Queer subtext and fanmade text in Maria-sama ga miteru

The yuri genre, one focusing on emotional relationships (which may or may not be romantic) between female characters, was strongly influenced by the publishing of the novel Maria-sama ga miteru (Maria Watches Over Us) in 1998. The series would continue to run until 2012 and spawn manga and anime adaptations as yuri became more popular with Japanese fans. This paper examines the setting of the novels—a Catholic girls' school in Tokyo, hence the title, which refers to to the watchful gaze of Mary over the characters—and considers the ways in which Maria-sama ga miteru engages with both history and modernity through its depiction of deeply emotional relationships between girls that stay firmly in the realm of the platonic despite being frequently close to romance. It then moves on to discussing fanworks based on the series, which in many instances take the relationships established within the series and push them into explicit romance of various different forms; how might these fanworks both show respect to the original series and push it in new directions, and what might be motivating factors for writing romantic relationships when there were originally only platonic ones? Finally, the paper examines the trajectory of the yuri genre in recent years, considering how the girls' school setting and other aspects of Maria-sama ga miteru have been interpreted and reused in later works, as well as considering what the future may hold for yuri and the issue of lesbian identity. Who are the fans of yuri and what might their relationship be to the genre's history, its connection to real-life individuals, and its progression in years to come?

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

E Asian Languages & Cultures

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Fugate, Natalie

Contributors dc:contributor

• Tierney, Robert
• Wilson, Roderick

• Fan creations
• Japanese literature
• Same-sex love

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2021 Natalie Fugate

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/113797

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F113797