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!

Yuri Anime

Quick recap of this week’s top news: Shoujo anime is hot again.

CLAMP’s wonderful anime Cardcaptor Sakura is getting a Blu-Ray release and the third set of Riyoko Ikeda’s melodrama Dear Brother was fully funded on Animesols, so that will also be available for purchase when it gets a release date.

Sailor Moon Crystal is confirmed for 26 episodes, with a biweekly release schedule.

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Yuri Manga

Niki Smith spotted Eros/Psyche on the Tokyopop Germany website. The artist, Maria Llovet, she tells me, is Spanish, and the book was first published in France. I hope one of our French or German readers will consent to doing a review!

From Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari, March saw the release of Hakoniwa Cosmos (箱庭コスモス) by Kuwata Noriko.

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Yuri Events

Girls Love Festival, the all-Yuri doujinshi show in the Tokyo area, has announced October 19, 2014 as the date for the 12th such event! Good on them for keeping it going. ^_^ Check out the cover for the Sailor Moon Yuri only section, by Amano Shuninta! I’m strongly considering going to this one…hmmm.

Comitia 108 is coming up on May 5th and with it a lot of original Yuri works, as well. Here’s a Pixiv preview of a Yuri doujinshi by Kano and a Yuri doujinshi by Himekawa Yukiko. (You’ll need a Pixiv login to read them…and, just a reminder, they are in Japanese.)

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Other Stuff

Rocket 24 found an artist that imagines the Sailor Senshi as lingerie models. Why not.

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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!

Link dump week to clean up my piles of bookmarks!

One week left for the 3rd and final Dear Brother DVD set and just over 3K needed. Okay, folks, this is it. Let’s all throw a few more bucks at this thing and get it done!

April 27th will bring the NicoNico Douga Sailor Moon Event, so if you’re around at 3AM EST, check it out live!

For a slightly different audience, the women’s bar Goldfinger is co-hosting a lecture event about same-sex marriage travel packages at the Hotel Granvia in Kyoto. The poster made me “awww~~”

Nakamura Ching-sensei has a new real-life manga webcomic series called Nakamura Ching no Surechigai: We shuraba.

Yen Press announced the license of a title from Hakusensha’s edgy Rakuen: Le Paradis magazine! They are starting with the completely unedgy, excruciatingly adorable, completely heterosexual,  14-sai no Koi, Love at Fourteen, by Mizutani Fuka. It’s full of warm fuzzies and sweet nostalgia. I like it a lot. I’ll still keep my fingers crossed for Collectors, though. ^_^

Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari, Volume 13 (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり) hit shelves at the end of March and the second Hirari Special Volume School Club Anthology After School! (ひらり、別冊 部活アンソロジー ほうかご! (2)) hits the end of this month.

Via Fuck YEAH Lesbian Literature Tumblr, the List of Lesbian Historical Novels.

Ryan Holmberg writes a very interesting article on the Matsumoto Katsuji and the American Roots of Kawaii.

Komatsu Mikikazu-san over at Crunchyroll writes that drama-themed manga/anime series Hitohira is getting a stage play. This hurts my brain a little, as the main plot was that the lead couldn’t speak loudly enough to act.

Oh, darn it Bruce, we missed the Yuritetsu event. /mumblethankheavensmumble/

A Hayate x Blade/iPod commercial mashup that works for me. What do you think?

That seems to have cleared out the ole bookmark backlog!

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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!