Archive for the Kase-san Series Category


Okazu Top Yuri of 2019

December 31st, 2019

As we wrap up this year, the 100th anniversary of the Yuri genre, I like to imagine what Yoshiya Nobuko might think, if she were to spring to life and see Yuri anime, manga, novels, games…stories of women in love with women, in both fantasy and “real world” settings and bookstores around the world with Yuri titles and manga stores with dedicated Yuribu.  I’d like to think that once she got past the confusion of it all, she’d be pretty pleased about it. ^_^

For the 15th year in a row, I’m wrapping all the best Yuri people, companies, trends and titles up in one big old package and presenting it to you as the Okazu Top Yuri of 2019. ^_^ Please note there are no numbers, as this is not a countdown. Everything here is equally notable.

We’ll start with some well-deserved kudos to the pieces of the industry that set the places at which we sit and lay the feasts we enjoy.

 

Yuri Publishers & Yuribu
In this 100th anniversary of the genre, something almost miraculous occurred. Manga, anime and light novel publishers in the US and many of the major Japanese publishers are now investing in Yuri as Yuri.

My sincere thanks to everyone at Yen Press, VIZ Media, Seven Seas Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, J-Novel Club, UDON Entertainment, Kodansha Comics, Denpa, Lilyka Manga and in Japan, Ichijinsha, Futabasha, Shueisha, East Press, Seidosha, Hayakawa Shobo, Kadokawa Shoten, Akita Shoten and, at long last, Shogakukan.

Additionally, Japanese manga and bookstores have finally recognized that Yuri is a genre that does bring in business and have developed Yuri Clubs to help funnel money their way. ^_^ So thanks to Animate, Shosen, Gamers and Futabasha (again.) Toranoana has no Yuribu, but their Yuri Corner in the flagship store in Akihabara is worth noting, as well.

All these companies have recognized the potential of the growing LGBTQ and Yuri markets and responded to it with money and promotion (and in the case of US companies, care and attention,) which gives us hope for even more and even better Yuri in the year to come!

 

Yuri Webcomics
Webcomics have been an important arm of indie comics since the early 2000s and the last few years has really seen the growth in online platforms for comic artists.

Pixiv has quite literally changed the game for indie artists in Japan like Nagata Kabi, and Webtoons and Lezhin have been among newer platforms that opened up a whole new audience to the joy of Yuri manga and comics.

Artists like Ratiana Satis (Pulse) and Kuru of Color_LES (Mage and Demon Queen) have changed the landscape for how – and where and by whom – people are able to find Yuri.

I think this kind of work is very exciting and very entertaining and always look forward to more new independent artists breaking out!

 

Yuri Visual Novels/Games
I’m not going to lie, the visual novel landscape has a lot of problems, Steam’s inconsistent and obscure rule changes looming large among them.  But the industry is full of energy and creativity that is worth talking about.

In 2019, Studio Élan created a whole new game engine for putting out innovative, unique, and original work. What I have seen has impressed me so very deeply. Indie creators gather annually for the Yuri Game Jam which gives space for smaller creative teams and individual devs to work on their idea and for you to try them out. Itch.io has quietly become a significant independent resource for game and VN developers and players.

Even if I will never be the audience for them, there are some really excellent VNs and games being made and I think they absolutely deserve a place on this list this year.

 

Yuri Creators
There are so many creators of Yuri these days that it almost seems insulting to highlight a few names, but this year there has been some outstanding work by a few individuals, that I really believe it’s worth highlighting and celebrating them.

These are creators whose work has created change in the Yuri landscape: Yoshiya Nobuko (Yaneura no Nishojo) for setting in motion the creation of an entire genre by living her life and writing the stories she wrote;  Riyoko Ikeda (Rose of Versailles), for having conversation about gender presentation and sexuality 40 years before anyone else had words for them;  Takeuchi Naoko (Sailor Moon) who twenty-five years ago created characters so timeless, that we’re only now realizing just how important they are; Kabi Nagata (My Solo Exchange Diary), for her heart-breaking honesty – I know many of us want her to be healthy and happy; Takashima Hiromi (Kase-san and Yamada) for breaking Yuri romance out of high school where it had been locked for so long; Go Nagai (Devil Lady), for being a pioneer of queer women in his Devilman sagas;  Takemiya Jin (Itoshi Koishi) for walking us along the path with a young woman who wants to be out and open with her friends; Ameco Kaeruda (Sexiled), for writing a feminist power fantasy that is empowering, delightful and funny; Morishima Akiko (Conditions of Paradise) who at long last in 2020 will get the English-language recognition as a Yuri manga artist that she deserves.

Breakthroughs often pass unnoticed until long afterwards. I will note that 2020 will mark the end of one the most important decades in history for our genre, as well as the end of the first century for the genre. Some of these names created a solid foundation for us to build upon and some are among the leading lights as we head into a new decade. They most assuredly deserve our thanks and a place on this list.

 

Okazu Readers and Patrons
You, my Okazu readers, are critically important to our mission here. It is a testament to your engagement that so many of you have become writers for Okazu and a testament to your personalities that so many of you have become my friends. ^_^ My very sincere thanks to every one of you who reads and comments on and shares our content.

My very special thanks to Okazu Patrons for making it possible for me to celebrate this year with reviews and lectures and panels and events. Your financial and social support helps us pay for guest writers and reviewers. Every year you make this list, and once again this year I can say with all honesty, I could not have done it without you.

 

Light Novels & Novels
This year saw a veritable explosion of Light Novels and Novels in both digital and print. While as a genre LNs can be inconsistent, Yuri fans have been horribly spoiled by the high quality Light Novels we’ve seen.

J-Novel Club opened up their Yuri line with a salvo of truly excellent Yuri titles, including Last and First Idol,and Side-by-Side Dreamers. Seven Seas picked up what are extraordinarily good series-extension Bloom Into You, Regarding Saeki Sayaka. But the Light Novel that really blew my hair back was the totally-on-point brilliantly topical and deeply satisfying Sexiled series by Kaeruda Ameco. Those books scratched itches I didn’t know I had. If you haven’t read these, you should. Just go read them.

Will Yuri fans continue to be spoiled with top quality fantasy and science fiction Light Novels while everyone else has to deal with “the protagonist has no pants, hurh hurh” as a main plot point? I sure hope so.  ^_^

 

Now as we enter the final few of of our end-of-year roundup, I want to take a moment to note a few series that just deserve a moment of reverence and thanks for all they’ve done and all they will continue to do.

 

Our Dreams at Dusk Shimanami Tasogare
As I have repeatedly noted, this series is not Yuri. Instead, there is very real-world queer identity here; real problems faced by real people in the real world, which makes this series, if not unique, then at least extraordinary.

This story about self and community and creating a space in a world that isn’t welcoming…and then taking up that space and owning it, is a lot to ask of a work of fiction. Heck, it’s a lot to ask of life! Not only does Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare succeed at that, it does it beautifully.

This is the kind of LGBTQ work I hope we’ll see more and more of from increasingly open queer manga artists.

 

 

Sailor Moon Stars
Every year I joke that if there is a Sailor Moon out that year, it will find a way on to this list.  ^_^ Well this year a Sailor Moon that has never had an official English-language release is out and it so very, deeply, queer that it seems almost fantastic. Sailor Moon Stars is the final piece of the original series, and we’re looking forward to the Sailor Moon Crystal 4th season movies in the years to come.

Let me offer a toast to Sailor Moon Stars and to the permanent – and official –  partnership of Tenoh Haruka and Kaioh Michiru – and welcome to the the next iteration of Sailor Moon fandom. Here’s to cafes and night drive parfaits and anniversary albums. May we all be together once again for the 50th anniversary.

 

 

Rose of Versailles
The wait has not been in vain. It *just* squeaked onto this year’s list by having a limited release in December. Don’t be surprised to see it back again in 2020. It’s almost 50 years old but we have an official English language release of The Rose of Versailles at last and it is a truly magnificent thing. UDON has really gone above and beyond for this release.

Oscar’s struggle with gender and class expectations, with the pressures of a society in which she may not be the person she wants to be, takes us through love and loss and the overturning of an ancien regime in a story that is terrifyingly timely.

This story of the French Revolution seen through the eyes of Oscar François de Jarjayes is so very, very extra.

A classic manga just in time for our 100th anniversary. What a year we’ve had. Our Yuri shelves are already full to bursting, with even more amazing stuff to come in 2020!

 

 

Kase-san and Bloom Into You
Both the Kase-san series and Yagate Kimi ni Naru/Bloom Into You were relatively typical high school Yuri series. Both series managed to take the typical tropes of their origins and turn them into something interesting, unusual and ultimately,  original. Both had animation that went above and beyond the manga and both had a global impact.

Once upon a time, all we wanted was a genuinely happy ending for a Yuri love story, an ending that showed our characters moving into the future together. This year, we got two. Moreover, neither series is riding its fame into the sunset, yet. Takashima-sensei’s Kase-san is ongoing and we’re getting some post-series work from Nakatani-sensei in anthologies and artbooks and I desperately hope to see signs of a third Sayaka novel soon.

These series have made it onto both of the other lists and it seems only reasonable to just say this plainly – both these series were tops for 2019.

 

I’ve mentioned this repeatedly during these lists (and have to tell you, we’re not done yet…) but this year was an amazing one, for me, for the Yuri genre, for all of us. Which brings me to the very best Yuri thing this year.

 

100 Years of Yuri

Yuri Events were through the roof this year. It began with the an amazing time at TCAF and took me along, one fun Yuri-filled event to another. We did Yuri-focused Yurithon. We held the 100th Anniversary of Yuri Tour with a few like-minded friends, during which we spent time with the Sailor Senshi, and ate lunch with Fumi, flipped 500 yen coins at a shrine with Kuraku Asuka, bought Yuri goods and Yuri doujinshi and Yuri manga and glutted ourselves on food and threw money at Yuri artists at Girls Love Fest.

This celebration of Yuri’s 100th anniversary has been exhausting and amazing. I’ve met so many folks, got to meet new Yuri manga artists and see old friends and done so many presentations and had so very much fun.

The number one top Yuri thing of the year was…the year.

It’s been 100 Years since Yaneura no Nishojo (屋根裏の二) codified how we think and talk about Yuri. Thanks to Yoshiya Nobuko and thanks to all the people and companies on these lists. Thanks to all of you, my readers and commenters and my patrons.

Here’s looking forward to 2CYE (Common Yuri Era) in which the the fun is not over, as we extend the celebration into 2020 for the final 100th anniversary project here on Okazu. ^_^ Tune in tomorrow! And here’s to the next 100 Years!

 





Yuri Anime: Kase-San and Morning Glories OVA (English), Guest Review by Eric P.

December 18th, 2019

Welcome to another Guest Review Wednesday here on Okazu. Thanks to our Okazu Patrons, we welcome back Guest Reviewer Eric P who is going to take a look at the Section 23 release of Kase-san and Morning Glories. Take it away Eric!

Kase-San and Morning Glories OVA, the high school love story between shy Yamada and her athlete girlfriend Kase, seemed to be a fairly big deal when it came out, with much love and acclaim. So, whichever western publisher would license this title, one would expect them to be well aware of its beloved status and treat its release accordingly, including a high-quality English audio track should they produce one. Kase-San was picked up by Sentai Filmworks/Section 23 , who seemed very much aware of the OVA’s importance.

Yamada’s voice is provided by Bryn Apprill, who also did Historia from Attack on Titan. Upon first listen it seems her voice gives Yamada a stereotypically cute/shy sound, but then I switch back and forth between the English and Japanese audio, and realize it was meant to be reflective of the original seiyuu. Some may still criticize it for trying a little too hard to stay faithful in that regard, and the moments where Yamada shrieks may be a bit much for those that find English shrieks being higher-pitched than the original Japanese bothersome. Yet these are just stressing nitpicks on my part, because by no means is it bad acting and Bryn still fitted the character. Her voice is most soothing when she narrates, and there’s something about the way she says “I think this might be a big deal” as she waits for Kase to come to her house that I felt was well-captured.

The one lead voice guaranteed not to give mixed feelings is Kase-san herself, portrayed by Morgan Berry, who also did Tokaku from Riddle Story of Devil and Dragon Panther from Cutie Honey Universe. While not the exact sound match-up to the original seiyuu like Yamada, she provides a fitting tomboy-type voice that emanates coolness within the movie’s first few moments. But when it comes to Yamada and their progressing relationship, she near-perfectly conveys vulnerable flustering and stumbling, countering her coolness with realistic adorableness.

The only other stand-out character is Yamada’s friend, Mikawa, voiced by Apphia Yu, who also did Tamako Arai from Barakamon. She gives Mikawa a suitable vibe of someone who is gearing up to be the life of the party, and all other additional/background voices making up the OVA’s overall mix come together as a natural-sounding whole. In the end, it is apparent the ADR cast and crew of Sentai poured their loving efforts into honoring this title. Even if one watches it in English just one time, the dub further serves its purpose in helping free the viewers’ eyes a bit and better take in the artistry that compliments the mutually lovely story.

The story itself is admittedly nothing groundbreaking. But even as a simple young romance tale, it is easy to recognize what made this OVA resonate so much is that it did everything it did well, with the right mix of direction, writing, art, music, what-have-you. It says just about everything it needs to say in a single self-contained hour, whether one has read or will read the manga or not. And because it also happens to be a same-sex love story, the focus relationship is depicted in such a casual, sweet and honest way without any “mandatory” sleazy stereotypes to bog it down. Yes, as I wrote the previous sentence I am thinking about that other OVA director Takuya Sato happened to do later that tried passing itself off as a spiritual follow-up to Kase-San. In a way it strangely makes me all the more appreciative that something like Kase-san and Morning Glories exists, and anyone could appreciate everything it offers any time they choose to sit down for one simple hour of pleasantness.

Ratings:

Dub—9.5
Blu-Ray—7*
OVA Overall—10

*Although a Sentai title, it is not yet available on HIDIVE as of this review posting. And Sentai’s basic blu-ray does not come with any bonus features outside the promo trailers and English dub. I would have thought Kase-San would have earned a Premium release of some kind, and nowhere on the disc will one find the Pony Canyon music video that started everything, which was surprising and curious enough on its own. Regardless, it is still worth owning if you are an English dub fan or are at least open to them. Or if you have not yet bought the original Amazon Japan release, then Sentai’s domestic blu-ray is still a more economical purchase to help add this to any Yuri collector’s library.

Erica here: Thank you very much, Eric for this look at the US release of this OVA! At less than $20 on Amazon, it might not be a premium release, but it’s worth every penny. ^_^

 




Interview with Kase-san Series Creator Takashima Hiromi

November 3rd, 2019

Last spring I had the absolute pleasure of meeting and talking with the creator of the delightful Kase-san series at Toronto Comic Arts Festival. At that time I asked her if she would do an interview for us here on Okazu. Graciously, she agreed. We both had a busy summer, so thank you for your patience. ^_^

In the meantime, the Kase-san and Morning Glories OVA was released in English by Sentai Filmworks, and the 6th volume of the manga, Kase-san and Yamada will be released in February 2020 from Seven Seas!

I apologize to my readers and to Takashima-sensei for the long delay. But today it is my very great pleasure to bring you a short interview with the creator of one of my favorite series of the 2010’s, Takashima Hiromi-sensei!

 

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Q1: Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
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I am Japanese manga artist, Takashima Hiromi. I love to draw.
 

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Q2: How did you become a manga artist? Was it something you wanted to do as a child?

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I was scouted at Tokyo Comic Market Comiket。
It has been my dream to become a manga artist since I was a child.
 

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Q3: Which artists are your role models?
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There are so many. Mainly manga artists, but there are too many to choose between.
 

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Q4: If you were not a manga artist, what kind of work would you be doing?
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I can’t imagine anything other than drawing manga, so maybe I’d be a manga artist’s assistant?
 

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Q5: Please tell us a little bit about your process. How long does it take you to draw a chapter?
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If one chapter is 24 pages, it would take me 10-14 days.
The “Nemu” (storyboard) takes about a week.
 

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Q5.2: How many assistants do you have? What is the first task you have to do and what is the last task?
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3-4 people.

As I sketch and ink the characters, I’ll have my assistants draw the background at the same time.

Then I ask the assistants to apply tone, after which I finish it.
 

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Q6: What does the success of Kase-san mean to you?

The [Kase-san] animation became a great learning experience, because I was able to learn about a completely different world. From now on I will keep working hard!
 

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Q7: What have you learned in the production of the Kase-san manga?

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Can [a scene] be drawn so that the character’s personality and actions are not disturbed?
 

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Q8: Do You read any Yuri Manga? If so, what series?

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I read a great deal of manga. The first Yuri manga I ever read was Morinaga Milk-sensei’s GIRL FRIENDS.
 

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Q9: Is there something you would like to say to overseas fans?
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There are cases where Japanese culture is depicted in the comics, but is there anything that you wonder about?
A rice ball bentou. Girls going together to the bathroom.

(Erica here: It seems to be universal that girls go to the bathroom together! It seems normal to me. ^_^)

 

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Q10: Do you have any advice for young people who would like to become a writer, artist or mangaka?
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When I was young, I think my mental perspective changed frequently.
Still, it is the most difficult thing to continue creating without lowering one’s motivation.
Don’t overdo it, don’t compromise, keep going for the long haul.
I will also do my best.
 

Thank you very much Takashima-sensei for your time and advice! We will continue to read and enjoy your work.





Yuri Manga: Yamada to Kase-san (山田と加瀬さん)

August 14th, 2019

Yamada and Kase-san have officially begun their lives as college students in the big city. It’s a life full of challenges; getting around, meeting people, balancing their relationship and the physical distance separating them against the rest of their lives.

Yamada makes a friend, Hana, a girl whose family runs a flower store. Hana is very similar to Yamada and feels equally as in love with the school program, as she is overwhelmed by city life. To help Hana, Yamada agrees to go to a meet-and-greet event. Kase-san forcefully asks her to decline, but Yamada wants to live her own life, as well as be with her lover.

The defining challenge of Yamada to Kase-san (山田と加瀬さん) is jealousy. Both Yamada and Kase-san are threading thin needles, keeping up with their work, forming peer groups and trying to fit each other into these new lives. When Kase-san shows up to the meet-and-greet, Yamada knows that Kase-san wasn’t wrong, but stands firm on her own motivations. Kase-san backs down – probably the single most important moment of the book. And of course, Hana, innocent that she is, is appalled at the party becoming a drinking party and bails. ^_^

All is well, as they get together with Mikawacchi and Yamada is recruited to a job at a Garden Center – where she is greeted as a savior. Then it his her turn to face down jealousy, as it suddenly dawns on Yamada that Kase-san is sharing her dorm room, with a woman who will know more about the day-to-day life of her lover than she does. Kase-san’s birthday forces her to confront her jealousy.

There’s another conflict brewing in the background, too, but that is saved for another time.

This was an exceptionally strong volume of this series. The translation of Kase-san and Yamada from provincial high school into a more adult world is not without its sacrifices….sometimes the humor comes of as a bit facile, but, more often its a welcome relief to an otherwise difficult emotional situation. It is delightful to have kept Mikawacchi’s chaotic influence in the story and a triumph to see Yamada with a peer of her own.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 8
Story – 7
Service – Does Kase-san in a suit count? Yes? 7
Yuri – 9 With the slightest frisson of the real world edging in

Overall – 9

Ultimately, my desire to see them happy continues unabated.

The English-language volume, Kase-san and Yamada, is slated for winter 2020 release.





The Little Series that Could: Asagao to Kase-san

June 2nd, 2019

1.Introduction

When Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari magazine, Volume 2 hit shelves in summer 2010, it didn’t have any big names in Yuri in the table of contents. (Hakamada Mera did not join the roster until Volume 3, and Morinaga Milk would follow in 2012.) Many of the names who joined in subsequent volumes had not yet become familiar to readers, but would as a result of their work in this magazine. In fact, looking over the author’s notes at the end of the magazine, several of the notes mention that this is the creators  first time attempting a Yuri story. Among these new names was Takashima Hiromi, an artist who had been recruited by Shinsokan at a doujinshi event. Having done BL and straight pairings, her editor asked her if she’d do a story for a new Yuri magazine.

And so, in August 2010, a story called Asagao to Kase-san. (あさがおと加瀬さん) made its debut in Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari magazine. The magazine favored stories set during school years. When compared to the Comic Yuri Hime issues at the time, the difference was a little stark. This was the same summer Morishima Akiko was writing Renai Joshika, about women who worked at a marriage planning company, complete with lesbian identity  expressed through the use of queer slang. In comparison, Hirari stories seemed rather bland.

2. What is “Pure” Yuri anyway..?

In this post-Maria-sama ga Miteru “S”-scented environment, we were introduced to Yamada, a high school girl who takes care of the school grounds and Kase-san, the school track star. Yamada, we learn, has somewhat low self-esteem, not helped by the people around her, who have limited expectations for her. The story, told from Yamada’s perspective, follows her interest in Kase-san as an object of romantic affection, then a partner in an emotional romantic, then physical, relationship through their high school years. We follow Yamada as she deals with the feelings of love and attraction – and we get constant reminders that Kase-san is not 100% confident and assured, either. She, too, is a teenaged girl and not quite sure she’s doing any of this right.

Although none of the three Yuri manga magazines being published by 2011 were in any way pornographic, Hirari was the most sexless. Despite the stated “purity” of the Yuri, readers are given plenty of fanservice – especially in early chapters – in the form of underwear and changing scenes. “Pure” could, of course refer to the “S” aesthetic of passionate platonic romance. Takashima-sensei took to asking herself and the readers “What does “Pure” Yuri mean, anyway?” in her author’s comments in each volume.

Regardless of what the publisher may have meant, fans of the Kase-san series found the relationship between Yamada and Kase-san to be realistic. Awkward, gentle, with bumps in the road from jealousy, self-esteem, body issues, boundaries, we see both Yamada and Kase-san mature over time both as individuals and together as a couple, in a world peopled with friends and teammates, classmates, teachers and parents.

 

3. To Be Continued..

By the time the magazine ceased publication in 2014, Kase-san had become one of the most popular series. That year, the second volume, Obentou to Kase-san. was awarded the #1 Yuri Manga of the Year on Okazu. In my end-of-year write up I said of this volume:

Sure, it’s the same old story, but without being creepy or trite, without featureless moe faces, or featureless Yuri romance.  Kase and Yamada’s romance is adorable and we can watch it develop without feeling like sick voyeurs, more like the adults we are, merely happy to see the children so happy together.

Although the magazine was no longer in print, the publishers continued several series online in order to wrap up final volumes. Shortcake to Kase-san. (ショートケーキと加瀬さん。) was published in 2015, ending the story begun in the magazine. And,  it would seem, that the series was done. With no place to publish, we might have expected to never hear of Yamada or Kase-san again.

Except…Takashima Hiromi is an exceptional manga artist. In conversation with her at TCAF 2019, she expressed complete confidence in her abilities to tell a story. When the magazine ceased publication, she took the Kase-san series online and sold individual chapters on the various online manga platforms such as Yahoo Comics (on the Japanese version of the portal platform; there is no western equivalent), the social SNS platform LINE, and later on the publisher’s online version of their leading magazine, Wings, Web Wings. In 2017, the 4th volume, Apron to Kase-san. (エプロンと加瀬さん。) was published in Japanese. The publisher was still in Takashima’s corner. With the publication of that 4th volume came an avalanche of events.

In 2017, Kase-san and Morning Glories made its English-language debut from Seven Seas Publishing. This has been followed by translations into French and German and Polish. That same year, animation studio Pony Canyon launched a video clip on Youtube; a 6-minute music video, Kimi no Hikari (キミノヒカリ). In English and Japanese, with promotion in both languages, on all their social media platforms, Pony Canyon teased that if they got 100,000 views on the video, that they’d consider something more. When the number was reached, Pony Canyon did indeed come up with a stunning announcement – Asagao to Kase-san would be getting an animated OVA, to be released in Japanese theaters.

In summer 2018, Asagao to Kase-san‘s national roadshow took it through theaters for 2 and half months, an almost unheard of length of time for an animated feature. That OVA was shown in America at Anime Expo 2018 and AnimeNYC 2018. In Q&A sessions at AnimeNYC with the Producer and Director, Satou and Terada both expressed that for them, the importance of the story was not “two girls fall in love,” but what a relationship looks like as it develops and how communication is what helps it grow.

2018 continued to be a good year for the series. 8 years after we first had met Yamada and Kase-san, they finally reached high school graduation. With the publication of Sakura to Kase-san (さくらと加瀬さん。) the two we’d followed for so many years entered college in Tokyo and slept together for the first time, bringing the story once and for all out of the realm of imagined purity  (although, in her author’s notes at the end of the volume, Takashima’s avatar once again asked “what exactly is “Pure” Yuri, anyway?” as she had in the previous volumes.) Also in 2018, the Kase-san series premiered in the print edition of the Shinsokan flagship manga magazine, Wings.

In 2019, Takashima-sensei was a guest at Toronto Comic Arts Festival. She spoke with quiet confidence about her work and about the evolution of the series. Watching Yamada grow, and both she and Kase-san develop in their relationship, was the point for her. With both Yamada and Kase-san now grown up and starting to face more adult life. she stated that we should expect to see their relationship to develop as well.

This little story about two high school girls, a story that as a “Story A”, one might have expected to have finished and been forgotten, has thrived both online and in print. The Kase-san series can be seen as emblematic of Yuri as a whole – persevering when no one cared, now thriving in the current environment. Kase-san has been the “little series that could” and as we look forward to the 6th volume of the series, the upcoming Yamada to Kase-san (山田と加瀬さん。) , we can feel pride in its success. We could do worse for ambassadors of Yuri, energetically leading us forward into the next 100 years.