Yuri Literature

Mark Your Calendars! By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga pre-orders officially open up on May 2! I’ll launch a page on the Yuricon Store with links for it in print and digitally on Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon and digitally directly from the publisher. 

Okazu patrons and Pixiv fans will be eligible for a signed custom bookplates, with original art by Rica Takashima, with proof of pre-order. These have to be limited, my hands aren’t very functional, sorry.)

20 years in the making, By Your Side is the first of it’s kind  – a look at Yuri history, key series, trends, events and changes of the newest genre of anime and manga. Because of the way the book industry works – pre-orders make a huge difference, especially direct from book stores. My publisher Journey Press has connections with independent bookstores around the world, take a look and see if there is one near you!

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Rica Takashima will be celebrating the release of this book with an art exhibit with Beyond New Borders 2020-2022 in Fukuoka, Japan in May. She will be exhibiting her art for Phryne and Anise magazines and will be including her cover art for By Your Side, which she has titled 100 Years of Yuri and 200 Years of Yuri. Okazu Patrons and Pixiv Fans can purchase limited edition signed and numbered prints of this art!

Sailor Moon News

We finally have news of the final arc of Sailor Moon! Sailor Moon Cosmos will be a two-part movie release, for the 30th anniversary of the series! Check out Kim Morrisy’s article on ANN for details.

Don’t miss the (Japanese only) stream of the Sailor Moon 30th anniversary event, while you’re at it! Once again Kim Morrisy has the scoop on ANN.

In addition, Takeuchi Naoko’s landmark work is getting a museum exhibit at Tokyo’s Roppongi Museum. The Sailor Moon Museum exhibit will have three “phases” and runs from July 1-December 30, 2022. Kim Morrisy is our go-to for all our Sailor Moon news. ^_^

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Yuri Manga

Ballroom dancing Yuri manga Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru, Volume 2 (踊り場にスカートが鳴る) is now out! I love this series.

June 2022 issue of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫2022年6月号) will be the final chapter of Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts. Sigh.

Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau, Volume 6 (ささやくように恋を唄う) is available for some brain-cleansingly sweet Yuri. ^_^

Lilyka is releasing a Yuri artbook called Kiss & Hug, by Hoshizoranshita.

Games and Visual Novels

Via Twitter, ebihime announce Salome’s Kiss, a Yuri VN set in the Victorian era, featuring “cute girls, suffering, and cute girls who suffer.” Available now on Steam and Itch.io. The art looks fantastic.

Super vaguely Yuri adjacent, but what the hell, Queens’ Blade Limit Break battle game is now available on G123.

Studio Élan invites you to their first Élan Festival, celebrating LGBT+ visual novels! Join them on their Studio Élan YouTube Channel, May 14th at 4PM Pacific US time for Yuri VN announcements!

Via YNN Correspondent Youko on Twitter, SukeraSomero’s OshiRabu Yuri VN has launched on Nintendo Switch in four languages! Click the link for SiliconEra’s article.

One last item, via Japanese crowdfunding site Campfire, Yuri VN Summer Love Begins With a Lie (嘘から始まる恋の夏) will be released fully voiced with a Japanese cast. I’m hoping we’ll see this released in English, it looks pretty good.

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Other News

Via Comic Natalie, Maria-sama ga Miteru is getting a new collaboration cafe, the Yamayurikai Cafe, at Stella Map Cafe in Akihabara, from May 17 – May 31. Reserve your spots today (and take pictures if you’re going. I need to live vicariously.)

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Yuri Interviews

This past week got off to an amazing start with a wonderful interview. inori-sensei, creator of I’m in Love With the Villainess, was kind enough to answer some questions for us here on Okazu. Thank you, Sensei, for your time!

And then I was interviewed by Kurt Sasso on Two Geeks Talking. We covered a couple of key topics about Yuri and my upcoming book! It’s a short interview so please give it a watch and give Kurt a like!

Today I’m talking with Heather Rose Jones of the Lesbian Historical Motif Podcast – which is, by the way, a fantastic resource for fans of literary history. I’ve been listening to an episode or two every day and have learned a lot. That will go up in June, most likely. 

If you’d like me to be on your podcast or YT channel, please Contact Me. I love to talk about Yuri. ^_^

Yuri Studio

This week also brought us a new Yuri Studio video: Yuri Studio S03 E02 – Girl Gangs in Anime and Manga is something I have been working on for a long time and I think it came out brilliantly. Thanks so much to Ashley for her editing. Again, I appreciate it if you give the video a like on Youtube and follow the channel. This one was really a lot of fun! ^_^ (Also, crazy…we’re in Season 3 of this!)

Yuri Manga

Shonen Jump Plus has launched a new series, Shinjuku Liar Girls (新宿LIAR♡GIRLS),  about a “Business Yuri” couple – that is, two people paired for business purposes, like an idol ‘ship – in what is the very first example of a manga on the app labeled Yuri. Hat tip to YNN Correspondent Megan for this!

Sal Jiang has a new collection of her Web Action comics, SAL went on sale this week!

ANN’s Alex Mateo has the news that semelparous will be moving to irregular serialization due to creator Ogino Jun’s health. Here’s hoping for his speedy recovery.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I finally had a chance to read a few chapters on Comic Walker and…I think I like it! JK to Tomodachi no Okan,(JKとともだちのオカン) is a kind of goofy Yuri about a high school girl who falls for her school friend’s mother.

Wako to Komako (わくとこまこ) is a slice-of-life web comic about two women that is simple and sweet. You can read it for free in Japanese on eboook.yahoo.jp.

Out of Context GL on Twitter posted a great thread on “If you liked X, you might like Y!” for Yuri manga series suggestions. ^_^

Anime News

Sentai Filmworks has announced that Revue Starlight The Movie will be in theaters in Summer 2022! Take a look at the list of participating theaters and see if this will be playing near you.

Sailor Moon’s 30th Anniversary will be celebrated with a retrospective video featuring key cast and staff members. I’m looking forward to this, obviously. ^_^ Joseph Luster has the details at Otaku USA magazine.

Okazu News

As you know, I do not typically embargo content here on Okazu. All our articles and news and merch are open to anyone to enjoy. For the first time ever, I have released a supporter-only item. Folks who support us on Patreon or Pixiv Fanbox can buy signed and numbered By Your Side canvas prints that will be available for a limited time.

Yuri Artbook

Galette magazine has launched it’s second Illustration Book! Volume 2 will have more cover art by PEN and other color illustrations from the magazine. As soon as there are links, I’ll get this up on the store. ^_^

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Yuri Interview

We have some exciting news here on Okazu! Tomorrow, we have an interview with I’m in Love With the Villainess creator inori. I’m super excited for you all to read it.  (And for you to run out and ask Ichjinsha for an anime for this series. ^_^) Check back tomorrow for the interview!

Coming up this week, too, is our next Yuri Studio video. I have been looking forward to this one for a long time. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. ^_^

Yuri Manga

Futari Daitai Konna Kanji, Volume 4 (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ) is the final volume of this adult life Yuri series. But you will be able to read volume 1 in English as The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This, this June from Seven Seas. I really like this series. ^_^

Haruka and Nao’s story continues in Syu Yasaka’s Monologue Woven For You, Volume 2 headed our way in June, as well.

Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 6 (不揃いの連理) continues Miman’s series about various Yuri couples, including a punk girl and her career woman girlfriend.

To celebrate the release of the first collected volume, Miman’s comic Sempai, Oishi desuka? (先輩、美味しいですか？) has been given a voice comic, available on Youtube!

Men-men Musubi (麺面むすび) is a collection by Yuri anthology contributor Yodokawa, with 7 short stories about life and loves of adult women.

Hatsuka from Comic Yuri Hime showed off the RIDIBOOKS Comic Award for Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., on Twitter! Now we just need an anime for this series! ^_^

Yuri Webtoon

War Bunny’s Appolonia is a gay cowgirl drama that has reached 1000 subscribers on webtoons! Give it a try for your recommended daily dose of gay cowgirls!

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Yuri Light Novel

Out now from Yen Press is the LN of The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, Volume 1. It’s very similar to the manga, but seems more good-hearted, with less yelling. (Or maybe I read it with less yelling, since I don’t have to look at the screaming faces…)

New from Kadokawa, is Hataraku Watashi to Kanojo no Dosei (働く私と彼女の同棲) about a woman who takes in a relative’s daughter after her mother dies. I don’t know if this is Yuri, per se, but it looks like they find healing and family in each other, and I am all for that.

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Anime News

There is a lot of chatter on JP channels that Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu! / Yuri is My Job! will be getting an anime adaptation. According to anime “leak” site, SUGOI Lite, the domain watayuri.com has been registered. Fingers crossed. Next up, let’s get an anime for Wataoshi, as well. ^_^

I had a chance to watch the first three episodes of The Executioner and Her Way of Life and I’m going to give it a recommendation. The art is much better than it has a right to be, there’s much less guro than in the light novel, and the tightened timeframe of the anime amps up the tension.  HIDIVE is streaming this series and the Light Novels (which have been reviewed here: Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3) are available from Yen Press.

Birdie Wing – Golf Girls’ Story is >this< close to being the sports anime I need. All it needs is some Yuri. ^_^ It’s a story about financial inequality and crime and and intense competition and…golf. It’s bonkers in exactly the way I love. I recommend this higher than highly.

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Yuri Doujinshi

Lilyka is running a “pay what you want” sale on Sachi Miyabe‘s works, starting at $1.99.

Other News

Cherry Magic! Manga Artist Donates Film Rights Fee to Marriage For All Japan, reports Kim Morrisy on ANN. Cherry Magic is a goofy BL series about adults in the workplace, and having a popular BL manga, series and movie boosting Marriage for All is really terrific. I love when Yuri and BL acknowledge the real lives and issues of queer folks.

Absolutely unrelated to Yuri, but I thought you’d appreciate this video of Michelle Yeoh talking about her most iconic characters. ^_^

Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth made an appearance on Jeopardy! of all things, this week. Boter the Ninth has the clip on Twitter. ^_^ Thanks to YNN correspondent Ashley who caught that!

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Yuri Live Action

Idol Factor has released three short trailers for their upcoming Thai Yuri live-action GAP The Series: The “cutie” trailer; the “tears” trailer, and; the “savage” trailer are all on Youtube.

This series looks like it will lean well into the Yuri, as more and more Thai  series have leaned into the BL aspect. Based on the comments on Youtube, the audience is read for a Yuri series with some bite.

Yuri Manga

Finally! Whisper Me a Love Song, Volume 5 will be hitting shelves in May. So you can finally see Shiho’s deal. (Warning…it’s ridiculous. ^_^)

Boyish² Butch x Butch Yuri Anthology is extending their sale period. I highly recommend giving this independent queer Yuri anthology a few bucks and show your support for their work! In a statement on Twitter, the creators noted that this is, in part, an attempt to curb piracy. I’m sure I don’t have to tell Okazu readers, but as a reminder, its not okay to pirate manga. It makes the creators really sad. Especially when it’s a small, independent creation.

My Idol Sits the Next Desk Over! Volume 4 hit shelves this week.

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Tokuwotsumu has a bittersweet adult life story about a woman who find her former lover’s diary in Haru Tsudzuru, Sakurasaku Kono Heya de (春綴る、桜咲くこの部屋で). Love their work, so I bet I’ll like this.

Speaking of loving their work, I’m reading Kuzushiro’s Uyanotsuki, Volume 1 right no and looking forward to Uyanotsuki, Volume 2 (雨夜の月). This story is about two high school girls who meet under unusual circumstances. One is a piano player and the other is hard of hearing.

Yuri Anime

The Executioner and Her Way of Life debuted on HIDIVE this month.

A really interesting piece of news from CR News’ Kara Dennison – the Black Rock★★ Shooter DAWN FALL Blu-rays will include the spin-off novels, written by Fukami Makoto. Now that’s a bonus I can get behind.

Kara also has the details of the Revolutionary Girl Utena pop-up shop in Shibuya. If any Okazu reader can get there, and would be willing to shop for me, please let me know!

Yuri Light Novel

You can get Yume no Kuni kara Mezamete mo (夢の国から目覚めても), a story about two women in a doujinshi circle, on JP Kindle or Bookwalker! I might give it a try. ^_^

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Yuri Interviews

That awesome time when Animeforwomen interviewed me and inspired me do more stuff is now up on Youtube! (Of course now I have to do more stuff. ^_^)

I also had the chance to talk with the lovely Lum and Colton from Manga Mavericks about Kabi Nagata’s book My Wandering Warrior Existence.

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Other News

Gengoroh Tagame has a new mainstream manga, Our Colors, following the life of a gay Japanese boy navigating school and family life. Alex Schlesinger takes a look at this story for Screenrant. Pantheon is putting the entire series out in a hefty 528 page hardcover volume that will hit shelves in June.

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons and Fans who make the YNN weekly report possible! Support us on Patreon 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 Research

You’ll forgive me for making this my headline this week. My own book, By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga will be on sale June 1! 

This book collects 20 years of articles, essays, lectures, presentations and introductions into one work, tracing the history of Yuri from the early 20th century to the present. It features a Foreword by James Welker and cover art by Rica Takashima, and is the combined effort of many of my dear friends in the Yuricon and Okazu community. It takes a village to make a book, let me tell you…. ^_^

This is the first book of it’s kind in English, I hope it will not be the last! I hope all of you will freely draw on this for your own work and I look forward to read your research on Yuri. ^_^ (If you have any Yuri research, don’t forget to contact me, so I can put a link up on the Yuricon Essays page!)

Yuri Manga

Viz will be publishing Mieri Hiranashi’s Girl Who Can’t Get a Girlfriend as part of their Viz Originals imprint. This is very good news for all of us who have been following and supporting Mieri as she creates her work. And, also, it shows that Viz is on board with openly queer manga. I cannot overstate how amazing this decade is already, so far. Kodansha, Seven Seas, Yen and Viz are all investing in openly queer work. That’s a huge change in this industry over less than a decade, really, but they are also promoting it as queer work. This is the world I imagined back in the 1990s and…here we are. ^_^

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Bookwalker is running a 40% coin back on all eligible Yuri and BL titles through April 7! Now’s a great time to play catch up!

Even Though We’re Adults, Volume 4 is on the way this week, with another volume packed full of complicated adult emotions. I recommend this series highly. It’s by far and away the best of Shimura-sensei’s work to date.

Ajiichi’s Failed Princesses, Volume 5, will be hitting shelves shortly! The school trip is over but Kurokawa and Fujishiro’s relationship is never going back to where it started.

GUNBURED x SISTERS, Volume 1 was released last month by Seven Seas. Vampires, vampire hunters, guns, questionable anatomy, prominent lingerie, Yuri….this manga has it all.

Our Teachers Are Dating, Volume 4 hit shelves mid-April, with a touching ending to this sweet series. Print listings are on the Yuricon Store, don’t know why Bookwalker is so slow to get this up.

This summer will bring us Yuri Espoir, Volume 1. A young woman spends her last year before she is married off, drawing and enjoying Yuri wherever she finds it!

Yen Press debuted the cover of Adachi and Shimamura, Volume 3 on Twitter.

If you like Alt Hanakage’s work, she is serializing this 18+ story on Bookwalker, Sexual Liberation: To Each Their Own Form of Love, Chapter 1. I think the title image is pretty clear on the sex triangle that will be the main focus of the story. Ch. 1 is 78 cents. ^_^

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U-temo’s school Yuri, Yuri-Ota ni Yuri ha Gohattodesu!, Volume 2 (百合オタに百合はご法度です!) is up on the Yuricon Store. A Yuri Otaku is at an all-girl’s school, but life is not as expected when a gal Yuriblocks her at every turn. But now she’s thinking about Yoshioka in that Yuri way….

Hirao Auri’s short stories have been collected into one volume, with some new content in Joshi ni ha Rekishi ga Arimashite Hirao Auri Tanhenshuu (女子には歴史がありまして 平尾アウリ短編集).

Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu!, Volume 10 (私の百合はお仕事です! 10) is slated for a May release. Things are getting intense at Cafe Liebe!

Yuri Light Novel and Prose Anthology News

Via Sr. YNN Correspondent Sean G., I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 5 is slated for a September release. I cannot express how amazing a novel this was. You will be blown away. I promise.

Over in Japan, the print edition of Watashi Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou. – Revolution –, Volume 2 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。-Revolution-) will be released in June. I’m making my way through Volume 1 and it’s been interesting to “re-read” this for the first time in Japanese. Thanks to Ichijinsha, I’ll have a nice edition on the shelves along with the English volumes.

Curtain Call no Mukougawa – Geijutsu Yuri Anthology (カーテンコールの向こう側-芸術百合アンソロジー) is a JP Kindle-only prose Yuri anthology of stories about stage actresses. I really want to read this, but can’t for regional licensing reasons, so if you get it, do consider writing a review!

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Anime News

Viz Media is releasing Sailor Moon Season 1 as a single box set, so if you skipped the multi-part version, here’s a chance to get the whole season at once. Let me address the major question – no, the quality of the art will not be better. It is a 30 year old series that was hand-painted on the cheap for little kids on much more low-res television sets. It will never, ever, look better, because there is no better for it to look. There is no high-res master, like there are with 70mm films. I literally have several cels here in the house – this was never finely crafted. Season 1 was especially cheap because they didn’t know if anyone would like it. If you want a better render, travel back in time and convince Toei to do a better job.

Other News

If you’re a regular here, you know I have long joked about how lesbians do not disappear after high school. Legitimately, it has taken Yuri and lesbian literature a couple of decades to age out of school and college into the workplace…and now we’re going to see more mid-life stories. On LGBTQ Reads, author Tiffany E. Taylor talks about writing butch/femme romance for 40+ characters (and readers) in: Writing Midlife Butch/Femme Romance.

Juana Summers, Megan Lim and Mallory Yu take a look at Why Sailor Moon is beloved by so many, 30 years later for NPR!

The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has teamed up with Google Arts and Culture for an online “exhibit,” The Origins of Shōjo Manga. The white text is a bit excruciating, but the art is great.

In Japanese, but you can get the point with a machine translation,  Miyake Kaho-san answers a question many have asked, Why Is Tuxedo Kamen drawn weaker than Sailor Moon? なぜタキシード仮面はセーラームーンより「弱く」描かれたのか.

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons who make the YNN weekly report possible! Support us on Patreon or Pixiv Fanbox 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. ^_^