Archive for the Series Category


Yuri Network News – January 29, 2011

January 29th, 2011

Yuri Anime

Here is a trailer for the Morita-san ha Muguchi (森田さんは無口) OVA that is being bundled with the third manga volume. The OVA looks Yuri-er than the manga, but seems just as fun overall. For an overview of the story, check out my reviews of Volume 1 and Volume 2.

This was unexpected and happy-making – Digimon Tamers has been made available by Toei on Hulu.com. At last, I get to refresh my Ruki/Renamon fixation! Still want it on DVD, though… But for the first time ever, I may well try out Hulu. I’m actually pretty excited about this news. I loved Digimon Tamers. It was an amazingly good series, even aside from Ruki being a big ole babydyke. Oh screw it – squee!

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Yuri Manga

The tops stories here were already broken this week, but to recap:

Vertical has announced that they are publishing Princess Knight, Ribon no Kishi （リボンの騎士）apparently under some pressure from the Tezuka folks. Good for them.

And this week saw the release date for the second (middle) Volume of GUNJO. In reply to my congratulations on Twitter, Nakamura-sensei replied that all that was left was the final volume, phew! She promises to keep working hard.

You may remember Gakkou no Sensei, a story about three young teachers and their wacky adventures being pretty bad at their job. Volume 3 is out and the Japanese Yuri lists have upped the Yuri rating. That means fairly little, speaking from my subjective view, but it was a slightly fun manga with some Yuri-ish bits.

And in all honesty, this has to be the seriously weirdest news so far this year – with the popularity of Gantz, and the big global movie release last week, Oku’s first big series is making a comeback. Yes, folks HEN is back in bunko versions, being published by Shueisha. This series is of interest to Yuri fans, BL fans and people who can stand the way Oku draws ears. I reviewed this series ages ago, way back when it was one of the few Yuri series we actually had. Here’s my review  of the Hen anime and manga (from almost *7* years ago! That’s positively stone-age.)

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Yuri Drama CD


Man, you can always tell it’s mid-winter, when the Drama CD news comes pouring in….

You may remember that there is a new Hayate x Blade Drama CD –  Hayate x Blade Ultra Drama CD! Ichiban Hoshi! Zekkyoutsumeawase! that was released last month. Well, it was two of three being released in three months. The second of the set,  Hayate x Blade Ultra Drama CD Niban Hoshi! Tokkun Tsumeawase! was released this week. A third CD will be slamming your pocket next month, too. I haven’t gotten to listen to the first one, because the mini-CD that came with the last volume has been *so* insane and funny that I’ve had to listen to it three times so far. Review will happen eventually, when I stop laughing.

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That’s a wrap for this week.

Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

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





Second Volume of Gunjo on Sale

January 28th, 2011

Since we’re on the topic of squee-making manga news, today the second Volume of GUNJO is on sale.

Let’s show Nakamura-sensei as much support as we can!





Vertical Announces Princess Knight

January 27th, 2011

Princess Knight, by Tezuka Osamu, is being published by Vertical.

To say that this is a “long-awaited” announcement is sort of an understatement. Start saving your money now, seriously, because I expect everyone who calls themselves a Yuri fan to run out and get this. No exceptions, no excuses. If you can afford a pizza, you can afford this book. (If you really can’t afford this book, ask your library, nicely.)

Princess Knight, aka Ribon no Kishi （リボンの騎士）is one of the seminal works of Yuri fandom. Tezuka’s visible influences include Disney’s Snow White and Takarazuka, and this series set the bar for notable later girl-princes such as Lady Oscar in Rose of Versailles and Tenjou Utena in Revolutionary Girl Utena.

If you have been paying the least bit of attention to the manga and Japanese lit worlds, Vertical’s other two announcements will be pretty big news, as well. So this was a great off-season announcement for all of us.





Yuri Network News – January 15, 2011

January 15th, 2011

Yuri Manga

From the Yuricon Mailing List, BlackSkaven shares the news that Haru, Natsu, Aki, Fuyu (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) by Zaou Taishi and Eiki Eiki has been released in Germany by EMA as Frühling, Sommer, Herbst und Winter this week. However, German readers should be warned that the release comes with no color pages or undercover artwork.

There’s a pile o’releases from Ichijinsha this week: Wildrose Remix: Disk-B; Ibara no Namida; Musou Honey; Yuru Yuri, Volume 4; Futarism; Himawari-san; and the newly renamed Girl’s Love (nee’ Yuri Hime Wildrose.)

Choir, Volume 3 is slated to hit the shelves this month, too.

If you’re looking for something more grown up, the 2nd Volume of Ohana Holoholo might be just the ticket.

And it looks like Nobara no Mori no Otome-tachi, which apparently wrapped up at the end of the last chapter (happily every after, of course,) will be continued for at least a few more chapters. So, one couple’s all nice and resolved…will the other kiss and make up…do ya think? ~_^

Also hitting the streets in the next few weeks are a couple of Tsubomi collections: Tandem Lover; and Kuroyome.

And in case you were left on pins and needles, as I was, the second volume of Blue Friend comes out next month.

Shitsurakuen, Volume 5 is also on sale next month.

The final chapter of Octave will run in the February issue of Afternoon magazine.

And some interesting news about Nakamura Ching-sensei. According to her blog, she’s created a GL story for Davinci magazine (the same magazine that ran Honey and Honey by Takeuchi Sachiko.) Nakamura-sensei also has a story in the Februrary issue of Elegance Eve, from Kadokawa Shoten.

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Yuri Anime

Okay, so, Heartcatch PreCure was a big hit for me. Next up will be the all-pink, all the time, Suite PreCure. I’m already prepared to hate it, after an exec said that they went with all pink for the first time, because girls like pink. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

All the Japanese Yuri lists are telling me that Mahou Magica Madoka has Yuri in it.

They also insist that Rio Rainbow Gate has some Yuri in it. I’m not holding my breath.

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Other News

As you all know, I’m following the Bill 156 situation in Japan closely. The anime/manga community has already expressed concern and planned a boycott and a competing event to the Tokyo Anime Fair. This week, a Twitter post by BL scholar Mizoguchi Akiko pointed me to an event being held this very weekend in Japan – a LGBTQ community protest of Ishihara’s public homophobic comments. I sent them an email expressing that I and many others stand in solidarity with them. They accept English emails, so go ahead and send your support.

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That’s a wrap for this week.

Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

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





Live Action: Hana no Asuka-gumi NEO

January 4th, 2011

As we ended, so shall we begin. We ended the year on a Live-action adaptation of a Yuri manga. Sadly for us, Kakera, was not a particularly good adaptation.

Happily for us, Hana no Asuka-gumi NEO was an *excellent* adaptation of my favorite obscure manga series ever.

A quick synopsis: Kuraku Asuka is a girl who had been bullied in middle school. Brought right to the edge of suicide, she finds purpose in fighting for her life – both literally and figuratively. Through an acquaintance with Kijiima Yohko, a sociopath who involves Asuka with the girl-gang underworld of Tokyo, Asuka is reborn as the best fighter in the city. Asuka becomes involved with the underground organization that runs the girl gangs, the Zenchuu Ura, and the leader of that organization, Hibara-sama. After being the second-most powerful person in the Zenchuu Ura, Asuka leaves Hibari and becomes friendly with the “outside Group” in Shinjuku. That “Omoteban” is run by the lovely Hime, and has members with the elemental names of Kai, Mizu, Hi, etc… Also involved with the Omoteban is Asuka’s best friend, Doumoto Miko…the half sister of Yohko.

You got all that? Well that’s not half of it, and I’m grinning as I type, because no matter how long I spend explaining this series, no matter how many times I explain it, it will never be clear unless you read the whole thing. ^_^

The series was super popular in the 80s, with both manga and TV series. The manga came back for an extended epilogue a few years ago. An absolutely dreadful movie was made in the 90s, which had one awesome scene but was otherwise excruciating. In the meantime, the creator had gone on to become best known for her BL series.

In 2009, the manga was undergoing a renaissance and some genius decided to make a Live-action movie – the movie that hadn’t been made the first time but really, really needed to be made. And so, we now have the opportunity to enjoy Hana no Asuka-gumi NEO! (花のあすか組 NEO!). And thank heavens for that!

This movie is so close to being exactly right that the few kvetches I have are ridiculous. Asuka is played by none other than the daughter of Takaguchi Satosumi, the series creator. She’s too tall (Asuka is a shrimp,) but otherwise, she’s great.

The plot is taken from the manga itself, so if you’ve read the the thing, you’ll know the plot the instant it begins.

Mizu is the first to show up, and Miko is…perfect. Hime was sort of off, and Yohko is all crazy all the time, and not quite perfect – her hair was all wrong – but she was a total sociopath and nice and violent, so that was fun. What had me dancing around was the appearance of Kurenai, scar and all. No Hibari-sama, but I could forgive that, as it would have been deeply confusing if you weren’t a fan. Why you would be watching this movie if you weren’t a fan, I can’t for the life of me guess, but it could happen. The fights were *excellent.* Everything I could have hoped in a totally serious adaptation of one of the silliest series I’ve ever loved.

Ratings:

For casual viewers of cheesy Japanese live-action movies – 7

For me – 9

So to start off the new year, run and buy Hana no Asuka-gumi NEO! for a taste of the good ole days when girl gangs ruled the streets and school of Tokyo.