So from what I understand, the yuri genre is always written in kanji, like
this, 百合. However, I noticed that the title of the anime has yuri written in
katakana, ユリ. So if the anime is a yuri series, then why would they write it
in katakana instead of kanji?
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2020-02-26T06:35:07.823
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2020-02-26T07:47:35.787
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question
grammar
Why does the title of Yurikuma Arashi use katakana for yuri instead of kanji?
This is basically an aesthetic choice. There is no "one correct way" to write
a made-up phrase like this. In this case, I can think of several possible
explanations:

  1. Even if _yuri_ is one of the themes of the anime, 百合 in kanji would look too direct and explicit. ユリ in katakana works more like a suggestive keyword, which was enough in this case.
  2. 百合熊嵐 would appear to be a [四字熟語](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yojijukugo) and thus feel too "traditional" or "serious".
  3. 百合熊嵐 is a little harder to parse and recognize because there is no clear word boundary. On the other hand, anyone can tell ユリ熊嵐 is an eye-catching made-up word instantly.

These may or may not be correct. BTW,
[ゆるゆり](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YuruYuri) is a similar example. Here the
title is in all-hiragana to emphasize the cuteness or easygoing-ness or the
work. Someone who sees it for the first time may not recognize it's related to
_yuri_ , but that's expected.

Related:

  * [Why is Toyota typically written in Katakana? (トヨタ)](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/31078/5010)
  * [What does it mean for the 'feel' of a sentence / text when it's written in all hiragana?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/15108/5010)
  * [Why are katakana preferred over hiragana or kanji sometimes?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1930/5010)
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2020-02-26T07:47:35.787
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2020-02-26T07:47:35.787
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answer