Yuri Manga

We’ve added a few new things to the Yuricon Store:

Still Sick, Volume 1 by Akaishi, in English from Tokyopop has a November release date.

Tamifly’s super popular online hit Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 2 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな ) is out now, review coming soon.

The delightful school life romance from Takashima Eku, Sasayakuyouni Koi o Utau, Volume 1 (ささやくように恋を唄う) is also on shelves now.

Do I keep mentioning that Yamada to Kase-san (山田と加瀬さん) by Takashima Hiromi is hitting shelves at the end of next month? Good. I’m going to keep mentioning it.

BOOKWALKER is running a special coin-back Yuri sale until July 1st in celebration of “Yuri Day” which was apparently June 25th.(We’re not entirely sure why. I did find a flower calendar that said June 25th’s birth flower is the lily, so…?

With permission from the publisher, yesterday I announced the Special Project I’ve been working on is …I’m editing Rose of Versailles for Udon Press! I plan on writing about the project from my point of view because to say it is blind luck that I ended up doing that is an understatement.  ^_^ In the meantime, I can assure you that it is going to be *amazing.* Also, I am ready to defend the translation in a duel, so when people start whining and griping (and they will because if they can’t, they don’t know how to engage,) come at me, I will be ready with swords any time you want. ^_^ In related news, I may have collected dozens of screencaps of Oscar’s eyes over the 3000 pages I read.

Rafael Antonio Pineda over at ANN reports that Yagate Kimi ni Naru/Bloom Into You will end in three chapters (we knew from previous reporting that it was going to wrap up at 8 volumes.)

100 Years of Yuri

We’re running an Okazu Patreon special this month! If you subscribe to Okazu at the $5 month level between now and July 6th, you will receive a sticker with the Okazu 100 Years of Yuri logo!

July 9th is the last day to sign up for the 100 Years of Yuri Tour of Tokyo with Yuricon and Pac-Set Travel. We’re still a few people short of the number we need to make this happen. Please join us for this once-in-a-lifetime chance!

Yuri Anime

Via YNN Correspondent Super, ANN reports Tamayomi baseball manga from Mangatime Kirara is getting an anime. Whether it will in actual fact have Yuri, I don’t know, but all the JP Yuri news outlets keep mentioning it.

Super also wants you to know about Mamoru Oshii’s newest project, a “Girl-Meets-Girl” anime show, Vladlove Vampire.

LGBTQ News

There is so much this week to talk about.

This year as we approach World Pride weekend in this 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, let us remember that we have have so much left to do to protect ourselves and the generations to come. There are important elections in your local districts every year – know who is running and what they stand for! Everyday should be an uprising right now. If you’ve ever thought “I woulda done…” in regards to Stonewall, or civil rights or even World War 2, well, now is your time to do that thing.

Last night, on the 50th anniversary of Stonewall at Stonewall, a black trans woman was threatened with being removed forcibly and having the cops called on her because the partiers lacked any sense of historical perspective. This is unacceptable at any time, but this weekend it’s especially critical for us to do better. Black Trans Lives Matter. This must matter to all of us every day.

You may remember that this week, Viz Media had a chance to stand up and correct some past and present editorial decisions that combined to feel a bit like LGBTQ erasure…and they did it. I was very vociferous in noting that there was no malice intended, because fans do tend to become unhinged by this kind of thing and imagine all sorts of conspiracies….

…which brings me to the Netflix release of Neon Genesis Evangelion. As you probably know by now, the translation on the Netflix release is different than the 20-year old version and for a lot of reasons, people are not happy about it. The thing is… 1) the new translation does nothing to unqueer Kaworu’s and Shinji’s relationship and; 2) it does accurately translate what was said. The new translation actually adds nuance to a complicated relationship. As I noted on Facebook,

“The whole point of the Shinji/Kaworu thing is that Shinji had never experienced *affection* of any kind ever before. Kaworu’s affection is profound…and meant to be unsettling, even inappropriate. The ambiguity of “suki” makes much more sense in that context.

Kaworu’s emotive affection was never ever supposed to be “Look, Shinji has a boyfriend but they can’t *say* it.” It was always supposed to be what we think of as queerbaiting, just as every other relationship in the series is equally as disturbing.”

Nothing in this new, more accurate and layered, translation is telling you that you cannot slash the barely-functioning dissociative human boy with the alien attempt at a human. It is merely saying “We have no idea what is actually happening. Does Kaworu know what he is doing? Is it malicious or kind or affectionate or…what? We cannot tell. Neither, to some extent, can Shinji…or Kaworu.”

You are of course welcome to disagree with this or any interpretation, but the point I am making here is not that this interpretation is either right or another wrong, but that the anger, the doxing, the death threats and other completely irrational reactions to some words being changed are not okay. It is not normal or healthy for anyone to respond to a editorial choice by harassing the translator, creating a conspiracy theory or imagining some kind of malicious intent. It’s just not okay.

If Viz had indeed come back to me and said “we are sticking by our editorial decisions,” I guarantee I would not have tracked down the editors and sent threatening emails. I would have definitely positively simply not bought the thing I was unhappy with. I would have written another letter expressing my disappointment and hope that at some future date the decisions would be reviewed and a different conclusion reached. That is my right and responsibility as a consumer. Harassment is never a reasonable or, I dare say, normal response. If you know someone angry about the translation, feel free to point them here. Even better, if they are sliding into irrational anger, look ’em in the proverbial or literal eye and say, “This is not cool. Translation is an art and the creators approved this translation. You can still have your OTP. No one is taking them away from you.”

For a balanced look at the issue, I refer you to ANN’s discussion of the differences, with input from the translator…and some comments by Japanese fans confused at the negative reaction.

Last item, so we end on a positive note! The Japanese prefecture of Ibaraki will begin issuing same-sex partnership certificates. This is pretty closely an equivalent of Iowa recognizing same-sex marriage in 2009. Like Iowa, Ibaraki is a agricultural prefecture and represents a very “heartland” image. There’s a lot of politics behind this decision and the ruling party, the LDP, did as much as it could to stop this, so don’t think they are softening. But there you go. Progress. The first of 47 prefectures has taken the plunge.

However you choose to celebrate Pride this year, enjoy. And on Monday, get back to work, calling your legislators and making them work for you. Happy World Pride Week!

Do you have questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news with your name and an email I can reply to!

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