Archive for the Yuri Network News Category


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – September 8, 2018

September 8th, 2018

Yuri Anime

The Asagao to Kase-san (あさがおと加瀬さん。) OVA has finally moved out of theaters completely, but it hasn’t disappeared. Senior YNN Correspondent Verso S. notes they’ve added the series to several Video on Demand platforms, including Amazon JP and iTunes. Verso says that the iTunes version is not Japan-only – I can’t confirm this, so of anyone wants to jump in and let me know if they can watch it outside Japan, that’d be swell. I’ll cough up a few bucks as soon as I have a chance and test the Amazon Video version. It appears that the three-episode format at $2-3/episode is how they are marketing this on all platforms. 

And now we turn towards an incoming anime, Yagate Kimi ni Naru/Bloom Into You. Slated for an October 5th premier in Japan, we’ve got new visuals. More interesting to me, however, is the news that Sayaka will be getting her own side-story in a novel! Please excuse me for caring about the lesbian a little bit more than the others. ^_^ Check out ANN’s report for details and then join me in being displeased with the choice of author. Sigh. Volume 6 of Yagate Kimi ni Naru (やがて君になる) hits shelves later this month in Japan, and Volume 5 was released last month in English! 

This series is the kick-off point for this week’s podcast, so keep an eye out for that to be posted later today! ^_^

 

Kickstarter News

From Yuri Visual Novel creative team Aikasa Collective, the Kickstarter for the Mizuchi 白蛇心傳 – Visual Novel has launched. From the KS site: “Mizuchi is a fantasy romance visual novel, inspired by the Legend of the White Serpent with a yuri twist and other folklores mixed in.” 

Yuri Manga 

Watashi no Kobushi o Tsuketetomete! (私の拳をうけとめて!) is a slice-of-life comedy(ish) story about two adult women who fight, a lot. ^_^ You can read a sample (in Japanese ) on Web-ace.

From Comic Natalie, we have news that Complex Age artist Sakuma Yui has a Yuri story, Warui Onna no ko (わるいおんなのこ) beginning in Comic Days magazine. It takes place in “boy’s not allowed” all-girls’ school, so you know it’s going to be amazing. (-_-);

Yoru to Umi ((夜と海) may or may not be Yuri, but it seems like it might be an interesting look at two girls’ relationship and the other kids buying Yuri stuff on Amazon have bought it, so… 

Senior YNN Correspondent Mariko S. writes about Sal Jiang, “a Chinese lesbian living and working in Japan who draws manga as a hobby. I don’t think she’s ever put out a full book before, just short comics on her Twitter feed. What’s nice about her work is that it all features adult women, and has a bit more variety in the body types than you usually see in manga (she favors a curvy aesthetic). Anyway, she posted recently that she’s being included in an upcoming anthology, “ゲス×百合”.”  Mariko notes that, since Gusu can mean “sleazy”this may not be to everyone’s taste, but continues, “all her stories that I’ve read to this point have been very smart and fun. So I thought I’d mention it.” 

YNN Correspondent Eric P reminds us that the third and final volume of Legend of Korra: Turf Wars is shipping. Are we worried that Korra won’t save the day and get the girl (again)? No, but I still want to read it!

Other News

Rai submitted this overview of Yuri, The Journey and History of Yuri, Part 1, as part of a movable blogging feast with their Otaku blog circle, OWLS. It’s been added to our Yuricon Essays page where you can find all of the current scholarship on Yuri and related topics listed for your own research needs!

We’ve got an Okazu Discord channel and we’re not afraid to use it! I’m not always there, but this past week we did an informal hangout, talking about great stuff we were reading in novels and manga! Put us on your list and look for the next time we’re running a chat!

We’re working on  Yuricon.com reboot and a lot of other things including a new Patreon campaign. If you’re enjoying all of our Yuri News and reviews and the podcast and the communities and paid Guest Reviews,  subscribe to us on Patreon and help us reach an even bigger Yuri Network!

 

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!





Adventure Time Ends With a Kiss

September 5th, 2018

This week saw the end of Adventure Time‘s 10-year run. In a special finale, we finally got confirmation of the the ‘ship we all knew existed. Heck, they even knew it in Japan where I saw this tote bag back in 2016:

And now, as the series ends, everyone knows that PB and Marceline are a couple. Well, we knew that all along, but now folks who spend their energy denying the obvious will have one more couple they have to check off their “we’re not sure yet, need more proof” list. ^_^

Take a a look at this tweet and remember that, despite all the bad things happening right now, there is good in the world- and an awful lot of that good is in the form of comics and cartoons.

 

And that, as they say is that. 





Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – September 1, 2018

September 1st, 2018

We have a very light week this week, as the summer wraps up and we’re past the major license announcements of SDCC, Anime Expo and Otakon, so it’s time to get ready for the next wave of events!

Events News

Start by checking out Heidi MacDonald’s Comicsbeat report on Flamecon

Girls Love Fest is fast approaching in the Tokyo area on September 9, 2018

New York Comic Con is in New York City on October 4-7.

Anime NYC is coming to New York on November 16-18.

And get those panel ideas in for Queers & Comics 2019 at NYU in NYC. Panel submissions are open until September 30!

 

Yuri Anime

Zac Bertschy has an Interview with  Kase-san and Morning Glories Director Takuya Sato and Producer Yusuke Terada on ANN.  

Egan Loo on ANN covers the new Bloom Into You anime cast and music announcements.

 

Yuri Manga

Via Alextasha, Yuri manga Pulse, Volume 4 is available for pre-order on Ratana Satis’ facebook page!

Two girls, one very high school girlish and one totally not, meet in Futaridashi ni Ochiru (ふりだしにおちる!) by Mushu.

 

Other News

For those of you looking for good research material – via James Welker, his chapter “From Women’s Liberation to Lesbian Feminism in Japan: Rezubian Feminizumu within and beyond the Ūman Ribu Movement in the 1970s and 1980s” in Rethinking Japanese Feminisms (2018) is now open access…”

 

YNN Podcast

This week since the news is so light I take a moment to talk about weddings in Yuri. Check out the YNN Podcast on Patreon. If you enjoy it, please consider subscribing to Okazu on Patreon. We can really use the help!

 

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!





Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – August 25, 2018

August 25th, 2018

Yuri Manga

Got a bunch of new Yuri manga up on the Yuricon Store!

Nishio Yuhta’s adult life drama After Hours, Volume 2 is now available and now After Hours, Volume 3 is up for pre-order. What will happen to Kei and Emi? tune in to find out!

Because there are never enough Vampire Yuri stories (thanks, Sheridan Le Fanu), Killing Me! (キリング・ミー!) is a Vampire Hunter x Vampire school life romance. Comedy.

YNN Correspondent Shez pointed out that there are a couple of new Yuri anthologies on the way, Yuri + Kanojo Tomodachi ha Kinou Made (百合+カノジョ-友達は昨日まで-) and Eclair rouge Anata no Hibiku Yuri Anthology (エクレア rouge あなたに響く百合アンソロジー).

I might be alone in being excited about this, but “violence Yuri” manga MURCIÉLAGO is getting a spin-off about sniper Reiko with the crazy eyes. ^_^ MURCIÉLAGO BYPRODUCT – Arania –  (ムルシエラゴ- BYPRODUCT -アラーニァ-).

And I may well be equally alone in not being excited about this, but ANN reports that Saburouta’s Citrus, which ended this month in the October issue of Comic Yuri Hime, will get a spin-off manga, Citrus Plus, this winter. ^_^

Comic Natalie reports on online Yuri comic Tsukiatte Agettemo Iikana (付き合ってあげてもいいかな) by sittori-oblaat.

YuriNatsu-Minshuku Kagaya- Volume 2 (ゆりなつ -民宿かがや-) exist. I was deeply disappointed with Volume 1, so I won’t be reading this. If you do, let us know how it is!

 

Yuri Anime/Cartoons

Senior YNN Correspondent Verso S writes to report on the Asagao to Kase-san (あさがおと加瀬さん) anime OVA one last time, “Thursday August 23, 2018 – Looks like the last day of theatrical screening has arrived for Kase-san OVA inside Japan. The short-film is not on tomorrow’s schedule for the three remaining theatres and no additional cinemas have been added, as far as I know.” 75 days is an extraordinary run for an anime OVA  roadshow  in Japanese theaters.  Cheers to the folks at Pony Canyon and here’s hoping they’ll release it here in the west as well.

Nick Romano’s From Steven Universe to Voltron: The fight to bring LGBTQ characters to kids’ shows on Entertainment Weekly is a great overview of where we are in American cartoons.

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!





Yuri Manga: Bloom Into You, Volume 5 (English)

August 22nd, 2018

Bloom Into You, Volume 5 is a fairly major turning point in this story – characters are starting to be more honest with themselves and about themselves and, as a result, running into far more complicated questions about who they really are.

Touko and Yuu spend some time together during summer vacation. For a little while they get to be just two teens having a nice day together. It feels good. But once back at school the school festival is getting close and Yuu has become even more convinced that ending of the play must be changed – for Touko’s sake and for the sake of the play.

Which brings about an unusual shuffling of allegiances in the student council. Sayaka, who likes Touko and has always been by her side, betrays her for her own good. As they wait for their time on the stage to begin, Touko finds Yuu demanding she leave the idea of her sister’s unrealized legacy behind and be who she is. Forced by the play, and her best and closest friends, to give up everything she though she was, Touko has nothing but belief in Yuu left.

This volume feels different in a lot of ways. We and Yuu have been watching Touko define their relationship, but in this volume this changes. Now it’s on Yuu and she’s never seemed more confident. I’ve said from the beginning that I want to believe in the creator and hope that she will carry this story through. In this volume I think I can see where she’s going. Touko had no idea who she was, and neither did Yuu. Once Touko finds herself, if Yuu finds that she does have feelings for Touko it won’t feel like nearly so much of a punt. Ultimately, I really kind of hope that this isn’t a manga that ends with Yuu and Touko together, but I expect to be in a minority of one on that. ^_^

There’s also a side story about playwright Koyomi learning that her favorite writer is a woman and being surprisied by that. She’s forced to rethink her own expectations about meeting the author. I wonder, every time I have read that scene, just who it was for. I feel so strongly that there’s a semi-private conversation gaining on between Nakatani-sensei and someone specific there. 

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8 As they become more complicated, I like them more
Yuri – 3
Service – 1

Overall – 8

Quoting from my review of the Japanese volume, “This is the first volume we’ve seen Yuu push back at Touko and my interest in this series grew three times as a result. I guess I’d been waiting for Yuu to be an active participant in the narrative; 5 volumes into it, she finally has become one. I now look forward to seeing what becomes of her.