Sometimes, you get that one small victory that makes it all worthwhile.

This weekend, the wife and I went to a Borders bookstore to look for some books (well duh.) The manga section was labeled “Manga” and was reasonably extensive. A far cry from just two years ago when Manga, when you could find it at all, were lumped in with “Graphic Novels” and buried under an avalanche of DC and Marvel derivatives.

This particular bookstore happened to not have any of the four titles I was looking to get, but that was besides the point. Nor were there any 100% Yuri Manga titles from ALC. I looked at the shelves and thought, “You know what I’d like to see, just once? I’d like to come into a Borders and see WORKS right there on the shelf.”

The wife realized that she had picked up a book she already had, so the very next day we were back at the bookstore – our local Borders, this time.

I walked over to the Manga section. Still no Torikoro 2, or Ichigo Mashimaro 1 or Read or Dream 1, but there was Ninin ga Shinobuden Volume 1, so I picked that up – review to come. Then I did my walk around the whole section, just to see what they had.

I saw it from about 10 feet away, because of the color. I took a crappy picture with my phone, because…well, because. And I walked over to the wife with a strange look, because yeah, I was getting all choked up.

I *almost* bought the book, just to ensure it got sold. Instead I put it, as you see above, hoping that someone would be intrigued and buy it.

I imagine that I’m preaching to the choir here when I tell you this, but – if you don’t see 100% Yuri from ALC on *your* bookstore shelves, tell them to order some! It’s not like every bookstore in America automatically orders 10 of every title. And especially in the case of something like Yuri – there needs to be a demand before there will be a supply.

Yuri Monogatari 4 will be out in the bookstores in the spring. If you prefer to buy in person, not online, ask your local comic book, G/L/B/T or chain bookstore to order some. Or *they won’t know anyone wants them*.

In any case, I wanted to share my little victory with you, because considering what we’ve gone through to get Yuri recognized as a legitimate genre, it’s not a small victory at all. ^_^

In my heart, I had a vision of the ideal response from Seven Seas. It would be respectful and friendly. It’s my pleasure to share with you that Seven Seas actually *bettered* my ideal response. :-)

They were sincere, respectful and friendly – and just plain nice about it all.

In turn, I responded by inviting Seven Seas to attend Yuricon 2007 and was told that if they can, they will come.

So, as I predicted, there will be no turf wars here in the yuri manga world – just an even larger body of folks committed to bringing great yuri manga to fans everywhere. And that can only be a good thing in my opinion. :-)

Incidentally, the thing that made me happiest was the fact that SS commented, quite specifically, on how polite and gentle the emails noting the mistake were. This makes me feel so good. I am, and have always been, convinced that histrionics and paranoia have no place in the fan community and can, and should, be replaced with passion, enthusiasm and mature dialogue.

I want to thank all of you who sent emails to Seven Seas, for your support – and for being so polite and reasonable about it. That says something about the folks who support us at Yuricon and ALC…something I feel quite proud of.

As I told Seven Seas, I look forward to both companies working together to promote yuri and I hope you will too! :-)

Hi all – I’ve been debating how to address this here on Okazu, hence the delay in my response. And the short answer to the question above is, obviously, “no.” No turf wars here. :-)

Y’all probably know that this week Seven Seas announced their new yuri imprint, “Strawberry.” They’ll be putting out titles like Strawberry Panic and Saigo no Seifuku under this line, although their previously announced license for Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl will not be.

As you can imagine, as a yuri fan, I’m thrilled. Seven Seas is going for the titles that are, in Japan, marketed primarily to guys, and several of which are attached to popular anime series, so have high recognition value. I’m all for it and I’ll be among the many purchasing their titles, and hoping for them to go after Hayate x Blade as well, since it’s another Mediaworks title.

However.

In their press release, Seven Seas claims to be launching the first-ever line of yuri in the US. This is patently not true. ALC Publishing has been releasing yuri titles in the US since 2003. That’s “first” by my book. :-)

I, and many other people, have emailed Seven Seas to politely point out the mistake. I was really, honestly, hoping that they’d retract the statement, or at least issue a vague correction…or something. Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten any response at all. I’m not taking it personally, I know that businesses are often much more complex than the sum of their parts, but I want to make my position clear.

Here is the email I sent to the major anime news services, and to Seven Seas:

To Whom it May Concern –

All of us at ALC, the oldest publisher of Yuri in America, wish Seven Seas the greatest success!

Now it is obvious to me that Seven Seas and ALC are NOT in direct competition. ALC focuses on stories by primarily, although not exclusively, women who identify as lesbian, for an audience of adult women (and men, of course.) Our primary focus is on the many folks whose work is not attached to an anime, and will not otherwise be seen by people in English-speaking countries – I’m speaking of course, of the lovely people who draw yuri doujinshi.

ALC is dedicated to bring high-quality yuri, what I like to call 100% yuri, by women, about and for women (and anyone else who wants to read it.) We’re not seeking to license yuri done for a broader audience. As a result, we are doomed to always be small potatoes, even in the genre we pioneered here in America. :-)

That’s okay. We love what we’re doing. We love the people doing it with us.

And we are, as I said, thrilled to see more yuri come on the market…but the operative word is “more.”

If you have a moment and want to add your voice to those who have pointed out the mistake in the Seven Seas release, feel free – but please be polite. Seven Seas may be the new kid on the block, but we want to be able to play nice. :-)

If you’ve ever bought a copy of Rica ‘tte Kanji!?, WORKS, Shoujoai ni Bouken or any of our Yuri Monogatari anthologies, on behalf of everyone at ALC, thank you for your support!