Takarazuka News

Top Story this week is via YNN Correspondent Chet B, who let us know that a Takarazuka show is coming to New York City! I did a little more searching and found that it’s an OG (Old Girl) group, so not an official troupe per se, but mostly made of otokoyaku from previous years and it looks like it’ll be otokoyaku even in the main women’s roles. They’ve got a number of possible actresses from previous years, including, maybe, Yamato Yuuga as Roxie, which I have to say intrigues me mightily. ^_^

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Yuri Manga

It’s been about a year since the last volume, Comic Natalie reports, but Yuru Yuri 14 (ゆるゆり) is coming out this winter. HMV will be selling it along with collections of volumes 1-13.

Kickstarter News

Alex Heberling has launched a Kickstarter for Volume 2 of her post-apocalyptic magical girl comic, The Hues. I reviewed the first volume back in August 2015 and found it good.

YNN Correspondent Bing C wants you all to know some exciting news from Korea. “Due to the popularity of this Korean [Yuri] manhwa and demand from non-Korean fans, lezhin has started to release the English translated version of What Does the Fox Say?. Readers can purchase coins either on the website or through the lezhin app (cheaper through the app). The coins are used to purchase chapters of this ongoing manhwa. 7 chapters cost approx US$3.

There are other GL manhwa on the website but so far only WDTFS has been translated to English.”

The comic looks great, you should check it out!

Other News

Readers in and around Berlin, take note: The Schwules Museum is holding an exhibit called Super Queeroes: Our LGBTQI* Comic Book Heroes and Heroines from January 22 – 26. If anyone attends , please let us know how it is!

Prism Comics has announced it’s annual Queer Comics Press Grant is open for submissions from independent queer comic book creators. Get your submission in by March 1, 2016.

Don’t miss this report by Komatsu-san over at Crunchyroll News, on the main visual for the upcoming Seirei no Moribito live-action series! Read the whole article, for details of the series, which is planned to cover all 12 volumes of the books!

The casting event for Sailor Moon Crystal‘s Outer Senshi will be streamed live on January 26th on Nico Nico Douga, so don’t miss it.

Yuri Anime

ANN has the scoop on Sentai Filmwork’s announcement that they have licensed the Strawberry Marshmallow anime and OVAs, based on Barasui’s manga, Ichigo Mashimaro. (The OP of the TV series is on my slogging mix, so it’s something I think of fairly often. It surprised me, therefore, to realize it’s more than 10 years old!)

Sentai also has licensed the Azumanga Daioh anime, ANN reports. So those of you who missed all the key Yuri series of the 2000s, will have a chance to see them for the first time.

Again, ANN brings us news that The Anime Network is restreaming the amazing and often overlooked Yuri anime Blue Drop. I recommend this one highly. And they’ll be streaming the dark and disturbing Uta-Kata as well.

All three of these anime series have their own sub-categories in the Series menu over on the right hand sidebar. Do check them out for reviews! —->

YNN Correspondent Roxie writes in to let people know that in the UK, “Steven Universe episode “We Need to Talk” has had scenes featuring Pearl and Rose dancing together cut and replaced with scenes of entirely different characters.” There is a change.org petition, if you’d like to do a thing that may or may not have an effect.

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondentby 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 Game

The super popular and much anticipated Yuri game from Japan Okujou no Yuri Yurei-san,  licensed last year by Mangagamer as Kindred Spirits on the Roof is now available for pre-order on the Mangamer site!  Help Yuri ghosts Sachi and Megumi build a Yuritopia at the school they loved when they were alive.

This is pretty much the biggest Yuri game release in the west to date and the game was ridiculously popular in Japan when it came out there, so this is big news for us!

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Yuri Anime

Also very big news, Crunchyroll News reports that Crunchyroll has added Shimura Takako’s Aoi Hana/ Sweet Blue Flowers back to their streaming catalog!

ANN has some fun oldie-but-goodie news, too –  Crunchyroll has added added the old favorite baseball series with a smidgen of Yuri, Princess Nine!

Also from ANN , the first commercial for Mahou Tsukai Precure and news on Urobuchi Gen’s new project which is still unknown, but the addition of Yuri/lesbian sub stories has been a feature of his recent work, so it’s worth keeping an eye on. ^_^

Yuri Manga

The March 2016 issue of Comic Yuri Hime hits shelves this week in Japan. (コミック百合姫2016年3月号)

Morinaga Milk has a news series Hana to Hina ha Houkago (ハナとヒナは放課後). First volume was released this past week. Looks like fans of her schoolgirl Yuri will be very happy.

Other News

YNN Correspondent David M wants to remin you that the city of Takarazuka will be offering same-sex union certifictes in 2016 and a bunch of other folks want you to know that the Takarazuka all-female musical review troupe are taking a swing and a sing at the life of Abraham Lincoln. I want to remind you that this will almost surely include cringe-making use of blackface. (-_-);

It will be a smart entrepreneur who runs themed wedding packages to Takarzuka city, with fantasy costumes and a big wedding and not one mention of the Takarazuka Revue, or their legal dept. will come down on them like a ton of bricks. ^_^

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondentby 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!

Sailor Moon News

We start this week with a hat tip to YNN Correspondent Elizabeth F, for letting us know ANN has the scoop on the upcoming third season of Sailor Moon Crystal. There’s a lot to parse in this article. First and most important, the director of the series will be Kon Chiaki, one of the few female directors to make it big in anime. She’s known for Nodame Cantabile and Junjou Romantica, and I can’t help but think that’s amazing news all around!

Additionally, Comic Natalie reports that Nico Nico Douga will be streaming the casting announcement for the new cast on January 27th, which is Tenoh Haruka’s birthday. I watched the original casting announcement with absolute glee and can’t wait for this one. ^_^ The series is slated for a spring 2016 debut – and I want to talk about that, too. The cast will be announced in a few weeks, and the premier is in spring, so *that* is the actual timeline for the animation. If you wonder why the broadcast animation always looks rushed, this is why. This is how Toei does things. It creates absurd timelines so everything is rushed on the front end (no doubt still a relic of Tezuka’s nightmarish TV animation schedules) and then fixes it after the fact, for Blu-ray release.

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Yuri Manga

Comic Natalie reports that the first volume of Amano Kozue’s  Aria the Masterpiece Perfect Edition is hitting shelves this month.

ANN has the news that Viz is re-releasing the Kannazuki no Miko manga. The response this received, as compared to the news of the Outer Senshi was astounding. In 2006, KnM was the zOMG series, because there was otherwise so little Yuri. Now, as compared with all the Yuri we have the response was more like “Meh.” ^_^

On Mangablog a panel of experts talked about their Most Anticipated Manga of 2016, looking at translations that will be heading our way this year. Among them was Udon’s translation of Rose of Versailles! I look forward to seeing Oscar in bell bottoms in English. ^_^

The meta is strong in this one. Comic Natalie reports that Comic Flapper magazine has a new series, a “Trouble comedy”  –  “Ore ga Fujoshi de, Aitsu ga Yuri-ota de” (オレが腐女子でアイツが百合オタで). Whether it will be good remains to be seen, but it is definitely a product of it’s time, when meta stories for otaku about themselves are all the rage.

Other News

YNN Correspondent Ichigo69 on Twitter pointed out a Japanese survey of “lesbian sex” in Yuri manga, which quantifies the answer to the burning question, “Is Yuri really all just school girls?”

Let’s finish on a smile: A friend and long-time supporter of Yuricon, Gideon M. sent along this wonderful animated official music video for Studio Killers’ song Jenny. Do watch it, it’s great. ^_^

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!

Happy New Year!

I hope you don’t mind that I’m not working hard at this New Year weekend edition of the YNN report. There’s still cake and wine left over from NYE celebrations and they are calling my name. ^_^

But it is because of New Year celebrations that we are even here today. I spent this year’s Eve watching the Kouhaku Uta Gassen –  the annual Japanese New Year’s eve singing contest television special – like Dick Clark’s special used to be, with a few contemporary singers and a bunch of Lawrence Welk-like fossils. The show has been adding in a lot of anime themes and popular VA singers, probably in a desperate attempt to get people under 40 to watch. ^_^

Well this year, they did a medley of anime songs, Pokemon, Yokai Watch, Sailor Moon, Love Live!, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Chibi Maruko-chan and Gundam  and probably some I’ve missed…still not why I’m mentioning this, although hearing Moonlight Desentsu on the TV was nice. ^_^ I’m mentioning it because they started to talk to someone in the audience and I became very excited – Uehashi Naoko, the creator of the Seiriei no Moribito series was on TV…. The new live-action Seiriei no Moribito series announced last summer is coming this spring on NHK! Waaah!

Balsa, Chagum, Tanda, Torogai, Shuga and the rest on TV. Squee. Ayase Haruka, (who was the Kouhaku’s Red Team host,)  is playing the role of Balsa.  No trailer yet, but as soon as there is one, you can be sure it’ll be on here. ^_^

Okazu News

The Okazu Patreon has been updated for 2016 with a new video and a new perq! Click the link to see the new video, and either the “Subscribe” button here to your right  —> or on the left of the Patreon page to become a supporter of Okazu. With your help we relaunched the Yuricon Store, we added a bunch of new Event reports on Okazu and Essays on the Yuricon page. We have a pile of thing we want to get done in 2016 and every little bit helps towards those goals!

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Yuri Game

ANN Reports the addition of Yuri VN Atom Grrrl! to Steam. According to the description it is a “yuri Tarantinoesque comedy about sex, drugs, and revenge.”  If Tarantino used 6 year olds as actors. ^_^;

Here’s wishing you all a wonderful holiday weekend and a great new year!

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondentby 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 Anime

Komatsu-san has the scoop on the new Precure series on Crunchyroll News and – for a Precure series – it sounds like a bit of a departure from the usual plot, which is rather cool, I think. I’m looking forward to seeing it. (Also I have the Heartcatch Precure light novel to read. I expected it to be for little kids, but its written in 8pt type with no furigana! What was I thinking?)

Also from Crunchyroll News, Patrick Macias announces that Zombie Loan has been added to the CR catalog. There was a vaguely lesbianish character in that series named Yomi, in case you don’t remember.

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Yuri(?) Manga

Comic Natalie reports on a new series called Yurizuki-kun to Yurizukizuki-kun, (百合好きくんと百合好き好きくん) which apparently follows the adventures of two male Yuri fans. The visual reads “Yuri? BL?” and I think we can safely say it will be neither, but hopefully it will be amusing. ^_^

Other News

Yuru Yuri themed t-shirts that proudly proclaim you are an idiot will be sold at Comiket to people for whom getting Yuru Yuri-themed items is more important than self-esteem. Scott Green has the visuals over at Crunchyroll News. And, I’m pleased to note that the t-shirt not only says you’re an idiot, but also has a shitty design so people who don’t know what “aho” means, can still see you have terrible taste. ^_^

For those of us with style, ahem, Crunchyroll News’ Paul Chapman points us to Super Groupies, a design tie-in division of Animate, with a spiffy series of Sailor Moon-themed travel goods. Super Groupies uses the international buying/shipping service Tenso, so you can buy these from outside Japan.

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!