Archive for the Miscellaneous Category


Galette No. 39 (ガレットNo.39)

October 26th, 2026

Two women laying in opposite directions, sleep face to face on a background of teal and orange. Galette No. 39 (ガレットNo.39) comes with a clear file, this time by Nakato Nui, celebrating the final chapter of “Otome no Shinden,” which I want to talk about for a sec,

This manga very much started dead in the middle of what might have become a “creepy doll” as Miko begins the story with a doll as her only friend. When she meet Rikako, she begins to spend time more in human company. I have been on edge to see how Mimi, her doll, reacts, but here, Mimi is encouraging. The two girls find an abandoned doll and decide to rehabilitate it to be the star of their handicraft project…and Mimi makes a new doll friend. The end comes as humans and dolls move happily on into a new chapter.I’m greatly relieved that this end was so gentle.

Inui Ayu’s “Koi ni Shitakunai” comes to a crisis point as Mom realizes that her feelings for Ren are not just pretending to date.

I still absolutely give two thumbs up to Hakamada Mera’s reverse isekai “Akuyaku Reijo Tenseishitara Yuri Sakka ni Nattemashita”. Two arch-enemies are reborn as manga artists. Our protagonist, Kurosaka Yori dreams of her death at Shiratori Mashiro’s hands every night, but also…really wants to kiss her. Almost worse, Shiratori in this world seems to blissfully unaware of their history (yeah, I don’t buy that) and is just really nice.

Morinaga Milk appears to be starting a new series. Classroom follows two girls who were close, then ended up at different school and are now in the same school. Things are awkward between them.

“Kichi” by Rion follows a young woman struggling to take care of her lover.

There are other series and one-shots, a short story, the editors’ columns and the 140-character storries and illustrations almost 200 pages of creator-owned, crowdfunded Yuri manga!

Ratings:

Over9ll – 9

Right now it is available to overseas purchaers on Galette Web’s Booth.pm site. Melonbooks is Japan only after a recent security issue. When  Bookwalker and Amazon JP update, I’ll add them to the Yuricon Store, as well. 





Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – October 10, 2026

October 10th, 2026

In blue silhouette, two women face each other. One wears a fedora and male-styled attire, one is in a dress and heels. Their body language is obscure - they may be dancing, or laughing or fighting. Art by Mari Kurisato for OkazuYuri Anime

2027 is already shaping up to be a fantastic year for Yuri anime!

The trailer for The Moon on a Rainy Night anime has gone up on Youtube! Kuzushiro drew an adorable picture of Saki and Kanon watching it. A commenter noticed that the video loads with subtitles and captioning automatically turned on, which is awesome and very much in tune with the  story’s theme of accessibility. This anime is slated for a spring release.

The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t A Guy At All anime trailer is also up on Youtube. We’ll be getting this anime in January.

 

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Yuri Manga

Kinokuniya is launching Love Bullet, Volume 2, with an exclusive cover, plus shikishi. They sold out almost immediately, but trust me, they’ll get more.

The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All, Volume 4 will be hitting shelves later this month. Yen Press has kindly sent me an advance copy…my wife has already read it. ^_^ I’ll review it ASAP!  It is not yet up on Bookwalker Global, but they are running a coin back promotion for Volumes 1-3 until October 15, 2026 at 11:59 PM

akatsukioluna points us to Shounen Magazine’s online site Magapoke, where Guilty Library (ぎるてぃらいぶらり), a one-shot “immoral ” comedy, about two members of the library committee, has become a series.

 

Baihe

Sr. YNN Correspondent Frank Hecker wants you to know that Baiheverse has a new upcoming series, Jade Seduction.

 

Yuri Visual Novel

Studio Élan’s Highway Blossoms has made it to consoles. You can pick it up for Switch or Playstation. To celebrate, the team created a fun new image for their Patreon announcement.

 

Yuri Merchandise

Via Sr. YNN Correspondent Matt Marcus, there is line of Rock Is A Lady’s Modesty merchandise you should check out.

Also via Matt, there is a Tsukiatte Agetemo Ii Kana? Live-Action Drama Pop-up shop at the HMS Shibuya, from October 17-25.

 

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Yuri Event

GLoom & Doomed Yuri Doujinshi Fair is “a FREE TO ATTEND 18+ Yuri-Horror themed Doujinshi Fair in Orange County, California, next to Art Supply Warehouse.” Thanks to YNN Correspondent  simplyhalina for the link!

 

Yuri Interviews

Julia Popek has translated Dr. T Pralinus’ interview with Butch x Butch Yuri artist Natsuo Mutsumi into English. A fantastic read, in which Natsuo-sensei discusses “Yuri” and “boyish women.” Both Julia and Theo are incredible researchers and speakers. Julia was my interpreter at Y/CON, where she did such a fantastic job. 

ANN’s Sylvia Jones does an outstanding interview with Takako Shimura, in which Shimura-sensei is more honest about gender identity and LGBTQ+ issues that I have ever seen before.

 

Other News

Reddit user helixu quotes a, X post from Bloom Into You creator Nio Nakatani, calling out the Yuriten for using AI art for their 10th anniversary. Other creators have also called them out. This is not just disappointing, as Nakatani-sensei says…it’s baffling. Yuriten has responded that they will be using AI going forward only on promotion? The question remains, why would they do that in the first place in the first place? For an exhibition of art by living, working artists…. it’a bizarre. I am still blocked by Yuriten on X, so feel free to ask them why for me. Several artists have responded with strong opinions, including Futaribeya creator Tsukiko, and Hello, Melancholic! creator  Yayoi Osawa. This is not a popular choice based on comments and a LOT of the commenters 0n X and Bluesky are getting right to the crux of the insult in a way that Yuriten is pretending to not understand.

 

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Become a part of the Yuri Network, by being a YNN Correspondent: Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share with us.





How Do I Turn My Best Friend Into My Girlfriend? Volumes 4+5 and Series Overview by Luce

August 30th, 2026

I’m Luce, procrastinator extraordinaire and- how did I end up with more books than I started??? – book hoarder. You can call me a bookwyrm. Mostly hoarding, but getting back into reading novels. 

In the first three volumes of what I call Best Friend Girlfriend or ‘BFGF’ by Syu Yasaka, we met Minami, who realised she has a crush on her childhood friend and next door neighbour, Yuzu, and decided to try and get Yuzu to see her in a more romantic light – and generally failing in her attempts. We found out that Yuzu, however, also likes Minami, so we were landed firmly in the ‘mutual pining’ section.

Volume 4 cover, it does Minami and Yuzu sitting against each other in ski gear In volume four, Yuzu gets a cold and Minami looks after her, Kamiya tries her best to talk Yuzu into telling Minami she likes her, and Christmas arrives with all the romantic implications it carries in Japan. In volume five, things get romantic on the school skiing trip, but misunderstandings abound. Can Minami and Yuzu finally just tell each other?

Pining, pining, pining. As a fanfiction reader, and writer, I’ve read it, I’ve written it. The delicious tension of words unsaid, hands not quite reaching the other person. The roadblocks characters will put up to avoid saying anything, only to trip over them and have to catch themselves. The moment it all comes crashing down as they throw over the cliff of no return, yet find themselves flying as the other person returns their affections (at least, in the ones with happy endings). But there’s an art to it. There has to be a compelling reason why one or both wouldn’t just say something. Something has to be in jeopardy if they were wrong about it, no matter how big, and the creator has to sell you on that.

Which is to say, how much you like this will depend hugely on how much you like, or can tolerate, mutual pinning, and people just not spitting it out. I enjoy it… sometimes. It’s a well worn trope for a reason, and can result in breathtaking scenes of self-restraint, where you just want to hug the characters… but it can also leave the reader with frustrations where you’re thinking ‘just kiss already! They obviously like you!’. This tips into the latter, unfortunately. I get that it’s hard to admit you like a friend romantically, and daunting to tell them that. But there comes a point where it goes a little past denial into ‘how thick are you?’. There are various moments in these last two volumes where, in my opinion, there’s no compelling reason for them not to tell each other. Look. If someone is also going in for the kiss, that’s a pretty good sign they’re into you romantically. Don’t then say it was nothing! If someone says ‘I want you’ and tries to kiss you, that’s not ‘getting your hopes up’. Reacting that way is absurd denial, or ‘authorial delaying’. Making pining work as a trope is all about making the reader believe that the character genuinely believed that their feelings were unrequited in that moment. They’re normally not correct, but only the audience should know that.

Volume 5 cover. Minami and Yuzu look happy, hugging each other. I guess my problem with this manga is that the pining was quite cute for the first two or three volumes, after which it got too stretched out. The older I get, the more interest I have in stories that cover making a relationship work – getting over hurdles, managing intimacy and boundaries, and especially when the characters are in school, trying to work out where the relationship fits, if it can, in their futures. Series like Kase-san and… and You and I Are Polar Opposites have both been exploring this to various degrees, and it’s been really refreshing. It makes manga like this, where they dance around each other, and not even particularly convincingly, less interesting.

It also ends up so focused on the dance/mess between Minami and Yuzu that everyone else falls by the wayside. Their friends feel like puppets to react to the dramas rather than people. There was some hints in the early volumes that two of them might be interested in each other, but does it get mentioned here? No.

In total, a cute series that overstretches its premise to its own detriment. There’s a fine line in pining between ‘come on, you guys can get there!’ and ‘get on with it!’. Unfortunately, this series falls closer to the latter.

Story: 6
Characters: 5
Art: 7
Service: 1
Yuri: 8
Overall: 6

Man, I really want to go read some good fics about mutual pining, now. As for manga that give me some of that vibe, Hirano and Kagiura (BL) and If I Could Reach You (Yuri) comes to mind. A Sapphic book, Six Times We Almost Kissed by Tess Sharpe also did pining very well (amongst other things). Any favourites for pining Yuri manga?





Manga Mavericks Names Erica Friedman As Managing Editor

August 18th, 2026

This is somewhat new news, as I’ve mentioned this before, but the announcement for my position with Manga Mavericks is officially official. ^_^ Hehe, “manga expert.” Heh.

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/63148/manga-week-fall-2026-manga-mavericks-names-erica-friedman-managing-editor

I will still be spearheading Okazu, and reviewing all the Yuri I can squeeze in! This week is Anime NYC, so I’ll be out of office most of the week (after having just been on vacation, sorry), but Okazu staff is planning some fun reviews while I’m gone. 

Thank you all for your support and since my car is dying now is terrific time to support Okazu on Patreon or Ko-Fi! ^_^





Comic Yuri Hime, January 2026 (コミック百合姫2026年1月号)

January 4th, 2026

Cover of Comic Yuri Hime, January 2026 - a bold red background. Looking into a mirror, a young woman with a lace bow tying up her purple-brown hair, has lip color applied by brush held by a woman with long pink braids, her face mostly offscreen.Happy new cover art ! Cheriko’s bold colors lead us into a new year. A young woman has lip color applied by a pink-haired woman. Will we see them again or is this a snapshot? We’ll have to wait and see!

The magazine opens with news of a Comic Yuri Hime 20th anniversary cafe at Cure Maid Cafe in Tokyo, which runs through January 12, 2026.

The first story is a tale of the bizarre, “Hina-chan ga Ikiterunara” about a childhood friend who disappeared years ago, but has returned…at the same age she was when she disappeared.

Touma’s “Kimi no Sei Nandakara, Sekinin Totte yo ne” is a story about a woman who contracts with a female escort and is finding herself falling for the other woman. This is absolutely the plot de l’année, as we’re going to see that come back again soon in other publications. 

“Hareta Hi no Dress Code” by Ageru is not going where I expected, wanted or feared it might go and that is all very good. ^_^ A girl who wears pants at school because of scars she wishes to hide and girl who just can’t quite bring herself to wear pants because – well, of a lot of things, really – become friends and begin to change each others lives. 

The girls are being asked what they want to do in their futures and Hime can’t just admit that “marrying rich” is her plan, in “Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!” by Miman.

After enduring introducing Himari to her parents, Yori and Aki are likewise discussing the future. Shiho enters with the terrifying news that one of Lorelei’s videos from the festival is going viral, in Takeshima Eku’s “Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau.”

In “Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku  Reijou.” by inori. and Aonoshimo, Rae and Claire are not at all in alignment about the future, as the revolution grow ever nearer.

Sal Jiang offers up a messily terrific one-shot about a girl who sees, meets and falls in love with an Edo-period prositute in “Tamao no Koi”.

Ten finally tells Lulu the whole story about how she became persona non grata in “Chouuchyuu Yori Ai wo Komete,” by Ashidaka Woz and of course Lulu is affirming and kind. And then all hell breaks loose.

There are many more hundreds of pages of great columns, and comic essays, other series I like and some I do not. At 668 pages, this is an amazing amount of Yuri to begin this new year! 

Ratings: 

Overall – 9

Here’s to a very Yuri 2026 for Comic Yuri Hime! The February issue is already out and on my “currently reading” pile. ^_^