Yuri Events
The Yuriten returns! Yuriten 2019, with main illustration visual by Nakatani Nio, main photo visual by Takahashi Minori, is holding their Yuri exhibition and popup shop in 5 cities: Tokyo from March 16-24, Osaka from March 30- April 7, Sendai from April 13- April 21, Nagoya from April 27-May 6 and Fukuoka, details TBD. 31 creators have committed so far. I won’t be able to make it this time (unless the world conspires for me to be there,) so if you have a chance to attend, please do let me know. We’d love a report.
The first event on my calendar is Toronto Comic Arts Festival where, fingers crossed, I will be doing a talk on 100 years of Yuri! Details TBD for this, also.
Yuri Manga
We have a bunch of new stuff on the Yuricon Store including two Galette items, Fuwafuwa・Futshika・Yumemitai, Volume 1 (ふわふわ・ふたしか・夢みたい) by Hakamada Mera and Ame to Kimi no Mukou (雨と君の向こう) by Momono Moto.
Tamafuru’s Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 1 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな) was popular enough that it sold out on Amazon almost immediately and had to be reordered. I made sure to pick it up while in Japan and expect to see a licensing announcement for it soon, because it’s a dead center hit for the current zeitgeist of adult women Yuri romance.
Dekisokonai no Hime-tachi (できそこないの姫君たち) is Ajiichi’s not-typical school life romance story about two classmates who don’t like each other particularly.
The Lillium Yuri Anthology is in planning stages and has announced the first set of contributors on their Twitter account. The anthology will include a contribution by the Kase-san series creator Takahashi Hiromi.
LGBTQ Comics
Lion Forge’s Summit, Volume 1 stars Valentina “Val” Resnick-Baker, the sole survivor of The Event space mission, who is now haunted by the loss of her teammates and her girlfriend Kay. Advertisted as STEMinist book, it is on shelves now. (Dear writers, not all adult lesbians have lost their lovers before the book begins. Try to find a new plot. Tx. Sincerely, adult lesbians without a dead lover. ^_^)
Yuri Anime
YNN Corespondent Mudakun has written in with two items of note. Despite its problematic nature, Mudakun writes that in ENDRO, “what at first looked like random Yuri teasing (the un-named colleague repeatedly trying to get the diminutive demon lord – retired, now a teacher – drunk) becomes the core of a new arc in ep5 when the princess of the realm makes her appearance and decides that even if Hero is a pink-haired bubbleheaded girl, she is going to marry her Hero.”
And, as a second season has been announced, Mudakun is making a plea in support of Miss Kobyashi’s Dragon Maid.
Yuri Game
Jinrui no Minasama is a survival game that Comic Natalie had filed under their Yuri category. One of the characters, Isana certainly seems to hang on another, Erina in many scenes. ANN has some specifics.
Live-Action News
Another Comic Natalie item that ANN has a report on, Kimi to, Tzuredure is a live-action 3-part Yuri anthology following relationships between women at three different ages. This will get a theatrical release in March in Japan.
Here’s the trailer from Pony Canyon.
In every single store I visited with a Yuri section, was a Yuri photo collection called Yuri Sekai Hikareau Futari wo Kakutame no Pose Shuu (百合世界 惹かれ合うふたりを描くためのポーズ集 ), which is meant to be used as a reference guide for people drawing Yuri. People might use it for that, too. ^_^; The funny thing was that I learned about this because the models followed me on Twitter, then I followed them and found the link to this book. It was in every Yuribu and Yuri corner in Tokyo. The cover illustration is by Fly, who also has an artbook, Maguerite, in the stores that I decided could be shipped to me rather than lugging it home.
Other News
Via YNN Correspondent Christian LeBlanc, we have news of the Canno Avatar generator, on which you can render yourself as a student at Seiran Academy. I can never use these, since gray hair is never an option. ^_^ (That’s why my avatar on Twitter is through the Boulet image generator, Le Bouletmaton. He was thoughtful enough to include both gray hair and cyncism.)
YNN Correspondent Ben W writes in to let us know about ANN’s report of an upcoming Rose of Versailles-inspired game for Nintendo Switch, Shiritsu Verbara Gakuen. One of you with a Switch will have to report back, I’m not buying a Switch just to try this out. ^_^;
ANN reports that 50 top Japanese voice actors have worked on a compilation of advice for prospective seiyuu, The Way of the Voice Actor. It’s in Japanese, but I might pick it ups just to see what everyone has to say after decades in what is not a forgiving or kind industry.
Do you have questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast! Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news with your name and an email I can reply to!
Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!
Well, given that ENDRO was illustrated by Namori and animated by Gokumi, famous for their very yuri-ish CGDCT, this was to be expected. Let’s see what level it will reach the end of the show.
“YNN Correspondent Ben W writes in to let us know about ANN’s report of an upcoming Rose of Versailles-inspired game for Nintendo Switch, Shiritsu Verbara Gakuen. One of you with a Switch will have to report back, I’m not buying a Switch just to try this out. ^_^;”
Oh, I’m also really looking forward to more news about this game. I do not see any references to potential yuri routes, but to have such a concept and not having at least partial yuri would be a crime.
“The cover illustration is by Fly, who also has an artbook, Maguerite”.
As expected from Fly. Her contribution to the yuri illustration is so wide that, to be honest, I still can’t get used to the fact that Irozuku is a completely heterosexual romance, even though Hitomi and Kohaku are close relatives.
By the way, not for the first time I notice that despite the obviously gender-neutral audience, major part of the yuri and yuri-ish content is created by women. I was not even surprised when it turned out that Masamune-kun no Revenge’s author was a woman when she decided to write yuri with Fly illustrations.
Obviously, you know more about this than I do, so I wanted to ask, is this a mistaken impression, or are women really much more involved in creating a non-fanservice yuri than men?
“Service” looks different to different audiences.
Well, I do not know how to describe it more precisely, I just noticed that when it comes to shonen and seinen, for example, female authors often use yuri or token yuri girls. But I haven’t done any “serious” research, so this may just be a mistake.
It’s been updated with gray hair! (Canno must have read this and updated)
LOL I’m sure it was this and not requests from people she knows. ^_^ Or the fact that she has a character with silver hair.
Kiss, a josei magazine, has announced Shimura Takako will be starting a love story between adult women: Suki ni Natta no wa, Onna no Hito Deshita.
There’s been a little bit of an uptick in yuri series in josei magazines recently. Wings not only has Yamada to Kase-san, it also recently started Mi-chan and Airi by Natsuwo Ichikawa, and Suzuki Yufuko will be starting Honto no Kokoro this month. And Suzuki’s previous series in Wings, Toolbox Complex, depicted romantic lives for 3 sisters and one of those plot threads was yuri.
Feel Good has Yume no Hashibashi by Sudo Yumi, and Rabaco has Yoru to Umi by Goumoto.
You mean, is this a work about three sisters, one of whom is a lesbian?
Yeah, the sisters in Toolbox Complex were the protagonists and each had their own plot thread with their own love interest, where one of them was female, the other two being male.
(regarding Shimura’s new series, on reflection I think what I took to be a title is probably actually a tagline, and the announcement just didn’t give a title)
Interesting idea. I like it when yuri is intelligently embedded in the general plot.
Good to know, thanks! I’ve definitely noticed an uptick on Josei Yuri,which I think is excellent.