Happy New Year to all of you in the Yuri Network! There’s a ton  of news to get to today, so away we go…!

Yuri Manga

All of Nakamura Kiyo’s (aka Nakamura Ching’s) manga is available digitally on Bookwalker.jp! That makes all her work available to those of us both inside and outside Japan, including GUNJO, and her self-published work. This is great news, as Nakamura-sensei’s work is both openly gay and utterly unique.

Kumosuzume’s Shiori wo Sagasu Page-tachi (しおりを探すページたち) concludes in Volume 2.

Another Office Yuri story from Pixiv, Still Sick, Volume 1, tells the story of a closeted otaku and her coworker.

From Yuri Navi, we learn that After Hours creator Nishio Yuhta’s newest manga, Mizuno to Sayama, (水野と茶山) started in Comic Beam magazine. Read a sample (in Japanese) on Bookwalker.

From YNN Correspondent Verso S. “A German translation of [Shimanami Tasogare] will be added to the growing list of Western publications for this series…. Wer bist du zur blauen Stunde?, will be joining しまなみ誰そ彼; Oltre le Onde – Shimanami Tasogare; Sombras sobre Shimanami and Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare starting in July.”  Check out the link to see the Carlsen edition. Great news for LGBTQ manga.

Yuri Anime

Via Chris Beveridge  at Fandom Post, TC Entertainment is planning a 20th anniversary Blu-Ray edition of Go Nagai’s Devilman Lady. I cannot wait. This series is not nearly as well-known, even in Yuri circles, as it ought to be. It is so good and so very gay.

 Yuri Visual Novel

Found through Twitter, Apple Cider’s free to download DoraKone, seems adorable. Here’s the description from the website: “Follow along with the adventures of Dulce as she finds new friends, new fun, and maybe even romance in the world of Dragon Connection, a hot new augmented reality mobile game.

A, short, sweet free all-ages GxG visual novel featuring cute girls, friendship, and romance!” 

Other News

Recommended reading; Game Studies Special Issue: Queerness and Video Games 

Recommended with reservations is Ryan Khosravi’s ‘Sailor Moon’ And The Queer History Of Anime Transformations. This article is a decent overview of anime transformation history, but a rather personal reading of the femininity and queerness of same. Unsurprisingly, my queer reading of anime transformations is rather different. ^_^

Submissions for The 2019 Prism Awards and the Prism Comic Queer Press Grant are open! Get your art and nominations in!

Do you have questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast! Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news with your name and an email I can reply to! 

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

The new WordPress Gutenberg editor bites. My apologies if things look really messed up for a while as I try to wrestle this all into shape. (So much cursing…)

Okazu News

The invitations for the Okazu Patron Holiday Party have gone out! If you are an Okazu Patron and did not receive an invitation by email or Patreon post, please contact me and I’ll shoot you the invite!

I know I’ve been iffy about podcasting, but I plan on doing a big 2018 round up /2019 anticipatory podcast at the end of the year. Bear with me, we’ll have a lot to talk about!

I will be doing a humongous pile of Lucky Boxes for the New Year as well. I have so much cool stuff laying around this house. Clearfiles and postcards and Yuri manga and video box sets and artbooks and cels and stuff. So save a few bucks up to get yourself a box full of 100% pure stuff! Because they will be special. (And I’m going back to Japan in February, so there’ll be more 100% pure stuff for spring! ^_^)

Yuri Manga

Via YNN Correspondent Christian L, Comic Alive is reporting that volume 10 of Anoko no Kiss to Shirayuri wo (Kiss and White Lily For My Dearest Girl) will be the final volume. The final volume will be given a deluxe edition with a special booklet. I just want to take a moment to note that Canno-sensei now has two remarkable and successful series under her belt and I am very interested to see what she’s going to do next.)

I’m super excited to tell you about a special Éclair volume that’s being released this month! Éclair Special Sukinanoha Onna no ko ~ Kitao Taki Sakuhin Kessakusen (エクレアSpecial 好きなのは女の子 北尾タキ百合作品傑作選) is a collection by Kitao Taki, aka circle BQ, formerly of Sakuraike, an artist I have followed for almost twenty years.  I’m very happy for Kitao-sensei and wish her great success!

Comic Natalie gives us something new online to read, Kujira’s Sekai no Owari to Majyou no Koi (世界の終わりと魔女の恋) is free (in Japanese) on Comic Walker.

Also from Comic Natalie, Kadokawa Webmanga Site Young Ace has another new digital comic (in Japanese) for us to try out, Akamaru’s Watashi-tachi ha Koi wo Kakenai (私たちは恋を描けない) about a high school girl who is interested in a female manga artist. The description called it a “pseudo-love affair” so YMMV.

Yuri Visual Novel 

Little Viktoria wrote me on Twitter to tell me of the new Yuri VN,  A Beautiful Ride to Carlisle. “Dana’s summer vacation has just started and she’s on her way to volunteer on an organic  farm. But she’s not expecting something wonderful to happen on the train…” It looks sweet and pretty and apparently, I am more interested in road trip stories than school stories. ^_^

Sukera Sparo has a teaser up for a new Yuri VN called Kudano Folklore. The little text on the page reads Girl + Yuri + Urban Legend = Kudano Folklore. Coming Spring 2019, we’ll keep our eyes open for this.

Other News

Animate News has an interview (in Japanese) with Takada Yuuki and Kotobuki Minako who play, respectively, Yuu and Touko in Bloom Into You (streaming on HIDIVE.) They talk about what they think is the best scene in the first six episodes.

You know how sometimes the universe snorts with amusement in your general direction? Well here’s this week’s snort. There will be a Maria-sama ga Miteru 20th anniversary collaboration cafe in Ikebukuro at the Animate Cafe and it will end about a week before I arrive. Doesn’t it make you just want to scream? Thanks, universe. (-_-); I’m gonna just hope that some of the leftover goods make their way over to the store. But really, boo.

Anime Feminist launched a major crowdfunding effort this week and it sailed through the their first goal in mere days. They’ve got a very clear plan for where the money is going (mostly to pay people who work on/for the site) and I hope you’ll take a look!

Do you have questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Our YNN podcast is now available, in which I take a look at some key news items this week..

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

Yuri Manga

YuriNavi markes the second Toile Web Anthology (WEB百合アンソロジー トワールvol.2). You can read the short stories online in Japanese for free!

Atashi no Sempai (アタシのセンパイ) by Shaoya Teruko looks like a lovely Yuri school drama. Check out sample pages on Comic Natalie.

Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! Volume 4 (私の百合はお仕事です! 4)and Shoujo² (少女² 完全版), both by Miman, hit shelves in November.

According to manga artist Fly’s Twitter account, they are beginning a new Yuri manga in Ichijinsha’s Comic Rex magazine. Kyou, Koshiba Aoi ni Aetara. (今日、小柴葵に会えたら。) will begin in this month’s issue of the magazine, so something to look forward to! Yuri Navi has the magazine cover for you to use as ID.

LINE Webtoons has posted an animated trailer for Color-LES‘s Mage & Demon Queen comic. The trailer is kind of fun, if a little jerky, since it’s basically comic panels that have been animated. Take a look and then go read the comic!

Other News

You may recall the Love is Love comic, collaboration between IDW Publishing and DC Comics, which was created in 2016 to raise money for families of the Orlando Pulse nightclub shootings. Well, sales of the anthology have continued and so, this year the anthology donated $51,000 to The Trevor Project, a crisis intervention group for LGBTQ youth. The New York Times has an article on this that’s worth reading.

Crunchyroll News has the news that the pandering Yuri ecchi-comedy I Like Oppai Best in the World! (that I have never once mentioned because uggghhhhh) is getting a Drama CD. If breast-groping is something that falls under your definition of Yuri, enjoy! We won’t be reviewing it here. ^_^

If you’re looking for something different with which to celebrate the end of the year in Tokyo, take a look at the gaku-GAY-kai 2018 being held in Shinjuku. Festivities include a recitation of an original Yuri story by my friend, Yuri manga artist Mizuki Monica. ^_^ I’m so very excited and happy for her for so many reasons.

Hiiragi Hiyori put up an entry on their Youtube series (in Japanese) on the differences between “Yuri” and “Lesbian.” I don’t agree with his definitions, but it was interesting. His definition of “Lesbian” equials “sex.” Which is, for a lot of  reasons as far from mine (i.e., stories with lesbian identity”) as possible, but it’s not surprising that he’s not intersted in/noticing/or caring about lesbian identity, for obvious reasons. It does clearly outline the problem we have with defining Yuri, when lesbians who create/read/watch Yuri are looking for one thing and other chunks of the audience are looking for others. Heterogeniety ahoy!

Do you have questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Our YNN podcast is now available, in which I take a look at some key news items this week..

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

Yuri Manga

Yen Press had a number of Yuri manga license announcements at AnimeNYC; Whenever Our Eyes Meet, (link goes to my review of the Japanese volume) an anthology of stories set in adult office life, Killing Me! by Akiyama, a love story between a vampire and vampire hunter. And the slice-of-life Yuri Life (again, the link goes to my review of the original,) by Kurukuruhime.

Tokyopop’s English edition of Yurikuma Arashi, Yuri Bear Storm, Volume 1 by Morishima Akiko, will be dropping in February. This may be the first of Morishima-sensei’s manga art to make it over here in English!

YuriNavi premiers Toile, a web-comic Yuri anthology, available on Pixiv and Fantia. Chapters can be read online for free (in Japanese) on Yuri Navi.

For Yagate Kimi ni Naru/ Bloom Into You fans, a series-related anthology is being planned, with many of the same contributors as the Éclair series: Nakatani-sensei heself, Canno,  Fuyu Yutaka, tMnR and others! Check out the Yagate Kimi ni Naru Official Comics Anthology (やがて君になる 公式コミックアンソロジー), which is out now.

This month BeComics launched the next Yuri + Kanojo anthology, Yuri+ Kanojo Kossuri Kisu shite- (百合+カノジョ -こっそりキスして-).

In the “file this away for a day in Spring,” the next Galette collection is heading our way with Kitta Izumi and Momono Moto’s collaboration Liberty (リバティ), one of my favorite titles to run in the magazine.

Okazu News

There’s one week left to subscribe to Okazu and receive an invitation to our Okazu holiday party!

Do you have questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Our YNN podcast is now available, in which I take a look at some key news items this week..

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

Yuri Anime

Don’t forget that Kase-san and Morning Glories will be screening at AnimeNYC on Saturday, November 17 in Panel Room 2 at 7:30PM in Javits Convention Center, New York, NY. I have every intention of being there.

Also screening at AnimeNYC is Sound! Euphonium The Movie I want to resonate with you…! Check  the screening page on the AnimeNYC website for other special events, as well!

Funimation has added 300+ subtitled anime to their Funimation Now! service, and Crunchyroll has added 17 dubbed anime titles, according to ANN reports. Check out the lists for titles of interest.

Yagate Kimi ni Naru/Bloom Into You’s Touko and Yuu, Kotobuki Minako and Takada Yuuki will be hosting an event in May 2019. According to Comic Natalie, four main cast members will appear, and the two leads will sing the opening theme. There will be a contest and some other stuff.

Yuri Manga

The Yuri Fest at BOOK☆WALKER GLOBAL runs for 4 more days! Don’t miss your chance to pick up digital Yuri manga at discount prices and get reward coins so you can get even more Yuri manga!

Iwami Kiyoko’s Yuri manga collection, Toumeina Usui Mizu-iro ni ( 透明な薄い水色に) has been picked up by Seven Seas as Transparent Light Blue and is slated for a spring 2019 release.

Galette, No. 8 (ガレットNo.8)  hits Japanese shelves at the end of this month. This issue marks the end of Galette‘s second year, so I’m betting Issue 9 will be special. Galette is also doing a special campaign to encourage folks in Japan to purchase the magazine with one of their expanded digital options. 

LGBTQ Manga

On Quora, I passed the 10,000 answer mark with both a question and an answer: What are some manga with LGBTQ identity, not Boy’s Love or Yuri, but actually LGBTQ? (The rather bizarre question construction comes from a previous question that had been asked, not by me about anime. I wrote this one as a followup.)

In response to my post about that on Facebook, Tomo Hirai noted that Morning magazine had “just published a one-shot about a genderqueer couple. Debut work for a new author.” Check out Watashi no Kanojo ha Otoko no ko (私の彼女は男の子) on Morning Zero (in Japanese) by Akina Rutarou. 

Other News

A new Cardcaptor Sakura museum asks “Why is CCS being rediscovered now?’ and the answers given include sexual and gender diversity. It’s worth taking a look at the ANN report. 

Absolutely unrelated to anime or manga, it’s worth noting that Scotland has become the first country to mandate LGBTQ history, rights, homo- and transphobia be included in school curriculums.

In celebration of what would have been Osamu Tezuka’s 90th birthday, several locations in Japan are holding a Princess Knight “Dreamy Christmas” event with special themed gifts for folks who purchase the new edition of Ribon no Kishi. ANN has the details.

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Our YNN podcast is now available, in which I take a look at some key news items this week..

Got questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!