LGBT in Japan

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 47. Chapters: Japanese LGBT-related films, LGBT culture in Japan, LGBT history in Japan, LGBT people from Japan, Yukio Mishima, Blue, Maria-sama ga Miteru, Homosexuality in Japan, Princess Knight, Shunga, Mutsuo Takahashi, Sexual minorities in Japan, Naked Lunch, Suicide Club, Tomie, Ataru Nakamura, Nobuko Yoshiya, Shiro Toyoda, Thomas no Shinzo, Eko Eko Azarak, LGBT rights in Japan, Sakura no Sono, Gengoroh Tagame, Wakashu, Kabachan, Boys Love, Akihiro Miwa, Love My Life, Taboo, Shinobu Orikuchi, Like Grains of Sand, Okoge, Tamotsu Yato, I Like You, I Like You Very Much, Kayo Satoh, Ayana Tsubaki, Sadao Hasegawa, Love Vibes, Yaji and Kita: The Midnight Pilgrims, Ikko, Lovers' Kiss, Funeral Parade of Roses, Chiya Fujino, Ai Haruna, Kenichi Mikawa, Kagema, Queer Boys and Girls on the Shinkansen, The Mars Canon, A Touch of Fever, Big Bang Love, Juvenile A, House of Himiko, Ryosuke Hashiguchi, Same-sex marriage in Japan, Tokyo International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, Topless, Il Vento e le Rose, Manji, Natural Woman, Rainbow March. Excerpt: Maria-sama ga Miteru , lit. The Virgin Mary is Watching or Maria Watches Over Us), often shortened to Marimite ), is a series of Japanese light novels written by Oyuki Konno and illustrated by Reine Hibiki. The series focuses on a group of teenage girls attending Lillian Catholic school for girls in Tokyo, Japan. Its storyline largely revolves around the lives and close relationships of the school's student council known as the Yamayuri Council. Maria-sama ga Miteru is considered representative of yuri novels. The series began as a short story in the February 1997 issue of Cobalt, a shojo fiction magazine published by Shueisha. The first light novel was published by Shueisha on April 24, 1998, and as of December 2010 the series has grown to 38 volumes. Shueisha has also produced manga and drama CD adaptations; as of 2009 the latter is still ongoing. Between January 2004 and March 2009 the series was adapted into a four-season anime produced by Studio Deen. The Right Stuf International has licensed all four seasons through its production arm Nozomi Entertainment, and is releasing them in North America under the title Maria Watches Over Us. It has also been adapted into a live-action film that was released in Japan on November 6, 2010. Maria-sama ga Miteru's story revolves around the students of the Lillian Girls' Academy (a Catholic school), and can be considered character-driven, focusing on interactions between the characters rather than any sort of ongoing plot or goal to attain. At Lillian Girls' School, there is a tradition known as the s¿ur system (s¿ur being French for "sister"), in which a second, or third-year student, the grande s¿ur ("big sister"), will give her rosary to a first-year student, the petite s¿ur ("little sister"), and promise to look after them and guide them. When the story begins, Yumi Fukuzawa, a first-year student at Lillian, is praying in front of the Virgin Mary statue near the school entrance when she is suddenly approached by a cold s