Yuri News This Week – June 14, 2008

June 14th, 2008

It was a long week this week and all sorts of news from all over…

Yuri Anime

Amuri in Star Ocean, which is a manga series that runs in Dengeki Daioh magazine has posted a streamed version of the anime trailer on the website Amuri.jp. Amuri consistently has some Yuri service in the manga. I don’t actually know if the anime has any or not. Interestingly though, the trailer is available in a “moe” version and a “sci-fi” version.

The Shoujo Sect anime trailer has been uploaded for you to do whatever it is you want to do while watching it. Looks like they are covering quite a few of the scenarios from the manga. All I want is the very final chapter. Probably not, because it has comparatively little sex.

And Right Stuff has said that anyone who directly preorders the first season of Maria-sama ga Miteru from them, will get a Rosa Chinesis phone strap as a free chotchke. I spoke briefly with them about gew-gaws. We agreed that this audience would be a huge consumer of “stuff” if they let us get any. :-)

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Yuri Manga

The husband and wife team that writes and draws He is My Master has split. Asu Tsubaki, the artist half, who draws for Yuri Hime S, among other things, has said she will not continue the series. I’m heartbroken, as you can imagine.

Steady Beat creator Rivkah reports that Tokyopop will be releasing the third volume of her series on the Web only. This seems to be the fate of many of their World Manga/OEL titles.

Someone asked last week what the TP contraction would mean for the Yuri titles. I think its safe to say that the one or two titles they had that were even vaguely Yuri will take a hit. The third, which had not been released yet, will also likely not see the light of day. I’m conjecturing here, but overall, compared with Yaoi/BL titles, Yuri do comparatively poorly in sales. I’ve figured out why, too. BL titles’ audience – women – *buy* more than guys. A lot more. Guys, if they like a thing want to know where to download it – for free. Women come running up to a table, buy everything and run off. lol Don’t know why, but I’ve seen it over and over at events.

Also, to continue a conversation on the Yuricon Mailing List, this contraction has already trickled to the Tokyopop UK group and is likely to hit Germany and France soon. What that means for the translated Maria-sama ga Miteru novels in Gernmany is as yet unknown. Money talks, so if the books are selling well, they may well be continued.

Friend of Yuri Steven reminds me to mention GIRL X GIRL X BOY, a manga series I keep meaning to review, but keep forgetting. It’s out in tankoubon now. As the title indicates, it’s about a love triangle. While not earthshatteringly brilliant, it does have a happy ending.

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Snatches of Yuri

From Rei, a news item that Shin Megami Tensei Kahn has utterly trash-ariffic Yuri. The Publisher’s Weekly review listed on the Amazon site sums it up nicely: “The book has a surprising amount of violence and nudity: nearly all the female leads appear nude, including Nobu’s mother. Saeko is coerced into graphic demon lesbian sex in one very long scene. At worst, this book is a poor introduction to the MegaTen franchise. At best, it is a mediocre story about demons and a fast pulp read.” Okay then.

And once again from Ana, who knows me so well!, a mention that Light Novel Vanilla – A Sweet Partner has trashy Yuri girls with guns. I am *so* there. I’ll be sure to report back – and put it on the Yuricon Shop’s Light Novels page!

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Other News

Since I mentioned Tokyopop’s collapse, I guess I ought to to give ADV the same courtesy. ANN reports that the next issue of PiQ magazine, ADV’s replacement for Newtype will be its last. I can’t say I’m surprised, but I did think it was a decent magazine. It’s just that the costs of printing and distributing magazines these days make it hard to support the business model. I hope they think about continuing it as an online or mobile magazine.

And last for today, once again my novel Shoujoai ni Bouken is the subject of discussion at Ultimo Spalpeen (In Japanese.) This time Komatsu-san informs me, he is reassuring Japanese readers that my understanding of Japanese culture is not cringe-making. lol Thank you once again, Komatsu-san! I wrote it 8 years ago now, and there are definitely things I’d do differently, but I’m very pleased to have no huge gaffes instantly apparent. Phew. :-)

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That’s it for this week. Don’t forget to join me at 12:30 at the Brooklyn Museum of Art for Ghost in the Shell: Innocence!. See you there!

8 Responses

  1. Sleepy says:

    I’m a new fan of Yuri – a bit late to the game! I just pre-ordered my Marimite yesterday!!! NO!! I want the phone strap! ahaha

  2. In terms of Amuri– I watched it RAW on Veoh… It has two “accidental” kisses between the main character and the other two… people with powers. The kisses are really played up for comedy (I think that was what it was supposed to be lol) as after they occur the sequence of animation as they kiss is repeated from various angles ad nausium with bizzare sound effects.

    It was kind of cute, I guess, and one episode is not enough to tell how Yuri it would be. To me, it seems like a series you would definately hate, because all the characters are pretty loli-tastic. I would also say avoid it if you hate cg-pretending-to-be-2D. The plot was sort of interesting– magical girls… IN SPACE! I would gladly do a review for you, since I already sat through it.

  3. mafggie – read this first, then sure, send a review: http://okazu.blogspot.com/2007/07/guest-review-guidelines.html

    sleepy – Right Stuf said that they’d honor all direct pre-orders, even the ones made before the announcement. So if you ordered with them, you should be getting one.

  4. grace says:

    Hope the Ghost in the Shell lecture went well! It’s events like that where I wish I lived in New York. Hope you’ll do a quick recap on Okazu or Yuricon, I’d love to know how things went.

    I will also wait patiently for the review of Vanilla- A Sweet Partner. Looks/sounds good!

  5. chilipop says:

    LOL I actually went and downloaded that trailer of Shoujo Sect.

    Did anyone else giggle at the name? ‘Innocent Lovers’?

    LMAO

    I’m sorry I just had to add that. I too, however, really want to see the last chapter animated more than anything else. Who knows, it may happen.

  6. Jen says:

    Which Tokyopop series that have Yuri in them will be taking a hit from the cutbacks?

  7. Eric P. says:

    Rivkah on her blog sounds optmistic that she *might* get the print rights back for the third volume; I for one can only hope for so much.

    Vanilla-A Sweet Partner was a title I purchased because I thought it was a manga, so imagine my dumb look when I found out I got something that I can’t even skim through and guess what it’s about. So I’m very much looking forward to your review of the general storyline of the book whenever you get to it!

  8. Melissa says:

    Don’t know if anyone’s already mentioned it, but the latest issue of Shojo Beat, which ordinarily contains nothing even remotely Yuri-ish, has a Marimite ad! I squealed :)

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