Archive for the Okazu News Category


Art is Resistance – Yuri Manga, Politics and Okazu in 2017

January 1st, 2017


 

 
 
 

 
  

 
 

I’ve been trying to find a way to discuss 2017 here on Okazu without writing a purely political post. Every single time I have attempted to do so, I’ve ended up deleting it. In some cases because I have become too angry at the things I feel have to write. Sometimes I’ve self-censored to not offend people who tune in here for news about comics and manga.

But today I was reminded by Notes From The Resistance that language is – and always has been – a weapon. And likewise, comics have always been political acts, acts of rebellion and protest and defiance and propaganda. And LGBTQ comics have, likewise, always been the voice of people largely silenced by mainstream media.

I’ve made a few promises to myself in the last month. I’ve committed to working only on and with genuinely diverse books and publishers. I’ve committed to listening to and speaking with voices I haven’t formerly opened up to. 

I re-read this post on defending democracy about twice a week and hope you will too. Unfortunately for all of us, the checks and balances we presumed we had in the government are gone and a liberal democracy has no real defense against that.

So what does this have to do with Yuri manga? I’ll be doing a talk – my first of several – in January 2017, on the way fans pushed for and created spaces for LGBTQ stories in manga. When I return home I am joining a march to protest the inauguration of a patsy for a foreign government as President of the United States, a man who has hand-picked a Cabinet that will dismantle the last 150 years of American progress…and I encourage you to protest, as well. There are marches all over the US being planned. If you care at all about anyone who is a non-white, non-Christian, non-male, you will make your voice heard that this is not acceptable.

Despite the pressure by straight men to keep Yuri manga in a space of fetishized infantilism, Yuri manga is and always has been, stories of women in love with other women. Yuri manga is lesbian. Yuri manga is our story. I commit to continuing to speak for and about women who love other women, to demand Yuri from creators and publishers that represent the stories of women who love other women. 

My primary goal for 2017 on Okazu is getting to the point where we can pay our guest writers and get their voices out there and heard by as many people as possible.  Your subscriptions on our Patreon will help achieve this goal!

I commit to keeping Okazu radical and outspoken and for those of us who care that women who love women deserve a place for ourselves at the table of social and political discourse and representation in entertainment on our own terms.

And I think it’s only fair to warn you, my dear readers, that I’m not planning on stopping using words and pictures to speak up against the wall of injustice I can see being built already. 

A lot of you have been with me for years and I appreciate that more than I can ever express. I hope you’ll stay with me in the year to come. I think it’s going to get harder before it gets better, so keeping Okazu and the Yuri community here for all of us is important to me. 

***

 Subscribe to Okazu with Patreon!
Subcribe with Patreon

***

Art is resistance. Tell your stories, draw your stories, sing your stories and support artists who tell those stories for you. 

Come here to Okazu to share your stories and tell other people where to find those stories, too. We all need them. Making sure our stories get out is an act of resistance we can all share. Make 2017 the year you back diverse causes, creatives and creations in your entertainment, consumer and business behaviors.

Happy New Year to all to all of you. Here’s to great art in 2017





Original Okazu “I Love Yuri” Design on the Yuricon Store!

March 14th, 2016

okazu-heart-small Wahoo! For the first time in 14 years, Okazu has it’s own “I Love Yuri” design, which is now available to be customized on shirts in many cuts and colors, mugs, journals, pillows and more through Redbubble.

This design was created by our fabulous web designer and mistress of WordPress, Lissa Patillo, and features our Okazu Mascots sharing a meal and their love of Yuri.

That makes 6 great designs on the Yuricon Store to tell the world how much you love Yuri, Yuricon and Okazu! I’m so excited! An Okazu t-shirt! Squee!





Okazu Patreon Special Offer!

June 11th, 2015

I’m about to embark on a two-con weekend and bring you coverage from Flamecon, New York City’s first LGBTQ Comic Con on Saturday and my local home con here in New Jersey, AnimeNEXT, on Sunday.

And I have some really exciting news  that I can’t share yet, but is going to about 5x awesome and you will totally want to know all about it. ^_^

In the meantime, we’re still moving forward with Yuricon Store, which is already the most comprehensive place for Yuri media online, and we’re hoping that the next phase will make it the most comprehensive Yuri *everything* shop online! Clothes, toys, goods, cel phone accessories,…everything.

As you know, I am now accepting subscriptions through Patreon. As you also probably realize, nature prefers zeroes to other, more messy, numbers. ^_^ Right now the Okazu Patreon is currently $5.62 away from $400.  Seriously, less than $6 to hit a major milestone, although not quite the one we hoped to hit for launching the Store. (But, screw that, you get the Store, no matter what.)

We just sent the third perq out to patrons yesterday, and if you hop on this, you’ll get that too. Early access to the third translated article from Eureka magazine’s “Current State of Yuri Culture” issue. This one is a provocative article by artist Rica Takashima.

I am offering a super special one-time perq for the person who pushes us over that mark. Be the person who subscribes to Okazu, and gets us over the $400 line and I will give you a 1-hour Skype session with me about anything. Your favorite Yuri series, why I’m wrong about Claymore, or Candy Girl, or Hitohira…or 60 solid minutes of us gabbing about how *amazing* Sei is, or our favorite predatory lesbians…or anything. I’ll let you in on industry “secrets” (there aren’t any, it’s all rather tedious business stuff, but still…) or we can just show each other our coolest Yuri figurines. The time will be yours to do with as you will, with the obvious exception for people being a raging asshole or weird sex stuff, I charge way more than $6 for that. ^_^

So how about it? Your own private Yuri panel. And you’ll be supporting Okazu and Yuricon and getting us that much closer to our goal of being the best source for Yuri everything and anything, anywhere and everywhere.

***

Support Yuri News and Reviews –  Subscribe to Okazu withSubcribe with Patreon

***

Thanks to all our current patrons, supporters, friends and readers! You make everything worth it.

 

Friday June 12 Update! Holy Mother of All That Is Yuri, we have broken the $400/month mark!

Thank you Okazu Patrons and Readers everywhere!

 





5 Days Left to Become an Okazu Hero!

January 26th, 2015

SubscribeepsThere are five days left in the 2015 Okazu Patreon Campaign!

Subscribe to Okazu and get early access to translated articles from the “Current State of Yuri Culture” issue of Eureka – and our eternal gratefulness. (Well, “eternal”, y’know. ^_^) . And you’ll get us that much closer to launching the new Yuricon Shop (which is looking awesome, btw. We’ll be doing beta-testing soon. It should launch early Q2 at this rate.)

All patrons who join through January 31 will receive access to the articles. Patrons from $5/month and up will get nifty badges and recognition on the Okazu Hero Roll on Okazu! It’s on the right sidebar there. –> Down a bit. Yeah, all those medals. That. ^_^

Thanks very much from everyone at Yuricon and Okazu!





Okazu in 2015 – It’s All About You (and Yuri)

January 4th, 2015

Hello! It’s already been an amazing 2015 and we’re 4 days in. We started the year with a look at the comics ecosystem in which we live, and already, we have a Yuri Network that is already kicking into gear with one event report – and another to come – interviews, Guest Reviews and eventually I’ll get to tell you about the cool books I just finished. ^_^ I should be exhausted thinking about it all, but instead I’m excited and energized and inspired.

So, to share with you my thoughts on you – and all that we’re doing here on Okazu and Yuricon, I’ve recorded a video to let you know how far we’ve come and where we’re headed and how you can help us get there! We’re already working on giving the Yuricon Shop the facelift it deserves – I can’t wait for you to be able to you, know, browse and search in different ways and do stuff that the Amazon shop interface never really gave us. When we make that second goal on Okazu’s Patreon, we’re gonna have a kick-ass Shop unveiling, with prizes and lollipops and balloons. (Well, maybe not balloons, they don’t ship well, but lollipops are still a possibility.)

So thank you and I hope you’ll watch this video. It took me 14 takes to get it right. I was halfway to throwing the camera into the street and cheering when it was run over by a car. Rude language may have been used, too. So please watch the damn thing. Thanks. (^_^)