Industry News
This week, we need to start with news that is broader than the Yuri Network, specifically, as a number of important industry issues have come to light.
In 2009, you might remember the cascade where hundreds, then thousands of LGBTQ titles were delisted over a holiday weekend. There were a lot of weird things about that situation, and a hacker eventually claimed credit, but I did and still think it was a organizational failure created by a contractor with no one above them who cared to actually understand. This situation does seem a lot more targeted. But I’m going to tell you that tweeting and hashtags and online outrage is not how this gets fixed. How this gets fixed is that you as a consumer – especially if you are a Prime member – call them at 1 (888) 280-4331 and write them and let Amazon know that this decision is not appropriate and you object. I called this morning. Of course the rep I spoke with has no idea what I am talking about but she took my concerns down very politely. Don’t be outraged…do something to help.
YuriMother broke some interesting news this week as writers for LGBTQ story app Lovestruck attempted to unionize and were initially rumored to have been fired in retaliation. Follow ups indicate that the Voltage Organized Workers Association (which does not identify as a union) have not been fired and still hope to negotiate with Voltage management.
Udon Entertainment is celebrating a 20th anniversary and for their Comic-Con @ Home panel, they posted a bunch of folks talking about their experience with Udon. At 31:47, founder Erik Ko talks about The Rose of Versailles in a segment that includes translators Mari Morimoto, Jocelyne Allen and myself as editor. (And Mari is right, we did meet Erik at karaoke in Akihabara, but I remember what I sang. It was Alsatia by Galneryus. It was also the very last time I will ever do Karaoke for the rest of my life. I can’t sing at all any more, not even badly. ^_^;)
In case you missed it, I rounded up the current landscape of where to stream Yuri anime for free and legally in the USA.
Okazu News
We have some *amazing* things to report here at Okazu and I have been dying to share them with you!
Firstly, thanks to our Okazu Patrons, we’ve made it to the first of our Microgoals on Patreon! This is a huge breakthrough for us, the first new high point we’ve hit since the loss of our biggest supporter, when my friend Bruce died. The Okazu family is always proud to support queer creators and with your help we’ve added two new folks to our list:
Okazu is now a supporter of YuriMother, whose work in Yuri news and reviews has been fantastic, as you can see above. I’m thrilled that Okazu is now a patron.
And we are now supporting creator Mieri Hiranashi, who draws a charming autobiographical Yuri manga about being a butch lesbian. ^_^
For every $50 mark we hit from here on, we’ll support another queer creator. But that’s not all – when we hit our next Microgoal mark, $600/month we’ll also institute a raise for Guest Writers here on on Okazu.
We’re also working on making our videos more accessible. With everyone’s help I was able to get enough subscribers to Yuri Studio to enable automatic closed captioning. Well, now we’ve hired the amazing Meru Clewis (who has also been a guest writer here) to handle the subtitles for our Online Yuri Panel. So if you missed it this spring, you’ll now get 90 minutes of accessible accurate captioning for it.
One more “and” – AND just this week, I’ve hired someone to do Japanese-language subtitles for the Why Are There So Many Schoolgirls in Yuri? video. All our videos going forward will have accurate bilingual captioning.
All of this is possible because of our Okazu patrons. So thank you! If you’d like to be part of the team,
please support us on Patreon!
Yuri Anime
The Premium Box Set for Revue Starlight from Sentai Filmworks is up for pre-order and it looks really nice. ^_^
RightStuf has a huge deal on the Bloom Into You Premium Box Set.
Netflix announced the arrival of The Legend of Korra on August 14th in the USA. I recently rewatched this and thought it held up really well. Faster pacing than I had remembered, and Asami and Korra’s relationship develops pretty organically, even if it is in the background.
The British Film Institute (BFI)’s magazine Sight & Sound put out a special feature on 50 Key Anime Films. It was my pleasure to write #33 on the list. (There were two others I had wanted, but they were already taken. Feel free to guess which ones!)
Matthew Rose talks about Serial Experiments Lain on ANN. He’s not discussing it explicitly as a Yuri anime, but we all considered it one back in the day. On rewatch, I found the series to be prescient.)
Mikikazu Komatsu on Crunchyroll has the news about a new, original 15th anniversary Aria movie, ARIA The Crepsucolo, which will feature the ladies of Orange Planet. This movie is currently slated for a spring 2021 release.
Yuri Manga
Jennifer Sherman on ANN has the news that Yuru Yuri creator namori has teased a new series on Twitter which is to be revealed on July 31!
Lilyka has released a new interview, this time with creator Ruri Hazuki, whose manga and doujinshi work I really, honestly like.
Cool Queer Stuff
Naomi Schalit writes Queer young adult fiction isn’t all gloomy realism. Here are 5 uplifting books to get you started on The Conversation.
I’m going to remind you all again that Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is coming out on August 4th and you do not want to miss it!
Comic-Con @ Home had a panel dedicated to the life and work of Howard Cruse: The Godfather of Queer Comics
Pallabi Munsi has a short, pithy look at the life and work of Yoshiya Nobuko on Ozy, The Daring Feminist Writer Who Inspired Manga.
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! Special thanks to Okazu Patrons for being an important part of the Okazu family. I couldn’t do it without you!
“Matthew Rose talks about Serial Experiments Lain on ANN. He’s not discussing it explicitly as a Yuri anime, but we all considered it one back in the day. On rewatch, I found the series to be prescient.)”
I’m a little confused. Sometimes you call Lain yuri, but sometimes you say it’s an ambiguous show and only give it 2-3 on the yuri scale. I haven’t watched this anime yet, so I wanted to know your opinion of it.
“Pallabi Munsi has a short, pithy look at the life and work of Yoshiya Nobuko on Ozy, The Daring Feminist Writer Who Inspired Manga.”
I have no doubts about the endless talent and influence of Yoshiya-sensei, but it bothers me how all her contributions to lesbian literature and female teenage fiction were actually reduced to take that! to abstract sexists.
My review of Lain is my opinion of it. The article does not reduce her life, it simply focuses on one aspect of it.
I read it and I liked it, so then there are no questions. Thank you for your help.
Well, I just think that Yoshiya’s contribution and influence is so overwhelming that any short material will fail to appreciate her full significance for modern Japanese literature. However, I have no right to demand anything from the author, so this is a pointless complaint.
Thank you for letting us know about the Amazon. I will be calling them to courteously let them know I object once I get off work tomorrow. Have a great weekend Erica! 🥬🦚🌺🦩🌹🦋🎊🧜🏽♀️🍒
Thank you!
If I had to guess the other two films you wanted to write up, I’d say “Ghost in the Shell” and “Liz and the Blue Bird.” (Dark horse candidates are “Belladonna of Sadness” and “Night on the Galactic Railroad” due to their influence on Ikuhara, though.)
‘Liz’ is correct, but you missed on the second. Good choices and good thinking them through, though. ^_^
I’d have suggested “Belladonna of Sadness”. It’s a pity “Yokohama Shopping Log” and “Quiet Country Cafe” weren’t in the proper format for this list, but then I’d want “Aria” and the list would never end.
I tend to consider “best” in this sort of situation as meaning “unique and influential” rather than just in my personal top 10. ^_^
And I think this is the best solution. There are too many bloggers on the Internet for whom the “Top 10 Anime of the Year” is like a list of the best hits into their tastes of the year.