Okazu News

This month Okazu turns 23 years old! And like many 23 year olds, it has grown up, gone to school, learned about itself and is off on its own. I have spent 23 years shepherding Yuri into the world and now it’s doing all kinds of stuff without me!  I love it.  ^_^ Thank you to all the Yuri fans out there!

I am going to launch a new fundraising campaign this month. We are within spitting distance from our fundraising goal for the year. If we get 25 new $5/month  sustaining members, or just 12 new $10/month sustaining members, we’ll hit that goal. I’m working on a sweetener for that $10 deal on the horizon. As always if you prepay a year on Patreon, you get one month free, as well. Your support on Patreon and Ko-fi helps us give raises to our writers and makes it possible for us to do event reports and support Yuri creators directly and indirectly!

If you love Yuri news and reviews, I hope you’ll support all of us here at Okazu!

Yuri Manga

Pretty exciting news this weekend already from Otakon. Omoi has announced the digital license for Sukeban Deka, the classic girl delinquent manga. I’ve written about it here on Okazu a few times, it has its own category for the anime, live action show and movies, manga and spin-offs.  If you’re not familiar with it, begin here, with my overview of the anime and the manga. There is some Yuri, often in ways that made me shriek in laughter. This is such a benchmark series, you absolutely have to read it.

Speaking of classics. Manga Mavericks revealed an incredibly stylish signed shikishi for every pre-order of The Sword of Paros. I’m not joking, every time we touch this, it gets better. Original color pages from the magazine,  gorgeous cover and sprayed edges…and now a signed image!  Definitely worth pre-ordering this gorgeous book.

Galette WORKS announced that the Galette Special EN Edition, No. 6 Kickstarter will being on August 19! This is the penultimate issue of this project.

Kodansha announced the license for I Love You, Please Dump Me, a Comic Yuri Hime rom-com manga about a girl who has always been told to avoid love, it’ll stop you you from achieving your dreams. Hikaru is determined to do well in school, but when Kairi becomes her girlfriend, everything falls apart.

Via Comic Natalie, we have news of  Ijimete Ijirarete (イジめてイジられて) being serialized on Nico Nico, about a yanki that tries to bully an otaku, only to find the otaku girl more than able to stand up for herself. This “ecchi” comedy Yuri is by Chida Daisuke.

Last week I noted that Mobile Suit Gundam The Witch From Mercury Seishun Frontier  (機動戦士ガンダム 水星の魔女 青春フロンティア) is up to a Volume 2, but this week, we got a Youtube Promo video with slight animation, voiced by Suletta and Miorine’ VA’s. Check out this AU of our favorite Gundam characters. ^_^ Aerial is now a motorcycle, upping Suletta’s butch cred another notch.

Sr. YNN Correspondent Sean Gaffney notes that Yuri-adjacent over-a-decade-old series Gabriel Dropout is ending. Anita Tai has the details at ANN.

Via YNN Correspondent Ambi, ihe director of the There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless… has posted on X to say the manga adaptation ended this week, and he has some thoughts about it on the Dash Ex official account.

Yuri Events

The Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures Symposium 2026 has announced a Call For Papers. I love this event, but won’t be able to present this year, sadly. If you have some queer and/or feminist research you’d like to present, definitely apply. This is an amazing, welcoming group of people. Join them for some fun papers!

Anime NYC is around the corner. I will be there with Manga Mavericks, and creator of Horon of the Closed Country, Sen-sensei.  Sen-sensei is lovely and Horon is so wonderful. You’ll definitely want to pick up a copy and get it signed. ^_^

Live-Action

The Look Back movie is doing the film festival circuit and Alex Mateo has some updates on ANN. TIFF is screening it as a North American Premier, says Alex.

Thai GL

Our Sr. Thai GL Correspondent, Frank Hecker, highly recommends the content on Thai GL Hub, which covers series, has interviews, essays and more on Thai GL.

Yuri Anime 

ANN’s Joanna Cayanan has news about the upcoming Star Detective Preure! anime. Looks like we’ll get an opposing squad of equally magical girls. That’s a bit different.

ANN’s Alex Mateo wants us to know that Ocean Veil has picked up Yuru Yuri! I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why. OV’s stuff is mostly T&A.

Bolts reviews the opening episodes of I Want To Love You Til Your Dying Day on ANN.

Also on ANN, Kevin Cormack takes a look at the opening eps of the new Ghost In The Shell, which is my next watch, for sure.

One more ANN review, the always worth-reading Rebecca Silverman looks at Goodbye, Lara, which our own Eleanor Walker reviewed yesterday. Coop and Sylvia take a look at Goodbye, Lara in Playing Chess with a Dog on ANN.

Yuri Visual Novels

The folks at Yuri Eureka want you to know that they have released a free demo for Exhibition of the Heart on Steam. They want you to know that this 18,000 words and 3 pieces of CG art demo are very explicit.The full release is heading our way this October. 

Blue Reflection Quartet is out and George Yang reviews it over on ANN.

Other News

Over at ANN I reviewed the  Though I Am An Inept Villainess light novels, in for folks about to watch the anime. I love the LN series, but absolutely cannot bring myself to watch the anime. ^_^;

I quite enjoy doing the READ IT FIRST! series, where I read a gazillion volumes of something before the anime comes out. So here’s a few more I did: 

Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky is about a blind woman finding her way through life with the enthusiastic help of her friends, her mom, and her boyfriend.

I also binged Tomb Raider King, Volumes 1-14 and actually enjoyed this “reincarnated to get revenge” manhwa about a terrible person and the idiosyncratic relics he plunders.

I also did a ton fr reviews for the Summer Manga Guide. Some amazing stuff on offer this year! Holy crow, we have Billy Bat! And don’t miss some of the Yuri titles, like The Delinquent and the Transfer Student.

Avery Kaplan of The Comics Beat gives us a write-up on the LGBTQIA+ Activism in Comics panel from San Diego Comic Con.

Your support for Yuri journalism and research has never been more important than right now. Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips.  Our goal 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/GL/Queer Manga & Comics

New Yuri License from Yen Press this week! Watching the Angel Sleep, Drowning in Bed Together. A woman assigned to a room finds it occupied by another woman. They move in together…and find they are attracted to one another.

I am a bit behind on this, but there is a GWitch “parallel spin-off” (cough/fanfic) Called Mobile Suit Gundam The Witch From Mercury Frontier (機動戦士ガンダム 水星の魔女 青春フロンティア) that features Suletta and Miorine at a Japanese Technical College. Volume 1 and Volume 2 are out now in Japan. I am going to have to get this series, obviously. ^_^

I’m reading this for ANN and frankly, think it’s pretty good. Let Loose on Lezhin is a bit of a suspense story about a woman in enemy territory who encounters an old…friend. Human/beastkin characters and lots of painful emotional stuff in this post-war setting. 

Via Sr. YNN Correspondent Frank Hecker, schwinn has a new doujinshi up on her Patreon. A preview is available for Our Hope, Twenty Years After We Lost The Right To Marry.

This kind of went under the radar, but Fantagraphics is re-releasing Wandering Son in a new paperback edition! Hopefully this time they will be able to complete it. This story about two trans teens was foundational (and problematic) for many readers  in the ’00s! YNN Correspondent Ivan just let us know that Fantagraphics just sent out email indicating 25% off everything on their site. The code is SDCC, so if you want V1-2 of the new edition, the time is now. ^_^

Yuri Anime

Via Sr. YNN Correspondent Matt Marcus, The Executioner and Her Way of Life Season 1 anime is now available in a complete Blu-Ray set  from Sentai Filmworks.

Yuri Events

The Art Locker in NYC is holding a Yuri Comic Panel, where we’ll be having the incredible Adeline Kon, Kimberly Wang, and Kelly Ficarra on August 30th, from 2-4:30PM, at 38 West 32nst St, in New York City. The event is currently sold out, but keep your eyes out for openings.

I will be at Anime NYC with Manga Mavericks, and I’ll be signing copies of my books for you at their booth! I’ll also be helping out with some fun stuff that is top secret as of yet. Keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime, go pre-order the Sword of Paros Deluxe edition. It is gonna be so pretty and petty and fabulous. I promise you, it will be worth every penny. Also pick up Horon of the Closed Country, which has more than on genderqueer character. It is just such a fantastic story, if I do say so myself, because this is 100% my editing darling right now.

Yuri/ Baihe/LGBTQ Live Action

Amber Glenn, the figure skater who is out as an openly queer woman, decided she liked Heated Rivalry and lesbian ice skating comic Just Between Us so much, she made a queer women’s ice skating music video, featuring herself and Lena Lemon as skaters to a remade “All The Things She Said”, a song that hits hard for Millennial lesbians and is now a new hit for Gen Z. (As Nirvana is becoming Everything old is new again.)

via live &love on X, Cage of Shadows, a”dual women lead, gl-coded, master-disciple, women-centred, wuxia revenge, chinese survival thriller series” is available on You Tube for free right now with English subtitles. 

Light Novel

Via Sr. YNN Corrspondent Ashley 1000 Lotuses is a “lesbian tale of passion and vengeance inspired by China in the 10th century.” Available by the chapter on itchi.io

Other News

Mathematician Yu Deng has won the Fields Medal for his work on Randomnness and order. Deng  specifically cited Yuri as an inspiration in this article at Quanta magazine. Sr. YNN Corrspondent Matt Marcus found this further discussion on differentials being Yuri, via haystack on X. 

I often feel these days that Yuri as a genre has hit it’s adulthood, and is out there in the world doing very cool stuff that I am no longer involved in, but can be proud of, as a parent. ^_^

On FiftyShadesofGayOfficial account on Instagram, a swip-through article on the disappearance of dag king culture in Korea in Drag, Defiance and Disappearance: Inside Korea’s Vanished Female Drag Culture.

You may remember my interview with Dr. Stanley Love, the NASA astronaut who repped Sailor Moon at the Artermis II mission control. Well Stan is not done repping! He’s written an article for Reactor, Why Sailor Moon Belongs in Mission Control:  The lead CAPCOM for the Artemis II mission explains how magical girls embody NASA’s core values. This is a great article that came out of part of our conversation, and some comments that Stan made on ANN. Absolutely worth reading!

Via YNN Correspondent akatsukinoluna, here is a 2019 interview with Last and First Idol writer Gengen Kusano and Otherside Picnic writer Iori Miyazawa, called Yuri Made Me Human.

Lastly, not Yuri, but so pretty, Udon Entertainment just announced a license for Hiromi Matsuo’s Department Store Waltz, Rondo Manga. Crystalynn Hodgkins has the news over at ANN. I adore Matsuo-sensei’s work. I have a postcard of their take on a Takabatake Kasho painting I also adore sitting right here where I can see it as I work. ^_^

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/Baihe Live Action

It is official! Tsukiatte Agetemo Ii Kana / How Do We Relationship is getting a live-action drama! The official X account kicked off this week with the announcement and a piece of art by Tamifull and a Key visual.

Via Reddit folks on r/Baihe reports that My Darling Is the Cutest! live action will air on Tencent video. The manga, as poster laine4466 notes, is out from Tokyopop as She Is Still Cute Today, Volume 1.

YNN Sr. Correspondent Matt Marcus points to casting calls for extras for a live-action adaptation of Otherside Picnic is being reported (this via Yanaken on X.)  

Yuri Anime

The Animate Times reports that we’ll be getting a MURCIELAGO anime for 2027.Yay!  Here is the teaser on Youtube.

I notice that The Moon on  Rainy Night anime we were supposed to get this past spring has been silent. No casting or staff news. Boo.

r/anime on Reddit is still working on that Simoun 20th anniversary rewatch. It’s a great series full of giant world-building holes. I loved it. Simoun has the honor of being the very first anime to be marketed as “Yuri” in the US. (Not at all coincidentally, I have the very first DVD that came off the press. The folks at Media Blasters all signed it for me. ^_^)

Takanori Uno announced on LinkedIn a Brazilian Portugese edition of Sal Jiang’s Black and White, from Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha, Ltd.

Sylvia Jones reviewed A Hundred Scenes of Awajima on ANN and like everything else she writes, it’s worth reading.

For several days this week, Kamiina Botan Fully Blossoms When Drunk disappeared from Crunchyroll (which is heavily into shittifying itself right now, so I will not be adding links to their store any more to the Yuricon Shop) and people were *pissed*. But it is back, so watch it already. (This last is a note to myself. ^_^)

The first episode of I Want To Love You Until Your Dying Day is up on Crunchyroll. Feedback has generally been positive. ^_^

Yuri Manga

This came in too late last week to make the Anime Expo round up. Seven Seas has licensed I See You, Aizawa-san!, a story about a girl who can see ghosts and he ghost of a former classmate who makes her heart pound.

Via Sr. YNN Correspondent Sean Gaffney, the fantastic Renee Scott has reviewed The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All for School Library Journal’s Good Comics For Kids. Renee aka The Library Lady is great: “if you’re not a fan of The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy At All, allow me to help you get out from the rock you’ve been living under.” 

Baihe Novels

Seven Seas also announced three(!) Baihe novels at Anime Expo, Matrilocal Marriage: Ruzhui about “a time-traveling woman who lost everything and the mysterious heiress she comes to marry out of convenience.  Also by creator of A Clear and Muddy Loss, Qing Jun Mo Xiao, they have My Wandering Spirit Lady, about  a woman and ghost! Feels like a theme. ^_^

Lastly, I am very pleased about Miss Forensics: Wo Qinai De Fayi Xiaojie by Jiu Nuan Chun Shen, about “a forensic doctor and the cold detective she works with.” 

Yuri Visual Novels

Two days left to get your submissions into the Toxic Yuri Game Jam 2! 

Via YNN Correspondent Roxie, Lyyycaena on X pointed to their new Horror Yuri game Kickstarter for Mermaids are Food, with the intruiging tagline “A horror sim and visual novel with yuri and 10+ endings. Are mermaids more like fish, people or monsters?”

Studio Élan announced that Twofold:First Snow “will be coming to Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation 4 & 5 soon—in fact, you can play the Twofold demo on consoles right now!” They also have a Kickstarter running for My VTuber Rival Is Actually Cute?

Max Schwartz on X note that 1000x Resist and Heaven Will Be Mine are being bundled on Steam for 20% off right now.

LGBTQ+ Comics

Via  Matt Marcus, we have news of  BEAST’S LIBATION – A Dark Butch/Femme Werewolf Romance a new comic Kickstarter from Miki Brewster. This is a “296-page dark f/f romance between a cursed servant and her divine queen. For 18+ readers.”

Other News

Via Sr. YNN Correspondent Ashley, here is a fascinating article about Nüwu, a genre in Chinese novels centering women, without focusing on romance. Read Fan Yiying and Mao Rui’s No Woo: At China’s Top Anime Convention, Love Takes a Back Seat.

Once again via Matt Marcus, Manga and women’s service agencies team up to tell untold stories looks at the specific sex work service Kabi Nagata’s My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness and Amano Shuninta’s Aisarete mo Iindayo.

 AnimeNYC is now on the horizon. Crossed Hearts has already announced their first-ever Industry panel. They are goin all-out with goodie bags, prizes and a new imprint! The schedule is not out for the public, but I know Manga Mavericks will also have a panel, and I am likely to be on it. ^_^

Your support for Yuri journalism and research has never been more important than right now. Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips.  Our goal 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 Anime Expo weekend, let’s celebrate all the amaziiiiiing licenses thus far!

Yuri Anime

Our top story this week is the The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All promotional video is real and up on Youtube.  In a stunning indication of a Yuri anime getting real money invested, Nirvana’s “Breed” is the OP animation by Cloverworks

The announcement came paired with a video of Arai-sensei handing over the anime playlist to Dave Grohl and getting his feedback.  This will be streaming on Crunchyroll in January 2027. 

As Sr. YNN Corespondent Sean Gaffney so cogently put it:  

2001: “Those two girls sometimes stand next to each other. Yuri? I should write a fic.” 
2026: “Yeah, the new yuri anime based on a bestselling manga has Breed by Nirvana as its OP and it was introduced at the con by Dave Grohl.”

We are entering a whole new era. Let us pray that no Yuri anime is ever poorly funded again. Amen.

MediaOCD is releasing a Lady Oscar: The Rose of Versailles Complete Collection Blu-ray set. This is the entire 40-episode television series for under $50. Unbelievable.

Via YNN Correspondent Patricia Baxter, here is a link to Mitwa, a short sapphic animation that was shown at the Annecy Festival. Set in In Southern India in the 60s, two lovers find time with each other among the hubub of festival preparations.

ANN’s Joanna Cayanan has news that the Maebashi Witches Emoemories: Blooming Witches Compilation Film Opens in Japan on October 23.

Sr. YNN Correspondent Sean Gaffney  AnimeAnime reports the results of their Favorite Yuri poll. Giant Robots for the win. ^_^

Yuri Manga In English 

Huge news out of Anime Expo for manga!

Manga Mavericks is working on a beautiful deluxe print edition of The Sword of Paros!  This queer fantasy is epic and personal and gorgeous. I am editing the book and could not be happier. Pre-order direct from Manga Mavericks for North America and UK.

Inklore has entered the ring with Ikoku Nikki by Yamashita Tomoko! Yay! I started reading that ages ago but never finished. I love Yamashita’s work and thought the anime adaptation, Journal With Witch was fantastic.

Kodansha announced the license for Battan’s Fatale Game. I reviewed Volume 1 of that recently here on Okazu.

Meian announced a French edition of The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants to Work for the Villainess to be released in September

BluPetal announced The Black World is Dyed in White Chalk. This story brings two girls who have suffered trauma together to find healing.

And Yen Press announced Takane-san and Arashi-chan, a school life Yuri.

The Death-Dying Princess Creates a Yuri Harem to Survive is up for pre-order. This Yuri spin on the Villainess subgenre looks fun.

Anita Tai on ANN notes that Stardust Telepath manga will be ending with 7 volumes.

A little late on my part, sorry, but Glam Beat sent Pride Month off with a post that all their Yuri manga is now available on MangaPlaza (which is subscription-only,) and Bookwalker!

Yuri Manga In Japanese

Yuni’s Anata Mitai ni, Volume 1 (あなたみたいに) adult life romance is up on Bookwalker!

And Boyishna Kanojo ni Numatteku! ? Yuri Anthology  (ボーイッシュな彼女に沼ってく!? 百合アンソロジー) is  as advertised on the tin. ^_^ This is out from Comic Growl, which is a new name to me.  ^_^

Aoto Hibiki’s office romance Kono Koi, Ittan Mochikaerasete Itadakimasu! Volume 1 (この恋、一旦持ち帰らせていただきます!) is out!  Link to Bookwalker JP.

Volume 1 of Kuzushiro’s  30 Made Hhitoridattara Isshonikurasōoutte Itta Yo ne? (30まで独りだったら一緒に暮らそうって言ったよね? ) is out. Two women make a drunken promise that if they don’t have a lover by 30, they’ll move in together. Link goes to Amazon JP, but it is serialized on Bookwalker.

Yuri Merch and Pop-Ups

Via Sr. Correspondent Matt Marcus wing is releasing figurines for Gujo and Chin-lan from Kamiina Botan.

Yuri Podcast

This Week In Fandom History celebrated Yuri Day with me! Check out our conversation on June 25: Yuri Day (百合の日) with Erica Friedman. We had a lovely conversation.

Yuri Visual Novels

via YNN Correspondent Akatsukinoluna, Carmilla: Crimson Moon now has a demo up on Steam. ” A dark yuri horror visual novel inspired by a classic gothic novella. When the enigmatic Carmilla arrives, Laura is swept into a fever dream of obsession. Is this stranger the cure for her loneliness or a herald of corruption? And what caused the mysterious deaths of two girls in the nearby village?” So, it’s straight up Carmilla. ^_^

Your support for Yuri journalism and research has never been more important than right now. Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips.  Our goal is to raise our guest writers’ wages to above industry standard, which are too low!

Yuri/Baihe Reading

Baiheverse offers up this short disussion of Baihe vs Yuri: What Is the Difference? where they make a very solid argument that when readers call Chinese WLW media Baihe, reader keep the cultural context of the work. I absolutely agree, honestly. I’m not for policing you, personally, but knowing and using the words used by a community shows respect and understanding of that community…something we know to be true in the queer community as well. ^_^

Sean Gaffney gives us his thoughts on Kamiina Botan Fully Blossoms When Drunk on his own blog. Sean’s posts are always worth reading.  

We added two articles to the Yuri Resources Page under the Fan Studies section, by Burkeley Hermann and Mayo Chiki. If you have Yuri research or essays, let us know and we’ll get them up on our Resources page.

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.