Top news this week are some interesting license announcements from Anime Expo 2016 last night.
Yuri Manga
Yen leads the pack with the announcement that they have licensed “Violence Yuri” manga Murcielago, by Yoshimura Kana. I’ve reviewed Volumes 1-7 and if you’re not sure if this title is for you, definitely read my reviews. It’s an ultraviolent, vile and horrible manga, and I would never recommend it to anyone else, but I like it. ^_^
Yen had a bunch of news this week, including an agreement with BookWalker Global which will carry their English manga. If you are still resistant to paying for online manga, either because you don’t have a phone or tablet, or you don’t like subscription models, let me assure you that Bookwalker Global is the perfect solution. Their reader works great on a laptop or desktop screen, and they have a very large bookstore to choose from in both English and Japanese – with a pretty well-developed Yuri catalog in Japanese. In my opinion, it’s the online bookstore we’ve waited for and I really like using it, especially for light novels. I recommend it highly.
Viz has also blown us away with their news – a deluxe box set of the Revolutionary Girl Utena manga slated for 2017! If you are not familiar with the manga, be warned that the TV manga is significantly straighter than the anime. But artist Saito Chiho brings her signature elegance to the whole thing and it’s worth reading both TV and movie manga for 2 more wholly unique takes on the story. Like the TV anime and movie, the same characters are reworked differently to create a whole new story. (Additionally, the movie manga changed my life completely, so there’s that. ^_^)
Undoubtedly, there will be more news out of AnimeExpo, so keep tuned!
If you (like me) didn’t think to preorder the most recent issue of Nakayoshi magazine, you (like me) found out that it has completely sold out everywhere! Komatsu-san tells you why over at Crunchyroll News! (Hint: Cardcaptor Sakura is still super popular.)
All over my Japanese language feed last night was news of Nagata Kabi’s Pixiv manga now going to print, Sabishi-sugi Rezu Fuzoku ni Ikimashita Report (さびしすぎてレズ風俗に行きましたレポ) about the mating behaviors of native Japanese lesbians. ^_^;
And great news from our friend Niki Smith, who has a new graphic novel length work coming soon. Crossplay is about a group of friends figuring out sexuality and gender identity through cosplay and fandom. She says “There will be more than a few women living happily ever after together.” Can’t wait to see it!
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Other News
Steven Universe will be returning on July 18th with new episodes! I am actually dying to see how the Peridot arc concludes, but I’ve enjoyed the sideline into Ruby and Sapphire’s relationship. ^_^
Completely off-topic for Okazu, but wow, two women have been signed by a minor league pro baseball team! Kelsey Whitmore and Stacy Piagno will be playing for the Sonoma Stompers this summer.
You remember the lesbian classic movie, But I’m A Cheerleader!, don’t you? If not, run out and rent it right now, I’ll wait. ^_^ I know that when I watched Natasha Lyonne and Clea DuVall in that movie I was kinda hoping that DuVall was actually gay. She’s so interesting. Well, apparently she is and she is reuniting with Lyonne and another Cheerleader co-star Melanie Lynskey for her directorial debut, Intervention. DuVall and Lyonne will be paired once again as a lesbian lovers. I’m definitely going to watch this.
Taneka Stotts is spearheading a very exciting Kickstarter for Afro-Futurism comics that I wanted to let you know all about. I’ve backed Elements: FIRE because it sounds simply amazing. It blew threw 1/3 of it’s goal on day one of crowdfunding – which is not yet over – so signs point to this being a successful project. (And again proves how delusional it is when publishers insist there is no audience for comics/literature/anything at all by and for people of color.) I hope you’ll go take a look and consider backing this and other diverse indie comic projects! It really makes a difference.
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!
Sabirezu print version has quite a lot of added content compared to the pixiv version. The author’s backstory in particular is greatly expanded.
I’d recommend it, not just for the rezu and fuuzoku parts, but for its general diagnosis of Japanese society and family.
Thanks for the tip about Clea DuVall’s Intervention. Always loved But I’m a Cheerleader, Lyonne, DuVall and Lynskey, so this sounds excellent.
I’ll add it to the list, as a month ago I decided to only watch movies directed by women for, well, as long as I can (with the occasional male-directed film here and there). Not doing it to impress anyone, just a personal project, as I noticed (with obsessive record keeping) that only 5% of the films watched in the last five years were directed by women, a ratio even worse than Hollywood. So I thought, dammit, I can do better.
Funny you should say that, because I was going to mention something about that – last year on Twitter people were making promises to consume media only by women or folks of color or just to read outside their oeuvre more. It was all very heartening. But as I thought about it, I realized that to read outside what I consume most of, I’d have to read a book by/about a straight, white man. So I did. And it was excellent (The Quantum Thief, by Hannu Rajaniemi) But that’s how much work I read by women and by men who are mostly PoC by western standards – and most of it has queer content.
What you describe is something to which I’m aspiring, but haven’t quite reached yet, mostly because I’m a film buff first and foremost and most movies are still made by white men. I want to look back on this year and see that at least half of the films watched were either directed by or were about women. It has already been grandly illuminating and rewarding adopting this female-director focus, especially discovering the work of Japanese directors like Kei Fujiwara, Mari Asato and Mika Ninagawa.
Excellent. ^_^
Ha I know that feel on guilty pleasure manga you can’t ever rec to anyone else.
I cannot wait for the Utena box set! I think they also showed off the photos of the new Sailor Moon musical cast this week (I saw something of it on my feed).
The Pivix manga sounds really interesting!
^_^