It’s been a few years since Okazu posted a Gift Guide. There’s *so* much Yuri and so much more widely available than ever before – and publishers re shouting about it, which makes Yuri even easier to find. But Okazu staffers have taken a few moments and thought about what they think you and/or the Yuri fan in your life might really want to get as a gift. I know I’d love to get some of these! ^_^

Here is the Okazu 2025 Gift Guide. ^_^

Ashley

If you need a fun activity over Christmas how about putting together one of the most solid Gundam model kits in recent history. The new Witch from Mercury sets are all fantastic but both in the experience of building it and the final model the Gundam Aerial Rebuild is the best of both worlds.

The final model feels like an action figure when it has been put together and the whole design is both modular and simple allowing each part to be built by different people who can then put together a model with incredible posing options. It might not have the colours of the original Aerial or the rainbow permet lines of the Calibarn but it is easily the best to ‘play around with’. Which is what you want on a Boxing day evening.

Christian LeBlanc

I highly recommend reading The Moon on a Rainy Night. One of the main characters has hearing loss, and the book spends a lot of time examining different ways in which people will reach out to try and help each other – and how that can sometimes be welcome, and how it can sometimes be not. I find it both educational and emotional.

Bonus points for how grounded in the real world this book feels. Our main characters have several adults in their lives they can go to with their issues: one teacher takes the time to discuss equality vs fairness, while a hairdresser makes herself available as a role model and person to open up to when she notices how one of the girls is struggling with her own queer identity.

Eleanor Walker

You might have heard or seen the phrase “Green Yuri” uttered this year. This is of course referring to The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All by Sumiko Arai. Possibly the year’s most stylish manga, with a distinct green accent, this series was incredibly popular online. Combining classic rock music and young love all in a fashionable package, this series will appeal to music fans as well as Yuri fans. Yen Press cleverly swooped in to begin releasing it in print earlier this year, with the first printing of volume 1 selling out almost immediately.

The first two volumes are available in paperback, but if you want something a little more fancy, volume 1 has also been released as a special hardcover edition.

If you’re very lucky, you may even be able to snag a copy of volume 3 to put under the Christmas tree as it is scheduled to release on the 23rd December. An anime is also in the works, date to be announced.

Frank Hecker

My taste in yuri inclines to stories featuring adults, and one of the best of those recently concluded its run in satisfying fashion. Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord puts a fresh and fun spin on stock yuri characters: a manga artist, her editor, and the idols that come in their lives bringing love and friendship. At five volumes it’s relatively affordable if you want to be generous and gift someone the entire series.

As for other gift ideas, if you know someone looking for yuri beyond manga and anime, consider buying them a gift card and pointing them to one of the places to find new and interesting live-action yuri series, such as the Taiwanese LGBTQ+ streaming service GagaOoLala (home to Fragrance of the First Flower, Ayaka Is in Love with Hiroko, and The Secret of Girls), the Thai service OneD (currently airing the excellent prison drama ClaireBell), or the Chinese WeTV (featuring Thai workplace series Love Design).

Luce

For me, Rainbows After Storms! This series starts where most series end – when the couple gets together. Rather than being full of melodrama, this series is a charming look at two people settling into a new relationship, and the little changes, victories and trials that come with that. The series is complete in Japan, so we’re getting a fairly swift release schedule in English. I look forward to every volume of this series (the spine numbers are becoming a rainbow, btw) for a quiet little peek into Chidori and Nanoha’s relationship. In these tumultuous days, it’s nice having a series where the drama is quiet and it leaves you smiling. I fully think it would be suitable for teenagers as well as adults!

(For a non-yuri rec which is also soothing cuteness, I recommend Fairy Cat; complete in two volumes, it focuses on a kid who finds his room visited by a fairy, taking the shape and attitude of a tiny little cat. As you can tell, I value manga that make me smile.)

I’ll also throw in Maiden Railways by Asumiko Nakamura here, a fun little anthology that focuses on relationships on and around the Odakyu line. My favourite story is Night After Night, but they’re all good, and there is a Yuri story in here, so it’s totally a Yuri rec! I love a good anthology, and I think they make great gifts.

Matt Marcus

For the Yuri fan whose taste leans vintage, there is the soon-to-be-released 4k cut of Project A-ko from Discotek, which comes bundled with regular HD versions of the sequel movies. As you may have read in my reviews of the films, there are some dated elements and the Yuri, such as it is, drops off precipitously in the sequels, but the selling points remain the lavish animation, the absurd escalations of action, and the deep cut otaku references. It’s also a nice value for folks who hadn’t yet collected the previous Blu-ray releases.

As a runner up, I’d also recommend Pink Candy Kiss for those looking for a sweet, wholesome Yuri story with adult leads. Somehow, despite a set-up that isn’t too dissimilar to more dramatic series like Even Though We’re Adults and Run Away With Me, Girl, the “angst” is very gentle and nearly every character is likeable. It’s one to cozy up by the fire with a warm mug of mulled wine.

Erica Friedman

I’ve thought about this for a while and wanted something that would be impactful as well as fun and I think I have found the perfect gift to suggest!

Taiwan Travelogue

I reviewed this 2024 National Book Award winner at the end of 2024, and everything I can say about it is said in that review.But there is so much more that could be said about it.

This historical Baihe by contemporary novelist Yáng Shuāngzǐ, was a breathtaking tale of two women separated by society, politics, country and class and about how they do and don’t connect past those differences. Linguistically, it’s presented as a multi-layered translation of a translation, which it is not, and is, as my wife says, “Yoshiya Nobuko flavored.” I beg you, if you are a Yuri fan, please get this book and read it. It is outstanding in every way and would make a fantastic compelling gift for the Yuri fan in your life!

Happy gift-giving from the Okazu family!