Yuri Network News – October 20, 2012

October 20th, 2012

Hi all. I want to start today’s report with some news. Not terribly great news, but I kind of feel like you deserve to hear it from me.

Last week, just before New York Comic Con, I ended up rushed to the hospital. The good news is that was not a stroke, which is what we originally thought. The bad news is that it is Multiple Sclerosis and, for the moment, both my motor coordination and speech are a little messed up. I was sure that after NYCC, my reviewing schedule would go back to normal here, but that seems unlikely now. I apologize in advance if reviews are sporadic for a while again. The very good news is that I’m improving every day, so just send me your kind thoughts (please, no offers of help or advice, or friends to talk to…all that will merely piss me off) and we’ll move on with our lives. ^_^ At this point, I do still plan on going to Japan for Maiden’s Garden and Comitia, but obviously, we’ll see.

For those of you already heard this news on Twitter and Facebook, thank you all for your kind thoughts and support. It means a lot to me.  That having been said, let’s get on to the news!

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Yuri Manga

JManga made a number of big announcements last week at NYCC, not least of which was that they will be that they have added Aoi Hana, Sweet Blue Flowers, by Shimura Takako. They are also leading their new Jmanga7 service with a number of Yuri titles including Gokujyo Drops, Hanjuku Joshi, Kuchibiru ni Saketa Orange and Aoi Hana! I can assure you that JManga’s and ALC’s committment to getting you as much Yuri Manga as possible is as strong as ever. ^_^ (I won’t leak news, but let me assure you some great stuff is on the way!)

Once again, please allow me to flog that Tokyo Love ~ Rica ‘tte Kanji!? is available online for free.

If you decide you like it and want to buy Tokyo Love, all the digital editions are DRM-free and shareable. We’d love for you to use in your classwork, and please let your teachers know that they are welcome to use it, as well.

Rica and I would like nothing better than for every person who needs or wants to read this feel-good lesbian manga to have the chance to do so, so please feel free to share the link around!

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Yuri Anime

Nozomi RightStuf also renewed their commitment to the Yuri audience this week, with their premiere of Rose of Versailles at NYCC. Episode 1 is up online on Nozomi’s Youtube Channel, so do go over and watch  what is arguably the most famous anime in the world. ^_^ (Yes, unfortunately, region-blocking is in effect. Do email RightStu and Viki to and let them know you want to be able to watch it, so they can effectively communicate that to the Japanese rights holder company who insists.)

You also have a chance to ask Rose of Versailles creator Riyoko Ikeda questions about her creation! Check out the official Rose of Versailles site and get your questions in by Nov, 1, 2012.

Yuru Yuri has won a prestigious animation award. Fun, I’ll give you – good animation? Come on.

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Other News

Kodansha has announced a Sailor Moon Artbook. Interestingly, it appears they are putting together an aggregate of some of the original books, rather than just printing them in order. Sean Gaffney clarifies, “From what I gathered at the Kodansha panel, the Japanese are culling the SM artbooks into one new one that way for the anniversary. Kodansha USA is merely releasing it over here soon after, with Naoko’s NA-only content.” Thanks for clearing that up, Sean.

***

That’s a wrap for this week!

Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

13 Responses

  1. DezoPenguin says:

    Well, you certainly have my kind thoughts and best wishes towards recovery! And I certainly support your ongoing efforts to make me up my JManga subscription to 2500/month to keep up with the Yuri.

    And yes, I’m still shaking my head at YuruYuri winning that award. My personal comprehension meter is reading zero.

  2. Bah! Rose of Versailles not available in the UK. Which is kind of annoying. I mean, I shall still buy the DVDs when they come out next year, but it would have been good to have the youtube video just to spread the word!

  3. Justin says:

    Our prayers will be with you Erika.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Best wishes for a quick recovery.

    Also, Hanjuku Joshi? Are we really getting a Morishima Akiko series in English?

  5. Thank you. Yes, Hanjuku Joshi is definitely coming to JManga. We’ve completed the edits on it and are just waiting for it to launch. ^_^

  6. Thanks everyone. I’m getting there.

    @DezoPenguin – YRYR getting an animation award signals the death of anime to me. BUT there’s hope! Veteran filmmaker Masaaki Yuki is using Kickstarter to fund an original animation called Kick-Heart. I’ve backed it, I hope people who love anime will help me: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/production-ig/masaaki-yuasas-kick-heart

    Original, good animation that isn’t made for mental children. Woot.

  7. BruceMcF says:

    Damn, the medical news sucks ~ my dad had MS. {kind thoughts}

    I’m psyched about Rose of Versailles ~ I’d watched a batch of episodes of RoV a number of years ago, and by the time I had time to watch another batch, I’d stopped using that source for anime. It looks like I’ll be patronizing Viki streaming and RightStuf for the discs for that.

    And I’m really psyched about JManga picking up Aoi Hana ~ I’ve got the JManga app working on one of my 7in tablets, and its much, much better than trying to read on the 7in tablet with the online flash reader.

  8. darkchibi07 says:

    I don’t know if you know it yet but Girl Friends Complete Collection Vol. 1 made it to the Top 10 New York Times Manga Best Sellers at #8 last week!

    http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-10-12/new-york-times-manga-best-seller-list-september-30-october-6

  9. @darkchibi07 – Cool for Seven Seas. ^-^

    @Bruce_mcF – Thank you for the kind thoughts. I love the Jmanga app, honestly. On my 10″ tablet the reading experience is near perfect.

  10. BruceMcF says:

    And Railgun recently had a sequel anime series announced … this has me even more psyched. After Railgun finished going up on FUNmation’s Roku channel, I went back into it least three more times looking for more episodes, only to remember that the entire first series was up.

  11. Anonymous says:

    “so just send me your kind thoughts (please, no offers of help or advice, or friends to talk to…all that will merely piss me off)”

    Now I hope an offer of another author to read doesn’t count in the above. :/

    I don’t know if you’ve read any of Nicola Griffith’s stuff before, but if you haven’t: she writes good science fiction and mystery, and she’s lesbian, and she has MS, which is why her name came to my mind when I read this post of yours. http://nicolagriffith.com/

    Everyone else on the comments thread, go ahead and check out that link too. ;)

  12. @Anonymous – Well, actually it does include that. I know Nicola has the same disease, but her experience and mine are so vastly different that it doesn’t really help me at all to know what she’s doing for it. That’s why I specifically said do not offer any advice, etc. I’m not the kind of person who wants or needs a disease support group made up of people I don’t choose.

  13. Anonymous says:

    OK!

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