such a reason. But knowing the fact that it goes downhill once the second half begins, just enjoying it for the “yuri” doesn’t become something I say often. The first half is what you call exceptional, a girl goes to an all-girls school where her mom remarries and her step sister turns out to be someone of important. Thus the encounter captivates her and gives her the green-light to pursue such a love. But can such a love succeed when all Mei can do is use her hands for anything but love. I understand her situation, I get that her only way of communication can be through sexual acts, but when this continues for a long time with little to no change throughout the series, it makes it harder to take her seriously each time. I appreciate the mature-ish tone that the anime decided to take, but each time they try to make it “impactful,” the actual effect decreases each time they attempt this. I also disliked the fact that they try to drag out the story but putting *ahem* “antagonists.” The first time Matsuri showed up, I was pissed, but thankfully later on she redeemed herself a little bit and became more tolerable. Now when Nana and Sara showed up, oh boy I was attempted to drop the manga there and then. Even though Sara and Nana didn’t stay within the main focus for too long, I just disliked the fact that they’re practically insert characters to prolong the conflict as long as possible. But of course, not everything about Citrus is bad. The art for the anime looks just about the same as Uta’s drawings, which I do appreciate. The voice acting was superb, each seiyuu fulfilled the role perfectly and captured the feelings no matter the circumstance or situation. The music and opening song were fantastic since I appreciate the stuff nano.RIPE makes. The animation was fine but the CGI near the start of the series was really off-putting. Thankfully, this occurs less as it goes on. Those were really my two cents of the series. I didn’t hate everything about it, but boy did it get annoying to watch later on. Citrus as an adaptation did well. It followed the panels and it showed almost every detail. Unfortunately they extended scenes that were not needed. Even if it didn’t drive off from the original source, there are things that must not be added. It was quite a shame that it ended off at one of the worst arcs possible, however if you do have the time to read past where the anime ended, then I suggest you would. The manga does get somewhat better, but don’t expect it to be amazing. I am enjoying it thus far now. I do have one pet peeve however, I hated, and I mean hated the way they adapted chapter 8’s kiss scene (out of love). That kiss was one of the best in the manga, and it looked awkward and weird on the anime. That’s just me being picky though. Citrus succeeded in terms of adaptation, but failed in all other aspects. Although it falls flat, I must say that Saburo Uta did one thing right… Making Harumin one of the hottest characters in existence.

I could only ever recommend this show to the deaf. The only redeeming factor for this show is the 15 second yuri scenes. Pretty sure that's all the author was thinking about too. I figured I'd give this show a shot because it's common for shows with themes of rape/incest to be review bombed by western audiences. But, putting all that aside, the show itself just sucks. The main character is as 1 dimensional as it gets, and 90% of the runtime is just arbitrary flip flopping between "i love you" and "dont talk to me anymore". On top of that, while this is all happening, the love interest is kissing(/fucking? that one scene wasn't too clear) anything that moves. The protagonist doesn't seem to care at all, and continues unconditionally loving the girl who had a combined 5 minutes of dialogue throughout the entire show. The best way I could put it is: imagine a harem anime, but from the perspective of one of the harem girls.