Thanks so much to everyone who was kind about my health the past few weeks. Turns out I was cosplaying as a dying Victorian infant for the season. I’m doing better and we’re back on track!

Yuri Events

Yuriten is back! The all-Yuri exhibition and pop-up store has launched a new promo video for 2025 on their account on X with  January 25- February 2 dates for Tokyo and February 8-16 in Osaka. More details as they become available.

The official Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau X account shared an image of Takeshima Eku’s art exhibition.

Yuri Manga

Last week New York Comic Con brought us the news of some new licenses.

Yen licensed what they have translated as The Anemone Feels The Heat, a school life romance and Desperate March For Love, another school romance that looks Yuri. I’m not familiar with the latter at all.

I somehow missed this announcement, but Yen has released When the Villainess Seduces the Main Heroine, which I reviewed in Japanese back in 2023. (And I do apologize, I am hugely behind on the Store, since I was so ill for so long. I’ll catch up as I have a moment, which is definitely not this weekend.) I picked it up this week in English…we’ll see if the jokes work. ^_^

Seven Seas announced IDOL X IDOL which looks at the very least like an intense emotional relationship between two young women.

ANN’s Alex Mateo has the news that How Do We Relationship? will end in Volume 14.

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Kodama Naoko’s Usotsuki Hanayome to Dousei Kekkon-ron, Volume 2 is now on JP shelves.  (嘘つき花嫁と同性結婚論).

Manga Mogura on X has announced that, due to the energized fandom for inee’s Love Bullet, the manga will be reprinted.  The problem I foresee here is the publishing company relying on fandom to scream loudly, instead of investing in decent promotion to connect with the fandom in the first place. It’s a hard thing to balance. Take Yen, for instance – they do their very best to get news out by multiple social networks and on their own site and news sites, panels, press releases and announcements, and still even things get by me.

Via YNN Correspondent Katgrrl, and Mangatime Kirara on X, there will be at least one Yuri entry in the Bocchi The Rock Comic Anthology.

I encountered a new digital publisher online this week, Number 9 has some Yuri titles that they have listed under the Creative Yuri Festa title.  Check them out!

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Yuri Anime

Via Manga Mogura, This Monster Wants To Eat Me will be adapted into an anime! I am super excited about that, as I love the manga. Check out the trailer on Youtube. If it looks half this good, it’ll be great. Joanna Cayanan has details on ANN.

Crunchyroll has announced that they are streaming Girls Band Cry starting November 6. Our pal Cryssoberyl reviewed it for Okazu and made some excellent points. It’s worth a watch, if you haven’t seen it.

Look Back (link to trailer on Youtube) will be streaming on Amazon Prime as of November 7. I am so looking forward to it and dreading it. I don’t enjoy crying very much. ^_^;

The animation studio Cloud Hearts that worked on the ill-fated Whisper Me A Love Song anime is no more according to ANN’s Rafael Antonio Pineda. There were a lot of somethings wrong with the production of that anime and I think we may never know the whole story.

Rafael Antonio Pineda also has the news about new additions to the cast for the upcoming The Rose of Versailles anime film.

Other News

2 Tokyo Wards, Nakano and Setagaya, will be listing same-sex couples on a family registry, just as they do heterosexual couples. Another step forward in the face of a government unwilling to move on an issue that has an over 70% approval rating with the public.

Kodansha is looking to publish a special issue of Young Magazine in the US, according to Joanna Cayanan at ANN. I wonder if this is a test issue, since Shonen Jump has thus far remained the sole JP manga magazine in English, until Galette magazine joins it in 2025.

For folks who found this series Yuri enough for them, The Demon Girl Next Door will be getting a stage play in the new year. ANN’s Alex Mateo has the details.

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 2024, 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 Manga

Sal Jiang has announced a new series,  Wicked Spot (ウィキッドスポット), as part of the Candle A imprint from Kadokawa. “Sada is a modern-day witch who is tired of living quietly in the mountains and wants to get more attention. Why shouldn’t human beings know about witches? A story of modern-day “witches” who break the curse and live freely!” It’s a departure from her last few series, and looks very fun. Candle-A is also launching with Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna/She Loves To Cook She Loves to Eat, and Hime Miko to Hime Kishi (姫巫子と姫騎士), an isekai about two female friends transported to another world in which one is a powerful princess and the other a powerful knight (Okay, I’m in. Thank you, yes.)

Hayashiya Shizuru has a short 18+ comic and promo images from her raunchy series, ULTIMATE-MAMA available on her Booth.pm. Grab a copy of ULTIMATE MAMA EX today!

This news post gives me a chance to show off the newly framed art I have in my office. Hayashiya-sensei was clearing out her original Hayate x Blade manuscript pages and had the brilliant idea of cutting them into clips and selling them to obsessive fans like me. She included a few sketches and I had them all framed. They now hang in my office where I can see them at my desk. Here is an not-quite adequate picture. The framer did a fantastic job.

I am very pleased to announce that the first collected volume of Heimin No Watashi Desu Ga Kōshaku Reijō-sama Wo Taburakashite Ikite Imasu, (平民の私ですが公爵令嬢様をたぶらかして生きています) by Kitao Taki is now available in print. This is a story of a commoner who is sold to a duke’s daughter who was actually her friend when they were younger. She takes on the role of bodyguard  – and seducer – to the duke’s daughter. I am a long-time fan of Kitao-sensei’s work, and very glad to see this in print!

Tsukiko, creator of Futaribeya, has drawn a Yuri vampire story for Comic Boost, Hakutae-sama, Himitsu Desu yo (白妙様、秘密ですよ). “Shio Hananoi is a high school girl who attends a vampire school. In fact, Shio hides the fact that she is human, but one day she happens to meet Hakutae, the founder of vampires, and her true identity is revealed. In a world where humans are food, Shio and Shiratae are mysteriously growing closer…? “

Via Comic Natalie, three middle school students, Koto, Aya, and Eirika, are secretly in love with each other. Koto’s feelings become clear to Aya and the two begin dating, but soon after that, Aya disappears as if she had been spirited away. Seven years later, Aya, who had been missing, appears before Koto and Eirika, who are now university students, in Sankakkei no Kowashi-kata, Volume 1 (三角形の壊し方).

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Yuri Anime

Bandai is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the My-HiME franchise with new videos and illustrations. 20 years? Wow. I have “Shining Days” on my mp3 player, so was just listening to it the other day. Joana Cayanan has the details at ANN.

Look Back anime movie premiered in the US  – ANN’s Anita Tai tells us it made almost $700,000 in it’s opening weekend in theaters. The ANN Aftershow warns you – as I have, every time I mention this story – you will cry. You should see this. You should read the manga. It will make you cry.

The Rose of Versailles anime movie has announced a January 31 opening. Joana Cayanan once again has the news and key visuals on ANN.

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Crystalynn Hodgkins has the news that Netflix will be removing Glitter Force and Glitter Force Doki Doki on November 9. I hope this will free Crunchyroll to pick up the original Doki Doki PreCure and add it to their roster.In my opinion, this is the last relic of media companies taking a shoujo anime, carving it it up, gluing it back together and pretending it’s not an anime. Hopefully, we’ve seen the end of that.

While I’m on my PreCure bullshit, I need to tell you that current season Wonderful PreCure! is actually really not-terrible. ^_^ When I read the synopsis, I gave myself 3 weeks, but here I am still watching. The main couple is straight, but I wouldn’t fight you if you ‘shipped Yuki and Mayu. ^_^

Other News

It has become morally unsupportable for me to remain on X at this point, so I am moving my main social feeds to:

Okazu Discord: https://discord.gg/4NPHGH7Vc4Okazu
Patreon: https://patreon.com/Okazu
Bluesky: http://okazu.bsky.social

You can find all my socials on the Yuricon Links page.

There are three ways you can find Yuri on Bluesky, so jump right in!

Yuri Starter Pack of creators and publishers, so you can follow them in one click! https://bsky.app/starter-pack-short/9XWHsMz
Yuri List has the same people, if you don’t want to follow accounts: https://bsky.app/profile/okazu.bsky.social/lists/3kkvv6dqal72g The Yuri Feed, run by Seriously Sempai, includes fan posts: https://bsky.app/?feed=feedgen%7Cat%3A%2F%2Fdid%3Aplc%3Absscwymf2aivrvico5ik6ztb%2Fapp.bsky.feed.generator%2Faaagklnz7g7ea

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 2024, 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.

This week was a veritable cornucopia of licenses and cover reveals, but before we get in to this week’s news, I want to say this – Okazu will not be reporting on, supporting, or listing on the Yuricon Store, any AI-created or localized anything. All AI in actual existence is “trained” on the work of humans, often without their consent, AI companies have been clear that without stealing content they are not profitable. Equally, the environmental cost of AI is devastating and this planet is already teetering on the edge of no return for climate change.  Every AI prompt consumes 20 bottles of water on an already-warming Earth. Lastly, and most importantly – no one is guaranteed success in any creative endeavor, but one is especially undeserving of success when one cannot even be bothered to do the actual work.  Okazu is about the celebration of human creation; the art, the stories, the media we make for each other so our stories are told. 

That all said, let’s jump into things – there’s a lot of human creative effort to talk about today. ^_^

Yuri Manga

Viz Media took to X to announce the extremely fun license of webtoon Not So Shoujo Love Story, by Curryuku. I guess I haven’t managed to review this, but it is a fun little shoujo Yuri story that I still read when I have time to catch up. I’m pleased that it will be coming out as in collected volumes.

Also from Viz, we’re getting Girl Crush, by Midori Tayama, which Senior YNN Correspondent Sean Gaffney assures us has some non-binary and LGBT content, even if it isn’t a Yuri title.

Kodansha announced the cover reveal for Volume 1 of I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day, by Nachi Aono. This orphanage/school story is pretty violent. Look, I’m just gonna say it – CW: it’s about an immortal little girl who gets her body chewed up in battle, over and over. For Important Reasons. This manga  ran in Comic Yuri Hime for a volume or two, then was moved over to their Pixiv Yuri Hime account, I presume because of the loli guro.

We’ll be getting I’m In Love With The Villainess, Volume 7 of the manga from Seven Seas this month. Fans of Cardinal Lily are in for a treat as we move into Lily-centric territory. Woops, it looks Like I never reviewed volume 7 in Japanese. It was fun with some filler that serves a purpose later.

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Baihe News

Seven Seas has licensed some Baihe!

We’re getting The Beauty’s Blade: Mei Ren Jian by Feng Ren Zuo Shu. According to my Baihe colleague, Douqi, this is an older title. I hope that this leads to a LOT more. And maybe some of the Thai GL novels. …I really want to really all of this stuff, okay? ^_^

Which brings me to my second editorial opinion of this report. Some folks online were crowing that they had “bullied” Seven Seas into licensing Baihe and when I pointed out that “bullying” is a shit idea to get anything, they claimed they were using the term as a joke.

The way to get companies to license stuff is to share it, support it, and ask nicely for it. Tell them you want it – don’t be a jerk about stuff you don’t want. “Companies” are made of individual people working very hard to get us what we want and to make money. Buy the stuff you like, ask politely for more. Fill out surveys. Be positively engaged and trust me – companies are doing everything they can to get what they can, if it will sell. I swear to you.

Also, seriously, my beloved Okazu readers, “jokes” that are mean are not jokes and we all know this. Please do not. As I said on X, “remember to support the Yuri love, suggest more to companies, be kind to other fans and don’t make “jokes.”” I would absolutely hate to see a small group of malcontents make Yuri toxic, when I have been working for decades to keep Yuri accessible, welcoming and kind. Yuri is for everyone, let’s keep it that way.

Also in exciting Baihe news, Taiwan Travelogue, the upcoming English translation by contemporary Baihe author Yáng Shuāng-zǐ (the same Yáng Shuāng-zǐ who wrote Girls’ Love: The Development History of Lily Fan Culture in Taiwan’s ACG Industry 2023 Revised Edition (少女之愛：台灣ACG界百合迷文化發展史 2023增修版), which I reviewed here on Okazu in May of this year,) is nominated for the 2024 National Book Award for Translated Literature! Translated by Lin King, this story sounds absolutely fantastic. I’ve already pre-ordered a copy, because this book hits every damned button I have and I cannot wait to read it!

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Light Novels

I’m in Love with the Villainess: She’s so Cheeky for a Commoner, Volume 3 by inori-sensei is out now from Seven Seas. Review as soon as I have a moment, but once again, it was absolutely worth reading, as there is a ton of new material. It’s not just a reverse point of view of content you already know.

ANN’s Joanna Cayanan & Rafael Antonio Pineda team up to tell us that Gen Urobuchi’s Fate/Zero Novels are getting a musical stage play in 2025. Since that is the story that gave us suit-wearing Saber and Irisviel as a couple we’d like to see more of, I thought this was worth mentioning. Also because I have spent all day singing the Fate/Zero anime opening theme, To The Beginning, for Important Reasons, none of which have anything to do with the fact that Kalafina is getting back together for a January concert. (But it didn’t help to get the song out of my head, for sure.) Rafael Antonio Pineda has the details of that on ANN.

Other News

Animo on X has announced a new pop-up shop for  Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau anime, which given the lack of completion of the anime, seems even more like a cash grab than usual. But the goods are pretty cute. If you find yourself in Akihabara from October 11-20, drop by.

ANN’s Alex Mateo has the very interesting news that Kadokawa is running a global “wordless” manga contest. Interesting idea and a chance to get your work out to a broader audience.

We’ll wrap up the week with this article from Comics Beat by Samantha Puc about MISMATCHED, by  a graphic novel that “successfully queers” Jane Austen’s Emma. Written by Anne Camlin and art by Isadora Zeferino, Samantha calls this “a delightful rom-com that reads like a movie, with fast, quippy dialogue.”

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 2024, 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.

First of all, my very sincere thanks to Luce, who covered YNN last week. It’s always a lot of work and she did a great job!

Yuri Manga

We’ll pick up right where Luce left off, with the fascinating saga of Love Bullet by creator inee (pronounced eye-ni).  I’ve gone ahead and added it to the Yuricon Store. You can also read sample chapters in Japanese directly on Comic Walker.  Via Unseen Japan (a terrific resource I highly recommend,) journalist Kyama Ryuji has interviewed inee-sensei about the work’s cancellation and the overseas fandom-driven campaign to save it.

Kinokuniya has announced an exclusive variant cover for the upcoming release of The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All. I have a lot of thoughts about this, as you may imagine. ^_^ On the one hand, I really like that the largest Japanese bookstore chain in America  is so highly engaged with this title.  This also is an interesting shift in the way manga is being marketed here. In Japan, different outlets often have different extras – booklets, original sketches, even acrylic standees. So a JP bookseller having a unique item rather than going through a generic online store seems like a reasonable marketing campaign for the US. On the other hand, it is easy to see variant covers as a cash grab, as they can be in Western comics sometimes…but, they also are great for anthologies and multi-creator titles, so you can support the artist you like best. It will be very interesting to see how this pans out.  For those going the digital route, Bookwalker Global is doing a point boost on pre-orders.

I was in France last week and saw a copy of the French edition – it was raining very hard and I did not have  coat or an umbrella so I didn’t buy it as I had a long, wet slog back to the hotel. ^_^; Interestingly, it was released with an English title that was only half of the whole title. That prompted some discussion on the Yuricon Discord as to why that choice was made.

Handsome Girl and Sheltered Girl: The Complete Manga Collection from Seven Seas is on EN shelves now. This story of “mistaken identity” takes the joke a little too far, but has a nice enough end, as I found when I read Volume 1 and Volume 2 in Japanese. You’ll get to read the whole story at once in this complete manga collection.

Kiyoko Iwami’s raunchy high school drama continues in My Girlfriend’s Not Here Today, Volume 2, out now from Seven Seas.

Via Ashley, Osananajimi BIG LOVE (幼馴染) is a rom-com about a girl who had a friend who was a perfect angel and when they meet up again in high school, she finds her angel has turned into a gal.

Via YNN Correspondent Sister Carmilla, the official X account for Watashi o Tabetai, Hitodenashi says that the series will be featured on the cover of the December issue of Dengeki Maou.

To celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Bloom Into You manga’s completion, Kadokawa has announced that they will be releasing new merchandise on their Kadokawa Store.

Takeshima Eku is getting a solo art show which includes work from Sasayakuyouni Koi Wo Utau /Whisper Me A Love Song!  From the announcement on X: Approximately 50 digital original drawings from Takeshima’s series will be on display at the Kibi Kawakami Fureai Manga Museum in Takeshima Sensei’s hometown in Okayama.

Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou, Volume 9, is headed towards JP bookshelves next week and Ichijinsha has announced extras for the bookstores and their own shop, while Melonbooks has announced an acrylic standee of Cardinal Lily and Rae. As son as we get an official cover, I’ll add this to the Store.

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Yuri Anime

Via YNN Correspondent Cryssoberyl and Comic Natalie, for the 25th anniversary of the Shoujo Kakumei Utena anime, The Adolescence of Utena movie will be get a theatrical showing in Tachikawa Cinema City in Tokyo from October 11th to 17th. A special talk show event is scheduled for October 12 with Director Ikuhara Kunihiko and manga creator Saitou Chiho. That event is supposed to include a special “superb sound screening.” I hope someone writes up a report of that! All I can think of is that Castle Car scene and how great it looked on a big screen.

Yuri Live Action

Via sad tuna on X, GL manhwa Request to Resign is getting a short drama series featuring TWICE Jihyo’s sister Lee Ha Eum. Something to keep an eye out for.

The Ayaka-chan ha Hiroko-sempai ni Koishiteru TV Drama will be getting a Blu-ray Box set this winter.

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Yuri VN

Ebi-hime is at it again, this time with the upcoming Yuri VN Cage of Roses, which they describe as “A haunting gothic romance set in the 19th century. Follow Meike, a young woman from an impoverished noble family, as she’s swept off her feet by the mysterious Magdalena: a vampire who possesses a dark secret. “

Looking for more Yuri games and VNs? Don’t forget that the Yuri Game Jam is on now – keep an eye out for the amazing new stuff that will come out of that.

I hadn’t seen this when it came out, but “Life After Magic is a queer, retro visual novel that follows jaded ex-magical girls as they reconnect, deal with young adulthood, and face off against one last threat before Y2K hits.” It honestly looks adorable.

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 2024, 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.

This week’s Yuri Network News has been written by Okazu Staff Writer Luce. Thanks Luce for stepping in!

Welcome to Yuri News Network! I’m Luce, contributor to Okazu, and taking over for Erica this week on the news as she’s away in France. Apologies for anything missing – I’m not able to access or read many of the Japanese sites and accounts that Erica may follow, but I’ve done my best to bring you yuri-related news from around the web. Enjoy!

Yuri Manga

Via lexie on X, Sukeban to Tenkousei will end with its third volume. In a machine translated statement, the mangaka, Fujichika-sensei says that they were informed that low sales are the reason they’re not able to continue. Shame – it looks interesting!

Also from lexie on X , inee, the mangaka of yuri manga LOVE BULLET has stated that unless sales increase, the series may be cancelled at two volumes, despite her having a long story planned. Currently not licenced, they give us a buying guide for both the ebook and physical copies, albeit in Japanese. It appears to be a modern take on cupids – instead of bow and arrow, they’ve upgraded to firearms, but the mission remains the same – to get the right people to fall in love. Fingers crossed it can continue, and hopefully get licenced!

From Yuri Times, the complete collection of ‘Handsome Girl and Sheltered Girl’ by Mocchi-au-lait will be releasing in English this week. A college girl mistakes a female classmate for a handsome man, and asks her to a mixer! Unable to say no, and somewhat charmed, Mizuki agrees on the proviso that they go on a date – something she didn’t expect Satomi to agree to. How will she clear up this misunderstanding, and can they continue dating once the truth is out? Signs point to yes.

From the OASG, pre-orders for ‘I Married my Female Friend Volume 4 by Shio Usui are up in various places – the final volume! I need to catch up, but I have been enjoying this tale of two friends who married and moved in together, from the same mangaka as Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon.

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Yuri Anime

Via Anime News Network, the newest film in the Puella Magi Madoka Magica universe, PMMM The Movie: Walpurgisnacht: Rising has had a teaser trailer released, and is currently slated for release in winter 2025, delayed from winter this year. Additionally, a new smartphone game, Puella Magi Madoka Magika: Magia Exedra is due for release this year. Time to catch up with the time-and-space-bending yuri couple!

Via Sugoi LITE and Manga Mogura, the horror drama ‘This Monster Wants to Eat Me’ by Sae Naekawa may have an anime releasing next year. No sources are stated, but Manga Mogura notes a domain taken of ‘wata tabe dot com’. I’ve yet to read the manga, but I’ve heard very good things from Erica and others about this manga, which came out recently, and the Japanese volumes (Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi Volume 1) have also been reviewed on Okazu. A depressed high-school girl is attacked by a monster one day, and is saved by another monster, who promises to protect her… to eat her when she’s more grown up. English review of the first volume is here.

Anime News Network has news that ‘Murder Mystery of the Dead’, a party game, will be receiving a TV anime starting in November this year. Teren Mikami, author of yuri light novel series ‘There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless…’ is writing the scripts. Not sure it will have intentional yuri, but there sure are a lot of girls involved. I can’t find any English description of the plot, but it’s safe to bet there will be murder. And screaming.

Possibly yuri adjacent, but via Yuri Anime News (amongst others), a film entitled ‘Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: The Lonely Dragon’ will be released in Japan in 2025. The poster depicts Kanna, so who knows. We await further information.

And via Yuri_SRL on X/Twitter, a yuri mermaid indie anime will be screening during FRENZ 2024! By Ishikawa Naoya, the linked tweet has a short clip, it looks very interesting, involving a mermaid who had been in hiding and a human girl who has now found out! The clip has English subtitles, I hope there will be a way to watch the whole thing. Great to see independent publishers getting recognised.

Yuri Games

From Christine Love on Bluesky, the game Get in the Car, Loser! is now out on Nintendo Switch eShop. From the description there: “Everyone knows the story of how the great hero of legend Agi of Roses fought the Machine Devil and used the Sword of Fate to seal him away for a thousand years. Now, hateful Machine Devil cultist edgelords are spreading terror in order to summon him again, and the Divine Order that rules over our world claims that fighting them before it’s too late would be “just as bad as them.”
Obviously that won’t stand, and that’s why three young attendees of the local Academy of Order and one renegade angel from the Divine Order are heading off on a road trip to take the fight to the Machine Devil and his cultists. Will Sam Anon succeed in her mission to seal away evil for another thousand years, hit every diner along the road on the way, AND make it through a single conversation without blushing over her beautiful companions? The toughest challenges she’s ever faced in her life lie ahead!
A lesbian road trip RPG by the co-creator of Ladykiller in a Bind about fighting for love and justice in the face of indifference, and “discovering yourself,” whatever that means.”

From Eniko on Bluesky, their ‘lesbian fox girl’ platformer Kitsune Tails is currently 15% off on Steam and Itch. The game is compared to Super Mario Bros 3, and the Steam write up reads: ‘Run, jump, and dash across a land inspired by Japanese mythology and untangle the love triangle between three young women on a journey of self discovery. Explore the complicated relationships between kitsune and humans through classic platforming action.’. Sounds cute! Shame I’m terrible at platformers. If anyone would like to play it and pitch a review, the guidelines can be found on the sidebar of the Okazu website.

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Events

From rero on X/Twitter, real name Kasumi Nakamura, they will be participating in two events.
Firstly, on October 12th-13th, is the ‘Waseda Workshop on Sexuality: Japanese and International Perspectives’, where they will be talking about “how the maids in maid cafes manage the intimacy between maids and customers”. From the program, later on the 12th after their talk is one entitled ‘Dating Preferences and Sexual Orientation’ from Raja Halwani and another entitled ‘Intimate Relationships between Adult Women in Japanese Yuri Comics’ from Reika Shinoda. The program is running from 10:00-17:20 in Japanese Standard Time, but the official language will be English. I hope I’ll be able to catch some of this, although the timing may not be very easy with time zones.

Secondly, on November 1st, Nakamura-san will be a commentator on a lecture by Thomas Baudinette, ‘Exploring Queer Fantasy Work in Idol Fandom Culture Across East and Southeast Asia’. This is a Zoom webinar running from 14:00-15:00 JST, but again will be in English. This looks to cover the positives aspects of idol fan culture in Japan, but also in Korea, the Phillipines and Thailand.

James Welker will be speaking at an event in Tokyo about his new book, ‘Transfiguring Women in Late Twentieth-century Japan’. The event will take place at 18:00-19:30 JST on Friday October 25th at Sophia University. In person only, but pre-registration is not required, so show up and support if you’re able!

Finally, Shortbox Comics Fair is coming back! For the entirety of October, there will be over 100 short comics by various artists for sale on the site. This normally includes many queer focused comics, although topics and ratings vary widely. Support some artists! Everything is digital, so no posting fees either, just good comics, delivered straight to your inbox.

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