Archive for the Staff Writer Category


Can I Call You Unnie?, Book Signing Event Report

April 22nd, 2026

A green cream melon soda next to a copy of Unnie'tte Yondemo Ii Desuka? by Hanakage Alt at Anchor port rainbow Tokyoby Sasori, Okazu JP Correspondent

Nothing excites me more than a yuri event, and in April we have not one, but two book signings for Can I Call you Unnie? (オンニって呼んでもいいですか？) by Hanakage Alt . (Reviewed here on Okazu last week by Erica.)

The signing I participated in was on 4/12, at iconic yuri manga cafe/bar: ANCHOR Rainbow Port Tokyo, also featured in the actual manga. The second signing will be at bookstore (マルジナリア書店) on 4/26, tickets seem to be still on sale as of writing this article if you happen to be in Japan!

Can I Call You Unnie? manga is about a K-pop fan meeting her fav graduated idol through a dating app, with fluffy moments in abundance. The manga was released per chapter on app/web through CandleA on Comic Walker, but now celebrates its first full Japanese volume release. It’s available from multiple retailers in print and digital formats on the Yuricon Store.

I was a huge fan of Hanakage Alt sensei’s work, and reading it per chapter was a great experience. Full of adorable dates, concert flashbacks, and cliffhangers after each chapter. As a fellow concert fan, a lot of the content resonated with me. I loved how it included both Korean and Japanese languages at key moments, to keep the content realistic for their characters and source material. I could tell Hanakage Alt sensei loved K-pop as much as they loved yuri.

So on 4/12, I lined up at 10am at ANCHOR in Shinjuku Ni-chome, for my first book signing. It’s pretty common to ask for doujin and yuri manga signatures at events, such as Comitia or Comiket, if advertised by the artist’s social media, but seeing it as a whole event was a first time experience for me.

A photo of a staircase, with a placard on the wall for ANCOR rainbow port Tokyo, the Yuri cafe in Shinjuku Nichoume

The flow of the event was as follows:

  • Sign up before hand to participate.
  • Go to the event by 10am to draw a lottery ticket for the signing.
  • Line up in order by number.
  • Purchase a drink at the venue and a book to have signed by the mangaka.

A copy of the manga "Unnie'tte Yondemo Ii Desuka?" with a illustration and signature by creator Hanakage Alt-sensei from the event.

An image of the book signing lottery ticket, with at by Hanakage-sensei, and a message handwritten in English that reads "Thank you Sensei, I Love Your Work!"

After drawing our lotto tickets, we lined up, went inside the cafe, and sat at the bar. Hanakage Alt-sensei and their staff introduced themselves and had a very beautiful floral stand and book signing area near the counter. Complete with acrylic stands of their characters and their mangaka mascot plush. I appreciated how inclusive Hanakage Alt-sensei was of their fans, welcoming all yuri/gender/and nationalities to participate. Their English pronunciation was equally fantastic, despite the event being in Japanese. I think they were very excited about engaging with foreign fans as well as local ones. Participants were also allowed to buy them a drink and give them small gifts, which was such an interesting and fun way to interact with them.

Two cards of illustrations by Hanakage-sensei of the main characters of "Unnie 'tte Yondemo Ii Desuka?"

 

The staff was very sweet and allowed me to write in the Anchor cafe’s memo guest notebook. I was happy to see so many English and other languages besides Japanese in the guest book, as well as cute yuri doodles from various fandoms, and even some art from well-known Yuri mangaka. I’d highly recommend visiting ANCHOR if you are ever visiting Japan, even outside of this event if you are a yuri fan, they even have rainbow cake! ANCHOR also has a pixivFanbox for local yuri events and special perks for book signings.

Acrylic standees of the main characters of Hanakage-sensei's book and a small plush "mascot" round, white character with small arms and legs, and a sakura blossom on it's "head."

 

If you enjoy Can I call you Unnie? as much as I do, be sure to buy the manga on the Yuricon Store or at various Japanese book stores, they even come with cute sign cards depending on the store. Sales support really helps with future volumes and hopefully localization. The official tags for the series on X are #オンニて #CICYU so please use those as well. If you’d like to tag Hanakage Alt-sensei in English, they have a bluesky for English comments.

Thanks again for the lovely opportunity and I’m looking forward to future yuri book signings!

 

Erica here: Please welcome our newest member of the writing staff here on Okazu! Sasori-san will be our Japan correspondent going forward. Hopefully this will bring us up close and personal with more Yuri events. Welcome Sasori-san!

 
 

 

 





The Elegant Courtly Life of the Tea Witch, Volumes 1 & 2

April 15th, 2026

Two women sitting opposite each other at a tea table. The one in front has a short red bob and is wearing a maid uniform. Opposite her is a younger girl with long pale hair. I’m a big tea snob, I’ve got an entire kitchen cupboard full of assorted loose leaf teas and more teapots than one person could reasonably ever need or use. The Elegant Courtly Life of the Tea Witch therefore seems right up my alley, and the fact it’s written by one of my favourite authors just makes it even better. Ameko Kaeruda, perhaps best known in the English speaking word as the creator of the excellent Sexiled, both volumes of which were reviewed here on Okazu by Erica when it was first released. This series is also based on a light novel, but as yet there is no sign of that being released in English. Why Titan Manga decided to pick this up as one of their first releases I’m not quite sure, but I’m not complaining either.

In Volume 1, we meet our main character, Remy,  who just wants to be left alone to get on with her job as a tea witch, whose main job is “making a delicious cup of tea” for the king and court. Unfortunately she attracts the attention of the king’s first daughter, Princess Stella, who thinks she’s the coolest person in the world and is desperate to be friends with her. For Remy, who is desperate not to draw attention to herself, this is her absolute worst nightmare as she’s pulled into the princess’s orbit.

A woman in a maid uniform is in the foreground with a spilled cup of tea. In the background there is a topiary arch and two people sitting at a tea tableThe world building is solid, with references to a past conflict and the fragility of the resulting peace. We are introduced to another court mage, Alicia, who gives off very androgynous vibes, confirmed later on when their gender is described as “unknown.” When Remy learns that Stella is set to be married to another (male) court mage, she realises that this isn’t the world she fought for and vows to protect her, despite her outward annoyance with Stella’s insistence on being her friend.

Remy, as it turns out, is more powerful than she would like anyone to know. As well as controlling the tea she brews and being able to perfectly match it to the person she’s making it for, she can also use it as an antidote, a poison and a weapon, amongst other things. She’s essentially a magical herbalist. This power naturally of course ends up with her being assigned as Stella’s bodyguard, much to the chagrin of Stella’s wannabe fiance. Volume 2 covers a lot of Remy’s backstory, which according to the author’s afterword, wasn’t covered in the original novel, but I think it really adds to her as a character and the world building. She was a child soldier, and is clearly still bearing that burden, so I interpret her wanting to protect Stella as saving her from the same fate. Stella meanwhile is pragmatic enough to understand that her arranged marriage is a duty to protect the kingdom and the peace, so whilst she doesn’t really want it, she realises it’s for the greater good. Fortunately she isn’t written as an annoying child prodigy which is one of my least favourite tropes in fiction, along with amnesia.

In doing some research for this review I came across some Online Discourse with people saying that Remy and Stella’s relationship is inappropriate because Stella is only 12 years old. My personal interpretation is that this is more like a Class-S relationship and Remy cares for Stella more like a big sister would. In volume 2 we get some numbers, the man is said to be twice Stella’s age, so 24 and is older than Remy, who gives the impression she’s in her late teens/early 20’s. Yes, they go on a “date” but it’s just Remy indulging the whims of the younger girl, who is also a princess she can’t really say no to. Nothing untoward happens between them, the only kiss is Stella pecking Remy on the cheek because she’s read that this is what you do on a date.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by these two volumes. There’s more depth than I expected from what at first seemed like a fairly generic fantasy setting. Stella and Remy’s relationship is really open to almost any interpretation the reader chooses at this point, and it’s a good reminder to ignore the discourse and make up your own mind about something. Volume 3 is set to release at the end of April 2026, but as of writing, the 4th and final volume does not appear to be listed anywhere, not even on Titan Manga’s own website (neither is volume 3 so we’ll see how that goes). Hopefully we will eventually see it in English, along with the original novel.

Ratings: 

Art – 7 – the artist mentions at the end of volume 1 that this is their first serialisation, so I was pretty impressed when I read that
Story – 7
Characters – 7 we love a casual non binary/genderqueer side character
Service – 1
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7





Black Lily’s Tale

April 8th, 2026

The title screen of Black Lily's Tale. Two girls in the same blue Japanese sailor-style uniform, with red ties, A girl with collar-length blonde hair is behind a girl with pale long hair. They hold hands over the pale-haired girl's head and to the side.

by Ashley Payne, Okazu Staff Writer.

Stop me if you have heard this before: Hana Sasamori has been friends with Itsuki Oomiya all through high school. A few days before graduation they discover they like each other… NOT the end, as it turns out. Despite a slow start Black Lily’s Tale (available on Steam and Crunchyroll) actually takes some time to address modern issues queer youth have to face, albeit with a vague science-fiction blanket over it.

Black Lily’s Tale has perhaps one of the more roundabout introductions for a game of it’s type. We are introduced to everything with a whole lot of point and click examinations and learning how choices work. In Black Lily’s Tale you have to type in your own choices at the right time rather than wait for the game to give you several possible answers to change the story.

A screenshot of the game Black Lily's Tale with the three central characters Hana Sasamori, Itsuki Oomiya & Aoi Nishiki in contemporary coats over their school uniforms. Hana's line is "He said it was because we made a bulk purchase..."

That said after this brief introduction on how the game will be played, we then have a nearly two hour introduction to the characters and setting where none of that will be relevant. While the actual core characters of Hana, Itsuki and their mutual friend Aoi are all fun people to be with, most of the introduction is bogged down with a lot of sci-fi baggage to what otherwise is a very contemporary story. It doesn’t take long for the Doylist reason for this to become apparent it never stops being odd that of all the names, ‘biophone’ was the name the writers settled on for their smartphone analogues.

A screen shot of Black Lily's Tale with several paragraphs describing Hana Sasamori having to deal with compulsory heterosexuality at her school. Hana wears a grey knit cable sweater jacket over her school uniform and has long, pale hair with a flower on a braid on the left side of her face.

 

A screenshot of the game Black Lily's Tale with the three central characters Hana Sasamori, Itsuki Oomiya & Aoi Nishiki in dark blue Japanese sailor-syle school unforms with a red tie.. Hana's line is: "Ahaha! No one loves sharks quite like Aoi, huh?"

 

That said, the real reason for all this exhausting world building is so that they can take what would have otherwise been a ‘story A’ style game and actually address issues like compulsory heterosexuality and conversion therapy. It’s almost elegant until you realise that everything worth talking about in Black Lily’s Tale is happening today, right now. Children are being pressured by compulsory heterosexuality right now. Children are being forced through conversion therapy right now. 

A screenshot of the game Black Lily's Tale with Hana Sasamori, who had long pale hair, with a flower on the brain on the left side of her face, confronting Natsu Kakizaki, who has short, boyish cut red hair. Hana is saying: "It doesn't matter if we're both girls! There's nothing wrong with loving someone!"

 

A chart of the language of flowers. Focusing on flowers beginning with 'A'. Hana is thinking: It'd be nice if the language of flowers gave us some kind of clue towards the answer Ai's looking for...

While Black Lily’s Tale has it’s heart in the right place I can’t help but feel all this was just so they could turn escaping from one of the more traumatic things queer youth suffer from into a game.

A screenshot of the game Black Lily's Tale with Hana Sasamori coming to realise that her feelings have been pathologised. Hana is thinking: Understanding of heterosexuality? Stunted?

Once everything became clear it was nice to see a yuri story in this high school environment that actively takes deliberate effort to explore what current day youth are experiencing. That said it is precisely because this game deals with something that so many queer people have experienced first hand I’d recommend Black Lily’s Tale with a content warning of what it deals with so people can be prepared.

Ratings:

Art – 3 (I don’t like live 2D sorry, everyone is always bouncing.)
Story – 8
Characters  – 7
Service – 2
Yuri – 7

Overall – 7





I Wanna Be Your Girl, Volume 3

March 11th, 2026

Two people in Japanese style school uniforms, one in boy's uniform, one in girl's uniform, their head on their knees, sit on a school stairway.by Eleanor Walker, Okazu Staff Writer

We have now reached the penultimate volume of Umi Takase’s I Wanna Be Your Girl, and having also reviewed volumes 1 and 2 here on Okazu, this one is definitely the weakest of the three. One thing this series continues to excel at though, is portraying teenagers realistically. Hime is still headstrong in her convictions and her determination to protect Akira. Akira, meanwhile, just wants to be treated like one of the girls and be noticed by the senpai she has a crush on. At the end of volume 2, we start to delve into another character’s back story. Hamuro is another student who has a secret of his own. He cross dresses as a maid while working at a cafe near the school, and it’s revealed that he’s not trans like Akira but cross dresses to support his younger sister Momo who was bullied for being too cute.

I don’t really feel Hamuro adds very much to the story, and the whole starting cross dressing because your sister was bullied just seems a little too out there, especially for a seemingly cishet teenage boy. Fortunately, it’s not a big part of this volume. What we get after Hamuro though is something I’ve hoped would happen since volume 1, and that is Sasaki-sensei’s backstory. I mentioned in my review of that volume that “It seems though, that there is more to the teacher than first meets the eye. He sits Hime down for a talk one day, and it’s strongly suggested that he’s gone through something similar regarding identity in the past” He now reveals in a conversation with Akira that he is aromantic, and how he has suffered from not meeting society’s expectations too. I’m glad we got this segment, especially since in the afterword the author mentions that he was only supposed to appear briefly in chapter 2.

The rest of the volume is just more of what we’ve already seen before, Hime and Akira continue to misunderstand each other, side characters are used as sounding boards for the main characters to talk about their feelings and we’re not really any further forward with their relationship either.

I Wanna Be Your Girl is still an enjoyable series and I’m very glad it exists, but nothing new really happens in this volume, especially when compared to the previous two. I’m optimistic though that everyone will get their happy endings in the next and last volume, and I’ll be reading it to find out.

Ratings: 

Story – 6. This would be a point lower if we didn’t get Sasaki-sensei’s backstory.
Art – 6.
Characters – 7 Hamuro and his sister are unnecessary.
Service – n/a
LGBTQ — 10

Overall – 7 but again, probably an 8 if you’re a confused/closeted queer teenager looking for something to relate to.





Pink Candy Kiss, Volume 4

February 25th, 2026

Cover of Pink Candy Kiss, Volume 4 by Ami Uozumi.Two women in green dresses embrace, lightly, looking forward at us, with soft unfocused eyes.by Eleanor Walker, Okazu Staff Reviewer

At the very end of volume 3, which I also reviewed here on Okazu, an unexpected character from Ema’s past reappears. It’s her mother and there’s clearly some history between them, as within the first two pages of of Pink Candy Kiss, Volume 4 she makes a snide comment about Ema’s hair and clothing choices. Ema also contemplates how long it’s been since she saw her, and how much older her mother looks. Hario does at least stand up for his wife, but the cruelty is very pointed and definitely hurts Ema in a way that I’m sure many of the audience will be able to relate to, so much so that she’s ready to give up on the cafe and have Hario handle it instead. There’s nothing like a mother’s love and support is there? At the end of this chapter, Takara asks Ema if she wants to run away. The next chapter opens with another confrontation with Ema’s mother, but this time it’s Takara standing up for her.

The “will they won’t they” dynamic continues to be the crux of this series, although I do worry about how much longer it can carry the story. We’ve known for a while now that Ema and Takara are head over heels for each other, and I just hope that we get a proper confession from someone sooner rather than later, since we did not in this volume. The characters are still wonderfully messy, flawed and above all, realistically human. For that reason, Pink Candy Kiss continues to be one of my favourite ongoing Yuri series, and I’m eagerly awaiting volume 5. I also think it would make a fantastic live action drama, if a company would be brave enough to produce it.

Ratings: 

Art – 7 It’s still a shame there aren’t colour pages with the chapter art on.
Story – 8 The living apart situation is still a little contrived, but the rest works very well. 
Characters – 10. Ema’s mother is vindictive, cruel and totally realistic, as is Ema’s reaction to her. 
Service – None. It still doesn’t need it. This is a story about women’s feelings, written by a woman for other women.
Yuri – 10 So much yuri.

Overall – 8