Yuri (and other) Anime 

From YNN Correspondent Shannon Luchies, we have more interesting Media Blasters news this week – according to their Facebook page, they have licensed Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito. Thanks for the heads up Shannon! Yuricon Staffer Serge suggests “Completely forgettable except for Hazuki” as an honest pull-quote for the packaging. ^_^

Serial Experiments Lain DVD/Blu-ray Complete Collection Limited Edition on sale at RightStuf. With extras and stuff. ^_^

The September release of an Aoi Hana Blu-Ray box set in Japan will be accompanied by original art by manga creator Shimura Takako, Comic Natalie reports. Blu-Ray would be worth it for a change, since the animation is so lovely. It’s on my Amazon JP Yuri Wish List if anyone feels like buying me a birthday present. ^_^

I know you were on pins and needles about this: Sentai Filmworks has announced the release of Queen’s Blade Rebellion has been pushed back to September. Awww.

And another new free, legal anime streaming site has popped up – AnimeSols. This site is working with a number of anime studios and the Yomiuri media company to both stream and crowdfund older anime. To my surprise, I recognized a name in the credits. It was my pleasure to work with QuarkPro founder Sam Pinansky last year during our JManga adventure. AnimeSols has the shoujo classic Creamy Mami in the lineup, which is good news for shoujo anime fans. Unlike Daisuki, Animesols is available to North America only. I’ve had a chance to ask Sam about this and it comes down to the fact that they are using the crowdfunding upfront to get the disks printed (not as, say, a Kickstarter perk.) If they took donations from non-NA countries they’d be required to file sales and tax info in all those countries – and follow local censorship laws. Plus, just to drive a stake through the heart of the global economy, licensing agreements in countries from decades ago still apply. So there are countries that could not get streaming rights regardless. Okay, that’s the bad news – on the good news side, once sets are printed, they have an agreement with TRSI for fulfillment, so you’ll be able to buy sets wherever you are.

I hope to have an interview with Sam next week and we can get the whole scoop. ^_^

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Other News

Manga artist Nao Yazawa is once again giving away some of her titles on Kindle! You can download Moon and Blood, Volume 1 in Japanese and Nozomi, Volume 1 in English for free until the 27th of May.

You may have heard that Amazon Kindle is opening a new service for creators of fanfic. Well, yes and no. It’s essentially a farm league for authorized fiction. Only series that have licensing agreements with Amazon will be allowed  – none of which are anime or manga, they are all US TV shows at the moment. ANN gives a succinct rundown on all the rules. With the success of several high-profile fanfictions that have transitioned into original work, this makes sense. My only concern would be if media rights holders use it to squash “unauthorized” fanfic. We’ll have to wait and see what happens. ^_^ In the meantime, your Madoka porn stories are probably safe. ^_^

A  lesbian film is making a splash at Cannes this year, La vie d’Adèle (Blue Is the Warmest Color), which is an adaptation of a graphic novel titled Le Bleu est une Couleur Chaude by Julie Maroh. It appears that Arsenal Pulp is releasing this in English in Autumn 2013 under the name Blue Angel. (Thanks bystrouska for the clarification!)

Comic Natalie reports on a new line of Rose of Versailles dolls.I think they are terrifying. ^_^ Speaking of dolls, if you know who this is,  are you as amazed as I am at the fact that they are still making figurines of him? It’s a pretty good one, too. ^_^

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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

Yuricon Presents the Yuri Panel at Anime Next! We’re so glad to be returning to our home event for another year. There will be a lot of  good news (and some bad) and we’ll be giving away a lot of fun stuff, so we hope to see you there. ^_^

Other News

In an exciting new attempt to leverage “Cool Japan,”  a new anime streaming site has launched, Daisuki.net. The site appears to be be globally accessible. It’s unclear if all the anime on the site is globally accessible, as well. If you live somewhere other than North America, and have registered for Daisuki, can you let us know in the comments if all the series are accessible to you? Bruce_McF wants to know. The launch campaign includes a contest for various goods – and there is a promise of a store in which goods can be purchased. Some of the anime on Daisuki is available on Crunchyroll, but this is really big news for European anime fans.

Anime News Network has a glimpse of the second Bandai Sailor Moon figurine – no surprise, it’s Sailor Mercury.

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Yuri Manga

There’s a pile of new manga from Comic Yuri Hime: Tsuki to Sekai to Etoile (月と世界とエトワール), Kimono Nadesico Volume 2 (きものなでしこ),  Sentimental Dust (センチメンタルダスト),  and steps by Takemiya Jin. Whee!

Rakuen Le Paradis (楽園 Le Paradis) Volume 12 will hit shelves at the end of June, and so will the first volume of Seijukuki Jinmei Vega by Hayashiya Shizuru,(思春期生命体ベガ)! Whee!

Nogami Takeshi’s online comic series Marine Corp Yumi has launched an English version. There’s some Yuri-service and a load of insight to military life in the United States of Amerigo. The translation is courtesy of our own C.O., Ana Moreno.

Comic Natalie reports that Transistor Ni Venus creator Takemoto Izumi has a new sci-fi school series in Comic Beam, Shinraku Mono De…. Bruce, we expect a review. ^_^

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Yuri Anime

Ghost in the Shell: Arise full trailer is now streaming for your entertainment. It looks like Kusanagi gets another woman to talk to/be enemies with.

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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!

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!