Hello and welcome to this week’s Yuri Network News Report. I want to start with some news from within our community. Please take a look at this logo for YNN. The artist behind it is Mari Kurisato, a queer, indigenous artist, writer and activist…and Yuri lover. She’s one of the folks we support on Patreon. She needs some help. Her computer is dying and lucky her, she’s here in the US where we don’t have a reasonable healthcare system. If you have even $5 to toss her way, you’ll help get her out of a hole of medical debt and computer problems. I know we’re all tapped out. I know we’re all being asked to give every second. But there are folks who really need help and Mari is one of us. I’m not asking you to give up money you need. But if you have the money for a couple of Ventis at Starbucks, maybe give one up for her. Thank you.
Yuri Manga
Have a bunch of stuff today that I’m not entirely sure will end up on the Yuricon Store or not, but you should know about!
Tadokoro-san (田所さん) is a school life story by TATSUBON, that looks nice. If you want to check out a few pages or take a look at the doujinshi that it sprang from, Lilyka has you covered. ^_^
Ichinjinsha has another adult drunk Yuri anthology, Alcohol Yuri Anthology Strong! (アルコール百合アンソロジー・ストロング! ) I have found this current series of Ichijinsha anthologies to be lackluster, YMMV of course.
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Today on the Yuricon Store!
Goodbye , My Rose Garden Volume 2 is on the way in print and on Kindle next month from Seven Seas.
I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 1 will be available in in print in November and on Kindle in September.
Éclair Bleue: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart has arrived on my doorstep and will arrive on yours in two weeks. ^_^ The Kindle edition of Éclair Rouge is already up on Amazon for a September release.
This seems a good time to remind you that most, if not every, Yuri book coming out in English, is also available digitally on Kindle and Bookwalker – and often sooner than the print. So if you, like me, are neck deep in books, this is great way to keep supporting and reading Yuri manga that may not actually be something you want to keep.
I also want to note that, while I am promoting Kindle and Bookwalker, I am aware that many of these titles are also available on Nook. Barnes & Noble recently announced that they are stopping support for their Nook app, rendering the ecosystem for Nook readership back down to people who own a physical Nook. And, you might guess, I don’t have a referral account with B&N, since they have a history of resisting both manga and y’know, readers, being able to access their digital offerings. So if you have a Nook, do check for those titles, I’m just not linking to them.
Queer Media Reference Tools
So let’s say you’re listening to me at a panel and I say, “read queer comics, too, not just manga,” and you think, “But, where do I go to learn what queer comics there are and what they are about?” Start with the Queer Comic Database. Via YNN Correspondent, Victoria R, this was begun as a project out of University of Washington and has plenty of useful filters. You can find online comics, print, even free comics and yes, they take suggestions!
The Complete Yuri Movie Guide (「百合映画」完全ガイド) definitely looks like something…this Japanese-language book says it looks at 300 “Yuri” movies and asks questions like “How did this movie describe women?” Sadly, it is not shipping to my location, so if you get a copy hit me up and write a review for us.
Other News
A number of manga and manga studies books have been nominated for an Eisner Award this year, including Kabi Nagata’s My Solo Exchange Diary. Jennifer Sherman does the breakdown on ANN.
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“The Complete Yuri Movie Guide (「百合映画」完全ガイド) definitely looks like something…this Japanese-language book says it looks at 300 “Yuri” movies and asks questions like “How did this movie describe women?”
Do the Japanese use the word “yuri” as a euphemism for “lesbian” in any queer female cases? I recently read ecchi yuri manga, which used both the “yuri” and “lesbian” in the same context.
That’s a reasonable question. Based on the description of the book on the publisher’s website of the Yuri Movie Guide, it appears that they are using a broad definition, much as we do at Yuricon, movies depicting relationships between women, physical and emotional. The description says that the movies they have chose are from as far back as the 1930s, so I expect you will see movies like Mädchen in Uniform, Terese and Isabelle, The Children’s Hour and other classics, through popular contemporary movies. It will be very interesting to see what titles they choose.
That is, you mean that this is a Japanese guide about lesbain-related cinema in general, and not just Japanese films? I initially suggested that it was about Japanese films or full-length animes that either have a direct lesbian theme or are dedicated to “strong emotional bonds” and other things like that.
Well, the synopsis really sounds promising, so I wouldn’t refuse to see a review of this book on your site.
Again, based on the description on the website, this guide covers from around the world and over the last 90 years or so.
For example, in this article https://cinema.ne.jp/recommend/shinochan2018071517/ (as I understand it), the author stubbornly defines film about cute female friendships as “nearly yuri” and describes a straight romantic line as an threat to girls friendship and, accordingly, “nearly yuri”. I just can’t catch by what logic they use for this word.
On the theory that things Ikuhara with LGBT themes are on-topic, Amazon tells me that volume one of the translated *Sarazanmai* novel will be released on 11 June (on Kindle), with paper copies released in September.
Slightly further afield, but still Ikuhara, I found the first volume of the *Penguindrum* novel to be surprisingly conventional (but still worthwhile) for all its faith to the anime. Relevant to *Sarazanmai*, I was surprised to find that *Penguindrum’s* Ringo Oginome has treasured kappa and otter stuffed animals.
Thank you very much! I haven’t covered Sarazanmai, since other sources have so emphatically done so, but the news is welcome. ^_^
From what I’ve heard before, reportedly it’s the last Penguindrum novel that has more new material since much was cut out of the anime’s later stages. I read once part of this is hinting at a relationship between Himari and Ringo, though don’t quote me on that.
For the first Sarazanmai novel, I’ve read it in JP and did some fan translation, don’t expect much entirely new aside from one short completely novel-original chapter in the middle of the book. But it does give some extra details here and there such as about Enta and Kazuki’s family situations.
The second novel has a much greater proportion of new material which really expands on Reo and Mabu’s storyline in particular, definitely worth picking up for any fan of the series.
Thanks for the “warning”. Even with the lack of stylistic adventurousness, the first volume of *Penguindrum* was an okay read, and I intend to stick with the novels until they conclude.