“The Art of Manga” at the Brooklyn Museum

September 30th, 2026

Today I am taking an excursion to the Brooklyn Museum (one of my very favorite museums!) to see The Art of Manga exhibit. This began life over at San Francisco’s De Young Museum, where it was very successful. I’m so glad it had made its way closer to me so I can experience it. Here is how the museum describes the exhibit: 

“The exhibition begins with an introduction to manga, where you’ll encounter works from foundational manga artists Chiba Tetsuya (born 1939), a master of story-driven manga, and Akatsuka Fujio (1935–2008), known as the “King of Gag manga.” Also featured are drawings by Itō Junji, Agi Tadashi and Okimoto Shū (Drops of God), and Tori Miki, in collaboration with Yamazaki Mari (PLINIVS). A final section showcases Shueisha Manga-Art Heritage and its exploration of manga as a living art form, highlighting Oda Eiichiro’s ONE PIECE, Ikeda Riyoko’s Rose of Versailles, and Kubo Tite’s BLEACH art prints, along with a selection from artist Tanaami Keiichi’s collaboration with mangaka Akatsuka Fujio.”

According to the website, cosplay is encouraged! Do visit their site to make sure your costume is in line with their policies.  And, if you think you might want to revisit, take a look at the Fan Pass. For $75USD, you and one guest can access the exhibit as often as you want for the duration.

The Art of Manga will be at the Brooklyn Museum from October 1 – January 31, 2027. The museum is (much like Le musée national des Arts asiatiques – Guimet exhibit I attended last year) concurrently running an exhibit of Japanese narrative art from their permanent collection Manga Before Manga.

Can’t make it to Brooklyn? Register now for a free Virtual Tour on December 1, from 6- 7:30 Eastern US Time.

I’ll let you know how it is when I get back!

 

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Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS Gun Blaze Vengeance, End of Season Review

September 27th, 2026

In a ruined landscape in front of a city, Fate and Nanoha stand in their barrier jackets, holding their sentient weapons, while a girl burns with a bright orange flame behind them.I’m just now finishing up anime I began 3 months ago (and I haven’t watched much of the summer season at all, as this summer was chaos.) Yesterday I finally had a chance to finish up Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS Gun Blaze Vengeance, streaming on Crunchyroll. And..I think it was pretty good.

I reviewed the first four episodes back in the end of July here on Okazu. Everything I mentioned is still relevant by the final episode – more so, in some cases. With several small and one, significant, exception.

Nanoha remains the exception to the no-family rule, as she has so far in the franchise. Fate and Nanoha are in a slightly different timeline here, in which they and adult Hayate work for the UN. Transformations are much more SFW and look rather cool, I thought.

As predicted, Shiina and Towa are this series’ main “opponents to friends.” In this case, both Shiina and Towa have had traumatic losses to deal with, only Towa has the added trauma of being trafficked and experimented on. We can absolutely sympathize with why she’s so set on destroying the bad guys. Shiina is bonded to her late “sister”, and overall has more capacity to accept and trust than Towa.

The Diaboli Hunters are not entirely the same as The Numbers from StrikerS or even Hayate and her Knights (who do make short, non-voiced cameos) from As, but there are some similarities. The Diaboli Hunters team come together, they tell us, because of Towa. Some of them are trafficked children, others people with trauma and loss, but together their goal is not wrong. They aren’t being used by some entity for nefarious purposes. They just don’t give a shit what they have to do to stop the illicit drug trade and save people hurt by it. 

The bad guys are vaguely interesting. Shinomiya is very gloating and annoying (and of course has her own tragic backstory), but her partner Eiji is a small departure from the norm.

The climax of the show is the final fight, but the climax of the narrative is the moment when, after Towa leaves to sacrifice herself to save everyone (a choice that we know is doomed, but this is a seinen action story.) This is the moment in which the obvious choice – the choice that is NEVER chosen in anime – is made. The remaining Diaboli Hunters ask Fate and Nanoha (and by extension, Shiina) for help.  I was gobsmacked, I tell you. They actually asked for help!

We know the shape of the final battle, of course, as everyone on our side reaches their limit, and the next layer of power swoops in to save the day. 

And, in the end, Shiina and Towa find each other in the chaos and become the team we knew they’d be. Towa and her family of Diaboli Hunters get a short break, so we can see them as family, and then they join EXCEEDS to show us that Fate and Nanoha have once again added to their extended team.

It was all very satisfying. 

Ratings:

Art – 8
Character – 8
Story – 6
Yuri – 2
Music – 5

Overall – 7

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Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – September 26, 2026

September 26th, 2026

A blue silhouette of a girl with a white flower in her hair, embracing the earth. Blue block letters read YNN Yuri Network News. Art by Lissa P. For Okazu.Playing catch-up would be easier if there wasn’t so much Yuri news every week! ^_^ But finally, we are all caught up.

Yuri Manga in English

Out soon in English and an absolute must-read, is Love Bullet, Volume 2!, by inee.

Hitting bookshelves earlier this week was Yuri Espoir, Volume 5.

And Seven Seas has released Yuri Yuri Panic: A Case of Extreme Cuteness Has Occurred!, Volume 1. This looks like a wacky school rom-com.

Via Sr. YNN Correspondent Sean Gaffney, we have two Yen Press announcements this week: Summer Love Begins with a Lie -squall-, the manga based on the SukeraSparo VN, and Muromaki’s next collection of Yuri scenes and shorts, Lilies in Love for 101 Days.

I wrote a review of Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games, Volumes 1-9 for ANN! I see what people say when they say “Yuri,” but I see girls bonding over shared experiences in an intense and intimate way. ^_^

YNN Correspondent Jeyl has news that Sunstone creator Stjepan Šejić has a new illustrated novel. He and Rocketship Entertainment have created an animatronic segment called Letters to the Vampire Queen: The Pitch.

 

Yuri Manga in Japanese

ANN’s Anita Tai has the news that Goodbye, Lara will be getting a manga! By Citrus creator Saborouta! I don’t know how I feel about that!

Via Comic Natalie, Otsukare Gohan ~ Chiyo to Ikuko no Konbini Kakeawase Ryōri Jou~ (お憑かれごはん ～千代といくこのコンビニかけあわせ料理帖～) is about a tired office worker and the ghost of a waitress she lives with, who possesses her and cooks for her. Read the first chapter in Japanese for free on Comic Walker!

Also via Comic Natalie Mangatime Kirara Max is seralizing Rusabi’s AMOR – Koi Suru Cupid Amor (AMOR-恋するキューピッドアモル-). Reo is bitter about her lost love, and living with a tsundere Cupid is not helping.

Galette No. 39  (ガレットNo.39) is available on the Galette WORKS Booth.Pm shop, in digital format so no shipping needed. 

Via YNN Correspondent Patricia Baxter, sono.N‘s one-shot, Watashi no Kanojo ha Bodybuilder (私の彼女はボディビルダー) is getting a full series – read the one-shot in Japanese today on Comic Walker!

ANN’s Anita Tai wants you to know that the Lycoris Recoil manga will be ending shortly.

 

GL Manhwa

Via Sr. YNN Correspondent Matt Marcus, Mukgaru on X announced that their GL comic Drowning In Your Ocean has begun serialization in English on Tappyoon. You can read the first chapter for free now! 

 

Anime News

We have a number of final episode reviews worth reading this week onANN.

Rebecca Silverman (thenks Pink Daisy for catching this) takes a solid look at Goodbye, Lara and Kennedy weighs in with her review of the final episode of Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games.

Not Yuri, but Bless anime follows two women who are rejected as models, who team up to “define themselves in an inspirational fashion manga that asks cutting questions about what it really means to be beautiful—and what it takes to overcome an arbitrary system that seems to respect talent over hard work.” Joanna Cayanan has the details on ANN. I am looking forward to another story of women forming intimate friendships through shared experiences.

Also not Yuri, but definitely intimate friendship, a second season of Though I Am An Inept Villainess anime has been announced.  ANN’s Anita Tai has the details.

 

On a white background, the Okazu mascots feed each other, while say "I love Yuri" in English and Japanese. Orange letters say "Become and Okazu Patreon today! https://www.patreon.com/Okazu

 

Yuri Light Novel

Coming this winter from Tokyopop is UGLY GIRLS,  which follows a transfer student from Japan to Taiwain, with “atmospheric horror and eerie mystery around every corner set across Taiwan and Japan.“

Another Yuri anthology, Yuri Short Story Collection wiz 2 (百合小説コレクション wiz 2) is out with 8 short stories. I mention the first volume of wiz, in my review Three Yuri Short Story Collections from 2025 here on Okazu.

 

Yuri Visual Novels

Maarika announced on Bluesky that the Introduction to her VN That Bitch Stabbed Me is on her Patreon. Read and dl for free.

Yuri Kissaten is pleased to announce that Toxic Yuri has launched on Steam! You can download the demo for free and meet an overworked office lady who discovers a sludge girl abandoned in a box and takes her home. A poisonous and fluffy romance begins!

 

Yuri Merch and Pop-ups

There is a Watanare Pop-Up Shop from October 23- November 8 at Volks Akihabara Hobby Heaven 2, 6th Floor in Akihabara, Tokyo.

 

On a aqua blue background, the image of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune themed cans of Ocean Bomb sparkling water with the words, "Buy Us A Senshi Sparkling Water." Sponsor Okazu on Ko-fi. https://ko-fi.com/okazuyuri

 

Yuri Live-Action 

Buzz Tyler, a film director in Japan wants you all to know about Virgin Kiss, a YouTube series of live-action GL / Yuri short films from Japan. They look fairly male-gaze between the segment titles and images to me, but YMMV.

 

Yuri Research

New friend Emilia HoarFrost would like you to know about her article Animating Queer Phenomenology: Henshin in Yuri Kuma Arashi and Madoka Magica.

 

Other News

Totally something different. Via Comic Natalie, Hana no Asuka-gumi creator Takaguchi Satosumi has begun a new series, this time centered on members of a K-POP boys group, in Bokura ha Mada Sora no Yume o Minai (ぼくらはまだ空の夢を見ない). Click the link for sample pages in Japanese. This series is published by Futabasha.

Itstheheyman on IG has a really amusing schtick, where he makes up manga, anime and LN titles that are incredibly silly and plausibleish, but this video in which he discovers a real-life 18+ Yuri title made me laugh.

I wrote a review for The World’s Strongest Witch LN, Volumes 1-2, for ANN. It was a thing I read. Maybe the anime will be more fun? 

More entertaining for me was Tomb Raider King, Volumes 1-14, which I read before the anime came out.

All over the JP socials last night, Pixiv Fanbox has suspended a load of creators, for a variety of reasons, mostly for “existing.” Queer creators were hit hard, because RW idiots attack through payment processors and banks, over and over.

Cobalt Magazine (Home of Maria-sama ga Miteru) posted on X that “Over 2,000 Cobalt Bunko books from the personal collection of the late science fiction researcher, Kei Hoshi, have been donated to Shirayuri Women’s University. ”  There has been renewed interest in Shoujo and Jousei culture at that university.

Via YNN Sr. Correspondent Eleanor Walker, this reddit  post by alconnow that Pink Candy Kiss creator Ami Uozume “drew the poster illustration for the 35th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Breast Cancer Society…”

 

…and with this, I am caught up! Thank you for your patience while I was ill. ^_^

 

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Your support goes straight to paying for Guest Reviews, folks helping with videos, site maintenance, managing the Yuricon Store and directly supporting other Yuri creators. Just $5/month makes a huge impact! Become part of the Okazu family!

Become a part of the Yuri Network, by being a YNN Correspondent: Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share with us.

Posted in Yuri Network News | No Comments »


Yuri Movie Her Kiss, My Libido Twinkles

September 23rd, 2026

Close-up of two girls in each other's intimate space, above a schoolroom scene in which the two, wearing school uniforms laugh and talk with each other.Earlier in 2026, manga artist Yorita Miyuki launched a Kickstarter for a big-budget film edition of her hit manga serialized in Galette, Kanojo no Kuchizuke Kansensuru Libido (彼女のくちづけ感染するリビドー). This manga had already gotten a short movie in 2022,  which is still available to watch on YouTube, and which I reviewed last year here on Okazu to get myself ready for this new project.  That short movie was a 40 minute three-part movie to tell the story of Sana and her first love, Akane. 

The 2026 project, yuri movie Her Kiss, My Libido Twinkles  was a more complete story, a full 2 hours to cover more of the manga, with new actresses and a full film cast and crew. As Kickstarter rewards, I also received a lovely full-color “program” book, with photos from filming and behind the scenes, notes from the Director and creator, as well as full cast and staff credits and postcards.

The story follows Sana (Watanabe Yui), a cheerful high school student. After an injury puts her in the hospital, she meets Akane (Ukawa Moeka), a girl with little facial affect, who seems to have a dark backstory. Akane teases Sana and is hard to understand, but the two of them are definitely attracted to one another.

Once they begin dating, Akane seems to have an idea that Sana is hers, and is possessive of her…and sulky when Sana mentions her friends. Sana’s friends are likewise distressed that she’s paying so much attention to Akane. 

The story here closely hews to the manga, and includes a scene that, no matter how many times I read or watch it, makes no sense to me. Sana invites Akane over with the intention of introducing her to Miharu, her closest friend. Mi-chan is unusually distressed by Akane’s presence in Sana’s life and we, an audience of adults watching this, can tell instantly that Miharu has feelings for Sana she has not admitted. But the scene is, in every iteration, awkward and icky. 

Overall, this movie is a very slick affair, but… and I don’t meant this to be harsh…it adds nothing to the short movie, except maybe a little more slowness to scenes that don’t need to be slower. Kiss scenes in JP media are already excruciatingly slow. We did not need them to take more time, I promise.

Another point to the short movie is that Sana’s actress here, while perfectly decent, did not encapsulate the bubbly cheerfulness of the character, as Tsuboi Nagisa managed to. 

I don’t regret backing this movie at all. I enjoyed it and all the well-put together rewards. But if you missed the Kickstarter, I’m going to suggest you watch that Youtube movie instead. This is very good, but that short movie, while low-budget , is somehow just as sincere.

Ratings: 

Cinematography – 7 Everything one expects in a JP media.
Acting – 8 Good job by a small cast who have to carry the entire story
Story – 8 First love, first desire, the usual

Overall – 8

This series is being published as English-language manga through Kickstarter, as well. Yorita-sensei is up to Volume 3, I believe.

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Comic Yuri Hime, September 2026 (コミック百合姫2026年9月号)

September 20th, 2026

A neon green color scheme, turned 90 degrees, shows a girl with green glasses lenses, laying among glass vials, perfume bottles and vases. Running behind again from crazy summer, cons, illnesses and other fun things, but today we’ll take a brief look at Comic Yuri Hime, September 2026 (コミック百合姫2026年9月号). CD Japan was crashing out when I put this up, but I’ll add the link as soon as it’s back up.

This month’s tone poem of a cover is neon green a color we’ve been spending a lot of time with recently. ^_^ For once we do not see the second person in the scenario, with the implication that we are that person. Chiriko’s art remains evocative and obscure.

This issues contains a number of one-shots by new and returning artists. I believe the stories at the end of the volume are promoting a new anthology by Ichijinsha.

The standout piece for me this issue was “Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!” The team at Liebe cafe, having met and been vetted by Mitsuki’s father, we now turn our attention her mother who, it seems, is more protective and concerned, but in a way that stifles, rather than frees. While this is going on, Hime is, for the first time, really investigating how she feels about Yano.

I thought Chiruha Chinmi’s “Kami ha Watashi o Toritai’tte Ittemasu!” (神は私を撮りたいって言ってます！) about cosplayers being recruited to save the world was fun.

“Zangai Shoujo, Kirakirana Sekai no Soko” has hit it’s cruising speed as we can now see how much bias there is against avatars, when Ao and Ariadne are mugged…by some of Ao’s classmates.

“Chou Fuka Uchuu Yori Ai o Komete” is rising towards a climax. Ten has a meaningful conversation with an acquaintance, and lays out everything, hr uncomfortable past, her fears about the future and Lulu. She decides to have an honest talk with the alien.

There were a LOT of one-shots this volume, and many series continuing. I found myself reading all but a few of the works. 

Ratings: 

Overall – 9

As I keep saying, Comic Yuri Hime has something for mostly everyone. I’m really hoping to see more action one day soon.

The October issue is out now and waiting for me to read it. ^_^

Posted in Comic Yuri Hime, Magazines, Yuri Manga | No Comments »