Yuri Events

Please join me in Atlantic City on June 8th at AnimeNEXT for a 100 Years of Yuri presentation! There will be prizes for good questions!

The deadline for signing up for the 100 Years of Yuri Tour in Japan is July 9th. We need 4 more people to join our tour to make it a reality. I hope you’ll be part of this historical event! The tour itself is scheduled for September so we can finish off with the Girls Love Festival Yuri doujinshi event. ^_^

Yuri Manga

We have a release date for the sixth volume of the Kase-san series in Japan, Yamada to Kase-san (山田と加瀬さん。) This book will be hitting Japanese bookshelves in late July. We don’t yet have a date for the English edition, but I’d expect an early 2020 release.

Okujou PikaPika Romance Complete Edition (屋上ぴかぴかロマンス 完全版) a re-issued collection of Ohsawa Yayoi’s early shorts for Comic Yuri Hime, was released this month.

In celebration of the opening of Pride Month, Anime Feminist is giving us a three-pack of Yuri articles, the first of which is the honorable Vrai Kaiser’s The Beginner’s Guide to Yuri Manga. I hope you’ll pop in and give thanks and praise (and your own 2 cents, because obviously, you will, ^_^) in the comments. Please remember to be respectful, you are representing Yuri fandom and everyone’s opinions are correct for them.  One of the upcoming articles is by me, but I have no idea what the third is, so I’m looking forward to reading it along with you!

LGBTQ Comics

In my discussion with Emily Carrol, creator of When I Arrived at the Castle, I commented that we’re not yet seeing a renaissance of queer horror. I wasn’t faking my prescience with that – I’ve been feeling it coming for a while. Black Horror has been on the rise, which is awesome, so I honestly expected Queer Horror to be next. And here it is! Northwest Press’s collection Theater of Terror: Revenge of the Queers is a Kickstarter I’ve backed. I cannot wait.

The Nib offer’s this important LGBTQ history lesson with Dorian Alexander and Kazimir Lee’s comic, The Homophobic Hysteria of the Lavender Scare.

Yuri Literature

Science Fiction publisher Hayakawa (whose Yuri issue of SF Magazine I reviewed last winter) found that it was a pretty popular issue – it sold out quickly and had to be reprinted. Now they’ve  decided to do a Scifi Yuri Anthology, Asterism ni Hanataba wo (アステリズムに花束を), which will be released late this month.  The worlds of queer scifi and queer horror are ready for their closeup now.

This is not a drill. We are getting a 3rd volume of Yagate Kimi ni Naru: Saeki Sayaka ni Tsuite!  No link yet, but check out the ad in the back of Volume 2. This will take us and Sayaka into her life after graduation from high school. I am all a-flutter with anticipation.

LGBTQ Media

Yuritribe Lesbian Media Project is looking for folks who want to be a concrete part of their work. If you’re fluent in Japanese and want to or have worked in media creation, take a look at their recruitment form.

Get a dose of happy feels by watching And Then She Kissed Me!, a short animated film by Alexia Khodanian.

Got family or friends looking for queer family friendly reading? The Toronto Public Library offer Reading With Pride, a curated collection for “LGBTQ2S Families.”

Other News

Viz Media’s Urian Brown walks us through a private video tour of the British Museum’s Manga exhibit.

This week, I took the first concrete steps to developing an online course on Steven Universe! I plan on running it in the late autumn. It’ll be 4 weeks, 2 classes a week, with assigned pre-reading, a lecture, class discussion and a Google Docs workspace for writing assignments.  Keep your eyes open for the announcement. ^_^

Do you have questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast, 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!

Yuri Manga

From the twitter feed of Suzuki Paisen, a “sexy” harem Yuri manga has begun serialization in Shonen Jump Plus. You can read a sample of Tonari no Heya kara Aegigoe ga surun desukedo… (隣の部屋から喘ぎ声がするんですけど…) in Japanese on the Shonen Jump Plus website.

Via ANN, Towa Oshima, creator of High School Girls, will launch a new manga about frenemies, Daishinyyu, (大親友) in Young King Bull magazine. Given the many years of Yuri or nearly-Yuri  from this creator, we can expect hijinks, breast jokes and gags aplenty. ^_^

Still Sick by Akashi has been licensed by Tokyopop, according to the TheOASG’s Twitter feed. I reviewed this office Yuri romance this spring and I’m actually quite positive about this coming out in English.

We’ve got a couple of new things up on the Yuricon Store (which is now functioning better than ever, thanks to our web weaver):

Yagate Kimi ni Naru Saeki Sayaka ni Tsuite, Volume 2 (やがて君になる 佐伯沙弥香について), the second light novel following young lesbian Saeki Sayaka, which I am reading right now. ^_^

Ohsawa Yayoi’s first serialized story, Strange Babies (ストレンジベイビーズ 完全版), is getting a Complete Edition. And, now that 2DK, GPen, Mezamashitokei is over, we’ve got news of her upcoming series, “Hello, Melancholic!” (ハロー、メランコリック！) which will have  60-page debut in a future issue of Comic Yuri Hime. This new story will follow a Yin/Yang sempai-kouhai pair. Mismatched personalities do seem to be all the rage right now. And since the ad says its going to debut on the magazine that’s on sale in June, I’ll presume it’s the August issue.)

Kodama Naoko’s Uminekosou days, Volume 1 (海猫荘 days)  is now available.

Ichijinsha’s Surechigai Kyodai Kanjou Yuri Anthology (すれ違い巨大感情百合アンソロジー) is another example of mismatched pairings, with deep emotions.

Live Action

Last year we saw the Revolutionary Girl Utena live-action stage musical and it was actually pretty good! Now via about every YNN correspondent and media outlet, we have the scoop on the Black Rose arc musical. Ikuhara is going to be supervising again and most of the main cast is returning. ANN has the details and the first visual from Shōjo Kakumei Utena ~Fukaku Hokorobu Kuro Bara no.

Sailor Moon News

Viz has announced additional voice roles for the upcoming release of Sailor Moon Stars according to ANN.

The newest Sailor Moon 4D experience at Universal Japan includes the Outer Senshi. Check out the promo video on ANN.  (The Sailor Moon franchise is doing well outside the usual 2nd and 3rd dimensions, isn’t it? ^_^)

Other News

Via Yuri Navi, Yagate Kimi ni Naru/ Bloom Into You is getting a set of LINE stamps if you’re on that platform.

I was working on my day job when I encountered this amazing manga, The Story of Basic Immunology. This comic appears on the Japanese pharmaceutical company Kyowa Hakko Kirin’s website in Japanese and English. My coworkers found the manga (and the overlap of my worlds) very amusing. ^_^

Do you have questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast, 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!

Yuri Events

Today at the School of Visual Arts in New York City we are celebrating queer comics of all kinds at the Queers & Comics event. Join scholars Yukari Fujimoto, James Welker, Kazumi Nagaike, artist Rica Takashima and myself for Queer Manga: History and Cultural Context at 5:15! This is going to be a brilliant conversation.

You can catch 100 Years of Yuri at AnimeNEXT at Atlantic City Convention Center, Saturday, June 8, 12:30 in Panel Room 310.

Yuri Publishing

Via their Twitter account, Yuritribe (ユリトライブ) is a “label created by YURI Media Entertainment with LGBT+women and ally artists. Get out of the preconceptions and prejudices in Japan and send out a new Yuri.” English site to come soon, they say. This is super exciting news.  We’ll watch this closely to see what develops!

Yuri Podcasts

I spoke with the lovely ladies of the TomoChoco Podcast about 100 Years of Yuri and had soooo much fun! I hope you enjoy listening!

You can listen to the Creator Spotlight with Emily Carroll, creator of When I Arrived at the Castle that I moderated at TCAF on thecomicbooks.com. Thanks Jamie Coville for recording this!

We didn’t get all four nights done, but this TCAF, we did manage to make two nights of Ladies in a Hotel Room, now subtitled “I need to work on my deck”. Thanks to Heidi MacDonald and her brilliant recording equipment for TCAF 2019: Three Women in a Hotel Room: Episode One and TCAF 2019: Four Women in a Hotel Room: Episode Two in which we were too busy and need to to finish our decks!

 
Yuri Light Novels

Via YNN Correspondent Sean G, Kati on Twitter says, “‘Yuri made me human’ J-Novel Club recently announced Side-by-side Dreamers (Soine Dreamer) by Iori Miyazawa, so here’s an interview that was held prior to the original release of this SF yuri novel and garnered lots of attention among yuri fans in Japan.”

Yuri Game

From Mangagamer we have the newest Yuri game, with a twist. This all-ages Yuri tale about a girl who finds herself in another world. From the press release: “…what truly makes The Expression:Amrilato so unique and wonderful is the language barrier Rin faces. Though the girl who takes Rin in, Ruka, speaks a small spattering of Rin’s language, the language of this other world is entirely foreign and unknown to Rin. Lost in a world where she’s unable to communicate with others, Rin and the reader both must struggle together to learn the language of the world she finds herself in, which is represented with the actual language, Esperanto.”This game uses language learning quizzes and puzzles to move the player forward. Check out the OP trailer!

 
Yuri Anime

From Dengeki Bunko’s Twitter feed via YNN Correspondent Super,  Hitoma Iruma’s Adachi to Shimamura light novel series is getting an anime series.  In 2013 when I reviewed the first volume, I was not impressed, so I hope the series has gotten better.

From ANN, Viz announces the dub cast of Sailor Moon Stars. I’m happy for Starlights fans, but happiest for Haruka and Maichiru fans, because they have a pretty damn gay series.

YNN Correspondent Super also points out the Best Yuri Anime of the Heisei Era article on ANN. Obviously your mileage may vary when it come to the choices.

Other News

Niki Smith’s new YA queer fantasy book, The Deep & Dark Blue, about a trans girl and her brother, is about identity and and adventure in a fantasy world.

For our London friends, do not miss It’s a Girls’ World: Talk on Shojo Manga with Artist HAGIO Moto and Editor FURUKAWA Asako on May 20 at The Hall, Japan House, 18:30-19:30. Admission is free, registration required.

For Sailor Moon fans, this year’s Met Gala included Lily Rose Depp in the vintage Chanel that Takeuchi Naoko imagined Setsuna wearing. Check out Michelle’s Twitter thread on Takeuchi’s love of and use of fashion for the Senshi.

 
Do you have questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast, 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!

Tons of news this week as we get ready for TCAF festivities! (So, no YNN report next week.)

Yuri Events

Galette Yuri Matsuri – May 6 in Tokyo at Culture Culture in Shibuya. The folks from Yuri manga magazine Galette are running a Yuri event of their very own! Artists Momono Moto, Hakamada Mera, Hamano Ringo, Morinaga Milk and Morita Miyuki will be there.

Yuriten 2019 wraps up its time in Nagoya this weekend with a lot of signings! It will move to Fukuoka from May 18-26 for its final week.

Toronto Comic Arts Festival – May 11,12 at the Toronto Reference Library with events in the surrounding area. Check out a 100 Years of Yuri exhibit at the Toronto Reference Library, listen to me talk about 100 Years of Yuri and speak with Kase-san creator Hiromi Takashima and lesbian horror comic artist Emily Caroll! The schedule is jam-packed with great stuff and its free!

Comitia is returning to Tokyo Big Sight on May 12! There’s always tons of good stuff to be had. Galette No. 10 will be available among other Yuri circles.

Queers & Comics – May 17, 18 at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Over 140 LGBTQ cartoonists, scholars, publishers, and librarians will participate on panel discussions. Prism Comics will be running a shop full of amazing queer comics. Don’t miss this biannual event. We’ll be talking about the History of Queer Manga on Saturday evening!

Phew, May is a heck of a month for us. Help us to get to these events and pay our writers! If you enjoy our work here – Okazu needs your support. $5/month will make a huge difference for us.

Yuri Manga

Yen Press announced the license for the remainder of the ÉCLAIR: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates In Your Heart series – BLEUE, BLANCHE, and ROUGE by ASCII Media Works. Following anthology Éclair: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart, the series features artists like Reine Hibiki, Miman, Canno, Nakatani Nio.  BLEUE comes to stores everywhere November 2019, BLANCHE in January 2020, and ROUGE in April 2020.

Via YNN Correspondent zestuboshi, Rakuen le Paradis magazine has a chunky sample of Takemiya Jin’s Fujyourina Atashi-tachi( 不条理なあたし達) on their web comics page – click the white bunny on the left, then click April 5th. On April 20th, you can also read Shigasawa Kaya’s Stay Gold, which is a Yuri short, as well. Site and manga are in Japanese.

Chapter 1 of Seta Seta’s funny/weird series Yuri Wall is available in English on Amazon Kindle.

And we’ve got yet another “sweet” Yuri anthology,  Syrup Shakaijin Yuri Anthology (シロップ 社会人百合アンソロジー) featuring stories by Morinaga Milk, Kodama Naoko, Yoshimurakana and more, on the Yuricon Store. The important thing to nore here is that this anthology is from Futabasha, which means we’ve got yet another publisher throwing their hat in the already full Yuri anthology ring.

YNN Correspondent Catherine C. wants you to know that the English language version of Renta, “an online digital manga site targeting primarily women,” recently started publishing Yuri. One of their titles is Want to Sell Me Your Body? which I’ve reviewed here on Okazu (in Japanese).

Yuri Anime

YNN Correspondent Super writes in to say that “in the fourth episode of Carole and Tuesday, it was shown that the former wife of one of the side characters is in a happy lesbian relationship and is going to marry with her partner soon.” Thanks Super, something to check out!

Yuri Podcasts

Check out the Manga Mavericks Podcast on May 5th where I answer some seriously good, thoughtful questions about Yuri! 

Date TBD, but later this month I’ll be going over some important Yuri history with the Tomochoco Yuri Podcast.

Okazu News

We have hit our 4000th post here on Okazu. Wow.  I take a look at an anthology of Yuri brides (that actually includes lesbians and everything!) for that milestone.

LGBTQ Manga

Wahh! OUR DREAMS AT DUSK: Shimanami Tasogare is hitting shelves this week! Do not miss this terrific LGBTQ manga, in English from Seven Seas.

Other News

From Carmen Philips at Autostraddle,  “Saving Face” Director Alice Wu Is Bringing a Lesbian Teen Rom-Com to Netflix! Also Wahh! Everything about this news sparks joy. ^_^

Japan Times’ Kris Kosaka takes a look at Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon: Two pioneering women in Japanese literature.

DaVinci magazine takes a look at Shimura Takako’s series about a performing arts school which is not-Takarazuka-at-all, Awajima Hyakkei. I am, somewhat to my own surprise, still reading this series. ^_^

Do you have questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast, 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!

Yuri Manga

The English-language  Yuri Anthology Lilies v7: Lily Bulb is live & V8 is open for submissions! Get your copy of Volume 7 as a download on Gumroad or buy a print copy on Lulu.. To submit your work to Lilies, Volume 8, which will have the theme “Dreams” check out the Anthology team’s Twitter or Tumblr for more guidelines.

Volume 9 of Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl is getting a May release in English. Only one volume left in the series!

ANN has the news that Yagate Kimi ni Naru will be ending with Volume 8 in November 2019. In the meantime, Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Volume 7 was released this week in Japan! While we’re on the topic, Comic Natalie reminds us that the Yagate Kimi ni Naru live-action play is running May 3-12 in Tokyo and offers us some visuals of the main characters.

Wahhh! The Yuritora Jump ~ Ultra Jump Yuri Digital Anthology~ (ユリトラジャンプ～ウルトラジャンプ百合アンソロジー～ vol.2)  from Shueisha is back with a volume 2!  This is digital only, so if you’re in Japan, it’s available on Amazon JP Kindle and for the rest of us, from Bookwalker Global.

Ichijinsha’s Chocolat 2 Shakaijin Yuri Anthology ( ショコラ2 社会人百合アンソロジー) and Rezu Fuuzoku Anthology (レズ風俗アンソロジー) are up on the Yuricon Store!

Rakuen le Paradis magazine is publishing yet another Yuri story, this time on their web version, Shigisawa Kaya’s Stay Gold. Click the link to read a sample in Japanese.

ANN Reports that DMP is launching a new Yuri doujinshi imprint Lilyka. The online store will go live on May 1st. One of their two initial titles is a Momono Moto book reviewed here as Ame to Kimi no Mukou (雨と君の向こう), The Rain and the Other Side of You. The second, Lily Fairy Tale -Little Mermaid met Hansel and Gretel– by mintaro, I saw at Comitia, but declined to pick up. Another publisher in the Yuri space is always a good thing, but I have reservations about DMP. Their business model is a mess and they start a lot of projects, but rarely follow through with consistency. I hope this works for all of us!

Yuri Light Novel

Via YNN Correspondent Sean Gaffney, ANN reports that J-Novel Club has licensed two Yuri light novels. Side-by-Side Dreamers by Iori Miyazawa, translated by Sean MCann (follow the link to a free sample in English) and Seriously Seeking Sister! Ultimate Vampire Princess Just Wants Little Sister – Plenty of Service Will Be Provided which was published online on Shousetsu ni Narou, where you can read it in Japanese. Written by HiironoAme, it is listed as “coming soon” at J-Novel Club.
 

Other News

Pride.com offer up a list of 7 LGBT Comic Anthologies Every Queer Nerd Should Have on Their Shelves. We have reviewed 5 here on Okazu. . ^_^

The Loyola Phoenix reports that First-year Latin Student Wins Foreign Language Graphic Novel Contest. How fun!

Kayla Cobb  looks at She-Ra, Season 2 and finds it funnier and queerer than ever on The Decider. (I’m watching it now.)

Do you have questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to adreordress them on the Okazu YNN Podcast, 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!