The term came to be associated with lesbian pornographic manga beginning in the 1990s, notably though the manga magazine "Lady's Comic Misuto" (1996–1999), which heavily featured symbolic lily flowers. When the term "yuri" began being used in the west in the 1990s, it was similarly used almost exclusively to describe pornographic manga aimed at male readers featuring lesbian couples. Over time, the term drifted from this pornographic connotation to describe the portrayal of intimate love, sex, or emotional connections between women, and became broadly recognized as a genre name for works depicting same-sex female intimacy in the mid-2000s following the founding of the specialized "yuri" manga magazines "Yuri Shimai" and "Comic Yurihime". The Western use of "yuri" subsequently broadened beginning in the 2000s, picking up connotations from the Japanese use. American publishing companies such as ALC Publishing and Seven Seas Entertainment have also adopted the Japanese usage of the term to classify their "yuri" manga publications.