I’ve got a few random things that I wanted to get posted today, so I’m forgoing a review for one more day. I’ll start catching up tomorrow.

Firstly, joining my sites on Okazu, Yuricon.org, Yahoo!Groups, MySpace, Facebook, Mixi and Livejournal, I’ve now added a feed on Twitter. Now there’s no reason to fall behind on your Yuri news! :-)

“Friend of Yuri” Christine noted that the creator of Haibane Renmei, Yoshitoshi Abe, is going to be on an artist’s panel in September as part of this year’s Schoolgirls and Mobilesuits: Culture and Creation in Manga and Anime event.

Lastly, on a completely personal note, I’ve uploaded a new original fiction on my site, “Worldshaking” Fanfic. It’s a mystery-type story in three parts set at a Renaissance Faire, the idea for which came to me years ago in another life when I worked at a RenFaire selling swords. :-) If you enjoy my writing, I hope you’ll drop by and read Bad Fayre Day, Part 1. Enjoy!

I think that covers everything. Again, please feel free to send me any Yuri (or Yuri-ish) news that you hear and I’ll be glad to let people know what’s up in the world of Yuri!

A few people have sent in the news that J-Drama Last Friends has a Yuri couple, but I think I’m the first to comment that they are named Michiru and Ruka – and that Ruka rides motocross. Hmm….sounds so familiar somehow…

Seriously, I was watching the first episode and started to laugh. We never got the Outer Senshi in the Live-Action Sailor Moon, but if you don’t mind a totally fanfic-y setup where Michiru is in an abusive relationship and Haruka’s lost part of her name, then you ought to be happy with this show. The opening credits make it plain that this will not be a happy story for anyone – but so far there has been one straight kiss that looked like the people actually enjoyed touching each other – never seen that before! – and at the end Ruka kisses a sleeping Michiru. Two firsts for Japanese TV, surely.

While we’re talking live-action, the ironically named Water Lilies was nominated for an award at Cannes. This story is perfect for the live-action moe fan, a coming-of-age and hopping-into-one-another’s-bed story about three girls. (The original title Naissance des pieuvres means “Birth of Octopuses”, but somehow I think the English title is more…fitting. Wonder why that is? lol)

And Lightnovel.org has announced the first few of Ichinjinsha’s “Girls’ Novels” line. Just to be clear – I do not believe that these are “girls love” novels, just that these are the first in their imprint “for girls.” Of these Loveless is the only one I’m familiar with and we can only hope that it will include Kouya and Yamato’s arc. If anyone knows any of these titles are specifically GL, do let us know! (I’ll take a look at the report in Yuri Hime when I get a chance to order it and report back, otherwise.)

Every week I think “what on earth am I going to write about this week…” and every week, somehow, we have a bunch of news. Cool, huh?

I’m pleased to report that I was completely totally wrong about the Love My Life, live action movie. It is indeed coming here for a US release, courtesy of Wolfe Video. It’s always a pleasure to be wrong about such things. :-)

I kept meaning to mention this, but never did. In case you were having difficulty finding copies of My Otome/My Z-Hime, Volume 4 – I spoke with the folks from Bandai at Anime Boston. They tell me that the DVD had some problems, and that the new error-free disc was shipping just about then. So hang on and you should be able to find it soon.

Eagle-eyed Sean tells me that Morning 2 magazine, home of non-moe Yuri story Gunjou, is going monthly, so perhaps we’ll get chapters of this great story on a regular basis. However, the website still hasn’t updated, so who knows.

Coming up from Ichijinsha, look for the Yuri Hime manga of the popular game Aoi Shiro, and Yuri Hime 12. (For fans of Aoi Shiro, there’s actually another manga of the story, not from Yuri Hime, but from Jive. I’ll be reviewing it in day to come.) Also up from Ichijinsha, the third and final volume of Hatsukoi Shimai. All of these have a release date of April 18.

Last – and quite probably least – a quick clarification on the new Ikkitousen:GG series. Looks like Ryofu will be making a return, as will Ryomou, Hakufu and Kanu, so I think we can say that the sleazy Yuri fanservice will also me making a comeback. :-)

If you know any interesting news of interest to Yuri fans, feel free to email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com, and I’ll be sure to add it to the next This Week in Yuri!