Archive for the Yuri Network News Category


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – October 17, 2015

October 17th, 2015

YNN_LissaYuri Events

I will be making a whirlwind appearance at Nijicon, in Philadelphia on Saturday, October 24 (next week, so get off your butt and register!) Nijicon is ostensibly a LGBTQ-focused con, with an unsurprising lean toward BL, as it has more name recognition. I’m bring as much Yuri to their panels as I can squeeze in in one day. ^_^

11AM – Queers in the Future. After New York Comic Con, I’m really excited about this one.

4PM – The Secret History of Yaoi and Yuri. Which is to say, the history. It’s only secret if you don’t know it. ^_^

6PM – Must See/Read Yuri – What’s streaming, what published, what they are reading in Japan, what’s out there and what’s coming in our future! I haven’t run a “Yuri” panel in years, and I’m pretty excited about this one.

My genuine thanks to Lyndsey and the Nijicon Panels staff for making this happen and I can’t wait to see you there!

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Animation News

The Mary Sue is excited to have new episodes of DC Superhero Girls, which I have to say, looks kind of delightful.

Fans of Aria, rejoice! Crunchyroll News reports that Amano Kozue’s series Amanchu! is getting an anime adaption. It is guaranteed to be beautiful.

A few weeks ago, I reported on the “lost” psychedelic anime by Tezuka,  Belladonna of Sadness having been remastered. It’s now making it’s way around the film festival circuit. From Twitter, we have awesome news that they are holding an art contest in conjunction with this film release. Thanks to YNN Correspondent Yashabackarova for the tip! The high-res stills on the contest page are lovely.

Other News

The Heartcatch Precure novel is available on Amazon JP and, as hoped, it follows Tsukikage Yuri, Cure Moonlight. Whee!

Bandai is still pushing Sailor Moon goods and I couldn’t be happier. ^_^ They’ve got Outer Senshi henshin wand ballpoint pens for order now. (How many henshin wand goods do I need? I guess we’ll find out. ^_^)

The Diversity in Comics Panel from New York Comic Con is up in full on Youtube for you to watch.

If you’re trying to catch up on your reading of the classics, (now that you’re an adult and don’t have to write papers on them) here’s a couple of options:

Udon Press is doing a line of classic western literature as manga: Pride & Prejudice and Emma by Jane Austen;  Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo and Natahaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, are all a great place to finally get an idea of what the heck those books are about. ^_^

There is also an entire Manga Shakespeare line by Amulet books… and how much cooler is reading it as a manga than in Cliff Note form. ^_^ Here’s Midsummer’s Night Dream; The Tempest; Romeo and Juliet; and Macbeth to get you started.

For folks looking to round out their college curriculum, One Peace Books has another line of manga versions of western literature, including James Joyces’ Ulysses (which I am reading and my have to review, because yowza); Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes;  Moby Dick by Herman Melville and War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? 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!





Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – October 3, 2015

October 3rd, 2015

YNN_MariK

Yuri Anime

If you’re an American anime fan from the 2000s, you may remember the close miss we all had when we learned that children’s TV company Saban was looking to license Sailor Moon and turn it into a live-action/animation hybrid.

ANN reports that Saban has just announced a license for Smile! Precure, which they are repackaging as Glitter Force. Saban is best known in North America for being the licensor of the multiple Power Ranger series. It remains to be seen if they can manage this into another successful franchise here. Netflix is now listing the series for 2016.

We turn to ANN again for the Yuru Yuri San Hai series preview commercial. The third series will begin this week on Japanese TV.

And again, ANN has the scoop on Funimation’s English dub cast for Riddle Story of a Devil (announcement one and two.) Funimation announced a home video license for the series this summer.

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Yuri Manga

Yuri Hime comics have a number of releases lined up for this month: The November issue of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫 2015年 11 月号) leads the pack.

Kawai Roh’s horror action manga Shoujo Shikaku  (少女失格 ) has made it to a first volume.

Yoshitomi Akihito ‘s (best known for Blue Drop) series from defunct Yuri magazine Tsubomi, following two sisters in lust with each other’s younger sister, Futari Futari (ふたりとふたり) is getting a re-release from Yuri Hime Comics.

Birz Comics is collecting up their slice-of-life Yuri tale Futaribeya (ふたりべや) and a story that originally ran in Comic Yuri Hime S Konohanatei Kitan, (此花亭奇譚) about fox-eared girls running around for drama, but not plot.

And Kadokawa’s Yagate Kimi ni Naru, (やがて君になる) that YNN Correspondent Chris D. told us about last report, has already made it to Volume 1 – what a great chance to try the relaunched Global Book Walker for Yuri!

Another Yuri doujinshi has popped up on Amazon JP –  Kanojo no Kuchizuke Kansen Libido – ~Sanninme no Libido  (彼女のくちづけ 感染するリビドー~3人目のリビドー~).

And finally, this questionably titled Yuri mook,  Danshi Kinsei! Yuri no Hanazono Manual (男子禁制! 百合の花園マニュアル ), which doesn’t seem to include anyone we’re familiar with.

Yuri Game

A new Yuri VN title has been announced – this time an American creation and set in the American west. Highway Blossoms is tale of a meeting on the road. There is a trailer on Youtube.

You can “pre-register” for school-based Girl’s Love game Hanaemi ni Kuchizuke wo (花笑みにくちづけを) on their Ameba site. Whether you can actually get it overseas is still unknown.

YNN Correspondent Ted the Awesome wants everyone to know about the Yuri Curator on Steam. He writes in to say, “STEAM has a curator system in place where users do all sorts of stuff on Valve’s Steam store. Most use it for basic reviews… but this curator’s sole purpose is to identify games that contain Yuri elements, big or small.” Take a look at it here: Hella Yuri

LGBTQ Events

If you’re in NYC for New York Comic Con, consider hitting up Queercopia on Friday night for queer comic readings! It’ll be a great place to meet comics enthusiasts and creators.

Other News

Foreign Policy has a fascinating article on Shimura Takako’s Wandering Son and trans-friendly manga.

On About.com, author Georgia Beers takes a looks at some of the most common lesbian literary tropes.

 

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? 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!





Sailor Moon Crystal to Get 3rd Season, Fans to Get Outer Senshi

September 28th, 2015

SMC3The news has come down from above….Sailor Moon Crystal is going to a third season!

ANN reports that the Death Busters arc was announced today, and will include the Outer Senshi. There is no announcement yet on the Sailor Moon Official page that voice actors or release dates have been chosen, but I’ll let you know as soon as we have word.

I know what you’re thinking…zOMG, Haruka and Michiru! And I want you to be very happy, of course. But let’s think a little about what this will mean to us. We know that Crystal is a literal animation of the manga, and the manga is a known quantity. So let’s think about it for a bit.

stylishAs I mentioned in my review of Strawberry Shake, what was once ground-breaking can wear a little unevenly over time. Haruka and Michiru are presented as a Takarazuka-esque couple. Haruka is passing as a man, but only as it suits her, she herself is not constrained by gender role. This is a little different from the original anime, in which she was consistently an otokoyaku, to the point where many consider her a cross-dresser. As I personally wear mostly men’s clothes, and do not think of myself that way, I of course do not think of her that way. ^_^ But it’s a valid perspective, as almost all perspectives are…except one. For years some American fans insisted that she was either a hermaphrodite or was originally a man, but reborn as a woman, because of the lines about her having the “heart of a man and a woman.” We here at Okazu know that this line was meant to recall Safire of Ribon no Kishi/Princess Knight. The manga Haruka dresses in a feminine manner as often as she does masculine. That will come as a surprise to some older fans, but I hope not many. In fact, some her outfits as an adult woman are quite stylish in a 1990s Japanese women’s magazine kind of way. ^_^

Haruka is going to kiss Usagi. This is a given. But she will not kiss Michiru. Vexing, maybe, but I believe they can remedy this with a single simple act.

In Volume 5 of the new edition, Haruka and Michiru speak urgently of the Talismans. In the anime, this conversation becomes the “I love your hands” moment, which is beloved by fans. In the manga, we get this instead:

hands

To make every Haruka x Michiru fan in the world happy, they need to do one thing. Before this scene cuts out, have them edge closer together, as if they are moving in for a kiss. They don’t have to actually kiss, just appear to moving towards one.

The upshot is, we’re going to get them more couple-y, more famous and cooler than in the anime, but we’re going to get less time in their heads, and less time building their relationship. Good and bad, as with all of Crystal.

In any case, let’s celebrate the 3rd season and I’m sure we’ll spend plenty of time raging and dying and crying and laughing over the news in days to come.





Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – September 26, 2015

September 26th, 2015

YNN_Lissa

Yuri Manga

Some months ago, I mentioned a webcomic called Ahiru no Ballet, (アヒルのバレエ) that followed the “adventures” of a lesbian couple in ballet class. The manga, which can be read online, has now been collected into a single volume. The manga is a reflective comedy, that next-day-ache-from-too-much-exercise-after-too-little-for-years, but sweet, with a heartwarming ending.

YNN Correspondent Chris D points us to Dengeki Daioh magazine, where a new series “Yagate! Kimi ni Naru” (やがて君になる) has begun, about a girl who asks her friend for advice on what love is, only to have her friend confess to her.

A new magazine has premiered in Japan. Comic Cune‘s  (コミックキューン) focus is on moe girls being extremely cute and cuddly. The premiere issue stars some of our favorite artists, notably Kuzushiro-sensei and Fujieda Miyabi-sensei and has just a slight lily scent. I’ve got the premiere here and will report back if there is anything of note.

Shinsokan’s Twitter account reports that Takashima Hiromi’s Shortcake to Kase-san hits shelves in Japan this week! Read a sample on the Shinsokan website.

 

Yuri Animation

You know I’m besotted with Steven Universe, Cartoon Network’s queer little love letter to Utena, but there’s so much more to love about it than just it’s queerness. The characters of Beach City are racially diverse and so is the cast. It’s like a vision of what the world might be if white people tried even a little to not be clueless. ^_^ (The article is written in an aggressive tone, for what I think are extremely understandable reasons. If it makes you feel defensive, think about why that might be.)

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Yuri Research

We have two new articles up on Yuricon’s Essays page this week and I’m terribly excited about them:

Beautiful and Innocent: Female Same-Sex Intimacy in the Japanese Yuri Genre – PhD thesis by Verena Maser, examining the relationship between media content, its production, and its reception in Japanese popular culture in regards to Yuri. (Full text article available at linked page).

Finding the Power of the Erotic in Japanese Yuri Manga – by Sarah Wellington A look at the Yuri Hime Wildrose series of volumes and their place in establishing a canon of Yuri erotica. Abstract available at the link, full-text is available with a clickthrough.)

And while you’re doing you research, check out Kathryn Hemmann’s Queering the media mix: The female gaze in Japanese fan comics in Transformative Work and Culture, a look at explicitly female gaze in shoujo and BL.

James Welker’s article for Eureka magazine, regarding Yuri Danshi and it’s meta-look at Yuri fandom, is now available in Chinese.

 

Kickstarter Watch

Dates! An Anthology of Queer Historical Fiction sound so cool I can barely stand it! Thanks to YNN Correspondent Elizabeth F for the heads up on this one.

 

Yuri Game

Takaaki-san’s Yuri news blog reports another Yuri game, Yoru no nai Kuni.  This looks like a straight up fantasy ARPG.

 

Other News

Sequart.org has this wonderful interview with Deborah Whaley on Black Women in Sequence: Re-inking Comics, Graphic Novels, and Anime.

On Hooded Utilitarian, Chris Gavaler looks at Patricia Highsmith, best known for her contributions to lesbian fiction, as a comics pioneer.

A lost classic of 70s animation from MushiPro (credited with being one of the factors in Tezuka’s studio’s downfall,), Belladonna of Sadness has been restored and is making the rounds of film festivals. This looks absolutely stunning.

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? 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!





Kadokawa Launching English Version of Bookwalker

September 24th, 2015

KGBW

Official Press Release:

Debuting at NY Comic-Con 2015: BOOK☆WALKER KADOKAWA’s Online Store for Manga & Light Novels direct from Japan SEPTEMBER 24, 2015 – Kadokawa, one of Japan’s largest media, entertainment, and publishing companies is launching an English language version of BookWalker, their eBook online store in Fall 2015. Promotions will kick off at New York Comic-Con 2015, along with the addition of over 700 comic and prose titles in English – many exclusive to BookWalker. Starting on October 8, 2015, readers around the world can check out the redesigned BookWalker website at http://global.bookwalker.jp/ and download updated versions of the BookWalker apps for iOS and Android mobile devices on the Apple App store and Google Play.

BOOK☆WALKER AT NEW YORK COMIC-CON: New York Comic-Con attendees will be able to take BookWalker for a test drive at the BookWalker booth at NYCC (#854), or try it out on their smartphones, tablets or personal computers. Visitors to the BookWalker booth at NYCC who show the signed in BookWalker account on their phones or tablets will get a chance to win prizes.  Everyone will receive an $8 BookWalker gift card, which can be used to buy almost any manga or light novel on BookWalker.

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So, will this be a big deal? I don’t know…yet.  Here’s the part that is of most interest to me:

BookWalker [is] gearing up to be the premier destination for manga, novels, books and magazines in both English and Japanese from Japanese and American publishers, including VIZ Media, Dark Horse Comics, Digital Manga, Creek & River, Cork, Futabasha, and Harlequin, with more to be added soon

Reading into press releases is a sucker’s game, but there are couple of things of note here:

The platform will be in English. I have used ComicWalker, but only in Japanese. And I’ve only read samples, not purchased anything. It works. I’m not blown away, but it works and the built-in reader is does not require a download and is pretty easy to figure out. Obviously, as soon as I can I will try it out and report back.

Offerings are from multiple publishers. This is good, and it is problematic. There is a war on for your digital manga dollars right now – Amazon recently sucked up Comixology to make sure they win it. Crunchyroll is still hanging on to a small corner, but will a Japanese publisher have an edge by offering a selection you can’t get anywhere else? This remains to be seen. It appears that they will have the same publishers already accessible on Comixology. So, you get to give your money to an American conglomerate or a Japanese one, for access to the same content. Neither site charges for access, just for purchase, so it’s a coin toss on the money side.

One the Japanese content side, Kadokawa is the winner hands-down of marketing the living daylights out of their IP, and they own many or are part of a joint venture with many of the most popular anime franchises. They do a lot of anime based on Light Novels, (like the Suzumiya Haruhi and Sword Art Online franchises) so there will definitely be a lot of popular content on the site. Their inital JP additional publisher, Futabasha has a metric ton of stuff licensed here by a bunch of distributors, they seem to be the only other publisher not afraid to spread their IP around. And they have some of the artists you like.

This could be a very good thing for Yuri fans, if the Global site is tied in with existing Japanese content. Ichijinsha is already offering a number of their Comic Yuri manga in digital format, even older, out-of-print titles. And Shinsokan has at least some of their their Hirari books. The problem is that Global Walker was historically not tied in to their Japanese site and only had Japanese content that had been licensed out. I don’t know if this is going to work for us, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed and have asked Kadokawa for some of their time at NYCC. We’ll see how it goes. Keep an eye on this space for follow-ups!