Citrus (Japanese: シトラス, Hepburn: Shitorasu) is a Japanese yurimanga series written and illustrated by Saburouta. The series began serialization in Ichijinsha's Comic Yuri Hime from November 17, 2012 and is licensed in English by Seven Seas Entertainment. A 12-episode anime television series adaptation by Passione aired between January and March 2018.
Plot
Yuzu Aihara, a fashionable, spontaneous and fun-loving city-girl, transfers to a new neighborhood and high-school after the remarriage of her mother. More preoccupied with boys and shopping than studying, Yuzu struggles to fit in at the conservative girls' school and frequently clashes with the student council—specifically Mei Aihara, the hard-working, beautiful but cold student council president. As it turns out, Mei happens to be Yuzu's new step-sister and Yuzu finds herself having to share a bedroom with a girl she absolutely can't stand. The series follows the evolution of the relationship between the two girls, with the animosity slowly lessening as the two begin to learn more about each other and confusion growing as Yuzu discovers that she is starting to develop romantic feelings for her new step-sister.
Yuzu is a self-proclaimed gyaru and is the story's protagonist and Mei Aihara's older step-sister. Her father died when she was very young. She dyes her hair blonde, and has green eyes. She is a daring, outspoken, and often shameless only child who transfers to an all-girls school after her mother remarries. She enjoys dressing up, wearing makeup and customizing her school uniform in ways that clash with her school's code of conduct, often leading to altercations with the student council. Although her former friends believed her to be quite experienced in dating and relationships, she confesses she has never had a boyfriend. Although she appears quite ditzy at times, with hard work she is able to achieve test results within the school's top 100, to Himeko's surprise.
Upon transferring Yuzu instantly befriends the like-minded Harumi Taniguchi, and the two are often seen breaking school rules together. On the other hand, she instantly dislikes Mei, perplexed by her cold attitude and random sexual advances. Despite this, Yuzu's frustration eventually turns into a strong romantic attraction, and she develops a protectiveness for Mei and a deep concern for her well-being. Despite Yuzu struggling with her romantic interest in Mei, she also tries her best to be a good older sister figure, doing her best to mend the relationship between Mei and her father and doing what she can to offer support. She has a childhood friend named Matsuri, who lived close to her old house and used to be like a sister to her.
Mei is the beautiful and serious Student Council President, honor student, school chairman's granddaughter, and now Yuzu's younger step-sister (although the two are in the same grade). She is stern, cold and composed, but has a short temper. Although greatly respected by the student body, she may on occasion act or speak cruelly. This trait, as well as the fact that Mei often makes sexual advances toward her simply to manipulate her, greatly frustrates Yuzu. Mei was initially arranged to marry an elite teacher from her school, but Yuzu later discovered that he only intended to use her for her money and revealed his transgressions, leading to him leaving. As Yuzu gets to know her more, she is shown to be rather sensitive and lonely, which often stirs Yuzu's protective side.
Mei once looked up to her father greatly, believing that he would one day be chairman and herself after him. However, he instead left his position as a teacher and abandoned Mei to travel the world, making Mei the successor to the school and increasing her work load and burden because of it. Mei toiled for the sake of her father, believing that she should work hard and keep the school safe for when he came back, but when she realizes he has no intention of going back to work at the school she becomes resentful and their relationship sours. Although she wishes to better her relationship with her father, she struggles to accept who he has become, and feels she has nothing left living for as taking care of the school for the sake of her father had been her assumed purpose in life. However, Yuzu's influence leads her to begin repairing the damaged relationship with her father, as well as to searching for her own purpose in life.
In later chapters, Mei reciprocates Yuzu's romantic feelings to some degree, becoming rather possessive of her due to Matsuri's advances on Yuzu; opening up to her, and feeling guilty when she believes Yuzu is troubled or sad because of her actions. She expresses to Matsuri she's thankful for having met Yuzu.
Often referred to as "Harumin" (はるみん), she befriends Yuzu on her first day of school, calling herself a "gyaru in disguise" and showing Yuzu the ropes at her new school. Although she has adapted to fit in at the school, Harumi was also a transfer and is quite different from the conservative girls around her, taking no interest in fawning over Mei Aihara, the student council president, and often breaks the school rules by taking her phone to school, and going out after school hours. She is perky, kind, perceptive, humorous, easy-going and an overall good friend towards Yuzu, often lending her comfort and aide in the wake of the ups and downs of Yuzu's life. She often packs many items within her cleavage, and she has an older sister whom she is slightly fearful of.
Himeko is a Student Council Member and Mei's childhood friend and current right hand. She is from a very wealthy family, having a chauffeur and at least one butler. On weekends she can be seen wearing lolita fashion. She is stern, forward and jealous, and has quite a volatile personality. She is in love with Mei and is very possessive of her, becoming jealous when Yuzu enters her life. She has a small dog named Pucchi.
The second student council vice-president, a shy second-year student who is very close to Harumi's sister Mitsuko, being her vice-president before Mitsuko left the school. She is the only one bold enough to talk to Mitsuko casually, even referring to her as "Micchan" (みっちゃん). She was shown to constantly mock Mitsuko for being immature and scaring Harumi away, but ultimately had a crush on Mitsuko.
Nene Nomura (野村 寧音, Nomura Nene)
Nene is an energetic first year who looks to Yuzu as a role model; an inspiration to become braver and speaking up. It's later proven that she is also an intense yuri shipper, specifically of Yuzu and Harumi. She is grateful of Yuzu and the others for having accepted her, even after all of the trouble she unintentionally caused them.
Suzuran Shiraho (白帆 鈴蘭, Shiraho Suzuran)
Suzuran is an extremely observant and unflappable third year of the Aihara Academy. She has an immense infatuation for Mei, for she is the only person that she cannot read. Consequently, she spends all of her free time observing her, thus why she is in need of summer supplementary lessons. Suzuran comes from a rich family who refrain from expressing emotions in order to not be taken advantage of by others. She also has an older stepbrother.
Shō's father and Mei's grandfather, who disliked Yuzu at first due to her breaking his school's rules and expelled her after walking in on Mei sexually assaulting Yuzu, assuming Yuzu was the one attacking. He later pardons her after she saves his life by calling him an ambulance after she finds him collapsed. Mei has taken Chairman duties until he returns.
Matsuri is an only child, whose parents are always working and do not really pay attention to her. She is Yuzu's childhood friend who lived close to her before she moved to the Aihara residence, and a second-year in middle school. Matsuri is precocious and smart for her age, and does not mind her words. She can be mischievous at times and she enjoys teasing people, especially Yuzu and Harumi. Like Mei, she tends to be manipulative. She sells masturbation videos she finds on the Internet to old men through a phone app, pretending they are hers, as a means of income. She eventually develops feelings for Harumi, even claiming to be her girlfriend.
Sara is a student from a different school. She falls in love with Mei at first sight, but after finding out about her relationship with Yuzu, she gives up on Mei in order to support their love. Sara is very superstitious and ardently believes in things such as luck and destiny. She is very short, and has a younger twin sister, named Nina.
Nina Tachibana (タチバナ・ニナ, Tachibana Nina)
Voiced by: Rei Matsuzaki[7] (Japanese); Megan Emerick (English)[4]
She is Sara's younger twin sister, who happens to be much taller. She is a skeptical and does not believe in fate. She worries very much for her Sara, so she tried to help her and Mei getting together, and tried to prevent Yuzu from getting in their way.
Mitsuko Taniguchi (谷口 みつ子, Taniguchi Mitsuko)
The older sister of Harumi Taniguchi. She is the former Student Council President of the Aihara Academy. She was very close to Kayo, who still remains a part of the student council to this very day, when she was still in the academy.
Ichika (イチカ)
A school friend of Nina and Sara. She seems to have been the one to introduce Nina to Momoiro Shimai, and is also the school's Student Council President, being the complete opposite of Mei at that.
Udagawa (宇田川)
The manager of the café where Yuzu worked part-time for some time in order to buy her a ring. Despite not knowing who is Yuzu's lover, he supports their relationship. It is revealed that he is Mei's fiancé.
Yuzu's friends since middle school. They lost contact when Yuzu transferred schools, but she met them again while working part-time back in her old city. She revealed that she was dating, but was unable to tell them she was dating a girl after they showed homophobic behavior in front of her. One of them has black hair, and the other has brown hair.
Citrus is written and illustrated by Saburouta. It began serialization in Ichijinsha's bimonthly magazine Comic Yuri Hime on November 17, 2012.[8][9] Ichijinsha has released eight tankōbon volumes since July 2013.[10][11] To advertise the third volume of the manga, a PV covering the story up to that point was uploaded to Ichijinsha's YouTube channel on November 18, 2014. A drama CD was released with the fourth manga volume in July 2015.[12] The manga is licensed in English by Seven Seas Entertainment, who began releasing the series in December 2014.[13] It has also been licensed in Germany,[14] Thailand,[15] and Formosa.[16]
An anime television series adaptation, directed by Takeo Takahashi and animated by Passione, aired on AT-X between January 6 and March 24, 2018.[24] Naoki Hayashi is in charge of overseeing scripts and Izuro Ijuuin is in charge of designing the characters and is credited as chief animation director. Lantis is producing the music, while Infinite is credited with producing the anime.[5] The opening theme is "Azalea" (アザレア, Azarea) by Nano Ripe, and the ending theme is "Dear Teardrop" by Mia Regina.[25]Crunchyroll simulcast the series while Funimation is streaming the English dub.[26]
^All English episode titles are taken from Crunchyroll.
Reception
Citrus appeared on The New York Times best seller list for manga five times in 2015.[27] In a review of the manga's first volume by Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network, Citrus is described as having emotionally interesting characters with the contrasting personalities of Yuzu and Mei, and their relationship is likened to a "yuri version of the twins' from Arisa." Silverman praises Saburouta's use of reader hindsight, pointing out that Mei's actions can be seen in a different light as the series progresses due to Saburouta giving a slow understanding of her character. However, the non-consensual elements of the manga are described as uncomfortable in contrast with gentler yuri manga that have previously been released in English.[1]
^コミック百合姫 2013年1月号 [Comic Yuri Hime January 2013 issue] (in Japanese). Tohan Corporation. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^コミック百合姫 [Comic Yuri Hime] (in Japanese). Ichijinsha. Archived from the original on November 19, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ ab"Citrus (1)" (in Japanese). Ichijinsha. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ ab"Citrus (8)" (in Japanese). Ichijinsha. Archived from the original on November 17, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^"Citrus" (in German). Tokyopop. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^"Citrus ซีตรัส 1" (in Thai). Zenshu. Archived from the original on December 16, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^《citrus~柑橘味香氣~》 (in Chinese). Tongli Publishing. Retrieved February 6, 2018. {{cite web}}: Invalid |script-title=: missing prefix (help)
^"Citrus (2)" (in Japanese). Ichijinsha. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^"Citrus (3)" (in Japanese). Ichijinsha. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 28, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^"Citrus (4)" (in Japanese). Ichijinsha. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015. Retrieved December 1, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^"Citrus (5)" (in Japanese). Ichijinsha. Archived from the original on August 10, 2016. Retrieved January 4, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^"Citrus (6)" (in Japanese). Ichijinsha. Archived from the original on February 11, 2017. Retrieved February 9, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^"Citrus (7)" (in Japanese). Ichijinsha. Archived from the original on April 17, 2017. Retrieved May 19, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
