Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – September 12th, 2026

October 3rd, 2026

In black block letters, YNN Yuri Network News. On the left, in black silhouette, a woman with a broad brim hat and dress stands, a woman in a tight outfit sits against the Y. Art by Mari Kurisato for Okazu Yuri Manga in English

nekobungi announced that five selected titles of her manga have been released in print on Amazon . She notes that “You can buy them at Amazon in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Japan, and they are manufactured in each region, so no more shipping costs over oceans!”

Gal x Gal Yuri has a new free chapter out on Viz.com, and it has made many of us gasp in wonder (complimentary). Check it out, then YNN Sr. Correspondent Frank Hecker says, go read translator Mei Amaki’s thread on X about translating it. It’s a great comic, you should definitely be reading it!

Via Sr. YNN Correspondent Matt Marcus, Shueisha’s Manga Plus is debuting Slap Shot Girls, a story of Hockey and Yuri! Can it be that we may actually have some real Yuri sports manga this season? Jacqueline Fung is translating.

 

Yuri Manga in Japanese

Exciting news! Morishima Akiko’s Hitorimi Desu., a series about a 60 year old single lesbian and the people in her life is getting a print release! 

Also very exciting, Hanakage Alt’s Unnie’tte Yonde mo Ii Desuka? (オンニって呼んでもいいですか？) has a second volume available now in Japanese. Volume 1 is free on CMOA right now to celebrate – also in Japanese. I reviewed Volume 1 here on Okazu and found it delightful.

Ashidaka Woz’s Chou Uchuujin Yori Ao o Komete, Volume 2 (超深宇宙より愛をこめて) is up on the Yuricon Store! This story about love from beyond the stars is poignant and sweet.

Via Yuri Navi, Amazaki Suika has as new Yuri manga about a lesbian sex worker and an insomniac teacher in Mayonaka ni Aishite yo (真夜中に愛してよ), serialized on Comic Walker!

Oohachi’s Torikono Tameiki, Volume 1 (とりこのため息), a story about Yuzu and Momo, two friends who decide to try dating each other, is hitting shelves in October in Japan.

 

Korean GL 

Likes Are Private, a new Korean GL webtoon that has launched on Korean site Bomtoon has, apparently soared to the top of the rankings, which is awesome.

 

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Yuri Events

I know it’s short notice, but today in Atlanta Georgia, there is a  Yuri Garden Cupsleeve Event
from 12-6pm at Queen Tea Midtown, 770 Juniper St NE, Atlanta GA! They’ve got some great guests and goods lined up. It looks like a fantastic time, so  if you’re in the area, RSVP here!

Galette on X shared some imaged from their Yuri Matsuri 3. Lots of congratulatory flowers from admirers as they celebrate ten years of independent Yuri manga! Congrats to everyone at Galette!

 

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GL Live-Action

She and Hers, a new Taiwanese GL drama based on the novel by Xi Cheng, is premiering at the Kaohsuing Film Festival. Their IG is in Chinese, but you have a translation tool on your phone, don’t you?

 

LGBTQ Cartoons

I don’t remember if I mentioned this, but HBOMax is, apparently working on a Bubblegum and Marceline series. The project was announced in June and has a trailer thus far!  ^_^

 

Other News

The Animate HQ in Ikebukuro is advertising hard for Volume 5 of Ki ni Natteru Hito ha Otoko Janakatta, with banners on the first and second floor walls. If you have never been there, you may not understand how *much* real estate that is for the store, I’ve never seen any series take up more than one floor’s walls.

Via YNN Sr. Correspondent Sean Gaffney, ANN’s This Week in Anime takes on anime endings that left viewers feeling unsatisfied, with Goodbye, Lara being the inspiration, in Unhappy with Endings.

 

Your support for Yuri journalism and research has never been more important than right now. Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips.  Our goal is to raise our guest writers’ wages to above industry standard, which are too low!

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.

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Tsukiatte Agetemo Ii Kana TV Drama, Episodes 1-3

October 2nd, 2026

Saeko, a girl with long dyed light brown hair that has exposed black roots, holds her arm in a playfully familiar fashion around the shoulders Miwa, who is sporting a black bob. Both girls are smilingby Matt Marcus, Staff Writer

Over a year after the end of the serialization of How Do We Relationship in Japan, I happened to stumble across a tweet for a casting call for a live action drama with a very familiar premise. A Girls Love story adapted from a popular manga series, set in a college, including members of a light music club. It was a no-brainer to me what series it was.

The Tsukiatte Agetemo ii Kana drama was announced in July, with J-Pop idol Riho Sayashi (originally a member of Morning Musume, more recently a solo artist) playing Saeko Sowatori and Sakurako Konishi (best known for her role in the crime thriller First Love) as Miwa Inazuki. I was equal parts delighted and trepidatious. How much of the story could they cover in one season? Would they be able to capture the essence of the characters? How would they depict The Content?

If you are unfamiliar with the story, the opening episode is a fairly accurate adaptation of the first three chapters of the manga. Miwa and Saeko, both first year college students, meet and join the light music club together. After a night out with their new club mates, Saeko admits to Miwa her interest in women and Miwa responds in kind. Saeko says they should take advantage of this rare opportunity of two lesbians organically finding each other and proposes that they date. Miwa reluctantly agrees, and the two awkwardly spend time together until they are caught kissing in the club room by their bandmate, Mikkun, and have to decide how to navigate being out (at least within the band).

I’ll admit that I have not watched too many live-action adaptations of manga or J-dramas in general, but the handful I’ve seen ranged from passably entertaining (the Death Note duology) to abysmally awkward (GAP the Series, sorry Frank). Sometimes the issue is that the source material reads very unnaturally when acted out with real people; often the issue is that the performances are rather middling. I find that in most cases these adaptations fail to match the impact of the source material, let alone elevate it.

I felt more optimistic when I read that the production was being handled by people who worked on Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko!, as that was one of the better of these adaptations that I’ve seen. So far, there are awkward moments and stiff performances, but I felt that it was at least intended to be so. Saeko and Miwa do not gel, and the one thing I would strongly credit the first episode for is making that awkwardness extremely palpable. 

That said, there are myriad concerns I have, the first and obvious one being the pacing. There are only 8 episodes of 23 minutes each. Of course episode 1 has a lot to establish, so there isn’t much you could reasonably cut, but knowing that the previews show scenes up through volume 6, there is a LOT of ground to cover. Tamifull-sensei mentioned on her Twitter that there are changes to the story, which leaves the door open for a very different (read: heavily truncated) path towards the ending.

The trimming down of the story has already become impactful in episode 3, which covers the summer club retreat arc. The arc is split between Saeko wrestling with jealousy and Miwa struggling to stand up for herself against pushy men who are either hitting on her or threatening to out her. The instigator of the latter scenario, Kan, has been completely cut, which robs Miwa of the opportunity to try, however feebly, to defend herself. This ends up doing a disservice to her, reducing her role in the arc as merely the object for Saeko’s jealousy. It’s focusing the story down to the most core part of the plot, which is understandable given the runtime, but I fear more key character development moments will be shaved down to focus narrowly on the will they/won’t they of the love story.

The other issue is that of, frankly, the sex. Sex and physical intimacy in general play major roles in plot, characterization, themes, you name it. I think if a lot of that content is cut or glossed over, it will rob the drama of one of the elements that made the manga so potent. At least as of this writing, the sex is…there, but it is just off screen. There have been a couple hints towards Saeko’s discomfort with being touched, but aside from that there has not been much “action” depicted, which unfortunately means one of the funniest page-turn surprises from volume 2 is completely absent. You know the one.

If you approach the drama with an open mind and try not to get hung up too much on adaptation changes (I’m trying, I swear), you will find that the show has done a solid job of bringing the manga to the small screen. And there are some fun production details, like how Miwa and Saeko’s guitars were the ones Tamifull bought as reference.

Having a pop idol as one of your lead actresses also has some benefits, like including live performances that feel actually performed live.

So, that leaves me with two questions: will the drama stay in tune, and will you tune in?

Overall – 7

The series is airing in Japan on several TV stations (MBS, TV Kanagawa, Chiba TV, TeleTama, Tochigi TV, Gunma Television) and online via TVer and FOD; it is also available overseas on GagaOoLaLa.

Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network. You can find him mostly reskeeting Yuri posts and sports takes on Bluesky @hyperartmarcussan.bsky.social

Posted in LGBTQ, Live Action, Matt Marcus, Staff Writer | No Comments »


“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

Posted in English Anime, Nanoha | No Comments »


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.

 

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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.

 

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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. ^_^

 

Your support for Yuri journalism and research has never been more important than right now. Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips.  Our goal is to raise our guest writers’ wages to above industry standard, which are too low!

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.

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