Archive for the Morinaga Milk Category


Yuri Network News – September 24, 2011

September 24th, 2011

Snatches of Yuri

In the June issue of Nakayoshi, magazine “Your Melody (キミノネイロ) starts off with two girls kissing and a chapter-load full of ambiguous feelings…and no real plot. I don’t imagine this is meant to be a “Yuri” series, but you have to admit that Nakayoshi has been turning up the heat these days with lily-scented stories.

Horror comic Naname no Ongaku II (ななめの音楽) looks pretty darn Yuri.

And Machikado Hana da Yori (街角花だより) is scoring high on Japanese Yuri lists.

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Yuri Manga

On her blog, Morinaga Milk-sensei debuts the cover of Comic High magazine with the first reprinted chapter of Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo.

The 15th volume of Hayate x Blade special edition, will include a HxB doujinshi by Hayashiya-sensei! I’ve been a fan of her doujinshi work as Jesus Drug for ages, so I’m dying to see what she does with her own characters.

Italian Yuri fans have something to celebrate – the Italian language edition of Rica Takashima’s Rica ‘tte Kanji!? is now available from RenBooks. To celebrate, they created this adorable commercial spot:

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Other News

From Twitter, Deb Aoki points us to the Today Show website’s article  “From Kevin Keller to Batwoman, gay characters take center stage in comic books.” While I think “taking center stage” is obvious hyperbole, it does seem that gay and lesbian characters are more open than previously.

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That’s a wrap for this week.

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 – July 23, 2011

July 23rd, 2011

Yuri Manga

Morinaga Milk-sensei’s popular Yuri series Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo will be re-serialized in Comic High starting with the September 22 (October) issue. She had intimated that there *might* be a continuation forthcoming, so we can keep our fingers crossed.

Good news for Sailor Moon fans, our friend Bill Flanagan was officially announced at SDCC as the translator of Kodansha’s release of Sailor Moon . We can all breathe a sigh of relief that the translation is in good hands.

Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari, Volume 5 (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり) wll be hitting shelves at the end of August.

Cassiopeia Dolce, Volume 3 (カシオペア・ドルチェ 3) became available this week, for all your doll-makers who bathe Yuri needs.

Don’t forget to get yourself a copy of September’s Comic Yuri Hime, with obligatory swimsuit cover.

Tsubomi, Volume 13 joins us in August. There was a HUGE cliffhanger in Volume 12, so for once I’m really motivated to get this!

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Snatches of Yuri

You know what we need more of? Questionable Yuri 4-panel gag comics from MangaTime Kirara. Luckily, there’s Marshmallow Typhoon (ましゅまろ×タイフーンッ).

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Other News

The Japanese Digital Manga Association has announced the August launch of Jmanga.com, an initiative by Japanese manga publishers to make manga available online to a worldwide audience.

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That’s a wrap for this week.

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 – April 9, 2011

April 9th, 2011

Event News

Today and tomorrow is the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival.  I will be there today only at Rica Takashima’s Table – L9. She will have art prints, postcards, magnets and a new doujinshi, Miho-chan’s Memories. Drop by say hi – I intend to have random items to give away, as stuff always sort of accumulates here in the house. ^_^

As I’ve said in the past, I consider MoCCA to be one of the best events for comics and cartoon art I’ve ever attended. If you think you want to be an artist or just want to feel the vibe of a whole lot of creatin’ going on, you really must attend MoCCA’s event.

For the more literary-minded, New York’s Japan Society is hosting an event titled Seeing Stories: Fiction, Manga & Graphic Novels on the reciprocal nature of literature and manga. This is on May 3 in NYC. I plan on being there, if I can.

One more event I am planning on attending – Yuri doujinshi event Girls Love Fest this September in Tokyo. It’s about time, wouldn’t you say? Next time, Maiden’s Garden. ^_^

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Yuri Anime

I am actually amazed it took this long, but massively popular with moe fans Idolmaster
has finally gotten an anime.

YNN Correspondent and Okazu Superhero Eric P. shares the news that Nozomi/Right Stuf has licensed Sora no wo to and will be releasing it as a DVD collection, Sound of the Sky. This collection has a street date in July.

Funimation is releasing Ga-Rei-Zero in combo DVD/Blu-Ray packs and on their Youtube channel.

There was a book in every single store when I was in Japan in 2010. Moshidora is about a girl who becomes a manager of a baseball team. And it was on all the Yuri lists, because it was moe and they reaaallllllly wanted it to have Yuri. Now it’s an anime and they still reallllly want it to have some Yuri, even if they have to squint and lean.

And in the same trend, Hanasaku Iroha, which is streaming on Crunchyroll, IMHO (which may not be yours) sounds like the Yuri will be mostly in your head.

Maria+Holic has been granted a second season and, like Hanasaku, I will not be watching it. If you enjoy Maria+Holic and want to review that second season, please feel free to write me about a guest review!

While we’re piling on the moe with questionable Yuri, don’t forget that the anime A-channel will begin this spring. It’s based on a 4-koma comic, so you’ve already seen this one…a hundred times. ^_^

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Maria-sama ga Miteru News 

New Novel,  Maria-sama ga Miteru: Private Teacher  is already getting high Yuri ratings on Japanese Yuri blogs and juicy snorts of amusement from fans. A Japanese acquaintance on Twitter said, “It sounds like a fan doujinshi!” It really does….

…and, at last! YNN Correspondent Simon gets in first with the news that the Maria-sama ga Miteru Live-Action movie BD and DVD will be seeing a late July release. Want Nozomi/RightStuf to license it? Ask them politely to do so.

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Yuri Manga 

YNN Correspondent Komatsu-san is pleased to share the news that Himawari-san manga has had successful sales and is going to a second printing. Even better, the creator is looking to do a second volume and the publisher is willing to back it. Whee!

From random tweets, Morinaga Milk has intimated that there may be a new edition and possibly continuation of Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakura-iro.  When more details are released I’ll let you know. Or, conversely, when one of you learns details, you’ll let me know! You’re not shy! ^_^ (Also, please don’t bothering to respond to this news with “Yay! I can’t wait to read scans!” because I will not approve comments like that.)

Aoii Hana’s got a new collection of Comic Yuri Hime stories called called Twin Kick (ツインケイク).

There is a charity doujinshi for Earthquake rescue and relief that has contributing artists from a number of magazines including the creator of Nobara no Mori no otome-tachi.

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Other News

If you’re looking to practice your Japanese, but don’t want to risk being treated like a weirdo for liking Yuri, then consider joining the new Yuri GL Community.

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That’s a wrap for this week.

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 – March 19, 2011

March 19th, 2011

Yuri Drama CD

Because one Hayate x Blade Drama CD was not enough and two drama CDs only barely scratched the itch, the Hayate x Blade Ultra Jump Drama CD Sanban Hoshi! Hyuuryuu Tsumeawase (はやて×ブレード ウルトラドラマCD さんばん星！ 漂流つめあわせ) is now on sale!

Also available is the GIRL FRIENDS Drama CD. Morinaga Milk seemed very happy with the results in her posts on her blog and on Twitter, so I think we’re in for a treat.

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Yuri Anime

This week Nozomi/RightStuf announced the street date for the first Revolutionary Girl Utena (少女革命ウテナ) box set. This set will include all the extras that were in the Japanese remastered set – and TRSI says that for fans who pre-order all three sets, there will be an extra extra. There’s no hint yet as to what that might be, but they promise it will be very cool. If any other company said that, I’d shrug. TRSI gets my kind of “cool” better than most. As another type of extra, there is a feature on the Utena website in which you can ask the Director Ikuhara Kunihiko questions about the series. Have at it – I’m looking forward to seeing those questions!

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Yuri Manga

My reaction upon hearing the news that Kodansha USA was going to be releasing the Sailor Moon Anniversary edition and Sailor V manga in English was, and I quote “OMG, did Kodansha USA *listen* to us? I don’t know where to look, or what do do with my hands!!!”

Under no circumstances is, “So when is the anime coming out?” the appropriate reaction, btw. Saying “yay!” and saving your money to buy the volumes, which will start being released in September, is an appropriate reaction. If you really do not have the money (and believe me, I sympathize with that,) the most appropriate reaction is to head over to your local public library and become friends with the person who is in charge of the Graphic Novels section or, if there is no GN section, the “acquisitions” person and start getting them primed to pick this series up. Don’t rant. Just let them know that one of the two series that truly launched anime/manga here in the US (Dragonball being the other) is about to be released and it’d probably be cool to get it for the collection.

One last thing while I’m asking you to mind you manners. ^_^ Tokyopop did not actually do a TERRIBLE, GODAWFUL translation. They changed the names, because that was what we did back then. It was not actually a crime against nature – for the most part, the Japanese companies wanted it that way. In fact, convincing the Japanese publishers that we *didn’t* want names changed was a pretty big battle back in the day.

Quick History Lesson: Sailor Moon was being serialized in Tokyopop’s Smile, then Mixxzine magazine when the first rebellion occurred. The anime had been running on Cartoon Network, Usagi had become Serena, Makoto was Lita already. Tokyopop kept Lita but tried to mollify fans with Bunny for Usagi. BUT. When the Outer Senshi arrived and their names were changed, it was intolerable – the straw that broke the camel’s back was, apparently, using Olivia for Hotaru. Fans rebelled and wrote ridiculously angry letters. Tokopop bowed to pressure and when Sailor Moon ‘S,’ ‘Super S’ and ‘Stars’ volumes came out, the Outers and Starlights retained their names. I still have those Smile and Mixx magazines issues, by the way. ^_^

This series, and later Azumanga Daioh, with Yukari being the Spanish teacher in the first volume of the manga, were the two big proving grounds for the kind of localization we expect right now.

Some back channel chatter convinces me that we *are* getting a new translation of the manga, and from a very talented and reliable source. I hope we get some good editing too! Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

I’m still not entirely sure what this is about, but Dengeki 4-Koma Collection, Fu-Fu, (電撃4コマ コレクション ふーふ ) appears to be just what it sounds like – a comic strip of two women “playing house” as we call it around these parts. There’s apparently going to be – or is – a net game release associated with this, if I read that correctly.

And let’s finish up with something that I think will make a lot of people happy (hopefully happy enough to buy it, rather than just download scans.) The first Ichijinsha collection by Nanzaki Iku Sweet Little Devil, is due out in April.

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Yuri Novel

Miyamoto Ayako is currently contributing short stories to the new Comic Yuri Hime. She also has a new book out, Ame no Tou (雨の塔) which, like the short stories, is Yuri.

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That’s a wrap for this week.

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 – February 19, 2011

February 19th, 2011

Every week, as I type up a YNN report, I’m reminded just how fast time goes. It’s already mid-February!

Yuri Manga

Our top story this week is from YNN Correspondent Jennifer M. French publisher Taifu has released the first chapter of their French-language edition of GIRL FRIENDS by Morinaga Milk as an online preview. Go take a look, even if you don’t read French. And if you do, please support Taifu as they takes they first steps into the Yuri market!

This past Valentine’s Day, LGBT Comics Consortium Prism Comics was kind enough to feature our own Rica ‘tte Kanji!? for a review.

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ALC Publishing

Speaking of Rica,  I would like do a special shout-out today to Komatsu-san. Because of him, our ALC Publishing manga is going to become part of the permanent collection at the Kyoto International Manga Museum. Komatsu-san is a valuable member of our staff and a good friend. And a really nice guy! ^_^ Thank you so much for all your support.

Right now, all of us at ALC are working hard on the new Rica ‘tte Kanji!? Omnibus. ^_^ Along with the original chapters, and the “More Rica” chapters from Yuri Monogatari, we’ve got a previously unpublished story and some brand new work from Rica. It’s going to be amazing!

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Yuri Radio

In Japan, Simoun has kicked back into life, as the Emotion The Best Simoun box set edition hits the shelves. To help promote that, there is a new Simoun Radio show, Simoun Electric Wave DE Remersion.

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Other News

Director of Shoujo Kakumei Utena, Ikuhara Kunihiko, has announced that he will be directing a new TV anime this year. He was notably involved in the creation of the opening sequence of Aoi Hana in 2009. The only details he’s given about the anime so far as that it will star a high school girl – a piece of information that actually made me laugh out loud. It instantly reminded me of this Dilbert comic.

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That’s a wrap for this week.

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!