Yuri Anime
RetroCrushTV is adding more new titles that were fundamental back in developing Yuri fandom a few decades ago. They have Key The Metal Idol, Vampire Princess Miyu, Devil Lady.
Alex Mateo reports on ANN, at the end of August, RetroCrushTV will be adding Riyoko Ikeda’s shoujo classic Dear Bother. This series is pure shoujo, no magical girls, no aliens, with high melodrama and it really holds up as some of the director Dezai Osamu’s, best work. If you have never had a chance to see Dear Brother this is a great opportunity to watch it legally, free, ad-supported.
RetroCrushTV has also launched an ad-supported linear streaming network available on Roku and other smart TV platforms.
Sentai Filmworks has pulled their entire catalog from Crunchyroll, doubling down on their investment in HIDIVE. Miles Thomas on Crunchyroll has the list of titles that are leaving. Sentai also announced a dub cast for Fragtime. Joseph Luster has the report for Crunchyroll News.
Not Yuri that I know of, but I just wanted to make a rude noise about the title of the Cartoon Network/Crunchyroll collaboration anime title, Fena: Pirate Princess. Seriously? Xena: Warrior Princess might have something to say about that title. Adria Hazra at ANN has the details about the series.
Quinta Brunson on Twitter announced that she’s playing Alex on SYFY’s upcoming Magical Girl Friendship Squad, a magical adult women, no BS comedy. Click the link for the profanity-laden teaser. ^_^
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Yuri Manga
Via Senior Corespondent Louise P, Yuri manga creator mk has a lovely little series call Osananajimi no Yuri Fu~fu Seikatsu (おさななじみの百合夫婦生活) that you can purchase for digital download or physical copy with worldwide shipping on the creator’s Booth.pm page. The story is about two old friends who are now a couple. ^_^
ANN’s Alex Mateo once again has news, this time that Square Enix has licensed Otherside Picnic manga and Okura’s manga I Think Our Son Is Gay.
Yen Press on Twitter has revealed the cover to Éclair Rouge: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart, the fourth entry in the Éclair anthology series.
Other News
Yoshiya Nobuko’s story from Hana Monogatari, Tsuriganesou was made into a movie…twice. The 1935 original and a 1940 remake. Here’s a YouTube clip from the 1940 version of Tsuriganesou (釣鐘草).
Via Grace Ting, I want to share this beautiful short story, Patient. Written by Wong Yi, translated by Jennifer Feeley for Asymptote‘s “In This Together: Writers from Around The World Respond To The COVID-19 Outbreak” series. This story is part of Wong Yi’s “Ways to Love a Crowded City.”
In case you missed it, I did a review of the two sites bringing us legally licensed translated Yuri doujinshi, Lilyka and Irodori Sakura.
One last item from Alex Mateo on ANN is the news that Niantic has committed money from the last Pokemon GO event to organizations that support Black game developers, Black trans folks, and Black Lives Matter groups.
Which brings me to this week’s editorial. Comments on this will be heavily moderated.
In case I have not made it clear, the Okazu family and I believe Black Lives and Trans Lives Matter. I regularly donate to a local BLM group, support queers creators of color with our Okazu Microgoals on Patreon. There is nothing capricious about the way I choose the people we support.
When comics, and anime, and gaming keep saying “We have a problem,” and the problem never seems to go away, there is not just one problem. Comic and Gamer gates are groups dedicated to the harassment of women, queer folks and people of color. This is not “a problem.” They are *the* problem – that there really honestly are, at all levels of all industries, men who think their skin color and the fact that they have a penis makes them better at all the things. This specific belief kills people every day. This belief is destroying our planet.
Anyone arguing that “politics” needs to be kept out of art is a not arguing from a strong position. Art is political. Business is political. People’s lives are inherently political. You’re being political when you choose to back companies and individuals who rage against empathy and diversity or who pretend to support it, then make it somehow impossible for non white, non-male employees to move up in the ranks. You’re being political when you choose to support marginalized creators. The Hugo Awards last night showed that the Worldcon membership was ready for and welcoming of a diverse future…and leadership chose a rambling old man whose derivative book series remains unfinished, who spent most of his time praising a fascist while host and presenters mispronounced people’s names *and* their winning titles. The problem is that no one in Worldcon leadership thought to make sure this didn’t happen….again. For the umpteenth year in a row. During segments that were pre-recorded, for fuck’s sake.
Be political. Give your money and time and attention to creators and companies who foster environments where everyone’s work is valued, where people are treated like people, not like replaceable resources.
One last thing, for readers in the US, please make sure you are registered to vote and do vote. If we do not, this may be the last election we’ll see in our lifetime. Not hyperbole. We are on the very brink of not being a democracy. The President has told us that he will do everything to make sure this election is declared invalid. He has told us and shown us. This must be a landslide. Be political.
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! Special thanks to Okazu Patrons for being an important part of the Okazu family. I couldn’t do it without you!
It’s a shame I can’t watch “Dear Bother”. I’m not a huge fan of Ikeda’s art, but I like this title as an alternative take on early or proto-yuri themes.
As for Key The Metal Idol, does it really have some yuri? Yes, female bonds were at the center of the plot, but as far as I remember, Sakura was always in love with her male classmate.
Early fandom was finding Yuri wherever they could, that is the point.
This is quite similar to early BL fandom when Captain Tsubasa was considered one of slash shipping’s icons. However, judging by the sports shonens and idol shows, such titles will probably be an eternal magnet.
That’s frankly amazing that a widely available commercial streaming service licensed Oniisama-he/Dear Brother. I remember watching the Technogirls fansubs 20 years ago and thinking “there is absolutely no way on earth this will ever be commercially available in English” and yet… here we are!
“Linear streaming network” was a new term for me, and after clicking through (where it’s called “free ad-supported streaming television”) I got a good chuckle realizing that slick tech brains have come full circle and invented cable TV again.
Speaking of Xena, AV Club recently had an article about queer moments from the series:
https://tv.avclub.com/10-episodes-of-xena-warrior-princess-that-solidified-i-1844368779
I’m not sure I share the author’s interpretation of all the choices, but it’s a nice little memory trip.
And regarding the editorial, all I can say is “well said.” I constantly make the argument with my wife that our purchasing choices are small votes, and are really one of the few things we *can* do that matters from an everyday perspective. It can be time consuming, and sometimes difficult, and obviously sometimes there may not be a clear good option. But there’s always some low-hanging fruit in most of our lives, I’d bet.
My natural pessimism says that we are in for nasty business regardless of the outcome on November 3. And I feel very isolated because the few family members I have who haven’t been consumed by Fox News Brain are self-described “not political” people who can’t be talked to either. I’ve tried to delicately raise the issue of voting with them but I really just want to scream, which is of course unhelpful.
Well, what we can do is all we can do, and deal with the next thing when it arrives.
I agree. I said in 2016 that it took 12 years to get Hitler out and we no longer have anyone who will save us.
Trump just attempted the Preussenschlag in Oregon *and failed*, thank you Gov. Brown. We have power. We will win. But it isn’t going to be easy.
The Hugos… Worldcon management is messy since it is not an actual continuing organization. The Kansas City concom was IMO great and was followed by a San Jose concom who were IMO totally irresponsible. But I think we’re going to win, because we fought off a bigger attack back in 2015-2016. This GRRM nonsense is the last gasp of people who’ve already lost. There are already examples of how to run the con properly, and they will hopefully be more formalized as a requirement soon.
Thank you Nathaniel, I agree completely with both points. I just wish humanity as a whole stopped listening to shouty angry old men. ^_^;
And/or listened to old men like in https://toronto.citynews.ca/2019/05/28/what-the-hell-have-you-done-with-the-tomorrows-we-gave-you/ .
Magical Girl Friendship Squad looks awesome! :)
I know I’m late coming to this, but it’s a bit painful to hail anti-discrimination while using ableist language like “moron”. Could you not, please? That word should have been left behind with the previous century.
Thank you Tria, I’ve edited.