Yuricon 2023

The first discussion panel of Yuricon 2023 is up on Yuri Studio! The first of our Scholarship track, Boston University professor Sarah Frederick and I talk about the woman I call the grandmother of Yuri in Celebrating the Life And Work of Yoshiya Nobuko. We talk about her political and literary life, her love life, and her works including Prof. Frederick’s translation of Yellow Rose from Yoshiya-sensei’s Hana Monogatari series. It’s a chunky discussion to start with, but I wanted us all to know Yoshiya-sensei as the amazing, accomplished woman she was. 

Our next panel will be the first in our “Yuri Is Their Job track,” in which we talk to folks who translate some of your favorite Yuri manga. We have several panels recorded already and have a few more scheduled, including a special guest for Yuricon 2023. All we need now is your panel or presentation! Please apply for your panel today. I really want to hear from you!

Comitia is happening tomorrow in Japan. This is always an incredible show and a great place to discover new original Yuri work.

Girls Love Fest is returning to the Tokyo area on March 19. It has more adjacent festivals than ever, so keep your eyes peeled for Lycoris Recoil, Bloom Into You, Revue Starlight, idol and magical girl series Yuri doujinshi. ^_^

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Yuri Manga

Mieri Hiranashi’s outstanding autobiographical manga, The Girl That Can’t Get A Girlfriend has been released by Viz Media! I exhort you all to read this. It is touching, and heartbreaking and hilarious and uplifting.  Of note, Mieri wrote the script for the manga in Japanese and in English. Autostraddle’s A. Tony Jerome’s review is spot on: This Butch4Butch Manga Made Me Feel Heartbroken and Heartfixed.

Yen Press has announced a number of new Yuri licenses this week! I Don’t Know Which Is Love!,  and two by Mikan Uji, Assorted Entanglements, (which I have reviewed up to Volume 5 here on Okazu as Fuzoroi Renri) and I Don’t Need A Happy Ending.

Do not forget that Doughnuts Under A Crescent Moon, Volume 4 is heading our way next month! I really don’t want you to miss the ending of this wonderful story.

Morishima Akiko is back! This time with a serialized story about a 60 year old, single lesbian. Grab A Single Life: Akiko, in English on US Kindle or in Japanese (ひとりみです①: 60歳レズビアンのシングル生活) or English on JP Kindle.  This is being released one chapter at a time. As I have said for many years, it is likely that we’ll see more senior years Yuri as my generation of artists age up…and here we are, aging up. ^_^

schwinn’s Hana Monogatari, Volume 2 (はなものがたり) is hitting JP bookshelves this coming week.

Galette, No. 25 (ガレット) will hit shelves in March. You can pre-order it on Amazon JP or pick it up at Comitia. This brings us to the end of their 5th year! It’s will be interesting to see where the magazine goes from here.

Okazu Guest Reviewer Matt Marcus has embarked on a detailed and deep dive into the How Do We Relationship manga, that he has been reviewing here on his new blog, Oh My God, They Were Bandmates. If you’d like to get into the weeds of this series, head on over and see what Matt is doing!

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Yuri Anime

The Yuri Is My Job anime premieres on April 6th. (The worst possible day for me, so my “react” video will be a tad late, as I’ll be at Anime Boston that weekend. ^_^) Joanna Cayanan has details and a second trailer on ANN.

Friend of Okazu, Philip has a review of Birdie Wing over on Otaku News. Which we can read while tapping our feet impatiently. One the one hand, I need more Birdie Wing in my life. On the other, in a year of an absurd amount of great Yuri anime, I love the idea of S2 of Birdie Wing being a climax for us all. ^_^

In the meantime, The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady continues to satisfy deeply. As Cryssoberyl noted on the Okazu Discord, a new Yuri trope might be forming before our very eyes. AnimeCorner seems to agree – and notes that there’s even more of a pattern than we thought. I know a meme isn’t “news” per se, but I found this kind of interesting and wanted to share. ^_^

Other News

Speaking of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury, if you are in the market to proclaim your allegiance to House Earth (and Chuchu’s beautiful punch) the Gundam Store has you covered, literally, with House Earth hoodie or sweatshirt. ^_^

ANN did a Valentine’s Day Special  and Gabriella Ekens gave us our represent with Anthy and Utena for Your Favorite Anime Couple.

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