Okazu News

Expect some slight weirdness from posts for the next two weeks, as I’ll be in transit. I’ll probably be writing some from my destination, but making no promises. ^_^

So if Okazu seems to be sort of dormant for a few days I assure you I’m just out having fun – hopefully along with some of you! ^_^ And I promise tales of adventures and shopping along the way. ^_^

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Yuri Events

First, I want to thank all the folks that turned out for the Baruch and LaGuardia college talks! Great questions, terrific co-presenters and a lot of fun! Many thanks to CJ Suzuki, George Tsouris and Ann Matsuuchi for making it all possible!

Next up, I’ll be speaking in Shinjuku Ni-Choume, Tokyo on May 3rd as part of the Tokyo Comics Showcase, Vol 1 on queer comics.

Yuri doujinshi festival Girls Love Fest is in the Tokyo metropolitan area on June 5th.

And I’ll be presenting  at AnimeNEXT on Saturday, June 11. So if you missed my NYC presentations, join me there!

If you’re looking for an LGBTQ-inclusive event, you have a number of excellent choices these days. Flamecon will be be held in Brooklyn, NY in August. It was all about being a queer fan of comics and/or being a fan or queer comics.

Nijicon in October in the Greater Philadelphia area. It was charming and friendly and I recommend it.

And for our European readers, there’s Y/Con in Paris in November!

How cool is that? All these great BL/Yuri/gay/lesbian comic events!

Yuri Manga

Folks with Japanese Kindle access, while searching for information for my Tokyo Comics Showcase talk,  I found that the classic Riyoko Ikeda’s early queer manga Claudine…! (クローディーヌ…！) had been re-released by a publisher called Fairbell in 2006 (how on earth did I miss that?) and that is now available on Japanese Kindle! Quick go get it and read this amazing, if not happy, story.

Mountain Pukuichi, the creator of NanaYuri, now has another schoolgirl- in-love story, PukuYuri (hmm, I sense a pattern…) out from Ichijinsha.

Mekimeki’s Yuri love comedy, Only ☆You ~Anata to Watashi no Hitoribocchi Keikaku~  (オンリー☆ユー ~あなたと私の二人ぼっち計画~) is yet another schoolgirl wacky thing.

Sailor Moon News

SailorMoonWorld.it uploaded a monster set of 250 pictures from the Mori Tower Sailor Moon Exhibit. Personally, I am most interested in the large panels of the color art, and the items in the gift shop. ^_^ Check out the photos and be amazed. I wonder whose collection it is?

And for fans of the current Sailor Moon Crystal end theme, Eternal Eternity, ANN reports that the the two musical parts have been parsed out for fun karaoke versions on Youtube!

Other News

Keri Crist-Wagner has put together a short list of Magically Queer Webcomics for Panels.net for your reading pleasure.

While Adam Frey at Popculture Uncovered, looks at the knotty problem of selling diverse comics to the comics-buying audience and why wanting doesn’t guarantee buying with You’ve Got Your Diversity, So Why Don’t You Buy Them?

Feminist Frequency, having wrapped up their work on women in videogames, has just crowdfunded a new, very exciting project – Ordinary Women, a video series on women who challenged the status quo and defied stereotypes.  These will include episodes on Ada Lovelace, Murasaki Shikibu, Emma Goldman, Ching Shi, Ida B. Wells . I’m really looking forward to these.

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 Events

If you are in the NYC area, do check out the Alt Sex Manga Panel  at LaGuardia College on Monday, April 18th, with me and Anne Ishii of Gay Manga and Prof. Ting Man Tsao (English) & Terena Tsao. I’ll be providing history and background, they’ll be talking sex and shipping and fanon. ^_^

Only a few weeks more until  I give a (very) brief history of Yuri as part of the Tokyo Comics Showcase. This is going to be an amazing event, so I hope you all come!

Kotaku has a glimpse inside the Sailor Moon Art exhibit in Roppongi. It looks kinda squee-making. ^_^

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Yuri Game

Soul Jazz Soldier has provided a teaser image on Twitter for the upcoming Yuri Game based on the Ririkuru (Lily Cycle) Yuri Drama CDs, Ririkuru Rainbow Stage! They have a Youtube channel for PVs.

Razz, the creator of Yuri Visual Novel Starlight Vega has been kind enough to let us know that it is now available on Steam and that it has multiple routes. Take a look and let us know what you think!

If you have an Android device, the popular gem-matching game Sailor Moon Drops is available for the first time in an official English version. If you want to friend me, drop me a line and we’ll share IDs. ^_^

Yuri Manga

ANN has the news that the Yuri Kuma Arashi manga will be wrapping up at the end of this month. Thanks to the multiple YNN correspondents that wrote in to let us know!

Kuzushiro’s Heian gag manga Kimi no Tamenara Shineru, Volume 6 (姫のためなら死ねる) is hitting shelves in May. Volume 6, wow.

Yagate Kimi ni Naru Volume 2 (やがて君になる) will make its debut at the end of this month.

Other News

You’ll want to take a look at these Sailor Moon Major Arcana Tarot cards by Sillabub429 on Deviantart. Fun art and some good choices.

LGBTQ News

Tagame Gengoroh’s delightful story of a Canadian visiting his late husband’s brother, Otouto no Otto (弟の夫) second volume went on sale earlier this year.

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 Manga

YNN Correspondent Jocelyn B wants to make sure you know that award-winning writer Mariko Tamaki is teaming up with Lumberjanes‘ artist Rosemary Valero-O’Connell to bring us a after-the-happily-ever-after story of queer teen romance and dysfunctional relationships, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me. The LA Times has a terrific interview with them on the needs for after the coming out/romance story and why teens deserve a story in which love isn’t a many-splendored thing.

Ichijinsha has a pile of new volumes coming out next month:

The July issue of Comic Yuri Hime, (コミック百合姫2016年7月号)

Saboruta’s Citrus, Volume 5

The 2nd volume of Kawai Roh’s horror manga Shoujo Shikaku (少女失格);

Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san Volume 5 (犬神さんと猫山さん)

Kururi’s Momoiro Trance, Volume 1 (桃色トランス)

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Yuri Events

Girls Love Festival will be returning to the Pio Building at Kamata Station, Tokyo on June 5th!

If you missed me at Baruch College this week, you can catch me talking about Queer Manga at LaGuardia College on April 18th.

Yuri Anime

YNN Correspondent Mariko has this surprising news, “Yurikuma Arashi is available as a BD/DVD set for preorder on Funimation’s site.” She (and I) hadn’t seen any news about it, but there it is!

Yuri Webcomic

Senior YNN Correspondent Erin S points out this “sweet, short f/f sci-fi comic,” by Bee.

Other News

GLIMP! is a queer art newsletter from the Netherlands that is available online for free. Check it out on their website, Stichting Quast.

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 Events

My Yuri schedule is jam-packed this spring and I really hope you’ll be able to catch me at one of these events:

Alt Manga Symposium at Baruch College, NYC, NY, April 7th (this Thursday, so RSVP asap!)

Alternative Sexualities Manga Panel at LaGuardia College in Queens, NY, April 18th

Tokyo Comics Showcase, Vol. 1, part of Rainbow Pride Week in Tokyo, Japan, May 3rd. (No  RSVP needed, but there is a 1500￥cover charge.)

And I’ve just added a panel at AnimeNEXT, in their new Atlantic City location on Saturday, June 11, time TBA, where I’ll be talking about queer manga and fandom. I’m extremely glad to be part of ANEXT once again. ^_^

The good folks at Gay Manga! gave us a look at the Super Queeroes exhibition held at the Schwules Museum in Berlin, Germany.

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Sailor Moon News

Viz Media announced (with more than a little breathlessness, I might add) that the third season of Sailor Moon Crystal is going to be simulcast on Monday, April 4th. No specific time has been announced, but it will be shortly after the Japanese broadcast is complete.

I can’t remember if I told you all this yet, but it bears repeating and I’ll probably say it again. As part of their complete Sailor Moon license, Viz also will be releasing all the mini specials for the original series. Never-before-seen in official English release, you’ll get to see Ami’s First Love and the amazing, wonderful, Super S Special that includes Chibi-usa’s adventure with vampires and a short starring Haruka, Michiru and creepy dolls, featuring Michiru’ best mic drop line ever. Keep your eyes peeled for these!

In an amazing coincidence, Anion Cafe in Shibuya will be running a Sailor Moon Crystal Cafe while I am in Japan, featuring Outer Senshi-themed food items. Reservations are required, so far nothing past April 17th is available. If I manage to make this, the Sailor Moon art exhibition and cafe and the Card Captor Sakura cafe…and Rainbow Pride and Comitia, this trip will hit never before attained heights of pure geekdom. Fingers crossed. ^_^

Other News 

Waahhhh~~~~!!! Steven Universe is returning to Cartoon Network in July and has been renewed for two more seasons after the current one completes. I know we all want to know how this Peridot arc ends.

And let’s wrap today up on a historical note – Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is running a Kickstarter on women who were influential in the comics industry, She Changed Comics. These are names and works we all should know, so consider helping them out.

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!

Sailor Moon News

As we get close to Sailor Moon Crystal‘s 3rd season, the video clips are coming thick and fast! ANN has two separate reports on the various opening and ending songs and animation, a new extended trailer and plans and singers for other EDs.

But to make it easy on you to watch this repeatedly, here is the first look at the Sailor Moon Crystal Third Season Ending theme, “eternal eternity”, sung by the voices of Sailors Uranus and Neptune, Minagawa Junko and Ohara Sayaka:

Two other notable things – in the extended trailer we see Sailor Venus with her sword, and I was immensely gratified at the final moments when the Senshi are arrayed very similarly to the way the are in the opening of ‘S’.

I have to say, I’m really very pleased with this. We deserve a little service. And Toei appears to not have forgotten the success they had with Sailor Moon S.

If you’re in Japan in this spring, consider hitting up Roppongi Hills for the Art of Sailor Moon exhibit! I’m gonna do my damnedest to get there. Because I will be in Japan in late April and my hope is that there will be a metric fuckton of Outers’ goods. ^_^ So, hey, please consider subscribing to Okazu! I need more stuff and to go to the Card Captor Sakura cafe for you. (Just kidding, all subscription money is used to buy stuff to review and to pay for massages. ^_^)

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Anime News

The Spring anime season is heating up and there’s all kinds of stuff happening.

Yuri!!! is an upcoming skating anime that, realistically is probably about a Russian skater named Yuri, but the odd font choice that is strongly reminiscent of Yuri Kuma Arashi, makes me wonder. It’s probably too much to ask, but it would be lovely if there was even a smidgen. A skater and her coach, or even better, two skaters…., please? ANN has the report.

ANN reports that creator of Aria, Amano Kozue’s series Amanchu!, about diving, is getting a 13-episode series. As with Aria, expect less plot and more scenery porn. It was a nice, not compelling manga. Check out the first key visuals on ANN.

YNN Correspondent Day has a news item of “somewhat dubious quality.” Day says “A website for a project of some sort currently under the name of Umamusume has gone up. It’s from the game company Cygames, so I’m assuming it is a game, although it may be a mixed-media project as the PV currently posted depicts no gameplay and instead seems like it may be for an anime. From what little there is, the underlying story is of a group of horse-girls pursuing success on the racecourse, with a dash of idol nonsense thrown in. Yuri is in the form of an intense locking of eyes, and a liplock between a pair of figure-skating horse-girls in the PV. “

So I watched that PV.  (O_O) I’m laughing hysterically, horrified. There is so much wrong with that anime I don’t even have words. A pop idol group of horse-eared girls, who also ice skate, eat a lot (think about it…) and race like horses. I…can’t… holy god that’s vile and amazing.  Thanks, Day. Your punishment is that you’ll have to write the review. ^_^

Manga News

YNN Correspondent Katherine H wants you to know that Yen Press has licensed Kiniiro Mosaic which, at Sakuracon they described as Yuri-ish.

The 7th volume of Murcielago (ムルシエラゴ) has hit stands at last and if you buy it at various bookstores in Japan, Comic Natalie reports, it will include one of a series of special art pieces by the artist.

Yuri Events

Y/Con is a Yaoi and Yuri vent in Paris on November 12th-13. If you’re going to be able to make this, do please consider writing up a report for us!

I’ll be speaking about Queer manga on April 18th at LaGuardia College in Queens, NY.

Tokyopop Germany tweeted that they are  bringing Yuri Manga  Citrus creator Saburouta to Animagic, held in Bonn Germany, July 29-31.

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!