Yuri Events
2018 is shaping up to be a really good year for Yuri-friendly events in North America and Japan!
In addition to the Galette magazine event, we reported on last week, the Yuriten Yuri Fair looks like it will have a host of Yuri artists participating. The Yuriten website is being worked on right now, but highlighted creators are being listed regularly on their Twitter feed and it pretty much looks like all of the top names in Yuri will be there. And so will I. I can’t make the Galette event, but I’m going to run halfway around the world for the Yuriten. The event will be in Ikebukuro from March 17th to 25th, then goes on the road to Osaka from April 1st to 8th and from there to Fukuoka in April, dates TBA. (Can I take a moment to just kvell a bit about Ikebukuro becoming Yuri central in Tokyo? ^_^ Squee. ) Because Bruce is no longer with us, if you happen to be planning on being in Tokyo for the Yuriten, let me know. I’ve become accustomed to traveling with an entourage and would love to have your company. ^_^
In April, I and Anne Ishii will be giving another talk at Hunter College in NYC on queer manga. Details TBA.
In May, we have Toronto Comics Arts Festival in Toronto, Canada, which is always LGBTQ-friendly.
In June, I’ll be a Featured Panelist at AnimeNEXT 2018 in Atlantic City, NJ! Because this is my local convention, I am bringing a literal car-load of prizes, giveaways and auction items with me. You won’t want to miss this year’s event and all the Yuri we’ll be talking about.
All that brings us just through the first half of the year! I’ve got some things I’m working on, as well, so fingers crossed. If you would like me to speak at your event, university or school, please contact me! (I’m still hoping for an invitation from Y-Con in France… ^_^. I’m looking for good excuses to return to Paris. )
Yuri Visual Novel
Our friends at Luscious Spirit Studios have an interesting new game that is an Asexual Yuri romance VN called Lovely Anemone.
“Salena’s afraid to commit to another relationship and has lost confidence in herself. She still wants a girlfriend, but is refusing sexual intimacy a deal-breaker? That’s when she accidentally finds herself falling in love with another girl, but is afraid to come out to her. At the same time her ex-girlfriend pleads for her forgiveness and wants her back. What will she do?”
This VN was developed as part of the ACE Jam, which is pretty cool. I hope you’ll visit the Luscious Spirit page and take a look at their work, they’ve got other Yuri games, as well.
I quite like the game jam concept. If you like games and VNs, I recommend you bookmark the Yuri Game Jam for new stuff to try out.
Yuri Drama CD
I recently came across Drama CD store Takumi 18 online. As the name suggests, some of their content is 18+. They have several Yuri Drama CDs (none of which I have purchased, so I have no idea about the quality thereof.) I found them because of a new Drama CD they’ve just put out called Ano Sorashita de Otometachi ha Yume o Miru, (あの空の下で乙女たちは夢を見る(パッケージ版), a 2-CD set. The first CD is the Drama which, frankly, sounsd identical to every Yuri thing ever, and the second contains songs sung by the lead actress. Could be fun, but I kind wish we could call a moratorium on the use of the word Otome-tachi for Yuri stories. ^_^; Check out their other Yuri CDs on their site.
Other News
Very interesting news from BL scholar Mark McLelland – Yale University has a Special Library Collection of LGBTQ Japanese publications. Hrm, as I’m up at Yale from time to time, I guess this is going to have to go on my to-see list. ^_^
I cannot think of a better thing to end on than this tidbit. The name of the first newspaper in the United States by women was called….The Lily. :-DDDD The Lily is back via the Washington Post and has both a Twitter account and a newsletter that you can sign up for.
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!
