Citrus
citrus
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Step-sisters, a forced kiss, and a yuri melodrama that split its audience on consent.
Yuzu Aihara, a first-year who dresses like a gyaru and pretends to be experienced but has never been in love, transfers to the strict Aihara Academy for girls after her widowed mother remarries. On her first day she clashes with the cold, flawless student council president, Mei, and then sees Mei being kissed by Amamiya, a homeroom teacher. At home she learns that Mei is her new stepsister and will share her room. When Yuzu presses her about the teacher, Mei silences her with a sudden kiss, one she later says was only to shut her up.
Amamiya turns out to be Mei's fiancé, a match arranged by her grandfather, the academy's chairman, between a pupil and her teacher; a teacher pursuing his own pupil, a minor, is abuse, whatever the family arranged. Yuzu overhears that he has another lover and wants only the family's money and position, and she exposes him before the whole school; he is dismissed. The chairman walks in as Mei forces herself on Yuzu, blames Yuzu and expels her, until Yuzu finds him collapsed with a heart attack and gets him to hospital. By then she knows she is in love with Mei.
The stepsisters circle each other. Mei's father, who would rather travel than run the school, visits and leaves again, and the lonely Mei reaches for Yuzu physically; Yuzu stops her. Himeko, the vice-president and Mei's childhood friend, resents Yuzu. Yuzu's childhood friend Matsuri, a middle-school girl who makes money deceiving older men through a phone app, forces a kiss on Yuzu in front of Mei, then uses a photograph to blackmail Mei into meeting one of those men; Yuzu finds Mei before anything happens, and Matsuri deletes the picture. On Christmas night Mei offers to sleep with Yuzu as thanks, and Yuzu cannot accept it.
On a school trip to Kyoto, Yuzu meets Sara Tachibana, a girl from another school who fell for Mei at first sight, and whose twin, Nina, tries to keep Yuzu out of the way. Sara confesses to Mei and takes her on a date. In the last episode it is Sara who tells Yuzu to go after Mei. Yuzu finds her and says what she feels; Mei says she feels the same, and after apologising to the twins, the two stepsisters agree to go out together properly.
Starring
Ayana Taketatsuas Yuzu Aihara
A cheerful gyaru transfer student who has never been in love, until she falls for her new stepsister.
Yuzu Aihara’s story
Yuzu lost her father when she was small and, for all her gyaru style, has never had a boyfriend. At home she must share a room with Mei, her new stepsister, who kisses her to shut her up. Learning that Mei's teacher-fiancé wants only the family's money, she exposes him before the school and is expelled, then saves the chairman when he collapses, knowing by then that she loves Mei. Torn between love and sisterhood, she stops Mei when loneliness makes Mei reach for her, and goes looking for her when Matsuri's blackmail sends her to meet a stranger. On Christmas night she cannot accept Mei's offer to sleep with her as thanks. In Kyoto, urged on by Sara, she tells Mei how she feels; Mei feels the same, and they agree to go out properly.
Minami Tsudaas Mei Aihara
The student council president and chairman's granddaughter, raised to inherit the school and hiding her loneliness behind rules.
Mei Aihara’s story
Mei, the chairman's granddaughter, was raised to inherit the academy by a father who now travels the world. She has accepted the engagement her grandfather arranged to her teacher, knowing he wants only the family's money: a teacher pursuing his pupil, which is abuse. She silences Yuzu with a kiss. After Yuzu exposes the teacher, Mei is allowed to live as she chooses, and calls Yuzu by her first name. When her father leaves again, she reaches for Yuzu to numb her loneliness, and Yuzu stops her. Blackmailed by Matsuri into meeting a man, she keeps quiet to spare Matsuri, and nothing happens. At Christmas she offers to sleep with Yuzu as thanks and is hurt when Yuzu refuses. In Kyoto, when Yuzu finds her and says what she feels, Mei answers that she feels the same.
Yukiyo Fujiias Harumi Taniguchi
Yuzu's first friend at the academy, a fellow transfer who hides her gyaru side and backs Yuzu throughout.
Yurika Kuboas Himeko Momokino
The vice-president and Mei's childhood friend, possessive of Mei and jealous of Yuzu.
Shiori Izawaas Matsuri Mizusawa
Yuzu's manipulative middle-school childhood friend, left alone by working parents, who tries to drive Mei away.
Hisako Kanemotoas Sara Tachibana
A girl from another school who believes in fate, falls for Mei at first sight and then urges Yuzu on.
Why it matters
Citrus is a melodrama about two stepsisters falling in love, and its central problem is the one its critics named: for much of the story, desire arrives as something done to someone. Mei kisses Yuzu to silence her and later reaches for her to numb her own loneliness; Yuzu, in her turn, tries to force the issue. The series presents these moments as romantic tension. Reviewers at Anime News Network, CBR and Anime Feminist found the non-consensual contact uncomfortable, and Erica Friedman, founder of Yuricon, accused the story of presenting sexual assault as amusing. Around the two girls, adults fail them: a teacher engaged to his pupil, a grandfather who arranged it, a father who keeps leaving. What the series cannot quite ask is whether a girl taught that affection is a transaction can recognise love when it is finally offered freely.