Yuri Manga

Still catching up on the Yuricon Store, but here’s a start. Definitely don’t miss the concluding volumes of two of my favorite Yuri manga! Catch These Hands, Volume 4 brings this charming dysfunctional adult series to an end.

For folks looking for sensitive and caring aro/ace representation, I hope you all picked up Doughnuts Under A Crescent Moon, Volume 4, because that series really nailed the ending.

And for once I am pre-emptively declaring a birthday celebration for myself. The Moon On A Rainy Night, Volume 1 comes out in English from Kodansha on my birthday and I want you all to read it and write in the comments of my review of it what you think! I’m reading Volume 4 now in Japanese and it’s just so good.

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Arai Sumiko’s Kininatteru Hito Ga Otoko Janakatta (気になってる人が男じゃなかった) hit shelves last month in Japan. This manga got it’s start on Twitter and became very popular quickly. It’s about a woman who mistakes another woman for a guy and falls for “him.”

Via YuriMother, we have news that Run Away With Me Girl, Volume 3 has hit shelves this month.

And for those of you interested in There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless…, Volume 1, the collaboration between Teren Mikami and Eku Takeshima, Sean Gaffney has reviewed it and noted the possibly problematic bits for you.

In case you missed this, ANN’s Margaux Pangilinan took a look at Advice and More From the TATESC Award Winning Author of LILIES, one of the first Bookwalker vertical-scroll comics.

 
Sailor Moon News

I’m sure everyone has had a chance to watch this, but if you haven’t, be frustrated by the gorgeous Sailor Moon Cosmos trailer, which means that Toei made the exact same mistakes this time that they did the first time around – cheaping out and rushing the first two seasons, with not-great directors, then having a decent director and a teeny more money for Season 3, then spending a ton of money on Seasons 4 and 5. Maddening, isn’t it?  ^_^;

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Yuri Anime

Still cleaning out my inbox, so let’s make sure we all watch the Whisper Me A Love Song anime trailer, and look forward to its January 2024 debut. Rafael Antonio Pineda has the details over at ANN.

Yuri Live-Action

ANN’s Alex Mateo has the live-action Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games series’ trailer for us to enjoy! Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the manga has been reviewed on Okazu by Luce.

Other News

ANN’s Answerman, Kim Morrissy, takes on the question “Why is Yuri Anime So Popular Now?” Thanks Kim for giving me a chance to be part of that answer!

 
Thanks to our Okazu Patrons and Supporters who make the YNN weekly report possible!

If you’d like to support Yuri journalism and research, Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips. 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 our readers.

I want to start off today by thanking all of you who have been sending me support and good thoughts. This is my first YNN report since February and I’m keeping it short today, but it’s good to be back!

Yuri Manga

At Sakuracon, Yen Press announced the license for Maitsuki Niwatsuki Ooyatsuki by Yodokawa as Monthly in the Garden With My Landlord. I reviewed Volume 1 and Volume 2 of this charming manga and look forward to it in English!

Yen also licensed Cheerful Amnesia. I know a lot of people really liked it, but I sided with Bruce, our late friend, when he wrote his last review for Okazu on that series. ^_^;

Live Action Yuri

Via Ashley, we have a tweet from Mark Julio on a live adaptation of Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games, with trailer! According to Mark, this will be on the Lemino streaming service in Japan in May.

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Yuri Visual Novels

Aikasa Collective has launched a new Kickstarter for Red Rebellion, an historical fantasy romance game featuring Robin Hood and Little Red Riding Hood as they team up and fall in love! With 25 days to go, it’s about half-way, so if you can, give this indie game some love. ^_^

Studio Élan is taking pre-orders for a limited run of physical console editions of their popular Heart of the Woods Yuri VN! You can get HoW on Switch, PS4 or PS5. Pre-orders close May 21.

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Yuri Voice Comic

Manga artist Natsuo Mutsumi kickstarted a successful campaign for her manga My Date Is A Total Ike Women! in Japanese and English. The final stretch goals were the creation of a voice drama for the comic and an original piece of music. Natsuo-sensei will be recruiting for non-Japanese voices, so keep an eye out for their tweets!

I’m In Love With The Villianess has also been given a voice comic reading, in anticipation of the upcoming anime. inori-sensei posted a link to it on her twitter. Also for fans of ITLV, Plang has expanded their Claire’s Birthday game- Revolution Lily – they say it has additional scenarios and illustrations. ^_^

Yuri Light Novels

Yen Press has announced the license of the print versions of Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire. J-Novel Club has the digital editions. I really enjoyed that anime, although calling it “Yuri” would be pushing boundaries, but it is a fun series centered on young women’s friendships.

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons and Supporters who make the YNN weekly report possible!

If you’d like to support Yuri journalism and research, Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips. 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 our readers.

Okazu Needs Your Help!

2023 is a year that is especially full of new creative content for all of us – tons of Yuri manga, light novelsvisual novels, and brand new Yuri anime – which means new “Erica reacts” videos, our Yuricon 2023 panels and presentations and more as the year goes on. It’s only March and we already have 7 videos up for Season 4 of  Yuri Studio! We have a bunch of new guest reviews here on Okazu and, of course, there are the usual news reports, reviews and some features lined up for the near future.

All of this takes time and money. If you enjoy any or all of the content you read hereon Okazu or watch on Yuri Studio, or the conveniences of the Yuricon store and the Yuricon Essays page…

Please consider supporting Okazu on Patreon or Ko-fi. Your financial support goes straight to paying the writers, artists and editors we employ to keep all of this going.

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Yuri Anime

Whisper Me A Love Song anime, based on the manga by Takeshima Eku now has a premier date of January 2024! New cast and key visual can be found on Crystalyn Hodgkins item on ANN.

Yuri is My Job and the second seasons of  Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury and Birdie Wing all have April premier dates.

Fresh Precure 5, Maho Girls Precure both are being given sequel anime series with the characters as adults. Rafael Antonio Pineda has the details over at ANN. I am intrigued at the idea of these series taking a look at the characters years later, but how I wish it had been Heartcatch!  Fresh was one of the seasons I just could not make it through. Ah well. ^_^

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Yuri Light Novels

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, Volume 4 is poised for an April release in English – perfect timing as the anime will have just wrapped up and we’ll all be hungry for more!

The Executioner And Her Way Of Life: A Casket of Salt, Volume 6 will hit shelves this week and the battle between Menou and her mentor will come to a climax.

Yuri Manga

This week on Bookwalker, there are a number of coin back/coin up promotions including free volume 1s and up to 50% coin back on selected volumes of Kodansha Manga. Drop in to Bookwalker here to see what you can nab!

Speaking of Kodansha, something to eagerly await is The Moon On A Rainy Night, Volume 1, which will reach us in September. This story about a hard of hearing girl and a hearing girl who become friends with her is absolutely not disability inspiration porn. It is a solid tale of otherness and accommodation, friendship and love. I have reviewed Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3 here in Japanese and Volume 4 is coming out shortly in Japan. Don’t miss this series when it his shelves in autumn.

Seven Seas has licensed Sheep Princess in Wolf’s Clothing, about a wolf butler to a sheep princess.

Also hitting shelves this week is She Loves To Cook, She Loves To Eat, Volume 2! Nomoto and Kasuga think about food and each other and make new friends.

Amongst Us, Book 1: Soulmates is a fun AU comic by Shilin Huang of the leas characters from her epic fantasy Carciphona. Blackbird and Veloce live in our world, but they are still themselves. This is a lighthearted slice-of-life about a Very Odd Couple.

Chidori and Nanoha have finally decided what to do about their futures in Hana ni Arashi, Volume 12 (はなにあらし).

Manga Mogura’s Twitter account highlighted a new Yuri manga called Ironna Onnanoko to Kiss o Shite Itara, Yuri Kiss ni Mezamete Shimaimashita vol 1 (色んな女の子とキスをしていたら、百合キスに目覚めてしまいました…。) by Betock. According to MM, this is a “comedy about a high school girl who finds a unconscious angel girl in the woods. The only way to save her is to kiss her!”

Yuama’s The Summer You Were There is slated to wrap up with a 6th volume. Rafael Antonia Pineda has the details on ANN.

Ikuta Hana’s Kage to Hana (影と花) is a Web Action Yuri comic about a girl’s school for ninjas! I’ll have to give it a try at least. ^_^

Kickstarter News

Studio Élan is running a kickstarter for physical copies of their top Yuri Visual Novels which has blown past it’s initial goal and is already funded through the second stretch goal. Next up would be a LN based on one of their games. It’s always a good bet to back an already-successful kickstarter. ^_^

Also already fully funded through new stretch goals, with 12 days to go is My Date Is A Total Ike Women [sic], a butch x butch manga by Natsuo Mutsumi – an original song added to a now-illustrated voice drama is the only remaining goal! I bet we get there.

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons who make the YNN weekly report possible! Support us on Patreon or Ko-fi to help us give Guest Reviewers a raise and to help us support Yuri creators!

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Yuri Manga

ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword!, Volume 3 manga is out from Seven Seas, after more than a year since the previous volume.

Natsuo Mutsumi-sensei was one of the creators behind Boyish² – Butch x Butch Yuri anthology. They have a new project and it’s going to be amazing. They had released art from My Date is a Total Ike Woman, in Japanese and English on Twitter where we all went ballistic for it. ^_^ Now is has launched as a bilingual Kickstarter and in one week blew past all the initial goals and stretch goals. The book is a only a few thousand yen away from a illustrated voice drama on Youtube with original music! I backed it for both a JP and EN edition, because of course I did.  ^_^ There’s just under 3 weeks to go. I hope you’re all as excited about this as I am. ^_^

ANN’s Rafael Antonio Pineda has the news that Kyou Kara Mirai Yuri manga by Yoshitomi Akihito (probably best known here for Blue Drop) is ending. I was kind of surprised it was still ongoing, only because recent Yuri work by Yoshitomi-sensei had been mostly shorts. I’ll have to take a look at this again, I think! I bring this up because Volume 1 and Volume 2 are available in English on Bookwalker Global, brought out by publisher MediBang, a company that mostly seems to do 18+ works. This was news to me, I had seen no announcements at all about it.

Yuri Events

We have a new video for  Yuricon 2023, one that I was exceptionally moved by: S04 E06 – Finding Inspiration in Yuri, Featuring Rev. Sandy Ferguson.  Sandy is very open and honest about his approach to faith, and how Yuri helped him find healing and a way to relate to others. This video now is captioned in English.

We’ll have a new video up tomorrow, as well on an important topic! Aand then we are talking a short hiatus while I attend to other business. We’ll be back in April with more great content and hopefully you’ll apply to run your own Yuricon 2023 panel or do a presentation today! We want to know all about your love of Yuri. ^_^

One of the items I will be attending to is that I am a guest panelist at Anime Boston 2023! I will be on 6 panels, I believe, including  a brand new Best of Yuri – 2023 Edition with Yurimother and Rocky, Anime Boston’s home team Yuri speakers. I’ll have a table in the Artist Alley, where I’ll be selling and signing By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime And Manga as well as selling some other Yuri manga.  Definitely drop in and say hello!

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Yuri Anime

Mobile Suit Gundam – The Witch from Mercury is gearing up for a release in April, ANN has a lot of coverage of it. Joanna Cayana has the release date. Rafael Antonio Pineda hands us the S2 trailer and OP,  Kim Morrisey notes that the website briefly had a spoilery synopsis listed. (Eh, not *that* spoilery.)

Rafael Antonio Pineda has also cast announcements for the upcoming Hoshikuzu Telepath anime.

Last week Twitter was abuzz with this charmingly personal announcement from online streaming and on-demand platform PlutoTV

I’M LAUNCHING A 24/7 SAILOR MOON CHANNEL TOMORROW AND I CAN’T CONTAIN MY EXCITEMENT ANY LONGER. 🐈‍⬛🌙

— Pluto TV (@PlutoTV) February 28, 2023

And so they did! You can watch Sailor Moon 24/7 now on Pluto TV free and legally, or watch the movie or series of your choice on demand. A bunch of us asked for them to see if they can add the live action series, too. ^_^

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Yuri VNs & Games

Noodletub Games is pleased to announce the launch of GOOD LUCK BABY! on Steam and Itch.io. “An out of this world yuri visual novel about falling in love, defeating an evil Empress, and finding a magic baby on your crush’s doorstep….a heartwarming, comedic and emotionally-driven yuri visual novel about love, found family, and saving the world.” Sounds fun!

Yuri Live Action

One more from Rafael Antonio Pineda on ANN, who brings us a trailer and details about the live-action movie for Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu, based on the manga of the same name by Hirao Auri. The manga is currently being released in English by Tokyopop – I reviewed  Volume 1 on English here on Okazu!

Other News

YNN Correspondent Patricia Baxter write in to let us know about”a great indie comic that, while not explicitly GL, still strongly focuses on the relationship between two women characters. It’s called See You Again, Maybe by Vivian Nguyen (aka LaweyD). Pre-orders for it are available until March 16th.”

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons who make the YNN weekly report possible! Support us on Patreon or Ko-fi to help us give Guest Reviewers a raise and to help us support Yuri creators!

Become a YNN Correspondent: Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share and be part of the Yuri Network. ^_^

Yuri Events

Yuricon 2023 continues this week with the first of our “Yuri is their job!” track.  I spoke with three professional translators about their work on some of your favorite Yuri titles in Yuri Is Their Job – Translating Yuri with Jocelyne Allen, Kevin Ishizaka and  Diana Taylor!

Your kind words and “likes” on Youtube are always appreciated. They also help get these videos more widely seen. Please feel free to share the video links, or our Yuricon 2023 playlist to any Yuri fan communities you’d like.

Don’t miss this opportunity to talk about something that’s important to you – apply to run a panel or do a presentation for Yuricon 2023. I’m especially looking for folks who normally don’t feel like they have a chance to talk about their specific interests or perspectives at conventions. Yuri Blerds and fans of color are especially welcome to apply, queer folks of course and folks from any country. Don’t self-censor. I really do want your panels!

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Yuri Anime

Birdie Wing official has released a new key visual and a premier date in April! Woo~~ Crystalynn Hodgkins has the story on ANN.

ANN’s Joana Cayanan shares the news that Miyamoto Yume will be returning to Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury as Nika.

Yuri Manga

Seven Seas has announced the license for Usui Shio’s Onna Tomodachi to Kekkon Shitemita (女ともだちと結婚してみた。) as I Married My Female Friend. Volume 1 will hit shelves here in December 2023, Volume 3 is out this month in Japan.

Also from Seven Seas, Futari Escape, Volume 2 and  Monologue Woven For You, Volume 3 hit shelves this month.

Yuri Doujinshi

Via Yurimother, we learn that Irodori Sakura has released lesbian doujinshi 100% Ice Drop by Pikachi Ohi, creator of Our Teachers Are Dating.

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Baihe News

Via YNN Correspondent Ashley, DouQi’s Twitter account (*the* source for English-language baihe news) announced pre-orders for volume one of the print edition of tomb-raiding baihe novel 问棺/Wen Guan/Reading the Remnants by 七小皇叔 opening on 25 February at 1900 China Standard time! Douqi also shared this book unboxing video series from Weibo, narrated by an audio drama voice actress.

Yuri Visual Novels

ebihime announced a Steam store page, so you can wishlist their new 18+ Yuri VN, Fragile Feelings.

Other News

Honey’s Anime has a terrific interview with Mieri Hiranashi, creator of The Girl That Can’t Get A Girlfriend, which was reviewed this week on Okazu.

On ANN, Rebecca Silverman looks at I Want To Be A Wall, Volume 2.

Utterly tangential, but the creator of my beloved obsession Hana no Asuka-gumi (of which ANN only lists two pieces of the franchise) Takaguchi Satosumi, has a series called Grandma no Yuutsu, which is getting a live-action drama. Joanna Cayanan has the details on ANN. I can’t really complain, Hana no Asuka-gumi had  TV show in the 80s and 2 movies…but I want a new live-action series! ^_^

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons and Supporters who make the YNN weekly report possible!

If you’d like to support Yuri journalism and research, Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips. 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 our readers.