Yuri Anime

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Yuri Manga

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

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

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

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

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

Yuri Events

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

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

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Other News

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okazu News

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

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

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

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Yuri Manga

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

Yuri Anime

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

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

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

Yuri Event

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

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Games and VNs

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

Other News

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

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

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

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

Yuri Anime

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

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

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

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

Yuri Events

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

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

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

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

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Yuri Manga

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

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

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

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

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Live Action

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

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

Other Great Reading

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.