Yuri Manga

Yuri Life by Kurkuruhime has hit shelves in English. Read this cute slice-of-life story about adult women who share their lives. (You can read my review of the JP volume from last summer.)

If there is a single question I’m getting most frequently now, it’s people asking for Yuri manga with transgender characters. In English, we have a relatively limited selection for this: Wandering Son which is incomplete; Riyoko Ikeda’s classic Claudine, The Bride was a Boy comic essay. Tokyopop has picked up Caly’s French-language Yuri romance, put it out in English as Breath of Flowers. Volume 1 is on the Yuricon Store! Thanks to Amaryllis for details in the comments.

Tokyopop also has released Yuri Bear Storm, Volume 3. Now we have all of Kureha and Ginko’s story. The manga is less visually striking than the anime, but the story holds together better. (You can read all previous reviews here.)

Ah toka Uh shika Ienai Manga, Volume 2 (あーとかうーしか言えない ) just hit shelves in Japan. Volume 1 got high marks in my review.

If teacher x student is your particular fantasy, you might be interested in Ichijinsha’s Kyoushi to Seito no Yuri Anthology  (教師×生徒の百合アンソロジーコミック).

Akili, creator of popular webcomic Stretch has a new comic, Vampeerz, (ヴァンピアーズ) about…as you might guess…school girl vampires. The link will take you to Chapter 1 online (in Japanese) for free. Thanks to principeinquisidor for clarification in the comments!

Via ANN’s Rafael Antonia Pineda, we have the news that the first volume of saburouta’s CITRUS+ will get simultaneous online release in Japan, North America, South Korea, Germany, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Spain, and Argentina in November. Seven Seas page for the series has further info. Now, if only we can get them thinking globally by language instead.

Yuri Anime

Yuruyuri 10th Anniversary anime will be shipping in November, according to Alex Mateo at ANN.

This is old-school and only ever Yuri-ish, but Steel Angel Kurumi, by the team known as Kaishaku (the same folks who created Kannazuki no Miko,)  is getting new merchandise for the first time in…probably forever. This series came out in the days before merchandise was a thing. ^_^

Yuri Events

From Twitter, there will be a Bloom Into You pop-up shop at the Shibuya Marui until October 31. There will be official original goods.

Also from Twitter, Serena says that the Yuri/GL Philippines group will once again have a booth at Cosplay Mania 2019 in Manila.

I missed this because I was away, but Ehime prefecture ran a pilgrimage based on the A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow series – the manga will be released in English in November from Viz.

Yuri Visual Novel

Via YuriNavi, Innocent Grey’s FLOWERS Shiki (FLOWERS 四季) will be available on Nintendo Switch.

Sailor Moon News

ANN’s Alex Mateo reports on the new Sailor Moon Musical, starring members of idol group Nogizaka46, which will be traveling to Shanghai in November.

Sailor Moon – Shining Moon Tokyo – restaurant is open in Azabu-Juban (the section of town where Usagi lives) in Tokyo until October 31!

Other News

In case you missed this – Archive of Our Own (AO3), one of the Internet’s largest fanfiction sites, run by women, won a Hugo Award last week. If you have a story on A03, you are now a Hugo Award winner. ^_^ (I do, in fact, have one story there. I recently wrote a Swan Lake fanfic because no one else has ever done the pas de deux between Odile and Odette that we deserve. ^_^) Anyway, Casy Fiesler takes a look on Slate as to Why Archive of Our Own’s Surprise Hugo Nomination Is Such a Big Deal.

Kim Morrisy on ANN has a report that Boruto’s creator Kodachi Ukyo supported LGBTQ representation in media on Twitter this month.

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

You will find me this weekend in Montreal, talking about queer manga, and Yuri and traveling to Japan at Yurithon! Do join us for fun and laughs and candy and prizes!

The remainder of my schedule is:

Saturday: 15:00-16:30 in 513D: Must Read/Must Watch Yuri: 2019 Edition
Saturday: 18:00-19:30 in 513D: History of Queer Manga with James Welker
Sunday: 10:00-10:45 in 513B: A Yuri Otaku in Japan

Next month, I will be doing too much in a short time with the 100 Years of Yuri Tour!

Yuri Anime

Sentai Filmworks has released a trailer for the dub of Kase-san and Morning Glories dub.

Yuri Manga

We’ve added absolute piles of Yuri Manga to the Yuricon Store! In English:

Cocoon, Entwined, Volume 1 is already available.

tMnR’s If I Could Reach You, Volume 2, will be available in November.

Yuri is My Job, Volume 5 hits shelves in December 2019.

In Japanese:

Still Sick, Volume 2 continues the story of the otaku and the former mangaka.

Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteru, Volume 2 (羽山先生と寺野先生は付き合っている) is available now.

The adorably sweet, Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau, Volume 1 (ささやくように恋を唄う) is out now, as well.

Also quite sweet, Pixiv tale Jyoryusakka to Yuki (女流作家とユキ) continues in Volume 2!

In Strawberry Fields wo Mou Ichido, Volume 3 (ストロベリー・フィールズをもう一度) Akira finally comes to terms with her feelings about Pure.

Sailor Moon

Not really Yuri, the trailer for the first movie of the 4th Season of Sailor Moon Crystal, Sailor Moon Eternal  is up on Youtube.

The Sailor Moon show and cafe, Shining Moon Tokyo is on and it looks like I’ll be able to make a show! I’ll report back. ^_^

For 2020, Tokyo is creating a miniture cityscape called Small Worlds, which includes a teeny little Crown Fruit Parlor and Tuxedo Mask watching over Azabu-Juban. ^_^

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

We’ll be at Yurithon from August 16-18 in Montreal, QC. With panels and games and advice about Yuri, and prizes for good questions! Hope to see you there!

Yuri Anime

Following up a news item from last week, baseball anime Tamayomi is being worked on by the staff of baseball anime Major, and certainly, Yuri Navi thinks of it as a “Yuri” anime. It’s still not the sports story I want, but it’s a step forward. ^_^

Kase-san and Morning Glories is now available for pre-order directly from Sentail Filmworks for a sensible $19.99 for the Blu-Ray.

LGBTQ Live-Acton

Via YNN Correspondent Batwoman Tomoyo, The Paley Center in NYC is doing a free showing of the new Batwoman television series on September 7, in NYC.

Yuri Performance

Via Comic Natalie, Doctor Pepperco’s Sayonara Rose Garden, English woman x Japanese maid manga (of which I have reviewed Volume 1) will performed as a live reading at February 8th and 9th 2020 in Tokyo TACCS1179.

Other News

Not Yuri, but I can almost guarantee there will be lesbians, as old-school crime and violence manga (like Lady Snowblood) almost always did, take a look at Major Spoilers’ review of Ryuko, Volume 1.

Via Timeboxer, the Guardian’s Amal El-Mohtar asks Why are there so many new books about time-travelling lesbians? The answer is quite good.

Always worth a read is any article about lesbian pulp. Erin Blakemore takes a look at how Pulp Fiction Helped Define American Lesbianism on JSTOR.

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!

We have a lot of catching up to do this week, what with me taking off in the middle of con season and all…

Yuri Light Novels

We have the full line-up of Yuri Light Novels that have been licensed by J-Novel Club now. Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With a Mythical Sorceress!, Otherside Picnic, Side-by-Side Dreamers, Last and First Idol, Seriously Seeking Sister.

Yuri Anime

Diskotek has picked up Senki Zesshou Symphogear, which I kind of remember was spoken of as Yuri-ish.

Sentai Filmworks just received a huge investment from the Cool Japan fund and, as a result of all that (unrelated) money, I think we should demand a much more deluxe version of Kase-san and Morning Glories Anime OVA, which is currently slated for a stripped-down disk only release. My complaint about this is that the JP disk already has English subtitles. All they have to do is…nothing. So give up some of the physical extras, for pity’s sake.

Fragtime Yuri anime OVA key visuals, cast and promotional video are now available and it’s still not sounding any fun at all. Check out the report on ANN for details.

Via YNN Correspondent Eric P., Maria Watches Over Us, Season 1 is now streaming on HIDIVE. It’s just S1 for now, but catch it while you can!

YNN Correspondent Super wants us to know about the 22/7 Idol Project anime.  Super writes, “I don’t know how yuri-ish will be the anime itself, however, the original group is local known in the anime community because a significant part of their lyrics openly tells about lesbian/Class S/yuri experience. As far as I know, their stuff also openly performs with LGBTQ support, so maybe something interesting will come out of it.”

Yuri Manga

Riding the wave of excitement about Sentai’s announcement of the Kase-san anime OVA,  Seven Seas has announced that they have licensed Kase-san and Yamada, the fifth volume of the series, which follows Kase and Yamada into college. I’m reading the just-released JP edition now. The English edition is slated for a winter 2020 release!

Science Fiction Yuri continues to be all the rage as Girl’s Last Tour picked up an award at the 50th Seiun Scifi Awards this year along with SSSS Gridman. ANN has the report.

On the Yuricon Store we’ve added the awkwardly named White Lilies in Love Watashi ga Yoishireru no ha, Natsu no Hizashi to Anata Dake. Shakaijin Yuri Anthology (White Lilies in Love 私が酔いしれるのは、夏の陽射しと貴方だけ。 社会人百合アンソロジー).

And I’m more interested in this than I actually would have expected,  Isekai Tensei Yuri Anthology (異世界転生百合アンソロジー ). “Reincarnated in another world” has now entered the common manga vernacular.

LGBTQ Game

Via YNN Correspondent Sooz, “Reina the Holy Knight must team up with her ex girlfriend, Evleen the Dark Knight. Together with Jakob and Armin, a rogue-mage couple, they must travel to the strange Rapt Frontier to discover why the barrier between worlds is weakening.” Check out the brilliantly-named Date Knights by unity on itchi.io.

Yuri Events

Please join me at Yurithon at Otakuthon, August 16-18, 2019 in Montreal, QC for three days of queer manga and anime!

Other News

Utena fansite Empty Movement will stream the Revolutionary Girl Utena Black Rose musical with English subtitles on Twitch on August 8th, 9th and 11th. The DVD and BD for the musical are available on Amazon JP.

Via YNN Correspondent Sean G. on Twitter, Fly, whose artbook Marguerite, I reviewed last month, is doing the art for light novel Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki-kun.

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!

Queer Cartoons

Couple of important trailers dropped at San Diego Comic Con this week!

First up the Steven Universe Movie will be premiering on Cartoon Network on September 2, 2019. Catch the trailer on the Cartoon Network Twitter feed.

And the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Season Three trailer can be seen on io9.

From Comic Natalie, we have the promotional video for upcoming Yuri comedy Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu (推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ).

25Years Later has done a retrospective on Sailor Moon: A Shōjo Super Power that was a very interesting read.

Yuri Manga

Udon Entertainment will be releasing the first volume of their five-volume The Rose of Versailles manga in December 2019. I posted about my role in this classic manga’s publication yesterday, if you’re interested in some excellent advice from my mother and a discussion of the gritty world of excel spreadsheets in manga publishing, take a look. ^_^

We have a pile of new manga up on the Yuricon Store!

Takemiya Jin’s delightful romance about a young woman and the older woman she likes to bake for, Itoshi Koishi, Volume 2 (いとしこいし) which just hit shelves this week.

Yoru to Umi, Volume 1 (夜と海) by  Goumoto. I haven’t read this at all, but it appears on all the Japanese Yuri lists. It looks like it starts with a mystery and develops into a romance.

FLOWERCHILD’s uncomfortable series for Comic Yuri Hime, Warikitta Kankei Desukara. Volume 1 (割り切った関係ですから。)

Avalon ~bloom~ Yuri Anthology is the next in this series of Yuri from the lesser known publisher [girls x garden comics].

Mermaid Line Complete Edition (マーメイドライン 完全版) is a reprint of an older Yuri Hime comics collection that includes what I remember as a very lovely transgender lesbian story. I reviewed the original collection in 2008.

tMnR’s popular girl falls for her sister-in-law manga Tatoeto Dokonu Itoda Toshitemo (たとえとどかぬ糸だとしても ) is coming to us in English from Kodansha in September as If I Could Reach You, Volume 1.

Via Yuri Navi, here is an odd-couple adult life romance, Nukumori Blanket (ぬくもりブランケット). You can read this short (in Japanese) on Sukima.

Yuri Visual Novel

Via Yuri Mother, Visual Novel Heart of the Woods by Studio Élan announced today via Twitter that they would be updating their Yuri visual Novel with full English voice acting. “The voice acting will be included in a free update for the PC, Mac, and Linux versions of the game and will be included on release for the game’s Nintendo Switch port, set to release in Early 2020.”

Studio Élan announced on their Twitter feed that they are specifically looking for a transgender voice actress for the lead role of Tara – and other roles – for this voiced version.  Don’t self-censor, if you think you’d like to do this…do this!

Other News

According to the Comics Beat article on why Ruby Rose is unable to attend, by the time you read this the Batwoman TV pilot episode will have already been screened at San Diego Comic Con. Keep an eye out for it! (Fun reading my Twitter feed on it – 900 posts saying how awesome it is, one woman declaring her nerd cred and how she’ll “give it a chance” and one lone dude saying “everyone says it sucks.” Poor little angry dude.

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!