Yuri Anime

(In a moment of extreme laziness, I’ve cut and pasted this from the press release, so apologies for formatting that is unlike the rest of this blog.)

Right Stuf, Inc.and Nozomi Entertainment are pleased to announce the first story arc of REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA, known to fans as The Student Council Saga, will be added to the streamed anime programming found at www.youtube.com/nozomient. The first two remastered episodes,“The Rose Bride”and“For Whom the Rose Smiles” are now available for viewing to fans in the United States and Canada. Two additional remastered episodes (through episode 12) will be posted each week leading up to the December release of the third and final limited-edition Utena DVD box set. Each episode, beyond the first two, will stream for alimited time, and all episodes will be presented with Japanese audio and English-language subtitles. REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA: The Apocalypse Saga DVD Set L.E.(Remastered Box Set 3) is scheduled for release on December 6, 2011,and it is now available for pre-order at fine retailers.

For a limited time – and while supplies last – fans who purchase ALL THREE Revolutionary Girl Utena remastered L.E. DVD Sets via RightStuf.com will receive a replica of the signet ring worn by Utena in the series. This exclusive gift item will be shipped to those who are eligible with the third and final DVD box set.

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Yuri Game

A new YuruYuri iPhone App allows you to waste time with characters from Namori’s Yuri Yuri series.

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Yuri Manga

Sailor Moon Volume 2 (and Code Name is Sailor V , Volume 2) are imminent.

Bokura ha Minna Ikiteru! (ぼくラはミンナ生きテイル！) is being touted as a animal ear and Yuri high school story.

Kaname Etoile ( かなめエトワール) Joining the ranks of Nakayoshi and Ribon magazines is is Sho Comi.  with this long-awaited ballet/ Yuri mashup we all knew had to be written eventually.

Yuri Mielle (百合缶) is another upcoming Yuri anothology by the people that brought us Yuri Feuille.

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Other News

YNN Correspondent Jenna M points out a followup to a story in a May 2008 YNN report:

“Robin Brenner has just published some of her research with Snow Wildsmith on the relationships American LGBTQ fans have with Yaoi and Yuri, in a book called Mangatopia. The chapter is called “Love Through a Different Lens: Japanese Homoerotic Manga through the Eyes of American Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Other Sexualities Readers”.

The Google books preview is available here, but isn’t complete.” (Erica here – it shouldn’t be complete. People who want to read the book should buy it, or borrow it from their library system. Otherwise the authors don’t make money.)

Thanks Jenna for the update!

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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

Morinaga Milk’s Kuchibiru no Tameiki Sakura Iro is being serialized in Comic High! magazine and, in celebration, you can read the *whole thing*online for free, until it is pulled.

Rakuen Le Paradis (楽園 Le Paradis), Volume 7 is heading for the stores. I can’t wait!

And, from that magazine comes a new collection by Takemiya Jin – Seasons. If you are not collecting her work, you really should be. Her protagonists are huggably grumpy and wonderful and they are welcome over for lunch anytime.

Tsubomi, Volume 14 is also on the way. There’s still a few series I like running, although I’ll miss “Lonely Wolf, Lonely Sheep.”

Um…there’s a “Yuri Boom”? Sure wish I saw some sign of it. Anyway, the folks at Megami magazine say so and so they are, in their infinite wisdom, marketing a new magazine called Megami Magazine Lily (メガミマガジンリリィ). According the marketing department there at Megami it’s “For Girls,” but we know that if it’s from Megami, it’s really for guys who want to think that it’s “for girls.”

Mikuni Hachime’s Houkago Kanon (放課後カノン) from Ichijinsha will hit shelves in November.

Fumi Ebon’s Blue Friend (ブルーフレンド), Volume 3 has been much different than the first volume, but follows a similar-ish formula – one popular girl and one outcast. But this time it’s the popular girl who seeks to change.

There’s a sequel to Joshi Kousei? Really? Yes, really! Set in the same school a whole new set of wacky girls will do things that make us cringe, in Joshi Kousei – Girls Live (女子高生Girls-Live)

Manga expert Helen McCarthy discusses the importance of Princess Knight on her own blog. This manga is a must-read for anyone interested in Shoujo and Yuri manga and this post is a must-read for anyone interested in manga, full stop.

ANN reports that a new R.O.D Project Planned for Super Dash & Go! Mag. Phew. We needed a new R.O.D.

Yuri magazine Xenocross Volume 1 has launched in English, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese and Indonesian (via @tominonakiyoshi on Twitter) This anthology includes an officially approved Sono Hanabira side story; the money goes to an anime project for the series, so if you are a fan, really, it’s all on you to make that happen. A portion of the proceeds also goes to charity.

Nanzaki Iku is beginning a Queen’s Blade sequel manga in Comp Ace magazine.

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Yuri Novel

Download Fujima Shion’s Yuri novel “Fantastic Lolita” (in Japanese) or read it online: Registration required for download, but not to read it on the site. There are other items tagged Yuri on the site, I may investigate some of them. ^_^ This novel was lots of fun, and I’d love to see a sequel.

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Yuri Anime

The Black Rock Shooter anime website is live. I really hope they go somewhere with this story.

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Other News

Lecture & Reading from Dolltopia by International Manga Award Winner Abby Denson at Sophia University in Tokyo. I mentioned Dolltopia a while back, but I just picked up the GN and can’t wait to review it. Dolltopia wins for having non-creepy lesbian dolls.

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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

On October 29-30 Yaoi Yuri Con will be held in Lyon, France – their first ever, how cool for them! If someone attends, please feel free to write up a report!

And Yaoi and Yuri Con in The Netherlands returns for March 2012. This con has been around a few years and every time I’m in communication with these folks, it just gives me a sense of energy and joy. There’s some great grounded, creative energy behind this con.

Someone recorded the NYCC 2011 Panel: XX Women in Queer Comics,so you can listen to it and be wowed by the stories by Jennifer Camper, Joan Hilty, Abby Denson and Kris Dresden. Thanks to the folks at Gay Nerds.com for putting this up!

Pop Culture News has filed a report on the It Gets Better (With Comics!) panel from New York Comic Con.

And thank *you* all for your contributions to the CBLDF at NYCC: They raised over $12,000 towards the legal fees of Brandon X with your help.

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Yuri Manga

Morinaga Milk is participating in a Yuri anthology: 百合缶Feuille.

YNN Correspondent Anon-kun wants you all to know that Rakka Ryuusui (落花流水) Volume 6 is out. He also reminds you about Hidamari Sketch (ひだまりスケッチ), Volume 6 and suggests a new series for fans of the above, Whip Note (ホイップノート).

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Yuri Anime

YNN Correspondent Katherine H has this to say: “It turns out that a fall series that recently premiered, Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon has a Yuri couple. It’s a trashy series, but it’s a trashy series with a surprisingly nice couple. (Admittedly, I’m a little bowled over because I didn’t expect anything from this season beyond the one-sided crush going nowhere on Working!! season 2 and the creepy one-sided crush in Shinryaku!? Ika Musume.)”

and she add this for good measure:

“Just wanted to mention that’s there’s supposed to be a canon Yuri side character in this season’s Ben-to. I haven’t seen it myself. More satisfyingly, Saber, the cool, iconic female fighting character in Fate/Zero, is being slashed by some fans with a character named Irisviel for her debonair suit-wearing kakkoii-ness in episode 3. They will never actually get together, but it still makes F/Z more fun to watch.”

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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 next issue of Hakusensha’s Rakuen le Paradis (楽園 Le Paradis), which hits shelves on October 31, has another guest story by Hayashiya Shizuru-sensei – and looking at this splash page for the magazine, it looks cheerfully Yuri.

YMM Correspondent Komatsu-san wants us to know that French Publisher Taifu is doing a GIRL FRIENDS trivia contest to celebrate their Yuri release. (The page in French, but not that hard to figure out.)

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Digital Platforms News

JManga has Hitohira from Aurora publishing as part of their offerings. JManga also focused on GIRL FRIENDS this week, which is available in English on their site – there is a preview of the first few pages available for free with an account. Right now you have to have a subscription to the site to buy from them, but they’ve dropped some manga prices down to about half – so you can get all of Volume 1 of Morinaga Milk’s adorable Yuri manga for $4.99 for a limited time. I hope you will all support their English releases of Yuri manga, because the more they sell – the more they will pursue Yuri. (I have asked them about allowing ad hoc purchases and also sent them a list of Yuri titles they should pursue and found them in general to be very responsive and professional. In fact, when they did the one day focus on GIRL FRIENDS, I was very pleased at the synopsis of the story. It was appropriate and not at *all* pandering or obnoxious. Let them know what titles you want to see, they are listening!  I expect pretty great things from them as time goes on.)

Akamatsu Ken’s digital site JComi has posted some of the  manga restricted by the new Tokyo Law. The site, and the manga, are in Japanese.

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Yuri Anime

For those of you who liked the hot mahjong action of Saki, a new Saki spinoff, Saki Achiga-hen, is in the works.

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Other News

Cover artist for the new Comic Yuri Hime, and artists for BL series Starry Sky, Kazuaki, has a fetching artbook available on Amazon JP. Kazuaki Artworks: カズアキ

Last week for my column Magazine no Mori on Manga Bookshelf, I take a look at the eclectic manga magazine @Comic Bunch.

The Director of Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, is publishing a prequel book for the story, known as Beginning Story.

Melinda Beasi adds to the conversation about manga on the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s site with a chilling discussion on why the manga community can not just stand by while Brandon X goes to jail for manga or doujinshi he wanted to read – check this amazing essay out on the CBLDF’s website.

YNN Correspondent Catherine D has started a really exciting new project. She’s hoping to create Vocabulary lists to help fans learn Japanese as they watch the anime. She’s begun her project on the Crunchyroll Forum – Vocabulary lists and she very much hopes some folks will join her project. Right now she’s working on Sasamekikoto and Moribito.

And one last note from the Yuri Network – YNN Correspondent  YNN Correspondent Ransui-san on Twitter points out that this weekend is the kickoff for the Tokyo International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. If you’re in or around Tokyo and manage to get to see any of the festival, please do report back. We’d love to hear about it.

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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!