Yuri Anime

From Senior YNN Correspondent Eric P., Funimation is releasing the first “Girls with guns on the run” anime series by Bee Train Noir Complete Series on Blu-Ray. If you’ve never seen this, you really should. The music, the voice actors (and the story, in a nutty way) are all fantastic.

 ***

Yuri Manga

From YNN Correspondent Tomo K. we have some fun news about another series by the creator of Murciealgo: “OurTube is a gag 4-koma that features four high school girls. Itsuki is the heroine with superhuman abilities who’s always copying stunts she sees on Youtube.

Itsuki and Madoka are obviously a couple, but Madoka is also after Setsuka, Itsuki’s cousin. Setsuka likes Itsuki and is thus jealous of Madoka. The fourth character is Rui, another lethal weapon of sorts who helps out Setsuka whenever Setsuka gives her a Tirol chocolate.

The basic plot is that Itsuki and Madoka go berserk to do something, and then end up being stopped and punished by Setsuka and Rui. The series is complete, but volume 2 was never published.”

Volume 1 is also only available on Amazon JP from 3rd party sellers, but this definitely sounds like the kind of thing I’ll trawl through Book-Off for.

The creators of the new Jem and the Holograms comic for IDW Publishing (which debuts this month) have gone on record that in this version, Kimber and Storm are a couple.

For those of you enjoying the adult content of Mebae, Volume 4 (メバエ) is  hitting shelves in April.

I have no idea if these are going to have any Yuri, but a further Madoka tie-in serie, 魔法少女たると☆マギカ The Legend of “Jeanne d’ Arc” is too interestingly titled for me to resist. If you also are interested, you can find Volume 1 and Volume 2 on Amazon JP. The cover on Volume 2 is wonderful. YNN Correspondent David M. weighs in with this news: “The Puella Magi Jeanne D’Arc series will be published in the US by Yen Press, with the first volume coming out 21 April. Amazon.com even has a description (an intriguing idea, if done well, and one hinted at the end of the series).”

YNN Correspondent David M wants to remind us that Torikaebaya, Volume 6 (とりかえ・ばや) is out.  My copy sits there, taunting me, while I avoid meeting it’s eyes. I think I’m scared of it.

***

Support Yuri News and Reviews –  Subscribe to Okazu with

***

Other News

Senior Correspondent Erin S wants you to know about an interesting new anthology about early internet fandom experiences, I Was a Teenage Gargoyle.

Jamie Lynn Lano, who lived the dream, moved to Japan and became an assistant to the creator of the Prince of Tennis manga is now distributing her book, Princess of Tennis in print and ebook format through Chromatic Press’s Sparkler Monthly site.

I have absolutely NO idea what this is like, but it caught my eye (as you’ll understand in a second.) A very few Japanese novels are being released in Japanese through Amazon.com’s Kindle platform. Looking through some lesbian themed novels, I found Anna and Erica Best Friend Syndrome (Japanese Romance Fiction Japanese edition.) It’s 99 cents. I should probably just get it.

On Saturday, March 7th, Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, CA will be holding a Legend of Korra art show, including this adorable Korra x Asami piece by Korra co-creator Bryan Konietzko.

A K-Drama has created controversy with a lesbian kiss. You can watch Seonam Girls High School Investigators on Viki.com.

YNN Correspondent Ichigo_69 points toward this NPO in Japan – Good Aging Yells (GAY) for the Out in Japan project, but I found this Lush-sponsored event We Believe in Love, just as interesting. Clearly this NPO can bring in the sponsors, and money, as we all know, speaks loudly.

Let’s end on a positive note – The Ministry of Education in Japan has just announced that they will require all schools in Japan to support LGBTQ kids. A major step forward.

***

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!

Event News

Girls Love Fest 13 is coming up in mere hours in the Tokyo Metropolitan area once again! The participating circle list is getting pretty damn big.

I can’t remember if I mentioned this yet. Hat tip to YNN Correspondent EJ Daniels, and with a full report by Komatsu-san on Crunchyroll News, a Maria-sama ga Miteru “Graduation” Event will commence on March 29 in Tokyo.

***

Support Yuri News and Reviews –  Subscribe to Okazu with

***

Yuricon and Okazu News

I’m planning on a new livestream Yuri panel/ Q&A this spring, so if you have any questions about life, the universe or Yuri you want answered, check out this post: It’s Utter Nonsense 2015 and send in your questions in a comment.

We haven’t had any Yuricon Store updates in a while, because we had a few technical setbacks. These have been resolved with only minor inconvenience because our amazing webmaster Lissa Pattillo is a genius. Consider this a recommendation – if you are looking for a webmaster who knows her technical stuff, has her *own* creativity and understands yours, and can follow through with creative-focused builds, I recommend her wholeheartedly.

The upshot is, we’re still on track for a March soft launch of the new Store, so keep your eyes peeled for an announcement here in upcoming weeks.

***

Other News

A Queer, Southern, Woman of Color anthology is looking for contributors. Queer Young Cowboys publication is looking for an editor. These and many other Queer lit opportunities are listed on the Lambda Literary site.  No excuses – get out there and create!

Comic Natalie has reported additional info on Manpuku Yuri (満腹百合), the manga about food and playing house, starring a happy lesbian couple. There is now a short promotional video. It’s very squee. ^_^

Kathryn Hemmann at Contemporary Japanese Literature takes a look at Yoshiya Nobuko’s Yellow Rose and finds it good. In case you want a perspective other (and more academically minded) than mine. She also finds Frederick’s point about lesbian identity to be key – and brings up a point that I had not considered and which is extremely significant. It’s a good review, go read it!

Comic Natalie gleefully reports that Volume 4 of “Violence Yuri” manga Murcielago (ムルシエラゴ) comes with an “Evil Breasts” poster.  Click this link for SFW image if you have a relaxed workplace and aren’t afraid of getting a reputation as (or as more of ) a weirdo. The words say “These breasts are evil breasts.”

If you can read Japanese, you might want to toddle over to this look at magical girl series:  Children of Sailor Moon: The Evolution of Japanese “Magical Girl Anime (セーラームーンの子どもたち—日本発「魔法少女」アニメの進化).

OMG, I have to share this!!!! ROD‘s Yomiko Readman makes a visit to the Himawari Bookshop from the series Himawari-san Volume 5, via Comic Zin. This illustration would be worth going out of my way for. ^_^

***

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

Yuri Hime Comics is releasing Rakuji Tarahi’s Nijiiro Secret (にじいろシークレット) this week.

Later this month, I’m surprised and a little excited to see Volume 5 of Himawari-san (ひまわりさん), a series in which nothing happens and, like the Talking Heads’ Heaven, who knew that nothing could be so exciting?

Next month we’ll see a collection, Cider to Nakimushi, by Kanno, the creator of Anoko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo (缶乃作品集) and the fourth volume of  Tsuki to Sekai to Etoile (月と世界とエトワール).

Next month will also see Tono’s Pink Rush (ピンク・ラッシュ) from Hirari magazine. Also from Hirari is Komura Youko’s Hontou no Kanojo (ほんとのかのじょ ).

A little creepy-looking, but out this month is Hana to Uso to Makoto (花と嘘とマコト).

Komatsu-san at Crunchyroll News reports that Shimura Takako plans on releasing 8 books in 5 months! This will include Awajima Hyakkei (淡島百景) which we reported on last week. ^_^

***

Yuri Novel

Along with the manga and the anime, Ikuhara Kunihiko and Morishima Akiko are releasing a Yuri Kuma Arashi novel (in at least two parts, based on the title – ユリ熊嵐 上.

***

Yuri on JP Kindle

There’s a lot of material popping up on JP Kindle. Frustratingly, those of us without JP IP addresses cannot access them. As a result, I’m not adding them to the Yuricon Shop just yet. Here is a small selection, in Japanese:

まんがで綴る百合な日々 おためし無料版 女×女のバカップル同棲日記

女性カップルで感じ合う最高のセックス 未経験の快楽にハマる百合娘12人のレズビアン事情

百合ガール！ 眠れるレズビアン体質が目覚めた７人の

思索部vol.1 紅葉抄

As with Amazon.com Kindle, the quality of writing and formatting will be variable, but if you have a JP-enabled Kindle and pick any of these or others up, consider writing us a review!

***

Support Yuri News and Reviews –  Subscribe to Okazu with

***

Yuri Anime

Funimation has announced that they will be doing a dub of Yuri Kuma Arashi.

And Viz is premiering a clip of their Sailor Moon dub at the climactic first season ending.

Aria is about to have a 10th anniversary and to celebrate a Blu-Ray set and a new anime is planned. Scott Green reports on Aria the Avvenire on Crunchyroll News.

***

Other News

Happy Black History Month! Here’s 100+ LGBTQ Black Women You Should Know from Autostraddle.

It’s a fairly blatant bit pandering, The Hoopers, an all-girl idol group who dress “like boys” (you know, in pants) is launching in Japan. As boys they don’t work, as girls in suits, they work just fine.^_^

And let’s finish off this week with this Complex.com article – Wonder Women: How Female Characters and Creators Are Battling to Make Comics Better.

***

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!

Today is a free-for-all newswise. ^_^

***

Other News

Contributors wanted for Encyclopedia of World Comics. A new excyclopedia covering manga, Bande dessinée, and comics everywhere outside the USA is looking for contributors. The deadline is March 1st, so head on over to the site and take a look at the guidelines.

Last year Lightspeed magazine published a very popular issue called “Women Destroy Science Fiction!” highlighting contributions from a diverse pool of female sci-fi editors and writers. Clearly, it was meant to make a point – and the point has been made and really absorbed by the sci-fi community of authors. (Fans who aren’t happy will just have to drag behind.) This year, Lightspeed is taking on LGBTQ sci-fi with Queers Destroy Science Fiction. Their Kickstarter has 9 days to go and has exceeded it’s original goal by oh, about $30K.

This sea change is really quite important. For every one rant about how not-white, not-males are “ruining” whatever, rest assured that there are plenty of voices saying “Actually, it’d be kind of cool to have more options.” Gaming is the loudest/most visible, but science fiction has been going through similar cramps. The Science Fiction Writers of America have just amended their membership rules to allow self-published authors. This is not an insignificant change. As with so many things, men are likelier to get writing contracts than women in sci-fi. It’s unconscious bias that plagues us all in many ways. And so, the previous rule of no self-published authors (which had merit for other reasons) was noted as unfairly anti-women writers. SFWA had a fair amount of discussion – some argument, hissy fits on both sides, drama, the usual – and  in the end, has amended the policy.

The lesson here? If you don’t see the kind of diversity you want in the media you consume, keep asking for it, keep creating it. Change happens when people make it happen.

While I’m on Kickstarters, you should totally take a look at this comic by queer WoC creator  Maïmouna Younglai-Case, Flavours of Life, about 4 people and their journeys of self-discovery. Maïmouna is a Yuri fan and very pleasant. Check it out!

Tying in nicely to today’s sci-fi theme, from YNN Senior Correspondent Erin S. is this webcomic,  30 Minutes to Live by Joyana McDiarmid.

On a completely different topic,  Theodore Jefferson, a former marketing consultant with DiC, has written the The Incredible Untold Story of Sailor Moon.  “Fans will learn how Sailor Moon set a new market for comics, games and animation in motion in the early 1990s, how the show helped bring girls and women into what was once a male-only world, and how companies from Marvel to Disney to Blizzard built multi-billion dollar empires that might never have been possible without the show’s influence.” It’s ebook only and kind of high-priced, but sounds super-interesting for those of us whose lives were influenced by Sailor Moon on Cartoon Network. Jefferson wrote a fascinating article on The Mary Sue, Did You Know Spider-Man And Sailor Moon Have A Shared Enemy? with excerpted info from the book, which gives you some idea of industry thought. (His thoughts about Sailor Moon Crystal, are particularly interesting. In essence, Viz is acting as a localizer for Bandai and nothing more.)

American Libraries Magazine offers this interesting video from the ALA mid-winter meeting: Four comic authors share their early influences and the comic books every library should own. Do not let *anyone* tell you librarians hate comics. The ALA has been a hugely positive influence in getting comics and manga into libraries and classrooms.

Also from the Mary Sue, Marvel Announces New All-Female Avengers Team – and with a creative team that is competent, rather than sincere, this look like it isn’t going to suck.

NYC-area folks on Twitter – go follow WomeninComicsNY. Events, exhibitions, discussions and other stuff that sounds too cool to miss.

Last up, you should check out this comic drawn and narrated by Alison Bechdel about her and her mother’s reaction to Fun Home, the Musical. It includes musical bits from the play. .

***

Support Yuri News and Reviews –  Subscribe to Okazu with

***

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!