Archive for the Yuri Network News Category


Yuri This Week – June 20, 2009

June 20th, 2009

I’m out on the road today, so keeping it short. Next week I’ll be at Jim Hanley’s Universe on Gay Pride Saturday with a number of LGBTQ artists and writers for a Prism Comics book signing.

Saturday, New York City, the summer, Gay Pride weekend. You know you wanna~

See you there!

Yuri Light Novels

A number of people have noted that there is indeed going to be a new Maria-sama ga Miteru Novel, Little Horrors. The former novels are now being referred to as the “Sachiko Arc” and this is post-Sachiko. I’m still of the belief that this will be a short story collection wrapped in a Yamayurikai wrapping. I say this because I really, honestly read a bunch of non-YYK stories in Cobalt that had not yet made it to a novel by Hello Goodbye. Pre-order on Amazon JP isn’t up as of typing, but as *soon* as I can, I’ll put it on the Yuricon Shop Light Novels Page and link to it here as well.

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Yuri Anime

Katherine notes that the sketches for the opening sequence Utena director Ikuhara Kunihiko is working, on looks *awfully* like Aoi Hana. Judge for yourself, read the article on ANN.

George wants to share that the “Tears to Tiara anime has a Yuri story in episodes 8-11. Octavia and Lidia (played by Tanaka Rie and Sawashiro Miyuki) are comrades who end up on opposite sides in this conflict. Octavia’s noble honor is softened, but not weakened, by her interaction with the main protagonists. Lidia has evil psycho down
cold, and is definitely obsessed with Octavia. She is only softened by memories of their childhood friendship and training together. Whether they were more than comrades depends on your interpretation of the wonderfully flexible Japanese word “suki” in their final duel. Sadly, they don’t get a happy ending together. On the other hand, this is still not bad for anime originally derived from an ecchi harem game.”

And Queen’s Blade has been greenlighted (or should that be red light, hernh hernh) for a second season.

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Yuri Manga

Bruce is terribly excited to learn that one of his favorite manga artists, Ohishi Masaru is going to have a story in Tsubomi Volume 3. Bruce says he’s been looking for teeny little not-quite hints of Yuri for years in Ohishi’s work and is pleased as punch to be able to see him go full out…well, as full out as Tsubomi ever is. :-)

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No snatches today, I’m halfway out the door. But as always, please share any Yuri news with us by emailing me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com!

 





Yuri News this Week – June 13, 2009

June 13th, 2009

Yuri Events

Yuricon and ALC Publishing is, even as you read this, selling Grab Bags and Yuri Manga in Con Row at AnimeNEXT! Drop by tonight for the Yuri Panel at 6PM, in which we will talk about many things – almost all good. :-)

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Yuri Anime

Katherine was pleased as punch to be able to share the news with the Yuricon Mailing List that “Aoi Hana is premiering [in Japan] on July 1, according to the website which has been newly revamped, complete with new anime art, a wallpaper section (an adorable relationship chart, and a ton of other material.”

Yuri Light Novel

And again, top Yuri reporter Katherine would like you to know that Tiara Bunko has released a Yuri Light Novel, complete with illustrations by Chi-Ran called Ai Yuri Gakuin Youkoso E. The plot seems more of the same, but, hey, *more* of the same!

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Yuri Manga

The second volume of Creo the Crimson Crisis arriving on shelves next week is excellent testimony to the fact that my opinion is hardly the only one. :-)

And don’t forget your copy of Yuri Hime S, also on sale on the 18th.

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Other Yuri-ish News

Eric P. wants you to know that he found that “someone named Daniel Cronquist wrote a book called Set Apart that came out back in February. It’s a book that offers the Christian interpretation of all the religious themes and story elements in the Haibane Renmei series, while admitting the series isn’t directly a Christian story.” Apparently he interprates the characters as representations of the Seven Deadly Sins. I don’t think this is as crazy as it sounds – I saw Haibane Renmei as taking place in a kind of Purgatory, and I’m coming from a decidedly non-Christian point of view.

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Snatches of Yuri

Ashita Hareru Ya! is about 4-koma hijinks and Yuri sempai love at a nursing school. Volume 2 seems to be more Yuri than Volume 1.

For more girls’ school roomate love, check out Butterfly Kiss which does indeed look very Yuri love-love.

And one more for the fans of series that contain references about fandom, Transistor Tea Set~ Denkigai Chizu is another Mangatime KR 4-koma, with a Yuri character. This time, the series is set in and about the inhabitants of Electric Town, Akihabara, the otaku center of Tokyo.

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As always, email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with any Yuri news you’d like to share!





This Week in Yuri – June 6, 2009

June 6th, 2009

I, Rica Takashima and some our our Yuricon folks are at MoCCA Fest in NYC (at Table 516 PRISM Comics) today. I hope we’ll see you there!

In the meantime, a short, bittersweet news report.

Yuri Manga

Creator of classic Yuri manga Paros no Ken, and grandmother to the Light Novel and Josei genres, Kumimoto Kaoru, died at 56 years old from cancer last week. Her influence can be felt in many different ways and her contributions to both the Japanese and English manga industry are myriad. She will be greatly missed.

Manga to be on the lookout for in July:

Tact collection by Sakuraike, a prominent Yuri doujinshi circle. If this gets mainstream distribution, I will be sure to link to it.

Linkage by Uso Kurata, a collection from Yuri Hime Comics.

Nettai Shoujo by Yoshitomi Akihito, a Yuri Hime S collection.

(There are many more than this, of course. If you notice I only post a few at a time so you don’t get overwhelmed with a long laundry list, in case you were wondering. ^^;)

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Yuri Anime

Sentai Anime has obtained and will be re-releasing Genoen’s Kannazuki no Miko. This appears to be a straight re-release, so if you missed it the first time, you have a second chance! As soon as it goes up on Amazon, it’ll be added to the Yuricon Shop, the largest Yuri anime and manga themed shop on the Internet.

Katherine says that, according to the anime schedule on Moon Phase, Sasamekikoto is going to air this fall. Additionally, the Sasamekikoto website has been updated with Sumika and Ushio’s spiffy new anime character designs.

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Snatches of Yuri

As mentioned in Thursday’s Yuri Hime review, Machikado Hanadayori is about a poor owner of bakery and maybe some Yuri.

Morita-san no Mukuchi is a 4-koma comic about a girl who knows how to keep a secret and, as a result is much sought after for confidences by the other girls.

Amagami Emmenthal is a story about love at a girl’s school.

Sokyuu no Karma is a novel series about dragon riders and Yuri love.

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As always, if you see Yuri News you’d like to see shared, please email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com and it shall be so. :-)

In the meantime, I’m partying with Prism this weekend. Have yourself some fun, too and we’ll see you next week!





Breaking News: Yuricon on the Daily Kos

June 1st, 2009

I was fully prepared to do a review today, but instead would like to nod in thanks and awe at Okazu Hero Bruce McF for his article on today’s Daily Kos:

What Can Newspaper Reporters Learn From Yuricon?

For one thing, Bruce really *gets* what I say about niche marketing, and he shows an understanding of social media that far outweighs most Marketing Directors’. It’s a very good article and I hope you will read it all the way through and vote Bruce chocolate chip cookies at the end, because he definitely deserves a cookie for his efforts.

The comments interest me, as someone almost immediately tries to diminish the impact of the message by forcing it back into the anime box – and not just that, but the “oh, it’s those gals talking about Yuri, how cute and pointless” box. Bruce deftly points out that my social media skills are useful for more than “just Yuri.” I would have commented myself but new accounts are embargoed for a week on Diary posts. :-)

This is not an isolated behavior, either. I’ve seen it occur in other male-dominated discussion forums and I dare say every female gamer runs into it on a regular basis. A recent quote on Simon Jones’ blog over at Icarus netted a comment that read something like, “I totally respect what those dykes are doing” which contradicts itself fascinatingly. :-)

But I digress. The point is that Bruce’s article is good, it’s a genius expression of Project Engage and along with voting Bruce a pile of chocolate chip cookies, he’s just gotten himself promoted to Okazu Superhero. Because I reward engagement.

Thanks for the great article, Bruce!





Yuri News This Week – May 30, 2009

May 30th, 2009

Once again, we are off in a blaze of Yuri!

Yuri Manga

From a conversation on the #lililicious channel on IRC, Erin S is pleased to report two new Yamaji Ebine books, Aoaza Shimi and Ai no Jikan. Be warned however that the second is not Yuri in any way – it’s about a possibly gay girl who falls in love with a definitely gay man after he saves her from being stabbed by a rapist. (It was a really depressing story, I read it for many chapters in Feel Comic.) The first title looks more promising.

Anonymous says that Gunsmith Cats Burst Volume 4 in English is tentatively due out in Autumn 2009 , while Volume 5 is planned for Spring 2010. (Yay!!!!!)

Coming next month from Ichijinsha is Butterfly 69, the collection from Natsuneko. Woot.

And double woot for Hayate x Blade 10 also hitting the shelves next month. The current arc is amazing, btw. :-D

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Yuri Anime

Sean reports back from the Funimation panel at Anime North, where he dutifully asked them about things that I care about. Sadly, they have said that sales for Lyrical Nanoha and Nanoha As have not been very good and so at this time there is no plan for a release of StrikerS. Which makes me wonder, yet again, why the lolicon of Japan are so willing to shell out money and the lolicon of the west so very not. I am not the only person in the industry who is of the opinion that most of the people who screamed bloody murder at the pulling of the Kodomo no Jikan license had no intention of ever buying it. I was discussing why this is with another industry professional at lunch yesterday. I joked that the lolicon here are too busy with their hands down their pants, they didn’t have time to put them in their pockets, but that was only to watch him snort milk. The truth is more complex. The audience in Japan for lolicon is older than it is here, it is less entitled, having not grown up with free downloadable illegal media, but that still isn’t the crux of the issue. In Japan, fans buy to show their love and support for a series and to gain status. They buy official goods and media to be part of the “real fan” club – to show that they are part of the team. In America, fans are mostly just consumers and don’t have any connection with showing loyalty by buying. A hand-made artist’s alley item that clearly is violating IP is *better* than the official item, because it leaves them with more money to buy more and it “supports” fan work – which to western fans is more crucial than supporting companies that make the original.

I can’t answer this, but I wonder if fans here would feel differently if the work was native. If they knew the artists who did the animation, the voices, the production and it was a western company that *made* the work, would they feel more likely to buy official, more expensive goods to support the company? I don’t know. I do know that lolicon here are exactly the demographic least likely to buy anything, media, goods, games, etc – college-ages males.

On to other marginally disappointing news, Funi also says that their agreement with Toei only covers online distribution, so there are no plans for a DVD release of Air Master. However, they said that if online views were really good, it might be considered. So, watch Air Master online. There’s, that’s easy.

Right Stuf announces a Gakuen Alice website launch.

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Yuri Drama CDs

sarcastic weasel wants you to know that the next Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD is slated to come out this July. Tears of the Rosary/ Yellow Rose Storm Warning has been added to the Yuricon Shop Drama CD Page along with all the Special CDs and many other great Yuri-themed DCDs.

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Snatches of Yuri

Dan wants to report a blink ‘I think that was Yuri’ moment in Zero no Tsukaima. He says: ‘Main character is Louise, a teenage student witch. A minor character is Agnes who is the captain of the all female guard for the princess. Well, the two are following a possible spy for another country when the spy hears a noise and back tracks. With no where to run, Agnes pulls Louise into a lip to lip kiss. The spy sees them and grins but leaves. Agnes remains all business tracking the spy but Louise blushes. Later, another character mentions that Agnes is scary and likes girls. Louise blushes more. That’s it. Nothing more. During the entire season, Louise is clearly in love with the other main character, Saito. If it had only been the kiss without the later comment, I would not have mentioned it. However, the random, not needed for the plot and not expanded comment about Agnes sounds to me (a huge Fanboy) like an attempt to keep GL fans interested. There is a third season but I would be surprised if the Agnes likes girls idea is explored. The plot would be greatly improved if the Agnes line was explored.”

Back closer to my world, Kanojo ha Megane-HOLIC brings together an agent, a high school, two girls and eyeglasses. It’s Light Novel that I’m tempted to read, just because it sounds absolutely idiotic. lol

Ame no Tou is a classic girl’s shousetsu about four girls and the love, hate and jealousy between them.

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Other Yuri News

In other Yuri News, there still no second season of Strawberry Panic planned and the live-action movie you thought you heard about is still actually Yoshida Akimi’s The Cherry Orchard.

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Which brings me to the end of another Yuri News Report.

I want to thank George for his lovely comment yesterday, about this being a real life version of Manako’s “Yuri Network.” That was quite touching. In reality, you wonderful people are the network – I’m just reporting the pieces. So, please write in with any tidbits of Yuri you would like people to know! It’s my pleasure to tell the world.

Have a great week next week – and here’s to even more fabulous Yuri news!