There is so much news this week and I have an opinion at the end, so strap in!

Yuri Manga

Nagata Kabi’s new book My Alcoholic Escape From Reality is out, she did an interview with Deb Aoki for TCAF which will stay on Youtube until May 21, so don’t miss it! and Seven Seas has announced the license of her next book, Nagata Kabi’s My Wandering Warrior Existence!

Rafael Antonia Pineda has the news that Hara Yukiko’s Mayu, Matou (released by Yen Press as Cocoon, Entwined) is going on a 4-month hiatus in Comic Beam due to the creator’s illness.

Seven Seas has released Syrup: An Anthology, Volume 3, which covers couple’s first nights together.

Galette WORKS has some good news and some bad news. The good news, is that Galette No. 18 (ガレット) is coming out next month and Galette MEETS 15 is on sale as well.  The bad news is that the website Galette Online, is shutting down, so all the short stories and voice comics will be going away at the end of this month. The magazine is thus far still in publication. You can still support the creation of Galette on Fantia or Pixiv Fanbox.

Ajiichi’s Dekisokonai Hime-tachi, Volume 5 (できそこないの姫君たち), continues this emotional rollercoaster for a group of of girls in high school.

Shakaijin Yuri foodish manga Minna Watashi no Hara no Naka, Volume 1 (みんな私のはらのなか) is available in print or you can check it out on Takeshobo’s Storia Dash online in Japanese.

Eden no Shoujo, Volume 1 (エデンの処女) is a science fiction story about a world with no men.

Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! Volume 8 (私の百合はお仕事です!) comes to a climactic moment, and Mitsuki is not ready…

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Yuri Events Online

If you have ever wanted to attend an academic conference on anime and manga and were unable to…this year is your year! Mechademia is going online and has a non-academic/student rate for attendees. Videos are going live today for panelists, while public registration opens up tomorrow. Please enjoy presentations by myself, James Welker and Verena Maser on Transporting Yuri Across Borders and join us for a panel on June 5th!

This weekend is also the Queer Comics Expo Online, which includes the PRISM Comics Award.

You can also join me and a other panelists at CasaCon, free on Discord, from June 25-27th.

TCAF 2021 has a wonderful panel, LGBT + Micro and Macro Perspectives, that is available for you to watch now on Youtube!

And don’t forget to watch the newest Yuri Studio episode, Yuri: How It Began – How It’s Going, in which I take a look at a couple of the key Yuri tropes and how they change over time. Subscribe to Yuri Studio for a nice mini-course on Yuri!

LGBTQ News

Alison Bechdel is working on an animated Dykes to Watch Out For series! This is absolutely the right time and place for this.

With Pride month just around the corner, Companies are gearing up to rainbow wash everything from NFL jerseys to Twitter’s logo. Comics companies, dragged reluctantly into the 21st century and reckoning with decades of suppressing non-white, non-male, non-straight voices are doing…things…to fix this. I am 100% supportive of these companies and their pride branding, but it is also always business first, statement second. My opinion of efforts to present these non-white, non-male, non-straight, non-abled voices – the very efforts most hated by the mediocre men of *.*gate – is that I think they have power despite themselves.  When a company fronts a non-white, non-male, non-straight, non-abled person and actually gives that person tools to succeed, that person becomes a role model…even if the original intent was merely to pretend to be woke enough to convince investors to stick around. I won’t pretend that Conde Nast putting a black woman in charge of Bon Appetit wasn’t a calculated move, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t the right mov or that she isn’t the right person for the job. Dawn Davis has already had a visibly positive impact on the magazine.

The point is that there is a position that companies can take that isn’t tokenizing – it can invest in lifting up diverse voices, centering them, letting them be heard and seen and appreciated. I make fun of gay cereal and cookies, but both Oreos and General Mills are real-world allies to LGBTQ folks, too, supporting inclusive legislation and policies.

Which brings me to Marvel and DC. I could probably talk about why I think that both companies are choking on their own bullshit here, but that isn’t the point. The point is…they are doing something and they are doing it publicly and I think they may actually be doing it okay this time, ish at least. Better than usual.

Marvel is celebrating Pride Month with a series of variant covers by out artist Phil Jimenez for characters being featured in the Marvel Voices: Pride #1, which also features queer writers and artists.

DC is also releasing DC Pride #1, with contributions by queer actors from the DCU and artists (including Phil Jimenez), as well as variant covers of relevant titles. Check out a preview of these on the DC blog. Sneak peak of some pages here, and variant covers here.

I’ve linked to Amazon and Comixology here, but you know…what a great time to call up your local comic store and give them some business! I’ll be doing that as soon as I finish this report. ^_^ Check out Comicshoplocator.com to find a store near you!

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Yuri Events

Toronto Comics Arts Festival, on Wednesday, May 12 at 7 PM Eastern NA Time will host Deb Aoki talking with creator Kabi Nagata. This is a don’t-miss panel for fans of her work.Nagata-sensei’s newest book, My Alcoholic Escape from Reality is out now digitally, and will hit shelves this week in print.

Check out the TCAF Youtube channel for more great panels!

I’ll be participating in the online convention Casacon this June. Since it’s a new audience, I’ll probably be doing my “Secret” History of Yaoi and Yuri and maybe a couple of other panels. ^_^

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Yuri Manga

Since we’ll all be watching the above interview with Kabi Nagata, grab a copy of her

Kodansha’s release of Chasing After Aoi Koshiba, Volume 1 is on shelves near you!

School Zone Girls by Ningiyau comes out this week from Seven Seas. Also from Seven Seas is the adult anthology Syrup, Volume 3, focusing on first times for couples. One more from Seven Seas, the fifth Adachi and Shimamura light novel, is headed your way this June.

Galette No.18 (ガレット) is available to backers by pre-order now. Check it out on their Fantia crowdfunding site.

Comic Cune magazine has begun serializing a new Yuri manga by Izumi Minami, Isekai Joshi Kangoku (異世界女子監獄), about a women’s prison in another world. My “lesbian pulpometer” would go through roof, except, no, it’s Comic Cune and super moe. ^_^ You can read it in Japanese on Comic Walker.

Anime News

Crunchyroll News’ Humberto Saabedra has the details on the dub of Netflix’s release of both Sailor Moon Eternal movies. Check out the dub trailer on Youtube and welcome back the Viz dub cast. ^_^

Sentai Filmworks has announced the license of 6-episode Princess Principal: Crown Handler. ANN’s Alex Mateo has the news.

Paul Chapman has the whole story on how the original masters for Project A-ko were lost and found on Crunchyroll News. Discotek’s remaster preview clip is definitely a marvel of color and action.

Yuri Audio Drama

Via Yurimother, Yuri VN creative studio SukeraSparo is releasing a Yuri audio drama,  Meidoindoriimu ~ Hime-sama to Meido no Amaama Seikatsu, about, well, the life of a princess’ maid. This marks the debut of the SukeraSono imprint for audio works.

Live-Action Stage News

Hojou Tsukasa’s classic seinen manga City Hunter is being given the Takarazuka treatment. Rafael Antonio Pineda has the details on ANN. It took me about 30 seconds to write a whole new plot for the drag king and her girl on the poster. ^_^

Cutey Honey is getting another live-action stage play. Komatsu-san over at CR news has the details and some great visuals.

Other News

For those of you watching Yasuke on Netflix, Japanese food and culture writer, author of the Just Bento Cookbook, Makiko Itoh, has written up an essay on the historical “black samurai” Yasuke. Makiko’s a very interesting writer about Japanese life and culture – and food! – check out her FB group, give her a like and a follow and support her Patreon. ^_^

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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 the Yuri ecosystem!

Yuri Manga

We’ve added a bunch of titles to the Yuricon Store to start!

Failed Princesses, Volume 4. Ajiichi’s tale of opposites tells a whole story on the cover. ^_^ This will be out in later summer from Seven Seas.

Sex Education 120% is getting a lot of positive buzz right now and it’s been recommended to us by several of our YNN Correspondents. I’m looking forward to it. This is from Yen Press.

Also from Yen, the conclusion of time-travel Yuri manga Strawberry Fields Once Again, Volume 3 will hit shelves here in June.

I’m super excited for Mejirobana Saku, Volume 2 (メジロバナの咲く), by Nakamura Asumiko. I love the cover for this volume. We can expect this out in English as A White Rose in Bloom, Volume 2, in November of this year.

Watashi o Tabetai, Hito de Nashi (私を喰べたい、ひとでなし) sounds like an intriguing fantasy of a mermaid who flips the script on her chosen human.

Canno’s triangle love story concludes with Goukaku Tame no! Yasashi Sankaku Kakei Nyuumon, Volume  2 (合格のための！ やさしい三角関係入門).

Via Comic Natalie, Kishi Torajirou’s Yuri comedy Otome no Teikoku  (オトメの帝国) ) has been given a short Voiced Comic you can enjoy on Youtube! And I mean that…this is an absolutely adorable little scenario between Ayano and Miyoshi that was genuinely enjoyable. This is an advertisement for Otome no Teikoku, Volume 16, if you can believe it. ^_^

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Yuri Anime

The Puella Magi Magica Madoka franchise is getting a sequel movie to the 2013’s Rebellion, Gekijouban Mahou Shōjo Madoka Magica: Walpurgis no Kaiten (劇場版 魔法少女まどか☆マギカ 〈ワルプルギスの廻天〉). As Walpurgisnacht was last night, this seems reasonably appropriate to announce today on a sparkling bright May Day here where I live. ^_^ ANN’s Crystalynn Hodgkins has the details.

If you want the full Madoka experience of blackening your soul gem fighting witches, Proplica has the toy for you! Kim Morissey has the news of  a life-size soul gem and grief seed that speaks 40 lines from the Madoka series. ^_^

Sailor Moon News

Netflix made a huge splash this past week with the news that they will be releasing both Sailor Moon Eternal movies on June 3rd, worldwide outside Japan. Click the link to watch what I think is genuinely a fantastic trailer.

Yuri Art

Backers of Galette Magazine might be interested in this announcement of the Galette Illutration Book 01, which collects some of the color illustrations from the magazine. Supporters of Galette can pre-order the book at Booth.pm. Since my Yuriten goods have yet to ship, and I love Pen’s cover art, I jumped at this. ^_^

Other News

Thanks to YNN Correspondent James W, Japanese Language and Literature, Vol. 55, No. 1 has a special section on reading the Japanese literary canon through manga. This sound really fascinating and right smack dab in my wheelhouse.

And from my wife, the most Senior YNN Correspondent ^_^, Netflix has a movie coming this month from Japan they are calling My Father the Bride, Osihii Kazoku (おいしい家族) in Japanese, about a woman whose father says that he wants to become a wife and mother. This looks I schmaltzy/heartwarming family + food+ acceptance. Regional restrictions may apply. ^_^ It vaguely reminds me of Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, I wonder if there’s an homage in there. Check out the trailer on Youtube.

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Yuri Visual Novel

Yangyang Mobile has released a new Yuri VN on Steam, Perfect Gold. “In this short, coming-of-age yuri visual novel, play as Marion LaRue and Audrey Clary as they explore the magical city of Castlecoast and get a second chance at love and friendship.” It looks cute and if you’d like to review it for Okazu, let me know!

Yuri Events

I’m pleased as I can be to give you this link for Brown University’s Japan Week 2021 Lecture: Yoshiya Nobuko and Reading Like a Girl with Sarah Frederick. It was a really excellent lecture and I’m going to watch it again when I have the chance. Prof. Frederick’s discussion here takes a strong position about Yoshiya’s sexuality that I, for one, was glad to have someone say out loud, finally. ^_^

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Yuri Manga

We’ve got some new stuff on the Yuricon Store!

Starting with Sai Jiang’s series, 白と黒~Black & White~, this is a new Shakaijin “violence Yuri” manga between two mortal enemies in the office.

sono.N’s SHWD (シュード) is a sci-fi action series about beefy women fighting monsters in a near future setting. I’m very happy to see this doujinshi series collected into volume form.

Mikan Uji’s Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 4  (不揃いの連理) following several odd couples, continues in this fun Yuri series.

Finder Goshi Anoko, Volume 1 (ファインダー越しのあの子) is a story about the only member of a school’s Film Club and the last culture festival of her school years.

We’ve listed the final volume of Ohi Pikachi’s adult romance Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru, Volume 4  (羽山先生と寺野先生は付き合っている)!

Via YNN Correspondent Megan and Comic Natalie, “Vol 1 of  Arasa – Bijin ha Jimime ni Etsukesareru  (アラサー美女は地味女に餌付けされる. A plain office lady, Makoto, finds her beautiful coworker Ayaka dead drunk after she found her husband cheating. Makoto takes Ayaka home and treats her to simple home cooking. Several days later after Ayaka arranged for divorce she moves in as Makoto’s neighbour…”

Also from Megan, we have news of an interview with author Goumoto for the release of Volume 3 of Yoru to Umi (夜と海 ). Megan notes that Goumoto-sensei “mentions the 2004 British lesbian film My Summer of Love as an inspiration. She explains her reasons for getting interested in Yuri – it’s a method of depicting her favourite types of relationship, that is, relationships between women not confined only to romance.” 

Yuri Doujinshi

In case you’re keeping up with training, Issue 4 of Rei Abe’s Magnum Lily is now on Lilyka! ^_^

Light Novel

Manga Planet has announced updates to the super light Yuri novel Yurizen! Salon -Shirayuri’s Comforting Food Therapy by Kumako Nambu.

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

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 the Yuri ecosystem!

Yuri Manga

We’ve added some new items to the Yuricon Store:

Volume 1 of the Otherside Picnic manga is something I’m really looking forward to. In part because IMHO, they got the UBL creatures in a way the anime just didn’t. We’ll be getting this at the end of the summer.

Neko to Sugar Pot  (猫とシュガーポット) is a short story collection by Yukiko.

Mayu, Matou, Volume 4  (繭、纏う) is up on the store. Check out this awesome photoshoot for the series on Comic Natalie! This series is licensed in English by Yen Press as Cocoon, Entwined.

YNN Correspondent David Mankins and a few others spotted the exciting news that Ameco Kaeruda’s Sexiled Light Novel series has a new manga starting up in Japan on Webry. Check out Onna Dakara (女だから)’s first chapter online in Japanese now!

YNN Correspondent Laurent Lignon wants us to know that their favorite Yuri manga, Yoru to Umi (夜と海) is getting a third volume. You can find Volume 1 and Volume 2 on the Yuricon Store and we’ll get V3 up shortly. ^_^

Also on the to-go-up pile are two series from Comic Ruelle & Comic Jardin – Sal Jiang’s Black & White (白と黒～Black&White～) and sono. N’s SHWD, both of which are getting collected volumes as part of the magazine’s Yuri Fair. ^_^

Ohi Pikachi has announced the fourth and final volume of Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteriru (羽山先生と寺野先生は付き合っている) which is released in English as Our Teachers Are Dating! by Seven Seas.

Anime News

ANN’s Egan Loo has the trailer and details on the Kaegki Shoujo! anime. It looks lovely.

Paul Chapman on Crunchyroll News brings us a magical transformation from Blue Reflection Ray.

Alex Mateo on ANN  has the preview of the new movie from Revue Starlight (劇場版 少女☆歌劇 レヴュースタァライト)!

By request from the newest member of our Okazu family, the  Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl Collection Blu-Ray has been added to the Yuricon Store!

We’re only a handful of patrons away from being able to give Okazu writers another raise, the second this year – and being able to support another queer creator directly!  Your support makes a huge difference. Three more $5/month patrons and we can do that much more.

Help us support our Yuri ecosystem – become an Okazu Patron today!

LGBTQ Media News

This week Netflix premiered Ride or Die, the live-action adaptation of Nakamura Ching’s Yuri manga GUNJO. There’s been a fair amount of press, positive and negative. Here are a couple of pieces I think are worth reading:

Max Gao’s NBC article Stars of Netflix’s lesbian thriller ‘Ride or Die’ on their on- and off-screen connection was well worth your time.

I had no qualms with David Erlich’s impression in A Sexually Charged Friendship Turns Murderous in a Refreshing New Japanese Netflix Drama for IndieWire.

A fan Twitter account for the actress who played Rei, Mizuhara Kiko, has translations of some of the star’s interviews from Japanese and links to the originals.  Culture  and style magazine CREA also has an interview with Mizuhara-san.

I dropped a short review yesterday on Okazu, I’ll have a more detailed one for ANN coming up.

Seven Seas announced Volume 3 of Love Me For Who I Am, which hit shelves this week.

Kodansha’s offered up a cover reveal and launch date for Gaku Keito’s manga about a trans boy, Boys Run the Riot. I’ll have a review of this for tomorrow, I hope you’ll look forward to it!

Via YNN Correspondent Megan, Crunchyroll is losing Wandering Son, Takako Shimura’s anime about transgender tweens, so if you want to watch or rewatch, you have until April 21st.

Events

Via YNN Correspondent Mariko S, Tokyo House Party is doing Mahou Shoujo Month of virtual events with, “A History of Magical Girls and Feminism in Japanese Art,” on April 24.

Reminder that My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness creator Nagata Kabi will be a featured guest at the all-virtual Toronto Comic Arts Festival,  May 8-15, , so don’t miss that!

Other News

Kyoto Tower is running a Godzilla vs Kyoto event this summer, which I am including here because I really like the poster by Nakamura Yusuke. ^_^

I have to end this week with this hilarious skit from Saturday Night Live, Lesbian Period Drama. Thanks to all the YNN Correspondents who sent it it in. The wife and I watched it through a bunch of times as soon as it hit the Internet. ^_^ Carey Mulligan was an added bonus. If you haven’t yet seen it, put down that drink first.

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

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 the Yuri ecosystem!