Yuri Manga

Top story today, Seven Seas continues it’s tradition of licensing only the vilest, least consensual, most dysfunctional stories to be found in Comic Yuri Hime, with NTR -Netsuzou Trap, a series about two girls with boyfriends who have public, mostly non-consensual sex for no goddamn good reason.

I do not discuss this series when I review Comic Yuri Hime, because I do not consider it to be “Yuri” at all.  Along with To Lie Angle, NTR is a story for creepy dudes. This is not a series I want to have anything to do with, and therefore I will not link to it, it will not be added to the Yuricon Store nor will I mention it again. No reviews will be published on this or any Seven Seas materials until they publish some Yuri that isn’t vile. Citrus is bad, NTR is unspeakably awful. I have spent many years making sure people know that Yuri is not just porn. Stuff like this sets us back two decades.

NTR is not  erotic, not melodrama. It’s not a cute story with a lot of service, it’s a unpleasant story about girls cheating on their boyfriends with each other, with one girl coercing the other to have sex with her, chapter after chapter. If you buy it, I will not condemn you, but I will have nothing to do with it. For the first time ever, I recommend against buying a Yuri manga being put out in English.

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If you rely on translated materials, now is a great time to learn Japanese, so you can read some of the decent Yuri manga being published in Japan.

To wash the bad taste out of my mouth from this news, I’ll recommend Rebecca Silverman’s Best and Most Memorable Manga of 2015 list on ANN, which awards Ikeda Takashi’s Whispered Words the “Sweetest Finale” title. The whole article was worth reading. ^_^

Japanese fans run down their top Yuri Manga for the year in the “Kono Yuri Manga ga Sugoi!“.

And for something much less awful, next week sees Katakura Ako’s Last Waltz (ラストワルツ) hitting the shelves in Japan.

Yuri Anime

From YNN Correspondent Day, we have news of savings on holiday sales! “Rightstuf is doing their massive annual sale and several Yuri titles have been included so far. Blue Drop is $11.99, Kashimashi is $12.49, Destiny of the Shrine Maiden is $11.99, Simoun is $9.99, the various Marimite boxes are between $14.99 and $19.99, and Sakura Trick $22.49… and Burst Angel for $15.61 (on Bluray). They also, quite helpfully, have ‘Yuri’ as one of the ‘Theme’ listed in their sidebar for sorting.”

Excellent news, Day, thanks!

ANN reports that the Madoka movie created for the SHAFT “Madogatari” exhibit in Japan is at the core of the new project by the studio. Crunchyroll  News has some of the visuals.

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

Yuri Manga

The January issue of Comic Yuri Hime ( コミック百合姫 2016年 01 月号) is hitting shelves in mid December.

Also being released from Yuri Hime, is a “perfect edition” of a out-of-print series that I quite liked back in 2009, Kazuma Kowo’s Junsui Adolescence (純水アドレッセンス-完全版).

From Kasuga Sunao, December sees  Sumedo Jigoku no Inferno ( 住めど地獄のインフェルノ) hitting shelves.

Rakuen Le Paradis, Volume 19 (楽園 Le Paradis ) came out in October, and Murcielago, Volume 6, (ムルシエラゴ) just made it into stores this week. Both are on my “don’t-miss” list.

YNN friend and on-the-spot reporter for Crunchyroll News, Komatsu-san, tells us that the 13th volume of Yotsuba&!  (よつばと!) is out in Japan, almost three years after Volume 12, and comes with the news that there are approximately 13 million copies of the series in print, including the translated copies. That’s pretty amazing.

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Anime News

Crunchyroll reports that Nickelodeon is streaming the entirety of Legend of Korra this weekend. Go, watch!!

Komatsu-san has the scoop on the upcoming Precure series from Toei, Mahou Tsukai Precure!/ Maho Girls Precure! on Crunchyroll News. Check out the favicon for the official site. ^_^

ANN reports on a line of clothes inspired by Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Please excuse me while I remain fascinated by the continued squeezing of this rock for blood. It seems practically never-ending. But then, the game Puzzle and Dragons* just did an Evangelion collaboration.  (The Shinji/Eva 01 Tamadra said “I won’t run away!” which made me laugh.) Some series are just never going to be allowed to die, they are way too lucrative. ^_^

From Crunchyroll once again, we get a report on Yuru Yuri’s creator namori-sensei drawings to celebrate the Blu-ray release of Yuyushiki.

Other News

Komatsu-san has two more reports of interest this week: the original character designer for Omajo Doremi has drawn a series’ picture book.

AND the first commercial footage for the upcoming Princess Knight stage musical, which honestly, is looking damned cool. The promotional poster is awesome. ^_^

Smithsonian Magazine has an article on Françoise Mouly, a former editor at  New Yorker magazine who started Toon Books, a company bringing out educational comics specifically for encouraging kids to read. (Yes, this hardly seems world shaking to us, but if it takes another zOMG! article to push comics, then fine.)

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

* Yes, I play Puzzle and Dragons. Stop giving me that look.

I am working on two so-far secret projects that I can’t tell you about just yet, but I promise that they will both be of interest to the folks reading Okazu.  And now a third project has popped up that I do want to tell you about. I’ve been invited to be part of Rainbow Week events in Japan. Rainbow Week is the week of events surrounding the Tokyo Rainbow Pride Parade. The idea of speaking about Yuri with a roomful of Japanese lesbians thrills me no end and there is high likelihood of wonderful things coming your way from it. Of course I will be reporting on the events, the parade and will give you details so you can join me. ^_^

If you have ever thought about contributing to the Okazu Patreon, this is exactly the kind of thing you’d be supporting. Lesbians talking about Yuri, bridging cultures, bringing us all together. Last time I had a chance to do something like this was at Yuricon 2005, right before Yuri Hime magazine launched. Maybe this event will be the beginning of something new, too. ^_^

So, if you are a regular here, enjoy our news and reviews and insights and events reports and can afford even $1/month, I’m asking that you please consider subscribing to Okazu. Click this link and receive my sincere gratitude, a Hero’s Badge and the knowledge that you are helping make LGBTQ Yuri history.

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Yuri Anime

If you’re in Japan this week, check out this all-night Sakura Trick marathon at a theater with, of course, special goods for sale.

ANN reports that Crunchyroll has added Princess Knight, the ur-Girl Prince anime series. ^_^

Yuri Manga

Right now is a good time to try Kadokawa’s Bookwalker Global if you’re interested in getting digital access to Yuri manga from Japan. Bookwalker now has access to the considerable backlist of Yuri Hime comics’ Yuri manga selection, including many books that are no longer in print and also the defunct in print, but trying to stay alive in digital, Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari‘s ebook selection as well. If you have any digital device, phone, tablet, computer, for very reasonable prices you can have literally dozens of great Yuri manga at your fingertips!

ANN reports that Kuzushiro is launching a new manga “Ani no Yome to Kurashiteimasu” (I’m Living With My Brother’s Bride) in Young Gangan magazine in the 24th issue of this year, with a December release date.

Comic Natalie has an amazing interview/conversation between Yuri Kuma Arashi‘s (ユリ熊嵐) Morishima Akiko and Shoujo Kessen Origa‘s (少女決戦オルギア) Ejima Eri.

Yuri Light Novel

I know you’re always looking for high-quality Yuri to read.  Yuri Mau Oasis Ruru to Miki to Houseki to Majyo (百合舞うオアシス ルルと美姫と宝石の魔女) is probably not it. But if you’re looking for low quality Yuri LNs, you might want to give it a try. ^_^;

LGBTQ News

Some terrific book news from good friends!

Jude McLaughlin has collected her popular Wonder City Stories into a published volume. Jude’s a terrific writer and I’ve been pushing her work for years. It’s great to see it make a print debut. If you like superheroes and people and their problems and diversity and female characters with depth…check out Jude’s new book!

Another writing pal, J.D. Glass, has reissued her work Red Light (which I reviewed back in 2007) with a new publisher, on print and Kindle. And, in fact, it’s cracked the Amazon Top 100 in 3 categories already, congrats J.D.!

While I’m at it and since it’s that time of year, Bold Strokes Books is running a sale on ebooks of their lesbian romances starring princesses and other creatures. Perfect for a gift for a close friend or yourself when you get tired of sweaters. ^_^

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

LGBTQ Game

Famitsu reports some exciting news – Japanese RPG Lucent Heart will feature same-sex relationships and marriages as options. Check out the link for absurdly cute screenshots of potential couples. ^_^

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Yuri Manga

Japanese Yuri fans are enthused about the Yuri-service of new series Shoujo Kessen Origa (少女決戦オルギア), which is running in Young Magazine. It’s promoting itself as a girls’ battle royale, so we can guess what it’ll be like. ^_^

From Comic Yuri Hime, fans of Sound! Euphonium can look forward to band-themed 12 Minute no Etude by Nakahara Tsubaki, (12分のエチュード).

Fans of Takemiya Jin will be pleased that she has a new collection, See-saw x Game. (シーソー×ゲーム)

Also from Yuri Hime, we have Aoto Hibiki’s school comedy, Prince Princess (プリンスプリンス).

Yuri Anthology Mebae (メバエ) is still cranking out questionable content with a Volume 5. ^_^;

For fans of something completely different, we have the third volume of Hayate x Blade 2, yay! (はやて×ブレード2) and Himawari-san, Volume 6 (ひまわりさん).

The January issue of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫2016年1月号) hits shelves in Japan this coming week.

Other News

HuffPo has a list of 11 Lesbians in History you should know. The presumption that you don’t know them is irritating, but that’s where we are in the world of clickbait headlines. It’s still worth looking at.

Sam Bosma’s amazing kids’ series Fantasy Sports (of which I reviewed – and adored –  Volume 1,) is continuing in Spring 2016 with Volume 2.

I want to wrap up with something extremely personal. In the US, Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away. I make it a practice of being explicitly thankful all the time, but this year especially so. As many of you know, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis three years ago, but I am holding my own and plan on running a 5K this coming Thanksgiving. For the asthmatic kid I was, this is daunting, but as much as I’ll never enjoy running, it’s a way to make sure my body is still doing what I command it to do, MS be damned. The 5K benefits a local food pantry and literacy volunteers, and since food and reading are two of the most important things in my life, this seems a good fit for me. ^_^

So my point is – if you have a few dollars to spare this Thanksgiving, please donate to a food pantry and/or literacy volunteer group local to you. You will be helping real people – your neighbors – to not go hungry, to find hope or escape in a book, or be able to fill out a form that might get them a job or benefits. That would mean a lot to me. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart for your continued support for Okazu and me!

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

Yuri Anime

A few weeks ago, I mentioned new free, legal streaming anime site Viewster. They have a really nice variety of Yuri anime. I mentioned series like Aoi Hana/Sweet Blue Flowers and Strawberry Panic! and YNN Correspondent Day wants you to know that all of Maria-sama Ga Miteru/Maria Watches Over Us is there too! There’s a bunch more, as well, including series that aren’t Yuri, per se, but are favorites among our readers, like Aria. Viewster is providing a great service, picking up series that had become hard to find and new titles, as well.

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LGBTQ Comic

I just had a chance to read and will shortly review The Invisible Lesbian by
Oceanerosemarie and Murielle Magelin, translated from the French by Edward Gauvin and I’m going to have to recommend it. It was a pleasant, slightly ridiculous (in  a real-life ridiculous kind of way) story of a woman coming out and getting used to herself. But what really sold me was the comedic timing. I didn’t just laugh…I guffawed. You can get this digitally on Comixology or in French in physical copy.

Other News

Buzzfeed takes a look at the paucity of queer superheros.

Ironically when considered in tandem with the above, Comic Book Resources discusses a cover of Marvel’s New Avengers, showing Captain America and Thor kissing as they soar above the city. I know it’s not our usual focus, but hey, it’s a nice picture.

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!