We’ve got a big pile of news to start off the year!

Yuri Anime

Via YuriNavi, the promotional video for Adachi to Shimamura is up on Youtube, astronaut and all.

Crunchyroll has Yuri anime Asteroid in Love. It looks to be a cute little club + childhood promise Yuri story.

Funimation has stared streaming If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die for subscribers.

A number of YNN correspondents wrote in to note ANN’s Crystalyn Hodgkins has the details on Mamoru Oshii’s new vampire girl-meets-girl comedy anime, Vladlove.

The Yuri Network News report is made possible by Okazu Patrons. Your support funds reviews, interviews, news and helps pay writers. As little as $5/month can make a huge difference!

Yuri Manga

We have a couple of new items on the Yuricon Store!

Kanojo no Idea, Volume 1 (彼女のイデア) about a high school student and a classmate who is an actress.

The second volume of Chayama to Mizuno (水野と茶山) by After Hours creator Nishio Yuhta, completes the set of this Romeo and Juliet style story.

Via Melon on Twitter,  Tanizaki Junichiro’s Manji, a “forbidden love” story, between two women, one of them married, has been turned into a manga by Motomachi Natsuo. Check out the digital edition on Global Bookwalker.

Yuri Events

2020 is already shaping up to be a lot of fun. My first speaking event of the year is with the Japanese Translators of NYC at Baruch College on January 21 at 6:45:  “Beyond Politeness: Challenges in Translation”  is free, but you must reserve a spot by January 17th.

February will see the first of two Girls Love Fest events in Japan. Once again in the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Center Asakusa, GLFes 29 will be held on Sunday, February 2, 2020.

I’ll be participating in Mechademia 2020, “Ecologies,” May 30-June 2 in Kyoto, Japan. I’m kind of freaking out. ^_^

Bloom Into You News

Via Nakatani Nio’s Twitter account, the Bloom Into You Artbook, Yagate Kimi ni Naru Astrolabe (やがて君になる画集 アストロラーベ ) is slated for a February release in Japan.

Via Senior YNN Correspondent Sean G, Dengeki Bunko lists the third Bloom Into You Regading Saeki Sayaka light novel is slated for a late March release in Japan. The first book is available in English, and the second book will be out for June 2020, and(!) Volume 3 has a scheduled September release for the English edition.

How can that be? Well, Japanese companies are less interested in pre-orders than American companies. Their industry is very much “just-in-time” inventory oriented, a process helped along by excellent countrywide logistics. Even now that online buying is more common, quite often, pre-order links don’t appear on Japanese online retail sites until days before a book will be released in stores. Because American manga releases run a a comic-release model, pre-orders are critical to ordering and stock, so pre-order links appear as soon as the items they are “solicited” for entry, months ahead of time.  ^_^ This is why US companies beg you to pre-order books from bookstores. Those are the only numbers that count.

Check out this fantastic Bloom Into You, Touko and Nanami Figurine. It says it’s 1/8 scale but I went on a tear about that scale on Twitter and determined that it’s actually more properly 1/9 scale. ^_^

Other News

The Fragtime OVA production committee is putting together a book of production materials in order to raise money for the staff members who worked on the anime, but have not been paid for their work in the aftermath of Studio Tear’s bankruptcy filing. Kim Morrissy has the story over on ANN.

Yuni, creator of Nikurashii Hodo, Aishiteru, (which has been licensed by Yen Press as I Love You So Much, I Hate You,) shares this collection of adult women in love, with us on Pixiv.

LGBTQ News

Via Autostraddle we can all get excited for a new season of Gentleman Jack and via Pink News, we have a brilliant article about the women working to decode the 20 volumes of Anne Lister’s diaries.

From their twitter feed, we have a lovely little comic from mieri hiranashi that she translated into English for her audience, The Moment I Realized I Wasn’t Straight.

Rica Takashima let us know that her artwork will be on display at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum Dec 2-March 17 as part of the LGBT and Social Diversity Exhibit.

Niki Smith’s new queer kidlit book The Deep & Dark Blue is available in print, paperback and digital!

Ross Johnson over at Barnes & Noble takes a look at 11 Works of Trans-Positive Science Fiction & Fantasy.
 

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!

Yuri Manga

A bunch of new items on the Yuricon Store, just in time for your final holiday gift lists!

February will bring us Kase-san and Yamada, the 6th volume of the Kase-san manga from Seven Seas.

Also headed our way in February is Our Wonderful Days, Volume 2!

The Rose of Versailles, Volume 1 is hitting shelves at the end of January.

If I Could Reach You, Volume 3 is headed for a mid-January release.

The Yuri Network News report is made possible by Okazu Patrons. Your support funds reviews, interviews, news and helps pay writers. As little as $5/month can make a huge difference!

Yuri Anime

Not sure how Yuri this might turn out to be be but ANN reports that Crunchyroll, Funimation and HIDIVE will all be streaming Magia Record: Puella Magi Magica Madoka Side Story in the new year. Check out Alex Mateo’s report for details and for the promotional videos.

It is with utmost delight that I can tell you that Go Nagai’s The Devil Lady is streaming on Amazon Prime. It’s dub only, but still so very worth watching. In fact, I’m watching it as I type this report. ^_^

Yuri Visual Novel

Studio Élan has announced a new Yuri Visual Novel, Lock and Key. From the website:

“What does it mean to be a magical girl?”

This is the question at the heart of Lock and Key, a magical mystery set in a world shaped by your interpretation of the magical girl genre. 

Sherri and Kealey Cohen, now a married couple in their late 20s, left the title of magical girls behind them over a decade ago. Now on the verge of losing their powers and entering a life of true normalcy, a string of unexplainable murders forces them to come out of retirement for one last adventure. Together with Nina, their old friend, and Ruby, a new protege, Sherri and Kealey will have to face a mystery connected both to their past and future. In the world of Lock and Key, the player shapes their path…and more importantly, determines where that path will end.

This sounds really fun if you like actual games in your VNs.

Yuri Light Novel

The digital release of Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 1 is out. You definitely don’t want to miss this if you like Sayaka best (which you obviously should. ^_^)

Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With a Mythical Sorceress! Volume 2 is out now and every bit as worth reading as Volume 1. The print version of Volume 1 is heading our way in June 2020 (which is going to be a hell of a month for Yuri fans.)

Other News

Rafael Antonio Pineda over at ANN has a report on the Cutie Honey Stage Play cast and visuals.

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! Write me with any questions you have, and I’ll do my best to answer them on the YNN Podcast!

Yuri Manga

We have some new items on the Yuricon Store! (One of my stretch goals for Okazu in the future is to hire someone to help me keep up on this. There is *so* much Yuri coming out now, I can barely manage it. ^_^)

Tsurezure Biyori, Volume 3 (徒然日和), the final volume of this pleasant series of 4 girls living their lives.

Mizuno to Chayama, Volume 1 ( 水野と茶山)  by Nishio Yuhta, creator of After Hours, which is a small-town Yuri Romeo and Juliet of a sort.

In Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 3,  (付き合ってあげてもいいかな), Miwa and Saeko continue to work on building a relationship with opposing personalities.

Just yesterday Seven Seas announced the license of Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru as The Gym Teacher and the School Nurse Are Dating! which is slated for a September 2020 release.

In honor of the second volume of Mikanuji’s Fuzoroi no Renri manga ( here’s my review of Volume 1) being released, Fuchigami Mai and Aiba Aina have recorded a voiced promotional video. Check out Comic Natalie to see it. It’s quite nice.

Creator of Sasamekikoto/Whispered Words, Ikeda Takashi will be starting a new Yuri manga on Comic Boost online in January. Yuri Navi has the report on Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ).

Mai Okafuji announced the launch of her new Yuri series on Shodensha’s online Manga Jam, Forget Me Not (フォーゲット・ミー・ノット).

Comic Walker has launched SQ Kimi no Namae kara Hajimaru (SQ 君の名前から始まる). What makes this very interesting is that it is a Japanese digital release of a Chinese Yuri comic that ran on Weibo from creator 壇九 (TANJIU). I think this is very interesting.
 

The Yuri Network News report is made possible by Okazu Patrons. Your support funds reviews, interviews, news and helps pay writers. As little as $5/month can make a huge difference!

Yuri Doujinshi

Lilyka has the official English release of Yuunagi Marbled, a doujinshi put out by Momono Moto, which I reviewed in 2017. This was one of the very first Galette Works publications, which gives me hope that we’ll see more in the future. Lilyka is Digital Manga Publishing’s Yuri doujinshi imprint. When you purchase with them, you are given multiple formats to choose from for your download of the file.

Yuri Anime

Via Senior YNN Correspondent Eric P, Sentai Filmworks has picked up the Maria Watches Over Us Complete Collection  on Blu-ray which includes all 4 seasons of the anime and all the shorts. The set is up for pre-order! If you missed getting this series from RightStuf, this is a great chance to have it all in one streamlined set.

Yuri Game

Via translator Meru on Twitter, SukeraSomero, the English-language arm of SukeraSparo announced a new Yuri Game – OshiRabu: Waifus Over Husbandos. As you might expect, I will not be playing this, so if you do and would like to do a review for Okazu, please feel free to contact us!

Other News

@animaltextures on Twitter posted a really interesting thread about Rune Naitō, one of the pioneers of “kawaii” art and animal mascots in Japan who was also an artist for the gay magazine Barazoku.

Mary Borsellino took on the topic of happy endingd in queer lit and why they are so important for Writers Victoria. In Defence of Happy Endings is 60% introspection and 40% extrapolation and worth a gander.

On Anime Feminist, Kris Avila writes about something I have attempted to address here multiple times. Predictably, the comments about my comment make the wrong point. The author prefaces this very excellent article with a supposition that is – only the face of it – incorrect. They then ignore that supposition. When I pointed it out, people tell me that that is not relevant, which is absolutely true, only, I’m not the one who said it. Avila did. Sheesh.  ^_^ Anyway, aside from that one phrase,“Queering” Heteronormativity: Biological essentialism in genderbending manga is a very good read.

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! Write me with any questions you have, and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Special thanks to all of our Okazu Patrons on Patreon, who make this report possible!

Yuri Manga

It’s here! Volume 1 of The Rose of Versailles is getting a super-limited release in selected US Kinokuniya stores on December 17, and more general release on January 28, 2020. Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3 are already available for pre-order. Want to see what it looks like? I posted a short video on Twitter. ^_^ It’s a real beauty. I’m so very proud of what we accomplished with this definitive release of a long-awaited book.

The Yuri Network News report is made possible by Okazu Patrons. Your support funds reviews, interviews, news and helps pay writers. As little as $5/month can make a huge difference!

Yuri Doujinshi

Lilyka, DMP’s licensed translated Yuri doujinshi store, has a free special offer! They are offering a free 2-story download, SHWD 1st Anniversary. The download comes in multiple formats, and are short side stories to this action tale of beefy women who hunt down anti-human weapons called Dynamis.  I admit, I quite like SHWD.

ANN’s Jennifer Sherman reports on Iridori launching non-erotic doujinshi line, one of which is Yuri. Sherman writes, “Witness the silly shenanigans of Sachiko as she finds all manner of ways to milk as much money out of her girlfriend, Miho, as possible!” in “Of Girls, Love and Money.”

The collaboration known as Yuricon has just released a new issue. Yuricon Tabemono to Joshiben (ユリコン 食べ物と女子編) with four of my fave Yuri artists out there: Kitao Taki, Seta Seta, Takemiya Jin and Riru. I must own this, but won’t be back to Japan until next summer. Yuri and food is the future I want.

Yuri Events

I’m pleased to announce that my panel was accepted to the next Mechademia conference in Kyoto, May 29-June 1, 2020! I’m pretty stoked (and nervous as heck) about this. I’ll be joined by James Welker and Verena Maser, as we talk about Yuri crossing borders. That will be the perfect endcap to any 100 Years of Yuri festivities and a whole new challenge for me, as I have never before presented at an academic conference.

Yuri Visual Novel

Studio Élan is teasing a new story with this “news report.” So far I’ve really felt that their work is worth taking a look at. I wish I like VNs more than I do, because theirs are really well done. Keep your eyes peeled for a new Yuri VN from them in days to come.

Yuri Light Novels

A hashtag has appeared on JP Twitter – Make Yuri Light Novels Popular #ラノベの百合流行れ which I find really fantastic, because it really shows what we’re struggling with in regards to Yuri content. Many of the LNs suggested are, frankly, terrible, often with the most tenuous connection to Yuri. ^_^; But at least I learned about  Hito no Jidai ha Owatta Keredo, Soredemo Onaka ha Herimaasuka? (ヒトの時代は終わったけれど、それでもお腹は減りますか?) in which they eat tank meat and poisonous mushrooms. Is it Yuri? I doubt it, but I might read it anyway. ^_^ I’m reading an LN right now that is so utterly dreadful I doubt I’ll be able to fully describe how limited it supposes the imaginations of it readers are.  In any case the hashtag has a lot of leads if LNs are your boom. Thanks to Frog-kun for the heads up on this!

Other News

For a limited time only, 25% off the ‘100 Years of Yuri’ t-shirt design on the Yuricon Store. Classic tee comes in 16 color choices! Other styles available, too. Use the code: OUTFITS25

Via YNN Correspondent, Alice D, Thai Yuri artist Ratana Satis has opened an online store where all her books and goods are now available for purchase! I’ve reviewed several of her works here and think she is exceptionally talented.

Kim Morrison over at ANN had a very good review of Fragtime, which basically said the same thing I said – the anime ignores any of the potential interesting psychological drama for obsession with underwear.

Grab your DVR controls, because Steven Universe Future is premiering tonight at 8PM Eastern US time on Cartoon Network! (I still owe you a review of the Movie, too.) Check out this promo video on Youtube.

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! Write me with any questions you have, and I’ll do my best to answer them on my YNN podcast, when I revive it this winter!

Yuri Manga

While most retailers are browbeating you into buying things for other people, I’m here gently reminding that you should also consider getting some things for yourself! Especially as your friends and family might not understand what you want. ^_^; To that end, tomorrow I’ll be doing a few pre-holiday season Okazu Lucky Boxes. Most will be Premium Boxes which means media and books, and Yuri goods and doujinshi and candy from Japan, as well as the usual assortment of utter crap from a variety of sources. (People give me things. I buy things. I find things. You know…the usual.)

We’ve also put a bunch of new and very exciting items on the Yuricon Store!

Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Volume 8 is out in Japan and has now surpassed a million copies in print! Via Comic Natalie, creator Nakatani Nio has drawn a picture to celebrate this milestone. Also on the Yuricon Store is the pre-order for the English edition of Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 1, the first of the light novel series following the Student Council Vice President in her early years. I’ve reviewed this book in Japanese and liked it best for perfectly capturing Sayaka’s voice.

Also super exciting, we’ve listed The Conditions of Paradise, an English-language edition of Rakuen no Jouken, by Morishima Akiko. I’m excited to see one of my favorite older one-shot manga brought over.

Less super exciting, but still pretty pleasant, is Ikemen-sugi desu Shiki-sempai!, Volume 2  (イケメンすぎです紫葵先パイ! ) a first love story I find to be quite nice.

And for those who loved the first volume, we have lesbian sex worker anthology sequel Rezu Fuuzoku Anthology Repeater / レズ風俗アンソロジー リピー.

LGBTQ News

Via YNN Correspondent Yeo, ShipperinJapan on Twitter has receipts that anime Hoshiai no Sora (Stars Align) has a discussion about trans rights, trans lives, names and pronouns with empathy. This great conversation is captured in two parts on their twitter feed. I commented that in 1994, seeing Haruka and Michiru as a couple on TV was so meaningful…and in 2019, Maki’s conversation with Yuu is just as powerful. Progress, my friends, looks like this. It’s small, incremental and lays the groundwork for the next step. Do not let anyone tell you that these issues don’t exist in Japan.

The fine folks at the Comics Beat have put together Gift Guide: 50 queer comics for everyone on your list, which I have bookmarked and will be buying myself presents from for months to come. A number of these have been read and reviewed here, many others have not, so definitely take a look.

Yuri Anime

The fourth Promotional Video for Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu is available and weirdly…it looks better than the manga?! I live in hope.

ANN’s Alex Mateo reports that Funimation has added Puella Magi Madoka Magica to their streaming catalog.

AnimEigo is releasing the new Gunsmith Cats OVA Explosive Edition for general distribution after their successful kickstarter.

Victoria Davis interviews Anime Voice Actor Morgan Berry on Her Lead Role in Lesbian Love Story Kase-san and Morning Glories for The Mary Sue. Berry says she identifies as genderfluid, which I found interesting. I haven’t gotten the Sentai edition, but if someone has watched the dub and would like to review it, please feel free to contact me!

Yuri Game

SukeraSparo’s Yuri Game Kundan Folklore (クダンノフォークロア) is being released as a smartphone game for JP phones on iOS and Android.

Other News

I’m not running to read this, but if anyone picks up Yurizuki no Danshikoukousei no Hanashi (百合好きの男子高校生の話) a comedic Twitter comic about about high school boys who love Yuri, feel free to pitch a review. At least let us know what you think.

Sara Century on Syfy takes a look at the early days of female characters in the Thor comics in When Women Came To Asgard.

Here’s a fun thing to end with Comic Walker has climbed on the Yuribu train! Check out their digital selection at Yuri KuRaBu, i.e.,Yuri Club. (百合倶楽部).

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! Write me with any questions you have, and I’ll do my best to answer them on my YNN podcast, when I revive it this winter!