Yuri Manga

Lot’s of good Yuri manga on the plate this week!

Some great news from Finland. A new Yuri anthology,  Lepakkoluola is working on a Kickstarter and can use your help. They’ve passed their tipping point, but are still pretty far from their goal, with 22 days left. The collection is being created in Finnish and English and I’m totally looking forward to reading it!

July will see Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari, Volume 14, (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり) and Kazama Ayami’s Hirari collection, Hoshi wo Futari de  (星をふたりで) but, most importantly, we’re getting a second volume following Yamada and Kaze-san, Obentou to Kaze-san. (おべんとうと加瀬さん。)Whee!

In case you missed it, last month Takemiya Jin’s game was released by Ichijinsha. Also “whee!”…I’d love to give that book a post-release spike from overseas sales. ^_^

Coming out from Ichijinsha next month is the next unasked for collection in the Wildrose series, Yuri Hime Wildrose, Volume 8 (百合姫Wildrose) – and hitting shelves next week is Girl’s Syndrome (ガールズ・シンドローム)

Comics Alliance has  pulled together a list of 50 Most Important LGBTQ Comic characters for Pride Month… andour own dear Haruka and Michiru are on the list. (And speaking of Haruka and Michiru, their S.H. Figuarts  figurines have been unveiled. Whee!)

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Other News

Courtesy of YNN Corrspondent Grisznak, we have news that the first new volume of Rose of Versailles in 40 years is shipping in August. It follows one of Oscar’s subordinates, Alain de Soissons.

Speaking of Ryoko Ikeda, look who drew a spiffy new Takarazuka fan group poster.

One of my FAVORITE sites on the Internets, A  Mighty Girl has a list of Top Graphic Novels Starring Mighty Girls. Time to start that summer reading list!

Quote of the Day: “At 12,000 copies I can make as much writing Rocket Girl as Hulk; Amy Reeder can make as much penciling/inking/coloring as she would on Batwoman.” <– Brandon Montclare, co-creator of Rocket Girl, with Amy Reeder.

This is what I have been saying for years…Yuri fandom thinks they are buying 10,000 copies and are being screwed by uncaring companies. In reality, Yuri manga sell about 2500=3000 copies, maybe something like GIRL FRIENDS breaks 5K. At it’s peak Naruto was selling like 15K. Bottom line, if Yuri fandom buys 10,000 copies, we’d have more Yuri than we know what to do with.  The numbers just are not there.

As an aside, Rocket Girl is fantastic and you should all be reading it.  Volume 1 GN is hitting shelves next month, or contact your local comic store for backissues.

Via YNN Correspondent, Elizabeth F., here’s an article about female samurai Tomoe Gozen.

Here’s a random trippy 70’s moment…Jack Kirby drawing significant NFL poses. I’d love to see these uniforms in the NFL – especially the random marine-themed Packers uniforms. ^_^

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That’s a wrap for this week! 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 Events

Quick, there’s still time to catch me at AnimeNEXT, at 5:30 EST, in Somerset, NJ today doing the ‘Secret’ History of Yaoi and Yuri panel. By ‘secret’, of course, I mean, “secret until you crack open a book”. ^_^ I’ll be bringing stuff as prizes for good questions, including a copy of One Peace Books’ Whispered Words, the English edition of Sasamekikoto!

(I know a number of folks have asked about recording this, but I extemporize a lot of my paneling and lecturing. IMHO, it makes for bad outside watching, as I’m there for the people in the room with me. I make no promises, but if I have time and energy, I’ll put the presentation up on Slideshare for you afterwards.)

Anime Expo will be hosting Gen Urubochi, known in our circles for Fate/Zero, Psycho-Pass and Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Go to his panel and bring good questions with you!

If you’re in Japan this summer, check out the event for Dezai Osamu’s and other’s “pretty girls” anime. This sounds like a lot of fun, but I’ll miss it by a bit, so do share photos if you go!

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Sailor Moon News

zOMGzOMG! It’s the first Sailor Moon Crystal trailer! I was totally squeeing when I realized that, even though my computer was dying and I had no sound, I could tell when she said “Tsuki ni kawatte oshioki yo!”

Also, the wife got her Proplica wand and couldn’t stop taking pictures of it. I can foresee us combing every store in Japan this October for Sailor Moon Crystal stuff.

Anime News Network is doing a gigantic Sailor Moon stuff giveaway called “What Does Sailor Moon mean to you?” Because we have so much stuff, and because we can get stuff, I will not be entering, but I’ll tell you this. Yuricon was created because of Sailor Moon. I wrote fanfic, which lead to Internet reknown, which lead to Yuricon and Okazu…because of Sailor Moon. It means a lot to me. ^_^

And for those of you hellbent on creating your own Sailor Moon shrine, Bandai would like to help. They are releasing the Cutie Moon Rod next.

Sailor Uranus and Neptune are getting lip balm and chopsticks…which, Lynzee Lamb of ANN rightfully notes will be sold “as a pair.” ^_^

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Yuri Anime

I’m almost amazed that I’m telling you this: Ikkitousen: Xtreme Xecutor is out on DVD. I was just listening to a Ikkitousen song this morning as I jogged and for a moment, actually wanted to see this again. ^_^

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Other News

Charity and Sylvia, by Rachel Hope Cleves, is a book about a same-sex marriage in 19th-century America.

Prism Comics is once again taking submissions for its Queer Comics Press Grant, Prism’s annual grant to LGBT comics self-publishers. The deadline for proposals is Monday, September 1, 2014. The Award is to be announced at the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco October 4-5, 2014.

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That’s a wrap for this week! 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!

Quickie data dump while I’m on the road today.

YNN Correspondent Emily C. writes in with the coolest news! “Drama CD maker éterire recently announced a new series called Grand Stage which I thought might be of interest.

“It has clear roots in Takarazuka; the story revolves around the main character having to join a revue and picking one of five otokoyaku to partner with. The cast is stellar, with the main characters being voiced by Ogata Megumi, Toyoguchi Megumi, Inoue Marina, Kitamura Eri, and of course, Saiga Mitsuki. éterire is specifically marketing it as a story containing an all-female cast that is made for females, quite an unusual move, especially since the majority of yuri seems to be made for a male demographic. A quick look at Twitter suggests that the ones interested in it are mainly female, too…”

A quick look at the site is pretty squee-worthy and we can look for it in Autumn of 2014. Thanks Emily! ANN also has an article about the CD, you might want to check out.

Ynn Correspondent Jin H. wants you to know that Crunchyroll announced that they also will be streaming the new Sailor Moon Crystal anime season. I’m glad because NicoNico Douga is just clunky IMHO. I’m glad to have the option. ^_^

On to another awesome goods-producing anime – Revolutionary Girl Utena iPhone 5 cases and Eternal Utena figurine.

Finally for today, please enjoy the Anime News Network podcast on which I participate in a discussion of Kill La Kill.

The horror-thriller series Psycho-Pass will get an Xbox One game, based on the anime.

Everyone’s best friend with a Yuri crush, Tomoyo from Card Captor Sakura is getting an Nendroid figure.

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That’s a wrap for this week! 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 Yurikan anthology series continues with Yurikan Noir (黒百合缶　ＹｕｒｉｋａｎＮｏｉｒ), but this one is only available on Kindle so far, so you’ll need a Kindle device or app that can get JP Kindle books.

Rakuen Le Paradis, Volume 15 (楽園 Le Paradis)  will hit shelves in Japan on June 30.

Ichijinsha’s Yuri Hime Comic, Vespa, by Ohkita Hiroko and Girls Syndrome (ガールズ・シンドローム) by Shinketsu will also have a June release planned.

This is cool news – Julie Maroh’s Blue is the Warmest Color has been translated into Japanese as Blue ha Atsui Iro (ブルーは熱い色)! So, this is a French language Bande dessinée that was translated into English, has won a Palme d’Or at Cannes as a movie and now is headed to Japan. I’ll be very interested to see if any of the Yuri mangaka read it and share what they think think about it.

Morinaga Milk’s Gakuen Polizi in English is now up for pre-order from Seven Seas.

Happy End (ハッピーエンド) is a Yuri manga I know nothing about and distrust because of the name (durh!) and the publisher. But there you go, it’s there if you want it. ^_^

I was all ready to be snarky about Anoko ni Kisu to Shiroyuri wo  (あの娘にキスと白百合を) but the synopsis has me interested – a prodigy meets a genius and tale begins. Okay, I’ll bite. ^_^

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Sailor Moon News 

I missed this last week in the rush to announce that Viz licensed the original Sailor Moon anime (which is streaming on Hulu and Neon Alley right now), they also licensed the new Sailor Moon Crystal series which will be streaming on NicoNico Douga this summer. More interestingly, this Sailor Moon news made it into Variety Magazine. That’s a pretty amazing moment for an anime that is 20 years old.

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Yuri Live-Action Features and Movies

YNN Correspondent Alison R. was stoked to share the news of another Yuri movie coming to Japan – Shishunki Gokko, starring Honoka Miki, who played Yumi in the Live-Action Maria-sama ga Miteru movie. The movie features her having her first same-sex kiss. The official site says it’ll be in Japanese theaters on August 23. I’m not sure it’ll be great, but it at least looks a less skeevy than last summer’s Schoolgirl Complex.

Also of interest in this vein is this video from 2012 called Kifujin no Gogo (貴婦人の午後). ^_^

Mikami Eri’s Yuri Gestalt Houkai (三上枝織の百合がゲシュタルト崩壊) is a show on NicoNico Douga, in which “Yurism” – i.e., various Yuri manga and other items of interest, are discussed.

Do watch this absolutely adorable short lesbian romance, Love 40,  that is an ad for ice cream cones, but has nothing to do with ice cream.

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Other News

Brigid Alverson talks about strong female protagonists in comics in an article for School Library Journal.

And, speaking of strong female protagonists, Molly Ostertag’s comic, Strong Female Protagonist has a Kickstarter! You can read it online, as well. It’s loads of fun, and with almost a month to go, she’s already surpassed her goal. Obviously, lots of readers are ready for more SFPs!

Alan Kistler is writing a series on LGBTQ representation in comics for The Mary Sue.

Here’s a really sweet LGBTQ animated short, called Plug-In. It made me smile. ^_^

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That’s a wrap for this week! 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!