Just before Yuriten opened in Tokyo, there was some big Yuri news!

Yuri Anime

Nakatani Nio’s Yagate Kimi ni Naru manga, which is sold as Bloom Into You by Seven Seas in English, has been greenlit for an anime! ANN has details and the main visual which was also on display at Yuriten.

I still have a lot of mixed feelings about this series. At lunch after Yuriten, we were discussing what makes a thing “Yuri.” Kawamoto-san’s position is similar to the Yuricon definition – anything with character or characters who fee emotional, physical or romantic attraction to another woman. I said that that’s the official position of Yuricon, but what I personally look for is, you know, two women actually in love with one another. Morishima-sensei and I were kinda in sympatico on this. Yagate Kimi ni Naru is Yuri, but it’s still not what I’m looking for in a Yuri story. Kase-san is. Two women who are actually in love with one another is a lot to ask from an anime, I know. ^_^

Speaking of Kase-san, the Shosen Book Tower in Akihabara will be hosting a Kase-san event from the end of May through the middle of June, with a Kase-san “Museum”. According to Comic Natalie, there will be a book signing by series creator Takashima Hiromi-sensei on June 2.  The fifth book in the series, Sakura to Kase-san with a new, original Drama CD (さくらと加瀬さん。) is on sale at the end of May. The OVA will be in theaters in Japan on June 9th.

Yuruyuri is getting a 10th anniversary anime, ANN reports. Speaking of not-really Yuri in any meaningful way. ^_^

Nozomi/RightStuf is losing the license to Maria-sama ga Miteru and is currently selling all it’s stock off at $12/season litebox set!  Get them while they last.

Yuri Manga

Nishio Yuhta’s After Hours, Volume 3 (アフターアワーズ) has hit shelves in Japan.

Yuri manga quarterly, Galette, Issue No. 6 (ガレット) will be released this month!

Seven Seas has licensed Yuri one-shot manga Bocchi Kaibutsu to Momoku Shoujo (ぼっち怪物と盲目少女), which is on my to-read pile, as Beauty and the Beast Girl, with a 2019 release date. It it is the story of a blind girl who falls in love with a monster girl who has secluded herself away in the forest. More details can be found in this report on Crunchyroll News.

Live-Action

Netflix will be streaming the live-action Kakegurui, according to ANN. I’ve been watching some of the live-action anime-based stage plays on Amazon Prime and they are less good than one might hope. ^_^; I didn’t review Blood C  – The Last Mind, because it, while not terrible, had little enough to do with the series as I knew it and there was no Yuri at all, even if you squinted this time.

Other News

ANN has a report of Intersex manga creator, Arai Shou’s life and work being made into a documentary. Seibetsu ga nai! is currently being crowdfunded and is worth taking a look at.

Matt Alt has a fascinating article in The New Yorker called The United States of Japan. “Hit Japanese products such as Pokémon have long captivated us, but Japan’s most influential export might be its own lived experience.”

Yuri Events

Yuriten 2018 in Tokyo is over and so is Comitia, but there’s still a bunch of stuff coming up, so get your calenders ready!

Toronto Comic Arts Festival – May 12-13, Toronto, ON, Canada – I’ll be moderating a Queer Romance Comics panel and conducting some interviews and there is always a lot of queer content and comics to enjoy. If you’re there, do drop in and say hi!

Girls Love Fest – May 19, Oota-ku, Tokyo, Japan – As, always, this is a combo event. Girls Love Fest will be joining AiFest and related “cute girl” doujinshi events at the Oota-ku Industrial Plaza Pio. The participating circle list can be found here. If you’re planning on attending,  please contact me about doing a report for us.

AnimeNEXT 2018 – June 8-10, Atlantic City, NJ, USA – I’ll be a guest, doing some panels, giving piles of stuff away. Definitely do not miss this! There’ll be loads of Yuri and lots of fun!

Yurithon – August 3-5, 2018 – Montreal, Canada  – This was so much fun last year, I recommend it highly. All the benefits of a small con, with Yuri-focused programming and the massive Dealer’s Room of a larger event. ^_^ It’s literally the best of all worlds. I really want to get back, but I just can’t do it this year because of other things I have scheduled. So, again, if you’re planning on attending, please contact me about doing a report for us. And I’m gonna put this back on my calender for 2019!

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!

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

I have so many great news items to share today, but I wanted to, once again, start with….

Yuri Events

Next week the Yuriten Yuri Exhibition hits Tokyo and I plan on being there. At the same time the Animate in Ikebukuro is doing the 1st anniversary Yurimate event! Once again, the third floor of the headquarters in Ikebukuro will be turned over to a Yuri-focused space, with special Yuri manga promotions. I’m also planning a visit to the other Tokyo area Yuribu at Gamers and Shosen Book Tower in Akihabara. All three are doing a joint Yuribu member recruitment, which is cute.  When I get back, I will be doing a bunch of Lucky Boxes that are going to be amazing~~!! (Hear this spoken in Oprah’s voice. ^_^) 

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is guaranteed to be full of great queer content, as well. I’ll be moderating, I can’t wait! I’m so excited. And I’ll be talking to queer comics creators and other folks that you’ll want to hear from, so join me if you can.

Support Yuri News, Event Reports and Interviews!

Yuri Anime

YNN Correspondent Su L wants you to know that Rightstuff is putting out Sweet Blue Flowers as a Blu-ray box set – for only $23.99! Gawd, I remember when that was cost of one episode of anime on a VHS tape, two if you were lucky. We’ve come a long way.

I’m pushing the limits of “Yuri Anime” pretty far here, but…Sailor Moon Super S, Part 1 will be hitting shelves this month! The Outers have pretty limited roles, but Haruka and Michiru  are increasingly gay as the series goes on. Stars is where they hit peak gay.^_^

The folks at Asagao to Kase-san are slamming out the cool goods right now – this June will see an original soundtrack CD for the movie with an original epilogue mini drama! Check out the news about Ashita e no Tobira on the official page.

Yuri Manga

Webmagazine Yawara Spirits has made Nighty-night Sheherezade (おやすみシェヘラザード) by Shinofusa Rokuro available for reading online (in Japanese).

The English-language Yuri manga anthology, Éclair: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart, will be available in June, from Yen Press. Featuring stories by Canno and Nakatani Nio, you’ll want to put it on your wish list.

We’ve added Koi ni Urusai (恋に煩い), a collected of Yuri manga by Gotou Yuuki from Ichijinsha on the Yuricon Store.

Other News

Alex Myung has written an interesting piece for Our Queer Voices, Where are the Gay Voices in Animation?

And Michele Kirichanskaya talks about Anime and It’s Contribution to LGBTQ Media on Blendtw.

Okazu Hero and author Louis P shares this: Celebrating the characters of the fantastic erotic comedy visual novel Ladykiller in a Bind its Ladykiller in a Zine! 

Jutin Hall’s brilliant anthology No Straight Lines is being made into a movie. No Straight Lines – The Story of Queer Comics with Vivian Kleinman directing. 

And we’ve added the pre-order for the gorgeous, but quite expensive at $270, Korra and Asami in the Spirit World figurine on the Yuricon Store!

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!

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

Thanks to everyone who came to yesterday’s Hunter College lecture, it was a great crowd. Many thanks to co-lecturer Anne Ishii, whose work with gay comics has been pivotal (and who is a moving force behind My Brother’s Husband, Volume 1 and Volume 2 will be out this fall). And thanks to Professor Takeda for having us once again!

Yuri Manga

This is kind of cool. We’ve been watching the evolution of the Yuribu at Animate, Gamers and Shosen, and, via Comic Natalie, we now can welcome online bookstore Kadokawa’s Comic Walker to the party! The Comic Walker Yuri Club (百合倶楽部 ) has been launched, with access to serialized and collected Yuri titles online!

“Barikyari to Shinsou” (バリキャリと新卒) by Esuesu, an office romance between a careerwoman and newbie in the office is being serialized on Comic Walker as part of the Yuri Club. You can read new chapters (in Japanese) for free on the Comic Walker reader. There is a very real movement I’m seeing on Yuri Twitter (Yes, duh, of course there is a  community of Yuri fans and creators on Twitter, as there is a community for everything else  on Twitter…) for adult Yuri, especially office romance. Apparently, I am not alone in wanting a little less schoolgirl in my Yuri. ^_^

Yuri Anime

From April 14, tickets for the theatrical release of Asagao to Kase-san will be sold at Animate, Gamers and Shosen (all chains that have “Yuribu”).  Ticket purchases will include Yamada and Kase-san post cards by other former Hirari anthology artists, Morinaga Milk, Morishima Akiko, Hakamada Mera, Amagure Gido and Imura Youko. Check out the official Kase-san account for support messages from the artists for the upcoming anime!

ANN reports that Crunchyroll will be simulcasting Love to To Lie Angle. I feel the need to disclaim that while I do not personally care for this series, it at least is populated with happy people who smile and like each other, unlike previous Yuri anime from Comic Yuri Hime.

Sailor Moon News

I kind of think this mashup has been inevitable….members of idol group Nogizaka 46 will be starring in the next Sailor Moon musical, “Team Moon, via Comic Natalie. 

Yuri Events

The Yuriten Exhibition has opened up in Fukuoka! It will run from April 14-22 at the Tenjin Core. It’ll open on April 28th in Tokyo and if you’re planning on being at Comitia at Big Sight in Tokyo , check it out – Yuriten will be exhibiting there, via YNN Correspondent Zoey B. That’s very cool. Last year, Comitia had a number of small exhibitions and the corporate booths also displayed original art (and there were also some set up to do portfolio review, which thrilled me no end.). I like Comitia more and more these days.

Other News

Comic Natalie posted an interview with Kazuma Kowo and Mizutani Fuuka, two of my favorite Rakuen: Le Paradis magazine authors, on the nature of “love,” which includes discussion of harem stories and Yuri among other things.  (In Japanese.)

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!

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

Yuri Manga

Anoko to Me ga Autabi Watashi ha Shakaiin Yuri Anthology (あの娘と目が合うたび私は 社会人百合アンソロジー), anthology of office Yuri romances is hitting shelves at the end of April!

Mansoufutou ni Gikami Meikyuu (万葬不踏の欺神迷宮)  is a dark fantasy about sisters in a labyrinth of death and deceit.

Seven Seas has put the  Strawberry Panic! Light Novels on Kindle! Grab a copy and read one of the greatest Yuri parodies every written. ^_^ Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3. It’s text-to-speech enabled, which I think is a terrific feature and also want to hear my tablet try to read. The language is overwrought and filled with random Japanese terms. 

Seven Seas also very excited about the upcoming release of Riyoko Ikeda’s Claudine! which they have settled on describing as a “LGBTQ classic.” I think that’s completely reasonable.

ANN reports that the next new volume of Rose of Versailles will be the last.

Volume 1 of Nameless Asterism, also available from Seven Seas, includes a love complication between two of three girl friends.  I’ll be reviewing that soon and I swear to heavens I’ve read it before but cannot for the life of me remember when or where. ^_^;  

One more Seven Seas nugget, Cutie Honey a GoGo is available. For a wonderfully butchy Na-chan and my favorite manga version of Kiseragi Cutie, I recommend it to you. 

Yuri Anime

From the Asagao to Kase-san Official account, news that there will be a monitor playing interviews with the voice actresses and creator of the Kase-san anime at Yuriten. Woot! (And while we’re talking Yuriten, check out  Zoey B.’s comment about the Osaka event, with a fuller review to come!)

The Tachibanakan To Lie Angle anime account on Twitter is sharing a promotional video clip of their upcoming anime. If breasts bouncing in a unrealistic fashion and people falling on top of each other in a unrealistic fashio appeal to you, you’ll like it. I’m giving it a pass, so contact me if you feel up to writing a review!  Comic Natalie reports that the anime will be holding a special event.  ANN reports that’ll it be a 12-episode season, which will be simulcast on Crunchyroll.

ANN has the news that Sentai filmworks has licensed the new Cutie Honey Universe anime.

One more from ANN, horror Yuri anime Happy Sugar Life main visuals have been made public.

We’ve got some amazing stuff coming up, guest reviews and event reports. All patrons of Okazu will be able to get a sneek peek to another new piece written for the Big Book O’Yuri, so if you can throw a dollar or two a month to help keep Okazu running, you’ll get a unique piece of writing to enjoy!

Yuri Visual Novels

YNN Correspondent JD shares the news of Lovestruck a VN company creating new visual novel phone app content that have strong and positive queer love stories.  Check out this Jstationx article on the series: Lovestruck: How This Romance Visual Novel Platform Appeals to Lesbian and Bisexual Women.

LGBTQ Live-Action

From the ‘Meanwhile, in America’ file: 

Jill Gutowitz writes that ‘Blockers’ is the Lesbian Teen Comedy We’ve Been Waiting For. 

This news makes me feel hope and despair, FX orders pilot based on post-apocalyptic comic series Y: The Last Man.

Other News

Look like, I may end going to the Yayoi museum for the Schoolgirls and Sailor-fuku exhibit, which will include some Sailor Moon art, according to ANN. (This museum does all sorts of wonderful culture and comics related events. You may recall Bruce was able to visit it for a Yamagishi Ryoko exhibit some years ago.)

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!

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

Kase-san Series News

Couple of pieces of news about the June 9th Asagao to Kase-san anime OVA theatrical release. For one thing, we have a release date! ^_^

The second wave of deluxe ticket sales are supposed to come with a Drama CD, Sakura to Kase-san (さくらと加瀬さん。), so as you might imagine, I hope I can get one. It’s asking a lot that they’ll still have it by late April, though, I may end up just ordering it from Amazon JP.

Check out this web commercial for the comics  and the Drama CD on Youtube!

Eagle-eyed YNN Correspondent Verso S. took these photos in the lobby of a local theater. (Did someone sticker over their faces(?) ^_^

Verso says, “Maybe difficult to get a sense of scale but Yamada and Kase are approximately the height of real high-schoolers. Didn’t see their cut-out.” 

The Asagao to Kase-san official website launched a a series of Kase-san series web icons for you to enjoy on your phone or computer. AND a new series of Kase-san LINE stamps were released, as well. Inexplicably, I had coins on LINE and thus, those stamps are mine! Bwahaha! ^_^ (Seriously, I have no idea at all where those coins came from….)

Maria-sama ga Miteru News

ANN reports that a 20th anniversary project is in the works for Maria-sama ga Miteru! I was just saying last night that they had to be planning something….

Okazu News

We are launching the first of our 2018 Okazu micro-goals! For every $50 on Patreon from this point on, I will become patron of another creator. I’m launching this goal with two *amazing* Patreons:

The first is Nakawē Writer Mari, a talented writer and artist who was part of the Absolute Power anthology! As a patron of her work, you get poetry and prose by a very talented queer Native creator. 

The second is: The Ladybroad Ledger, a group of female and nonbinary cartoonists from Vermont, who produce a free twice annual newsprint publication to promote comics and comic art by femme Vermont cartoonists. I just got my first issue and it’s so good, I’ve added it to the to-review pile!

Like my Kickstarter activity, this new micro-goal gives me a chance to pay forward the kind of generosity I’m receiving and puts money into the creative ecosystem at the creator level.  I buy the books I read to fuel the publishing economy. I back crowdfunding campaigns to give smaller publishers a chance to publish the kind of content mainstream publishers won’t or can’t and, now, I’m giving money directly to creators who can use it for whatever they need or want, just as you help me get to events like Yuriten and read the latest volume of MURCIÉLAGO. ^_^

LGBTQ Comics

YNN Correspondent Sam wanted to let you all know about. The Princess and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang. Sam says “Sebastian is a teenage prince who likes to wear dresses and sometimes feels like a princess, and Frances is the dressmaker keeping his secret. There is a lot of pain for both characters, but it ends with a kiss and both of them getting to live as their truest, most authentic selves. The art is clean and fun to look at and you get a lot for your money – it’s a thick graphic novel.”

Yuri Manga

Comic Natalie says that the new chapters of Revolutionary Girl Utena will be collected into a volume Shoujo Kakumei Utena – After the Revolution (少女革命ウテナ -After The Revolution-) which will be released in May.

Yuri Hime Comics are publishing comics they’ve been running on Yuri Hime on Pixiv, including this manga that I liked, despite the terrible name, Watashi ni Karada, Utteminai? (私に体、売ってみない?).

Nishio Yuhta’s After Hours, Volume 3 (アフターアワーズ ) is on sale in Japan. and we’ll be seeing it in English at the end of 2018!

Yuri manga series from Galette magazine  are being released as standalone chapters for download on Booklive.jp. I have not yet tested this for overseas purchase, but Chiara has some thoughts on it in the comments here: “I often buy from Booklive because their coupon system is pretty cool, and as far as I’ve seen I never had problems with purchasing from them using my cards. They don’t offer paypal as a payment option, though, and their point system is tied to the T Card circuit. The main problem is, their app isn’t available on overseas app stores (or at least the android one), and while they offer a web viewer, it’s not very comfortable to use.”

Anoko to Me ga Autabi Watashi ha Shakaiin Yuri Anthology (あの娘と目が合うたび私は 社会人百合アンソロジ)ー is an anthology of Yuri love in the office by Satsumaage, Yukiko and others.

Comic Natalie has news about a harem story with some inevitable Yuri in Minori to 100-nin no Ojousama (みのりと100人のお嬢様).

LGBTQ Comic and Manga Events

This weekend in New York City, don’t miss the NYC Queer Comics Fair, at Bureau of General Services-Queer Division 208 W 13th St, Rm 210, New York, New York.

I will definitely be talking about Queer Manga at Hunter College in NYC on April 13, with Anne Ishii of Massive. If you think you want to attend, please contact me and let me know and I’ll have you added to the guest list!

The Yuriten art exhibition opened in Osaka this week! At least one reader is there and I’ve asked for them to report back.  YNN Correspondent Christian L also reported in with an overview of the Yuriten goods he bought from Village Vanguard. “I dug into the calendar…some of the illustrations are familiar to English-speaking fans, and the rest you’d probably recognize as Japan-only at the moment. The clear files are really neat (I’d gotten one of the main Yuriten illustrations, and Canno’s one specifically). And the K&WL bag seems really cool.”

And to wrap up for today, I also suggest you revisit the Yuriten main page, and scroll down to the Yuriten Introductory Manga (百合展紹介漫画) at the bottom, which shows a tired career woman finding refreshment for the mind and body at the Yuriten cafe…and maybe a beginning of something more. By Miman-sensei, creator of Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu!, familiar characters make a cameo and it’s just a lovely mental image of the Yuriten as I’d like to imagine it. ^_^ 

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!

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