Obviously, while I was at AnimeNEXT last week, some stuff happened. :-)

Yuri Manga

Top story is that Media Blasters has licensed and is working on Maka Maka, in glorious full color, with the internal extras. (No dolls, though. I asked about the dolls and they didn’t know what I meant. Oh well, still no Jun and Nene dolls for me. Boo hoo. Unlike Right Stuf, Media Blasters folks don’t really get the fans’ (my) interest in physcal extras. Too expensive, no one cares, was the basic feedback I got. I think they are totally wrong about that, so if you happen to be talking to them at a con, tell them that you like the physical extras – postcards, dolls, phone straps, etc, too!)

In any case, look for Maka Maka one day soon. :-) In the meantime, if you don’t know why you should care, here’s links to my reviews of Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Here’s an interesting little fact, through Brigid Alverson’s Mangablog. Germany Tokyopop functions as a separate company from the American side, and they have announced that they *will* be publishing some of TP’s OEL titles, including lesbian-themed Steady Beat, by Rivkah.

And from Comipress, a translation of the Ichijinsha polls on the readership of their magazines. Yuri Hime holds steady at 70% female, 30% male, despite their attempt to make it more moe and less Yuri.

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Yuri Anime

Nozomi/Right Stuf formally announced the first season of Aria license. I maintain that it’s not really a Yuri series, but plenty of Yuri fans (including myself) feel comfortable enough making it all up in our heads. lol

Nozomi/Right Stuf will be at Anime Expo and they have said that they have two more licensing announcements – will they be Yuri-themed? Guess we’ll have to wait and see!

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Other News

I found this news on Japan Today – As you may know, The L Word was released recently in Japan, and they held an event to promote the series. Selected bloggers were invited and got to be photoed with and interview at least one of the series’ stars.

I’ve never watched a single moment of this series, but I know many Yuri fans in Japan are interested in it. It’ll be interesting to see what the predominantly male fanbase of Yuri takes away from it there. lol

Last up, for the three people out there who are consuming light novels and novels the way I am, lesbian writer Natsuko Mori has a new novel out, about lesbian shenanigans in college called Sempai to Watashi. Because this is Mori-san, I expect it to be brilliant and trashy. I’ll report back when I’ve read it. :-)
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That’s it for this week, and last. As always, if you have any good Yuri-related news, please feel free to shoot it off to me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com!