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!

Yuri Events

Our top story today is the very exciting news that creator of My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness, Nagata Kabi will be a special guest of this year’s Toronto Comic Arts Festival! This year’s TCAF will be held virtually from May 8 through May 15, so you, too, will be able to see Nagata-sensei interviewed by the inimitable Deb Aoki. Frankly, I can’t wait! TCAF is always my favorite North American comics show, so I hope you’ll all watch some of the panels, see some of the guests, and support the artists – your purchases do triple duty, as they pay artists and support both the library and the sponsoring comic stores.

I was absolutely thrilled to have caught Sarah Frederick’s talk from Brown University this week, “Reading Like A Girl: Yoshiya Nobuko.” When that video is posted, I will absolutely recommend you all watch. It was a great talk.

Anime News

Discotek has opened up pre-order on their gorgeous remasters of Riyoko Ikeda’s classic anime Rose of Versailles Collection 1, Rose of Versailles Collection 2 and Dear Brother.

Daryl Harding notes that the Mawaru Penguindrum film crowdfunding campaign made it’s goal in less than three minutes. He has the details on Crunchyroll News.

Over at ANN Crystalynn Hodgkins has cast and staff news and a new promo video from the folks making upcoming anime Aquatope of White Sand.

You can watch Blue Reflection Ray anime over on Funimation, and read the ANN Spring Anime Guide team’s first impressions.

TubiTV, free streaming service has added Liz and the Blue Bird. Joseph Luster gives us the report on CR News.

Crunchyroll is getting Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S and has the shorts for those of you who can’t get enough!

Crunchyroll also launched Zombie Land Saga Revenge this week, and Alex Mateo has the promotional trailer voiced by Mitsuishi Kotono, who also voices the series’ best zombie, Tae. Kara Dennison shows us the cover art from the ZLS manga anthology.

Once again we turn to Kara for news on the Puella Magi Madoka Magica 10th anniversary project and the new OP “Luminous.”

Okazu News

This week I’ve added a new video to the Okazu Patreon detailing not just what you’ll get as a Patron, but even more importantly, the impact you have on the Yuri ecosystem! I hope you’ll take a couple of minutes and hear me out, because as an Okazu Patron you do a lot to make a difference on a micro, meso and macro levesl. We’re just a few patrons away from adding support for another creator and giving Okazu contributors another raise!

With the mad translation skills of our buddy Mimmy Shen, we’ve added Japanese subtitles to the Yuri Studio video What Makes a Story Yuri? Now you have two subtitle choices. If you want to add a new language translation to any of our videos, please contact me and we’ll work something out.

While I’m banging on about all the cool stuff we do here on Okazu, one of the folks we support directly as a part of our microgoal program, manga artist Hiranashi Mieri has posted a new video as well, detailing a “Week in the Life of a Japanese Manga Artist.”

Yuri Doujinshi

Lilyka is running a “Sakura sale” on most of their Yuri doujinshi this week. Coupon Code is YURIS21 for 20% OFF of eligible title through April 11.

Yuri Manga

Speaking of Lilyka, I was amazed and pleased to see that they have Momono Moto’s, The Rain and the Other Side of You, which I reviewed some years ago in Japanese, Ame to Kimi no Mukou (雨と君の向こう).

Yurimother has the news that newest volume of the Yuri Drill anthology (百合ドリル) Includes a transgender character.

Hana ni Arashi, Volume 8 (はなにあらし) continues the sweet love story of Nanoha and Chidori.

Ahead of this coming out in English later this year, we’ve added KUJIRA”s Sekai no Owari to Majyou no Koi, Volume 3 (世界の終わりと魔女の恋) to the Yuricon Store.

Yuri roadtrip manga Kita no Onna ni Tamesaretai (北の女に試されたい) is up on the Store, as is Kuzushiro’s office life story, Egao no Taenai Shokuba Desu., Volume 1 (笑顔のたえない職場です。)

Coming this month from Seven Seas is Superwomen in Love! Honey Trap and Rapid Rabbit, Volume 1.

Yuri Light Novels

Pre-order for the print edition of Ameco Kaeruda’s A Lily Blooms in Another World is up on the Yuricon Store.

Via Senior YNN Correspondent Sean G, we have some early digital release dates a’coming!

The *amazing* I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 3 is headed our way on June 3. No kidding, do not miss this . Just because it has one of everything.

ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! (Light Novel) Vol. 3 will hit your digital device on April 29.

Yuri Visual Novels

Via YuriMother, we have news that “El Dia announced a new Yuri mystery adventure visual novel Kanda Alice mo Suiri Suru which will be released for Nintendo Switch in late April. The game’s scenario is written by Hatsumi Hatsumi, who also wrote the Flowers series, The Curse of Kudan, and contributed to Yumeutsutsu Re:Master.”

KikaiDigital are planning to release a new Yuri Visual Novel in Summer 2021, Symbiotic Love – a demo of which is already available on Steam. According to the press release, “Symbiotic Love is a coming-of-age Yuri visual novel set in a southern coastal city of China, with mystery elements. It is the prequel to Melancholy Love, another visual novel already localized into English. The game is influenced by notable works such as Flowers. It also integrates Chinese traditional and youth culture to create a very Chinese story which is part of the Linghua Series (a total of four Yuri VNs).”

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!

Yuricon Store Update

Thanks to our Okazu patrons, the Yuricon Store reboot is about to get into full swing. We’ve re-enabled the multiple retailer option, so you’ll have more choices of zaibatsu you want to give your money to. ^_^; These will all be contingent upon any given system having the item available, obviously.

English Manga, English Anime and Light Novels will be available through Amazon, RightStuf and Bookwalker Global (GL). Japanese Manga and Drama CDs (which have sort of faded out, but aren’t dead, yet) will have Amazon JP, CD Japan and Bookwalker JP options. Digital Manga will be available on Bookwalker GL and Kindle, or directly when they are not on a large system. Yuri Literature will be getting links on Amazon and Bookshop.org. Other items, like Visual Novels and Games and Yuri Goods will be sold through Amazon or directly through their own sites and Yuricon and Okazu apparel and branded goods are still through Redbubble. When this update is over, I’ll consider adding a doujinshi category, but that might end up being more complicated than it’s worth. ^_^;

I really appreciate Okazu Patrons’ candor and assistance with these choices  and with their help, we have two assistants who will be continuing the cleanup of old entries and adding in new vendors! Hopefully, they’ll be able to fix the older entries, while I am able to add things going forward. Here’s to getting this done by end of summer!

We’ve added a number of items onto the Store – where we were able to add the multiple links, we have. Please bear with us, while we are in the awkward phases of getting it all done. ^_^

Yuri Manga

The Rose of Versailles, Volume 5 is headed our way in May!

Takeshima Eku’s delightful school band love story, Whisper Me a Love Song, Volume 3 is headed our way in English in June, and Japanese readers are up to Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau, Volume 4.

I’m in Love With the Villainess manga, Volume 1 is a great visual for the this series we love so much.

I’m absolutely digging the manga version of Flum Apricot on the cover of ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword!, Volume 1.

Tsukiko’s Yuri-adjacent Futaribeya, Volume 2 went up his week.

The conclusion of Ohsawa Yayoi’s delightful school band love story, Hello, Melancholic! Volume 3 (ハロー、メランコリック!) is now on my to-read pile. Yay!

As I mentioned in yesterday’s review, Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 6  (付き合ってあげてもいいかな) is out in Japanese and I have no idea what to expect.

The Special Edition of the manga version of  Kudan no Folklore (クダンノフォークロア 特装版), Sukerasparo’s paranormal VN includes an original soundtrack,  art postcards and more.

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Seven Seas announced on Twitter that Iwami Kyouko’s Transparent Light Blue is now available on multiple digital formats.

Yen Press reminds us that Strawberry Fields Once Again, Volume 2 is now available and that they still really do have the Yuri manga Breasts Are my Favorite Thing in the World! which is a real thing, not an April Fools joke, but also never going to be listed on the Yuricon Store. ^_^

ANN’s Alex Mateo has the news that  Otona ni Nattemo is resuming serialization after creator Shimura Takako suffered a sudden illness. This series is released in English as Even Though We’re Adults.

Also at ANN, Adriana Hazra has the note that Hagino Makoto, creator of A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, is slated to begin a new series for Dengeki Mao. Hopefully we’ll enjoy that one as much as we did this.

Via Megan and  Comic Natalie we have Uso to Kisu ha Houkago ni (嘘とキスは放課後に), about a girl who has a “man habit’ after her mother, but who becomes lovers with a female family friend. It is running in GanGan Joker, so we can guess it will be a mean-spirited Yuri story. ^_^;

Also via Comic Natalie we have Kyuugetsuki-chan to Maido-san (吸血鬼ちゃんとメイドさん), which is a short story collection by Zanka, full of master/slave, vampire/loli and other popular fetistry combos.

One last Comic Natalie link, a book I’m actually really looking forward to as I’ve been reading it online. Kita no Onna ni Tamesaritai (北の女に試されたい) is an absolute mess of story and art, but this women’s road trip by Minoda Kaido centered around food and women is my jam.

 
Yuri Doujinshi

Magnum Lily, Volume 3 is up on Lilyka! Still hoping for Yuri in this Yuri boxing doujinshi. ^_^ Lilyka also has a anthology that interested me, TNT – Short Cut Anthology, for fans of women with short hair, one presumes. ^_^

Yuri Light Novels

Thanks to YNN Correspondent NaraMoore for the news that J-Novel Club has announced Volumes 5 and 6 of Otherside Picnic on their Twitch announcements this week. No specific dates, just confirmation that they are on the way.

Not-Yuri, but totally in my wheelhouse, J-Novel Club also announced a new imprint, J-Novel Pulp (and I rejoiced. I love pulp fiction.) One of their first books planned is Jessica Bannister and the Midnight Séance. Yess……

Other News

The Yuriten is over for this year, but I had a great time visiting it over the entire month. I dropped them a quick tweet to thank them and hope for the same next year. ^_^And thanks to all the folks who joined us on the virtual walkthrough this year on the Okazu Discord!

Egan Loo at ANN has the news about a new Sailor Moon Musical. This autumn we’ll get Kaguya-hime no Koibito, and some cute Luna as a human action.

The Penguindrum countdown clock hit zero and we found out we’re getting a compilation film for the Mawaru Peguindrum series. Once again we turn to Egan Loo for the news at ANN.

The Blue Reflection franchise kicks into high gear with the announcement that it is getting 2 new games and the upcoming anime will run for two cours. ANN’s Rafel Antonio Pineda has the details.

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

The cleanup of the the Yuricon Store continues! The English Manga section is about half finished, a few items are linkless as we’re trying to determine if they are in stock, but most are up to date, with current info. Of course we are still adding new items!  Here’s this week’s crop:

Nigiyau’s Yuri school comedy School Zone Girls, Volume 1, which is headed our way in May is now on the Store.

Also coming to your shelves in May is The Rose of Versailles, Volume 5, the climax of this extraordinary story! And what a climax it is.

Kaijuu-iro no Shima, Volume 1 (かいじゅう色の島) is out now, and folks overseas ought to be getting those copies in shortly.

I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 1, is headed our way in English this July. You may remember that a few weeks ago, this title was among hundred nominate for an annual “Which Manga I Want to See as an Anime!” contest run by AnimeJapan. Both inori-sensei and Ichijinsha reported yesterday that “WataOshi” made #5 on the rankings! Will that mean we’ll get an anime? I don’t know, but as the top-ranking series for Ichijinsha, I am hopeful. Take a look at the Top 10 rankings on the AnimeJapan site.

Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau, Volume 4 (ささやくように恋を唄う) – as Yori and Himari begin to date, Himari’s going to have to put words to how she really feels. I just adore this story, which is out in English as Whisper Me a Love Song. Volumes 1 and 2 are up on the store, Volume 3 is slated for a June release. (As soon as we get the office English language cover from Kodansha, we’ll add it.)

We’ve added Futaribeya: Room For Two, Volume 2, by Tsukiko, out from Tokyopop.

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Via Comic Natalie, to celebrate WebAction’s first anniversary, they are putting a bunch of manga online for free, included U-TEMO’s Yuri-Ota ni Yuri ha Gohattodesu!, (百合オタに百合はご法度です!) in Japanese. If you prefer the collected volume, we have Volume 1 up on the Yuricon Store.

Also via Comic Natalie, there’s a new Revue Starlight anthology, called Shoujo Engeki☆ Revue Starlight Comic Anthology Nine Stories (少女☆歌劇 レヴュースタァライト コミックアンソロジー ナイン・ストーリーズ) that includes a story by, among others, Cocoon, Entwined creator Hara Yuriko.

Event News

Yuriten is still ongoing – thanks to the folks who hung out with us last week and did a walk through on Discord, That was fun.

Prism Comics is sponsoring a virtual WonderCon@Home 2021 panel today, LGBTQ+ COMICS AND SOCIAL ACTIVISM, online Saturday, March 27, 11:00 am Pacific Time (2PM EST), with Moderator Justin Hall and panelists Jennifer Camper, Tara Madison Avery, Trinidad Escobar, Lawrence Lindell, and Anand Vedawala.

Anime News

Otherside Picnic has wrapped up on Funimation. If you’ve watched it, let us know what you think in the comments!

The second half of VLAD LOVE is up on Crunchyroll, Megan’s working on a review for us now. ^_^

Rafael Antonio Pineda has the details about a new mini-anime from the Assault Lily team.

Check out this short promotional video of Athena and Alice singing Athena’s barcarolle. Komatsu-san has the details for ARIA The BENEDIZIONE on Crunchyroll News.

CR’s Daryl Harding has the news that the Penguindrum TV anime Twitter account has started a countdown. What for? We don’t know yet!

Crunchyroll seems to be putting some energy into PreCure these days, with the new series Tropical Rouge! PreCure, a higher-definition release and new regional licensing for the first series, Futari ha PreCure! Komatsu-san notes that the first two minutes of the Healin’ Good PreCure movie are online as a teaser.

The writer of Serial Experiments LAIN and Digimon Tamers, has announced that their project Desupera, delayed for years, has now been 80% funded. Honestly, this excites me, as both LAIN and Tamers have some of the best writing in anime that I can think of off the top of my head.

Other News

Kara Dennison at Crunchyroll News has the report of a collaboration between Rose of Versailles and the Japanese Racing Association, and I’m not sure what it means, but we’re probably all hoping for a cosplay horse race! ^_^

YNN Correspondent Evie reports in that Square Enix has announced that their character Alex Chen from the upcoming Life is Strange 3, “Life is Strange: True Colors” will be bisexual along with lesbian Steph. Yvie suggests we all sing a little Cyndi Lauper to celebrate. ^_^

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 more queer creators!