Archive for the Yuri Network News Category


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – April 22, 2017

April 22nd, 2017

Okazu patrons will be getting a special sneak peek of an upcoming article that will be published this summer. 

If you’re interested in Yuri research, please consider becoming an Okazu patron with Patreon. You’ll be supporting Yuri news, reviews, research and events. I’m planning on working on a book of essays about Yuri in the coming year, so thank you for your support!

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Yuri Manga

Comic Natalie reports on a new Yuri love-comedy with the decidedly unfunny name Shoraiteki ni Shindekuru (将来的に死んでくれ).

Also from Comic Natalie, Hirao Auri’s idol Yuri series Oshi ga Budokan ittekuretara shinu, has a promotional video with narration and Eripyo’ lines read by seiyuu Hayami Saori.

Volume 1 and Volume 2 have been reviewed here on Okazu.

Takemiya Jin’s newest adult life Yuri story collection, Fujyourina Atashi-tachi (不条理なあたし達 ) was released at the end of the last month. \o/

And Kurogane Kenn’s Yuri manga for Hirari magazine has been resurrected in a 2-volume collection. Volume 1 of Hoshikawa Ginza Yon-choume (星川銀座四丁目 上) is available now. 

 

Yuri Anime

The Asagao to Kase-san anime site added a lovely Art Gallery last week. Take a look for some “awww”-inspiring art.

ANN’s Jacob Chapman is off and running in rewatch-retrospective of the entire Revolutionary Girl Utena series!

 

Yuri Visual Novel

A link for another American-road trip based Yuri Visual Novel from Sekai Project, Love, Guitars and the Nashville Skyline is up on the Yuricon Store.

 

LGBTQ Comics Interviews

Marguerite Bennett Talks Batwoman, Representation and the Importance of Fallible Queer Heroes on Autostraddle.

And CBLDF talks with early lesbian comic artist in She Changed Comics: Roberta Gregory Interview. (One of my highlights from Queers & Comics, was getting her to sign a Bitchy Butch collection with “Thanks for Last Night.” ^_^)

 

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find.Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

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





YNN Special Report on Yurimate, by Julia T

April 19th, 2017

Well, color me pleased and surprised. While I was sure that it was a complete fabrication for April Fool’s Day, Yurimate seems to have been real(!) if temporary. Sort of like a Yuri mirage. ^_^

To begin with, it’s probably worth pointing out that there are several Animate locations in Tokyo alone. The three I have personally visited are in Shibuya, (which, very cleverly, moved to the same building the Mandarake has occupied for years, thus making shopping at both a mere elevator ride,) Akihabara, where it is the grande dame of anime/manga goods stores on the main street and in Ikebukuro. This last location has been my home away from home for years. Because of Otome Road‘s location nearby, populated with BL-doujinshi and goods, Ikebukuro Animate tends to cater to the female fans. They typically do carry some Yuri manga on the shelves, and when I was last there, had Yagate Kimi ni Naru front and center when one walked in. The fact that it’s “women-focused” clearly doesn’t preclude it being Yuri-friendly. 

Imagine, then, how my heart soared when I saw that it was the Ikebukuro location of Animate that was being advertised with a “Yurimate” special area.  While it’s not a permanent feature, the Yurimate event is running and it is in Ikebukuro and it goes into May. And here to tell us all about it is YNN Special Correspondent Julia T! Thank you Julia for jumping in and taking the plunge for us! The floor is all yours.

As it turns out, the April 1st announcement from Animate Ikebukuro that they would open a new Yuri-only floor at least partially came true. From April 15th until May 14th, the third floor (or second floor for those not familiar with Japanese floor naming conventions) is hosting a special event: Yurimate

 

While it does not cover the entire third floor by any means, it does occupy a decently sized proportion of it, somewhere between a third and a quarter of the area. The pictures were purposefully taken to avoid including people in them, but even if it was not bustling with customers, there was a steady stream of women of all ages who purposefully visited the section, including some rather obvious couples, which I found quite gratifying. The collection includes manga, scrolls, and cell phone covers, as well as showing large sketches on the walls.

 

 

There are quite a few authors being shown, including pretty much all current works by Takemiya Jin, Takashima Hiromi’s Kase-san collection, Kurata Uso’s Linkage, Ohsawa Yayoi’s 2DK, G Pen, Mezamashidokei, Yukiko’s Room for Two, Kishi Torajirou’s Otomoe no Teikoku, various works by Itou Hachi, as well as the seemingly ever popular Citrus by Saburouta (and Kodama Naoko’s NTR, while it does show up on one of the posters, is not found in this part of the store).

 

Independent of this, you can also find a Yuri Hime shelf one floor down, which already has decent selection, but is of course limited to the entries published inside said collection.

 

Given that the magazines Comic Yuri Hime and Galette are both being sold off the shelves on the ground floor, this currently allows you to stumble across Yuri entries on all of the first three floors, which is still somewhat rare in Tokyo.

Erica here: Thank you Julia! My goal is to see Yurimate be a permanent shelving strategy. And if, as you say, stumbling across Yuri on the main floor – where new releases are given visiblity –  is still being encouraged, as it was last spring, this may just be a thing we will see. I’m also extremely gratified to hear that there were some obvious couples walking the floor. Of all the many things that pleased me in this report, the fact that NTR was not included, has to be counted among them. I wonder if it, like Yuri Danshi is for the editor of Comic Yuri Hime, rather than the rest of us.

If *I* were the boss at Animate, I’d take the Yurimate event over to Akihabara next, then bring it back to Ikebukuro. It would get a different audience at each, and give them an idea of who actually buys Yuri, then place the shelves where ever they do best. But that’s me. Thank you again for the report and the photos!





Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – April 8, 2017

April 8th, 2017

Well, folks, April Fools’ Day played me. ^_^ I’m usually pretty good about not falling for anything, but Animate hit me right in my weak spot. It took a few days to disappear, but the Yurimate page is gone. The Shosen, Gamers (blecch) and Animate “Yuri club” pages are still in existence, but my dream of a dedicated Yuri section in the Ikebukuro Animate is once again a dream. And dream I shall continue asking for, until I get what I want. ^_^

And my appearance at Kean University tomorrow is also not happening, so we’ll chalk that up to April Fool’s as well. It’s no one’s fault, Kean is just bizarrely strict about paperwork (more so than any other university I have ever spoken at) and it wasn’t filed with enough time to get it done. 

There will be no YNN Report next week, as I’ll be busy with Queers & Comics, jut FYI.

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Yuri Manga

On the positive side, we have some excellent news this week. The creator-driven Yuri mook project known as Galette is putting out a 2nd issue. This is very good news. I sincerely hope this project continues.  Self-publishing is so much easier these days, and the printing and distribution which make it hard here in North America, have long been smooth in Japan from refinements for the comic markets. That said, it’s keeping groups of creators to deadline that can still be challenging. ^_^

After Hours by Yuhta Nishio in English from Viz is slated for a June release and pre-order is up on the Yuricon Store! Despite the cutesy art on the cover, this ought to be a story about and for adults.

A Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl, Volume 2 from Yen Press will be hitting shelves at the end of May. And so will MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 2. 

Ratana Satis’ Lily Love, Part 2 in English is available for pre-order on the Three Musqueerteers Tumblr page. Just as with last volume, one fills out the form and when the book is ready to ship, they’ll invoice you through Paypal. Pre-orders come with some physical extras and the first 100 orders will get a free keychain. ^_^ Part 1 was a very nice Story A, and I’m looking forward to seeing the characters develop in Part 2, as their relationship, and the story, becomes more complicated.

 

Events

Next weekend, there are queer academic events on both US coasts. Queers & Comics in San Francisco and  in New York City, CLAGS is holding the LGBTQ Scholars of Color Conference, both on April 14-15. 

ANN reports that the Sailor Moon series is going to have it’s first-ever classical concert in Japan  August. Fan club members will have first dibs on tickets. Hrm…I’m a fan club member….hrm….

 

Other News

Gender-bending in Asian pop culture is hardly new, and neither are boi bands, but the buzz behind China’s newest boys-who-are-girls group is both amusing and alarming in a “Really? They look like boys to you? Really?” kind of way. ^_^ Here’s the scoop about Acrush. 

From YNN correspondent soulsassasin, here is an interesting interview with writer and director Sam Lee on Filipino lesbian film Baka Bukas, which will be getting a North American release this summer.

Autostraddle is celebrating the accomplishments of 16 Lesbian Power Couples Who Got Shit Done, Together.

Via Takenouchi Daisuke on Twitter, here are a  few pictures of the live-action Silent Mobius stage play cast in costume. ^_^

 

Resistance

We’re in week 12 of a presidency of a man who can’t read, can’t count, can’t speak in cogent sentences, is prone to temper tantrums and has the codes to nuclear weapons. It’s time for some fight songs.

Joan Baez, the world-renowned folk singer and activist, has come out of retirement to create a new song for all our feels. Here is Joan singing Nasty Man. 

Music is often cathartic, and the winner of the cathartic award is Jussie Smollett’s video to F.U.W (Fucked Up World), a video so woke that Fusion magazine actually breaks down all the references in the video. And it’s a damn fine song.

 

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find.Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

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) – April 1, 2017

April 1st, 2017

I’m blowing off YNN this week and going to the MoCCA Arts Festival in New York City to say hello to friends and buy comics.

But I had to share a lovely April Fool’s joke that got me right where it counts.

 A Twitter account for the Shosen bookstore ran a promotion for their new Yuri Tower in Akihabara. The picture was pure fantasy. ^_^ I said  it was nice to just imagine it for a moment. Imagine….an entire  building of Yuri. ^_^ 

In actual fact, (not a April Fool’s joke at all,) the Shosen book store has created a “Yuribu” a club for Yuri fans. Gamers store also has a Yuribu and (most importantly to me) the Animate in Ikebukuro is opening a “Yurimate” on the 3rd floor.  Shosen wins on logo design for their club though.

I’ve commented many times that Yuri rarely has a section of it’s own in Japanese bookstores. We may be about to see that change.  The reason I think that it’s important that the Ikebukuro location of Animate has the Yuri section, is that it is the one that is more focused on female customers. The Akihabara location is more focused on male customers (and Gamers tends to be focused on the creepy guy customers and predictably is tagging their Yuri club as “a garden of secret love.” ugh) Toronoana has had a Yuri section since 2014 of one configuration or another. But they may need to step up.

I’m going to have to get back to Japan. Soon. (Bruce, pack your bags…)  If you can get to Ikebukuro for April 15th, please report back! This is important stuff.  I don’t know how long this will last, they change things around all the time, although this is not being billed as a special event, but a dedicated section.  (I’m actually so excited about this,that I waited to check this morning to make sure it was still there on 4/2 in Japan. ^_^)

If a Yuri section becomes standard in JP manga stores now..we’ve won a huge confirmation as a genre. And it only took 17 years. That’s extraordinary. No joke.

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Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find.Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

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) – March 25, 2017

March 25th, 2017

Yuri Anime

Last week we had a poster, this week we have a bit of news. Takashima Hiromi’s Asagao to Kase-san is getting a short “Animation clip”. Check out the official website, Asagao-Anime for more news on that.

Pony Canyon released a promotional video of the effort this week.

Also from the website, the  Kase-san manga will be serialized on the Line Manga tool, which is excellent news for those of us who like the series! The first installation was to have started this past Tuesday, so Japanese readers can let us know how it looks. 

From YNN Correspondent Shannon L, ANN reports that A Cenatur’s Life anime will premier in July.

The anime for Saburouta’s series Citrus will begin in November 2017, according to Comic Natalie. Kodama Naoko’s NTR: Netsuzou Trap anime will also be hitting around the same time, says Crunchyroll News. I will be glad to have someone review the Citrus anime, but NTR comes nowhere near this blog.

 

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Other News

From khoda on Twitter, there is a Rose of Versailles cafe  in Yokohama through September, with trick paintings that allow you to sit in the palm of Oscar’s hand, be part of a painting scene.or get cornered by Andre. ^_^ 

In case you missed it, Brigid Alverson interviewed me this week all about Yuri Manga on the Barnes & Noble blog. It starts with a definition and has some history, so if you’re looking for a place to point people to explain what Yuri is and make some recommendations, it’s a solid place to begin.  

The fifth Sailor Moon musical will play this coming autumn in Tokyo, according to Crunchyroll News. Obviously, it will cover the Sailor Stars arc. ^_^

 

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find.Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

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