Archive for 2025


The Anemone Feels the Heat, Volume 1

April 28th, 2025

With hair and flowers swirling around them, a blonde girl with medium-length hair and a long, dark-haired girl embrace one another. The Anemone Feels the Heat, Volume 1 is a story of missed chances and opportunities gained.

Nagisa, who might have passed quietly through life at an elite high school, misses her chance to do so, due to an act of human kindness and has to accept a place at a local school. She is committed to bettering herself, but finds that she may have missed that chance, as well. Mashiro is a girl who has little chance to do anything, as she is usually ill. She’s happy to be in Nagisa’s class, but Nagisa sees her as a burden she didn’t want, holding her down.

Mashiro is trying to not lean too much on Nagisa, but circumstances are not in her favor. All she can do is appreciate the other girl…and learn to care about her own health a little bit more. She’s never thought about making opportunities for herself, but Nagisa encourages her to do so. Nagisa’s existence opens up chances for Mashiro, to live, to enjoy things – chances she never expected to have.

Very much despite her stated intentions, Nagisa finds herself wanting to help Mashiro. When she and Mashiro hug in the infirmary, something in Nagisa…changes. Grows? She’s missed her chance to become one kind of person, but has an opportunity to become someone else, someone she never expected to be. She was convinced she didn’t like Mashiro, but now…she thinks she likes her.

The final chapters lighten this all up a bit, as Nagisa explores the boundaries of hugging with her friends – who are super happy to help out, which takes Nagisa a step forward to looking Mashiro in the face. Baby steps, but welcome ones.

Ren Sakuragi’s art is strong enough to give the characters some flavor, but here at Volume 1 it is not apparently obvious if the narrative itself will develop any depth. That said, the fact that this series is thus far 8 volumes in Japan indicates that it does. ^_^ Mei Amaki’s translation is quite smooth, and yeah, I get why Yen has Rebecca Sze doing subtitle-style sound effects, I will always hope for a smoother reading experience.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Service – 2 Hugs, I guess?
Yuri – 2 Hugs, I guess?

Overall – 7, with some room for growth.

Overall, a solid opening to this hopeful schoolgirl Yuri story. Here’s hoping it builds into something bigger.





Galette, No. 30 (ガレット)

April 27th, 2025

Pale blue background with yellow, white and green ribbons, pixelated letters in orange read "Ribbon of Fate". Art by pen. Still working my way through the backlog of Galette magazines, which brings me to Galette, No. 30 (ガレット).

Aneido’s “Watashi ha Kimi no Kami dayo”, which has the best English tagline of “Oh my God! Yes, I am your god” continues the delightful story of a grifter who is working on seducing the apparently innocent accountant for a religious cult, by pretending to be her god. Everything about this is wonderfully ridiculous.

Morinaga Milk’s Yuna mopes around because Reina will not handle her issues in “Watashi no Kawaii Neko-chan.” I need to spoil a bit here. Because I am now several issues ahead of this, I can say it gets better, but this was really a last straw for me. IF the story just kept going down this road, I was going to drop it. I wasn’t having fun watching Reina be oblivious to Yuna’s suffering while simultaneously ignoring her own health.

Yorita Miyuki’s “Houkenshitsu na Ano Onna” has been a bit of a rollercoaster. Those of you who are getting the English-language edition of Galette magazine are encountering a drab teacher and the glamorous women in the infirmary who obsesses her. It is becoming clearer than Tsukino-sensei and Yukino-sensei might actually be okay together.

I love Yamada Torico’s “That girl day in the life” for a number of reasons. The protagonist name is Seoyun, it’s nice to see a Korean name and it’s a refreshing change of pace from fourteen million ‘Hana”s and the like. ^_^ Her best friend who is making her question her feelings is a carefree and fun girl, but not reckless or dangerous. It’s just…sweet.

Momono Moto offers us a new work, since Kitta Izumi has backed off of writing Liberty. I’m sorry about that, but glad to see her sticking around.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

More manga, 140-character stories, Yuri discussion and illustration fill out a nice 216 page volume of Galette. I’ve already read No. 31, and hope to review that soon, as I am still trying to catch up. ^_^

This week, backers of Galette Special English Edition #2 were informed that May will see the next Kickstarter for Issue #3 (of an initial 7 planned.) We’ll be sure to let you know when that launches!





Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – April 26, 2025

April 26th, 2025

A blue silhouette of a girl with a white flower in her hair, embracing the earth. Blue block letters read YNN Yuri Network News. Art by Lissa P. For Okazu.Last post of April already! Time is moving fast this year!

Yuricon News

Two quick items. We have committed to a collaboration with Hand Design Co. to give a new look and functionality to the Yuricon site. This is the first new site we’ll have there in a decade. I coded the first three Yuricon sites myself, then had rebuilds in 2006, 2012ish and now. This will be a big undertaking, so if you love our weekly news roundups, event reports, interviews and reviews, now would be a GREAT time to become an Okazu Patron or Ko-Fi Supporter!We’re starting by getting updates on the Yuricon Store done, we’re on the last few sections now, and I am hopeful that this look will last us another decade. ^_^

Thank you to all our Patrons and Supporters for helping us to get to this point.

 

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Secondly, here is my speaking schedule thus far this year:

    • CitrusCon – June 20-22 online
    • Flamecon – August 16-17, New York
    • BlymeCon – Aug 31-Sept 1 online
    • University talk (TBD end of October)
    • Y/CON  – November 14-15, Paris

Of course I would love to speak to your organization, class or at your convention! Contact me and we’ll work something out. ^_^

 

Yuri Manga

Galette No. 33 (ガレット)  is up on the Yuricon Store and so is Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 14 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな ) the final volume of Tamifull’s series.

To backers of Volume 2, Galette WORKS has announced the upcoming Kickstarter for Galette Special English Edition, No. 3. This will launch in May and will have a shortened campaign. I’m reading No. 2 right now and honestly think it looks even better than 1.  I have to find some time to review some of the stuff sitting here that I have already read first!

Baiheverse announced the release of Submission Time: Yes or Yes? manhua with  a series PV on Youtube. Chapter 1 is free to read in English.

Via Okazu Staff Matt Marcus, Battan (Run Away With Me Girl) has a new manga debuting next month in KISS magazine.

Matt also wants you to know about Blue Proustian Moment which is available right now on Shueisha’s MangaPlus app, and at leas Chapter 1 on desktop. He says this feels as if it has a lot of potential.

Not Yuri, but of note:

Seven Seas has announced an EN edition of Kabi Nagata’s My Twisted Eating Disorder.

Via YNN Correspondent Patricia B and ANN’s Rafael Antonio Pineda, Bloom Into You creator Nio Nakatani has a new manga series beginning in Dengeki Daioh magazine in the fall.

Star Fruit Books has licensed classic shoujo sports manga The Final Strike by Chikae Ide. ANN’s Crystalynn Hodgkins and Anita Tai have that news item.

 

Yuri Light Novels

Homunculus Tears: Alchemy for the Brokenhearted is here! inori-sensei’s first self-published work is out today. I hope we can all agree that supporting her is a good thing. ^_^ inori-sensei announced on Bluesky that this series is being adapted into a manga by Kadokawa, with art by Nata Ookura, so cool for her!

Via Sr. YNN Corespondent Sean Gaffney, Volume 11 of Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei will be hitting JP shelves in June.

 

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Yuri Live Action

Matt Marcus points us to X where, Shimura Takako says that episodes 1 and 2 of the live-action adaptation for Otona ni Nattemo is now streaming on Hulu Japan. Check out the trailer on the official Hulu JP site.

 

Yuri Anime

“Ambivalence” does not cover my feelings about the news that Roll Over And Die: I Will Fight For My Life With My Love And My Cursed Sword, is getting an anime. I expect that the grossness will have to be ratcheted back for time, if nothing else. Maybe it’ll be like The Executioner and Her Way of Life and be better as an anime that it was a novel. Crystalynn Hodgkins has the news on ANN. I reviewed Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3 of the LNs, but could not bring myself to read Volume 4 after Sean Gaffney’s obvious distress at having read it.

Not Yuri, but we’ll let it in the club as a friend, the Zombieland Saga movie has cast, staff news and a teaser. Alex Mateo on on ANN has the news.

Look Back anime has won the Japan Movie Critics Award. I keep telling you about this movie, because I really, really  want you all to watch it. ^_^ Rafael Antonio Pineda has this news on ANN.

 

Yuri Games/VNs

Via YNN Corespondent KatGrrrl, Love Curse: Find Your Soulmate, a Yuri VN by Xso, is on sale for 20% off on Steam.

 

Yuri Doujinshi

YNN Correspondent Patricia B. wants you to know that aneido’s newest doujinshi in English Kickstarter features two different books: The Soul-Selling Corporate Drone & Other Fanciful Tales and The Snared Siren & Supernatural Stories. Positing this reminded me to back these. ^_^ With 22 days to go, this has already made almost 500% of the initial goal, and the first two stretch goals are unlocked.

Lastly, my very sincere congratulations to our friends at Manga Mavericks for entering the publishing world with a number of new titles including Yuri works Now No One Lurks Beneath the Snow  and The Murderer and Her Runaway Desire by aneido and Senpai no Kohai by Hanakage Alt, all translated by Red String. Great news for all of us!

 

Bit of a story here. You know that I absolutely love Hayashiya Shizuru‘s work, yes? Creator of Hayate x Blade, Strawberry Shake Sweet, Utimate MAMA and a bunch of other great series, is someone whose doujinshi I also collect obsessively. I am confident that I have most of her books, from back in her earliest years. She had a new doujinshi out at Comiket last winter and I planned on getting it through Melonbooks, but they are no longer able to accept American credit cards for online purchase. This is not their fault. This is part of an endless, ongoing battle by regressive asshats here in the US and Japan to increase censorship using Visa and Mastercard.

Hayashiya-sensei announced her new work and I commented on her Pixiv that I was sad I would not be able to get it this time. The universe folded, as it sometimes does, and 1) Hayashiya-sensei released the entire doujinshi for free on her Fanbox and now on public-facing Pixiv and, 2) Roxie asked if I wanted anything from Japan. Today I have a  hard copy of and you can read a digital copy of original doujinshi Shake Rock Candies, by Hayashiya-Shizuru. It is an idol story…also not really. ^_^

 

Other News

Check out WONK|Deep Dive: online- GHOST IN THE SHELL concert on the official GiTS channel on Youtube. ANN’s Ken Iikura-Gross has details on the concert series.

Rebecca Silverman reviews A Sinner of the Deep Sea manga series on ANN, which she sums up as what if the Little Mermaid had a friend who would sacrifice everything to save her?

ANN’s Steve Jones gives us the Rock Is A Lady’s Modesty, Episode 1-3 review we deserve.^_^

Comic Natalie has an interview with Kitagata Sahoko, who is a Shueisha Deputy Editor-in-Chief for Cocohana magazine about how she shepherds manga into the world. Good insight from an experienced editor.

 

If you’d like to support Yuri journalism and research, Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips.  Our goal now, into 2025, is to raise our guest writers’ wages to above industry standard, which are too low!

Your support goes straight to paying for Guest Reviews, folks helping with videos, site maintenance, managing the Yuricon Store and directly supporting other Yuri creators. Just $5/month makes a huge impact! Become part of the Okazu family!

Become a part of the Yuri Network, by being a YNN Correspondent: Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share with us.





Fragrance of the First Flower, Seasons 1 and 2

April 25th, 2025

A promotional poster for season 2 of Fragrance of the First Flower. The poster features the two main characters, Ting-Ting (foreground, with short brown hair), and Yi-Ming (background, with shoulder-length black hair). The two women are facing in opposite directions, with serious looks on their faces.Live-action yuri series from Asia often traffic in the fantastical even when they’re not explicitly fantasies: the implausible coincidence, the melodramatic plot twist, the deus ex machina that brings about an unlikely happy ending, the concluding wedding scene that’s not an actual wedding. It’s therefore refreshing to find a series like Fragrance of the First Flower (streaming on GagaOOLala and Netflix Asia) that eschews fantasy in favor of realism while still conveying a sense of optimism.

It’s no coincidence that Fragrance of the First Flower was produced in Taiwan, a country where the passing of marriage equality legislation means that one might attend a friend’s wedding and find that two women are getting married to each other in the next room over. Thus begins episode 1 of season 1, in which thirty-something Yi-Ming looks across her table at the reception and sees Ting-Ting, her former junior and ardent admirer.

It’s a plot not unknown in yuri works, in which a “passionate friendship” between two high school girls (here told in flashback) ends with graduation but is rekindled in adulthood. But real life intrudes on the potential romance: Yi-Ming is now married, and is torn between her desire for Ting-Ting and her responsibilities as a wife and a mother caring for a young autistic son by herself. (Her husband works in another city and comes home only on weekends.) Ting-Ting slowly enters Yi-Ming’s life again, and her family’s life as well: taking her son to the doctor, picking him up after school, even being invited to dinner by Yi-Ming’s unsuspecting husband. But this state of affairs cannot last; the last episode of season 1 ends on a scene of tearful emotion and a note of ambiguity. Season 2 begins after a time-skip, as Yi-Ming and Ting-Ting each find their lives changed in various ways, and once again find their paths intersecting, this time perhaps for good.

The story of Fragrance of the First Flower is relatively simple and straightforward, with only minor detours along the way (the most important one being an introduction of a new potential love interest in season 2). It’s the characters that make it worth watching, as portrayed by ZaiZai Lin (Yi-Ming) and Lyan Chen (Ting-Ting). (Both women won acting awards for the series—which also won an award for screenwriting for season 1 director Angel I-Han Teng.) Yi-Ming is a woman worn down by the twin burdens of being a wife and mother, guilt-ridden, emotionally closed off, and hesitant to say what she truly feels. Ting-Ting seems a free spirit in comparison—single, living with her mother, working a variety of part-time jobs, and (in season 2) playing in a band—but she has her own cross to bear: she’s desperately in love with Yi-Ming, more than perhaps is good for her, and agonizes over whether her love will ever be returned in full measure.

Fragrance of the First Flower is a “GagaOOLala original,” produced for the up and coming LGBTQ streaming service by its parent company Portico Media, with partial support from the Taiwan Ministry of Culture. (The Taiwanese government’s “tongzhi [gay] diplomacy” includes sponsoring media that promote Taiwan as an LGBTQ-friendly country.) The production values are generally high, and the English subtitles are idiomatic and almost error-free. The music is particularly noteworthy, with excellent songs for season 1 and season 2 by singer-songwriter Enno Cheng and another for season 2 written and sung by Ke Ching Li (a.k.a. Yao), who plays new love interest Xiao Ning. GagaOOLala has seen much success with the series (including being named one of the best international TV shows of 2021 by Variety); I hope it leads the service to produce more high-quality yuri shows in the future.

Ratings:

Story — 8 (painfully real at times)
Characters — 9 (no villains, no heroes, just flawed people trying to find each other)
Production — 8
Service — 4 (a few by-now-mandatory kissing scenes)
LGBTQ — 10
Overall — 9

Fragrance of the First Flower is an emotionally resonant and realistic drama with solid writing, production, and music, and excellent performances by the two leads. If you’re not already a GagaOOLala subscriber it’s worth trying out the service for this series alone.





Pink Candy Kiss, Volume 1

April 24th, 2025

A woman with long, dark hair stares out at us with her hands steepled, while a woman with short, dark hair on her right leans in to her, her mouth open.Viz Media is quietly carving out a little niche  for themselves, aren’t they? ^_^ Along with all the quiet little school  Yuri from Shogagukan, like Rainbows After Storms, they have complex adult Yuri in  How Do We Relationship from Shueisha, and now Pink Candy Kiss, Volume 1, by  Ami Uozumi.

Taka is coming off another breakup with a boyfriend. She just doesn’t seem to have that *feeling* of wanting to be with them and she doesn’t know why. (As an aside – this is perfectly normal! We should be dating to date, not to marry!) She meets up with an old school friend and is blown away at how much Ema has changed.

In her memories, Ema was quiet and needed protecting. They were so close…why did they stop keeping in touch? Taka can’t stop watching Ema, and is jealous that Ema’s husband Hario has had all these years to be with Ema. But, as Hario repeatedly says, he’s never seen Ema this happy, since Taka is back in her life.

Having set this up situation up, we run into the story’s biggest weakness – Taka’s denial setting is on 11. So for the rest of the volumes, she is torturing herself. “What am I feeling?” goes only so far to carry a story.When she finally remembers that she and Ema stopped speaking after Taka tried to kiss her friend, it feels almost like psychological horror that she never, ever, ever, ever thought this through. At last, at the end of Volume 1, Taka realizes that she loves Ema, although no one yet has noticed that Ema is also in love with her. It all feels all very old school “what is this feeling?”  The creator does mention that their wish is that people can love freely, which makes this feel more of a moral than a story. But, I get that many people really don’t understand themselves until later in life, so I am willing be convinced.

Having recently finished up Takako Shimura’s Even Though We’re Adults, Viz apparently felt that we needed another lesbian falls for a married woman story. ^_^ Only in this story, the marriage is not on the rocks. I could, almost, visualize a  relationship in which Ema had two partners but for one thing…Emma herself. She seems much too unaware, unless that is her method of self-preservation? ” I guess we’ll find out in future volumes. Tsumetakute Yawaraka ( 冷たくて 柔らか) is already up to 4 volumes in Japanese, so there is room for drama.

Ratings:

Art –  It’s a bit rough, but somehow very Josei-feeeling
Story – Reunions are nice as a premise, but the backstory/secret it a tad weak, hoping for more as it develops
Characters – I am wholly invested in Ema’s happiness. Taka better not hurt her. Grr.
Service – None
Yuri – All kinds, Ema’s feeelings for Taka, both implicit and explicit, Taka’s feeeling for Ema, bot overt and covert.

Overall – 8