Yuri Manga

The cleanup of the the Yuricon Store continues! The English Manga section is about half finished, a few items are linkless as we’re trying to determine if they are in stock, but most are up to date, with current info. Of course we are still adding new items!  Here’s this week’s crop:

Nigiyau’s Yuri school comedy School Zone Girls, Volume 1, which is headed our way in May is now on the Store.

Also coming to your shelves in May is The Rose of Versailles, Volume 5, the climax of this extraordinary story! And what a climax it is.

Kaijuu-iro no Shima, Volume 1 (かいじゅう色の島) is out now, and folks overseas ought to be getting those copies in shortly.

I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 1, is headed our way in English this July. You may remember that a few weeks ago, this title was among hundred nominate for an annual “Which Manga I Want to See as an Anime!” contest run by AnimeJapan. Both inori-sensei and Ichijinsha reported yesterday that “WataOshi” made #5 on the rankings! Will that mean we’ll get an anime? I don’t know, but as the top-ranking series for Ichijinsha, I am hopeful. Take a look at the Top 10 rankings on the AnimeJapan site.

Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau, Volume 4 (ささやくように恋を唄う) – as Yori and Himari begin to date, Himari’s going to have to put words to how she really feels. I just adore this story, which is out in English as Whisper Me a Love Song. Volumes 1 and 2 are up on the store, Volume 3 is slated for a June release. (As soon as we get the office English language cover from Kodansha, we’ll add it.)

We’ve added Futaribeya: Room For Two, Volume 2, by Tsukiko, out from Tokyopop.

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Via Comic Natalie, to celebrate WebAction’s first anniversary, they are putting a bunch of manga online for free, included U-TEMO’s Yuri-Ota ni Yuri ha Gohattodesu!, (百合オタに百合はご法度です!) in Japanese. If you prefer the collected volume, we have Volume 1 up on the Yuricon Store.

Also via Comic Natalie, there’s a new Revue Starlight anthology, called Shoujo Engeki☆ Revue Starlight Comic Anthology Nine Stories (少女☆歌劇 レヴュースタァライト コミックアンソロジー ナイン・ストーリーズ) that includes a story by, among others, Cocoon, Entwined creator Hara Yuriko.

Event News

Yuriten is still ongoing – thanks to the folks who hung out with us last week and did a walk through on Discord, That was fun.

Prism Comics is sponsoring a virtual WonderCon@Home 2021 panel today, LGBTQ+ COMICS AND SOCIAL ACTIVISM, online Saturday, March 27, 11:00 am Pacific Time (2PM EST), with Moderator Justin Hall and panelists Jennifer Camper, Tara Madison Avery, Trinidad Escobar, Lawrence Lindell, and Anand Vedawala.

Anime News

Otherside Picnic has wrapped up on Funimation. If you’ve watched it, let us know what you think in the comments!

The second half of VLAD LOVE is up on Crunchyroll, Megan’s working on a review for us now. ^_^

Rafael Antonio Pineda has the details about a new mini-anime from the Assault Lily team.

Check out this short promotional video of Athena and Alice singing Athena’s barcarolle. Komatsu-san has the details for ARIA The BENEDIZIONE on Crunchyroll News.

CR’s Daryl Harding has the news that the Penguindrum TV anime Twitter account has started a countdown. What for? We don’t know yet!

Crunchyroll seems to be putting some energy into PreCure these days, with the new series Tropical Rouge! PreCure, a higher-definition release and new regional licensing for the first series, Futari ha PreCure! Komatsu-san notes that the first two minutes of the Healin’ Good PreCure movie are online as a teaser.

The writer of Serial Experiments LAIN and Digimon Tamers, has announced that their project Desupera, delayed for years, has now been 80% funded. Honestly, this excites me, as both LAIN and Tamers have some of the best writing in anime that I can think of off the top of my head.

Other News

Kara Dennison at Crunchyroll News has the report of a collaboration between Rose of Versailles and the Japanese Racing Association, and I’m not sure what it means, but we’re probably all hoping for a cosplay horse race! ^_^

YNN Correspondent Evie reports in that Square Enix has announced that their character Alex Chen from the upcoming Life is Strange 3, “Life is Strange: True Colors” will be bisexual along with lesbian Steph. Yvie suggests we all sing a little Cyndi Lauper to celebrate. ^_^

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Yuri Live Action

The trailer for Netflix’ live-action movie of Nakamura Ching’s GUNJO, (羣青) Ride or Die, now has a subtitled trailer. Rafael Antonio Pineda has the details on ANN. I have only one complaint and only folks who have read GUNJO might be able to guess it. Even in that teeny trailer I can see some of what scenes have been chosen – and changed.  This clearly is not going to be the same story as the manga, but I hope it will be a good story!

Events

Today, at 1PM EST US, I will be on the Let’s Play channel on the Okazu Discord, Join us for a walkthrough of the Yuriten Yuri art exhibition and store!

YNN Correspondent Mariko S. wants you to know that the  Tokyo House Party team has an event series with Japanese performing artists to discuss gender roles in Japanese theater and Takarazuka Revue on Saturday, March 27th at 6:00pm

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Yuri Manga

Some new stuff added to the Yuricon Store:

Ana C. Sánchez’s manga-inspired Alter Ego, which I reviewed this past week.

A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 7, will be reaching us this May.

This summer will see Denpa’s Volume 1 of Vampeerz: My Peer Vampires, a schoolgirl vampire romance by Akili I have been reading, but have not reviewed. Not sure why Denpa didn’t think we’d get the pun. It’s, uh, pretty obvious? ^_^;

I’m looking forward to reading Ikeda Takashi’s Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji, Volume 2 (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ). Volume 1 was pleasant.

Non-linear love tale about two women whose love was never going to be allowed to flourish, in Yume no Hashibashi, Volume 1 and Volume 2 (夢の端々). This series starts in the present and looks back at a love that began in the Showa period.

Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei, Volume 1 (転生王女と天才令嬢の魔法革命) looks like it could be a fun Isekai story about revolution and magic.

Crowd-funded Yuri manga magazine Galette, No. 17 (ガレット No.17) has hit shelves in Japan.

Speaking of the Yuricon Store, we’re still doing a deep clean – beginning with the English Manga section, kind of sensibly. ^_^We’re fixing broken links and some front and back end problems. To do this, we’ve lost the ability to search by alphabet, but the search function is working better again. Let us know if there’s a feature you’d like to see! We’re planning a move to a new theme sometime this year and have plenty of room to look into new features. Right now the default is alphabetical, but you can change the default to recent and see what we’ve new products have been added.

Because we’re looking at a new theme, it might be time to run a new Yuriko and Midori art contest. ^_^

For fans of idol Yuri, you might want to take a look at Oshi ga Tonari de Jugyou ni Shuuchuu Dekinai! (推しが隣で授業に集中できない！) by Tsutsui Tetsu and  Sugawara Koyubi, about a girl whose favorite idol is in her class at school. Sample chapters in Japanese are available online at Comic Days.

The first volume of the manga version of SukeraSparo’s Yuri VN, Kudan no Folklore, (クダンノフォークロア 特装版) is being released with a special edition, that includes a remastered HD version of the main story, an original soundtrack, and the ability to download some extras!

Yuri Anime

Alex Mateo on ANN reports that Funimation will be streaming the Blue Reflection Ray anime.

Alex also has the news that Crunchyroll will be streaming Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S. I know a bunch of folks who will be pleased about this. ^_^

Also on ANN, Rafael Antonio Pineda has details about the second season for Yuri-adjacent anime My Next Life as a Villainess. ^_^ I’m caught up on the LNs in English. It still remains goofy fun and basically stays Yuri-adjacent.

Other

Via YNN correspondent Farfetched, “Global BookWalker is doing a 70% (!!!) coinback on any light novel released before Feb 24th!” This includes many Yuri manga and LNs, Farfetched point out, like Sayaka, Otherside Picnic, Adachi and Shimamura and Girls Kingdom.

YNN Correspondent Evie is excited that the folks who brought you Yaoi Crate are looking into creating a Yuri Crate service that they are planning on launching relatively soon. I’m iffy about these services, because they provide a few bucks worth of content for a lot of money.  Our Lucky Boxes are the opposite, where I overfill boxes with stuff. Admittedly, I don’t send them out every month, either. ^_^

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We have an absolute avalanche of news today, so let’s get right into it!

Yuri Webnovel

I am absolutely delighted to announce that Manga Planet has licensed Girls Love of the Dead, the zombie the micro-light novel by Hoshii Nanao with art by Morishima Akiko. I reviewed Volume 1 last Halloween. It’s a hoot.

Yuri Anime

HUGE news from Diskotek this week on a couple of key licenses.

Dear Brother, the deeply melodramatic masterwork of shoujo anime based on the manga by Riyoko Ikeda, directed by Dezaki Osamu, on Blu-Ray is a major announcement. This will be a limited offer – don’t wait on this if you missed it the last time it became available. The link to Diskotek’s twitter announcement include the trailer, so you can give it a watch!

Diskotek also announced the resurrection of the Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl anime. This is an enjoyable and problematic anime and our conversations about it 20 years on are worth revisiting. ^_^

Diskotek’s third announcement was so big, I could hear the roar across the planet. ^_^ They had been slated to do an upscale remastering for a classic old anime, but the project was canceled, because they found the original masters! So we’ll be getting a new Project A-ko from the originals. That’s awesome. Yes, it absolutely can be considered Yuri if only for Shinohara Emi’s B-ko, and it is also super annoying. ^_^ Check out the remastered clip on Youtube and remember – every shadow, every highlight, every everything was drawn by hand. Like Dear Brother, it is a benchmark of animation.

Funimation has picked up seasons 1 and 2 of Yuru Yuri for streaming, according to ANN’s Alex Mateo.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica has announced a 10th anniversary event! Alex Mateo again has the news on ANN.

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Yuri Manga

Via YNN  Correspondent Evie, and making a big splash this weekend was this animated promotion video for the first manga volume of Kaijuu-iro-no Shima, (かいじゅう色の島). Rafael Antonio Pineda  has the details on ANN.

Yuri-dol Dakedo Yuri Janai (百合どるだけど百合じゃない) is a comedy about a woman who part of a “Yuri Concept” Idol group, but who is not…you get the point. ^_^; You can read it (in Japanese) on Comic Meteor. You know…”hah.”

Yuri Events

The Yuriten is still on and last week I indulged in buying myself some stuff and a few things to go into Lucky Boxes! I took some time to wander the exhibits by series and enjoy the panels and the original art that had been contributed.

We’re doing a “tour group” through the Yuriten on the Okazu Discord. How about next Saturday afternoon my time (US EST)? Join us as we walk through the exhibit together! Details as we figure them out.

Queer Comics

DC has announced a DC Pride Anthology, featuring their queer characters. Even a year ago I might have rolled my eyes at this, but looking at the artists and writers, I’m going to absolutely get this. Mariko Tamaki and Amy Reeder working on a story together is  1-2 punch for me and Vita Ayala and anyone. So, yeah, I’m in.

Mere days later Marvel also announced Marvel’s Voices: Pride #1.  It’s going to be an interesting Pride month this year. I’m less familiar with some of these writers and artists, but of course I’ll get this.

It’s a pretty decent feeling to have top queer talent on these things. ^_^

Mira Ong Chua’s newest series is a Kickstarter success. GOODBYE, BATTLE PRINCESS PEONY will be a book. ^_^ I wonder if Seven Seas will license this one, too?

Yuri Doujinshi

Lilyka has announced the release of  translated Magnum Lily, a two-part Yuri boxing doujinshi (of which I swear I have at least one part floating around this house from some doujinshi event or other). In any case, I picked it up for myself last night, because of course I did. ^_^

Yuri Visual Novels and Games

Mangagamer is doing a White Day Sale through March 19th on selected Yuri titles and others.

Other News

Raya and the Last Dragon’s Kelly Marie Tran Thinks Her Disney Princess Is Gay is an interesting look at how Disney is lagging behind in queer representation in animation, by Joanna Robinson for Vanity Fair.

Takumi Furusato did an amazing write-up for ANN on the history and current state of derivative works (i.e, doujinshi, fanfic, cosplay, etc) in Japan. It’s absolutely worth reading, because this is a quickly evolving area of law and finance. Derivative Content and Property Rights: How Does Fanfiction Work in the Anime and Manga Industry?

Totally relevant to this same topic, Revolutionary Girl Utena fangroup Empty Movement is reaching out to folks to help an acquaintance do some research into fandom perceptions of fan translations.

Ogata Megumi-san has posted her first music video in 25 years, says Komatsu-san over at Crunchyroll News. She calls the video chuuni-ish and I’m not gonna disagree. ^_^  Very art school.

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Yuri Events

The Yuriten is on! Take a look at the Yuriten Store for exhibitions by your favorite creators. Exhibits and goods are organized across the top toolbar by creator, series or kinds of goods, which makes it fun to look around. If you are using a buying service, you won’t be able to right click to copy, you’ll have to go to the page source. If you’re buying directly and sending it to a shipping service, it won’t be a problem.

Yuri Studio

We have a new video and a new answer to a very common question this week on Yuri Studio! Please enjoy Why Is There More Boy’s Love Than Yuri?. Give it a like on Youtube, and share it with folks you think might be interested. Also note my spiffy visual allegories on the section headers, my funny jokes, and my cool office! ^_^

If you want to be thanked by name on a Yuri Studio video become an Okazu Patron at the Producer Level. Thanks to all my Okazu patrons for their support. With your help we have a couple of great videos planned. I’m really excited to get working on the next one. ^_^

Yuri Manga

We’ll start of with a bunch of items on the Yuricon Store:

Still Sick, Volume 3 marks the end of this fun office romance series and is available now!

A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 6 continues the saga of Konatsu and Koyuki trying to figure out who they are and what they mean to one another. Crystalyn Hodgkins on ANN has the news that this series is coming to an end in Dengeki Mao, at what will be Volume 8.

Our Teachers Are Dating!, Volume 3 is headed our way in a couple of weeks. This series just wrapped up in Comic Yuri Hime, so you’ve got one more volume to enjoy of this adorable couple.

Yuni’s Hitogoto Desukara Volume 3 ( ヒトゴトですから!)  ends this office life Yuri manga. It’s been a fun ride!

Tokuwotsumu’s Tsuki to Koi wa Michireba Kakeru, Volume 2 (月と恋は満ちれば欠ける) finishes up this story about good friends who are trying to figure out who they are to one another.

Seven Seas wants you to remember that the entire Kindred Spirits on the Roof manga collection is available on Kindle and Comixology!

Shoujo Manga Shuujinkou x Rival-san, Volume 1 (少女漫画主人公×ライバルさん) is pretty fun.  A serious-minded young woman is thwarted in her love for the cool boy by the cool girl…who confesses to her.

Ohzora Publishing has a pretty specific new Yuri Anthology Shuuden Nogashita OL-san-tachi no Chotto Abunai Yoruna (終電逃したOLさんたちのちょっとアブナイ夜な百合アンソロジー) about Office Ladies who have missed the last train and spend a “dangerous night” together. ^_^ Could be fun, could be trash, could be both. I’m not familiar with any of the names contributing to the collection.

Yuri Light Novels

The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Vol. 1: Thus, She Is Reborn from Yen Press hit shelves this week. Read my review of this volume here on Okazu.

Also headed your way this week is ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! Volume 2. Again you can read my review here on Okazu.

 
Anime News

Crunchyroll’s Paul Chapman has the news on cast announcements for the upcoming Blue Reflection Ray anime.

Also on CR News, Komatsu-san has the video for Alicia’s look back at the Aria franchise for a promotion of the newest of the series, ARIA The CREPUSCOLO . ^_^ And, following this new anime, another is already in planning, Aria the Benedizione. Crystalynn Hodgkins has that news on ANN.

Funimation announced that they will be streaming Battle Athletes Victory ReSTART!. ANN’s Alex Mateo has the details.

Crunchyroll will be streaming the second half of Vlad LOVE on March 14. Egan Loo at ANN has the details.

 
Other News

Prism Comics is taking submissions for the 2021 Prism Comics Awards until March 12th. If there’s a queer comic you think deserves an award, definitely submit the name!

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

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Yuri Manga

We had a bonanza of releases this week!

Shio Usui’s charming office romance story, Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon , Volume 1 is out from Seven Seas.

Also from Seven Seas this week we have Failed Princesses, Volume 3!

Akashi’s Still Sick, Volume 3, which finishes up another office romance story with a manga side plot is out from Tokyopop!

Kujira’s A Witches Love at the End of the World, Volume 2 is out from Yen Press. I’m very interested to see how this progresses as I never read it in Japanese. My review of Volume 1 is here. There is a Volume 3 headed our way in May!

Adachi and Shimamura manga, Volume 1, also from Yen Press hit shelves this week! This looks like it moves pretty quickly through the story.

Tokyopop released Ana C. Sánchez’s Alter Ego this week, which is a school life drama about crushes and love rivals.

Seven Seas has licensed the manga for Tai Ari Deshita. ~Ojou-sama wa Kakutou Game Nante Shinai~ (対ありでした。 ～お嬢さまは格闘ゲームなんてしない～), which is also getting an anime. Crystalyn Hodgkins has the news at ANN.

School Zone Girls, Volume 1, out from Seven Seas in May, is up for pre-order. Delinquent girls in love. I’ll check it out for sure. ^_^

YNN Correspondent Megan wants you to know that Comic Natalie reports on a new Yuri short story collection from an author named Battan (also the author of Ane no Yuujin), Mabataki, (まばたき) has at least one story which is Yuri.

Yuri Light Novels

I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 2 in English and it’s Japanese counterpart, Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou, Volume 4 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。) came out this week. inori-sensei’s story has kept me on my toes for sure. ^_^ Volume 1 of the manga will follow up this summer.

Otherside Picnic series’ twitter account announced a Volume 6 on the way in Japanese. Volume 4 is out in English and  Volume 1 of the manga in English is coming this summer.

A Lily Blooms in Another World in paperback format from J-Novel Club is headed our way in Autumn 2021!

Yuri Live Action

We have a new key visual for Kanojo (彼女), based on Nakamura Ching’s manga GUNJO (羣青), which will be on US Netflix as Ride Or Die. Starring Mizuhara Kiko & Sato Honami this is slated for an April release in Japan. Komatsu-san on Crunchyroll News has nabbed the Kanojo trailer from Netflix and yeah, its not the same story as GUNJO, but it’s not too far off, I hope. The kind of super-intense pacing of the manga would have been a better mini-series than a movie.

It won’t be the same, I just hope that it will be good for what it is.

LGBTQ News

Again, Via Megan, Volume 1 of essay manga 性別X (Gender X) is out, about a non-binary person who is attracted to women.

And Megan wants you to know that Viz’s Shojo Beat has licensed Kieta Hatsukoi under the title My Love Mix Up. Megan says “it’s a shoujo but with a bisexual male lead. Comes highly recommended by people I trust.”

If you haven’t been watching it, I recommend Heaven’s Design Team, which is streaming on Crunchyroll…for a number of reasons, but also because Venus is a terrific trans character. ^_^ Like so many Kodansha series, it’s educational and fun.

Seven Seas has licensed LGBTQ+ manga Boy Meets Maria. ANN’s Rafael Antonio Pineda has the details.

Via YNN Correspondent Ivan V. Steven Universe has been picked up by HBO Max!

Anime News

Kageki Shoujo!! anime has a trailer and Daryl Harding at Crunchyroll News has the details.

Paul Chapman had more details and a short PV for game-turned-anime Blue Reflection Ray on Crunchyroll News.

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is getting a second season. Check out the trailer on Crunchyroll.

ANN’s Crystalyn Hodgkin’s has details and a scenery porn-filled promotional video for upcoming Aria the Crepuscolo.

Other News

Via Comic Natalie JK kara Yarinaosu Silver Plan (JKからやり直すシルバープラン) is a voiced comic promo episode about, it appears, a homeless woman in her 50s who finds herself waking up as her herself at 17 and able to remake her previous life choices. A kind of isekai story and probably would not have rated a mention here usually, but the cast stars Mitsuishi Kotono, Hisakawa Aya and Ogata Megumi and that’s a 1-2-3 punch for me. ^_^ Check it out on Youtube!

Speaking of Ogata-san, we wish her a speedy recovery after emergency surgery for a herniated disc.

Zombieland Saga is getting a stage play in Japan this spring. Crunchyroll News’ Daryl Harding has the details. Previously, CR announced that they’ve added Zombieland Saga Revenge anime to their acquisitions!

Komatsu-san has the delightful news item on Crunchyroll News of a web writer who wrote a song that could have existed in K-ON! and had it covered by Yui seiyuu Tomosaki Aki. ^_^

And while you’re doing a musical tour of shippable anime, check out the Uji City musical online festa that features Kyoto-area school bands performing music from the Sound! Euphonium anime series.

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

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