Lesbian Live Action Movie

Way back in 2002, it was my very great privilege to present the Revolutionary Girl Utena Movie at the Castro Theater for the Frameline LGBT Film Festival. It was an amazing experience. I introduced the movie in front of Ikuhara Kunihiko himself and to 1200 people – 1000 of whom had never heard of or seen the TV show. That was the day I learned what it felt  like to have one’s bones turn to jelly. ^_^ It was an amazing experience.

At that Film Festival, I also had the pleasure of seeing Desiree Lim’s Sugar Sweet – a movie directed by a lesbian, about Japanese lesbians. (It was paired with a short called Three-Second Melancholy,” which introduced me to the evils of the phrase, “More than Friends, Less than Lovers.”) I never reviewed it here, because back then Okazu was a different blog. Well, Sugar Sweet is now available on DVD with subtitles. It has a great opening, and the first 15-20 minutes are very strong. The middle gets weird and the ending, while happy, is a bit muddled. It’s worth a watch, though if you want to see a glimpse of something at least vaguely resembling  lesbian culture in Japan. Grab the DVD off Amazon, or queue it up on Netflix, if you get a chance! This is a perfect example of how much the world has changed – in 2002, we could never have imagined that this movie would ever get a DVD release.

***

Yuri Manga

July is heating up for Yuri Hime Comics with a number of collections on the horizon. Mizu Ether (水色エーテル), marriage black, Hatsukoi Tectonics (初恋テクトニクス), the third volume of Casseopiea Dolce (カシオペア・ドルチェ 3巻) and a new Girl’s Love Anthology, Girls Love -strawberry milk shake–.

From Hakusensha, Takemiya Jin’s Yuri collection Omoi no Kakera (想いの欠片). This one is a keeper, if you like stories that are written to be actual stories and not just a collection of one-shots.

Oh yay! Sabagebu! (さばげぶっ!) Volume 1 is out. This cracktastic shoujo series about a “Survival Game Club” has to be experience to be believed. There is some one-sided crushy, insane Yuri.

Morishima Akiko-sensei has a new manga series, Seigakuin Koukadaigaku  (星学院工科大学). It’s Morishima, is there any doubt that it’s got at least a *little* Yuri?

Exciting news! YNN Correspondent Komatsu-san let us know that Shimura Takako has a new manga series Awajima Hyakkei (淡島百景) and it can be read online (in Japanese.) It follows four girls at an musical theater school. The manga uses the PocoPoco viewer and it opened right up for me. You can make the pop-ups disappear by using the bottom tool bar command フキダシ消えた…and then you can add your own pop-up comments for the next unsuspecting reader. A clever, yet highly annoying, way to experience manga interactively. ^_^    Matt Thorn has written an *excellent* article about the new series. This is a must-read article!  

 ***
  
Snatches of Yuri

YNN Correspondent Marc M. was first up with the news that Amano Kozue’s Amanchu!, is being published in French by Editions Ki-oon. The first volume is out in May, Marc informs us and the second volume in June. He says, “It’s Yuri-ish if you squint while wearing Yuri goggles. But it’s got some lovely scenery porn (is that the right term?).” Yes, it sure is the right term, Marc!

A collection called Yurikan (ゆりキャン) is already receiving 5 stars of Yuri from Japanese Yuri blogs, which makes me cringe just a bit. But, it’s from Hakusensha, which makes me feel a bit hopeful. :-)


***

Yuri Anime

The trailer/commercial for the YuruYuri anime is up on Nico Nico Douga. It captures the feel of the manga perfectly. 4 girls sit around and goof off together. ^_^ On Crunchyroll News, Komatsu-san mentions that Namori-sensei, the creator, will be doing 4000 autographs as a promotion for the series.


***

That’s a wrap for this week.

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!