Wow, it’s Saturday already! What a week. What a month! Geez, it’s going to be a crazy year. ^_^ Tons of news this week as I catch up on a backlog!

Yuri Manga

Saborouta’s Citrus has made it to Volume 5 in English and Volume 6 in Japanese.

Volume 4 of 2DK, GPen, Mezamashitokei (2DK、Gペン、目覚まし時計。) is going to hit shelves next week and it’s going to raise some eyebrows! Ohsawa Yayoi’s adult life series has just taken a very interesting turn. ^_^

LGBTQ Comics

YNN Correspondent Brendan B has written in to share some exciting news. “The series Superwoman from DC has a pair of supporting characters named Natasha Irons and Traci 13 (some teen superheroes from the 90’s) who have now been reimagined as a couple. It made me really happy to see and I just thought some people might be interested to know. (Also sidenote a rare example of a black/Asian interracial couple since I rarely see that in fiction either.)” I’d like to also note that Superwoman is being written right now by Phil Jimenez, who also contributed to LGBT Comic anthology Love is Love (which is available in print and also digitally on Comixology and Kindle).

And while we’re talking DC, I want to mention that Mariko Tamaki (Skim, This One Summer) is working on Supergirl with Joëlle Jones right now!

If you liked Jem and the Holograms (or liked the idea of Jem and the Holograms, but not the actual thing itself) Kim & Kim, Volume 1: This Glamorous, High-Flying Rock Star Life looks like it’ll be for you!

For our Japanese friends, you can get Nakamura Kiyo’s Rezu to Shichinin no Kanojo-tachi (レズと七人の彼女たち) on Kindle or read it online for a per-chapter fee on Note.mu.

Yuri Articles

YNN Correspondent Mudakun of Hearts of Furious Fancies, reports on “A fan translation of a discussion by three shonen-ish magazine types about Yuri-ish titles.”  You can find the original on Akiba Blog.  He has this to say about it, “At least One editor-san seems to be worried that Yuri was too “removed” from their readership’s understanding or experience for the reader to have much sympathy (I’m abstracting here), where I’ve been under the impression that the distance is what makes these tales attractive to jaded male-gaze types (like me).”

In my experience of Yuri fandom fans are very invested in the couple, but it’s not surprising that the editor would “other” it to make it make sense to him. ^_^

Via Jennifer Robertson, The Japan Times has reported on a symposium at the California Institute of the Arts:  Female animators breaking down male-dominated cartoon-women stereotypes. It’s a refreshing look by western female animators at some of the tired tropes of women in animation.

LGBTQ Podcast

In case you missed it, this week’s ANNCast was a lively discussion about LGBTQ representation in anime and manga. Hope you’ll take a listen.

LGBTQ Webcomics

YNN Correspondent Michaelangelo H wants you all to know about Flipside, by Brion Foulke, about a lesbian couple, Maytag and Bernadette. 

Chii on Twitter, posted a little 4-panel strip about the differences between Yuri and Lesbian and BL and Gay. ^_^ The accompanying blog post also discusses the differences in LGBTQ culture and BL and Yuri fandoms. (In Japanese.) 

Yuri Games

Michaelangelo also wants you to know that game company Winter Wolves has two Yuri projects in the works.  One of them is a Yuri dating sim called Summer in Trigue.  The other is a Yuri version of an already-released otome game called Nicole. 

Live-Action News

I’d completely forgotten, but March will see an actual Silent Mobius Stage adaptation! All I care about is whether Rally Cheyenne looks suitable. She does. ^_^ If you’re in Tokyo and can see it, do let us know how it goes!

Yuri Goods

You need this FiguartsZERO Sailor Moon Crystal figurine of Sailor Uranus. I know you do. Heck, I know *I* do.

Resistance News

I start my week now with a call to my spineless and disinterested Representative. How about you? Check out 5Calls.org to help you communicate with all 5 of the offices your Senators or Representatives maintain.

Also, let me be plain about this – resistance is going to be a marathon, not a sprint. Be kind to yourself. Stop reading news when it becomes too much for you. Get as many hugs and cookies as you can. Walk away from non-entertainment media when you have to, do not feel guilty about that.  You’re allowed to take a break and have some fun.

I attended a protest this week calling for a local town to be the Sanctuary city it is (the Mayor is on board, but ICE agents have been harassing people. This has been true since I was in college.) We protested in front of City Hall, then marched down the main street. While this was going on, the city police force were holding traffic for us and being very supportive. It wasn’t a big deal, but it gave me a ray of hope, especially since most of the protesters were PoC. It always makes me happy when the police refuse to participate in displays of white supremacy. In my own town, the police told George W. Bush and the Mayor at the time to pleasure himself when they wanted to deputize the police as ICE agents. ^_^

Celebrate every single victory, no matter how small or ephemeral. If you have any positive news from your corner of the globe, please feel free to share. Good news helps us be not overwhelmed by despair. ^_^

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? 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!