First of all, thank you Louis for bravely handling not one, but two, YNN reports while I was gone. It was a pleasure to know that while I visited the Bayeaux Tapestry and ate the most amazing crepes I have ever had, you were only miles away, laboring over my blog. ^_^

We’ll have a ton of news to catch up on this week and next as I’ll be running down some of the announcements from Anime Expo last weekend and San Diego Comic-Con, which is happening as you read this report! 

LGBTQ News

Our top story is the announcement by Seven Seas at Anime Expo that they have licensed Kamatani Yuhki’s Shimanami Tasogare. But…you all knew that, since they were kind enough to break the news before AX as a climactic end to my Pride month of manga recommendations on Twitter. Thank you to them from the bottom of my heart, it really made so very, very happy. Check out the ANN report for details and be sure to get this when it’s released…it’s really good. Volume 3 was, I was told, meant to be the final volume in Japan, but this week will see the release of Volume 4, so no complaints there.

Rebecca Sugar has gone on record saying that the Crystal Gems, who are meant to be seen as non-binary, express their creator’s gender identity, as well in this article on io9. The Steven Universe Panel at SDCC is tonight, so look for teasers tonight. 

Comicsverse reports on the Crunchyroll-hosted very first LGBTQ+ in Anime Panel at Anime Expo and it went very well or melted the very definitions of reality as we agree upon them, depending on who you ask.  I’m sorry I missed it, but I consider it another major milestone for LGBTQ representation in anime/manga journalism. 

Entertainment Weekly has has released visuals from Noelle Stevenson’s upcoming She-Ra cartoon series! More than a few folks noted that She-Ra shorts and skirt combo give them an Utena vibe, although I thought of a tennis outfit myself. With openly an queer showrunner we at least can hope for the She-Ra we all deserve.

And, just to make sure that as many childhoods are ruined as possible, the CW has announced that Batwoman is getting a TV series and she’s going to be a Jewish lesbian.  ^_^

Last night we got more excellent news, as Gengoroh Tagame-sensei’s manga My Brother’s Husband won an Eisner Award at Comic-Con, and so did Taneka Stotts for the Elements: Fire anthology. Read her rousing acceptance speech on behalf of the queer creators of color who worked on that book. (And, Rumiko Takahashi *finally* was inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame.)

For Okazu readers, we’re stepping into the nerd world we’ve been working for for our whole lives. The future of girls’ entertainment is queer, it’s female. it’s black, it’s diverse. Revel in it, friends, rejoice and sing paeans, then let’s get back to work, there’s a lot to do, yet. ^_^

Yuri Manga 

Kodansha also had amazing news for us at Anime Expo, with the announcement of Miman’s Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! license. Kodansha picking Yuri is my Job! (article at Comics Worth Reading) up is good news on several fronts which I’ll discuss in a little greater detail for this week’s podcast. ^_^ 

ANN reports that Seven Seas also announced the spinoff manga for Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid. 

ANN also has the news that Saburouta’s Citrus is ending in August. 

Yuri Anime

ANN reports on Section 23s’ Maiden Japan imprint announcement that they’ve picked up Maria-sama ga Miteru after Nozomi/RightStuf’s license lapsed and it will be migrated to the new HIDIVE streaming platform before being released on Blu-ray. 

Viz Media announced the dub casts for the Sailor Moon movies, which have a few lovely Uranus / Neptune moments.  ^_^ Check out the dubbed clip of the Sailor Moon S movie as the Outers fight the ice dancers. Bonus points to anyone who can tell me why I consider this the best clip in all of Sailor Moon-dom. Feel free to guess in the comments. 

Anime Feminist‘s Vrai Kaiser reviews Happy Sugar Life, Episode 1, and predictably, doesn’t like it. I cast no aspersions on Vrai here, I would not like it, either, which is why Vrai’s a braver soul for watching it than me. But hey, it exists as a thing streaming on Amazon Prime Video, if it’s a thing you might like. ^_^ And if you do like, it, you’ll be happy to learn that Yen Press has licensed the manga (which, I want to be clear, has never been and will not be reviewed here on Okazu for all of the reasons Vrai mentions.)

SakugaBlog has a lovely article about the trials and tribulations involved in making the Asagao to Kase-san anime OVA, with a focus on the choice to animate emotional states, rather than inserting sweeping vistas or other typical artistic choices for animation. 

Other News

Realistically, I am probably the only one who cares about this, but ANN reports that Ikki Tousen is getting a spin-off manga. Gods know we hardly ever get stories with pantyshots and exploding clothes anymore, so phew.

Mainichi News reports that a support group in Nakano Ward intend to offer free housing to impoverished LGBT people in Tokyo.

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Check out our YNN Podcast on Patreon for a little more thought around today’s news.

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!