OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Kase-san And Morning Glories

Yuri anime is a rarity in the American market. There's plenty of titles like Sailor Moon and Utena which feature or hint at it, but Kase-san And Morning Glories is a bonafide high school romance story, that just happens to also be a shoujo-ai. Based on the manga by Hiromi Takashima, Zexcs was the studio behind this slice-of-life story which was turned into a one-shot OVA that happened to get a small theatrical release in Japan.

Halfway through their senior year, the timid Yamada starts to develop a relationship with the outgoing Kase who is popular for being a good soccer player. The two are schoolmates who became friendly through class interactions, but they notice each other through just being themselves. Kase is attracted to Yamada for just being a shy girl who devotes alot of her time to caring for the school's gardening club activities, and Yamada is drawn to Kase because she seems like her ideal love interest. The story focuses more on the two of them forming their relationship, and how they grow comfortable towards each other. You would think that Kase would be the stereotypical cool girl with a major tsundere vibe instead of being clutzy and fuzzyheaded when it comes to how Yamada makes her feel. During their school field trip to the ocean, Kase and Yamada come to understand how their relationship affects the way other people see them. The major struggle involves the two young lovers realizing that their plans to go to college in seperate cities would lead to them having to be apart, though both eventually understand that they can't live without the other and decide to stay together no matter the future.

Lesbian relationships still have a negative view in some aspects of modern Japan, especially in the field of same-sex marriage, but Kase-san And Morning Glories narrows its view in the budding romance of two teenage schoolgirls. The anime doesn't really get into how their romance would affect their social lives. The OVA is more focused on how the main characters slowly ease into how best to comfort the other. Some viewers might feel a little shortchanged for starting a yuri anime with the two lovers already in their early stages of their romance as opposed to how their relationship began. However, the positive aspect in this is how much better the girls' lives become from knowing each other. Don't go into this thinking of it as a pro-lesbian feature, but as a refreshing dramedy for nearly any audience.