Yuri Event

Feeling a bit hopeless these days? Queer joy is the number one way to enrage the assholes who want to destroy things. Join myself, JD Glass and Mala Kumar for a talk at the The Ripped Bodice on Friday, March 21 in Brooklyn, NY to celebrate queer joy and give a hearty fuck you to the Nazis in the world. Ticket price will be refunded as a coupon for a book, so come by and get some great books signed by great authors!

Yuri Manga

Seven Seas celebrated Valentine’s Day with 5 Yuri licenses!

The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants to Serve the Villainess by Nekotarou. “A frustrated office worker gets transported to the world of the visual novel she’s been playing and decides to help the villainess succeed in this fantastical isekai manga!”

The Lying Bride and the Same-Sex Marriage Debate by Kodama Naoko. Shisagawa Rei meets an old coworker, the darling of everyone at the office, who imposes upon Rei to escape her unhappy marriage. This starts rather darkly, but ends on a surprising note.

A Yuri Manga That Starts With Getting Rejected in a Dream by Hijiki sounds interesting. “When one girl gets rejected by her best friend in a dream, she starts to reevaluate her feelings. Is the dream a premonition or a spark to set a romance in motion?”

We got some Yuri vampires with I Won’t Let Mistress Suck My Blood by Paderapollonorio.

My Goddess is Precious Today, Too by Kawauchi is a collection of goddess-like girls and girls who are a mess who meet and fall for one another.

While we’re on Seven Seas, I Married My Female Friend, Volume 4 hit shelves this month. Back in the Dark Ages of Yuri, the couples often broke up in a trope I called “Death or Marriage.” One would die or leave to get married, forcing the other to cope. Now the marriage is more often the couple getting married and I just can’t be mad at that.

Absolutely recommended by me as being hilarious, Not So Shoujo Love Story, Volume 1 by Curryuku, out from Viz, is a very funny webcomic that has been picked up as part of Viz Originals. It’s up on the Yuricon store for your convenience.

Fans of The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All, will be excited to know that Kinokuniya is doing a pre-order for Volume 2 with a special keychain. And, according to Arai Sumiko herself on X, Kino International stores will be selling Volume 3 in Japanese with exclusive merchandise.

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Inui Ayu’s Matou Kimi, Hokorobu Watashi, Volume 1 (まとう君、ほころぶ私) is available on Bookwalker JP or JP Kindle. This is a serialized story about a woman who is small and cute and is therefore often treated like a child and the woman at a kimono shop she encounters. Check out chapter 1 in Japanese on Feel Web.

Yuri Light Novel

I’m going to keep pounding this drum – The Girl Who Wants to Be a Hero and the Girl Who Ought to Be a Hero, Vol. 1  by inori., with illustrations by Akamoku, will be out in English in June from Yen.  I reviewed this volume last June in Japanese –  Yuusha ni Naritai Shoujo To, Yuusha Narubeki Kanojo (勇者になりたい少女と、勇者になるべき彼女) and gave it an overall 9. Pre-orders make a huge difference to authors, I hope you’ll all pick this up.

Yuri VN

Studio Élan is excited to announce that Please Be Happy is coming to Sony PlayStation 5 & 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and Microsoft Store on February 21st.

Ebi-hime released Cage of Roses for Valentine’s Day – “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. “

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Yuri Anime

Our favorite golf girls have a crossover mini-anime! Seriously! Visit Youtube for the First Part of the Sorairo Utility and Birdie Wing Special Collab Mini-Anime (「空色ユーティリティ」×「BIRDIE WING」スペシャルコラボ ミニアニメ)!!! Anita Tai has details on ANN.

Via Sugoi LITE on X, Yuri Drinking Comedy Manga Kamiina Botan, Yoeru Sugata wa Yuri no Hana (Kamiina Botan, the Drunken Form is a Lily Flower), created by Hey has a TV anime adaptation in the works. I had not heard of this, nor have I read it yet, but it is a Champion manga, so I am cautious. At a glance, it looks like unnecessarily childish women get messily drunk. 

 
Other Reading

It’s a kind of joke at Anime News Network that their reviewers are constantly being accused of not liking isekai, y readers who perceive any critical comment as hatred for the subgenre. As I am now a part-time reviewer with them, it was my great pleasure to be part of an article Our Favorite Isekai Titles Are… . There are a bunch of great titles in this article, including a few Yuri titles that are not my entry, so drop by and give it some love. 

Anime Feminist hosts Maddy’s thoughts on Kamikaze Girls: An alternative and queer retrospective. I also touched on the franchise’s potential queerness in my reviews of the movie, novel and manga, almost 20 years ago when they first hit. ^_^
 

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 Manga

The Kickstarter for Miyuki Yorita’s EN-language translation of Her Kiss, My Libido Twinkles, Volume 2 has 16 hours to go, as of writing, and has met all of the stretch goals except the final one. Another 364,150￥ (about $2400) will do it.

We have a bunch of new items up on the Yuricon Store!

Shio Usui’s I Married My Female Friend, Volume 4 wraps up the series from Seven Seas.

Viz Media is releasing Ami Uozumi’s Pink Candy Kiss, Volume 1  in April. “After 20 years apart, Takara reconnects with Ema, the girl she nearly kissed in middle school—who’s now a beautiful, married woman.”

Kase-san and Yamada, Volume 4, which is the ninth volume of the Kase-san series(!) is headed our way in April, also from Seven Seas.

Kininatteru Hito Ga Otoko Janakatta, Volume 3  (気になってる人が男じゃなかった) will be hitting shelves this month in Japan. Many hijinks and dress-up moments await in Arai Sumiko’s runaway hit series.

Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 9 (不揃いの連理) focuses on Shizuku’s relationship with Saori.

The final volume of Osoto Gohan wo Go-issho ni, Volume 3 (おそとごはんをご一緒に) has food and camping and goodbyes.

Via Comic Natalie, Yuri no ha Hajimari Dorei kara, Volume 1 (百合のはじまりは奴隷から), tells the story of a girl who is asked to confess for a schoolmate and is sucked into a slave/master relationship with the object of the other person’s desire.

Twinstar Cyclone Runaway, Volume 2 of the manga was  released in December.

With Galette, No. 33 on the horizon, Galette No. 32 (ガレット) is on the store! We’re still waiting for a Bookwalker JP link, but you can get it digitally on Booth, and physically from the Melonbooks and Booth if stock is still available.

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Yen Press announced the license for Lycoris Recoil Official Comic Anthology: React. Alex Mateo at ANN has the details.

Joana Cayanan on ANN has the news that Suzu Akeko will end Love Shitai Tatsunomiya-san wa Jouriku Shimashita manga in the 2nd Volume. This manga is about a mermaid who falls in love with a woman and moves in as her neighbor.

Anime News

Via Comic Natalie, the Citrus anime will be streaming for free on Youtube on Valentine’s Day. This will probably be without subtitles, as it is meant as a JP campaign.

In “This Week In Anime” on ANN, Lucas  and Coop cover Anime That Feels Like A Bad Trip, featuring Momentary Lily and Revolutionary Girl Utena.

Speaking of the damned, do NOT watch episode 6 of Momentary Lily, but DO read James Beckett’s horror story/review of it. Seriously, do not watch it.

Girls Band Cry 2-Part Compilation Film Project Opens on October 3, 2nd Film Screens on November 14, ANN’s Alex Mateo has the details 
 

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Yuri Audiobook

Roll Over and Die: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword!, Volume 1 Audiobook from Seven Seas Siren is on the Yuricon Store. Volume 2 will be out soon.

Yuri VN

Autumn Wright at PC Gamer magazine takes a look at Studio Élan‘s National Park Girls in A yuri VN about national parks that turn into anime girls is, somehow, the most relatable game I’ve played in my 20s.

Other News

Bookwalker is merging with Dwango, says Crystalynn Hodgkins at ANN. Kadokawa says the service will remain the same, but we’ll see.

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.

I started a new job last week, this one in-office, so my life is now commute-work-commute for the first time in 15 years. Keeping up on reviews has taken all my free time, so I’m keeping today short and sweet to make some time for catch up. ^_^

Yuri Manga

The Galette Special English Edition02 kickstarter has come to a successful close, surpassing the 5th and final stretch goal! Our own Frank Hecker did a little number crunching: Over ¥8M pledged (up from ¥7M for the first kickstarter), 400% over-subscribed, 759 backers (up from 637), average pledge of over ¥10,600 (down slightly from ¥11,100).  Here is my insight: The slight decrease in ¥ per backer can be explained by the increased number of backers. Since the high amount rewards level were limited, people coming in after  will join at the more unlimited lower reward levels. In any case, yay GaletteWORKS for an even more successful run this time. I am so looking forward to seeing this edition. ^_^

ANN’s Alex Mateo has news that Kakinouchi Narumi and Hirano Toshiki will launch a new Vampire Princess Miyu-Yui manga. This is about the only vampire anything I really enjoy. Kakinouchi’s art is fantastic and the stories are batshit. The anime is a fave of mine, with the best creepy doll and lesbian story ever.

J-Novel Club has announced a license for a print edition of Gushing Over Magical Girls light novel by Ononaka Akihiro. ANN’s Crystalynn Hodkins has the details.

Yuri Short Stories & Light Novels

Via Canno, the short story collection WSS Yuri Anthology- Watashi ga Saki ni Suki Dattanoni  (WSS百合アンソロジー 私が先に好きだったのに) is available on Melonbooks for those folks who can get it. ^_^ It features 7 Yuri short stories.

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Anime News

Joanna Cayanan has the new cast members, character highlight trailer and news about last week’s premiere of The Rose of Versailles anime movie on ANN.

Crunchyroll is streaming the Precure baton pass with EN subtitles, ANN’s Egan Loo reports. Following up the change from Wonderful (which I watched all the way through, and it was pretty wonderful, with a human boy Precure by the end) we look to You and Idol Precure, which will also stream on Crunchyroll according to ANN’s Alex Mateo.

Speaking of Precure, (which we are now doing with a regularity that alarms me slightly,) Sr. YNN Correspondent Cryssoberyl says that Mahoutsukai PreCure!! ~ Mirai Days~ is getting pop up shops in Loft stores in Ikebukuro Tokyo, Yokohama, Umeda and Nagoya.

Rafael Antonio Pineda reports on ANN on Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- film stayed at #1 for a 2nd weekend.

Look Back has won the Tokyo Anime Award Festivals’ top award for animated film of the year. Crystalynn Hodgkins has the details.

One more from Crystalynnn Hodgkins,  Zombie Land Saga: Yumeginga anime film will debut in 2025. 

Yuri Audiobook

Qualia The Purple audiobook, narrated by Katy Vaughn is up on the Yuricon Store!

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Yuri Videos

Via Sr, YNN Correspondent Ashley, Unmounted Stones on Youtube is “An excerpt from a larger story about thieves, crime, and debt. Dangerous valuables have dangerous owners.” by arainydancer.

Via YNN Correspondent mandtheblubird, Thai GL novel My Honey She Is The Best has a fun little promotional animation up on Youtube!

Other News

Ado, Yoasobi, Atarashii Gakkō! are going to be in concert in Los Angeles in March. Any one of those would be amazing, but together, that is a holy cow kind of concert. Hope they do a recording/stream/something. ANN’s Adriana Hazra has the news.

Sailor Moon Super Live tickets are starting pre-orders! They are visiting 20 cities in 2025. This was so much fun when I saw it the first time. I hope if you go to a local show, you’ll write something up for us. I’ll be at the Newark, NJ performance at NJPAC, so if you’re there, say hello! It’s really fun. ^_^

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 Manga

Galette’s Booth.pm account is promoting Sakurake Yukino’s – Inu to Dorei no 100-nichi Sakusen (-犬と奴隷の100日戦争-)

ANN”s Anita Tai has the news that Kamejiro’s The Flower Princess of Sylph is getting an English-language release on Bookwalker.

Anemone ga Netsu wo Obiru, (アネモネが熱を帯びる) will be wrapping up at 9 volumes, according to Rafael Antonio Pineda at ANN. We’ll be getting that series in English from Yen Press this spring as The Anemone Feels The Heat.

project sapphic on X wants us to know that Bilibili has a new Vampire Baihe series in Chinese starting up, Kiss Me In The Dark Of Night.

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Anime News

The Rose of Versailles anime movie announces 7 more cast members and a new promo video, says Alex Mateo on ANN. The newest Rose of Versailles anime movie trailer features Oscar’s beloved friend, Andre.

Also from Alex, Sailor Moon is returning to Cartoon Network’s Toonami block today at 3AM. It would be worth doing a watch party of Sailor Moon Super, episode 3 if they get there, just to celebrate how far we have come. ^_^ But…3AM.

If you are not yet watching Momentary Lily…and I strongly recommend that you do not…. ANN’s James Beckett is processing it for you.

Bubblegum Crisis Perfect Collection is on the way from the newly reborn Animeigo. Meet Priss, the very first character voted best lesbian in anime by fans in 1999. ^_^ (And then I got hate mail for the results of that poll for the next ten years! She wasn’t my choice either!) Joseph Luster has the details on Crunchyroll News.

Alex Mateo on on ANN has details of the Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- anime film English-subtitled trailer streaming on Youtube. I really don’t think it’s going to be Yuri, but we might as well wait and see.

Yuri Merchandise

Curtain Damashii is selling The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and The Genius Young Lady goods. I quite like the acrylic standees – they are actually touching AND smiling,. Sadly those are sold out. ^_^;

STRICT-G x THE KISS collaboration with Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury brings us official Suletta Mercury and Miorine Rembran wedding rings! Plus little Ericht charms.

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Yuri Light Novel

inori-sensei on Bluesky says that her newest novel Homunculus’ Tears is now available for pre-order on Amazon. On X she revealed that the illustrations will be Aonoshimo and design by Hiiragi Ryo. English translation will be by Kevin Ishizaka. This is a direct to Amazon publication, so pre-orders will help this project get promoted. It will also have Japanese, German and  Spanish editions!

Other

The folks at Moom Comics want you to know about a Kickstarter for a German and English project Between the Trees, the tale of two women who meet and fall in love while in a religious cult.

Nanphatchaon Phumithammarat and Natthanai Prasannam of the Faculty of Humanities, Kasetsart University, Thailand have written a paper in Thai looking at Thai Yuri/Girls Love Novels as Popular Fiction: A Case Study of 23.5 When the Earth Spinning Around. The PDF of the article is free to download and you can always use a machine translation to read it.

Ema Skye looks at the tensions between Yuri danshi and non-Yuri danshi in Indonesian Yuri fandom in Transbudaya, Solusi Menyelesaikan Konflik antara Yuridanshi dan Non-Yuridanshi.

Over at ANN Rebecca Silverman talks to TOKYOPOP’s Editor-in-chief Lena Atanassova, in a conversation that discusses their queer imprint. LOVELOVE.

If you’d like to support Yuri journalism and research, 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 writers, editors, 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 YNN is brought to you from over the pond in Scotland by Okazu Staff Writer Eleanor. I hope you enjoy my first attempt to cover for Erica and thank you for reading.

Yuri Manga

inee took to X this week to announce that Love Bullet (ラブ・バレット) is up for voting in this year’s “Manga I want to see animated contest.” It’s #45. You know what to do. ^_^

Suzunagi Shin on X noted that this year there is a Kono Yuri ga Sugoi! 2024 contest, named after the notable anime and manga popularity contests.) The Google form for your suggestions is open!

Our very own Erica Friedman reviews the final product from the Galette no. 1 Kickstarter for ANN. The Kickstarter for Volume 2 is now live and closes at the end of the month, hard copies of volume 1 are still available while stocks last.

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Anime News

Rafael Antonio Pineda over at ANN brings us a new video from the upcoming Rose of Versailles anime film. The film is set to premiere in Japan at the end of the month and I am very excited. I’m crossing my fingers it’ll come to the big screen over here. (Scotland Loves Anime, you know what to do…)

For the Precure fans among us: the latest installment, You and Idol Precure, has had a film announced for later this year. Joanna Cayanan at ANN has more details.

And for the trainwreck fans out there, including the Okazu Staff, we braved the first 2 episodes of GoHands’ latest work, Momentary Lily, so you don’t have to. James Beckett from ANN also came down into the trenches with his own take on the first 3 episodes. The first line alone of his piece had me snorting tea everywhere.

Egan Loo at ANN has the news about an upcoming Lycoris Recoil short anime film.

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Other

Mira Ong Chua, creator of ROADQUEEN and Vampire Blood Drive, has just launched a new Kickstarter for a graphic novel titled “The Prince In The Basement.” The campaign describes it as “An 18+ queer fairy tale romance.”

Diamond Comics, one of the largest comic distributors, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Viz Media, Square Enix and Udon Entertainment are listed among the creditors who are owed money. Alex Mateo at ANN has further details.

The Sailor Moon musical is coming to the USA (and London) this spring. More details, including dates at the official site.

From #1 Thai yuri fan and Okazu Staff member Frank comes a few updates. First, power couple BeckyFreen have a new series, Cranium, what looks to be a supernatural/sci-fi thriller starring them as biological anthropologists investigating an ancient mystery. The 8-minute pilot is on YouTube, featuring some Freen martial arts action. (CW: pictures of burned hand bones and skull)

Writer Salmon announced on Twitter (X) that Idol Factory (producers of GAP and The Loyal Pin), will be adapting their series of 4 books titled Four Elements. The starring couples (one for each book) have not yet been announced but should be soon. Freen and Becky (GAP, The Loyal Pin) will likely be one of them, since they’re under contract to Idol Factory. Others rumoured to star include Faye/Yoko of Blank and Engfa/Charlotte Austin of Show Me Love and Love Bully.

Rival production company GMMTV have also announced a new project, Girl Rules, and released a trailer.  It’s billed as another “yuri supergroup” project featuring three GMMTV couples: Milk and Love (of 23.5), Namtan and Film (of Pluto), and View (who played a supporting character in 23.5) and Mim (who had a supporting role in Us).

Via Anime Feminist’s latest Weekly Roundup, Youtuber MidnightBirdie presents a retrospective look at the classic yuri/queer anime Simoun. Thanks to CeleryMan on the Okazu Discord for sharing.

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.