Yuri Manga
While most retailers are browbeating you into buying things for other people, I’m here gently reminding that you should also consider getting some things for yourself! Especially as your friends and family might not understand what you want. ^_^; To that end, tomorrow I’ll be doing a few pre-holiday season Okazu Lucky Boxes. Most will be Premium Boxes which means media and books, and Yuri goods and doujinshi and candy from Japan, as well as the usual assortment of utter crap from a variety of sources. (People give me things. I buy things. I find things. You know…the usual.)
We’ve also put a bunch of new and very exciting items on the Yuricon Store!
Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Volume 8 is out in Japan and has now surpassed a million copies in print! Via Comic Natalie, creator Nakatani Nio has drawn a picture to celebrate this milestone. Also on the Yuricon Store is the pre-order for the English edition of Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 1, the first of the light novel series following the Student Council Vice President in her early years. I’ve reviewed this book in Japanese and liked it best for perfectly capturing Sayaka’s voice.
Also super exciting, we’ve listed The Conditions of Paradise, an English-language edition of Rakuen no Jouken, by Morishima Akiko. I’m excited to see one of my favorite older one-shot manga brought over.
Less super exciting, but still pretty pleasant, is Ikemen-sugi desu Shiki-sempai!, Volume 2 (イケメンすぎです紫葵先パイ! ) a first love story I find to be quite nice.
And for those who loved the first volume, we have lesbian sex worker anthology sequel Rezu Fuuzoku Anthology Repeater / レズ風俗アンソロジー リピー.
LGBTQ News
Via YNN Correspondent Yeo, ShipperinJapan on Twitter has receipts that anime Hoshiai no Sora (Stars Align) has a discussion about trans rights, trans lives, names and pronouns with empathy. This great conversation is captured in two parts on their twitter feed. I commented that in 1994, seeing Haruka and Michiru as a couple on TV was so meaningful…and in 2019, Maki’s conversation with Yuu is just as powerful. Progress, my friends, looks like this. It’s small, incremental and lays the groundwork for the next step. Do not let anyone tell you that these issues don’t exist in Japan.
The fine folks at the Comics Beat have put together Gift Guide: 50 queer comics for everyone on your list, which I have bookmarked and will be buying myself presents from for months to come. A number of these have been read and reviewed here, many others have not, so definitely take a look.
Yuri Anime
The fourth Promotional Video for Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu is available and weirdly…it looks better than the manga?! I live in hope.
ANN’s Alex Mateo reports that Funimation has added Puella Magi Madoka Magica to their streaming catalog.
AnimEigo is releasing the new Gunsmith Cats OVA Explosive Edition for general distribution after their successful kickstarter.
Victoria Davis interviews Anime Voice Actor Morgan Berry on Her Lead Role in Lesbian Love Story Kase-san and Morning Glories for The Mary Sue. Berry says she identifies as genderfluid, which I found interesting. I haven’t gotten the Sentai edition, but if someone has watched the dub and would like to review it, please feel free to contact me!
Yuri Game
SukeraSparo’s Yuri Game Kundan Folklore (クダンノフォークロア) is being released as a smartphone game for JP phones on iOS and Android.
Other News
I’m not running to read this, but if anyone picks up Yurizuki no Danshikoukousei no Hanashi (百合好きの男子高校生の話) a comedic Twitter comic about about high school boys who love Yuri, feel free to pitch a review. At least let us know what you think.
Sara Century on Syfy takes a look at the early days of female characters in the Thor comics in When Women Came To Asgard.
Here’s a fun thing to end with Comic Walker has climbed on the Yuribu train! Check out their digital selection at Yuri KuRaBu, i.e.,Yuri Club. (百合倶楽部).
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! Write me with any questions you have, and I’ll do my best to answer them on my YNN podcast, when I revive it this winter!
“Via YNN Correspondent Yeo, ShipperinJapan on Twitter has receipts that anime Hoshiai no Sora (Stars Align) has a discussion about trans rights, trans lives, names and pronouns with empathy. This great conversation is captured in two parts on their twitter feed”
Trans rights? I know that one of the characters is openly gay and in love with one of the two male MCs, but I don’t remember trans characters in it.
You should look at the clips. They are explicitly about transgender people.
Hmm, I watched this episode just now and I have some complicated feelings about this. Given the character’s positioning in past episodes, this may evoke unintentional associations with “gay = trans”, but as a gender-uncomfortable person, I cannot help but admit that I find such a representation important and interesting.
I definitely like how this show likes to make social comments, which is quite rare in such an idealistic genre as an all-male sports anime.
The linked clips are from Hoshiai no Sora (Stars Align) Episode 8. This episode was first aired by TBS in Japan on Thursday, 28 November 2019 before gradually getting released in other locations – on other broadcasting stations and platforms. The series is ongoing.
Thank you for linking the interesting interview with Morgan Berry. Sentai previously posted an interview with David Wald in which he mentioned affinity with the material and his approach to casting for the English Kase-san and Morning Glories dub.
https://www.sentaifilmworks.com/a/news/an-interview-with-kase-san-and-morning-glories-director-david-wald
Saw your retweet of the Gyao! announcement a little while ago. Found it interesting that the decision was made to once again do a staggered release in three parts for their -temporarily free- streaming re-release of the film in Japanese [Gyao! might be region restricted, too].
https://gyao.yahoo.co.jp/p/00025/v12912/
Thanks for the interview! I always appreciate such a balanced and neutral discussion of Japanese LGBTQ content. Now I even more wanted to watch this OVA.