No cutesy headlines today. Let’s start by talking honestly about some of the shakeups that are happening in the industry right now. Print schedules are effectively canceled until further notice. But companies are still working on digital releases…although on a slower schedule. Since a lot of manga printing was done in China and even aside from that, distribution has been disrupted globally, I hope we’ll all be patient and supportive of the people putting out our entertainment.

Publisher News

Via ANN, Yen announces delays on print through September, as does Dark Horse. Diamond comics distribution is delaying shipments. According to the ANN article, Viz says they are moving ahead with print through Simon and Schuster, but I have some questions about that, as S&S is up for sale right now.

Seven Seas suggests print will be delayed, but digital is still going forward, which is a good thing, because when June comes you *will* want the third Sayaka novel. I will review it tomorrow, but suffice it to say, I smiled through it. ^_^

Kodansha Comics have also delayed print titles, but will be going ahead with digital releases.

On Twitter last week I suggested that if I were a manga publisher now, I would make Volume 1 of every series free on digital, to encourage folks to start series they’d put off. Unsurprisingly, some publishers are doing something just like that.

Hentai publisher FAKKU has made subscription hentai free for two weeks (starting March 29.) They do have a Yuri tag, which does not fall under the subscription, and it includes a Yuri anthology I never reviewed here, because it was a porn anthology and I’m reviewing those rarely now, unless there’s a specific motivation to do so. You can find When Budding Lilies Blossom, doujinshi by Yurism and other Yuri and Yuri-sh hentai on their site.

Tokyopop has made some of their manga free, with new titles being unlocked every week. Breath of Flowers is available free, and Still Sick will be made available this week.

Viz always has free chapters of manga available through their app, primarily their Shonen Jump stories, but consider asking them to add their Yuri titles, too. ^_^ I will, when I get this post done.

Comixology is running a 99 cent sale on all their Originals, which includes Kodansha titles, including Yuri is My Job, Volume 1.

J-Novel Club is partnering with Global Bookwalker to offer more than 50 volumes free, in what they have cleverly titiled  I Couldn’t Go Outsude so I Just Stayed in and Read Light Novels All Day! This promo includes the creepy cool Yuri Otherside Picnic series.

In Japan, Jump+ is also releasing a bunch of manga for free on limited time basis, including, from Kishi Torajirou’s twitter account, Otome no Teikoku!

Creator Nakamura Ching is posting pages from chapters of her masterwork, GUNJO in English and Japanese on her ChingTV page on Note. Chapter 1 is free, you can buy the full chapters for a few bucks each. ALC Publishing is working with Nakamura-sensei on the translation and I can tell for certain that we are very excited about this!

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HIDIVE has a free 30 day trial (not really different than their usual, but hey, you’ll have the time!) for anime and they have the Sentai collection, so you’ll get access to Bloom Into You, Revue Starlight and Kase-san and Morning Glories.

RetroCrush TV is a brand new all-free ad-supported streaming app that is showing anime of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. Tom Speelman wrote about the timelessness of classic anime for Funimation’s blog in Astro Boy, Speed Racer and the Value of Watching Classic Anime.

And, of course, Crunchyroll is still free, ad-supported streaming anime.

This is everything I’ve cobbled together, but if you know about more publisher or streaming news, don’t hesitate to write and let us know!

Before we move on, though, let me also suggest that – IF you can do so – if you have a local comic or book store that can’t ship or do pickup right now, if you have orders or pull-lists with them, consider paying them upfront so they have some operating cash during this time. Big companies can get bailouts, but little guys often can’t. Comics companies are laying off a lot of folks right now. The comics industry has not ever managed to forge itself into something resilient, in fact, it has become increasingly fragile over the last few years. So support your fave artists and check out their sites and feeds for creator-owned material that you can purchase.

I know it’s a punchline to the rest of the world, but the US really doesn’t have anything like national healthcare and comics artists are freelancers, so they don’t qualify for unemployment benefits in most states. They are going to need the crowds who say they love their work to support them.

Yuri Doujinshi

Irodori is another new company seeking to launch a line of translated legally licensed Yuri Doujinshi, Irodori Sakura. They want your thoughts about the kind of doujinshi you want and the creators you want it from. Fill out their survey and let them know you get your Yuri News from Okazu!

This means that, along with Lilyka, we’ll have a plethora of new original Yuri doujinshi in translation.

Twa on Twitter, is a doujinshi creator whose doujinshi Between She and Her is available on Lilyka, tweeted that a friend is also translating her comic Shiori and Yuki. Both links will give you some pages in English to read!

This is entirely self-serving, but this week I learned that Hayate x Blade creator Hayashiya Shizuru is doing a Yanki x food doujinshi (ヤン恋食堂　A定食) and if anyone who lives in Japan wants to get me a copy, I will love you forever…or until I need the next issue. ^_^

Yuri Visual Novels

And while we’re all sitting around and filling out surveys, you ought also to go to Studio Élan and fill out their survey about what you want to see in upcoming Yuri Visual Novels!

Other News

From YNN Correspondent Jeyl, we have the utterly delightful news that April 6th at 2PM, the cast of Legend of Korra will be doing a live-reading of the Turf Wars comics, which start with Asami and Korra on a romantic vacation in the Spirit Wolrd…and, if you recall, them coming out to Korra’s family. They will make a free digital edition of the comic available before the live stream so you can read along and there will be giveaways during the reading.

Kim Morrisy on ANN reports that Toranoana and Melonbooks are donating all proceeds from sales of the Comiket catalog to the Comiket comittee, for future events. The committee asked people to buy the catalog for the canceled event to defray costs, which spiked briefly it to the top seller in Amazon JP rankings.

Also from Kim on ANN, Onnakatsu (女活) a new womens’ life anthology is being launched by a number of popular Jousei artists. And on that hopeful note, we’ll wrap up. ^_^

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Okazu News

We’re having some trouble with Facebook, which has seen fit to remove every single post I’ve ever made from Okazu from our Yuricon group on Facebook. So, if you’re looking to follow Okazu posts and relevant news without irrelevant chatter about other things, I recommend you follow us on MeWe or Patreon. You can still get Okazu as an RSS feed, or subscribe to it by email with the widget on the bottom of the right-hand toolbar, or get Okazu sent to your Kindle!  If there’s a way you’d like to get Okazu delivered daily, please let me know and I’ll see about making it accessible.

And while I have your attention, I’ll remind you that if you are an active Patron of Okazu by April 7th, you will get the newest perq –  a sneak peak at one of the original articles written for the Big Book o’Yuri, “Girl Gangs and the Yuri Underground”! I had a lot of fun writing that, as you might imagine. ^_^  And *of course* you will also get the positive warm fuzzy feelings of supporting our research, paying for Guest Reviewers and being an important part of the Okazu family! We are *so* ridiculously close to our next goal, that if we can sustain $500/month for this year, I’ll be able to pay guest reviewers more!

 Queer News

Yuri Creator Yuni (creator of Nikurashii hodo Aishiteru and Hitogoto Desukara!) has a Youtube channel where she’s discussing (in Japanese) various manga and topics related to Yuri life! Check out the Yurikusu Channel at your leisure.

Tynan Brooks offers up When Stars Align: A History of Queer Anime over at Anime Herald!

Via YNN Correspondent Yeo please enjoy this lovely animated short called PERENNIAL, by smallcakes.

CBR’s Reuben Baron has an interview with Rebecca Sugar on the end of Steven Universe.

Baseball Anime

ANN’s Alex Mateo reports HIDIVE has added baseball anime Cinderella Nine and Jennifer Sherman has the info on Yuri-ish baseball anime Tamayomi, including a new trailer! It’s not often we get two girl’s sports anime at once, so I thought it deserved a header of it’s own.

Still not the sports anime *I* want, though.  ^_^;

Other News

Ikkitousen Extra Bust (I know it’s Burst, but trust me on this) phone game will be available for various phone platforms. The disconnect from the character animations to the gameplay is actually laugh out loud funny. Alex Mateo has the detes on ANN.

The trailer has dropped for Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045 and while on the one hand it looks (finally!) like a completely new story, it also looks like it could be any series ever. I guess we’re never going to get our bisexual Major back. ^_^; ANN’s Rafael Antonio Pineda has the scoop.

Comiket 98, which had been moved to May to avoid conflicting with the now-postponed Olympics, has been cancelled. We don’t know what the end of the year will bring us, yet, but I kind of hope that they cancel Winter Comiket, as well. I know we all want to get back to normality, but it’s going to be a good 6 months to a year before that is possible, even if we do mitigate this outbreak.

If you are following comic and manga twitter, you may be aware that companies are canceling work right now for a lot of creators. We have to expect slow-downs in production and delivery as the disease affects companies at various levels. If you have not yet switched to digital, now is not a bad time. There’s a lot of good licensed stuff already out, you’ll have access to Global Bookwalker and Comixology.  Kodansha and Vertical are doing a big sale with 270 titles for 99 cents each on their new digital platform IZNEO.  And Lilyka offers reasonably priced downloadable licensed original Yuri doujinshi.

Consider following your favorite artists on Twitter (I have a Yuri Resource List to make that easier!) SO many of them are doing big sales and free giveaways right now. Throw your faves money when you can for creator-owned works and back those projects on Kickstarter and Patreon if you’re in a position to do so. Creative folks are going to have the hardest time recovering, as supply and delivery lines are disrupted. They aren’t big companies and are left out of stimulus packages as they work freelance. We’re in this together. Let’s support what we say we support. Share this list of grants and resources if you know any creative who needs help.

Just as a reminder, do your best to stay inside, stay 6 feet or more from other people when you are outside. If you are working a job where you must go to work, thank you. We’re all appreciative of your efforts. If you can stay home, please do. And please wash your hands thoroughly, with soap. I don’t want to lose any of 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!

These are liminal times; we’re not able to relax, nor are we able to live in high stress without respite.  If you haven’t already been following me on Twitter or Facebook, please do. I share arts and entertainment news that will, hopefully, help you through this time. Free streams and trials abound, operas and orchestras and museums are putting themselves online. (My Twitter feed is vastly more political, just as a heads up. For nothing but comics/LGBTQ news, pick Facebook.)

I know these days are hard for us all, many of us are suffering from forced unemployment, or working under stressful situations. Hopefully our 2-D lives can be a comfort to us. If you’re in need of pleasant company and distracting conversation, please join us on the Okazu Discord. We sometimes even remember to talk Yuri! ^_^

One last note, as of last night, I have completed the last bit of writing for the Big Book o’Yuri. ^_^ Now comes looking for a publisher and editing it into coherence. This part has taken me a good 5 years and the pandemic isn’t helping, but we’re still moving forward.

To begin with this week in the news, we have a bunch of stuff up on the Yuricon Store!

Yuri Light Novel

This June will see the English-language release of Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 2, which follows Sayaka through middle school into high school, during which we watch her navigate her first relationship and eventually fall for Nanami Touko.

For those of you working on your Japanese, don’t miss Edo period sword and vampire story Kunoichi Bettegumi Igarashi Satsuki, Volume 2 (くノ一別手組ー五十嵐五月) available on US Kindle, in Japanese.

Yuri Manga

Also in June. we’ll be getting two Yuri anthologies,  Éclair Bleue: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart, from Yen Press and Syrup: A Yuri Anthology, Volume 1 from Seven Seas.

Sailor Moon Eternal Edition, Volume 5 begins the Death Busters Arc and introduces Sailors Neptune and Uranus.

Sekai no Owari to Majyou no Koi, Volume 2 (世界の終わりと魔女の恋) continues Kujira’s end-of-the-world Yuri fantasy.

Hakamada Mera has a new book with a new publisher, Aikata System ~ Gakuen ga Eranda Unmei no Onna no ko~, Volume 1 ( 相方システム~学園が選んだ運命の女の子) from Lilie Comics.

Not yet on the Store, but worth noting, Bloom Into You creator Nakatani Nio released a short story collection, entitled Nakatani Nio Short Story Collection Sayonara Alter (仲谷鳰短編集 さよならオルタ), last month in Japan

Tokyopop has announced a new imprint: LOVE x LOVE. The new imprint is designed to bring all their romance under one overall identity, rather than separating the Yuri or BL from the straight romance. It’s an interesting idea and one that is relatively progressive. It’ll be interesting if the manga reading audience is ready for it or still stuck in the scarcity mentality of the 20th century. ^_^ Jennifer Sherman has details on ANN.

Galette Magazine is offering a sample chapter of Morinaga Milk’s Kawaii Neko-chan, (私の可愛い子猫ちゃん) in Japanese on their website.

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Yuri Visual Novels

Studio Élan’s Bellhouse imprint has announced that Without a Voice by L3 is available for free right now on Steam or Itch.io. Enjoy this unique dark fantasy Yuri for free!

LGBTQ Anime

Via Comic Natalie, Shimura Takako’s Dounika Naru Hibi, about different kinds of adult relationships, including several queer couples, announces cast and key visuals.

Other News

The Sailor Moon on Ice show is moving forward with a key visual of Evgenia Medvedeva as Sailor Moon.

IGN reports that Comixology Unlimited is extending their trial period to 60 days. You can get 2 months of unlimited comic and manga reading during that time.

Activists have developed a library in Minecraft, where censored or removed reporting is being archived in an attempt to bypass restrictive censorship laws. This is just so brilliant and so cyberpunk. Here we are in the future and it’s all the dystopias at once, but there’s still creativity and resistance.

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Yuri Events

As you might have guessed, all the spring and many of the summer events have been – or ought to be – canceled. My appearances are officially postponed until further notice. My apologies if you had made plans to see me at Anime Boston or elsewhere. Hopefully we’ll make it happen next year.

The Yuriten Yuri Fair has been postponed also until further notice. I’ll hope this means I’m more likely to be able to make it there once again.

A series of YuruYuri collaboration with Princess Cafes in Japan have been announced. They seem to be still happening at this time, but check the website for details.

To salve our unhappiness, Takashima Hiromi-sensei has posted this adorable picture of Yamada and Kase-san celebrating White Day on Twitter.

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Yuri Visual Novels

Noodletub Games wants you to know about it’s Kickstarter for LOVE BAKUDAN, an 18+ Yuri Visual Novel where you run an erotic bookstore. Cleverly, you’ll be able to read some of the actual books within the game. The Kickstarter has already hit it’s goal, and the first stretch, but could use help reaching the later stretch goals with about a week to go. I love reporting on successful, still-running Kickstarters. You know you’ll get what you’re backing and you can feel extra good about pushing it forward!

YuriMother has some very cool news about A Summer’s End – Hong Kong 1986 being released on PC, Mac and Linux. This Yuri Visual novel is rooted in LGBTQ history of Hong Kong in the 1980s, which I think makes it especially interesting. Check out the link above for YuriMother’s post with screencaps and details.

Yuri Anime

Mamoru Oshi’s Vlad Love trailer is a 4-minute long music video with theme by BlooDye. Don’t worry, I’m already working on the limerick. ^_^ Crystalyn Hodgkins has the full details and visuals over at ANN.

Queer Film

One more Kickstarter today because this looks so amazing I can’t not tell you about it:  AND THEN, a “short film about two women who meet and grow closer to each other through insomnia, exploring a new city, and art.” This short blew threw its initial goal on the first day and 4 of its stretch goals already! I’m kinda hoping we can push this baby through the final stretch goal to give the crew a chance to film scenes that had to be cut for budget’s sake. 

Queer Novels

My gods, there are so many novels with sexual and gender minorities right now, I’m inundated! Tor.com contributes more to the piles with Joel Cunningham’s look  at Six Recent SFF Novels That Give No Effs About Genre Distinctions and Lee Mandelo’s Ten Years of Queering SFF: Five Series From the Last Decade That Can’t Be Missed.

I’ll have a review of one of my recent good reads for you tomorrow. ^_^

Other News

YuriMother has this terrific interview with Shilin Huang, creator of Amongst Us and Carciphona on her site.

We’re going to be inside for a while and, although I imagine most of us have our anime streaming and manga ebook accounts all ready to go, one of the things I’m always hoping is to encourage you to listen and read and enjoy art widely. To that end, here are three ways to enjoy fine art and music during the current plague year:

The Metropolitan Opera is streaming a free Opera every night during its closure. The opening choices are the Opera Pops, with Carmen, Il Tavatori, La Boheme, La Traviata and other instantly recognizable shows.

The Berlin Philharmonic is opening its  Digital Concert Hall for free to anyone who wants to enjoy it. That’s more than 600 concerts for you to enjoy from this world-class orchestra.

And last for this week, Travel and Leisure lists 12 Museums from around the world that you can tour for free online.

These are trying times, but what an opportunity to catch up on all this reading and watching and VNs and concerts and more. ^_^

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Yuri Anime

The first trailer for Yuri science fiction/horror series Otherside Picnic is up on Youtube! I’ve been really enjoying the light novels by Miyazawa Iori, which are being translated by J-Novel Club. Here are my reviews of Volume 1 and Volume 2. I’m looking forward to the anime and third LN, which will be getting an April release. Check out the trailer now and let us know what you think!

Yuri Manga

Yen Press has announced an omnibus edition of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, the original manga by Magica Quartet, which will hit shelves later this summer.

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Yuri Events

The Mechademia conference in Kyoto has been postponed until 2021. I’m still up in the air about going to Anime Boston. It seems like it would be smarter for everyone to stay home for a while, because even one person walking around a large crowded event can infect thousands. I’m holding off canceling everything outright, but I expect that there will be no events for me this year as I am at high risk for respiratory illness.

So, instead of stressing, I’m running a special COVID-19-NO-TRAVEL Patreon campaign! Become an Okazu Patron, between now and April 7th, and you will get a sneak peek at my next article, “Girl Gangs and the Yuri Underground.” ^_^

Yuri Doujinshi

DMP’s doujinshi imprint has a new title – and a new creator to me – kkzt’s The Blank of Describer, as well as an interview with kkzt, on the Lilyka website.

Via Yurimother, we have the news that Shilin’s alt-universe story to her Carciphona series, Amongst Us, is being Kickstarted for a print volume! I am a HUGE fan of Shilin’s work, (I’ve reviewed her artbook here) and unrepentantly adore Blackbird and Veloce in this modern-world version of their life together. Check out the Kickstarter and join us~~~

Yuri Visual Novels

Studio Élan’s Bellhouse imprint has announced a second title, Without a Voice by L³. This “dark fantasy,” is about “Cassidy, a princess exiled to live alone in a forest, stumbles upon another woman living in the woods.” This VN will be available free on Steam on March 20. You can also check out the trailer on the Steam link.

Other News

Via YNN Correspondent David M. we have a really interesting article, The Art of the In-between in Japan’s Taishō Era, about gender fluidity in Taisho period art from a 2017 exhibit at the Yayoi-Yumeji Museum, which is one of my favorite museums in the world.

Lee Mandelo on Tor.com has us Looking Back on Ten Years of Queering SFF, From 2010 to 2020. I know I have mentioned how Tor is killing it right now, but let me reiterate, Tor is genuinely giving me a ton of reading material. I’ve been keeping my library hopping getting new Tor releases. Why the library? Because when I’m done reading it, then loads of other folks can read it, too! Remember, every time you check a queer SFF book out of your library, a butch lesbian angel gets her wings and wallet chains. ^_^

Wash your hands folks!

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!