I have been remiss with my gift guide, letters to Santas and pretty much everything else (haven’t even started my Top Ten lists, don’t want to rush that, orz). I was thinking a little bit about what I wanted for 2016 for Yuri and I find that there’s surprising little I really want. Most of the series I never expected to see released, have been. We’ve got more Yuri than ever before, but trying to see what I’d like to see in the middle of all the stuff that focuses on things I find creepy is exceptionally hard this year.  So I’m going to keep this list very short. Three things, in fact. There are two things I would like more of and one I would like less of. And these three things will be my simple Wish List for Yuri for 2016.

1. In 2016 I would like to see more Yuri sports series. I would like to see any Yuri sports series.

I have asked for this pretty much every year since I first became a Yuri fan. ^_^;

Sports are the perfect scenario for love, for hate, for rivalry. Yuri needs a Attack No. 1 or a Ace wo Nerae! of it’s own. Softball, folks, SOFTBALL. It’s the standard lesbian sport, it could be a Ace of Diamond-like guts and will and teamwork series with a lesbian character who finds that teamwork and being a good athlete and player is not incompatible with a love affair off the field with another player. (Yes, all possible sports plots are acceptable. Please stop suggesting possible plot variations, this was not a mandate for one particular plot.)

I’m not saying it has to be softball. Pro wrestling, tennis, horseback riding, diving, track and field, soccer, basketball…I don’t care which sport. It’s just long, long, long past time that we get a really strong Yuri sports series.

2. In 2016 I would like to see more lesbians in Yuri.

We’ve been really patient about this, waiting for every character ever to get through the “I’m in love with you” phase, and grow up a bit and realize that they are actually gay. Takemiya Jin-sensei can’t write every story ever. We need a few more manga artists to think past high school and have the occasional character who is gay. We’ve read enough confessions for 264,844- lifetimes.

And, here is the one thing I’d really like to say goodbye to….

3.In 2016 I would like to see less thigh- and crotch-staring in anime and manga.

 I’m done with this. It’s creepy.

With this, I will wish you all a very pleasant holiday season and I’ll see you back here for some end-of-year reviews, lists and news!

We’ve entered that phase of my to-review piles where the Novels taunt me with their 400 pages of unremitting 8pt Japanese text. I am reading as fast as I can, but will have fewer reviews if only because I read about 30 pages a day on a good day. My eyes just sort of stop seeing anything after a while.

In the meantime, as I have safely and successfully passed an age landmark that includes both zeroes and fives, I wanted to share an important lesson I have learned with you, my dear readers. I am the product of a person who was a super-duper nerd back in the day when “nerd” didn’t mean “makes millions in tech” and a person who has absolutely no interest in nerdly things…or even things. (My seminal story on this was the day when my parents came to visit and Dad sat there playing with every single Sailor Moon wand, hitting all the buttons and playing the music, and Mom, who had her back to him said, shaking her head, “I don’t know where you get your collecting things from.”)

Anyway, here’s the most important thing I’ve learned in 50 years:

Have fun the way you want to.

It doesn’t matter at all if other people don’t understand it as long as it makes sense to you.

Let me remind you that I will be having my brand of fun next month at New York Comic Con (NYC, October 8-11) and Nijicon (Philadelphia, October 24-25)

And if you want to access my /coughcough/wisdom – send me a question for the next Q&A online streaming Yuri panel, which I have not yet picked a date for, but will probably be in November!

One of the most commonly asked questions I have gotten in panels and after lectures is some version of “What is it like to actually be gay in Japan?” It’s always been a hard question to field for any number of reasons.

This kind of question always sounds simple, but because human behavior is complex, the answer needs to be nuanced and complex as well. (As people might realize, if they ask themselves the question honestly about…anywhere, really. Even countries where gay marriage is legal, there are places are not 100% safe for gay people. And discrimination continues no matter what the law says. We see that to be true in every place, if we’re looking with open eyes.)

You know I answer a lot of questions like this on Quora and here, where I have the space, the time and the resources to give apparently simple, but actually complex questions, the time and nuance they require for a full answer.

Yesterday one of my Quora answers was published on Slate.com: How Does Japan Treat Gay People?

I’m confident that I was able to provide a balanced perspective on media and political representation. There are other areas I touched upon as well, including the difference in perception by straight people and gay people of straight people’s “reactions” and the gap between being a fan of same-sex content entertainment and actually supporting LGBTQ people.

Please read and share this article with fan groups you know of, because it’s a question that a lot of folks ask…and now there’s at least one shot at an answer you can point to. ^_^

No YNN Report today. It’s been a while since I’ve declared it to be ‘Utter Nonsense’ time here on Okazu. Two years in fact. So…it’s “Utter Nonsense’ time once again on Okazu!

What is “Utter Nonsense’ time, you ask? Well, it’s when you ask me questions about…life, love, blogging, anime, manga, Yuri, whatever. And I do my very best to answer you without lifting a finger to do any research. ^_^ For previous Q&As, check out the Now This is Only My Opinion Category here on Okazu,. and take a look at the kinds of things people have asked previously.

Back in 2012, we did a Livestream Yuri Panel and it went really well. I was thinking of doing something similar this time this spring. Send me amazing questions and I’ll answer them live  – and we can take questions from folks “attending” live!

There are a few rules for sending in questions:

1) I will not answer questions about “what is your favorite….” I find them difficult to answer, as I really don’t have favorites. And generally, people are looking for external validation anyway and when my favorite does not sync with theirs, they get annoyed. So, let’s not. ^_^

2) No A/B choice questions like “ham or cheese” or “Coke or Pepsi” questions, please.  They aren’t all that interesting for any of us and I can tell you honestly, the answer is almost always “neither of the two.”

3) If you want to ask me what I see as the future of Yuri or why I like Yuri, I beg you to read all the previous iterations of my answers to these questions. If you have a question about Yuri that I have not previously addressed, bring it on!

4) No questions that can be answered by 30 seconds of actually READING one of my reviews here. Also, asking me “what do you think of so-and-so anime/fandom” is not going to give you the external validation you crave, nor will I rise to the bait of using it as a springboard to rant about a fandom, either. Don’t know if I’ve reviewed a thing you want to know about? Look to the right—->

See that empty box on the sidebar that says “Search Okazu“? Try that first.  ^_^

5) Lastly, no “define the term” questions. The answers have been posted here:  https://okazu.yuricon.com/glossary/.

Now, I realize that this makes it harder to ask me questions. But the harder you work at the questions, the harder I have to work at the answering, so it’s a fair deal. The funnier the question, the better chance of an amusing answer. ^_^

Please post your questions in the comments here and I’ll figure out a date for a Livestream Yuri Panel for all of us.

I’m looking forward to your questions!