Archive for the LGBTQ Category


Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 12 (雨夜の月)

October 8th, 2026

During a rainy night a tall girl with long, black hair wearing a baseball jacket in in red with white sleeves, meets a shorter girl with orange-brown collar-length hair, wear red sweat pants and jacket with white stripes on the arm and leg, under an umbrella.I just happened to notice the Amazon JP ratings when I was setting Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 12 (雨夜の月) up on the Yuricon Store and with several hundred ratings, it has 97% 5-star ratings.

It is really that good. 

This story has been about growth from the very beginning. Kanon was cocooned in a world of her own making, to protect herself from the outside world that did not care to understand her.  She let herself use her inability to hear to avoid things she did not want to deal with, and things she knew would hurt. Saki did not break those walls down, we learned from earlier volumes. Saki helped her want to break the walls on her own. Once she started to interact with people, and the people around her reached back for her, she stopped hiding in that world. Which meant, she faced feelings she had never had to feel before. 

Saki was hiding something from herself, as well.  She’s becoming more aware of her interest in other girls, but while an older gay women is able to see her right away, she’s still only taking tentative steps to acceptance. 

In many ways, adolescence is a kind of glass closet. Adults can see the people they may become, but it’s almost impossible to see it one’s self. In the case of Amayo no Tsuki, the closet is a one way mirror and both Saki and Kanon have not been able to see outside.

In Volume 12 all these things are about to change.

Saki will admit to herself who she is, and Kanon, will see herself from the outside for the first time and both will  come to the same conclusion.

And it it so, so good.

As an extra bonus, the trailer for the Amayo no Tsuki anime is live on Youtube! (I have a unsubstantiated theory that the trailer was being held until Volume 12 came out…for reasons. ^_^)

Ratings: 

Art -9
Characters – 10
Story – 10
Service -0
Yuri/queer – 10/10

Overall – 10

Volumes 1-8 of The Moon on A Rainy Night are available in English from Kodansha. Volume 9 will be hitting shelves in January 2027.





Navigating With You Volume 2

October 7th, 2026

The cover of Navigating With You volume 2. The cover shows the main characters Neesha and Gabby facing away from each other but holding each others hand. They are also each holding the hand of another character. These other characters are barely shown on the cover and are walking off the sides of the image. In a way pulling the two main characters away from each other. The background is similarly divided between a school corridor on Neesha's side and a beach on Gabby's side.A second Navigating With You (which was reviewed here on Okazu in 2025) felt like it came out of left field for me. Gabrielle and Neesha’s whole wonderful journey had come to a narratively satisfying conclusion at the end of the first volume. But our two heroines are not even out of high school yet, they have a lot of life left and a lot of stories to tell.

This means stories from two locations and what the second volume of Navigating With You improves upon the first is with a greater emphasis on community. Very quickly we are introduced to two social circles: Gabby’s old friends back in Florida and all the other students at Neesha’s school who are interested in making their local life better.

The most outstanding part of the second volume of Navigating With You is the same as the first volume. Rich characters who communicate (to the reader) who they are and what they are about. So the addition in particular of Noli (from Neesha’s school) and Cary, Gabby’s ex who dumped her over text way back at surf camp. This makes sense as Jeremy Whitley is also writing this second volume and he continues to make sure every character get’s their moment. This volume it is Neesha’s mother is the MVP of parents who clearly know they are in a teen romance and what they need to do to help their child get through it.

But, you might ask, Gabrielle and Neesha found all of the manga last volume, what could they be reading in their book club now. Sadly I must confess to you that Gabby and Neesha are watching anime using a screen share video call. The anime in question is written by the same fictional author of ‘Super Navigator Nozomi’ and it mirrors the themes of Gabby and Neesha’s stories even better than the first volume. Although the change in art style is not at all as sharp as volume one, making it seem that our protagonists are reading a 2000’s image comic rather than watching an anime.

A change in art is to be expected, Cassio Ribeiro is handling just the cover art now. The comic has been A picture of four characters from Navigating With You. The center is taken up with Neesha and Gabby who are sitting in beds of complimentary flowers with their heads lightly touching. On the far left is Noli who is looking at Neesha and on the right is Cary who is carrying a surfboard and looking at Gabby.divided up between Falia Hanakata on the art, Linden Cahill & Juancho! handling the colours and Carlos M. Mangual on lettering. The new style is certainly cuter and very correct for the comic. There are so many new characters in this volume and they all stood out brilliantly with very little page time.

It is good that the comic is as lush as it is because, sadly, the central pillar of Gabby and Neesha’s feels underutilised. It is not right to spoil this but anyone, familiar with romance comics, who looks at the cover can probably guess what the two central characters have to deal with. Which is a bit of a shame that a rather boilerplate romantic arc was used after such a unique volume one.

It thus makes it hard to recommend this new volume to its main audience: fans of volume one. Navigating With You, volume two is a tremendous peace of work and genuinely beautiful. I just wish it had a better idea of what to do with the core relationship we all bought it for. It is sad that we get so little time of Gabby and Neesha being a cute couple when we have this brand new art team who know exactly how to put their own spin on them.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 5
Characters – 10
Service – YMMV, but in my opinion 0
LGBTQ+ – 10

Overall – 8





Tsukiatte Agetemo Ii Kana TV Drama, Episodes 1-3

October 2nd, 2026

Saeko, a girl with long dyed light brown hair that has exposed black roots, holds her arm in a playfully familiar fashion around the shoulders Miwa, who is sporting a black bob. Both girls are smilingby Matt Marcus, Staff Writer

Over a year after the end of the serialization of How Do We Relationship in Japan, I happened to stumble across a tweet for a casting call for a live action drama with a very familiar premise. A Girls Love story adapted from a popular manga series, set in a college, including members of a light music club. It was a no-brainer to me what series it was.

The Tsukiatte Agetemo ii Kana drama was announced in July, with J-Pop idol Riho Sayashi (originally a member of Morning Musume, more recently a solo artist) playing Saeko Sowatori and Sakurako Konishi (best known for her role in the crime thriller First Love) as Miwa Inazuki. I was equal parts delighted and trepidatious. How much of the story could they cover in one season? Would they be able to capture the essence of the characters? How would they depict The Content?

If you are unfamiliar with the story, the opening episode is a fairly accurate adaptation of the first three chapters of the manga. Miwa and Saeko, both first year college students, meet and join the light music club together. After a night out with their new club mates, Saeko admits to Miwa her interest in women and Miwa responds in kind. Saeko says they should take advantage of this rare opportunity of two lesbians organically finding each other and proposes that they date. Miwa reluctantly agrees, and the two awkwardly spend time together until they are caught kissing in the club room by their bandmate, Mikkun, and have to decide how to navigate being out (at least within the band).

I’ll admit that I have not watched too many live-action adaptations of manga or J-dramas in general, but the handful I’ve seen ranged from passably entertaining (the Death Note duology) to abysmally awkward (GAP the Series, sorry Frank). Sometimes the issue is that the source material reads very unnaturally when acted out with real people; often the issue is that the performances are rather middling. I find that in most cases these adaptations fail to match the impact of the source material, let alone elevate it.

I felt more optimistic when I read that the production was being handled by people who worked on Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko!, as that was one of the better of these adaptations that I’ve seen. So far, there are awkward moments and stiff performances, but I felt that it was at least intended to be so. Saeko and Miwa do not gel, and the one thing I would strongly credit the first episode for is making that awkwardness extremely palpable. 

That said, there are myriad concerns I have, the first and obvious one being the pacing. There are only 8 episodes of 23 minutes each. Of course episode 1 has a lot to establish, so there isn’t much you could reasonably cut, but knowing that the previews show scenes up through volume 6, there is a LOT of ground to cover. Tamifull-sensei mentioned on her Twitter that there are changes to the story, which leaves the door open for a very different (read: heavily truncated) path towards the ending.

The trimming down of the story has already become impactful in episode 3, which covers the summer club retreat arc. The arc is split between Saeko wrestling with jealousy and Miwa struggling to stand up for herself against pushy men who are either hitting on her or threatening to out her. The instigator of the latter scenario, Kan, has been completely cut, which robs Miwa of the opportunity to try, however feebly, to defend herself. This ends up doing a disservice to her, reducing her role in the arc as merely the object for Saeko’s jealousy. It’s focusing the story down to the most core part of the plot, which is understandable given the runtime, but I fear more key character development moments will be shaved down to focus narrowly on the will they/won’t they of the love story.

The other issue is that of, frankly, the sex. Sex and physical intimacy in general play major roles in plot, characterization, themes, you name it. I think if a lot of that content is cut or glossed over, it will rob the drama of one of the elements that made the manga so potent. At least as of this writing, the sex is…there, but it is just off screen. There have been a couple hints towards Saeko’s discomfort with being touched, but aside from that there has not been much “action” depicted, which unfortunately means one of the funniest page-turn surprises from volume 2 is completely absent. You know the one.

If you approach the drama with an open mind and try not to get hung up too much on adaptation changes (I’m trying, I swear), you will find that the show has done a solid job of bringing the manga to the small screen. And there are some fun production details, like how Miwa and Saeko’s guitars were the ones Tamifull bought as reference.

Having a pop idol as one of your lead actresses also has some benefits, like including live performances that feel actually performed live.

So, that leaves me with two questions: will the drama stay in tune, and will you tune in?

Overall – 7

The series is airing in Japan on several TV stations (MBS, TV Kanagawa, Chiba TV, TeleTama, Tochigi TV, Gunma Television) and online via TVer and FOD; it is also available overseas on GagaOoLaLa.

Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network. You can find him mostly reskeeting Yuri posts and sports takes on Bluesky @hyperartmarcussan.bsky.social





Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 6 (作りたい女と食べたい女)

September 18th, 2026

Four women stand around a tall, round table laughing and smiling. Three hold up chicken wings while the fourth takes a photo of them with her phone.In Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 6 (作りたい女と食べたい女), by Yuzaki Sakaome, the story shifts just a little bit. Up until now, it has been primarily about food (and, in Sena’s case, eating) with side quests into identity, consent, boundaries at work, in private and in public. Much as all of us in real life do, Nomoto and Kasuga have had to rethink and renegotiate with themselves who they say what to, and what the terms they might use are. 

Here in Volume 6, Nomoto comes out semi-publicly, online. I say “semi” because, while I 100% believe that parasocial relationship can be (or become) “real” relationships, and online friends are as real as school or work friends, there is still a gap between online life and in person life, for most people. If you come out online, people know that that nickname and avatar is out…but depending on how much you share online, there may not be a connection to the person who goes in to an office every day. I remember very clearly the day I began the Yuricon community, I discussed with my wife that I planned on being out from the beginning and, by association, she would be too.  We were out to our families and workplaces, so it was not much of a risk, but there is always a potential risk when people suddenly realize they were wrong about anything.

Nomoto comes out online and is met with both support and the incredible, yet predictable wave of “I only followed you for the food, wtf is this?” Dear friends, who the fuck care if you only followed for one reason or another? Fine, go away. Bye. /eyeroll/ Nomoto and Kasuga discuss the feelings this engenders, and Nomoto is convinced she did the right thing.

We then turn toward Nagumo, who has found a real friend and supporter in Yako. As Sena looks outside herself for the first time, she see that she is surrounded by women who are coming to know themselves better and she starts, maybe for the first time, to ask who, and what, she may be. Kaname patiently walks her through various ways of thinking about her gender and sexuality, until Sena discovers idea and words that work for her.

Finally, we turn towards Kasuga, who feel that she failed her own test on Valentine’s Day, when she was unable to admit that the chocolates were for her girlfriend. Of course Nomoto sympathized, but this is for her. Kasuga boldly goes into a florist, orders a simple flower and when asked if this is for a friend, takes the huge, terrifying step of saying “It’ for my girlfriend” out loud to someone. Of course we grin hugely and applaud!

Each one of our found family here is changing before our eyes. They are all growing out of the small selves they thought they needed to be, to embrace their truest selves. And, of course, they are eating delicious food while doing that!

Ratings:

Art – 7 There are moments that still feel rushed
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service – YMMV, but in my opinion 0
LGBTQ+ – 10

Overall – 10

In a world that can feel dark if we let other people’s negativity drag us down, Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 6 is a reminder that we *can* and *should* make our own light.

Volume 6 is only recently out in Japan, there is no English edition release date yet, but I’ll put it on the Yuricon Store as soon as I see one. ^_^





Wandering Son: Volumes One & Two

August 23rd, 2026

Reading an older manga can be very edifying. Re-reading an older manga even moreso.

I have written at length in many places here on Okazu and elsewhere about my conflicting feelings about Shimura Takako’s work. But as I re–re-read Wandering Son, which I initially started in Japanese and of which I reviewed a number of volumes in English, before the series was discontinued. I was, and am convinced that bringing it out in hardcover was a terrific idea, but no grounded in good business sense.

Now Fantagraphics is taking a second stab at bringing out this series. With much more staid covers, these are two-volume omnibuses, something that helps the story flow a lot better. This will become important in later volumes, as the plot slows and change also slows.

But here in Wandering Son, Volume One and Two, we meet Shu, a trans kid who AMAB is very strongly contemplating the idea that they are a girl. We also meet Yoshino, AFAB, who wants to be a man. I say it that way, very carefully, because issues of gender and gender presentation in this book is complicated… and maybe not what you as a reader might be looking for.

In part, this is due to Shimura who, for many years has been writing queer stories. I don’t object to her doing so, but she has said that she is not herself queer. And to be clear I don’t mind that, either! If it’s working and people find joy in it, that’s great. I love her art, and I have enjoyed watching her story-telling grow and change. So what is my pain point? I am conflicted at Shimura mining queer trauma for content. It makes me feel… icky. In this older series, her story-telling is not so skilled and there will be pacing issues, but also some choices that will sit uncomfortably.

All this to say that, while I absolutely think Wandering Son is worth reading it, like Sweet Blue Flowers may not have aged well. The last twenty years we have seen tremendous change in the way we approach gender and sexuality. There is so much more nuance now, leading me to think that, if Yoshino and Shu had met genderfluid or nonbinary people as well as trans people, their choices might have been less along a binary and more somewhere in the middle. I know if someone had to me at 11 or 12 that non-binary was an option, I know I would have leapt for that.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 0

Overall – 8

Thanks so much to Fantagraphics for the review copy, and I really look forward to reading this series again!