Yuri Manga

We have (finally!) a bunch of titles on the Yuricon Store!

Chasing After Aoi Koshiba, Volume 3 will be out in January 2022.

Eri Ejima’s popular Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games, Volume 2 is out this month. Check out Luce’s review of Volume 1 last month on Okazu.

You can pre-order the print volume of Our Teachers Are Dating, Volume 4. This book has been delayed from a February release to an April one.

The pre-orders for the print edition of Tamifull’s How Do We Relationship, Volume 5 are up as well. This is still slated for a February release.

I’m in Love With the Villaness, Volume 2 of the manga is available on all three of our affiliates (at last!)

Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., manga Volume 3 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。) is up on Amazon JP for pre-order to be released net week.

Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! Volume 9 (私の百合はお仕事です!) by Miman is on shelves now in Japan.

Seven Seas has licensed SHWD, by sono.N. Alex Mateo has the details on ANN, I reviewed volume 1 in September (after having also picked it up as doujinshi at Comitia AND bought it as translated doujinshi on Lilyka, so that out to give you a hint of how I feel about it.) I’m really thrilled that Seven Seas has clearly developed a relationship with Comic Ruelle & Comic Jardin, as well. They’ve so far had some great Yuri series.

Via Yuri Mother, Adachi and Shimamura has been named one of the Top 10 Manga of 2021 by School Library Journal.

Yuri Events

This week is smoking hot with two amazing events, I’d love to see you at! Shojo Manga: The Power and Influence of Girls’ Comics by The Japan Foundation will be held this week, on Thursday, December 16, 2021 from 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM EST. Registration is free and yes, barring disaster, the video will be posted on Youtube for folks who miss the discussion.

Following immediately after this, on Friday, Dec. 17, from 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM EST, please join myself and James Welker for a discussion of how BL and Yuri have grown over the last few decades, at CasaCon, on Discord! Registration is free. Last year we had a blast, so drop by for our casual conversation about massive changes in culture and media. ^_^

In case you missed it last week, the entire discussion from the Yuricon 20th Anniversary discussion event is up on Youtube.Thanks again to James Welker and Verena Maser for joining us.

Light Novels

Via Inori-sensei’s Twitter feed, I’m in Love With the Villainess has been released in French by LaNovel Edition.

Again, I know no one cares, but the 4th volume of Kunoichi Bettegumi Igarashi Satsuki (くノ一別手組ー五十嵐五月) china’s batshit samurai x probably-a-vampire period drama (some people write Madama Butterfly, other people write this) is on the Store, now. ^_^

Yuri Anime

Via Lesley Aeschliman, Pluto TV has added The Rose of Versailles TV anime!

Sentai Filmworks has re-released Canaan, the Complete Series for a fraction of the price I bought it for, yowza. That’s on the Yuricon Store now.

Anime-adjacent, Charagumin is going to be releasing a resin kit of Anthy and Utena, hat tip to Gangablu on Twitter.

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Event News

There’s still time to register for Shojo Manga: The Power and Influence of Girls’ Comics sponsored by the Japan Foundation of New York. I’m looking forward to it so much and hope to see you online for this fabulous talk, featuring Deborah Shamoon, Mia Lewis, Kazumi Nagaike and me.

Okazu Patrons will be receiving their invitations to our Online Holiday Party shortly, and while I know that this time of year is just the worst, I’ll be happy if as many of you can come as possible. We have a lot to talk about…and I am really hoping that we’ll be able to do a book cover reveal for By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga.

This summer’s 20th Anniversary of Yuricon Discussion Event is now live on Yuri Studio! I’m super sorry it took so long to get done, things just kept getting in the way. But this makes 8 videos for Yuri Studio this year, which is 2 more than my original goal, so yay us! Thank you very very much to Ashley for your video editing, you’ve been a tremendous help, and thank you to Okazu Patrons!

One last bit of serious news. I’m sure most of you have heard that there was a omicron variant case who was at Anime NYC. It’s 2 weeks today and I have had no symptoms, but I’ve got an appt. for a test as soon as I could get it, because I care about people who have seen me since. I expect it to come back negative. Let me be clear – everyone at the con was vaxxed and masked the whole time and I expect no more than a handful of folks will test positive. Nonetheless, I couldn’t help but make the worst joke about it all. ^_^;

Yuri Manga

School Zone Girls, Volume 3 hit shelves this week. More wacky school fun.

Seven Seas announced another Comic Yuri Hime license, Yuama’s The Summer You Were There. I’m still tapping my foot impatiently waiting for Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru. ^_^

Not manga, but equally as fun: Jacqueline Lesnick has released all of her Girly collection for free on itch.io. I was and am, a fan of that gonzo Yuri series. She’s also making You Suck available and the first several chapters of her current story Princess Panic. These are name your own price and I hope you’ll all throw her a few bucks for the time, effort and entertainment these offer.

ANN’s Rafael Antonio Pineda offered me a new reason to re-up my subscription to Rakuen Le Paradis magazine, with the news that Mizutani Fuuka is wrapping up her 14-sai no Koi series and starting a side story about Aoi and her relationship with the school doctor.  I referenced that relationship a few years ago in a review of Issue 26. ^_^ I’m kind of interested how it goes. That magazine – indeed, that very manga series – is full of problematic relationships, so it will hardly be alone in it’s “urk” value.

Live Action News

The next Sailor Moon Musical, Kaguya-hime no Koibito, will stream online in the new year, through Live Viewing Japan. Alex Mateo has details on ANN. I watched the last streaming musical because of course I did. ^_^ Nogizaka46 members are perfectly fine in their roles.

Yuri Light Novel

Look. I know, I am the only one who care about this series. But it’s my blog. ^_^ The Kunoichi Bettegumi ~ Igarashi Satsuski series has a fourth volume! I finally managed to make time to read Volume 3, review to come eventually, and I am actually glad that it’s continuing. I wish J-Novel club would pick these up. They are absurd, yes, but no more absurd than Girls Kingdom. A definitely-gay-probaby-a-vampire, a maid, a samurai and a ninja in a historical drama. Seriously. This series is a hoot.

Yen Press has released The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Vol. 3: The Cage of Iron Sand ahead of the 2022 anime.

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons 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!

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Yuri Goods

The Gee! Store, with locations in Tokyo, Osaka, Sendai, Kokura and Nagoya, is running a series of Comic Yuri Hime pop up shops. You can buy goods from a number of popular series that run in Comic Yuri Hime.

Unsolicited plug: I use Tenso as a shipping service. They are very nice. Tenso is free to make an account with and only charges when they actually ship. Overseas shipping is and always will be expensive, but that’s not Tenso’s fault.

I’m In Love With the Villainess News

One of the items from the pop-up is a very fetching I’m in Love With the Villianess acrylic standee, that I have ordered. ^_^ Why am I telling you that? Because…….if you order the  Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou, manga Volume 3 on Melonbooks, you get this fetching acrylic standee! So, yeah, I ordered that, too. Because it won’t ship to me, until the stand is available, I might not get this volume for months, so…I’ll have to get it on Global Bookwalker, too.

Which leads me to another issue, you may notice that very little is going up on the Yuricon Store these das. This is because I cannot get appropriate links (or even cover art!)  for many of the items I want to put there.  I can find an Amazon link OR a Bookwalker link OR a RightStuf OR a CD Japan, but can’t get all the links for all the items. It’s becoming increasingly awkward and I have piles of titles that I want to put up, but really can’t. (Also, I have no time, but that’s a different issue.) This is, again, due to problems in publishing. I’ll spend some time this next couple of weeks catching up as best I can for holiday shopping.

To that end, if you’d like Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou, manga, Volume 3, here are affiliate links for pre-order on Amazon JP, and CD Japan, but I don’t have it yet on Bookwalker.

Also available on Amazon JP for pre-order, but not the other platforms, yet, is Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou – Revolution-, Volume 1, the newest novelization in the series. (私の推しは悪役令嬢。-Revolution-). 

One more series announcement, via YNN Correspondent Sean G, the light novel I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 4 will be released in February, from Seven Seas. This link is to Amazon, or you can pre-order on RightStuf. (Nothing yet on Bookwalker.) You are *totally* going to want to get Volume 4 and 5. Trust me on this. ^_^

Nope, one more (!), from Inori-sensei herself, the series is now available in Vietnamese. Tôi Yêu Nữ Phản Diện will be out from Amak Books.

Yuri Manga

Last weekend at Anime NYC, Kodansha announced a license for Battan’s Run Away With Me Girl. ANN’s Adrian Hazra has details.

Here’s a title that actually made it onto the Yuricon Store with all links: Yuriko Hara’s Cocoon, Entwined, Volume 4, in which both hair and plot thicken.

Global Bookwalker is doing all sorts of Coin Up and discounts. It’s worth it to take a look at their scrolling bar, for massive sales and their continuing commitment to carrying books Amazon has dropped. Their Black Friday deals are 80% coin back on eligible Volume 1s, and 40% on the next couple of volumes. Use the coins you get to try out a new title! (I checked out Laid-Back Camp and liked it a lot, last time I had a free volume coming.)

Ichijinsha has carefully crafted another anthology designed to keep me away, with the Nakigao Yuri Anthology (泣き顔百合アンソロジー) for those readers who like women to look absolutely miserable when they have sex, presumably. ^_^;

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Yuri Anime

Via YNN Corespondent Evren, Canaan is being released on Blu-Ray in the New Year from Sentai Filmworks.

The chances of this being Yuri are decreasingly likely, but Crystalyn Hodgkins has the news about the Shin Ikkitousen anime.

I mentioned this last week, but the trailer for the Executioner and Her Way of Life anime is up on Youtube. It is my honest opinion that this trailer has significantly better animation than the world-building in the novels deserve. ^_^

Yuri Visual Novels

Via YuriMother, I Became Gay From Translating My New Roommate’s Short Story is “the first major project by the Prof. Lily visual novel collective, who aim to tell stories that face our harsh subcultural reality head-on.”

Studio Élan is holding all sorts of sales on their Yuri VNs, from 30% off Heart of the Woods on Nintendo Switch, to significant discounts on Steam.

Yuri Doujinshi

Lilyka is holding a Black Friday deal for Yuri doujinshi , use checkout code BK21 for a discount and a video, and BK500 for significantly higher discount and a “video worth $500.” I have no idea what that means, so if you get it, let us know. ^_^

LGBTQ Graphic Novel

Our friend Niki Smith has a new work out, The Golden Hour, they say, “is about being young and gay and anxious in the midwest… and it’s about ptsd, and vulnerability, and taking one day at a time. And beyond all that, it’s about three close friends and one tiny baby cow.”

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons 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. ^_^

LGBTQ+ Manga Events

This week is pretty exciting for fans of Yuri, BL and Queer manga! There are two chonky discussions you don’t want to miss.

On November 17th, at 5:00 PM on Zoom check out Manga in Libraries: The LGBTQ+ Community, sponsored by the Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable of the ALA.  Registration is free. We had a great conversation and I expect the Q&A to be fabulous.

On November 20, at 5:15 in Panel Room 5 at Anime NYC I’ll be joining GeeksOUT presents: Serving Magical Person Realness panel. We’ll be talking LGBQT+characters and series in manga.  This will be my first in-person appearance since 2019, I am excited and terrified. I have a terrible cough, I apologize in advance. It’s not COVID, and I’ve gotten my booster shot. ^_^;

Yuri Manga

I’m going to keep banging this gong for just 2 more days: The Taiwanese Showa Period Yuri manga collection Kitanhana Monogatari (台湾発の百合漫画『綺譚花物語』) has made it’s crowdfunding goal and is now going to have a print publication – and, hopefully, a translated version! I’m really looking forward to this. There’s about 2 more days to back this project.

Tamamushi posted the intro chapter to their new Yuri manga Dore ga Koikaga Wakaranai(どれが恋かがわからない)  on Twitter. Check out the rest in Comic Cune magazine!

Via Comic Natalie, we have Majyo no Kekkon (魔女ノ結婚 ), the story of a “cool beauty” and “pure” witch who “marry” in order to increase their magic. You can take a look at the comic in Japanese on Comic Newtype.

Anime News

Aria the Benedizione film has released an extended Promotional Video to promote the end theme. Rafael Antonio Pineda has the whole report on ANN.

Rafael also reports that Netflix announced a second season for Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045, which I quite enjoyed, so I’m happy. ^_^ I’ll follow this up with Adriana Hazra’s ANN news item that the first 8 minutes of the Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045 compilation film is available on Youtube.

LGBTQ Manga

Via YNN correspondent Ellis K. coming from Viz Media, To Strip the Flesh includes a story about a trans man dealing with his transition. TJ was very excited about this one in our Manga in Libraries discussion.

Via YNN Correspondent Patricia B., Yen Press has licensed I Want to Be A Wall, the story of an asexual woman in a marriage of convenience. Alex Mateo has the details on ANN.

Visual Novel and Games News

Highway Blossoms from Studio Élan is getting a OST release on vinyl. That’s retro cool. This a limited pressing, but you can still preorder a copy as of today, from the Very Ok Vinyl website.

From the folks that brought you Thirsty Sword Lesbians, an expansion is now being crowdfunded with Advanced Lovers and Lesbians, which has already blown way past it’s goal on Kickstarter.

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons 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. ^_^

Sorry for the radio silence the last few days on Okazu, we’ve been dealing with a week of tech issues. All should be resolved now. ^_^

Yuri Games

Interestingly, it looks like Lilyka is expanding into games. They are now carrying Sukerasparo’s The Curse of Kudan Visual Novel. Story and character info can be found on their website, as well.

Also in Yuri VNs, via Yuri Navi, the Yuri “adventure survival” game Kochira, Haha Naru Hoshi Yori (こちら、母なる星より) is available in Japanese from NIS Yuri Games. Based on the manga from Comic Yuri Hime, this is a post-apocalyptic survival story with cute girls eating things, as far as I can tell.  A quick look through the gallery tells me that I’m pretty much not wrong. ^_^

Yuri Doujinshi

Lilyka has announced a Japanese language release, Early Blue Hana no You ni (アーリーブルーの花のように) by Hoshizoranoshita. They say the English release is coming soon.

Inui Ayu-sensei has a community called Yuri Hub where her stories are translated into English. You can purchase Chapter 1 of her new manga Room For Honeys; subscribe and get further access.

 
Yuri Manga

Seven Seas has licensed Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji by Ikeda Takashi as The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This. Rafael Antonio Pineda has the details over at ANN. I’ve reviewed Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the Japanese here. I like this series a lot. ^_^ Great translation for the title – I’m super looking forward to this release.

Also from Seven Seas is Double Your Pleasure, an 18+ Twin Yuri Anthology.

Anime News

Joseph Luster reports that Crunchyroll has added Revolutionary Girl Utena to their catalog….and it kind of broke the Internet? The breakage appeared to be three-fold: People who are upset and derisive that Crunchyroll has it at all; people upset that Crunchyroll was not able to get a global license for it, and people who are freaked out that it’s not a children’s cartoon, because it was referenced in Steven Universe or something like that.

Also from CR News, Komatsu-san reports that the HeartCatch Precure! The Movie: Fashion Show in the Flower Capital… Really?!  is getting a return to Japanese theaters, in part because of the success of the Tropical Rouge Precure movie, which also featured the Cures from the Heartcatch season. I…actually saw this one in the theater in Osaka in 2010 with Komatsu-san and Bruce, the same day we saw the Maria-sama ga Miteru movie. It was a lot of fun. Just celebrate, here’s the Heartcatch Precure ending, Ashita no Uta, which is the only gospel-inspired anime theme I know of. ^_^

I guess  while I’m on the topic, the trademark for Delicious Party Precure has been filed, reports Rafael Antonio Pineda on ANN. The clinking wine/juice glasses makes me long for a older Precure team as older women, drawn back into the Precure story line. Of course I do. ^_^

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons 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. ^_^