Yuri Events

Join us all today on the Okazu Discord for our lowest-key Yuri event ever. There is no agenda, so come by, relax, have some tea and snacks with like-minded folks on the Okazu Discord Yuri Tea Party! ^_^

Please mark your calendar for May 31, and join us on Youtube for an Online Yuri Panel! I will be sending out a link when we are sorted.  The Panel will be free to anyone. If you support Okazu on Patreon for as little as $5/month, you’ll get backstage access! We could really use a few new patrons, too. We’re hovering at just around $500 , I’d like us to be able to move past that sustainably and start investing in Yuri creators again. ^_^

I’ll be joining a couple of podcasts in days ahead, so keep you ears peeled for those, too!

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Yuri Anime

Adachi to Shimamura anime will have a October premier date and has a second trailer on Youtube. It looks just as exciting as I remember it being with extra slo-mo on the already-slow scenes of them doing nothing. Honestly, I remember the whole book being slo-mo.

Mamoru Oshii’s VladLove anime has been delayed due to COVID-19, according to Jennifer Sherman at ANN.

Yuri Doujinshi

Irodori Sakura has announced their first set of translated doujinshi which, they say, will include 3 safe for work and 1 NSFW titles. Momoko Wants To Do What? by Ichinorai is the one they are working on now.

Yuri Manga

Yuri Mother has collected together suggestions from a ton of folks who discuss Yuri manga with The Ultimate Quarantine Yuri Reading List! Take a look for some ideas. ^_^

Yen Press‘ Éclair Blanche is now available, featuring works by Kiss and White Lily creator Canno and Bloom Into You‘s Nakatani Nio. Check out my review from last month – this is a pretty solid anthology and a good read.

Also from Yen Press, Volume 14 of MURCIÉLAGO.

Out this week is Bloom Into You, Volume 7; as Yuu and Touko struggle to figure out what they mean to each other, Sayaka confronts her final inner boss.

Yuri Voice Drama

Galette announces a new Voice Drama story, Ippen Arumi’s Shinda Onna no Hanashi (死んだ女の話). The first part is up on Galette online!

Other News

Via YNN Correspondent Vialla, renaissance woman Sandy Toksvig has taken to doing videos from her home and in one of her recent videos, she discusses Japanese suffrage and Kimura Komako, a Japanese woman who came the the United States in 1915 to be part of the Women’s Suffrage March in NYC. Here is a photo of Kimura-san from the archives of the Japan Society in NYC. So, if a shouty primate tells you that feminism in Japan is modern or a Western import, share this name and information with them. ^_^

The British Film Institute is celebrating 100 years of Japanese cinema with months of Japanese films streaming on their BFI player. They’ll be releasing some of these for free, so take a look at the schedule and catch up on Japanese cinema classics.

Senior YNN Correspondent Sean G reports on Megan’s thread on Twitter of their translation of an “interesting interview with Japanese openly gay LGBT+ rights campaigners Nanasaki Ryousuke, Mizonoguchi [sic] Akiko, Matsuoka Munetsugu, about the evolution of BL and whether queer media should be realistic.” 

ATo wrap up, the Japan Foundation has shared this memory from a year ago, when we kicked off the 100 Years of Yuri celebration with an interview of Kase-san creator Hiromi Takashima as part of TCAF!

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Loads of Yuri news this week!

Yuri Manga

Starting with the new license I accidentally skipped last week, woops, thanks for the reminder, Megan. ^_^

Seven Seas licensed Even Though We’re Adults, by Takako Shimura. This is a story about a married woman and the woman she meets and sleeps with. Tthe Japanese edition, Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 1 (おとなになっても) is on the Yuricon Store, but Volume 2 is no longer available in print. It is available in digital format on Global Bookwalker. I just finished the first volume, so expect a review shortly!

Bloom Into You, Volume 7 now out from Seven Seas and there’s only one volume left in the series. Volume 8 will probably be out late this year.

Seven Seas has also just released Nameless Asterism, Volume 5. This pleasant school life story touches on BL and Yuri, as well.

Via her Twitter account, Ohsawa Yayoi has released the first few chapters of 2DDK, GPen, Mezamashitokei (2DK、Gペン、目覚まし時計。) on Piccoma for free in Japanese.

We have a bunch of titles up on the Yuricon Store including FLOWERCHILD’s Warikitta Kankei Desukara., Volume 2 (割り切った関係ですから。)

And super-happy news for me is that Takemiya Jin’s Fujyourina Atashi-tachi, Volume 2 (不条理なあたし達) is out this week in Japan. It’s a sequel I never even expected! I described this in my review of Volume 1 as “a story about two crappy people who end up with a happy ending that they actually deserve.” ^_^

Hakamada Mera’ Aikata System ~ Gakuen ga Eranda Unmei no Onna no ko~ , Volume 2  (相方システム~学園が選んだ運命の女の子~) is up on the Store. I just started Volume 1 last night. I’ll get back to you on it.

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A couple of titles popped up recently that I hadn’t heard about (or hadn’t been Yuri) until the last volume. If anyone out there has read either of these, let me know if they were of interest? Via Comic Natalie,Wakusei Closet, Volume 4 (惑星クローゼット) is a science fiction horror, which appears to have a Yuri ending.

Also via Comic Natalie, the 11th and final volume of Jousei series Nigeru wa Hajida ga Yakunitatsu (逃げるは恥だが役に立つ) has a Yuri ending. This is sold out in print, but you can still get it digitally on Global Bookwalker.

One more via Comic Natalie, Itazura Privacy (悪戯プライバシー) is about a Yuri relationship between two bullies. Huh, that’s different-ish. You can grab that on Global Bookwalker or in print on Amazon JP.

Lastly, one of the new Comic Yuri Hime manga, Lonely Girl ni Sakaraenai, Volume 1 (ロンリーガールに逆らえない) is just out in Japan, but is out of stock in print, so I’ve added the digital edition on Global Bookwalker to the Yuricon Store. I think this is a pleasant enough story. ^_^

Yuri Light Novels

Penguindrum, the Light Novel, will see Volume 1 released at the end of this month, and Volume 2 headed our way, in the autumn via Seven Seas.

Adachi and Shimamura Light Novel , Volume 2 is also slated for a early autumn release. Volume 1 is available now.

Via Yurimother, we have news that the webnovel sequel to Kannazuki no Miko by creative team Kaishaku, Himegami no Miko will be serialized in Dengeki Maou magazine. It wasn’t as much of dumpster fire as Zettai Shoujo Amnesium, but it wasn’t a literary classic, either. ^_^;

Yuri Doujinshi

Lilyka has made their doujinshi available on Kindle, so to get you started, I’ve added irua’s The Wanderers and Ruri Hazuki’s Saturday 2-book collection to the Yuricon Store.

Also on the store is Twa’s Between She and Her. Lilyka has an interview with creator Twa on the Lilyka site.

LBGTQ Live-Action

Via YNN Correspondent Roxie, Alice Wu’s new queer teen drama The Half of It, has been released on Netflix. You may remember Alice Wu’s work on Saving Face, What interests me most is that the news was released on Netflix Malaysia’s Twitter feed.

Also via Roxie and Netflix, A Secret Love is a biographical story of two women who fell in love when it was not a thing one does, and their relationship over time.

Queer Comics

Emma Vieceli and Claudia Leonardi are creating a Life is Strange, Volume 1: DUST, a sequel to the popular game franchise.

Other News

Air Comiket, the first-ever online Comike,t launched their new logos this week. I think they are perfectly charming. ^_^

Sotheby’s in Hong Kong has a Manga auction coming up this week with original cels up for bidding. They are expecting a fair amount for some of these.

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There’s a lot of Yuri news this week, which is good – and amazing, given our present circumstances. Japan is suspending shipping by air to the USA, among other countries, as flights have been stopped. Shipping by sea is still happening, and Amazon JP appears to be, for the moment, still shipping…presumably because they have their own planes. But do be aware that if you buy anything from Japan right now, there may be significantly delays. I will continue to write reviews here as long as I have material to review. And, given the number of manga in the report this week, that doesn’t seem like it’ll be a problem. ^_^

Seven Seas dominates the news this week with a pile of new licenses.

Yuri Novels

Seven Seas released the second Sayaka novel this week digitally, you can get Bloom Into You Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 2 on Kindle or Bookwalker Global (you’ll be seeing more of Bookwalker, just because the system makes it easy to get both English and Japanese materials in one digital library.)

Pixiv announced the winners of the 2nd Yuri Literary Novel Contest! You can read the entries in Japanese on Pixiv, including winner Taiyou no Yoakeato. (太陽の焼け跡) by Kotobuki Shika. As you can imagine, the idea of a Yuri novel contest makes me happy. I will aspire to become a judge. ^_^

Seven Seas announced an interesting new license with I’m in Love With the Villainess, a GL Bunko light novel. by Inori, with art by Hanagata.  You may remember I reviewed Girls Kindgom 1&2 from GL Bunko and found the story to be silly and the translation adequate, but not good. GL Bunko teaming up with Seven Seas for translation and distribution means you might get to read these goofball Vampire x Samurai novels I’m reading now. ^_^ In any case, this is a good choice for GL Bunko.

Yuri Manga

Seven Seas already licensed the Light Novel, and now they have acquired the manga for ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! You may recognize the artist, Munakata Sunao as having done the art for the Riddle Story of a Devil manga.

Kodama Naoko’s Uminekosou days has been licensed as Days of Love at Seagull Villa. This story has, so far been entirely on-brand for Kodama-sensei with solid characters and fetistry that makes me feel wholly creeped out. ^_^; Link above leads to my review of Volume 1, and Volume 2 is sitting here waiting for me to get to around to it.

Not Yuri, but I am ecstatic about it being licensed, Seven Seas has picked up Kageki Shoujo! The Curtain Rises!, a story about a young woman who enters a school for an all-woman musical theater troupe. I really enjoyed the first volume of this.

Also not “Yuri” per se, but a manga from one of our own, My Alcoholic Escape From Reality, is Kabi Nagata’s most recent autobiographical volume licensed by Seven Seas. I reviewed the Japanese edition, Genjitsu Touhishitetara Boroboro ni Natta Hanashi, this past winter. I also would like to take a moment to shout out the title translation on her work, which now presents a consistent body with “My Lesbian Experience…,” “My Solo Exchange Diary, ” and now “My Alcoholic Escape…”. This is really quite exceptionally well done. For an overview of everything Nagata-sensei has done so far, and why I think it is important I wrote an essay about her work, Kabi Nagata: Opening Doors at an Intersection.

From Rafael Antonio Pineda on ANN, we have the news that Love to Lie Angle manga is wrapping up in Comic Yuri Hime magazine.

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Yuri Visual Novel

YuriNavi has news of Yoru, Tomosu (夜、灯す) a “horror Yuri” VN headed for Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch this summer.The link has screencaps and character designs.

Sailor Moon News

In the countdown to the new Sailor Moon movie, Sailor Moon Eternal, the Sailor Moon Official site reports that for the next several months, the first three seasons of the original anime will be available on Youtube in Japan. All 5 seasons are available in English on Viz Media’s website. Sailor Moon Crystal, for which Eternal is the 4th season, is available on Crunchyroll.

And, at last, we have a trailer and a date for Sailor Moon Eternal the first movie that will comprise the “SuperS” season. On the positive side, the animation is genuinely good. Check out this comparison of a similar frame from the original anime, Crystal and Eternal from CC Takato on Twitter. Look at Ami’s face and you can really see the difference.

Other News

In “feminist scholars you should be following, Grace Ting,” who writes about queer theory and feminism in Japanese and Asian pop culture, is writing a series of intros to Japanese feminist writers on Twitter. I’m super excited about this, frankly.

Nerd Lolz: I made a joke this week about Evangelion 3.0 being a Tales of Hoffman for anime and Loryn Stone came back with this brilliant summation on Twitter. The comment by Empty Movement is also spot on.

ANN’s Crystalyn Hodgkins let us know that Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 has already been greenlit for a second season.

And, to wrap up this week, Anthony Gramuglia offers up Girl’s Love: Where to Start With Yuri Manga on CBR.

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We’ll start off with a bunch of stuff on the Yuricon Store!

Yuri Light Novels

Iruma Hitoma’s Adachi and Shimamura, Volume 1 is officially launched in English. Volume 2 will be released this summer.

Bloom Into You Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 2 is making its English-language debut this week! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Yuri Manga

Makoto Hagino’s A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 4 is slated for an August release

Kayoko’s adult life story, One-Night Friend (ワンナイトフレンド) follows Mayu who, after a bender wakes up with a naked stranger in her bed….and with this, I am officially tired of this trope. ^_^

Ai ni Airashi Itoshi Anata (愛に愛らし愛しいあなた) by Suzuki Ariko follows a beautiful OL and an average high school student who fall in love.

Model-chan to Jimi Mane-san, Volume 2 (モデルちゃんと地味マネさん) continues the story of flaky model Yuria and her serious-minded manager Okabe.

Inui Ayu’s Teiji ni Ageretara, Volume 3 (定時にあがれたら) continues this soft and sweet office romance.

Rafael Antonio Pineda on ANN reports that namori’s Yuru Yuri is getting an Isekai spinoff comic.

I’m putting this here to remind myself: Himitsu no Kaidan Reunion (ひみつの階段 reunion) doujinshi is available on Booth.pm, as a pdf, from creator of this Yuri classic, Konno Kita.

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Yuri Visual Novels

Aikasa Collective’s Yuri Visual novel Mizuchi is now on Steam with a special launch week discount. Early reactions have been very positive so far. I hope to have a review and an interview with Aikasa coming up soon for you. ^_^

I took a look at Angela He’s interactive comic there’s this girl last week, which was very sweet, and sad with a pretty palette. It’s worth a look.

Not-Yuri, But….

Crystalyn Hodgkins on ANN just reported that anime VladLove just cast Park Romi and so I’m going to have to watch it now. Damn you Mamoru Oshii.

Crystalyn also has the news that the 20th anniversary film for Magical Doremi, Looking for Magical Doremi, has been delayed because of the pandemic.

The artists of Carole & Tuesday recorded a message of love and support for fans, according to Kim Morrisey on ANN. The visual is a bit of a spoiler. ^_^

While we’re at talking about series that aren’t Yuri….Aria is, gods help us, going to have a 15th anniversary theatrical film release, according to ANN’s Rafael Antonio Pineda.

Let’s wrap up with the very best news this week…. via Hayashiya-sensei on Twitter, all of Hayate x Blade is available to read online for free (in Japanese) through May 6th! Hop on this and get  your fill of the best action comedy manga ever written.

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Print schedules are in the air, but digital editions are still headed our way! Before you knee-jerk comment “I like print better”, consider…if you’re reading scanlations or online comics, you don’t like print better, you value print more. Take a moment to consider what you are saying about the effort of writing, editing, drawing, lettering, proofreading, laying out content for you to enjoy. If you happily read digital content for free, you’re saying that that is worth less to you than the paper being used to make a book. I’m NOT saying you can’t like a book. Obviously not. I love books. What I’m saying is life is going to irrevocably change during this pandemic and you might want to re-evaluate the value you place on the work and the content over the physical container.

Because I cannot get my physical copies of Comic Yuri Hime, and I was on Bookwalker Global, I picked up the May issue digitally. You can subscribe to the magazine through Bookwalker Global and never need a place to put giant cartons of magazines you can’t get rid of! ^_^

BOOKWALKER Global is doing a sale for 60% coin back on selected English manga and light novel titles right now. I picked up Ghost in the Shell Standalone Complex Volume 1 for $1.06. If you’re following me on Twitter, you know I’m doing a massive rewatch of all the Ghost in the Shell properties in the order they were made. I’ll be doing a post on my thoughts after the new Ghost in the Shell SAC 2045 launches later this month on Netflix. I’ll do the same for the manga, and see if I can get a hold of the new manga when/if that comes out in the fall.

What you can find on Bookwalker is a wide variety of English and Japanese manga from many publishers on – and here’s the part that I think is the best thing – any device, since their reader is usable on iOS and Android devices, as well as on desktop and other systems. Few regional limitations – this isn’t like Kindle, which insists one account= one country. In effect, Bookwalker is the store you all want, with titles from every major and many minor publishers, in English and Japanese. They have a Yuri category on their English and Japanese stores.

This has been an unsponsored, unprompted advert, but I gotta tell ya, last night I sat down to read that issue of Comic Yuri Hime and it was so *nice* to read on my tablet. So clear and easy to see, I might not go back. ^_^

Yuri Manga

I spent some time catching up on the big backlog of stuff for the Yuricon store:

Our Wonderful Days, Volume 3 is currently still slated for a July release. This volume wraps up Kei Hamuro’s sweet, quiet slice of country life Yuri romance out from Seven Seas.

In Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 4 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな) Saeko and Miwa are still trying to find their way. If you’re a fan, take a look at this doujinshi anthology for the series on Melonbooks! A couple of sample pages are available.

Comic Yuri Hime, May 2020 (コミック百合姫2020年5月号) is up on Amazon JP, but I’m not seeing any print issue after that…yet.

The Éclair series has put out a new one-shot collection, Éclair Special Kazuno Yuikawa Masterpiece Collection (エクレアSpecial 雑草譚 結川カズノ百合作品傑作選).

Yagate Kimi ni Naru Koushiki Comic Anthology, Volume 2 (やがて君になる 公式コミックアンソロジー_ is the second official Bloom Into You manga anthology. The first one was very good.

An adult woman falls in love with a cool, good looking woman, in this collected online comic Ikemen Onna to Hakoirimusume, Volume 1 (イケメン女と箱入り娘).

Galette No. 14 (ガレット) is taking pre-orders directly for folks who back the magazine at 500￥or more/month in Japan. Because all the events have been canceled, it looks like they are doing a limited print run.

Not gonna lie, I was really glad Tsuki to Suppin, Volume 2 (月とすっぴん)  arrived in my last shipment of books from Japan. I really like this adult odd couple daily life romance.

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Yuri Light Novel

Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 2 is headed our way shortly in digital form! The print will be delayed. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to read this translation of Sayaka’s high school one-sided love. I enjoyed it in Japanese, for sure.

Otherside Picnic, Volume 3 is also on it’s way for the middle of April. Got my pre-order in for this creepy-cool adventure sort of Yuri-ish series. Thanks to Sean G and AV-chan for the date corrections.

 
Yuri Visual Novels

Aikasa Collective is taking pre-orders for their beautiful Chinese folklore0inspired Yuri Visual novel Mizuchi(白蛇心傳) with 33% off through the 13th.

J-List has the preorder for the third installment of Innocent Grey’s Flowers series, FLOWERS -Le volume sur automne- Limited Edition.

Yuri Doujinshi

Lilyka is starting to sell their catalog of Yuri doujinshi on Kindle and Nook, according to their official Twitter account.

LGBTQ Cartoons
 

DC’s Harley Quinn cartoon is returning and will “explore” a relationship with Poison Ivy, reports Kat Calamia on Newarama.

Other News

Via YNN Correspondent Timeboxer, we have a beautifully written short scifi, Distant Stars by P.H. Lee. Lovely and sad.

Unrelated, I wrote a short story, recently. I like to think of it as a fanfic for the plague year. ^_^ Dodecahedron.

I’m going to end this week with a memorial note. LGBTQ rights pioneer Phyllis Lyon died this week at 91. She’s being remembered as the first person, along with her wife Del Martin, to have been married in California when gay marriage became legal, but she was so much more than that to LGBTQ history in America. She and Martin co-founded the first lesbian organization in the USA, the Daughters of Bilitis, and have been unceasingly on the front of LGBTQ civil rights. Lyon and Martin have a wikipedia page on their work together and as a tribute to this amazing woman, I’d like you to take a second and read it: Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. You should know who they are and what they have done for you.

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 essential part of the team!