Not only is there going to be a second volume of the Shoujo Yuri anthology, the Yuri network is buzzing with the news that both members of Yuri doujinshi circle Sakuraike, Kitao Taki and Mitou Kana, will be participating.

***

Snatches of Yuri

Machigatta Ra-Nobe no Tsukurikata is about, one has to presume from the title, a clumsy/awkward/mistake-prone girl who wants to write Light Novels. Yuri is the kind of “funny” sexual harassment substituted by people who can’t create for people who can’t discern.

The plot of Shoukoujo (Thanks to Ana for the translation!) fascinates me. Not for the reason you might think. Apparently, in the future, when humanity has reached for the stars and plies their way across the universe, Yuri stories *still* happen in Catholic private high schools. :-)

Yuri seems to be on the slight uptick in the shoujo manga magazines these days. Running in Ribon is “Blue Friends” and in Nakayosi, “Nobara no Mori Otome-tachi” sounds ridiculously promising. I haven’t had a chance to confirm/deny/anything these, so this remains hearsay until a YNN correspondent tells me it is true. :-)

***
Other News

I’ve talked about Twitter before here on Okazu. I know that it’s not to everyone’s taste, of course. But I remain convinced that it is a stellar tool for bringing the world closer. I’ve discussed some of the many excellent manga bloggers on Twitter. This community is growing all the time – you can see many of them participating in the monthly Manga/Manhwa Movable Feast project (the last one was hosted by Katherine Dacy at Manga Critic). This community has fabulous, fascinating and often incredibly funny and thoughtful conversations about the manga industry in 140 characters or less practically every night. It’s a supportive community, with members sharing each other’s triumphs and providing solace for down moments – and we promote the hell out of each other, sharing links and commenting on each other’s blogs. It’s a really fabulous place to be. If you are on Twitter, or just joining it, you don’t have to go through the trouble of searching for these folks – I’ve created an Anime/Manga list of people I follow. You can simply follow my list.  You may notice that some of these people are posting in Japanese. That’s because the Twitter world is smaller than you’d think. Some of the folks I follow on that list are not just bloggers and reviewers, too….some of them are Yuri manga artists. You might be surprised to see some of the names.

If you do decide to join Twitter, don’t forget to say hello! You can always find me @Yuricon. :-)

***