Thank you everyone who came to the Mechademia panel at too-effin’-early today! And my very sincere thanks to James and Verena for being fabulous panelists. As a result of our conversation (because we had so little time and we could talk about this for hours!) we’re going to try and arrange a panel for Yuri Studio sometime so you all can watch us natter on about Yuri…and we’ll record it this time.

So, stay tuned for that. I’m super excited about the idea, but timing will be the issue.

Yuri Manga

Even Though We’re Adults, Volume 2 drops this month. What will become of Yukari and Ayano, now that Ayano told her husband how she feels about the other woman?

Via Yuri Navi, Atsui Hifuu (あつい皮膚) is about a girl with atopy (a disease in which a body’s immune system triggers extreme allergic responses to common stimuli) and a girl who she meets in a library. It’s a kind of sweet story, with fairly grotesque (both figuratively and the other figuratively) art that you can read for free in Japanese on Kurage Bunch.

Patron support for Okazu helps us give our Guest Writers raises
and support more Yuri creators!

Yuri Light Novels

I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 3 is here! If you’re in Japan and get a chance, next week will see a WataOshi pop-op shop and yes, they are doing online sales. Woot woot.

ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword!, Volume 4 is on it’s way at the end of the month.  I’m so backlogged, I still haven’t cracked open Volume 3.

Adachi and Shimamura, Volume 5 hit shelves this week, as well.

Yuri Anime

Racing to the front in the “perfomative Pride” category is HIDIVE, who reminds you that they now have a LGBT genre category on their platform.

Coming in a close second is Funimation, with Essential Anime That Expands LGBTQ+ Representation by Aedan Juvet.

It’s rough for anime companies, honestly, since most anime is trash entertainment and I don’t want to harsh anyone’s joy, but once more for the folks in the back – if you want to show support, drop the rainbow logos, don’t make us beg for appropriate tags…just support your queer staff with inclusive policies, promote your queer content, defend it against assholes. Thank you.

Speaking of Funimation, Magic Knight Rayearth is aliiiiive~~~!!! After you finish up Sailor Moon Eternal and want to find something next to eat those Planter Cheez Balls while watching, Magic Knight Rayearth is the CLAMP you need.

Yuri Games

Yuri Empire has done a damned comprehensive roundup of all the Yuri games and news for June.

Queer Comics

Hazel Newlevant has a terrific comic on The Nib, Before Stonewall… about acts of queer (most often trans) protest before the famous NYC Stonewall Uprising.

Via YNN Correspondent Laurent, Volume 1-6 of Stjepan Šejić’s very queer, beautifully drawn BDSM comic, Sunstone is available by the author for free right now, while he works on Volume 7.

Ren at Bring The Tea has written a perspective piece on anime and manga, titled The shifting landscape of queer narratives -with a focus in the 2010s.

Superstar lesbian comic artist Jennifer Camper has interviewed superstar lesbian comic artist Alison Bechdel in When Alison Bechdel says comics are her ‘other girlfriend,’ you’d better believe it for Xtra* magazine.

Superstar Queer Comics Artists, The Movie, No Straight Lines, is making its way around film festivals, with a premier at the acclaimed Tribeca Film Festival. You can get it at home to watch on June 13th. (I will definitely be doing that. For $15, it’s a steal.)

Other News

Oh. My. God. Someone has made the perfect movie for me. Jigoku no Hanazono (地獄の花園) about Office “Ladies” and if that pun doesn’t make sense to you then the whole thing will be befuddling, but trust me, it’s hilarious.

Become a YNN Correspondent:  Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share and be part of the Yuri Network. ^_^

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons who make the YNN weekly report possible! Support us on Patreon to help us give Guest Reviewers a raise and to help us support the Yuri ecosystem!

Yuri Manga

This week Yen Press announced the cover release for the upcoming Strawberry Fields Once Again, Vol. 3, which is hitting bookstores at the end of June! This volume is an absolute whirlwind of a final volume.

Aya-chan wa Rezu Fuuzoku ni Kyoumi ga arimasu!, Volume 1 (彩純ちゃんはレズ風俗に興味があります!) is about a young women who hires a companion for the evening and finds herself becoming a sex worker because it interests her.  There’s also a love story plot in there, but I won’t spoil. ^_^

Doukyuusei no Oshi Sakka ni Yuri Mousou ga Bareta Kekka, Volume 1 (同級生の推し作家に百合妄想がバレた結果) is the story of a true Yuri fan (believer) who finds that her favorite Yuri author (god) is her classmate.

Meijou shigatai Kanojo to, ano goro Okubyō datta Watashi no Hanashi, Volume 1 (名状しがたい彼女と、あの頃臆病だった私の話), is a horror manga about a girl who is rescued by and falls in love with a girl who manipulates monsters….and you can just about hear the creak of the dartboard being spun on that plot. ^_^

Via Comic Natalie, we have something for the animal-ear girls fans among us, Ookami no Kawa o Kabutta Hitsuji Hime (狼の皮をかぶった羊姫), which I am totally translating in my head as The Sheep Princess in Wolf’s Clothing, which looks totally not applicable to the story as far as I read. ^_^

And, while we’re spinning the wheel and throwing darts art plots points, Check out Bookwalker for Kabunshou kara Hajimaru Yuri (花粉症からはじまる百合). After all, we all know that hayfever is totally romantic. ^_^;

Via Yuri Navi, one-shot Hi no Ataranai sono Heya de,(日の当たらないその部屋で), is a “sad” story of a teacher who looks back at her youth to find love. You can read the whole thing in Japanese on Web Ace.

Starting in the July issue of Comic Yuri Hime in a new school girls love story, “Spica wo Tsukamaete” (スピカをつかまえて), also via Yuri Navi, who completely gave up on even trying to guess the plot and basically just says, “We have no idea what it’s about, all we know is that it’s a schoolgirl Yuri.”

Yuri Doujinshi

Yuri Doujinshi Website Lilyka is celebrating a second birthday, with 20% off most items on the site until June 3rd, with the code YURIMY21.

Yuri Light Novel

J-Novel Club has just released the first chapter of Girls Kingdom, Volume 4 for free on their website. This volume is slated for an August release.

Help us support Yuri creators and writers –
become an Okazu Patron today !

Yuri Online Events & Podcasts

Reminder that on June 5 at 21:00 JST (8 AM US EST, 1PM BST), James Welker, Verena Maser and myself will be paneling Transporting Yuri Across Borders at Mechademia! Registration is 1000￥, so about $10 USD for you to watch the presentations and join the panels (which will not be recorded for later viewing, I have been informed.)  I’ve been watching a few of the presentations every day and they have been amazing.

I spoke with Kate Fitzsimons at Publisher’s Weekly about The Rose of Versailles this week on More to Come.  I also had a lovely conversation with Sullivan and Tori at Third Impact Anime this past week, but there were many technical problems on my side, I hope they’ll be able to put that together for Pride month.   I have another podcast with Manga Mavericks coming up about Nagata Kabi’s newest book out in English, My Alcoholic Escape From Reality, and I’ve just finished up her Meisou Senshi Nagata Kabi (迷走戦士・永田カビ) in Japanese.

To wrap my June up, join me at the all-at home, all-free CasaCon on Discord.

I’m cutting this close, but in about 8 hours in Japan, you can visit Yuri doujinshi market Girls Love Fest, live once again in the Ota City Industrial Plaza PIO building on May 30.

And June 6 will give you a chance to visit Comitia, once again live in Tokyo Big Site. Check your favorite circles’ feeds for their location.

In celebration of the release of Sailor Moon Eternal Parts 1 and 2 on Netflix on June 3, the cast took some time to answer questions in Beautiful Dreams, Part 1 and Part 2 on Netflix’s Youtube channel!

Yuri Visual Novel

Yuri VN Creative Team SukeraSparo have announced a June wedding-themed extension to their Oshirabu series, Oshi no Love yori Koi no Love~ Love or Die (推しのラブより恋のラブ～ラブ・オア・ダイ～). Oshirabu or Die appears to be about a otaku Office Lady who ends up in a sham-to-real marriage with her favorite idol. Eh, why not. ^_^

Become a YNN Correspondent:  Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share and be part of the Yuri Network. ^_^

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons who make the YNN weekly report possible! Support us on Patreon to help us give Guest Reviewers a raise and to help us support Yuri creators!

Yuri Manga

Senior YNN Correspondent Sean G. wants you to know that Seven Seas has a couple of license announcements for us this week. Topping the list is The Girl I Want is So Handsome, by Yuama. I have reviewed this in Japanese – you can read my thoughts on Ikemen-sugi Shiki-sempai! Volume 1 and Volume 2 here (Tl;dr – it was cute.)  Volume 1 is getting a end of year release.

Seven Seas has also announced the license of Jun Ogino’s semelparous, and Double Your Pleasure – A Twin Yuri Anthology, neither of which I am ever likely to mention again.

Via ANN’s Rafael Antonia Pineda, Transparent Light Blue creator Iwami Kyouko is starting up a new series, “Today, She is Not Here.” Get the details on ANN!

On their twitter account, MICRO Magazine announced the serialization of the ROLL OVER AND DIE manga!

We have a couple of volumes that have been added to to Yuricon Store:

Mikanuji, creator of Now Loading….! and Fuzoroi no Renri has a short story collection out from Kadokawa, Mukanuji Short Story Collection Happy End Iranai (みかん氏短編集 ハッピーエンドはいらない).

Kujira’s A Witch’s Love at the End of the World, Volume 3 is headed our way in just over a week, to finish up this story.

Volume 2 of Superwomen in Love: Honey Trap and Rapid Rabbit will be coming at you at the end of the summer.

Yoru to Umi, Volume 3, by Goumoto wraps up that magical tale.

Amano Shuninta has a new collection, Aisarete mo Iindayo (愛されてもいいんだよ) about an unhappy woman who finds happiness during her experience with a sex worker.

Help us reach our next big goal: We’ll raise rates for Guest Writers and support another creator!
Become an Okazu Patron today!

YNN Correspondent Megan wants you to know about Ienai Himitsu no Aishikata (いえない秘密の愛し方). A teacher meets her favorite dounjinshi artist, who turns out to be a student in their school. You can read some sample chapters in Japanese on Takeshobo’s Story Dash.

Also via Megan, is Cosmic Lily (コズミック・リリィ), a one-shot scifi story set in space, by Yoshitaka Nao. You can read this in Japanese on Comic Days website.

Kawashima Suzu offers this sweet little Yuri tidbit in Japanese on Comic Zenon, Kanojo to Shuumatsu Afternoon Tea  (彼女と週末アフタヌーンティー). Thanks again to Megan for spotting this on Yuri Navi – I had read and bookmarked it, but hadn’t added it yet. Sometimes I hold items for a later report. ^_^

Yuri Interview

The lovely folks at Yuri Times are pleased to present a 2-part interview with Yuri manga artist Inui Ayu, creator of If We Leave on the Dot, which is being serialized in English on Mangaplanet. Part 1 and Part 2 are up for you to read and enjoy! Thanks to the staff of Yuri Times for bring out this interview in English and Japanese!

Yuri Anime

Rafael Antonia Pineda has the news on ANN about new cast and staff for upcoming anime Aquatope of White Sand.

And Rafael is our go-to guy today, because he’s also noted that the first 4 minutes of the new Revue Starlight movie is being streamed right now for you to watch!

Yuri Visual Novel

YNN Correspondent Patricia B.r writes in with the news about Korean Yuri VN that looks fun! “Lady in Mystery is a mystery/romance visual novel set in 1700s Korea, where the protagonist can romance four potential love interests, who are all women. It was originally released in South Korea in 2014, and I believe this is the first time the game has been translated into English.”

MangaGamer announces Distant Memoraĵo – a Return to the World of The Expression: Amrilato. Distant Memoraĵo contains two new chapters in the tale of Rin and Ruka and their desire to communicate. Check out the trailer on Youtube.

Other News

Not Yuri, but this is big – all 44 volumes of fine wine battle manga Drops of God are available on Comixology. I read this all the way through in Japanese and it was absolutely ridiculous and amazing and informative. Imagine Kaiba and Yu-Gi-Oh rambling on about wine instead of a card game and you’d be very close. Also I learned a LOT, but the focus of the manga is always about enjoying wine first and understanding it second.

Gentlewoman and scholar Rachel Thorn tweeted a 3-part NHK series on how Japanese girls magazine cover art changed and maybe you’re not as into this as I am, but I am very into this! Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3. Thank you Rachel! Its especially relevant as I am watching the evolution of Rica Takashima’s art for the cover of By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga, which is coming out next summer and I am very excited for you all to see it. ^_^

Become a YNN Correspondent:  Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share and be part of the Yuri Network. ^_^

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons who make the YNN weekly report possible! Support us on Patreon to help us give Guest Reviewers a raise and to help us support the Yuri ecosystem!

There is so much news this week and I have an opinion at the end, so strap in!

Yuri Manga

Nagata Kabi’s new book My Alcoholic Escape From Reality is out, she did an interview with Deb Aoki for TCAF which will stay on Youtube until May 21, so don’t miss it! and Seven Seas has announced the license of her next book, Nagata Kabi’s My Wandering Warrior Existence!

Rafael Antonia Pineda has the news that Hara Yukiko’s Mayu, Matou (released by Yen Press as Cocoon, Entwined) is going on a 4-month hiatus in Comic Beam due to the creator’s illness.

Seven Seas has released Syrup: An Anthology, Volume 3, which covers couple’s first nights together.

Galette WORKS has some good news and some bad news. The good news, is that Galette No. 18 (ガレット) is coming out next month and Galette MEETS 15 is on sale as well.  The bad news is that the website Galette Online, is shutting down, so all the short stories and voice comics will be going away at the end of this month. The magazine is thus far still in publication. You can still support the creation of Galette on Fantia or Pixiv Fanbox.

Ajiichi’s Dekisokonai Hime-tachi, Volume 5 (できそこないの姫君たち), continues this emotional rollercoaster for a group of of girls in high school.

Shakaijin Yuri foodish manga Minna Watashi no Hara no Naka, Volume 1 (みんな私のはらのなか) is available in print or you can check it out on Takeshobo’s Storia Dash online in Japanese.

Eden no Shoujo, Volume 1 (エデンの処女) is a science fiction story about a world with no men.

Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! Volume 8 (私の百合はお仕事です!) comes to a climactic moment, and Mitsuki is not ready…

Be Part of the Okazu family – Support Okazu on Patreon
and help us make more Yuri Studio videos!

Yuri Events Online

If you have ever wanted to attend an academic conference on anime and manga and were unable to…this year is your year! Mechademia is going online and has a non-academic/student rate for attendees. Videos are going live today for panelists, while public registration opens up tomorrow. Please enjoy presentations by myself, James Welker and Verena Maser on Transporting Yuri Across Borders and join us for a panel on June 5th!

This weekend is also the Queer Comics Expo Online, which includes the PRISM Comics Award.

You can also join me and a other panelists at CasaCon, free on Discord, from June 25-27th.

TCAF 2021 has a wonderful panel, LGBT + Micro and Macro Perspectives, that is available for you to watch now on Youtube!

And don’t forget to watch the newest Yuri Studio episode, Yuri: How It Began – How It’s Going, in which I take a look at a couple of the key Yuri tropes and how they change over time. Subscribe to Yuri Studio for a nice mini-course on Yuri!

LGBTQ News

Alison Bechdel is working on an animated Dykes to Watch Out For series! This is absolutely the right time and place for this.

With Pride month just around the corner, Companies are gearing up to rainbow wash everything from NFL jerseys to Twitter’s logo. Comics companies, dragged reluctantly into the 21st century and reckoning with decades of suppressing non-white, non-male, non-straight voices are doing…things…to fix this. I am 100% supportive of these companies and their pride branding, but it is also always business first, statement second. My opinion of efforts to present these non-white, non-male, non-straight, non-abled voices – the very efforts most hated by the mediocre men of *.*gate – is that I think they have power despite themselves.  When a company fronts a non-white, non-male, non-straight, non-abled person and actually gives that person tools to succeed, that person becomes a role model…even if the original intent was merely to pretend to be woke enough to convince investors to stick around. I won’t pretend that Conde Nast putting a black woman in charge of Bon Appetit wasn’t a calculated move, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t the right mov or that she isn’t the right person for the job. Dawn Davis has already had a visibly positive impact on the magazine.

The point is that there is a position that companies can take that isn’t tokenizing – it can invest in lifting up diverse voices, centering them, letting them be heard and seen and appreciated. I make fun of gay cereal and cookies, but both Oreos and General Mills are real-world allies to LGBTQ folks, too, supporting inclusive legislation and policies.

Which brings me to Marvel and DC. I could probably talk about why I think that both companies are choking on their own bullshit here, but that isn’t the point. The point is…they are doing something and they are doing it publicly and I think they may actually be doing it okay this time, ish at least. Better than usual.

Marvel is celebrating Pride Month with a series of variant covers by out artist Phil Jimenez for characters being featured in the Marvel Voices: Pride #1, which also features queer writers and artists.

DC is also releasing DC Pride #1, with contributions by queer actors from the DCU and artists (including Phil Jimenez), as well as variant covers of relevant titles. Check out a preview of these on the DC blog. Sneak peak of some pages here, and variant covers here.

I’ve linked to Amazon and Comixology here, but you know…what a great time to call up your local comic store and give them some business! I’ll be doing that as soon as I finish this report. ^_^ Check out Comicshoplocator.com to find a store near you!

Become a YNN Correspondent:  Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share and be part of the Yuri Network. ^_^

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons who make the YNN weekly report possible! Support us on Patreon to help us give Guest Reviewers a raise and to help us support the Yuri ecosystem!

Yuri Events

Toronto Comics Arts Festival, on Wednesday, May 12 at 7 PM Eastern NA Time will host Deb Aoki talking with creator Kabi Nagata. This is a don’t-miss panel for fans of her work.Nagata-sensei’s newest book, My Alcoholic Escape from Reality is out now digitally, and will hit shelves this week in print.

Check out the TCAF Youtube channel for more great panels!

I’ll be participating in the online convention Casacon this June. Since it’s a new audience, I’ll probably be doing my “Secret” History of Yaoi and Yuri and maybe a couple of other panels. ^_^

Be Part of the Okazu family – Support Okazu on Patreon
and help us support the Yuri ecosystem!

Yuri Manga

Since we’ll all be watching the above interview with Kabi Nagata, grab a copy of her

Kodansha’s release of Chasing After Aoi Koshiba, Volume 1 is on shelves near you!

School Zone Girls by Ningiyau comes out this week from Seven Seas. Also from Seven Seas is the adult anthology Syrup, Volume 3, focusing on first times for couples. One more from Seven Seas, the fifth Adachi and Shimamura light novel, is headed your way this June.

Galette No.18 (ガレット) is available to backers by pre-order now. Check it out on their Fantia crowdfunding site.

Comic Cune magazine has begun serializing a new Yuri manga by Izumi Minami, Isekai Joshi Kangoku (異世界女子監獄), about a women’s prison in another world. My “lesbian pulpometer” would go through roof, except, no, it’s Comic Cune and super moe. ^_^ You can read it in Japanese on Comic Walker.

Anime News

Crunchyroll News’ Humberto Saabedra has the details on the dub of Netflix’s release of both Sailor Moon Eternal movies. Check out the dub trailer on Youtube and welcome back the Viz dub cast. ^_^

Sentai Filmworks has announced the license of 6-episode Princess Principal: Crown Handler. ANN’s Alex Mateo has the news.

Paul Chapman has the whole story on how the original masters for Project A-ko were lost and found on Crunchyroll News. Discotek’s remaster preview clip is definitely a marvel of color and action.

Yuri Audio Drama

Via Yurimother, Yuri VN creative studio SukeraSparo is releasing a Yuri audio drama,  Meidoindoriimu ~ Hime-sama to Meido no Amaama Seikatsu, about, well, the life of a princess’ maid. This marks the debut of the SukeraSono imprint for audio works.

Live-Action Stage News

Hojou Tsukasa’s classic seinen manga City Hunter is being given the Takarazuka treatment. Rafael Antonio Pineda has the details on ANN. It took me about 30 seconds to write a whole new plot for the drag king and her girl on the poster. ^_^

Cutey Honey is getting another live-action stage play. Komatsu-san over at CR news has the details and some great visuals.

Other News

For those of you watching Yasuke on Netflix, Japanese food and culture writer, author of the Just Bento Cookbook, Makiko Itoh, has written up an essay on the historical “black samurai” Yasuke. Makiko’s a very interesting writer about Japanese life and culture – and food! – check out her FB group, give her a like and a follow and support her Patreon. ^_^

Become a YNN Correspondent:  Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share and be part of the Yuri Network. ^_^

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons who make the YNN weekly report possible! Support us on Patreon to help us give Guest Reviewers a raise and to help us support the Yuri ecosystem!