Hi ^^
I'm quite new with Yuri, just like Yaoi..there's also plenty of cliche infested Yuri mangas out there.

I'm looking for really good Yuri like:
Octave and Gunjou. -- they both have well-balanced plotline in portraying the relationship between the two women.

Mangas with well-developed Shoujo-ai subtext like Gold Rush 21 are also preferable.

Please[color=red] DO NOT [/color]give Yuri recommendations that have:

1. An overly dominant girl with overly shy and submissive partner.
2. Relationship between Oujo-sama and her servant
3. A very dull josei-like Yuri. I dont like mangas that's just too realistic..and boring.
4. Big eyed Shoujo or Ecchi themed Yuri.
5. The main couple is already in a relationship when the manga introduced them.

Please do recommend any Yuri that have..

1. Drama [Good reasonable plot]
2. Character with a past.
3. Friends become lovers
4. Rival become lovers.
5. Some male characters. It doesnt just revolve around women.
6. Yuri characters that work as a Host/Hostess? like the girl in Shinobi no Onna and Gold rush 21 🙂

Thank you.

[img]http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/6167/avvy.png[/img]
Rape is imminent.

morinaga Milk's releases may be a good place to start. The series Girlfriends in particular is about the friends into lovers theme.

Most yuri stories are sickeningly sugary, though, and there aren't nearly as many yuri releases as yaoi, so I'm not going to bother any more.

This signature was recovered from Hades to serve in my rotting armies.

I think a manga which features a very interesting yuri relationship is The Papaya Gang
.
Although the characters are already in a relationship when the manga starts, this relationship develops greatly as the series progresses, and their pasts and motivations are revealed.
Neither of the couple is in no way weak, but they have very sweet moments.
There's drama, but there's also lots of comedy.
It also doesn't revolve only around them. There other characters as well as couplings.
Straight ones at that, zomg. lol

Overpass Junction is another interesting read.
The minus here that it's a oneshot with an extra,
so it mostly revolves around the couple and their problems.

There's another manga I could recommend, but it's unscanlated yet.
I want to read it myself. ^^;

And uh, I might be a little biased here, being the loving editor for them,
but I work on what I enjoy, yah know. :'D

Hrodulf and Bjornolfr, you will not be forgotten.
[img]http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp199/SyberAngelGabrielle/couplesig.jpg[/img]
[color=black]And if the world were black and white,
you would be my rainbow in shades of grey.[/color]

Click 'n Play!

If I had a fantasy self, it'd be a tentacle monster.

I think you'd like Sasameki Koto. Aoi Hana is good, too, although it does have an annoyingly shy girl.

Gunjou is one of my favourites, too. I doubt I've ever seen a more realistic-but-also-surreal yuri before (or since)

Pieta is a classic, of course. Though it's more vaguely-implied GL and not actual yuri.

Moonlight Flowers is very nice.

Claudine...! doesn't have a happy ending and it's a tad melodramatic, but you should still give it a try.

Manga no Tsukurikata might be to your liking.

And you should definitely read Girl Friends and Sasameki Koto; but I'm afraid the latter doesn't have any straight side couples involved. There are one or two important male characters - though I notice they've been appearing less and less as of late.

Edit - I forgot to add Tetragrammaton Labyrinth and Flower Flower.

Eastern manga aside, Penny and Aggie actually has everything your looking for. Although, there are quite a lot of character interactions and the first year of the manga is a little crudely drawn. It develops pretty quickly and interestingly after that - especially in recent chapters.

Thank you for all your recommendations! 🙂
I'm sorry for the late replies, I will get onto reading them! They all sound good! Thank you. 😃 >:-(

[img]http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/6167/avvy.png[/img]
Rape is imminent.