This is the kind of news that makes me glad to be alive: Scott Green at Crunchyroll News notes ” the National Federation of All Japan Guide Dog Training Institution has followed a couple of years of Puella Magi Madoka Magica posters with one depicting  Bodacious Space Pirates‘ Marika walking a candidate puppy.”

Yuri Manga

Thanks to the eagle-eyed Erin S. for this one: Digital Manga Publishing has listed Sweet Blue Flowers Vol. 1 on their Upcoming Titles. I’ve asked them to keep me in the loop if they get any other Yuri titles. So the series may be ending this summer in Japan, but here’s a sign that it may be rescued here. I’ll keep you informed if there’s any new news.

For  folks with mailing addresses in Japan, Ichijinsha is selling the  Comiket promotional  collections Sayuri Hime 2-6 for 1000 yen each on their website.

Zenraku, Yuri no Sono Yori, Volume 2 is out from Tsubomi Comics this month, along with Himitsu no Recipe, (ひみつのレシピ) Volume 2, Betsukiss, Volume 2 (ベツキス) and Sentou Hawaii (銭湯ハワイ).

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Yuri Anime

YNN Correspondent DM00 says, “Crunchyroll is adding (at least part of) R.O.D. the TV to their streaming collection. Premium members get the first 13 episodes, while free members get 3 per week.” R.O.D. The TV was the first anime series I ever awarded a score of 10 to here on Okazu. If you have never watched it, I hope you will. It’s quite wonderful.

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Financial News

Two things of note in finance this week. The US Senate passed an Internet sales tax. I’m going to be honest – I have no objection paying tax. Had this law been passed a few years ago, we might still have book stores.

And, as of the moment I am writing this, the dollar passed the yen once again, for the first time in some years. If you’ve been holding off buying from Amazon JP or visit Japan, now is a very good time to do so.

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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

Comic Yuri Hime, July issue is up for pre-order. Iimura Ei’s Tsumikizm (ツミキズム) joins the other books that’ll street next month along with it.

From Rakuen Le Paradis, the end of this month will see Volume 2 of Takemiya Jin’s Omoi no Kakera (想いの欠片). Whee! More Mika!

And Kuzushiro’s Kimi no Tamenara Shineru (姫のためなら死ねる) continues with Volume 3. It seems like just yesterday we were torturing ourselves translating Volume 2 for JManga. ^_^

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Random Highly Entertaining News

Wedding Peach creator Nao Yazawa is giving her comic strip manga Go Go Nao-pi!  away in Kindle edition for free – in English! If you want to understand a manga artist’s life, here’s a great chance to gain some insight straight from the artist herself. Offer is good until May 5th, but the book is only $2.99 after, so if you miss this chance, it’s still a good deal. The manga has been translated and lettered in English by Yazawa-sensei herself, so be very impressed. ^_^

A talented and enterprising Sailor Moon fan has designed beautiful engagement rings based on the the names of the Senshi attacks. You can find the designs on her Tumblr: Inner Senshi and Outer Senshi. I quite like these. Especially Mercury’s and Neptune’s, which are very elegant. Venus’s Love Chain Encircle seems exceedingly suited to the form and World Shaking made my heart skip a beat. ^_^ Thanks to Alison R. for bringing these to our attention!

I am running the softest, cutest, fluffiest Yuri contest ever…also the contest with the lowest entry bar ever. I’ll be giving away a pile of other crap good stuff as well as the grand prize, so enter for a chance to get…stuff!

From the wilds of the Internet, the utterly amazing “Billy Ireland Cartoon Library is home to one of the largest Japanese-language manga collections outside of Japan, amounting to over 18,000 manga items. This includes an incredible 500+ issue run of Jiji Manga, a weekly supplement that was added to the Jiji-Shinpo newspapers in 1900. This would be the first time that the word manga appeared in the title of a publication, inaugurating it’s popular use.

The image [on this page] is from the front cover of the February 11th, 1921 issue of Jiji Manga, a beautifully designed cartoon piece on Japanese women’s liberation.”

Not to get us too excited or anything, but the new Sailor Moon action figure has a commercial…and is voiced by Mitsuishi Kotono. There have been no announcements about seiyuu as of yet, so don’t presume. Nonetheless, it’s nice to hear Usagi again. ^_^

Shueisha is shutting down Super Dash & Go magazine.  They are going to continue some of the manga on the magazine website, I don’t know if that will include R.O.D. Rehabilitation, or not.

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Events

The 9th Girls Love Fest, all-Yuri doujinshi market will be held on May 26th just south of Tokyo. (If I recall, it was pretty easily accessible on a JR line.)

If you’re going to be at Toronto Comics Arts Festival on May 11-12, there’s going to be a Queer Mixer on Saturday night. I’m planning on attending, so do come over and say hi. I’d love to meet more of my Toronto area readers!

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Anime News

In double (O_o) news, Media Blasters has licensed the Rio Rainbow Gate anime. I bet that’ll be a big seller… I know I watched it, but I’ll be damned if I can remember any of it, which is usually a sign that my brain is protecting me. ^_^ There was Yuri-goggle Yuri if you’re desperate enough.

Last up for today, according to Bandai, the Blu-Ray for Ghost in the Shell: Arise will contain English subtitles.

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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!

Event

I’ll be speaking today at Montclair State University, for their annual Chibi Con. My talk is called Warp, Weft and Fringe: Expression and Interpretation in LGBTQ Manga and Comics, we’ll be exploring how we rewrite the narrative laid out by the artist as we read. I hope you can join us!

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Yuri Anime

Sort of no surprise, really, ANN Reports that the new Sailor Moon anime has been delayed.

Aniplex USA has launched a new streaming anime channel via Hulu, with many popular anime series including, for our purposes, R.O.D. the TV, Fate/Zero, Vividred Operation and Madoka Magica. Presume regional restrictions, because duh.

Sentai Filmworks has licensed the Yuyushiki anime, which I have yet to watch. Anyone a fan and want to write a review?

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Other News

This week, my career as a woman with an opinion on the Internet hit new weirdness with the publishing of my response to “Why Is Having a Rational Opinion Against Gay Marriage Considered “Homophobia”? on Slate.

And this has nothing to do with anything but my personal fetish for girl gangs…check out this photo essay of 1950’s British girls wearing Edwardian clothing known as the Teddy Girls. ^_^

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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

Kita Konno’s Onna no ko no Sekkeizu came out last month from Hirari comics. I apparently forgot to tell you. ^_^;

Comic Yuri Hime July 2013 issue (コミック百合姫) is up for preorder. Also from Comic Yuri Hime,  “Yuri novel” is Amai Yubisaki (あまいゆびさき), by Takagi Ayako, with illustrations by Rokuichi.

“Homosexual love is a demerit!” begins the teaser for a new series, Loveliest Treasoner. (ラブリストリズナー). (Many, many thanks to YNN correspondant Jamie Lynn for going to a bookstore and uncloaking the English title for me. I was totally stumped! That’s above and beyond, Jaimie!) Anyway, it’s running in Mangatime Kirara Miracle, another of the 7835 Mangatime Kirara books. It takes place  in a girls’ school where there is a written policy against same-sex relationships, so of course, Yuri.

Leia Weathington gives us a sneek peak at some of the roughs for her Bold Riley Volume 2 cover.

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Other News

As reported earlier this week:

RicaTakashima‘s new art project is on Twitter. Follow AliensNewYork for updates. Donate here to make art happen! http://is.gd/V53iyB Even 5 or 10 dollars can make a tremendous difference.

“Your Hair” by Niki Smith, originally published in Yuri Monogatari 5  is now available on Comixology. Get this lovely Yuri comic for a mere 99 cents!

In my continuing quest to uncover magazines that you don’t know you know,  I took a look at Lala DX for Magazine no Mori on Manga Bookshelf.

Bandai has premiered its first new Sailor Moon figurine in many years. Not surprisingly, it’s Sailor Moon herself, with Luna and a variety of poses and expressions.

From Comic Natalie, an upcoming issue of Margaret magazine will have a new, original, Rose of Versailles manga supplement. It will follow Andre .

Also from Comic Natalie, news of something you have to see to believe (or indeed, comprehend) – A Yuno – from Hidmari Sketch – ring.

YNN reporter Ivan V thinks we’d like to know about JL Bell’s look at the Bechdel Test applied to Frank L. Baum’s book The Wizard of Oz.

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Yuri Anime

Brand new YNN correspondant Michaelangelo H. wants you to know that Shin Sekai Yori – From the New World (available for free, legal streaming on Crunchyroll, with region restrictions), has Yuri. It’s not the main focus, but it’s there, he says. ^_^

RightStuff has announced pre-orders for the anime of Tezuka’s classic  Princess Knight, Part 2, available in August 2013. Also in August, the value-priced re-release of  Dirty Pair, for them as wants. ^_^

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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!

Miscellaneous Extremely Important Things You Should Not Miss

Comic Natalie reports that Japanese Fashion Magazine TokyoViVi, Volume 3 includes Sailor Moon‘s Usagi and Chibi-Usa in a “fashion shoot.”

Yesterday on Twitter, Japanese novelist Mori Natusko (several of whose books I have reviewed here) mentioned that a current NHK drama Amachan took a turn for the Yuri as main character Haruko falls for a pretty girl. She was so surprised, she said, that she stopped raising her mug to her mouth and it just hung there midair, as she watched. ^_^

My WSM hero, John Scalzi, has written another fabulous post on How to Be a Good Fan, which discusses what makes a fan a fan and not just a consumer.

Josh Lesnick (creator of Girly), has a new webcomic that does not suck. No pun intended, although pretty unavoidable with the title being You Suck about a succubus and the horny, yet clueless, girl she falls for….

Tamako Market’s newest novel comes with an augmented reality cover. Honestly, this is the first use of AR that makes some sense to me. ^_^

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Yuri Anime

Funimation will be streaming A Certain Scientific Railgun S, so it’ll be free, with region restrictions. It begins April 14th – that’d be tomorrow. Better clear your schedule, Bruce McF! ^_^

Crunchyroll has picked up Yuyushiki, a story about a bunch of girls in the data processing club. Yeah, it sounds like every other 4-koma and it has some Yuri-service I presume, since it’s been on the Japanese Yuri blogs since day one (but with pretty low Yuri scores, which is why I presume its service or implication only.)

Brand-new YNN Correspondent Vivi C wants you all to know that Attack on Titan, “has a Yuri character called Ymir and the official website pretty much confirms that she is in love with another girl called Christa . …I don’t know if they’ll play such a big role in the anime. Putting the Yuri aside, I think the story’s pretty fantastic and worth taking a look at :D” Well, who could say no to that? Attack on Titan is streaming (legally, for free, with region restrictions) on Funimation’s website.

The Nozomi/RightStuf release of Tezuka’s classic, Part 1 of Princess Knight is up for pre-order and will make it’s debut on June 4th.

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Yuri Manga

From YNN Correspondent tanbishugi on Twitter, German Yuri fans have something new to look forward to, as Takahashi Itsumi’s Yuri Pirates  manga, Love Flag *Girls has been picked up by EMA and is scheduled for a summer release.

Amano Shuninta’s Yuri Manga: Watashi no Sekai o Kousei Suru Chiri no You na Nanika (私の世界を構成する塵のような何か), Volume 2 streets next week. Given how much I have sitting here, I’ll get to it sometime in July. Waaah~ I wanna read it *now*!

I know I’ve told you this before, but Fu~Fu, Volume 2 (ふ~ふ) is also coming out next week. ^_^

*2* new books by Morishima Akiko are on the way – Hajimete, Kanojou to. (はじめて、彼女と。) and Onna no ko Awase (女の子合わせ).

But wait, there’s more, Material Candy (マテリアルキャンディ) by Kurokiri Misao, and Ookita Hiroko’s  Tsuki to Supon (月と泥 ) are slated for May releases.

The second volume of Morinaga Milk’s Himitsu no Recipe (ひみつのレシピ)  and Hakamada Mera’s Eden no Higashitotsuka (エデンの東戸塚) will hit shelves in May, as well.

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Manga Scholar Matt Thorn shared this on his Facebook, with the message, “今日も叡山電車の「百合」トレーンに乗って。 Riding the “Yuri” train again today.” With his permission, here’s a glimpse into a KR Comics campaign in Kyoto. Click for full size. Thanks, Matt!

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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!