Live Action Yuri

Sr. YNN Correspondent Frank Hecker has good news to report. He says that the pseudonymous Korean director Soo Not Sue is filming a new series, An Office Thing; the link goes to the trailer on Youtube. Frank notes that the trailer is filmed for a smartphone, so turn your head sideways if you’re viewing on a desktop. He also notes, “Even better yet: It stars Choi Ji-won as Yu Bin, who was a side character in Soo Not Sue’s previous series She Makes My Heart Flutter (which Frank reviewed here on Okazu last year). Choi was quite funny as Yu Bin, who was unlucky in love; maybe as a lead character she’ll have better luck! “

Yuri Anime

A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof anime is already popping up on Yuri sites. Alex Mateo has details of the production on ANN.

ANN’s Rafael Antonio Pineda has the updated info on Gundam GQuuuuuuX. And, in other Gundam news, Ken Iikura-Gross notes that in the latest “First Gundam Watched” Poll not only does Mobile Suit Gundam – The Witch From Mercury have a clear majority, the number of people who answered GWitch comes close to the number of people who answered the poll at all the last time. That is an amazing shift.

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Yuri Manga

Kanaria ha Kiraboshi no Yume o Miru, Volume 1 (カナリアは綺羅星の夢をみる) is a Taisho romance about a girl who wants to design clothes, and a mysterious foreigner, with the evocative name of Tsubaki, a reference I missed entirely until my translation tool translated it as La Traviata and I said, “d’oh!” while slapping myself on the forehead. ^_^

Muryoku Seijo to Munou Oujo ~ Maryoku Zero de Shoukansareta Seijo no Isekai Kyuukokuki (~無力聖女と無能王女～魔力ゼロで召喚された聖女の異世界救国記～) is an isekai about two “useless” women who find that together they have power. I quite like this one. ^_^

Viz’s newest Yuri entry is Pink Candy Kiss, Volume 1,  by Uozumi Ami. This is a tale of two people with a history who meet once again later in life.

Kase-san and Yamada, Volume 4 is the 9th volume(!) of the story of these two lovable girls and their, now, college life. Will Kase-san be able to move in with Yamada, or will her weirdo roommate throw a wrench into their new life?

Ohzawa Yayoi has  new series, Amefuri Harete Hana Hikaru (雨降り晴れて花ひかる) about a married woman and the complicated relationship she and her husband have with the woman she truly loves. I haven’t read this series at all, but Volume 1 and Volume 2 are available.

Via Comic Natalie, Haikei, Arishi Hi ni Saku Hana-tachi e, Volume 1 (拝啓、在りし日に咲く花たちへ) is about a serious girl who finds a secret love affair from the past in letters in a library book at the girls’ school she attends. I might go for this one, I do like meta stories.  ^_^

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Other News

Berkeley Hermann has an in-depth look at Dezai Osamu’s masterwork adaptation of Riyoko Ikeda’s Dear Brother.

Drop-In Manga has a terrific discussion of the many roles the color green plays in The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All in The Green Space That Is Green Yuri.

If you’d like to support Yuri journalism and research, Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips.  Our goal now, into 2025, is to raise our guest writers’ wages to above industry standard, which are too low!

Your support goes straight to paying for Guest Reviews, folks helping with videos, site maintenance, managing the Yuricon Store and directly supporting other Yuri creators. Just $5/month makes a huge impact! Become part of the Okazu family!

Become a part of the Yuri Network, by being a YNN Correspondent: Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share with us.

Yuri Events

Girls Love Fest is happening in mere hours in at the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial and Trade Center Hamamatsucho Building,  Minato-ku, Tokyo. This is GLFes 43, so congrats to the GLFes organizing committee for that, Wow.

The Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures symposium is accepting submission for presentations! This was a wonderful experience, so definitely send in your proposals – don’t worry if you’re not “academic.” The audience was super welcoming and supportive.

Not an event, but I wanted to share a few pictures from my trip to NYC yesterday, where I was able to visit the Midtown Kinkonukiya. It is *so* Yuri! The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All / Kininatteru Hito Ga Otoko Janakatta was featured on every floor. I had literally finished Volume 3 in Japanese the night before, but picked up another copy so I could get the standee. Yes, I am that otaku. ^_^

I saw this shelf tag and said, “We won.” ^_^ It says in Japanese Yuri Manga, and in English Girl’s Love/ Yuri Manga. I can’t ask for better.

Additionally, they now have signed copies of my book at The Ripped Bodice in Brooklyn, NYC, so if you are in the area, pick one up! The folks there were absolutely lovely.

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Yuri Anime

Via Sr. YNN Correspondent Sean G, There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be You Lover, Unless… anime has a trailer up on Youtube and I am angry about it. ^_^ This is the full animation that Whisper Me A Love Song should have gotten. growl

Christopher Farris reviews the Bubblegum Crisis Perfect Collection over at ANN.

ANN’s Egan Loo has the news about the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS Gun Blaze Vengeance 25th anniversary series.

Once again, Rfael Antonio Pineda has something for us, this time news about the Lycoris Recoil short film.

I’m torn, but am probably going to end up watching Turkey! the new bowling anime about a team of girls. “They fight, they fall, but they rise again, chasing victory. This is the tale of a summer’s final chapter.” Adriana Hazra has details on ANN.

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Other News

Seven Seas has announced an audiobook for Adachi and Shimamura. That’s a lot of work for the narrator, how cool.

The live-action  adaptation of Takako Shimura’s manga Even Though We’re Adults has announced more cast, writes Rafael Antonio Pineda on ANN. Check out the trailer on Youtube.

If you’d like to support Yuri journalism and research, Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips.  Our goal now, into 2025, is to raise our guest writers’ wages to above industry standard, which are too low!

Your support goes straight to paying for Guest Reviews, folks helping with videos, site maintenance, managing the Yuricon Store and directly supporting other Yuri creators. Just $5/month makes a huge impact! Become part of the Okazu family!

Become a part of the Yuri Network, by being a YNN Correspondent: Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share with us.

Yuri Anime

Time is tight these days, so we’re doing a huge ANN anime round up this week, so buckle in!

Joanna Cayanan has news of the Kamiina Botan, Yoheru Sugata wa Yurino Hana  TV anime, based on a manga of the same name. This follows a 20-year old who becomes a bit “bolder” the press release says, I’d say “grabby” when she gets drunk. This base premise is getting some beautiful animation for the trailer up on Youtube.

Joanna also has news that Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games is also getting an anime. Okazu Staff Reviewer Luce has really enjoyed Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the manga. Seven volumes of that series are out in English from Seven Seas, with Volume 8 on the way in September.

Rafael Antonio Pineda has news that Rock is a Lady’s Modesty will be streaming on HIDIVE. I, for one, cannot wait for this Class S x  Rock mashup. ^_^ Please, gods, let it be good angry rock.

Rafael Antonio Pineda also says Studio Pierrot will be debuting Mahō no Shimai Lulutto Lily Magical Girl TV anime for 2026 . Do I think this will be Yuri? No. Why am I mentioning it then? For two reasons: 1) It’s been a hot minute since a studio announced a genuine new magical girl for girls series and 2) there is a line in this piece that has me howling, about how this is the “most recent in a line” of magical girls series. Friends, their last one was 27 years ago. That’s a pretty thin line. Anyway, glad to see a new shoujo series in the works.

Coop and Chris discuss Amazon, Gundam GQuuuuuuX and the late, never lamented Anime Strike on This Week in Anime on ANN.

Look Back continues to rack up awards. Egan Loo has the report that it has won Best Animated Film and Creative Contribution awards from the Japan Film Academy, to add to the collection.

Adriana Hazra has news about the Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: A Lonely Dragon Wants to be Loved film’s 4D screenings in Japan. I love the term “2.5D” for media but am opposed to “4D” as a film term. What does that even mean? The fourth dimension is Time. My wife suggests you go in for a film screening at 8 and come out at 8:01. ^_^

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Yuri Manga

Over on ANN, Mr. AJCosplay takes a look at I Want To Love You Til Your Dying Day, Volume 1 and basically agrees with our own Eleanor Walker’s review about the series having potential.

Comic Yuri Hime, April 2025 (コミック百合姫2025年4月号) is on shelves now!

Coming soon is Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., Volume 10, (私の推しは悪役令嬢) written by inori. and illustrated by Aonoshimo. When it gets a cover, I’ll get it up on the Store.

Via Yuri Navi, the final volume of  Doushitara Osananajimi no Kanojo ni Naremasuka! ? (どうしたら幼馴染の彼女になれますか!?) licensed by Seven Seas as How Do I Get Together With My Childhood Friend? by Yusaka Syu, was released this past month in Japan.

One-shot about a Gal Maid and Vampire Mistress, Suenai Kyuuketsuki no Zousho-hou (吸えない吸血鬼の蔵書票) is available in Japanese on Champion Cross.

Yuri Events

So yet again, my talk at The Ripped Bodice has been canceled…BUT! I am still going to be in NYC on March 21. I’ll be at Kinokuniya in midtown at 11 AM, doing some shopping, meeting up with Sr. YNN Correspondent Sean G., then we are going to listen to James Welker talk about his book at NYU. Since we’re a week away and there still isn’t a reservation page up, I have to assume it’s not open to the public. After that, I’ll be headed to The Ripped Bodice to sign some books. I’ll keep folks up to date on my Patreon and Bluesky, probably Facebook, if you want to join me there! I’d love to see you all for an impromptu Okazu get together!

The Lesbian Lives Conference will be in NYC in October – the Call For Papers is open. I’m hoping to be able to participate and would love to see folks there, too!

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Other News

Not “Yuri” per se, but worth mentioning, ANN’s Alex Mateo has news that the Claymore manga will be getting a Live-Action television adaptation.

On March 31, Bookwalker Global is set to become M12, formerly J-Novel Club, after Sony’s Dwango and Kadokawa have merged. No impact to service is expected (hah, sure) and supposedly new services will be offered. I’m going to keep my fingers crossed for better, but will expect enshittification. Crystalynn Hodgkins has the news on ANN.

If you’d like to support Yuri journalism and research, Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips.  Our goal now, into 2025, is to raise our guest writers’ wages to above industry standard, which are too low!

Your support goes straight to paying for Guest Reviews, folks helping with videos, site maintenance, managing the Yuricon Store and directly supporting other Yuri creators. Just $5/month makes a huge impact! Become part of the Okazu family!

Become a part of the Yuri Network, by being a YNN Correspondent: Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share with us.

It’s going to be short today, as I have a lot on my schedule! I’m participating in my local International Women’s Day March among other things.

Okazu News

Because this world is the way it is, we at Okazu and Yuricon are working harder than ever centering queer joy in our days. Our 2025 goal is to bring you more Yuri from more perspectives than ever. We also know that the economy is not particularly good. To that end, I have created a new $3 Patreon tier – Okazu Fan. There are no tiers on Ko-Fi, but of course, you are welcome to support us there, as well.

If you are a current patron, we hope that you’ll increase your donation by $3.00/month, to help us raise our writers and editors wages, and to increase the number of writers we can host. It’s our goal to not only raise our wages, but industry standards. I’m very much hoping that this new tier will convince some of the folks who love our content to join the Okazu family. Your support makes everything possible – reviews, news, event coverage, opinion pieces, videos (which I hope to restart this year) and more.

Thank you very much for your support of Okazu and Yuricon – we really could not do this without you.

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Yuri Manga

Seven Seas reminds you that 12 Dirty Deeds to Unite the Princess and Her Heroine is up for pre-order and that pre-orders matter!
 

Yuri Anime

Guro dark scifi/fantasy I Want To Love You Until Your Dying Day is getting an anime. Egan Loo has details on ANN. Our own Eleanor Walker reviewed Volume 1 of the manga here on Okazu. Watch the trailer on Kadokawa Anime’s Youtube channel. If they take the same route as The Executioner and Her Way of Life anime, minimizing the body horror/violence, it could be interesting.

YNN Correspondent Burkely Hermann points us to Joana Cayanan’s article on ANN,  BAND-MAID and Little Glee Monster are performing the themes for the Rock Is a Lady’s Modesty anime, premiering on April 3. This Class S and girls band mix looks so in our wheelhouse that whether it is Yuri or not seems irrelevant. ^_^

Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- earns $916,000 USD in U.S. screenings, debuting at #10, says ANN’s Adriana Hazra. Menawhile the enshittification of anime streaming continues as Amazon picks the Gundam GQuuuuuuX series up for streaming.

Yuri Event

Important news – The Gift of Love Event in Brooklyn has been canceled again due to one of the authors not being able to make it…BUT I still intend to see James Welker’s talk at NYU and get over to The Ripped Bodice on Friday March 21 to sign some books. I’m going to work my schedule out this week and figure out where I will be, when. Then you are all welcome to meet up with me in Brooklyn for a book-signing and hopefully, dinner at Japan Village. No RSVP needed, I’m going to do these things anyway! ^_^ It’ll be an impromptu Okazu meetup!

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Games and VNs

Studio Élan has announced a “dark yuri visual novel A Tithe in Blood will launch with Japanese language support and full Japanese voice acting!” Grab it over at Steam. Thanks to Sr. YNN Correspondent Cryssoberyl for the heads up!

Other News

Some of you may be participating in this week’s Amazon Boycott. This is your reminder that By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga is available directly from my publisher as an e-book or on Bookshop.org, through which you can save a few cents and support a local independent bookstore!

If you’d like to support Yuri journalism and research, Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips.  Our goal now, into 2025, is to raise our guest writers’ wages to above industry standard, which are too low!

Your support goes straight to paying for Guest Reviews, folks helping with videos, site maintenance, managing the Yuricon Store and directly supporting other Yuri creators. Just $5/month makes a huge impact! Become part of the Okazu family!

Become a part of the Yuri Network, by being a YNN Correspondent: Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share with us.

Yuri Anime

Top news this week is the Kadokawa’s confirmation of an anime adaptation for Sumiko Arai’s The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t A Guy At All.  Volume 2 of the manga is out on EN bookstore shelves – and Kinokuniya is offering a line of original merchandise and pre-order goodies, while Volume 3 is out in Japan and international Kinokuniya is going to be selling some special overseas-only goods for that, as well.

Via YNN Correspondent Burkely Hermann, Jellyfish Can’t Swim In The Night Blu-ray collection is up for pre-order on Sentai Filmworks. Burkely also suggests we keep an eye out for Maebashi Witches, which is coming to Japanese theaters soon. It’s another idol group story, but Burkely says that it focuses on friendship between the characters.

Volicia of Pluto popped on our radar in 2023 with a short movie/long episode of a funky mecha story rooted in Yuri on Youtube. Cryssoberyl wrote it up for us on Okazu. I thought it pretty good and trippy. Well it’s back and the second part, Volicia of Pluto -Vapor Trail Another Age 2006- trailer is up on Youtube. Rafael Antonia Pineda has the story on ANN.

Also on ANN, Crystalynn Hodgkins has the scoop that Aniplex is teasing a new anime with the tagline, “Two girls, motorbikes, travel.” The key visual shows two young women standing next to a bike in Shibuya. I’m in.

Yuri Events

Join myself, Mala Kumar and J.D. Glass for an evening of queer joy on March 21, 2025 at the Ripped Bodice in Brooklyn, NY. Tickets are $15 – you get a $15 coupon for a book in return. Get some great books, signed by the authors, and fun talk about the Gift of Queer Love!

The second Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures symposium has launched it’s call for papers. I *highly* recommend doing something for this event. It’s a great place for independent researchers to speak alongside academic researchers. Last year the presentations were *amazing* and the audience was super engaged, welcoming and fun.  Don’t self-censor – get your research ideas out there. I’m working on two different projects right now (plus new job eating my life, yay,) so can’t put in to present, but I will definitely sign up to attend. Last year was a blast.

Via the official account on X, there will be a Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau pop-up in the Atre at Akihabara in April with an Alice in Wonderland theme. (I’m telling you that, because I had to actually read the post to understand what I was looking at. Extra points for Shiho as the Queen of Hearts, though.)

Mark your calendars for Flamecon, August 16-17 in NYC! It’s a great, gay time for comics, games and other pop culture media lovers.

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Yuri Manga

Via YNN Correspondent an overachieving potato, Yuri Navi has announced the results of their Sixth Top Yuri Manga Election. Check out the ranking results and see which ones have you screaming at the screen. (^_^)

Kodansha has announced Sailor Moon Box Set 2, which includes Volume 7-12 of Eternal Sailor Moon and Codename: Sailor V, Volumes 1-2 for an autumn release. I have put a moratorium on any new Sailor Moon manga purchases until someone at Kodansha admits that academic rendering for the Outers’ names looks ridiculous as Ten’ô, Kai’ô, Mei’ô. When someone there just stops doing that, I’ll be back on buying every new edition. ^_^;

Rainbows After Storms, Volume 2 is out in English now, from Viz Media and Volume 3 is on the way in April.

Galette No. 32 (ガレット) is now available from multiple print and digital sources.

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Live Action

Big News in Live-action this week, as Ottona ni Nattemo (おとなになっても) / Even Though We’re Adults manga finished up, Comic Natalie has news that there will be a live-action series on Hulu JP in April.

Revue Starlight -THE STAGE- Seigfield Rerise (少女☆歌劇 レヴュースタァライト -The STAGE 中等部- Rerise) is happening June 7-14, 2025, at Hikosen Theater in Higashi, Tokyo.

Other Great Reading

Super exciting reading from Jamie J. Zhao, with her new article, Queer women prefer older sisters: the onee-san voice, the woman game streamer Southern Senior Female Schoolfellow, and the Aurora Australis fandom. You can read this for free at the above link. Obviously, I am ecstatic to see an analysis of another Yuri fandom.

Once again back to our friend Burkely Hermann, who does a retrospective of queer rep in animation in From Mahjong to Loving Magical Girls: LGBTQ+ Representation in Animation in 2024, which is well worth reading.

I once again want to highly recommend James Beckett’s ANN reviews of Momentary Lily, which are not only vastly superior to the anime itself, but have become a psychological horror story unto themselves. I am – no joke – watching the anime so I can more more fully experience his reviews, which are a masterwork.

If you’d like to support Yuri journalism and research, Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips.  Our goal now, into 2025, is to raise our guest writers’ wages to above industry standard, which are too low!

Your support goes straight to paying for Guest Reviews, folks helping with videos, site maintenance, managing the Yuricon Store and directly supporting other Yuri creators. Just $5/month makes a huge impact! Become part of the Okazu family!

Become a part of the Yuri Network, by being a YNN Correspondent: Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share with us.