Yuri Visual Novel

Studio Élan announces the release date for their Yuri Visual Novel, Heart of the Woods and the ED by In Love With A Ghost, a snippet of which is available on their soundcloud. The VN will release on February 15 on Steam. You can access the demo there as well.

The website for Sukerasparo’s supernatural Yuri adventure Dantano Folklore is open, with plot and main character visuals.

I haven’t really followed up on this, but is appears that Nico Nico Douga had a broadcast for fans of the Sonohanabira VNs, with the name Lilies Swamp Game Show Channel (this link goes to the Youtube recording of the broadcast.) this news comes from the Twitter feed of NicoNico Douga’s Yuri-Game Love Channel, which seems like a good resource if you like that kind of thing! ^_^

Via YNN Correspondent Sean G, Mangamer is releasing Kindred Spirits on the Roof Full Chorus, a fully voiced version of the Visual Novel. Will my dream come true? Aki’s final monologue spoken? Mangagamer is offering an “upgrade” to the fully voiced version. I might take them up on it.

 
Yuri Manga

Sparkler Monthly has announced an upcoming Kickstarter for a Before You Go graphic novel. Denise Schroeder’s sweet Yuri comic deserves a collected work and I’m looking forward to having it all in one volume.

The next Yuri + Kanojo anthology is available, Yuri + Kanojo – Kossori Kisushite – ( 百合+カノジョ -こっそりキスして-) with a focus on the end of relationships, rather than the beginnings. Sounds cheerful.

Yuri Anime

namori’s Yuruyuri is 10 years old and is getting a Kickstarter of its very own to fund a new animation. ANN has the details.
 

Other News

The February Issue of SF Magazine, which is a special Yuri issue, includes an interview with the editor in chief of Comic Yuri Hime, among others, Comic Natalie reports.
 

Do you have questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast! Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news with your name and an email I can reply to! 

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

This week’s report is going to be super short, as I have a ton of stuff to work on this weekend. But do not worry, you will get to read all of it as it appears. ^_^

First, let me thank all our Okazu Patrons for the wonderful time we had last night at the Okazu patron holiday party! Many thanks to all of you. We’ll do that again. If you want to be a part of our next Okazu patron /whatever/ become an Okazu Patron for 2019! $2/ month makes a huge difference for the Guest Reviewers and events reporters.

Yuri Manga

Super squee-making adorable adult romance Oui Pikachi’s Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru, Volume 1 (羽山先生と寺野先生は付き合っている) hits shelves this week. It is so sweet.

Also out this week is Akashi’s Still Sick, about a covert otaku working as an Office Lady and her colleague who discovers her secret. Oh, okay.

ANN has the news that Saburouta’s spin-off, Citrus Plus will start in the February issue of Comic Yuri Hime.

Other News

Also reported by ANN, Bloom Into You’s Nakatani Nio, and Riddle story of a Devil’s Kouga Yun and Minakata Sunao talk Yuri in January’s Newtype magazine.

In a first, Japan’s SF Magazine will have a special Yuri issue! Chck this link for some of the cover images. The February 2019 Issue is a collection of Science Fiction Yuri stories.  I’m not familiar with any of the creators, so it remains to be seen what we’re in for. ^_^

Do you have questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news with your name and an email I can reply to! 

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

I will be presenting two panels at Derpycon in Morristown, NJ on Friday November 9 at the Hyatt Regency.

The Secret History of Yaoi and Yuri: 2:30pm-3:30pm, Panel 2
LGBTQ in Anime,Comics, Manga, Cartoons: Friday 5pm-6pm, Panel 1

See you there!

This is a message for my USA readers. To quote Steven Universe, “There’s an awful lot of awful things we could be thinking of, but for just one day let’s only think about love.” Let’s get out there and vote for love and empathy!

In Volume 1 of Noboru Segawa’s series about a rap battle club at an all girl’s school, we focused solely on painfully shy Satsuki. In Catcher in the Rhyme, Volume 2 (キャッチャー・イン・ザ・ライム), we spend time with her fellow club members.  

Rich girl Anzu and the girl who got her into trouble, Ren were enemies, until they were friends We meet Ren’s childhood friends, and learn her troubled background  and the meaning rap brought into her life. 

We spend a lot of time with Utsuki, our transgender club member, and help her learn to be better at being herself, even as she meets a former schoolmate whom she had a crush on. He turns out to be a really nice guy and we are able to forgive the fact that he has what seems to be a lovely girlfriend. We get to see him be very encouraging of Utsuki.  Utsuki is allowed to be transgender and female freely in the context of the story, without either of those being awkward, although she has a couple of truly awkward scenes, In the end we watch her walk away with her pride intact.

And finally, we learn about Kaede and her history, and help her walk away from the family that is her club – and welcome her back when she’s free to do so.

Throughout the volume, we learn about bringing rap into normal everyday conversation – how the rhyme and rhythm of words exist with or without structure. Rap is poetry and poetry can be rap. From common phrases to Hyakunin Isshu verses – it’s all rap.

This was a lovely manga, much finer than I expected. Segawa-sensei does an exceptional job of uncovering the inner lives of young women without fetishizing them, always focused on the words; the feelings, the meter and sound and how rap allows them to express themselves when they have no idea what to say or how to say it.

Ratings:

Art – 6 
Story – 8  
Characters – 9 
Service – 2 
Yuri – 0
LGBTQ – 8

Overall – 8