Archive for 2025


Okazu 2025 Yuri Gift Guide

December 9th, 2025

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

Gunpla box featuring a white mecha design with blue highlightsIf 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

Cover of Kuzushiro's The Moon On Rainy Night. Two girls in school uniforms look back at us from under an umbrella. The girl with shirt hair wears a beige cardigan over her uniform. The girl with long hair wears a red jersey jacket.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

Cover of bright green two figures sit on an amp. A girl with long curled hair in a Japanese school uniform and an androgynous figure in black pants, shoes, hoodie and face mask.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

Cover of Yodokawa's Monthly in the Garden with my Landlord, two women laze on the veranda of a Japanese home. One wears a green dress, the other a blue blouse and shorts.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

Cover of Rainbows After Storms, by Luka Kobachi. Two girls in white blouse, blue skirt Japanese school uniforms sit on the floor. The girl with short hair looks sulky, while the girl with long hair laughsFor 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

The cover for Project A-ko, which depicts a child-like blond girl, a girl with long red hair with her fist raised in the foreground, and a proper-looking blue-haired girlFor 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

Abstract book cover: In the center is a train window, with a porcelain bowl on the sill. The shape of the window is surrounded by increasing large frames of Chinese textile pattern in red and orange, a faded photo of 1930's Taiwan and a pattern or red, orange and yellow flames on a beige cover.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!





Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – December 6, 2025

December 6th, 2025

In black block letters, YNN Yuri Network News. On the left, in black silhouette, a woman with a broad brim hat and dress stands, a woman in a tight outfit sits against the Y. Art by Mari Kurisato for OkazuYuri Manga

ANN’s Anita Tai has news that the 9th volume of the manga adaptation of The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady will be the final volume.

Joanana Cayanan also writes on ANN that Mikanuji, is launching a new manga in Comic Newtype. Tsukuru Niwa is about two sisters who become caretakers of a sharehouse (a kind of boarding house.)

Kuzushiro has a new manga on Takeshobo’s online platform Takecomic, 30 Made Hitoridattara Issho ni Kurasou’tte Itta yo ne? (30まで独りだったら一緒に暮らそうって言ったよね？) about two friends who made a (drunken) promise if they were still single at 30 that they would live together.

YNN Correspondent Tazimonfire wants you to know that long-time Precure manga artist for Nakayoshi magazine, Kamikita Futago, is retiring after 22 years, according to Oricon on X.

If you subscribe to schwinn’s Patreon, she is offering some Hana Monogatari calendar wallpapers for patrons.

Via Galette on X, the Ano Kono Hana ga Hoshi – Asukabe Yuri Yuri Short Story Collection is available in digital edition.   (あのこの花が欲しい 明日部結衣百合短編集). 

 

Yuri Events

The Comic Yuri Hime 20th anniversary exhibition and store will kick off in Akihabara on Decmber 20! Los of exclusive goods for sale – tickets are available at Animate.

Kinokuniya NYC is celebrating the upcoming release of Love Bullet, Volume 1 by inee with a window wrap display, which they shared on their X account.

Support independent Yuri Journalism – 
Become an Okazu Patron today!

 

Yuri Anime

Joann Cayanan reports that Does It Count If You Lose Your Virginity to an Android? anime will have a January 9 premier, and is announcing more cast, staff OVA plans(!) and a new trailer. Based on the trailer we should not expect amazing animation from this anime, but that is not why you’re watching it, surely?

Yuri-tangential, Yamashita Tomoko’s Ikoku Nikki has a new trailer, has added more cast, OP and has a January 4 debut, also via Joana Cayanan.

Yuri Navi is interested in an upcoming Netflix original Cosmic Princess Kaguya,  a musical re-imagining of the classic Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, with two young women, and something something idol. Alex Mateo has details on ANN.

 

Live-Action

Fujimoto Tatsuki’s Look Back is getting a live-action adaptation, according to ANN’s Alex Mateo. I don’t think a live-action will add anything, but I guess it will get the story in front of people who don’t read manga or watch animation. 

Support Yuri News and Reviews on Ko-fi!

Yuri Artbook

The folks at Studio Elan are releasing Reflections of the Chronicler: The Upwards, Rain! Artbook. This link leads to the promo on Steam. They have also announced a Upwards, Rain! The Scattered Letters of Vitae webcomic.

 

Light Novel 

Brought to our attention by Sr. YNN Correspondent and LN expert Sean Gaffney, (and confirmed by others) ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword!  Volume 5 light novel may have been translated by AI. With the anime coming out shortly, this seems like choices have been made. As you know, we do not support AI here and are hoping that this will be corrected.

 

Yuri VNs and Games

YNN Sr. Correspondent Ashley points us to Alexis Sara’s free post on Patreon, detailing their Top 10 Most Anticipated Games Going Into 2026.  This list has some excellent queer content that might pique your interest.

 

Other News

Asamiya Kia and Marvel (for whom Asamiya has worked over the years) are teaming up to do an original Silent Möbius comic. C. B Cebulski will be editor on this. I’m very interested in how this turns out. Marvel currently has Peach Momoko and Zack Davisson working on X-Men,  and I really love her art on that, as well. ANN’s Alex Mateo has the details on this collaboration.

Your support for Yuri journalism and research has never been more important. 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.





The Beauty’s Blade: Mei Ren Jian

December 4th, 2025

A woman in flowing red robes holds a long sword at the neck of a woman in white robes, who calmly parries it with her hand.Where to begin with The Beauty’s Blade: Mei Ren Jian, the first Baihe licensed by Seven Seas? This is not a rhetorical qestion, as many readers picking this up might not be all that familiar with the tropes of the Wuxia genre. The book itself gently suggests that, if you are unfamiliar with Wuxia, Chinese “historical” fantasies about martial arts heroes, whose arcane practice and studies of martial art using inner energy – qi – have given them almost magic skills – that beginning with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,  streaming on  Apple TV, for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime) which was a gateway for many into Wuxia. The word itself is relatively-ish new, and while old kung-fu flicks used some of the same tropes, Wuxia has developed along a separate path from martial arts movies.  (Xianxia is a related genre that deals with immortal heroes and there can be overlap as a lot of the “cultivator” – i.e. “qi cultivator” – stuff can feed into the martial stuff.)

To a very great extent, Feng Ren Zuo Shu’s The Beauty’s Blade (美人剑 [Měi Rén Jiàn]) assumes a certain knowledge of Wuxia in the reading audience. Ideally, you know about the wire-work that allows those warriors who use qingong to fly through the air, or at least leap so far that its much the same. You’ll understand that qi can be used not just offensively, as a kind of energy discharged through a weapon or by hand, sometimes even by eyes and, in significantly over-powered characters through mere will, it can be used defensively by hardening or warming or healing the body. I have trained qigong exercises named “golden bell” and “warming the triple burner” to develop those specific skills. Sadly, I am still soft flesh and blood and often cold. I guess I never trained hard enough.^_^;  All joking aside, the martial art I practice is an “internal” art that would be exactly the kind of thing the warriors in this novel work on. Of course, their powers are hyperbolic and sometimes hilarious.

I don’t follow specific fandoms much and haven’t paid attention to Baihe as much as it deserves. I will say that The Beauty’s Blade reminded me a great deal of The Untamed, a (50-episode! I deserved a medal for watching all of it!)  danmei (m/m) Wuxia story on Netflix in specific structural ways. Chapters here are terse, it often feels as if we were supposed to understand what is going on, although the characters just show up, then have a lot of expository conversation to explain what is going on. I imagine that keeping track of the various houses might not be easy for folks unused to the genre. Visually, Wuxia stories help you along with different colors for different houses/sects and you can see that a little here.  We are told repeatedly that the Diancang Sect wears blue, for instance.

If a reader is not comfortable with the sects or the family names, it might feel much like reading a Russian epic. It’s not *that* complicated if you just remember the three main groups: The Lightpath Alliance, the Jadewater Guild, aka the demonic guild, and the Weiyang Company. Regardless of which group, basically everyone is a complete asshole, so forget “light” and “demonic” as meaningful markers. ^_^

To make this more complicated for western audiences, scenes sort of happen. There’s no lead up, or phase out. We’re in a place, the scene happens. Next chapter, repeat.  The Untamed did that a lot – I assumed it was stuff cut out from the novels, but now I am not so sure. Maybe the serialization of these novels make for choppy story telling. But, by the end of the story, you can at least put it all together, so that was good. 

Because most scenes were presented with no open or close, and no specific weight – almost every scene is full of shouting, cursing, fighting, leering and a bit of exposition. It can all feel very the same, with the exception of Fu Wangqing and Yu Shengyan’s scenes together which break up the rest of the scenes, but also feel much the same as a whole. There is a distinct sense of this being written in the style of or for a short form serialized live-action adaptation.

Many times the overdramatic martial arts come off as plain funny, but my favorite line comes at the very end of the book, after Fu Wangqing injures a man who tries to force his way into her room. Yu Shengyan asks her who it was and Wangqing says “Whoever has a cut on their right hand, duh.” Fu Wangqing was so often incredibly childish and wholly capricious, this suited her perfectly. 

Also, despite the fact that both Gu Yu and Guo Ju are utterly ridiculous in origin and execution, I liked them anyway and were glad for the one-line resolution to both their convoluted stories. Although I would have preferred if the Zhong brothers ended up among the many corpses in the story, they were vile.

I have read only a little Baihe, and what I have read sounds much the same as Yu’s translation, so I will call that satisfactory as far as it goes.   Overall, I cannot say The Beauty’s Blade: Mei Ren Jian is a “good” book in terms of skill of character building or writing, but I found it highly entertaining for 381 pages of Wuxia fun that I would pay good money to see turned into a live-action series. ^_^

Ratings: 

Art – 7 Both covers are quite nice, the interior art by Gravity Dusty gets the point across and thankfully never bothers to illustrate any of the shouty men, only the shouty woman. ^_^

Story – 7 Convoluted, full of shouting, but it eventually made sense and all the lesbian couples live happily ever after.

Character – 8 Fu Wanqing was all over the place, Yu Shengyan had almost no personality, but that was the point.

Service – yeah, a little

Yuri/Baihe – 10

Overall – 7

The Beauty’s Blade: Mei Ren Jian would make a fun gift for the Wuxia fan in your life, especially if they watch danmei for the inevitable one warrior woman character. ^_^





Pink Candy Kiss, Volume 3

December 3rd, 2025

Two women, one with short hair and one with long hair. The long haired woman has her arms around the shoulders of the short haired one. by Eleanor Walker, Okazu Staff Writer

In Pink Candy Kiss, Volume 3, we start out with Ema looking for an apartment which she can live in separately from her husband so of course she enlists Takara the real estate agent’s help. This volume mostly deals with Takara’s internal conflicts as she finally realises the strength of her feelings for Ema, and also the fact that Ema is married to a lovely man who seems to absolutely adore her. It would definitely be much easier for her if Hario was an awful deadbeat husband but he’s quite the opposite, kind, caring and completely supportive of his wife. Cruicially though, we learn that she wasn’t interested in him at first, in his words he “wore her down but she chose me in the end” even though other guys were also interested in her.

What I especially like about this series is that it’s very nuanced. It’s very easy to come out with the blanket statement that “all cheaters are automatically irredeemably bad people and homewreckers” but often it’s a lot more complicated than that because people and feelings are messy and complicated. That’s what makes us human after all. Takara clearly loves Ema, she says as much but she’s also very aware that she could ruin Ema’s life. This is also fiction, so no real people are going to be hurt.

It seems that Ema is wanting to relive the summer of 20 years ago with Taka, and do all the things they never got to do back then, as well as using Taka’s blog for inspiration. Whether they’ll actually kiss this time remains to be seen. I of course, hope they do.

Overall, I’m still really enjoying this series. I still need more josei yuri in my life and I’m looking forward to volume 4.

Art – Still a fan. It’s a shame there aren’t colour pages with the chapter art on.
Story – My only quibble with the story is that I find it very hard to believe that Ema’s husband would just be so accepting that his wife suddenly wants to live by herself. Apart from that, still lots of complicated and messy feelings.
Characters – As before. I’m rooting for no one to get hurt. And for them to just kiss dammit.
Service – None. It still doesn’t need it. This is a story about women’s feelings, written by a woman for other women.
Yuri – So much yuri.

Volume 4 of Pink Candy Kiss by Ami Uozumi will hit English bookstore shelves from Viz Media in January 2026.





Support Independent Anime Journalism on Giving Tuesday

December 2nd, 2025

It’s “Giving Tuesday” here in the US and other countries,  a movement that began after the high-pressure capitalism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday in which people are asked to spend some money on charity, while they are loading up on gifts. 

This year I wanted to take a moment to also focus on the needs for free press and independent journalism. Mainstream media companies are run by the very billionaires who we need independent press to watch and report on. Local newspapers are being bought up by media conglomerates or folding. I hope you can or will support the independent news outlets you trust.  

We are very lucky in anime and manga to be an industry that has some very decent independent news and opinion media.  While not technically charities, I wanted to highlight a number of sites that can always use your help to thrive. These sight offer news, opinions, analysis, interviews and more and all of them take pitches from anyone, so if you have something you feel strongly about, pitch an article to them!  More importantly, all of these sites are editorially independent. No company is dictating what we write or how, who we report on or what we say about it. Reader support is keeping all of us afloat, so on this Tuesday, consider adding a few bucks to support independent anime/manga journalism.

Anime Herald is a newsmagazine site that has been around as long as Okazu. They publish opinion and history pieces, interviews and more. As they say in their motto, “We Speak Otaku,” they are focused on deepening the knowledge and connection fans of anime and manga have with the industry and artform. They just released the first issue of Anime Herald Magazine, in print and digital, which is fantastic and you should pick up a copy! Support them on Patreon or Ko-fi.

Be a part of the Okazu team, help support Yuri Journalism
Become an Okazu Patron today!

Obviously, here on Okazu, we’re always looking for reviews, news, opinion pieces and interviews related to on Yuri/Baihe/GL. We’re at a critical juncture right now – I very much want to raise writer rates and expand the number of writers, but we need your help to do so. If we had 20 more patrons at $5.month or 10 at $10/month,  we could give everyone who writes for Okazu a raise and match the highest rates in the industry right now. My goal is to reset industry standard a little higher, because I remember the days when writing an article actually paid decent money.  ^_^

If you value the content you get here on Okazu, please consider becoming a Patreon patron or a Ko-fi Supporter. You’ll get access to insider information, get-togethers online and off, a private lounge on or Okazu Discord and our undying gratitude. ^_^

Support Yuri News and Reviews on Ko-fi!

Yatta-Tachi is another amazing site that offer news, reviews, guides, upcoming releases and more. They also track industry on social media so you can find them wherever you are. They can take sponsorship on Patreon and Paypal.

Anime Feminist is a terrific sight for opinion and discussion focusing on feminist and queer and other diverse perspectives on anime, manga  and related media. They have a Patreon.

Lastly, I want to say something about Anime News Network and a staff dedicated to not only reviewing and reporting, but analyzing and scooping. I probably don’t have to tell you that it is the largest muti-country anime and manga news site, with a vast encyclopedia and, while is not technically independent, as it is majority owned by Kadokawa, they are wholly independent when it comes to editorial direction. (Disclaimer, I am now working for them, but this is not a paid endorsement!) Neither reviews nor perspective pieces are limited in any way, except by decency. This is probably more important than many of you understand.

I don’t want to write a whole essay on this, but let’s say that game and gaming media was, for a long time, mostly a mouthpiece for the industry.  A bit like if Viz put our a catalog with “reviews” of their titles and called it a magazine. I had a discussion with the late Zac Betschy about this, as *.*gates were both revealing these cracks and creating many more in gaming, comics coverage and general sanity.  Please support them by sharing, commenting, and clicking those advertisers! (Today the main banner is for Love Bullet. ^_^)

All of the above sites take pitches from anyone, allow for completely independent opinions, and pay for the work. In this day and age, these are all incredibly important and powerful needs – especially in an industry that is now large enough to be prey for mainstream media companies. 

So, please, while you are considering how to support the charities who work you resonate with, I hope you’ll take a moment to support the independent anime and manga journalism you love!