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!

Yuri Events

Please join me at AnimeNEXT 2018, on June 8-10, 2018 in Atlantic City, NJ where I am a guest for the event! I’ll be doing a pile of panels and hanging out with friends (including you, I hope!) at my favorite local convention. I will also be bring many things to give away as prizes for good questions. So. Many. Things. ^_^ Please come to my panels, armed with thoughtful questions and your love of Yuri!

I’ll be doing another lecture at Hunter College, NYC in April, and of course, the Yuriten Yuri Fair is in Tokyo from April 29 – May 4. I am then taking the next several months to travel, eat too much and then recover. If your school, organization or event would like me to speak on LGBTQ manga and anime for the autumn, please contact me!

Yuri Anime

Gunsmith Cats anime is getting a reboot short and it’ll be premiering at Anime Central May 8-10, in Rosemont, IL. I’m holding out for a classic Goldy moment. In a pinch, I’ll accept a Misty moment.

ANN reports on a promotional video for Yuri “ecchi comedy” Tachibanakan To Lie Angle.

ANN also has news that Yuri-ish horror series Happy Sugar Life (which I have not yet read), is getting an anime this summer. As it’s a Gangan Joker series, I expect more horror than Yuri.

Yuri to Watch Out For

A few folks have weighs in with suggestions of series with some kind of Yuri (mostly subtext) and while I’m no longer running back and forth trying to parse what might be there, I thought I’d start a new category so we don’t miss these tidbits. 

Nicky from Twitter suggests that Farewell My Dear Cramer, a manga available over on Comixology has some Yuri rivalry subtext.

Super mentions “Princess Principal portrays a highly “romantic” relationship between the main girls, but never says that this is something more than just friendship.”

Kickstarter Watch 

Gabi Mendez and team are putting out a much-needed all-ages novel about queer folks, called Lemonade Summer that is well worth our support! 

If you are watching or reading something you think deserves a mention, let us know!

Other News

My friend Mandisa’s thesis documentary video, Who Are you Wearing? “about how geeks use alternate social identity to build a society across lines of social/cultural division” is once again on Youtube. I hope you’ll go over and give it a like!

Autostraddle has an insightful article: Lena Waithe’s “Vanity Fair” Cover Is a Watershed Moment for Black Lesbian Visibility.

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 Anime

The Asagao to Kase-san Official Twitter account announced the brand new Asagao to Kase-san OVA main trailer video on Youtube. They’ve also added English to their header on Twitter and REALLY want to hear from you on their new video. Don’t forget to let them know you love it and can’t wait to see this OVA. ^_^

Kase-san creator Takashima Hiromi’s Twitter feed also announced a new web commercial for the Kase-san manga  and the upcoming chapter, “Sakura to Kase-san” in Wings magazine.

To Lie Angle Yuri anime is hitting Japanese broadcast TV in April, according to Paul Chapman at Crunchyroll. As I’ve said, it’s pretty much 150% fanservice, so my enthusiasm for it is low.

Yuri Manga

At Mikazuki Gakuen all the committees compete to run the school. The most popular committee becomes the Student Council in Pixiv Comic Yuri Hime manga,  Foolish! (フーリッシュ)

A young OL is deeply interested in her sempai at the office. So deeply that she becomes a creepy stalker in Yuri Kagi ~ Sempai no Himitsu wo Nozoitemita~ ( 百合鍵 ~先輩の秘密をのぞいてみた~) because of course she does.  ^_^;

Kara Dennison over on Crunchyroll News has the scoop that Seven Seas is putting out Yuri one-shot Beauty and the Beast Girl. And Joseph Luster reports on Seven Seas’ license of another Comic Yuri Hime one-shot Now Loading…! about a woman who gets her dream job as a phone game developer.

Yuri Event

Folks in or around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Monday, March 26 may wish to attend a lecture by James Welker on Boys Love, Yuri, and More: Tracing the History of “Queer (But Not Necessarily LGBT) Media in Japan at Temple University. I’m going to do my damnedest to be there to cheer James on and, I have no doubt, learn a lot from him.

Comic Natalie reports that the Yuriten exhibition is back on for Tokyo at Studio Lightbox in Aoyama for April 28- May 4. The website has updated with the date, location and participating artists.  I’ll let you know more when I get further details. ^_^

Other News

Katriel Page has written a personal retrospective of Revolutionary Girl Utena for Anime Feminist, Ohtori Revisited: My 18 Years with Revolutionary Girl Utena. 

Mondo’s gorgeous Korra and Asami sculpture from Legend of Korra is up for pre-order. It’s above my comfort level for a figurine price, but it is very lovely. Do let us know if you get it! Unboxing videos welcome.

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!