Citrus

I had seen this anime pop up here and there and when I finally sat down to watch it, I was (for lack of a better word) excited to watch this. I am constantly looking for good shoujo ai/yuri anime and when I noticed Citrus seemed to be a bit more popular than other shoujo ai I mistakenly thought "ah then it can't be that bad." But I was wrong. Despite what I have heard some saying, the sexual assault in this anime did not add any deeper meaning or lessons. It just happened and there seemed to be no consequences. Not only that but the relationship between the two characters is not in anyway cute. It is (again at a lack of a better word) very toxic, and I am fine with media portraying a toxic relationship to show how bad they can be and how they can be hard for everyone involved and spread a positive message with the story. But Citrus did not spread any message at all, it just (IN MY OPINION) casually threw in some sexual assault, in what was the main relationship that you supposed to root for, and then just made the relationship toxic and hard to watch. Anyone who would want to be in this sort of relationship or think anything they did would be okay or cute to do, should get themselves mentally checked.

Possible Spoilers!!! Aright I'm going to be completely honest in this review, In a sense this show is Really fucked up, I mean Really fucked up, but at the same time it's beautiful. I personally Really loved this show, when I first started I was a little creeped out but it slowly grew on me. Yes there are a lot of problems in the world with sexual assault and rape, but I don't think this show is like that. There are a lot of things this show could have done better. But all in all it was a beautiful romance that I enjoyed watching. I do have to say that this will never happen in real life but even so it was still beautiful and I'm happy I spent my time watching it

TL;DR Review Nothing against yuri... It's just that this anime is pretty bad... I'm sorry. The story's pretty bad, it's just some high school girl who wants to bang her step sister... And? Yup... that's it! Not going to lie though, the art was pretty nice to look at, and the characters all sounded pretty normal to me. However, that's really it. You may ask, why did I give it such high grade for enjoyment? Well, truthfully, this anime is so bad that it's actually good... Makes sense? I ironically enjoyed this anime; however, it's not a good at all. - Spacecraft555 UwU

Forget what the others say and give it a chance, I think the main reason Citrus is so hated is because it's "incest" but tbh those are the same bastards who go and watch oreimo so don't give a shit about them. If you think you have the maturity to put away the "incest" and actually try and understand the characters then watch it, that's all there is to it. I dont really remember the music too well so it was probably alright. The art was pretty good and it really complimented Yuzu's character. The romance is actually shippable. The characters are pretty goood but theyre are some unlikeables. Overall it was an 8 definitely not below 7 as most people would like you to believe.

Alright, so, I was pretty psyched about this anime at first, since I saw it's beautiful animation and thought: "Hm...This looks good." My first mistake was not reading what the plot was about. I know they aren't blood related, but this common and poorly used PORN plot is nothing to really base a good anime over. In bad taste, overall. Next, the commonly complained plot point over the first two episodes showing quite violent sexual assault. First off, to those who say this is just a plot point or something they bond over, no. You can fuck off. This anime doesn't glorify the sexual assault, which I admit, however, It leads into the rest of the anime and it is even the basis of the main characters feelings developing for her step-sister. Aka: "All of this because you kissed me." None of this anime was a healthy portrayal of a real relationship, but all just sounded and felt like desperation. A way to express feeling after being repressed by social ques, but not in the good way. 0/10 would not recommend.

A wise man once said "Repetition is the death of art" and no quote can be more applicable than to this anime. Citrus was as expected a romance, yuri based anime with a hint of comedy and love struggles. However while the genres may be correct, the execution was at best mediocre. So join me in the review of Citrus, to see what's right, and what's not. So we'll compare it against another anime of similar proportions, Sakura Trick. Both feature excessive yuri, romance and kissing so I believe it's the perfect anime to compare it to as basis. I think that both animes did well into making a kiss look very "kissy", the same sort you can find from a hentai but a bit more restraint. The slight gasp and the flustered emotions from citrus to the more quieter subtle kiss from Sakura Trick, i think they basically did first base spectecularly. Audio and design wise, citrus is clearly the winner, even besting some of the current animes in character design and maybe fall short of violet evergarden and koe no katachi, big names basically. Audio wise also felt very airy and spacious with hints of background activity rather than closed up like sakura trick. They did kissing well, they nailed the objective, give them a 10 already! Well not so fast. The issue is repetition. If this sort of detail of kissing was in a romantic anime like say koe no katachi or maybe chunnibyou, then well done 10/10. While most romance animes want to lightly sprinkle fanservice to make it as magical as possible, citrus decides to just pour the entire bottle. When kissing is done regularly and repetitively, it becomes superficial and very meaningless, very shallow. Like there is no meaning in it no matter how hard they try to express it. Sakura Trick also faces this issue but citrus did it way worse. While Sakura Trick only does it to people they truly love with specific couples set, Citrus decides that as long as that person is a girl, she's kissable. The height of demand is a principle I use for shipping. Koe no katachi, I want them to start dating. For couples, i want handholding. For handholding couples, maybe a kiss etc. But for citrus, there's not much beyond it, because beyond it is second base, and that's too lewd. They were not expecting it and that led to a downfall when i get bored of something and I want more but didn't get it. This would be still fine if there's other things to add to the magic of the excessive kissing. But unfortunately dear viewers, there isn't. At most one or two lines of comedy, the weird love "polygon" with very depthless drama, not even the slice of life part was done particularly well to fix the issue. Character quality wise, nothing special to add. While the main characters are ok, side characters are just jealous assholes. Citrus was a godsent. Yuri, romance, kissing. Nothing could be more perfect than these three genres together. Unfortunately while they may have nailed the genre combinations right, they simply failed in execution. Maybe it'll be a great drinking game. Who knows? > Wait is it me or does Sara looks and sound like Nayuta. Sneaky...

Why should you watch Citrus? The story is Good (7). One of the things I loved about Citrus is the story. I really love the original manga where it was adapted from by Saburo Uta. With that, I can say that this adaptation was not well presented it exchanged the titillation for over sexuality and this is prevalent with the opening theme and the "Key Scenes" of the story. It should be more provocative rather than blatant. Art is Very Good (8). Setting aside the story, the art is well done, and it is really nice to see the characters of the story realized. However, I need to point out one thing: Momokino's Eyebrow should not be edited to become more pleasing. She has a thick eyebrow in the manga and it was created that way for a reason. This causes her character to lose a lot of personality in the story. These changes with the characters hurt the story rather than enhance it. Sound is Good (7). "Azalea (アザレア)" by nano.RIPE is a great song but I do not feel it was suited well for a story such as Citrus. It could have been better if they have chosen a song with a softer and a bit darker melody. I understand that the theme music wants to show a rebellious image since it is yuri but it was a step in the wrong direction. The soundtrack in general is good but it still misses on key scenes which is crucial for the story. Characters are Very Good (8). I really wanted to give this a 9 since I adore the manga a lot but I have to judge it based on the anime that is why I am taking a point away. Yuzu and Mei's characters are great as they carry the story but how they are interpreted in the story is just missing something: a heart. During the finale of the episode, there were scenes that are satisfying to see but like eating something citrus it has a bitter aftertaste. The same goes with supporting the characters. Generally, I came to winter with a lot of expectations with Citrus, but it disappointed me in a lot of its aspects. But if I would watch it without the manga knowledge I could be praising this anime. 7.6 bitter lemons out of 10.

This review is for anyone on the fence about whether or not they should watch Citrus (or anyone that has already seen it). Up front: I really enjoyed the show. It was probably the most entertaining (of what I watched) this season (Winter 2018). So much so that it is the first review I've written in a long time. Anyway... Citrus is yuri. So girls kiss. It is also trashy romance. So sensuality is paramount and consensuality is... well, let's be generous and say... ambiguous. To be fair, Citrus is not particularly amazing at anything. It is alright. Animation: fine. Character design: fine. Backgrounds: fine. Music: fine. Cast: fine. Voice acting: fine. Where I feel it excels though is in the writing. Skeptics, hold your gasps. This is tricky to qualify because whatever good is there is overshadowed by the show's more... polarizing aspects. I won't summarize the plot, you can read the synopsis for that. Instead, the best arguement I can make is by summarizing one particular scene (or series of events) that occurs towards the end of the show. This is only like 5% - 10% of the show, at best, so consider this a minor spoiler of sorts. Again, this is an arguement for why the show is good in spite of its flaws, or why it is worth watching, so if you have ANY intention of watching the show spoiler free, please do that first. Now then, beneath the smutty surface, I posit that there is an unappreciated font of talented writing at play here. Bear in mind, that no matter how good the writing, trashy fantasy just may not be for you, but otherwise, I will present this ironically long summary as evidence: ========================================================== The main character, Yuzu, runs into another girl, Sara, and her sister, Nina. Sara is looking for Mei, Yuzu's step-sister and love interest, who had helped her out earlier when she was lost. It was love at first sight. Destiny. Yuzu helps little lost Sara (who is technically the same age) and over the time spent together, the two become fast friends. Dramatic irony ensues. Yuzu gets into multiple dumb fights with Mei during the course of the show (as happens in any relationship, semi-incestuous or otherwise) and Sara confirms her resolve to confront Mei and confess her feelings to her. Yuzu admires Sara and is supportive of her romantic endeavor but, more importantly, Sara encourages Yuzu to do the same, saying (and I’m paraphrasing): "If there’s a chance, you have to act!” This is, more or less, the central tenet of Sara’s personality and the ultimate theme of the show. The positivity and support for each other is all very heartwarming and uplifting, despite the cliché of "not being aware they are both in love with the same person". Fast forward and things come to a head and then get… complicated. What Citrus did that inspired me to write this, and will stick with me for many years to come, is thus: Nina loves her sister, Sara, dearly and is concerned. Sara is a very selfless person and is always putting others before herself; sacrificing her own happiness in the process. So, Nina interferes, trying to coerce Yuzu into giving up. She guilts Yuzu into promising that she won’t get in the way, because, after all, is Sara not her friend? But… Yuzu cannot keep that promise because she still loves Mei and was convinced of one thing: to not give up. "If there’s a chance, you have to act!" Final scene; Sara and Yuzu meet. Sara tells Yuzu to go to Mei. Nina objects, but Sara has already determined it was not meant to be. It is Yuzu that Mei is waiting for. Yuzu leaves at Sara’s behest, and Nina rebukes Sara. What about your destiny? To which, Sara replies (paraphrasing again): “I was drawn to Mei and met Yuzu. Isn’t it wonderful to think that my destiny was to bring those two together?” Nina objects again, tearfully saying (essentially): “No, it’s not wonderful. What about you? Don’t you want to be happy?” To which, Sara concludes: “With a loving sister like you, how could I not be?” And so, I wiped a tear (or two) from my eyes and brought my hands together in applause. Bravo, Citrus. I don’t care who you are, that’s good drama right there.

As someone who's read the manga as the chapters were released, I can say that this was pretty good. I still think the Manga might just be better. Sure sometimes we'd get scenes that are overall better then in the manga. But i don't know what it is about the manga but i liked it ever so more. There were scenes where i was cringing while reading the manga such as when the chairman of the school first found out about Yuzu. I probably cringed and laughed a ton more in the show then the manga. My least favorite plot line that i remember from the manga is the story arc when the loli comes in. She was bad in the manga and she's bad in the show. But i'd say that it's not as bad as in the Manga. I do know she becomes a pretty likable character later on in the Manga though. I do love that i feel they were able to do Mei and Yuzu right. I feel they could've easily messed both of them up. Yuzu is a really funny character and is funny how easily she get's embarrassed an Mei is really adorable when she get's embarrassed. Art is also kind of weird. It kind of looks cheap and low effort but it also kind of looks awesome and high quality. Overall i found the show to be fun and is just about on par with the Manga imo.

It kinda sucks to see so much negativity towards this show because of some of the non-consensual stuff at the start. I'm genuinely curious what its score would be without the hate scores. My personal opinion is that the show doesn't feed on non-consensual power fantasies, it tries to establish Mei as a damaged character. It also does a good job of establishing that Yuzu is a strong lead and fights off Mei. That being said, the show is short and develops its core plot in a bit of an awkward manner. Instead of focusing on the nice girl (Yuzu) learning more about the tsundere's (Mei) dark past, which is the angle you would certainly expect after the first few episodes, it basically rehashes the same "girl that gets in the way of their love" thing twice. This is compounded by the way the romance unfolds. There appears to be a bit of a split, some people think Mei is an unlikable character, I happen to be of the opinion that Yuzu is just not very understanding of all that Mei has been through. Regardless, anyone can agree that it ends up boiling down to a lot of stubbornness and the general thought of "man, relationships don't actually work like this in the real world". That again, its a yuri anime drama, it doesn't need to make a lot of sense, it just sucks that if you carve out the 3 episodes at the start of any anime to establish the plot, and then the 3 at the end to build up to the end of the final conflict of any show, you only have 6 episodes to develop characters. That just isn't a lot of time, this really should have been 24 episodes, and it makes a lot of sense that the plot developed in a rushed way in light of the 12 episode run. Hopefully the hate doesn't land home, the show appears to have been super popular, so let's get a 24 episode S2! I'd normally only give a show like this a 7, but I'm giving it an 8 to account for the undeserved hate scores.

What brought me here was a PV that an ad randomly threw at me as I was reading what this season had to offer (which is rare enough as it is). Given that, I'm genuinely surprised at how many poor reviews people have put up for this show. I don't write reviews before watching all the scheduled episodes, this one is no different, and I hope that you may just be one step closer to considering watching this after reading the following. STORY: 8 The premise is simple, Aihara Yuzu, who's never actually fallen in love before (but pretends to her friends) is attracted to her practical polar opposite, Aihara Mei... who also happens to be her step-sister. The story is really about how they get along, and how they fall in love with each other. The one-sided development is how I find most modern anime relationships go, where one character is madly attracted to the other and somehow they just... magically like them back one day with no rhyme or reason. You won't find that here, even if it seems that way at first. ART/SOUND: 8 It's rare for me to see an anime that looks attractive, but not over-the-top flash/bang/glitter... maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places. Given that, Citrus is very nicely animated, considering that the TV anime industry in Japan doesn't make as much revenue as actual licenses bought/Blu-Ray and DVD copies sold. Some scenes look anatomically odd or some areas, PASSIONE thought it a good idea to pull out the stops on kissing sound folios that just end up making it awkward but overall I'm impressed that the production level animation looks this good for TV. CHARACTER: 9 Alright, here's where I find a lot of reviews tend to miss the point and call the characters underdeveloped or downright undeveloped. What honestly got me hooked on this series are the characters, not the story, not the idea of yuri/shoujo-ai (girl's love)... but that's a nice bonus. PASSIONE did well to follow the anime closely to the manga frame by frame, and the storytelling style is to show, not tell. On the outside, Yuzu is one of those "meddling teenager" characters who's always up in your face, being loud and rambunctious. On the outside, Mei is one of those "perfect" girls who doesn't let anyone or anything bother her. She's that polar opposite, quiet, thoughtful and distanced. Mei and Yuzu feel like real teenagers, with real problems and real, but not always practical and mature ways to deal with said problems. There's a layer of depth to the characters that you can't discern from simply watching they do as a passive viewer. Yuzu is shown at the very least to be very thoughtful when she's not reacting to something. Mei is likewise distanced because of her fear of becoming too attached. These are things that real people do and personalities that real people develop because of things that happened to them! TLDR; OVERALL: 9 The one reason I can't recommend this show is that PASSIONE made the intimacy almost one step too far from something that should feel nice to see, into something incredibly uncomfortable. Trigger warning for images of cringe and pseudo-assault. The "no-means-no-means-yes" is definitely bad for my feeling. Cringe aside, there is a reason why these characters do these things. I think character development is the strongest point of the series, and it motivates practically every side of the story. There is a reason why Mei practically assaults Yuzu in the opening scenes, which ties into her development as a character, who she is, how she perceives affection (misaffection), and her image as someone cold and distanced for fear of hurt. I recommend this show if you, like me are starved for a fictional character who if you took them out of their world and shoved them here, would behave 3-dimensionally like a real person. This is a rarity in modern story-telling. The key to understanding the world of CITRUS is not simply to know the character... but to understand them as the many-faceted human beings that they are, even if they are fictional. I do hope you give CITRUS a try. Be undissuaded by nay-sayers, and even yay-sayers like me. Please watch it if you can handle some uncomfortable moments, and develop your own opinions. That said, CITRUS is now my new favourite item of the season so send me a private message if you'd like to elaborate on this mini-discussion about character development!

Absolute masterpiece, and my favorite yuri of all time. I don't think people fully understand what these 12 episodes were actually about. It's better to think of Citrus as two separate parts. The first part is the anime's 12 episodes, which adapt the first 16 chapters, while the remaining 24 chapters make up Part 2. Part 1 is focused on one central idea, and it's actually quite simple: Mei wants someone who can support and understand her, while Yuzu wants to become a true family to Mei. Everything that happens revolves around those two desires and how they gradually bring the girls closer together. Once that emotional foundation is established, the story shifts its focus. Part 2 is less about whether they belong together and more about how they grow together, overcome new challenges, and learn what it truly means to love and support one another. That's why I've always seen the first 12 episodes as a complete emotional journey on their own. They build the foundation, and everything that comes after expands on it beautifully. Just enjoy the ride and witness one of the best yuri stories ever written.

Citrus: A Forbidden Love? I watched this anime, so to speak, by chance—on a friend’s insistence (as a joke). Honestly, it’s not as bad as we used to think years ago. It’s a 12-episode yuri that revolves around a forbidden romance between two stepsisters. Back then, what made us laugh was the theme itself rather than its actual quality. The animation and character design are fine, although the story feels somewhat rushed and at times forced. Even so, it manages to keep your interest if you enjoy intense, teenage-focused romances. At the time, my friend recommended it as a joke, but it became a shared memory, and rewatching it years later, it didn’t feel as strange as it did back then. In conclusion, it’s not a bad anime, but not a great one either—it sits right in the middle. It’s worth watching if you’re interested in the genre or just want something short you can finish in a day or two. Rating: 7/10

i'm not a big fan of yuri but since this is only ecchi and i was told there is good deal of jealousy involved i thought lets try something new for once so i checked this shit out if i say the plot is a Contrived mess mixed with asspulls i have not exaggerated the dialogues are horrible and emptier than the writer's skull there are random scenes that don't contribute to the story at all for example the drama about the fucking grandpa didn't matter it was just a waste of time the characters are so god damn empty, what is mei like? silent girl, that's it, introducing her father didn't add any layer or depth to her character whatsoever, what is yuzu like? she is gay and that's that, and don't let me start on other characters beside yuzu and mei, her mom, her friends,... they had ZERO depth, not even a single decent dialogue every girl in this anime is gay or bisexual like wtf the plot is basically: Yuzu is gay so is Mei, they meet, mei kisses yuzu, yuzu shits herself, yuzu wants to confess but chickens out, Random Person Number 1 enters the scene and kisses mei right in front of yuzu, yuzu shits herself, Random Person Number 2 enters the scene and kisses yuzu right in front of mei, mei pretends to not give a fuck, Random Person Number 3 with her sister enters the scene and wants a threesome while blackmailing mei while licking her ears, both yuzu and mei kick her out, mei and yuzu kiss each other, yuzu shits herself, THE END (roll credits) it's unbelievable the most liked review for this anime is a recommended type and gives this series 8/10 while admitting all these flaws!!! we really are living in post-Truth era aren't we? literally everyone watched this anime for the lesbian action, but to my surprise there wasn't anything wild here, only simple kisses btw the fact that mei totally losing her control while getting her ears touched right in front of her enemy was full retard mode watch it ,don't watch it , IDGAF

Well, this was terrible. Absolutely terrible. The anime is a romance anime apparently but my word the relationship building is embarrassingly poor, these characters have no actual reason to like each other and the attraction was started by what can only be called sexual assault...just awful, a heartless relationship with zero proper development except some weak attempts at emotional scenes which all fall flat because of the hollow nature of the relationship. The characters are terrible, the side characters especially are so poorly written and poorly related to the plot, they have basically no purpose. The main characters are just annoyingly stupid and poor at communication in a very repetitive way, it is so dull. The animation is also not very good with several poorly done scenes and unnatural looking movements. There isn't enough comedy imo, good anime romance shows have lots of funny moments and hilarious side characters, just look at something like Horimiya or Domestic Girlfriend. It is a 1 out of 10, which may seem harsh but from episode 1 to episode 12 this show bored me to a new level and is quite frankly an embarrassing anime.

My God, where do I start? Citrus is awful from beginning to end. The way the characters act and interact with each other makes no sense, and it is an incredibly inaccurate and honestly harmful portrayal of sapphic people. At the beginning, we are presented with Yuzu Aihara. She seems like an upbeat and cheerful character, which is true, but throughout the story, she loses more and more of what made her interesting to start with, leaving us with a strange shell of a person. The reason that this dramatic change happens, is because of her step sister, Mei Aihara entering into her life. I seriously don’t know how to start with their relationship. It’s already off to a bad start due the fact they are sisters. You can argue that ‘they aren’t blood related’ but really, the fact that they are related is only really there for the shock factor, and because of the whole pseudo-incest thing. If you move past the obvious issue of them being sisters, it still won’t improve much from there. Their relationship is founded on a lack of boundaries and there is never any form of consent to the acts they do, which leads to the scenes feeling weird to watch (as if they don’t already) and gives them a rapey feel. Literally in their first day of knowing each other Mei gropes Yuzu to confiscate her phone, and pushes her down and essentially sexually assaults her. Their relationship doesn’t improve from there, yet Mei is treated later on as a sweet girl who just doesn’t know how to express feelings other than with her body. As a concept that’s something that could be explored, but the romanticisation of her actions takes away from any opportunity for that to happen. Other than Mei and Yuzu being together, the rest of the show (which there isn’t really much of) really isn’t much better. Yuzu and Harumi’s friendship always stuck out as strange to me. They became friends right away, which is fine, but later on it just stops feeling like an equal relationship. Harumi is always there for Yuzu and lets her stay with her often, yet Yuzu is usually too preoccupied with thinking about Mei to even give Harumi a second thought, which just makes me wonder why Harumi is even friends with Yuzu to begin with. Harumi says to her something along the lines of ‘there’s nobody else to have fun with on campus’ when she meets her, so when Yuzu becomes a shell of what she once was due to Mei, why does Harumi stay with her? I’d normally understand, you know, the whole ‘friends stick together’ idea, but Yuzu and Harumi barely know each other, so why are they presented as so close? Another thing I never understood, was why the relationship between Mei and Yuzu is so readily accepted by pretty much everyone. When Sara is made aware of the nature of Yuzu and Mei's relationship as sisters, she backs off and even encourages it, in the name of 'true love'. In reality she would probably be disgusted and rightfully so. The only thing I genuinely like about citrus is the art style and animation. It looks great. Not much more to say, apart from that it's a shame that so much time was wasted on making this trash as high quality as it is. I could go on for hours about every issue I have with Citrus, but I don't really have the energy for that, and I don't really think many people would be willing to read that. Overall, Citrus is a show that depicts sexual assault and the queer experience is a wholly wrong way, that is incredibly harmful to those who it supposedly represents. 3/10

The fact that they are related, even if they are just siblings by marriage, is messed up, but I'm not gonna comment on that. This show is about a romantic relationship between two girls. The problem is that it takes up on homophobia and the taboo of girl liking girl. But it feels like they start this conversation towards the end and never finishes it. Indeed, multiple time we can hear the characters saying that it's weird for a girl to like a girl (hi internalize homophobia) and when Sara appears she says that she likes whoever she likes, boy or girl it doesn't matter. They could have pass a great message. However what Sarah says doesn't hold much importance in the anime. There is one flashback to that, but the subject stays taboo and this is the only sentence stating that wlw relationship (women loving women) shouldn't be forbidden. Other than that Sara and Nina were not well included in the story, which makes them appear as filler. Matsuri could've been a really good character, but we don't see enough of her. What does she really do? What was she doing the first time we saw her? Other than that she is well made. This show questions love and relationship (what is really love?). And we can see Yuzu grow on that, she understands more and more what love is as the show goes. We also see a bit of family love with Mei and her relationship with her dad. However it was botched: we don't really see Mei and her stepmom interacting which is too bad and the talk Mei had with her father is like a dot in Mei's story. And even if Yuzu's point on view on love has changed her relationship with Mei is just weird. First of all because they are related and live in the same house. Second of all because it's too pushed. Yuzu really insisted and you shouldn't harass someone to confess your love. In the end I think the anime was too short, it looks shoddy. If it had been longer they could have make it work.

Review will contain minor spoilers, as I can't really express my thoughts about this show without covering some plot points. Citrus has a LOT of problems, with the characters, with the writing, etc.... Can it be enjoyable at times? Sure. Are there decent yuri scenes? Sure. Is it a good show? I can see the appeal but in my opinion it's not a good romance and has extremely unrealistic characters and forced plot points. Story 3/10: The plot covers mostly the two main characters Yuzu and Mei and how their relationship develops. Their "relationship" abruptly starts with Yuzu being sexually assaulted by Mei in front of their school.... Yea sounds like a real great romance already I know. Later Yuzu finds out that Mei is now her step-sister and gets assaulted yet again. But the amazing thing about Citrus is that the sexual abuse isn't even the worst part. As the show progresses there's not one, not two, but THREE love triangles thrown into the midst. Personally, I loathe love triangles; they're rarely done well and are usually terrible and feel like forced plot points in order to create drama. Citrus is no exception to this, majority of the drama in this show comes from the uncertainty in Yuzu and Mei's relationship and the drama that the numerous love triangles provide. It's almost like the writer had no idea how to progress the relationship between Yuzu and Mei at all and decided to throw in the love triangles in order to progress the relationship and the story. It doesn't feel natural, it feels forced and unrealistic. So yeah, a romance that revolves around sexual abuse and love triangles is not a good one to me. There are some redeemable moments and a few times where the relationship actually progressed somewhat but those moments were overshadowed by the forced drama. Art / Sound 6/10: Animation and sound were average, nothing looked bad and there were even moments where the animation looked pretty solid which is why I'm giving this a slightly above average score. Character 3/10: Most of my problems with the story are related to the characters themselves and the decisions that they make for the sake of advancing the story. Hence this gets the same score as the story, I'll cover a little bit more of why I disliked majority of the characters in Citrus. Yuzu and Harumi were probably the only 2 characters I didn't outright dislike in the show. First let's start out with Mei. Mei is your cold "student council president" type character. Throughout the story she has a problem with expressing her emotions and is both physically and emotionally abusive to Yuzu. She's overly cold and overall a shitty person. Personally I hated her, she was manipulative, abuse, and overly reacted when she didn't get her way. Next let's cover the three love triangle members, Matsuri, Himeko, and the Tachibana sisters. None of these characters added anything worthwhile and were in the story pretty much for the sole purpose of creating a love triangle in order to progress the story and introduce drama. Matsuri was an evil (Not going to spoil what she does, but it's pretty appalling especially considering her age) middle schooler, Himeko was an uppity brat, and the Tachibana sisters felt like they were there because the writer had no idea how to close Yuzu and Mei's relationship issues. To summarize my thoughts on the characters: When 3/4 of your supporting characters are there simply for the sake of creating drama with love triangles it's going to be an absolute dumpster fire. None of these characters saw any meaningful development, the story progressed the same for all 3: Character introduced -> Love triangle causes relationship issues between Yuzu and Mei -> Triangle gets resolved and now said character supports Yuzu and Mei's relationship. Because of this and Mei being such a loathsome character I'll give the characters a 3/10. Enjoyment 5/10: I gave this a higher score because it was actually kind of entertaining. I didn't get bored of the show and while the plot points were pretty bad, I found myself interested in seeing what would happen next and if the show would somehow redeem itself or turn into even more of a dumpster fire. There were also some decent yuri scenes, and as a fan of the genre I appreciated that. Overall 4/10: Citrus is poor as far as romance goes - there's no way a romance based solely off of abuse and love triangles can be good. But at the same time the show remains somewhat entertaining despite being such a bad romance. If you decide to watch this show, don't expect a good romance / drama and you might come out enjoying it so some extent. That being said, I still wouldn't recommend this unless you can find enjoyment in watching trainwrecks or if you like yuri so much that the story doesn't matter at all.

I'm not a fan of long reviews so I'm going to keep this short and to the point. The anime is OK, but manga is better. #YuzuTop The story was decent, other than the repeat of the same arc, might be boring for some, which is understandable, personally still had fun with it. The art was fairly well done, and the animation didn't have any issues, at least for me. The characters weren't too special design wise, however, their personalities were pretty fun and the difference between Mei and Yuzu was pretty nice. Other than the show being a bit borderline, it was fun. Don't watch it with your family, it would be kinda weird. Worth a watch if you're into yuri.

This show really could’ve been something interesting but alas, it was written with fetishist men in mind and doesn’t honestly depict sapphic relationships. The story consists of awkward pseudo-incest and non-consensual acts perpetrated by Mei onto Yuzu. And being that it’s written with men in mind, Yuzu gets harassed and essentially assaulted by Mei and is just written to like it as opposed to addressing the unhealthy nature of their relationship. It gets even worse when Matsuri is added to the series. A girl who looks no older than 14 that alludes to sending grown men nude photos of herself (or photos off the internet rather) for no real reason at all. The whole show is just teen angst and sexual frustration of teenage girls made for the male gaze- particular those that are next level creeps. I really wanted to like this show because of the minimal sapphic representation in anime but of course, this is fetishist and just straight up wrong. The art style is great, the sound track is great, and the voice actors were great picks but it all falls flat when all those things try to cover up an irredeemable story. If anything, since the girls were made to live together anyway- why not make them college students (adults) at the very least? And not related either?