Archive for the Miscellaneous Category


100 Years of Yuri 2020 Project – Introduction

January 1st, 2020

Happy New Year and welcome to 2020 or, as I like to think of it, the first day of 2CYE (Current Yuri Era.) ^_^

To begin with, thanks to everyone who made 2019 one of the best years of a lifetime, as we celebrated 100 years of the Yuri genre!

In my final list of 2019, I imagined what Yoshiya Nobuko-sensei might have made of this last century and the growth of an entire genre out of her and her peers’ work…and what she might think looking at explicitly queer stories with openly lesbian characters. A hundred years is a long time, and tastes, technology, fashion and the sociopolitical landscape have all changed so radically. Which got me thinking about those years and all those changes. Even in the past 20 years, there have been some remarkable shifts. From a fetish on a long list of fetishes, or a reference to a century-old literary movement to a full-blown genre with recognition by companies and bookstores on both sides of the globe, there have been a lot of changes in Yuri. Yuri has gone from a niche of a niche to a segment of the anime/manga audience that has its own events and visible presence at larger events. And, so, I developed an idea – one last exciting project to cap off this 100 Year Anniversary of the genre. I asked this question:

Could we develop a list of the best, most notable, most representative, Top Yuri titles of the last century?

To help me out with this, I reached out to invite some of my favorite Yuri experts, folks whose opinions I am always interested to hear and whose knowledge about our genre is far-reaching.

Starting tomorrow, over the next several days, you’ll be hearing from Erin Subramanian  Katherine Hanson and Nicki Bauman, all long-time Yuri researchers and bloggers. These are people who I like to consider my peers in the non-academic Yuri research bubble that I have created and which I so cheerfully occupy. ^_^

I’ll be posting 4 different lists from each of these terrific writers and myself on our “Top Yuri of the last 100 Years.” Each one of us had completely different criteria for our choices which means that, even if you see some of the same series represented I ask you to read the entries, because they are on each of our lists for completely different reasons!

Please join me in welcoming all of our our guest writers as we start the 100 Years of Yuri 2020 Project!





Pre-holiday Premium Okazu Lucky Boxes are Here!

December 1st, 2019

All of the Pre-Holiday Lucky Boxes have been claimed. Thank you all to folks who bought them. They will go out as soon as the weather here clears up.^_^

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I’ve got a bunch of stuff that we picked up during the 100 Years of Yuri Tour in Japan and you’d probably like some cool Yuri goods from The Bloom Into You pop-up or some JP DVDs, so it’s time for some Okazu Lucky Boxes!

Because of course there is, a snow/sleetstorm is hitting my area as I type. That means these will be ever so slightly delayed in shipping. I love you enough to shove loads of random crap into boxes and put my back out carrying them…I don’t love you enough to drive on ice to mail them.

This time we have 5 Lucky Boxes: 4 Premium Large and 1 Premium medium. All the boxes contain a random assortment of manga, books, Japanese candy, toys, pieces of paper things I picked up because they were cool, postcards and random other items of interest. ALL of the Large boxes contain a DVD as well as all the rest of the stuff.

When you email me, please refer to the box you want by the title and #. First come, first served and these always go fast! These are listed out so I can cross them off as they go.

Large Box 1 – Claimed!
Large Box 2 – Claimed, Pending
Large Box 3 – Claimed!
Large Box #4 – Claimed!
Medium Box 1 – Claimed!





Many Thanks From All of Us at Okazu

November 28th, 2019

It’s Thanksgiving here in the United States and as usual, I want to take a moment to thank you all for taking the time to read and comment and share our posts here at Okazu. Thank you for your support of Yuri anime and manga and especial thanks to Okazu Patrons! With your assistance we were able take our100 Years of Yuri celebration on tour and around the world!

This year I also want to thank all the folks at the following companies for their support and investment in Yuri and queer manga: Funimation, J-Novel Club, Kodansha, Sentai Filmworks, Seven Seas, Tokyopop, Viz Media, Yen Press.

Thank you all, I’m very, very grateful to all of you.





It’s Lucky Box Time!

August 25th, 2019

Today we are getting rid of some Yuri Stuffs, so it’s time for some Okazu Lucky Boxes!  And you know that you totally want utter crap that I’m cleaning out of my house! ^_^

This time we have 5 Lucky Boxes:

Yuri Boxes: 3 Medium size boxes and 1 Large Premium box. All the boxes contain a random assortment of manga, books, candy, toys, random pieces of paper things I put in there. The Premium box has two rare-ish Yuri artbooks, one is hardcover, as well as the usually assortment of nonsense. This box is perfect for long-time, hard-core, you’ve seen-it-all Yuri fans!

We have an additional NOT-SPECIFICALLY-YURI box, filled will Replicant and Figure magazine issues, garage kit catalogs and the like. Some random artbooks and generally “other.” This is a box for folk who like figurines. This is not pictured, but it looks just like the large box pictured here. (‘Cause it is.)

When you email me, please refer to the box you want by the title and #. First come, first served and these always go fast! These are listed out so I can cross them off as they go.

Premium Box #1 – $60 – Claimed
Medium Box #1 – $30 – Claimed
Medium Box #2 – $30 – Claimed
Medium Box #3 – $30 – Claimed
Not-Specifically-Yuri Large Box o’ Magazines #1 – $40

I can 100% guarantee these boxes are filled with absolute pure stuff, with no guarantees of any other kind. No returns, because, let’s face it – either you like the fact that you’re spending money on someone else’s stuff, or you don’t. If getting a box of you have no idea what is not your thing, skip this! ^_^

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How to be eligible to buy a Lucky Box: Follow these instructions carefully. Please. Thank you. Failure to follow all of these instructions will disqualify you. It’s not personal, they go fast and I don’t have time to track you down for a piece of information.

1- You must live in the Continental USA (contiguous 48) only, no APO/FPOs – sorry about that, really. It’s vexing, I know.

2 – You must be over 18, I am not policing which books you get and since these boxes have doujinshi and other items, I really don’t know what you’re getting.

3 -Email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with the subject “Lucky Box”. Use an email you check regularly.

4. *****Please include your name, age, mailing address. ***** Tell me which box you want by name a #. Even if you’ve given me your address previously, please include it, I am very lazy.

5- I will contact you at that point and give you details about payment by Paypal. Please be prepared to check your email and get payment out so this post doesn’t linger. Thanks in advance.

This whole process will be handled with utmost capriciousness, as usual. ^_^ 

Ready? Get your Lucky Boxes!





Haru to Midori Manga, Volume 1 ( 春とみどり)

August 7th, 2019

Midori is a loner. She’s competent at work, but does not have friends. She always wears black and prefers to be alone. Or so she believes. When she receives a phone call informing her that her friend from high school, Tsugumi, is dead, she is overwhelmed instantly by memories.

Midori attends the funeral, at which she learns that Tsugumi has a daughter, Haruko. Haru, as she prefers to be called, has no one else left except a distant relative. Moved by emotions she does not yet recognize, Midori offers to let Haru live with her.

And so, Haru to Midori, Volume 1 ( 春とみどり) begins the tale of an unlikely family,; two people connected only by the death of a loved one. Haru adapts quickly to Midori’s household. She is friendly, but not intimately so, with her new guardian.  Midori begins to shed layers of hurt and loneliness almost too quickly for her to handle. She admits to herself, perhaps for the first time, that she was in love with Tsugumi and had mourned her loss long before she died.

Awkardly, for Midori is an awkward person, she opens up to the daughter of her beloved. Hesitantly, because she is suffering from a recent loss, Haru opens up to the idea of caring for someone new. They change each other gradually. By the end of Volume 1, they could take tentative steps to becoming a family, but its Haruko who pulls back.

The art is solid. Midori always looks slightly unkempt, as you might expect, Haru looks like a young woman who has had to put her life on hold for an indefinite amount of time.

I had no expectations whatsoever when I started reading this manga. We’re at the section of the pile I think of as throwing darts –  could be good, could suck, won’t know until I read it. ^_^ This time it turned out to be much…nicer…than I expected. Not at all creepy or weird, I’m rooting for Haruko and Midori to be a child and a guardian who each learn what Tsugumi saw in the other.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9 Not much is “happening,” per se, so we have a lot of time to spend on character
Yuri – 3 Only in retrospective, as Midori starts to unpack her feelings for Tsugumi
Service – Does Midori getting a new sweater count? No? 0

Overall –  Another solid 8

 

I’ll definitely look for Volume 2.