Yuri Event

I’m absolutely ecstatic to announce that the Yuriten Yuri Exhibition, which was canceled due to the pandemic last spring has announced a new online event! I’m so delighted that the organizers have decided to do this online…which means with luck, we’ll all be able to “attend” and view the various artworks on display. Depending on how complicated or simple ordering will be, I will consider taking event goods orders for folks and doing some North American distribution. Let’s wait and see what the details are. So far no dates, but the official announcement includes a nice thanks for the efforts of healthcare workers. ^_^

Yuri Anime

The anime adaptation of Adachi and Shimamura is slated for an October 3 debut, reports ANN’s Rafael Antonio Pineda. Check out the trailer on Youtube from Funimation.

Canadian fans will be able to watch Sailor Moon streaming on Crave, reports Jennifer Sherman on ANN.

Variably Yuri, Healin’ Good Pretty Cure and the much Yuri-ier KIRA KIRA☆PRETTY CURE A LA MODE are streaming on Crunchyroll. I have my hands pressed together that we get Heartcatch Precure, which is still my favorite. ^_^

Yuri Visual Novel

Via Yuri Mother,  “Korean game company Cinamon Games released its first English Yuri story to its otome game platform Maybe: Interactive Stories. The story, called Flower Lane: A Record of Romance is a one season long story consisting of 19 episodes.”

Yuri Manga

Let’s start with some new license announcements from this week.

Seven Seas announced School Zone, a gonzo Yuri school comedy by Ningiyau.

Tokyopop has announced Alter Ego, “a new addition to both  International Women of Manga and LOVE x LOVE imprints. The Girls Love title from Spanish creator Ana C. Sánchez deals with unrequited love and the difficulties of confessing a gay crush to a friend who appears to be straight.” Honestly…you can imagine that this plot made me roll my eyes pretty hard.

Yen Press announced the Adachi and Shimamura manga for a winter 2021 release.

Sasamekikoto/Whispered Words creator Ikeda Takeshi has a new Yuri series, about a voice actress and a scriptwriter living together as roommates, but who become more to one another in Futari ha Daitai konna Kanji (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ). I’m super excited to read this.

We have some new titles on the Yuricon Store!

Lonely Girl ni Sakaraenai, Volume 1 (ロンリーガールに逆らえない) is back in print! Ayaka is a great student who hates tests. Her teacher makes her an offer she can’t refuse – “Get Honda Sora to come to school and I’ll give you a good recommendation.”

Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau, Volume  3 (ささやくように恋を唄う) continues the charming romance of Yori-sempai and her underclassman Himari.

Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 3 (不揃いの連理), Heke and Lala get to know one another better online, while they say nothing to each other face to face in the workplace.

Canno Tanhenshuu Mushoku to JK  (缶乃短編集 無職とJK) is a short story collection by Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl creator, consisting of her Éclair anthology stories.

The Canelé Souer Yuri Anthology (カヌレ スール百合アンソロジー) is, as it sounds , an anthology of older students and younger at school, bonds that go beyond sisterhood or friendship, a Yuri anthology of “souer” romance.

Crunchyroll Expo and Bookwalker Global are offering 50% on all manga and light novels released by August 4th.

Yuri Light Novel

ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! digital release from Seven Seas hits this week on Kindle and Bookwalker.

Yuri Doujinshi

It’s sale season for those of you looking to fill up your doujinshi collection. Melonbooks is doing a 20% sale, for those of you who want Comitia and Comiket releases from Japan, while Lilyka is also offering 20% off for their translated doujinshi, which includes some new titles. Irodori Sakura didn’t get the sale memo, but does have a new title on offer.

Other News

File this under “Serendipity”: In our most recent Yuri Studio video, “What Makes A Story Yuri?” I discuss manga as Art, and talk about how manga actually stands at a crossroads of “Art” and “Literature,” but is rarely thought of as either by fans. Amazingly this week, the International Society for Education through Art Quinta da Cruz. Estrada de São  (InSEA) has release, for free as a PDF, Manga!: Visual Pop-Culture in ARTS Education, edited by Masami Toku & Hiromi Tsuchiya Dollase. This is an amazing resource you should all grab a copy and give it a read!

This week, the Goodle Doodle in the USA honored cartoonist Jackie Ormes. She is known as the first African-American woman cartoonist and creator of the Torchy Brown comic strip and the Patty-Jo ‘n’ Ginger panel.

Via any number of sources Jezebel‘s Angelica Frey has a lovely article on the The Haute Couture History of Sailor Moon.

Austin Asian American Film Festival is presenting a celebration of queer cinema in its virtual six-film series, Prismatic Taiwan.

Yuri Light Novel

Seven Seas wants us to know that it’s almost time for the release of “reincarnated into an otome game” school comedy I’m in Love with the Villainess, by inori and hanagata.

They also wanted to remind us that Adachi and Shimamura, Volume 3 is on sale and will be hitting your mailbox in early 2021.

Via Yuri Mother, the upcoming Seven Seas release of Roll Over and Die: I Will Fight For an Ordinary Life With My Love and Cursed Sword!, will be delayed slightly.

Yuri Manga

Yen has nabbed the Adachi and Shimamura manga license, and Alex Mateo at ANN has the details.

Seven Seas hits this month’s licensing announcement with several Yuri titles. First up, School Zone, a school comedy by Ningiyau.

Seven Seas has also licensed Hero-san to Moto Onna Kanbu-san, Volume 1 (ヒーローさんと元女幹部さん) as Superwomen in Love! I sympathize with this title change as the other might play well in Japan, but yeah, The Hero and the former Middle Management Villainess would die on the shelves here. ^_^ I have reviewed both volumes here on Okazu. Volume 1 | Volume 2.

ANN’s Alex Mateo reports that A Witch’s Love at the End of the World, which has also been licensed by Yen Press will end this autumn with a third volume in Japan. I have not yet read this series, so you and I are on equal footing here. ^_^

Yuri Studio

We’re finishing up a new video for Yuri Studio that we’ll be launching this week. I decided to make this one way too complicated and our video editor Louise worked triple time to make it look good. ^_^ We’re hoping to get a few more Patrons before September to help us support this work and keep us on track for 2020. If you enjoy the weekly news report or the manga and anime reviews or our Yuri Studio videos, please support us on Patreon!

LGBTQ Manga

Via Megan on Twitter, we have news of Boys Run the Riot, a manga with a trans male lead, written by a trans man. I’m looking forward to reading that. Megan’s also offered up this interview with Gaku Keito and why he decided to come out. It’s in Japanese, but you have Google Translate.

Yuri Podcasts

Laethas and Mamma Luvs Manga talk about Viz Media’s How Do We Relationship on Yuricast, Episode 1.

I am doing a podcast, along with with Kit and Sarah from the Tomochoco Podcast today on Manga Maverick’s podcast about the Kase-san series!

Yuri Visual Novel

A spin-off of the Visual Novel Twofold, Yuri VN First Snow is free on Steam right now!

Other News

This is in no way Yuri, but the news that Sentai Filmworks has licensed Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit anime is very good. For many reasons, this anime is one of the very best I have ever watched and it stands as one of the few series I’ve seen that is significantly better as an anime than the original novel (the entire series of which I have reviewed here.) If you have not seen it, I can only make this the strongest recommendation I’ve ever made. It is really that good.

Via real-world journalist Jake Adelstein, comes this reminder that Takarazuka has recently done a production of Once Upon A Time in America.

The Yagate Kimi ni Naru / Bloom Into You encore stage production has been delayed due to the pandemic, but they are planning a live dramatic reading of a Sayaka story instead, according to the Yagate Kimi ni Naru Official Twitter account.

Let’s wrap up with this piece of news, via Mari Kurisato, Marvel celebrates Indigenous history with a landmark special, Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices #1 that features native artists and writers taking on indigenous Marvel characters.

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news with your name and an email I can reply to – thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network! Special thanks to Okazu Patrons for being an important part of the Okazu family. I couldn’t do it without you!

Yuri Anime

We’re starting this week off with some song and dance. Rafael Antonio Pineda at ANN has the details of the upcoming Revue Starlight film and the teaser trailer.

Kyoto Animation is producing Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid Season 2, Adriana Hazra’s got the news on ANN.

Via YuriMother, in The Owl House, Disney’s First LGBTQ Protagonist is a Bisexual Dominican-American.

Yuri Studio

We’re working on the next Yuri Studio video. Become an Okazu Patron to get behind the scenes previews and snippets! Just $5/month will be a huge help! We’ve got a really fun opening sequence planned with the help of some our favorite online friends…and this is going to be a really chunky, rich video full of great info!

Yuri Manga

Comic Heaven magazine , No. 49  (コミックヘヴン) will include a short Yuri story, “Hinata no Yuri” (ヒナタノユリ」) about an office lady who has never fallen in love.

Kaishaku’s news series, Himegami no Miko (姫神の巫女) , the sequel to Kannazuki no Miko is available for free on Comic Walker. In Japanese of course.

Also on Comic Walker is Goukaku Tame no! Yasashi Sankaku Kakei Nyuumon (合格のための！ やさしい三角関係入門) the new girl x girl x girl series by Canno. Since I felt that the three-way relationship in Kiss & White Lily For My Dearest Girl was the strongest writing in the series, I’m interesting in seeing what happens when she focuses on one.

I’m absolutely beside myself with joy that Shio Usui’s Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts has been licensed by Seven Seas as Doughnuts Under a Cresent Moon. I enjoy this series immensely.

Other News

YNN Correspondent Megan has written in with this fascinating item, on “BL news site Chil-Chil about the intersection of BL and Yuri fans”  BLと百合、近くて遠い 2つの世界 translates to BL and Yuri, two worlds which are close but far apart. (It’s in Japanese, but you can follow it easily enough with a translate tool. Megan has translated some of it on Twitter.) This is part of their ongoing BL research column, and this article is a survey of BL fans who like Yuri. Chil-Chil also has a collection called BL Yuri, a term I have not heard anyone else use, (and, if I’m being honest, makes me cringe a bit, based on the cover…)but as I haven’t read it, I will withhold judgement.) The premise appears to be BL without a seme, so not really “Yuri” in the sense we understand it. If you have read it, do let me know what your opinion is.

In The Atlantic, Gabrielle Bellot has taken a look at Kuniko Tsurita, an influential female manga artists of the early 20th century in How Kuniko Tsurita Shaped Literary Manga History. This article also celebrates a new collection of Tsurita’s work, The Sky is Blue With a Single Cloud with translation by Ryan Holmberg. It looks fantastic, Tsurita’s art has a clear Aubrey Beardsley influence that I find quite appealing.

We’ll wrap up this week with an article on the NYTimes How Queer Women Powered the US Suffrage Movement by Maya Salam.

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news with your name and an email I can reply to – thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network! Special thanks to Okazu Patrons for being an important part of the Okazu family. I couldn’t do it without you!

Week after week, I put this news report together and am absolute amazed at how much news there is from the Yuri Network. It’s a great time to be a fan of Yuri. ^_^

Yuri Manga

Yen Press has announced a license of the Adachi and Shimamura manga.

Yuni’s I Love You So Much I Hate You,is hitting shelves this month in English also from Yen Press. I really like Yuni’s style and enjoyed this manga when I reviewed it in Japanese.

Satsumaage’s stories about a Miyu and Yu’s life together has been colorful and fun and I look forward to Volume 3, Douseiseikatsu, Watashi ha Anata dake no mono, ( 同棲生活3 わたしは貴方だけのもの).

Online comic platform Comico has a GL genre of comics in Japanese for you to enjoy.

Yuri Anime

Sentai’s Revue Starlight Premium Box Set is pretty chock-full of extras and looks very classy. I was pleased with the way Sentai handled the Bloom Into You Premium Set, and this looks about the same level of value for your money.

Not Yuri, but… Alex Mateo reports that Funimation.com will be streaming Sailor Moon R, which does have a prominent gay (if delusional) relationship and Moon Revenge. ^_^

While we’re on Sailor Moon (again! ahahah! You can never escape Sailor Moon here on Okazu!) Komatsu-san has the news on Chrunchyroll of the casting for Amazon Trio is the upcoming Sailor Moon Eternal movies.

Daryl Harding over at Crunchyroll News wants you to know that the Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid Twitter account has been reactivated and is teasing something awesome.

Daryl’s clearly got the sort-of Yuri-ish beat, as he also has news of Wandering Witch‘s new visuals.

We’re working on out next Yuri Studio video right now. Help support our research and production.
Become an Okazu Patron!

Other News

Adriana Hazra at ANN, has the news of a Youtube Initiaitve for Overseas viewers from Kodansha, Toei and other Japanese anime studios. Check out Anilog Channel which so far has no content available for overseas viewers, but hopes to provide English and Chinese language subtitled content.

Lauren Kaori Gurley and Patrick Klepek have the follow up on Vice.com, about the Visual Novel Lovestruck writers who formed a collective bargaining group. Initially the word was that they were fired for their attempt to unionize, but after negotiations (and a promise to not call Voltage Organized Workers a union, apparently) they have negotiated pay raises for writers across the virtual game’s continuum. Visual Novel Writers Win Pay Raise After 21 Day Strike.

ANN’s Kim Morrisey reports that, after having had to cancel a September show because of the pandemic, Comitia is looking to run a crowdfunding campaign on Motion-Gallery.

Director Lily Wachowski this week tweeted that The Matrix was always trans allegory. The insane argument that because the Wachowskis had not yet come out when the movie was made it could not possibly represent their story inspired me to create a fake product: Trans Plan! A precognitive tool to preserve and prove creative intent after transitioning. ^_^

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news with your name and an email I can reply to – thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network! Special thanks to Okazu Patrons for being an important part of the Okazu family. I couldn’t do it without you!

Industry News

This week, we need to start with news that is broader than the Yuri Network, specifically, as a number of important industry issues have come to light.

Both Yen Press and J-Novel Club have announced that several of their light novel titles have been delisted from Amazon Kindle.

In 2009, you might remember the cascade where hundreds, then thousands of LGBTQ titles were delisted over a holiday weekend. There were a lot of weird things about that situation, and a hacker eventually claimed credit, but I did and still think it was a organizational failure created by a contractor with no one above them who cared to actually understand. This situation does seem a lot more targeted. But I’m going to tell you that tweeting and hashtags and online outrage is not how this gets fixed. How this gets fixed is that you as a consumer – especially if you are a Prime member – call them at 1 (888) 280-4331 and write them and let Amazon know that this decision is not appropriate and you object. I called this morning. Of course the rep I spoke with has no idea what I am talking about but she took my concerns down very politely. Don’t be outraged…do something to help.

YuriMother broke some interesting news this week as writers for LGBTQ story app Lovestruck attempted to unionize and were initially rumored to have been fired in retaliation. Follow ups indicate that the Voltage Organized Workers Association (which does not identify as a union) have not been fired and still hope to negotiate with Voltage management.

Udon Entertainment is celebrating a 20th anniversary and for their Comic-Con @ Home panel, they posted a bunch of folks talking about their experience with Udon. At 31:47, founder Erik Ko talks about The Rose of Versailles in a segment that includes translators Mari Morimoto, Jocelyne Allen and myself as editor. (And Mari is right, we did meet Erik at karaoke in Akihabara, but I remember what I sang. It was Alsatia by Galneryus. It was also the very last time I will ever do Karaoke for the rest of my life. I can’t sing at all any more, not even badly. ^_^;)

In case you missed it, I rounded up the current landscape of where to stream Yuri anime for free and legally in the USA.

Okazu News

We have some *amazing* things to report here at Okazu and I have been dying to share them with you!

Firstly, thanks to our Okazu Patrons, we’ve made it to the first of our Microgoals on Patreon!  This is a huge breakthrough for us, the first new high point we’ve hit since the loss of our biggest supporter, when my friend Bruce died. The Okazu family is always proud to support queer creators and with your help we’ve added two new folks to our list:

Okazu is now a supporter of YuriMother, whose work in Yuri news and reviews has been fantastic, as you can see above. I’m thrilled that Okazu is now a patron.

And we are now supporting creator Mieri Hiranashi, who draws a charming autobiographical Yuri manga about being a butch lesbian. ^_^

For every $50 mark we hit from here on, we’ll support another queer creator. But that’s not all – when we hit our next Microgoal mark, $600/month we’ll also institute a raise for Guest Writers here on on Okazu.

We’re also working on making our videos more accessible. With everyone’s help I was able to get enough subscribers to Yuri Studio to enable automatic closed captioning. Well, now we’ve hired the amazing Meru Clewis (who has also been  a guest writer here) to handle the subtitles for our Online Yuri Panel. So if you missed it this spring, you’ll now get 90 minutes of accessible accurate captioning for it.

One more “and” – AND just this week, I’ve hired someone to do Japanese-language subtitles for the Why Are There So Many Schoolgirls in Yuri? video. All our videos going forward will have accurate bilingual captioning.

All of this is possible because of our Okazu patrons. So thank you! If you’d like to be part of the team,
please support us on Patreon! 

Yuri Anime

The Premium Box Set for Revue Starlight from Sentai Filmworks is up for pre-order and it looks really nice. ^_^

RightStuf has a huge deal on the Bloom Into You Premium Box Set.

Netflix announced the arrival of The Legend of Korra on August 14th in the USA. I recently rewatched this and thought it held up really well. Faster pacing than I had remembered, and Asami and Korra’s relationship develops pretty organically, even if it is in the background.

The British Film Institute (BFI)’s magazine Sight & Sound put out a special feature on 50 Key Anime Films. It was my pleasure to write #33 on the list. (There were two others I had wanted, but they were already taken. Feel free to guess which ones!)

Matthew Rose talks about Serial Experiments Lain on ANN. He’s not discussing it explicitly as a Yuri anime, but we all considered it one back in the day. On rewatch, I found the series to be prescient.)

Mikikazu Komatsu on Crunchyroll has the news about a new, original 15th anniversary Aria movie, ARIA The Crepsucolo, which will feature the ladies of Orange Planet. This movie is currently slated for a spring 2021 release.

Yuri Manga

Jennifer Sherman on ANN has the news that Yuru Yuri creator namori has teased a new series on Twitter which is to be revealed on July 31!

Lilyka has released a new interview, this time with creator Ruri Hazuki, whose manga and doujinshi work I really, honestly like.

Cool Queer Stuff

Naomi Schalit writes Queer young adult fiction isn’t all gloomy realism. Here are 5 uplifting books to get you started on The Conversation.

I’m going to remind you all again that Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is coming out on August 4th and you do not want to miss it!

Comic-Con @ Home had a panel dedicated to the life and work of Howard Cruse: The Godfather of Queer Comics

Pallabi Munsi has a short, pithy look at the life and work of Yoshiya Nobuko on Ozy, The Daring Feminist Writer Who Inspired Manga.

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news with your name and an email I can reply to – thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network! Special thanks to Okazu Patrons for being an important part of the Okazu family. I couldn’t do it without you!