Yuri Manga

Top News this week – Yen Press has announced that they’ve licensed Canno’s school-life Yuri series, Anoko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo as A Kiss and White Lily For Her. ANN has the report.

With this and the MURCIELAGO license announcement, it’s pretty obvious that Yen is serious about getting some interesting Yuri manga in their catalog. Thanks, Yen Press folks! ^_^

From Comic Natalie, we have news that the third volume of 2DK, G Pen, Mezamashitokei by Ohsawa Yayoi will be getting special bromides with illustrations, depending on where you get your copy. Gamers, Toranoana and COMIC ZIN are participating.

Also from ANN, we see that Kodansha is planning a deluxe English edition of the Ghost in the Shell manga. Uncut, which means that one page of gratuitous lesbian sex, if that’s important to you. ^_^;

Crunchyroll News tells us that the 10th volume of the Non Non Biyori manga is being packaged with an original animation, for those of you who like that series (Greg, this one’s for you!)

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Kickstarter Watch

The Kickstarter of the Week that we really, really, really need help with is Year 4 of Sparkler Monthly! 3 days left to go and we’re so close we can taste it! Please, if you have an extra few bucks, send it their way and give this wonderful magazine another year of life! More Yuri, more BL, more voice dramas!

Yuri Anime

Also from ANN we learn that Media Blasters will be releasing Yamibou on Blu-Ray (which won’t actually help with the visuals, but will look as nice as possible, one assumes.)

ANN also reports on the agreement between Viz Media and TubiTV that will bring all 5 seasons of the original Sailor Moon anime streaming to Canada.

Crunchyroll News tells us that the second season of Smile! Precure has been licensed to Netflix – still renamed as Glitter Force.

Other News

Scott Green on Crunchyroll News has gathered some video clips from the Takarazuka shows in New York City last week. Enjoy!

One more from Crunchyroll – Kaiohsha is bringing Japanese classic literature to life as Drama CDs with well-known voice actors. What a fantastic idea, huh?

In the American comics world, Roxanne Gay is the first black, gay woman to write a comic for Marvel. Gay and Ta-Nehisi Coates are teaming up to work on a comic about two women in love in Black Panther’s kingdom of Wakanda.

We’ll finish up with some sweet news from Comic-Con, where Steven Universe creator, Rebecca Sugar came out as bisexual and spoke of the personal importance of media representation for sexual and gender minorities.

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

Yuri Manga

Top story this week comes from Comic Natalie who announces that, with the January 2017 issue (on sale in November,) Comic Yuri Hime is moving to a monthly format. This is a first for a Yuri manga magazine. Congrats to the folks at Ichijinsha and gambatte to all the manga artists.

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Huge news from Denise Schroeder, creator of  Yuri Manga Before You Go for Sparkler Monthly. She has announced that, if the Year 4 Sparkler Monthly Kickstarter reaches full funding she’ll be creating a third story in her Yuri series, which will take this to a full graphic novel size.

I’ve repeatedly sung the praises of Sparkler Monthly and this news gives me  chance to do two things I like doing – promote good manga and promote a worthy, diverse Kickstarter. The folks working on Sparkler totally get their audience’s interest in Josei, BL and Yuri manga, Light Novels, and Voice Dramas and provide a wide variety of styles and story. If you’d like to see more and better of all of this, please consider throwing some money at them!

Itou Hachi’s newest legally married fox-earad girls story, Gohou Fuufuhon, ( 合法百合夫婦本) is available, as is the Special Edition of the 5th Volume of Saburouta’s Citrus.

Anime News

Amano Kozue’s Amanchu! has launched on Crunchyroll. If you’ve watched it and have any thoughts, let us know in the comments!

ANN has the scoop on the art for the Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 Box Set cover art. It’s nice. ^_^

Other News

Japanese telecom DoCoMo has a new TV ad that features, among others, a lesbian couple. Awww…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38827HPvfzc

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

LGBTQ Comics

From YNN Correspondent Shannon L, Heathen, by Natasha Alterici, is a Norse tale of a young Viking woman who sets off to defeat a god with the help – and love – of a Valkyrie. Bitch Media gave it rave reviews. Click the link on the title to get a preview of the work. I’m adding it to the to-read pile.

Also from Shannon, and I quote, “Lesbian bountyhunter in SPAAAAACE.” Satellite Falling looks quite good. I guess my summer reading is going to have to be a pile of western works again. ^_^

Panels has a discussion of Magically Queer Webcomics that’s worth taking a look at.

LGBTQ Events

San Diego Comic Con is coming up and they have a small set of LGBTQ panels that look interesting:

Thursday, July 21
5:00pm – Queer History in Comics (Description: LGBT)
6:00pm -LGBTQ Geek Year in Review
6:30pm – SuperheroIRL: How Pop Culture Media Brings Justice and Healing (Description: LGBT)

Friday, July 22
10:00am – Queer Representation in All-Ages and Youth Media (Description: LGBT)
7:00pm – The Gay Agenda in Horror: Terrifying Subtext (Description: LGBT)

Saturday, July 23
4:00pm – We Are All Heroes: The Changing Landscape of Comics, Geekdom, and Fanboy Culture (Description: LGBT)
6:00pm Gays (and more) in Comics (and more): Year 29: Queerly Inspired (Description: LGBT)

And over on the east coast, Flamecon in Brooklyn is moving to a larger venue. They’ve got a new no-weapon-looking-things-at-all policy for cosplay in support of post-Orlando trauma  and on Sunday, August 21, they are giving free access to teens in partnership with the Ali Forney Center. I’ll be presenting during Flamecon and will be massively jet lagged, so watching me flounder ought to be funny. ^_^

From August 3 to7th in Tokyo, a play called Fragment Edge will include a story that touches on girls in love. Comic Natalie has the report.

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Yuri Anime

Again from Shannon L. A new Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha spin-off anime, Vivid Strike! has been announced. Komatsu-san on Crunchyroll News has the details.

Crunchyroll has added the Sound! Euphonium OVA to their lineup, Scott Green reports.

Other News

Kinokuniya has announced a new promotion called Bibliobattle in which you have a limited amount of time to present the content of a book, and fieled questions about this book. Winner is chosen by majority vote and I have to say that this eerily similar to the “Read Fight” described in  the Light Novel R.O.D., Volume 10.

Takarazuka is coming to New York City in just a few weeks and seats are still available. See Takarazuka performs Chicago…it’ll be a hoot.

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

Top news this week are some interesting license announcements from Anime Expo 2016 last night.

Yuri Manga

Yen leads the pack with the announcement that they have licensed “Violence Yuri” manga Murcielago, by Yoshimura Kana. I’ve reviewed Volumes 1-7 and if you’re not sure if this title is for you, definitely read my reviews. It’s an ultraviolent, vile and horrible manga, and I would never recommend it to anyone else, but I like it. ^_^

Yen had a bunch of news this week, including an agreement with BookWalker Global which will carry their English manga. If you are still resistant to paying for online manga, either because you don’t have a phone or tablet, or you don’t like subscription models, let me assure you that Bookwalker Global is the perfect solution. Their reader works great on a laptop or desktop screen, and they have a very large bookstore to choose from in both English and Japanese – with a pretty well-developed Yuri catalog in Japanese. In my opinion, it’s the online bookstore we’ve waited for and I really like using it, especially for light novels. I recommend it highly.

Viz has also blown us away with their news – a deluxe box set of the Revolutionary Girl Utena manga slated for 2017! If you are not familiar with the manga, be warned that the TV manga is significantly straighter than the anime. But artist Saito Chiho brings her signature elegance to the whole thing and it’s worth reading both TV and movie manga for 2 more wholly unique takes on the story. Like the TV anime and movie, the same characters are reworked differently to create a whole new story. (Additionally, the movie manga changed my life completely, so there’s that. ^_^)

Undoubtedly, there will be more news out of AnimeExpo, so keep tuned!

If you (like me) didn’t think to preorder the most recent issue of Nakayoshi magazine, you (like me) found out that it has completely sold out everywhere! Komatsu-san tells you why over at Crunchyroll News! (Hint: Cardcaptor Sakura is still super popular.)

All over my Japanese language feed last night was news of Nagata Kabi’s Pixiv manga now going to print, Sabishi-sugi Rezu Fuzoku ni Ikimashita Report (さびしすぎてレズ風俗に行きましたレポ) about the mating behaviors of native Japanese lesbians. ^_^;

And great news from our friend Niki Smith, who has a new graphic novel length work coming soon. Crossplay is about a group of friends figuring out sexuality and gender identity through cosplay and fandom.  She says “There will be more than a few women living happily ever after together.” Can’t wait to see it!

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Other News

Steven Universe will be returning on July 18th with new episodes! I am actually dying to see how the Peridot arc concludes, but I’ve enjoyed the sideline into Ruby and Sapphire’s relationship. ^_^

Completely off-topic for Okazu, but wow, two women have been signed by a minor league pro baseball team! Kelsey Whitmore and Stacy Piagno will be playing for the Sonoma Stompers this summer.

You remember the lesbian classic movie, But I’m A Cheerleader!, don’t you? If not, run out and rent it right now, I’ll wait. ^_^  I know that when I watched Natasha Lyonne and Clea DuVall in that movie I was kinda hoping that DuVall was actually gay. She’s so interesting. Well, apparently she is and she is reuniting with Lyonne and another Cheerleader co-star Melanie Lynskey for her directorial debut, Intervention.  DuVall and Lyonne will be paired once again as a lesbian lovers.  I’m definitely going to watch this.

Taneka Stotts is spearheading a very exciting Kickstarter for Afro-Futurism comics that I wanted to let you know all about. I’ve backed Elements: FIRE because it sounds simply amazing. It blew threw 1/3 of it’s goal on day one of crowdfunding – which is not yet over – so signs point to this being a successful project. (And again proves how delusional it is when publishers insist there is no audience for comics/literature/anything at all by and for people of color.)  I hope you’ll go take a look and consider backing this and other diverse indie comic projects! It really makes a difference.

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!