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.

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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!

Yuri Manga

We have some new titles up on the Yuricon Store for your reading pleasure!

Kyou, Koshiba Aoi ni Aetara, Volume 2 (今日、小柴葵に会えたら) hit shelves in Japan last month. You’ll be able to read Volume 1 in English as Chasing After Aoi Koshiba from Kodansha in spring 2021.

And while we’re talking Kodansha, here’s a reminder that Yuri is My Job, Volume 6 is available for pre-order. Paperback will be released this autumn.

Yoshitomei Akihito’s new schoolgirl time travel store, Kyou Kara Mirai (今日から未来) is up.

I’m still playing catch-up with Kobachi Ruka’s Hana ni Arashi, Volume 5 (はなにあらし).

I really like Kuwabara Tamotsu’s art and we’ve got adult-life Anata to Watashi no Shuuhassuu (あなたと私の周波数) on the Store!

Takeshobo has kind of been conspicuously missing from recent Yuri, but they are back in the game with drinking and Yuri Happy Hour Girls, Volume 1 (ハッピーアワーガールズ) by Agetate Shino.

Global Bookwalker let me know that Yuritora Jump ~ Ultra Jump Yuri Digital Anthology Volume 3  (ユリトラジャンプ～ウルトラジャンプ百合アンソロジー～) is now available. Like Volume 1 and Volume 2, which was reviewed on Okazu, both are available in digital format only.

Yuri Webcomics

YNN Corespondent Megan wants you to know about a “student council love triangle Yuri comedy” that started on Japanese-language 4-koma Twitter account Twi-yon this week, called Lily Triangle.

Sal Jiang has a new Yuri series with Action Comics, Ayakachan ha Hiroko-sempai wo Otoshitai (彩香ちゃんは弘子先輩を落としたい). Check out Chapter 1 for free in Japanese on the Web Action site.

Sal-sensei has another new comic, too – 白と黒～Black & White～. The first three chapters are online in Japanese on the Comic Ruelle & Comic Jardin website!

And while you are on the Comic Ruelle & Comic Jardin website, check out their page for sono.N’s Yuri action series SHWD. ^_^

Yuri Anime

Rafael Antonio Pineda on ANN has the news that Funimation has announced that it will be streaming Adachi and Shimamura this fall on Funimation.com.

ANN’s Adriana Hazra reports that classic gonzo Yuri anime Project A-ko is streaming on RetroCrush.

YuriNavi says we should keep our eyes out for Mahou no Tabitabi (魔女の旅々) an upcoming anime based on a series of GA Bunko novels that, YuriNavi says, includes Yuri meetings. Based on the trailer, I assume that means admirable women are admired by our female protagonist. It looks pretty, in any case.

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Become an Okazu Patron today. Even $5/month can make a huge impact!

Yuri Studio

In case you missed it, last week we posted the first of our new projects on Yuri Studio 3.0, Why Are There So Many Schoolgirls in Yuri? We kept this initial video down under 10 minutes, take a look for a brief, fun look at the answer to the most commonly asked question I get at Yuri panels! I have a bunch of ideas and will be working on the next video shortly. 

Not Yuri, per se, and not Yuri Studio, but Peter Fobian has done a pretty decent video on the History of Magical Girls for Crunchyroll.

Yuri Visual Novels

Studio Élan has announced a new Yuri Visual Novel, Please Be Happy, and Sekai Project has picked it up for distribution to Steam and Switch. Rafael Antonio Pineda and Alex Mateo have the details of the license announcement on ANN. Studio Élan has opened a questionnaire to hear from folks about what they like and are looking for, so let them know what you’d like to see.

JAST USA has announced the release of the third of the Flowers Yuri VN franchise, Flowers ~Le volume sur automne will be available on July 30. Their premium release will come with physical extras like acrylic standees and postcards!

LGBTQ Media

The folks at itch.io have put together a Visual Novel Romance Collection for Black Trans Lives bundle – $140 value for $10, and the money will go to The Okra Project, a group that helps black trans folks with mental health services and food. This collection includes Ladykiller in a Bind and Heaven Will Be Mine, both of which were reviewed favorably here on Okazu by Louise. ^_^

YNN Correspondent, Joek K. wants you to know that live-action Amazon Prime series, Hannah, Season 2 includes a storyline about a university professor and her wife. I watch some of the first season of this series. It didn’t keep my attention, but it might be in your wheelhouse. (Right now I’m watching Wynona Earp on Netflix – yes, I’m years late to that – and it’s perfectly ignorable while I work.)

Other News

Artist, and our good friend, Rica Takashima is interviewed in manga art magazine S  季刊S(エス) this month! I enjoy this magazine, it’s always a little wide-eyed and fannishly fawning about cool art and artists. ^_^

I’ve been having a little fun with a side project: Check out Yuri Manga Bot on Twitter. ^_^

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!