Archive for 2023


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – January 14, 2023

January 14th, 2023

Yuri Anime

Top story this week is the news that Takeshima Eku’s Whisper Me a Love Song is getting an anime! Crystalyn Hodgkins has the details on ANN.

I am beside myself with glee about this. I just love this manga. It’s adorable and utterly, genuinely, innocent. You can happily give it to a pre-teen or adult of your choice. It’s unabashedly a Yuri school romance, without the skirt-staring of Sakura Trick.

I hope/believe this will be the very first anime we can really point to as a shoujo Yuri anime. The manga doesn’t run in a girl’s magazine, of course, so the category is plenty arguable (and I have, in the past, argued that) but with a majority female readership  Comic Yuri Hime has always been – very much despite it’s editor’s opinion, at times – a women’s magazine. If the animators keep the feel and look of the original manga, we should get something that would still be appropriate for tweens. My digits are all crossed for that! I can teel you with certainty, that I am not the only person out there, rejoicing for this anime.

Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall has premiered on Disney+. ANN has a review by MrAJCosplay, which say it looks pretty good, but doesn’t really give us a synopsis of the story, so I don’t know if it is related to either the OVA or the television series, or if any of the Yuriishness from those, appears here. If you have Disney+ and want to write a review for us, contact me!

 

Yuri Events

Yuricon 2023 is moving forward! We currently have more than a dozen panels/presentations/discussions in process. So far all of these are going to be recorded and put onto Yuri Studio to be watched at your convenience, but once we get past Q2, I’m hoping to do at least one live event, as well. Is there a topic you really love to talk about? Apply to run a panel or do a presentation for Yuricon 2023. We are completely open to ideas and the stuff folks are working on now are fantastic, I think you’ll really enjoy them. ^_^  We’re working on a logo now and I’ll be doing an opening ceremonies video once that’s done.

Girls Love Fest is running their next event in the Tokyo area on March 19, 2023. Girls Love Fest 37, will include special “only” sections for Bloom Into You, Assault Lily,  Lycoris Recoil and other popular franchises. Let me know if you’re attending, I’d love a report!

 
Yuri Manga

Creator Mieri Hiranashi has announced that her upcoming book, The Girl That Can’t Get A Girlfriend is number 1 in the nonfiction manga category on Amazon. This eagerly-awaited book will be hitting shelves next month. I’ve pre-ordered my copy. ^_^

She Loves To Cook, She Loves to Eat, Volume 2 will fill your heart with food and squee in English this March from Yen Press!

 

Yuri Visual Novels & Games

Via Sr. YNN Correspondent Ashley, gamedev Christine Love wants you to learn a bit more about Emily Harmless and her quest in Get In the Car Loser! Fate of Another World.

Via YNN Correspondent Cryssoberyl, we have the news that Bushiroad is launching a new Revue Starlight visual novel for Switch and on Steam. Alex Mateo has details on ANN.

 

Yuri Light Novels

I’m In Love With The Villainess: She’s So Cheeky For A Commoner, Volume 1 has hit digital shelves. I implore you to give this series a read. There’s some repeated footage, but trust me…this is not just a rehash of the same scenes. This series *will* have you in tears. inori-sensei’s writing has leveled up in these last few years.

 

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Other News

A new Yuri literary magazine is launching next month in Japan. Zerogo: Yuri Literary Magazine (零合 : 百合総合文芸誌) features a cover image by Shimura Takako, and a comment by Mikami Teren, but the other names are less familiar to me. I’m looking forward to seeing what this offers!

I’ve been watching the news on this, but Ashley convinced me that you’d be interested too. Ogata Megumi, voice actor of Sailor Uranus in the 2000s Sailor Moon anime and Shinji in Evangelion is doing a series of voice-recordings they are calling a Solo Reading Project. Episode 1 is titled HALF MOON. Tickets are available on Peatix. The event will run from Jan. 14 – 21.

Exciting news for queer comics fans, the No Straight Lines documentary will premiere on American PBS’ Independent Lens on Jan 23! Check local listings for broadcast times or stream at pbs.org/nostraightlinesfilm or PBS Video app! This is a must-see documentary. I reviewed it in 2021 here on Okazu. It was brilliant.

 

Yuri Surveys

Thank you to everyone who filled out the Yuri Fandom Survey. We had responses from more than 1600 Yuri fans world-wide! I’m working on the preliminary results now.I’m really fascinated by all of your answers (not in a  creepy way, it’s just really cool!) and will get those results up soon.

The timing was off for posting here on YNN, but this past week Comic Yuri Hime was also running a survey – their first-ever look at what overseas fans want. I hope some of you caught my posts about it online and filled it out. I conjecture that this is a direct result of the popularity of I’m in Love With The Villainess being grown overseas first, then in Japan.

Seven Seas is also doing their monthly reader survey – this one offers a 30% off coupon for all of their imprints on Bookwalker! Since She’s So Cheeky For A Commoner launched digitally this week, I made a point of filling it out. ^_^

In a related topic, Mainichi Japan reports that Japan survey on asexual, aromantic people reveals the terms are not black and white. People have very individual ways of thinking about themselves. How do we really encapsulate gender and sexuality when ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ is an answer that people actually use? ^_^

 

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MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 20

January 13th, 2023

Blonde woman with large breasts in a tight t-shirt that reads "Destroy" short short and hiking shoes, sprawls with a variety of classical Japanese toys. Large outlined letter read MURCIÉLAGO and again in yellow, MURCIÉLAGO, 20, by Yoshimurakana. And explicit content warning features prominently.“Kuroko’s group goes to a hot spring deep in the mountains, where the entirety of the land is owned by the wealthy Yamatsukami family. But right as the family is going to decide the next heir, the third son is found murdered… To make matters worse, the only road in and out of the area is suddenly destroyed! Cut off from the rest of the world, the family begins to whisper about a mysterious “Ayako.” With little to go on, how will Kuroko solve this closed-room case?”

Not gonna lie – that synopsis does a better job of summing up the plot of MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 20 than anything I could have written, Kudos to whomever at Yen Press was responsible for that.  ^_^

Super creepy murders, a family secret, probably someone being buried alive, Hinako running off after bugs, large breasted women…you know, a typical volume of MURCIÉLAGO.

But when Reiko, our crazy-eyed, hot sniper shows up, I wondered where this story was going. It’s not like I have to be convinced to keep reading, I’m clearly in for the whole mishegas on this. 

The extra chapter was a hoot, however, as Kutsuha, Reiko’s…whatever she is… introduces herself at the end as a variety of famous people, including a kind of Rose of Versailles’ Marie Antionette in a little tale meant to praise Reiko. These pages had me laughing out loud, all out of proportion to the actual story. I guess any humor after 170 pages of death, manipulation, lying and torture is extra funny. _^_

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – Weirdly, still mild on the sexual stuff, but murdery service is pretty high.
Yuri – 1

Overall – 7

MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 21  is slated for a May release in English and has been out since March 2022 in Japanese. Volume 22 seems to be the last one available so far in Japanese so far, so we may catch up to this series this year.





Watashi No Yuri Ha Oshigoto Desu!, Volume 11 (私の百合はお仕事です)

January 12th, 2023

Two girls, with gold and silver hair, wearing old-fashioned green Japanese school uniforms, sit in a garden. The blonde wears glasses, leaning back on the bench, looking over her shoulder at the other girl, who leans on the bench back. White letters read, "Watashi No Yuri Ha Oshigoto Desu!, Volume 11" ( in Japanese 私の百合はお仕事です, presented by miman."A whole bunch of volumes ago, when Liebe cafe was having it’s Blume competition, Sumika pulled Hime and Kanako aside and told then a story. It was a sad story, about how a conniving cast member stole her little sister away. Sumika blamed love. She dislikes romantic loev because it tears people apart. As Blume, all she wants for the cafe is that everything remains the same as it is right now. Even at the time, Nene pointed out that Sumika’s version of that story wasn’t complete.

Here in Watashi No Yuri Ha Oshigoto Desu!, Volume 11 (私の百合はお仕事です) we learn the rest of that story.

But first, we must spend time with an increasingly unstable Kanako. It’s not because she’s isolated. Hime and Sumika attempt to reach her. But she’s convinced herself that the problem is not her.  She may be partly correct, but that still leaves a lot of the problem being her.

We kow understand Nene a little better, we think. But it turns out that Nene may not have understood herself back then…and no one understood Youko. She’s not playing a manipulative character, she is manipulative because it is fun. Consider this a warning. She plays this game hard and doesn’t seem to care about casualties.

We finally get all the pieces of that above story, when Nene and Sumika finally talk it all out. This was an outstanding scene. There’s a lot of movement on the page, a lot of references to Nene’s and Sumika’s time as schwestern and some fantastic body language and expressions.

But that still leaves Kanako hanging out there, vulnerable and manipulable. And Youko is right there to pick her up.

Next volume is gonna be a thing, let me tell you. I’m reading the current chapters doing a lot of screaming at the page. ^_^

But here’s the amazing thing…this manga is getting better. It started so funny and cute and now it’s deep and darker and I feel like the goofy characters are turning into people. Miman’s art is getting better and better – how about that cover? Here we are, an unthinkable 11 volumes into this series that was a goofy comedy and we’re getting better mood and narrative than ever before.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 2 There is  bit of body staring, especially in the decolletage. It’s not appalling, but it is there.
Yuri – 10  It doesn’t get Yurier, surely
LGBTQ -10

Overall – 9

This series has been a real surprise in every way, not least because this “S” Yuri concept cafe story is actually quite queer after all. ^_^

Volume 12 is not yet out but get those vocals chords ready. It’s a screamer. ^_^





Yuri Studio Season 4 & A New Feature!

January 11th, 2023

Welcome to a whole new year of me making videos! This year, Season 4 of Yuri Studio, we’ve got two sets of features on tap. One, we’ll be doing panels and videos featuring fans and industry and scholars of Yuri talking about various aspects of the Yuri genre and history for Yuricon 2023.

Today I am launching my first, experimental video and new feature, Erica Reacts (not really) To, in which I will be reacting to various Episode 1s of Yuri anime coming out in 2023. This was requested by my patrons and I…well, I did my best. Here’s my first attempt at a “reaction” video. Kinda. ^_^

Here is Season 01 Epiode 04: Erica Reacts (not really) To: The Magical Revolution of Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady

 

 

I know it’s not really a react video. My life has blown up considerably this month and I have no real time to record myself watching something, or cutting and editing video clips. Instead, you’ve got my opinion about the episode. I’ve got some ideas for the next video, we’ll see if I have the time. ^_^

As always, I thank you for your likes, your kind comments and shares! If you have a video you’d like me to watch, I can add it to the list. ^_^





Yuri is My Job, Volume 10

January 9th, 2023

Pictured: 5 girls in an old-fashioned dark green Japanese school uniform pose in front of a large sunny window. In the front row, are three girls, one sitting to the side with pinkish hair and a bow tied in a "rabbit ear style on top of her head, a blonde in the middle, and leaning on her, a dark-haired girl, with her hair pulled up primly. In the back row are two older-looking girls. One with long-brown hair, and one with blonde hair and glasses. A white fancy bracket encloses the words in white: Yuri is My Job! In the top left corner in black, there is a 10 and the author's name: mimanI’m currently in the middle of reading Volume 11 of Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! so what a great time to take my pent-up feelings out on Yuri Is My Job, Volume 10! ^_^ /Insert scream here/

This series, which began with a parody of ‘S’ tropes as seen through the lens of a popular light novel series, and has always always been a rom-com, unless it wasn’t, suddenly…isn’t. Not really. For one thing, it’s gotten rather queer, almost despite itself (I jest. Miman is a capable author and knows what they are doing…) and the insertion of Yoko into the story has made it feel rather grown-up and darker than it had previously been. Have a bit of pity for Kodansha, a company that licensed a goofy comedy and now has a pretty heavy story on their hands.

There’s an important little thing that happens in this arc. Originally, Sumika gave her version of what happened in the cafe to Kanako and Hime. Now we’ve encountered Yoko, and Nene has given us her version. There’s one more version to go. Wait for it. It’s important.

We now officially have an unwinnable situation. Nene is fucking done with everyone and who can blame her? Sumika is in denial, Kanako is delusional, Yoko is toxic relationships on the hoof and Hime and Mizuki are pretty much relegated to supporting cast. I wasn’t sold on Hime previously, but here she steps up and is a genuinely good friend to Kanako. Too bad it’s too late. Kanako is not okay. I wish I could feel bad for her.

The climax of this arc hasn’t yet happened and I really have no idea what will happen, but I know what I want to see. I want Sumika and Nene to team up and take Yoko down. Will I get that? Tune back in and we’ll see!

Ratings:

Art – 10
Story – 10
Characters – 10 Nene is now my favorite character. Sumika, you’re killin’ me.
Service – 5 Large breasts
Yuri – 9 Looking for love in all the wrong places.

Overall – 9

I summed this volume up in my review of the Japanese volume 10 as “Yikes.” But what amazingly scripted and drawn “yikes” it is.

I must mention Diana Taylor for a great translation job here – everyone has their own voice. You can practically hear Yoko ooze. Jennifer Skarupa does a fine job matching the S/fx to the Japanese’ everyone on the Kodansha team is giving us an excellent reading experience! Cannot wait to see what they do with the two-page color spread that just ran in Comic Yuri Hime. (It was a lot of Yoko’s breasts.)

Volume 11 is out now in Japanese (and on my list of things I will review shortly!), but you’ll have to wait until June to see Yuri Is My Job!, Volume 11 in English.