Archive for September, 2015


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – September 5, 2015

September 5th, 2015

YNN_Lissa

Yuri Anime

If you missed popular Yuri anime Strawberry Panic when it was released by Media Blasters, or would like to revisit it anytime, look no further than Viewster, a new, legal free anime streaming provider who happens to have it! Check the service out and subscribe if it has stuff you like, or order up their “omakase” (chef’s choice) service. Viewster also has Aoi Hana/Sweet Blue Flowers and other Yuri anime (and some lesbian-themed live-action drama from the looks of it.)

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Yuri Manga

It’s a Citrus-fest! In Japan, the 4th Special Edition of Saburouta’s melodrama has officially hit shelves, and here in the West, Seven Seas’ English version of Volume 4 is up for pre-order! (No official cover image available yet for that.)

The new re-release of Mikuni Hajime’s Gokujou Drops  makes it to a Volume 2 and is finishing up with Volume 3 .

New from Comic Yuri Hime is Kanaras’ Sugar Room (シュガールーム) and Mahiru Teku’s Kiraboshinohako (きらぼしのはこ).

Sengoku Hiroko’s upcoming collected omnibus of her doujinshi work, Watashi ni Mienai Koigokoro, includes Yuri, BL and fantasy stories.

YNN Correspondent Flors Enversa wants you to know that Milky Way Ediciones has announced the Spanish-language license for Aoi Hana. At which everyone complained that it hasn’t come out in English. Only it has. It was licensed by DMP several years ago, and is still available from them as a Kindle edition.

The 18th volume of the fascinating josei manga magazine, Rakuen Le Paradis has hit shelves in Japan.

The lesbian doujinshi circle Biatika has a new adult lesbian doujinshi anthology, including one of my fave creators, Mizuki Monika!

And Amazon JP is starting to get into the doujinshi market. Here’s  Yorita Miyuki’s Kanojo no Kuchizuke Kanzen suru Libido ~Nidoume no Kiss   (彼女のくちづけ 感染するリビドー ～２度目のキス～)

 

Yuri Essays

Via James Welker, we have a new article in the Yuri Essays Page on Yuricon, Sarah Wellington’s thesis,  Finding the Power of the Erotic in Japanese Yuri Manga.

Remember my article on the Nanoha-verse and the idea of family? Well, Idea Channel takes a similar look at Steven Universe.

Kickstarter Watch

Here’s a fun western animation starring a “a girl who finds herself caught in an interdimensional struggle with aliens, magic and technology.” Shadow Magic 2D Animated Pilot Episode already is starring the voice acting skills of two popular western VAs, Yuri Lowenthal and Vic Mingogna.

I don’t know about you, but as a child I would have gladly killed to be able to wear a suit to school. Suit Her wants to make suits and tuxes for girls who want them.

Other News

LGBTQ novelist Malinda Lo has a new story about “hysteria, lesbians & maybe vampires,” called The Cure.

Like books about Vikings and lesbians and trans characters? Check out Thrall: Beyond Gold and Glory by Barbara Ann Wright, coming out this month from Bold Strokes Books.

For aspiring artists, here’s a bit of good advice from Ben McCool on Tech Times: Breaking Into Comics As A Writer: 4 Rules All New Talent Should Follow

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? 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!





Sailor Moon, Season 1, Part 2, Disk 2 (English)

September 4th, 2015

SMS1P2 There are some really good things about Sailor Moon, Season 1, Part 2, Disk 2. Plot just happens to not be among them. ^_^

First of all and most importantly, Sailor Venus has arrived! She’s so cool, having been a Senshi for a whole year or more without any help. So as to not have to respect her too much, she is a bubblehead. I’ll take the Venus of the manga (and Crystal) over this Minako any day. (I’m in a minority I know, but I hated “Nurse Minako”. Blecch.)

Secondly, Zoisite steps up to be the new baddie after having dispatched Nephrite, then blows it almost immediately. The best part of Zoi is his death, in which we get confirmation that he and Kunzite were an item, and it wasn’t our imagination. In 1992, this was huge, let me tell you.

The third thing that happens is that MamorugetskidnappedbyQueenBerylandishypnotizeintofightingSailorMoon, but since I do not care even a little, I like to call this part of the season, the “OH GOD, WHEN WILL THIS END?” arc. ^_^

So one the good side, all the Senshi are gathered. On the bad side, filler episodes, auuuuggggh. Remember the time Usagi goes to Princess School? No? There’s a reason why we wiped this out of our memeories. On the good, Zoisite is dead and he had a very beautiful, very gay death in Kunzite’s arms. On the bad side, Kunzite’s a bore, Mamoru’s a bore, Queen Beryl’s obsession is  a bore (sorry Beryl, but really…) and Metallia…6 episodes to go and I know it will feel like 60. Much of Usagi’s character development was wiped away after she discovers she is the Moon Princess so we’re back to whiny, crying Usagi all over again. On the good side…did I mention Zoisite’s beautiful death? Well, yes, that was the volume’s high point. I guess for other people it might have been the Moon Princess reveal. I am not other people.

I’m still entirely fascinated as I stack up the complaints about Crystal against the reality of Season 1. We didn’t actually get much time with any of the Inners and they have very little personality a mere handful of episodes from the end. So, no…Crystal did not erase tons of character development. The first season is just weak all the way around. We’re not being rational when we compare 200 episodes, 12 volumes of manga and megatons of fanfic we read and wrote to the actual story.

Ratings:

Art – 5  It’s not getting any better.
Story – 7, then filler episodes from hell – 3
Characters – 7 Minako fits right in, Usagi and Rei get a tad more development.
Yuri – 1 Usagi and Rei get a tad more development ^_^
Service – 1 on principle

Overall – 6

Best character of the Volume? Umino. I give that boy serious props.





Yuri Game: Okujou no Yuri Yurei-san / Kindred Spirits is coming to Steam

September 2nd, 2015

kindred-spiritsGood News Everyone!

In July we reported that Manga Gamers was bringing the massively popular Yuri game Okujou no Yuri Yurei-san to the west as Kindred Spirits.

Now, Kotaku (with excessive vulgarity) has announced that Kindred Spirits is going to be available on Steam! Not surprisingly this is a really big deal. For a number of reasons.

First, the fact that we’re getting such a popular Yuri Game localized is big news on its own. Secondly, it’s getting distribution on Steam, which will make it available to a much wider audience than a straight-up download or hard copy distribution stream would otherwise garner.

Thirdly, Kotaku reports that it will remain uncensored. Since Valve is known for censoring explicit games, this may either indicate a change of policy, or it may be that this game gets an exception. There’s also a case for since it has no penile penetration, someone is relying on archaic definitions of “sex.” Or, that precisely because it is two girls, that Steam expects the always-presumed-male audience will be enthusiastic about it in a way that they definitely would not for an Otome game. We don’t know what the actual justifications for it are. We may never know.

I was asked by someone sane how it could be a high school girl sex game and in good taste at the same time and the answer is that I have no idea. I can tell you that for the past few years this game has been a major obsession of some Yuri mangaka, and I haven’t seen any really explicit fanart (but, too, I was not looking for it.) The two manga volumes based on the game (Side A and Side B) were surprisingly and pleasantly free of service of any kind. I frankly had no idea the game even has sex scenes. Apparently, the Yuri manga artists I followed were more interested in the relationships. ^_^

In any case, this is big news for Yuri fans!

Open comments. Discuss!





Yuri Manga: Ryuuzaki-san to Torao-san ~ Yuri Hime Short Story Collection (龍崎さんと虎生さん ～百合姫短編集～)

September 1st, 2015

RyuutoTora-275x388Well now, Kuzushiro’s Yuri Manga: Ryuuzaki-san to Torao-san ~ Yuri Hime Short Story Collection (龍崎さんと虎生さん ～百合姫短編集～) was a bit of a surprise.

It begins with a spin-off from Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san, following the alpha predators of the zodiac and the Student Council, Ryuuzaki Inori and Torao Mari. You may remember that Mari is a foul-mouthed broad and, to be fair, Ryuuzaki isn’t much better. Almost unbelievably, they bond over their love of baseball and eventually fall in lust…and love. In the Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san series they are the most incontrovertibly couple-y couple there is.

Almost all of the stories that follow pair mismatched girls, one of whom is manipulative, the other manipulable. In some cases the manipulable one turns out to be not what she seems at all, sometime the manipulator becomes the manipulated. There is a some not-fully-consensual sex, and a lot of not-nice characters, which in some way is a pleasant departure from Kuzushiro-sensei’s stock of “earnest but crazy” comedy. But for all that this is a decidedly darker book (darker even than Love Desu, with all it’s violence) it was still a good read.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – Variable, let’s say 7
Character – 7, but often quite dark and/or unpleasant
Service – 8
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

I would be glad to spend more time with Ryuuzaki-san and Torao-san. Their burning passion and blazing anger is far more appealing to me than the cute, fuzzy, yet ephermeral crushy gags of Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san.