Welcome to the Yuri Meguri 2018!

This week is a perfect time to be in Tokyo if you are a Yuri fan! I began my stay with a quick visit to the Ikebukuro Animate, where they are running a first anniversary Yurimate event.

For all the photos of the Yurimate exhibit and the Yuribu layout, take a look on my Yurimate album on Facebook.

The Yuribu is on the first floor as it has been. The shelves include new releases and the 20th anniversary editions of the Maria-sama ga Miteru novels series, which made me smile. I picked up a few Yuriten fliers on the display!

The Yurimate takes up the exhibition portion of the 3rd floor. The walls are adorned with reproductions of current popular manga series from Comic Yuri Hime and Dengeki Daioh. Goods and books are laid out in the middle with some interesting choices for goods – Yagate Kimi ni Naru has a phone case available, for instance. One wall also has a screen playing the Asagao to Kase-san trailer and the Yuriten is selling tickets to the movie.

It’s all quite charming and I’ll be returning later to give it a closer look (and see if I can get more pictures.)

As I walked back to the hotel, I passed the Humax theater where in June Asagao to Kase-san will be screening and I suddenly realized how great a time it was for Yuri fan. I dubbed this trip a Yuri Meguri and decided that I would spend the next few days on a tour of Yuri in Tokyo. ^_^ (All the pictures can be found on the Yuri Meguri Facebook photoset.)

(A meguri is a trip “around” a place hitting up specified locations, btw. Years ago in Tokyo I did a Shichifukujin Meguri to visit shrines for the seven lucky gods and their boat.)

My first full day in town was the day I visited Akihabara. My first stop was the Yuribu I had never been to before, the Shosen Yuribu! I’d never even heard of the Shosen Book Tower until last year when they did an amusing April Fool’s joke about turning the whole thing into the Yuri Book Tower, then launched the Yuribu.

When I arrived, there was clearly marked sign right at the entrance for the Yuribu.

And when I found it, it was also clearly marked.

It wasn’t big, but it was another take on what constitutes “Yuri” from the perspective of the Shosen staff. So there were a bunch of older magazines, like Hirari and some new volumes of manga. 

Then it was on to Gamers, for their Yuribu. While Gamers is still hugely moe-focused, was much less skanky than it used to be. I have no idea if that is mostly due to them changing or me just not seeing it. ^_^; They had a mini-museum to a charming little series I’m reading, so haven’t yet reviewed, Nettaigyou ha Yuki ni Kogareru (熱帯魚は雪に焦がれる). 

And across from that, there was a display to Love to Lie Angle. Along the  wall was a small, but shockingly not-creepy Yuri section.

I then wandered over to Toranoana, which still had their Yuri Corner set up and – as I have come to expect – some series I have never before heard of! (It’s also next to some storage, which gives it a real “back corner” feel. There was a poster for Kase-san, and  surprising display of the members of Cham-Jam from Hirao Auri’s  Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu, Volume 1（推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ）. 

Then it was over to Animate, but as you remember, there is no Yuri club there, because it’s in the Ikebukuro store. ^_^ Then I popped over to Comic Zin, where I picked up some Yuri doujinshi, including a collection of office romance that I was glad to find.

Last time, I didn’t get a good picture, but I managed to show you this time. This section is on your right as you walk in to the second floor and very easy to see. 

The next day I went out to Ueno area to meet up with Kat Callahan, who wrote those excellent reviews of NTR for the now-defunct Anime Now website.

We made our way to the Yayoi-Yumei museum for an exhibit of sailor-style school uniforms, featuring art by Nakamura Yusuke whose art I adore and Takeuchi Naoko, with some images from Sailor Moon and a Q&A about her designs. There were mannequins with different uniform and tie styles and and photos of historical Japanese school uniforms and how they changed over time. 

We then wandered through the rest of the museum, enjoying Yumeji Takehisa’s art (which I found fascinating, as it was very nostalgic, but none of it was my nostalgia) and loads of pleasant Taisho and Showa girls’ magazine art, including a number of pieces by Nakahara Junichi, another very influential artist for the girls’ magazine aesthetic. You’ve probably seen his work.

Kat and I had a fascinating discussion that ranged around gender, sexuality, obsessive fandom and school uniforms. It was absolutely delightful and I learned a lot! That you so much, Kat, for joining me!

We walked over to Yamashiroya, where I found a bunch of really awesome Haruka x Michiru goods for the Lucky Boxes. ^_^

And now, as I sign off, I am getting ready for the opening of the Yuriten! I’ll be back with a report.