Yuri Manga
Just as I was working on last week’s report, Yen Press announced two new Yuri titles: The Whole of Humanity Has Gone Yuri Except for Me, and the Nakatani Nio Short story collection, Farewell to my Alter, (which I reviewed here in Japanese last summer) Thanks to Senior YNN Correspondent Sean G for the heads up!
Syrup Yuri Anthology, Volume 2 is out from Seven Seas.
Travel-ish, Yuri-ish Futari Escape, Volume 1 (ふたりエスケープ ) from Comic Yuri Hime is available.
YNN Senior Correspondent Shannon L. wrote in to let our French-speaking friends know that Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is getting a French release as Escale à Yokohama from Meian! They are describing it as a “feel-good” story. Which is true, if you ignore that it is also a science-fiction story about the twilight of humanity. I envy our French readers, this is a magnificent series.
Seven Seas is promoting a Yuri pack of manga on Twitter, featuring 5 Yuri titles!
On Twitter, Kaishaku announced the publication of Volume 1 of their new sequel(ish) to Kannazuki no Miko, Himegami no Miko (姫神の巫女).
Anime News
YNN Correspondent Evie wants you to know about the upcoming anime for Tai Ari Deshita. ~Ojou-sama wa Kakutou Game Nante Shinai~ (対ありでした。 ～お嬢さまは格闘ゲームなんてしない～). Komatsu-san has the details on CR News about this game competition anime set at a girl’s school!
The new anime EX-ARM has already been the target of much critical analysis of the production team and the animation. Now it’s added a new chapter of conversation (or controversy, if you prefer that kind of clickbait headline ) with a possibly(?) censored same-sex kiss. Yuri Mother has the details. Personally, I think the whole anime is a decent example of The Peter Principle, with everyone involved just completely out of their depth and leadership promoted to their level of incompetence.
My Next Life as a Villainess All Routes Lead to Doom! anime is getting a second season. Fans of Maria and Katarina will be so happy. ^_^ ANN’s Rafael Antonio Pineda has the report.
PA WORKS has debuted a promotional video for upcoming anime Shiroi Suna no Aquatope (白い砂のアクアトープ). It’ll hit a lot of buttons – pretty location scenery, nice animation, “girl zoo” Yuri anime.
Blue Period, which has a gender nonbinary character (I haven’t actually read the volume, which is on my to-read pile) is getting an anime. I’m not sure how sensitive the character portrayal is, yet, but I’m told that it is not negative or malicious.) Alex Mateo has the details on ANN.
The first Okazu goal for 2021: Sustainably pass 100 Patrons. This will put us nearer to our next Microgoal. More Yuri Studio Videos, a raise for our writers here on Okazu and another new queer creator we’ll support! Become an Okazu Patron today!
Yuri Light Novel News
The second volume of Girl’s Kingdom is available for pre-order on Kindle and up on the Yuricon Store. An exchange student is going to throw Misaki’s life into turmoil, oh no! ^_^
Other News
Fans of Comic Yuri Hime series Wataten, Watashi ni Tenshi ga Maiorita! (私に天使が舞い降りた!,) might be excited to learn that Wataten 5’s first Solo Concert Delicious Smile! is set to stream overseas on February 6, 2021. Visit E+ for ticket information.
Become a YNN Correspondent: Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share and be part of the Yuri Network. ^_^
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Tai Ari Deshita. ~ Ojou-sama wa Kakutou Game Nante Shinai ~ officially yuri anime? Nice to hear that, I’m so tired of baiting shows with constant arguments around them.
I won’t argue about whether Shiroi Suna no Aquatope is really a yuri anime or not, but why did you decide it would be a girl zoo anime? As far as I remember, the studio has not yet said that it will be completely all-female and most likely it will be something like Sakura Quest.
No, not “officially”, since there is no officials to declare that. ^_^
I mean, I don’t know how much MAL has to do with the official positioning of works, but they tagged the original manga with the tag shoujo ai
Not at all. MAL is a fan list. The fact that they use an outdated and inappropriate term is indication that they are not anything my audience need to consider. As I have say more than a few times to you, what “some fans” say or do somewhere else has absolutely no weight here on Okazu.
Okay, so I’ll just hope it really be outright yuri title. Anyway, I agree that “shoujo ai” doesn’t make sense these days.
So lovely to see so many correspondents :)
Does anyone know if Yuka, the character in Blue Period, is confirmed non-binary? Because the character profiles in vol 2 currently on my digital shelf (btw, the series has the highest possible recommendation from me – best depiction of creating art I’ve seen!) describes them as a “cross dressing boy”, as does the Japanese for the recent vol 8.
Otaquest has a review of one of the more recent Shounen Jump serialisations, Ayakashi Triangle – which starts out as a standard ecchi harem series, but at the end of ch 1 the main guy turns into a girl, how does this effect their existing love interest? https://www.otaquest.com/review-ayakashi-triangle/
Yuri Navi reports on a new VTuber-themed series: http://yurinavi.com/2021/01/23/oshivga-oshiegode-start/
Ayakashi Triangle, hah. Well, actually Suzu takes her attraction to the female form Matsuri early on. Yabuki-sensei even sneers at how innocent her attempts to get closer to him out of context look. The main thing that stops her is her desire to become the Matsuri’s wife, since Japanese laws don’t allow same-sex marriages, and Matsuri is extremely conservative about this.
I’m honestly not sure why 私以外人類全員百合 (“The Whole of Humanity Has Gone Yuri Except For Me”) got licensed. It is… not very good. As I mentioned in my comment to last year’s manga roundup, this appears to be the first and only yuri work by this mangaka, and it shows.
The art is clean and pretty, in kind of a sterile way – like the artist has a background in 3D architectural design. The story starts with a little bit of complexity and intrigue, but it ends up being some fairly generic sci-fi/fantasy hokum with a rushed finale that was clearly the result of cancellation. I couldn’t get very invested in the central relationship (as the main character, as it says in the title, is not “yuri” and spends the whole series trying to get back to her boyfriend.) I dunno. It just feels like a thought exercise from someone who really never gave yuri or yuri fans a thought before or after producing this work. :/
I agree that it was not that great. But I imagine that it was a case of “right ass for the right chair” as Yen has a pretty well-established isekai fanbase and a girl in a relationship but trying to get back to the boyfriend would suit them fine. ^_^
I kind of hope U-temo’s 百合オタに百合はご法度です!? gets licensed. It’s not *faculous* but it seems like a good fit for Seven Seas.