Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – April 13, 2024

April 13th, 2024

In blue silhouette, two women face each other. One wears a fedora and male-styled attire, one is in a dress and heels. Their body language is obscure - they may be dancing, or laughing or fighting. Art by Mari Kurisato for OkazuYuri Anime

Today sees the streaming simulcast premiere of Whisper Me A Love Song on HIDIVE.  Okazu Correspondent Roxie took a grand tour of Tokyo & Kyoto this week finding marketing campaigns, collabs and goods for us, which we posted yesterday. Today she tells us that there is also a new pop-up shop at Gamers. She notes that the manga was sold out when she got there – and the floor was packed with a nice variety of age groups. Comic Natalie has a still in which Himari and Yori blush at one another – from the anime.

Daryl Harding at Crunchyroll News has the details on Sound! Euphonium‘s creditless opening. I watched Ep. 1 and had to laugh when the first-years said they didn’t want to play clarinet. It is a very complicated instrument, so I get you, kids. ^_^

The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio has added new cast member, according to ANN’s Alex Mateo. That is streaming on Crunchyroll right now.

Jellyfish Can’t Swim In The Night has also added cast members, according to ANN’s Anita Tai. This will be streaming on HIDIVE.

Laid-Back Camp and Love Live! Sunshine!! anime are doing a Shizuoka tourism collaboration, and, gosh, I hope the campsites and tourist centers are ready for the influx of people…. Kara Dennison has the news over at Crunchyroll News.

With so many Yuri, Yuri-adjacent and cute girls doing cute things cutely anime this season, Anime News Network has a Spring 2024 Season Preview to help you decide what to watch.

Wrapping up the winter season, Steve Jones completely captures my feelings about Metallic Rouge: “A wholly realized version of Naomi and Rouge’s arc would have been wonderful, with this desperate act of soul-binding providing the tart yet tantalizing cherry on top (Gideon the Ninth fans know what I’m talking about). The half-baked version the anime gives us just feels like a tease.” Read his whole review on ANN.

 

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Yuri Events

Here is a preliminary list of events I will be participating in this year, bring Yuri and queer manga with me, everywhere I go. ^_^

Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures – April 15-17 online. (Sold out)

Rainbow Book Fair – April 20, in person at the LGBTQ Center in NYC, from 12-6Pm. Rica Takashima and I will be signing books together. Grab a signed copy of By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga!

Blyme Yaoi – August 17-18, online –  This will be pre-recorded so it can be subtitled in Portugese, but I’ll be there to take questions, as well. ^_^

Citrus Con – August 23-25 online – I’m going to be trying out a new presentation this year for the lovely folks at at this con.

Anime NYC – August 23-25 in person in NYC – I’ll be at an Artist Alley table, on panels and generally guesting around!^_^

 

Live Action News

Award-winning manga Ikoku Nikki, by Yamashita Tomoko, is getting a live-action film. Anita Tai has the details and the trailer on ANN.

GAP The Series spin-off, Blank The Series is up on Youtube. YNN Correspondent Frank H notes that this age-gap series, featuring Sam’s older sister from GAP, has been the center of some controversy over the…well, age gap.

 

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Yuri Manga

Via Comic Natalie, Danshi Koukōsei, Otome Game no Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Suru. (男子高校生、乙女ゲームの悪役令嬢に転生する。) is an Isekai about a young man who is reincarnated in a game world as the Villainess, but decides to pursue a “Yuri route” with the heroine. This manga will start in the May issue of Dragon Age magazine, from Kadokawa.

Via Yuri Navi, Watashi to Kanojo no Kawaii Koi no Hajime-kata (私と彼女のかわいい恋のはじめ方) is a Shakaijin Yuri about two adult women. You can read the first chapter in Japanese for free on web comic app Palcy.

 

Other News

Via YNN Correspondent Cryssoberyl, Mechasmile is putting out a figurine of Souma’s mecha from Kannazuki no Miko. The promo image for it is…well, it is a choice, let me tell you. I won’t spoil, just go look. ^_^

 

If you’d like to support Yuri journalism and research, Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips.  Our goal now, into 2024, is to raise our guest writers’ wages to above industry standard, which are too low!

Your support goes straight to paying for Guest Reviews, folks helping with videos, site maintenance, managing the Yuricon Store and directly supporting other Yuri creators. Just $5/month makes a huge impact! Become part of the Okazu family!

Become a part of the Yuri Network, by being a YNN Correspondent: Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share with us.

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Whisper Me A Love Song Anime Campaigns in Tokyo & Kyoto, Guest Post by Roxie

April 12th, 2024

Tomorrow, the anime for Whisper Me A Love Song / Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau (ささやくように恋を唄う) debuts on Japanese TV and streaming on HIDIVE. Our intrepid  Correspondent Roxie is in Japan right now and has found any number of adorable promotional campaigns and items for sale. She’s graciously traipsed all over to grab us pictures of the largest Yuri anime marketing campaign I have ever seen. Settle in for the utter cuteness of Takeshima Eku’s charming first love story. Take it away, Roxie!

***

We came to Japan for the cherry blossoms, and were rewarded with a big surprise campaign of Whisper Me A Love Song, or known as Sasakoi over here.

Our first surprise was reported by a friend who saw the trailer being advertised on the Yunika Vision screen in Shinjuku on the Alpen Tower. Sadly, we never caught it again after April 1st during our tight schedule…

The second surprise was at Animate HQ in Ikebukuro with an entire staircase wall level dedicated to Sasakoi. Lots of cute large panels for us to take in.

Large banner advertising Whisper Me A Love Song" Yuri anime at Ikebukuro Animate.

 


 


 

Participating Gratte Cafes, found at Animate stores across various cities, has included a Sasakoi drink and cookie campaign. You can pick any design for the drink, where they will print them onto the thick cream. They look rather stunning and sharp to our surprise.

 A purchase of either allows you to add ¥500 for a coaster of 7 options! Because of luck being a factor for getting these gacha coasters, it took us roughly 10 tries to collect them all! The green tea lattes were the sweetest, with coffee being the least, and the milk tea as in-between. I’m sadly sick of green tea lattes now.


 

 

If you don’t want to drink your sugar, feel free to pick one of the cute cookies instead. Since I can’t eat cute faces, I cannot give any commentary on how it tastes.

 


 

Melonbooks did have a poster for the latest volume at various stores.

 

 

All three chain shops offered add-on goods to the manga volumes. Animate edition offered a cute illustration card for their 9th volume. Melonbooks went all out and offered a unique clear file for each specific volume purchased. Gamers are also offering individualized illustration cards for each volume as well.

 

Not to be outdone by Ikebukuro, Akihabara gave us the chance encounter of seeing the book and anime advertised on multiple pillars in a prime spot in front of Atre at the Electric town exit.

 

Our journey still continues to Kyoto where there is a special collab event with Eiden Railways and limited merch goods. The girls are dressed in cute train station hats and outfit as can badges and acrylic stands. The station master apologized that they were all sold out! Being in Kyoto, there is also a yukata edition for the main pair as a tapestry and clear file folders. Eiden even has a small image of the girls in front of the train!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Animate Kyoto also collaborated the event with some yukata acrylics, canvas, and pass holders. There was only the latter two left, but we got to admire the shikishi board at least.

 

 

 

Compared to other recent yuri animes of the last year, this has been an amazing push the higher ups have put into this campaign. We hope you’re excited for this series’ anime adaptation!

Posted in Miscellaneous, Whisper Me A Love Song, Yuri Anime | 2 Comments »


Announcing Manga The Visual Guide

April 11th, 2024

I was going to write a review today of something no one but me cared about (/cough/Hana no Asuka-gumi/cough/) but much more interesting news popped up that I want to share.

Today, Dorling Kindersley (DK), announced that Manga The Visual Guide is available for pre-order! This was the massive project I worked on all summer 2023.

I join luminaries of Anime/Manga researcher Frederick L. Schodt, Jonathan Clements, Rachel Thorn, Zack Davisson to present a pictorial history of manga in the 20th and 21st centuries. I wrote the chapter on 2010s.

Did I mention Yuri, BL and queer manga? Yes, of course I did. ^_^ But the series to write about were given to me, so I did not get to choose (IOW, don’t come at me. ^_^) It was a herculean effort on my part, as I was severely ill when they first approached me about this. But it was done and I am pretty happy with what I gave them – and, of course, I learned a lot while writing it. I think the only series I wrote about that I had read or watched previously to beginning was Golden Kamuy.

I want to thank my local library system for providing me with all the manga I read in order to understand these series. I could not have done it without that. Show your library some love – they are supporting graphic media and helping the next generation get into manga.

Thanks to DK for stalking me down alleyways and cudgeling me into doing this. Thanks to Rachel and Zack for being my emotional support authors, you definitely kept me grounded. And thanks to Cefn for his patience with my slightly addled brain.

This beautiful book will also be a useful starting point for people who want to know more about anime and manga, but don’t know where to begin. And when you are done with it, go look up all the other contributors’ work. They are amazing.

So…that’s what I did last summer. It is slated for a November 2024 release. Hope you like it!

Posted in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »


Assorted Entanglements, Volume 3

April 10th, 2024

A woman in pink hair and headphones sits in front of a keyboard, in a gaming chair, while a woman with blue hair leans on the desk next to her.by Matt Marcus, Staff Writer

Previously in Assorted Entanglements Volume 2, sparks and virtual bullets flew as we met mangaka Heke-sensei and her editor Shinohara, who not-so-anonymously play an online First Person Shooter game together while harboring mutual crushes. Meanwhile, Shizuku and Shiori slowly float closer to each other, somehow.

For Assorted Entanglements Volume 3, Mikanuji-sensei must’ve thought “hmmm the last new couple was a little too wholesome. It’s time to spin the Wheel! Of! Problematic! ‘Ships!” A giant prize wheel rolls in and is vigorously spun. Plasticky ratcheting sounds burst out then slowly decelerate as the selection arrow slowly passes over OL x JK, then Sister x Sister (Adopted), and finally Sister x Sister (Not Adopted) before landing on: Teacher x Student. A sizzle reel plays for the winning couple. For some reason they are riding jet skis at a Sandals Resort.

That’s probably not how it happened (I’m sure there was an editor involved somewhere). However, it is less dire than you may be thinking. For now.

Our new pair of star-crossed acquaintances is the stoic gym teacher Kujou and one of her students, 3rd year Sugimoto. Every day after school, Kujou stands outside the door of a lesbian bar, too afraid to enter. Inevitably, she chickens out and instead frequents the maid café next door where Sugimoto works. Sugimoto, who is a bit of a misanthropic loner despite her good looks, decides seemingly on a whim that she is going to help Kujou on her quest to enter the bar and finally find herself a girlfriend.

It becomes clear pretty quickly that Sugimoto is on her way to catching feelings for Kujou; blessedly, her gym teacher doesn’t even register her as an option, despite noticing that her student is pushing the boundaries of a proper teacher/student relationship. (I hate that I find this refreshing.) Regardless, the comedic dynamic between these two works. Sugimoto’s acerbic tongue is a fun foil to Kujou’s sad puppy vibes. I’m just mildly concerned about where the story is going to take them.

Aside from these two, there are still three other “couples” to check in on. Not too much has changed between Minami and Iori, however the same can’t be said for their “jilted” hangers-on. In fact, Shizuku’s hard-assery has softened considerably towards Shiori, much to the latter’s chagrin. You can see the little dance they are doing, inching towards each other then repelling apart mostly because Shiori likes to throw Shizuku’s feelings back in her face to goad her into anger for a laugh. Despite that, progress is being made. For some reason, I’m rooting for them.

Meanwhile, Heke-sensei and Shinohara begin spending more and more time with each other, often pretending to be lovers for “material” to inspire Heke-sensei’s storyboarding. Each time Heke-sensei tries to close the gap, Shinohara’s bluntness and desire to hide her crush ends up unintentionally sending the wrong signals to her coworker/secret gaming buddy. They are the goofiest and most wholesome pairing in this series, so it’s always a nice reprieve when they show up.

I mentioned the art’s Same Face Syndrome in my review of Volume 2, but somehow the issue has now spread to entire characters. You can’t have your characters say a line like “you should be able to recognize your students” and then give multiple characters 99% the same face and haircut.

These are three different characters. Two of them are 12 years apart in age. No, I can’t tell them apart either.

Also, every now and then there’s some weird body proportions. There’s one panel in particular where Shinohara’s right arm appears to have grown 30% too big for her body.

The thing that continues to hold my interest is the humor (again, shoutout to Eleanor Ruth Summers for the excellent localization). Unfortunately, there are still moments of “yikes” that keep me from truly singing its praises. It’s like eating that PB&J sandwich you packed with you to the beach: no matter how careful you are, you will get a bite or two of sand that feels like it’ll crack your teeth. In one notable case, Minami is acting passive-aggressively and Iori has no idea why, and it turns out that she is grumpy because the night before, Iori, who was blackout drunk, did something out of pocket in bed. It’s supposed to be a reversal joke, but there’s enough “ick” to it that it is hard to handwave, let alone laugh at it. The series continues to be one that has enough rough spots to make it difficult to recommend.

But despite my complaints…I am still reading it. This is perhaps the funniest volume so far, and there’s plenty of joy to be had in cropping out panels as reaction images or meme fodder. You just have to be OK taking your Yuri with a grain of sand.

Art – 6 Seems like the art has regressed a touch, and the sameness of the character designs is not helping
Story – 7 A handful of questionable choices hurt it, but the humor stays sharp
Characters – 7 This really is a manga for people who like Women/Girls Who Suck
Service – 4 Iori and Minami’s sex life is still present, and it is a little uncomfy in a couple places
Yuri – 9 / LGBTQ – 9 You did hear me say lesbian bar, ya?

Overall – 7 I’d tell it to run a few extra laps

Volume 4 is currently available in English from Yen Press, with Volume 5 arriving in June. A twisted Yuri comedy with some punch.

Matt Marcus is a serial enthusiast whose range of appreciations include guitars, watches, and a particular genre of Japanese popular media named after a flower. Outside of writing for Okazu, he cohosts various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, where he frequently bloviates about video games, anime, and manga. He also hosts a blog Oh My God, They Were Bandmates analyzing How Do We Relationship in greater depth.

Posted in English Manga, Matt Marcus, Mikanuji, Staff Writer, Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – April 6, 2024

April 6th, 2024

In black block letters, YNN Yuri Network News. On the left, in black silhouette, a woman with a broad brim hat and dress stands, a woman in a tight outfit sits against the Y. Art by Mari Kurisato for OkazuYuri Manga

I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day Kimi ga Shinu made Koi wo Shitai) licensed by Kodansha, via Alex Mateo.

Creator Arai Sumiko has announced that her award-winning Yuri manga, The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All has been licensed for an English release. As of typing no date or publisher has been announced. Check out Arai-sensei’s Twitter for the full list of languages it is being or will be translated into.

If you like your Yuri manipulative and raunchy, then you’ll like My Girlfriend’s Not Here Today, Volume 1, by Kyoko Iwami. The official copy describes this book as “salacious” and so it is. Seven Seas calls this 17+, interestingly.

Via Yuri Navi, a new Shonen Jump Webcomic Tomodachi 100nin Dekirukana tells the story of an elementary girl from a small town who moves to the big city. Now free to make as many friends as she wants, she also finds herself sitting next to her friend from that same small town. Read chapter 1 for free in Japanese on Shonen Jump Plus!

Alex Mateo over at ANN has the news that the manga adaptation of The Executioner And Her Way Of Life will be ending.

DPM has some new digital Baihe doujinshi on their eManga platform, Immoral, Volume 1 and Volume 2, by Lin Yi is described this way: n order to save her sick older brother, Nian was sold to a wealthy family by her parents. For 9 years, Nian survived in the austere household until she suddenly met a mysterious white-haired girl who has the same surname as her. Is she a curse or a blessing?

 

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Anime News

Via YNN Correspondent Roxie, we have a few pictures from Anime HQ in Ikebukuro, where they are really pushing the upcoming Whisper Me A Love Song, which is premiering next week in Japan, and as a simulcast on HIDIVE.

Along the stairs there were images from the manga and a full backsplash ad for the anime.

  The cafe is doing a special event.

And on the first floor with the promotional items, there are themed cookies! I’ve always wanted to bring this kind of thing home when I visit, but with the amount of stuff I cram into my suitcase, they’d arrive as crumbs. ^_^ But how cute! Hopefully Roxie will give us an overview of everything she saw next week.

 

Train To The End of The World premiered on Crunchyroll this week and – this is my opinion – I think it’s some solid science fiction. Also deep emotional connection between girls, friendship, and Ikebukuro. I’m in for the ride.

Girls Band Cry 2nd Trailer is up and Alex Mateo has details on ANN.

 

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Yuri Light Novels

I know I keep banging on about these but I’m in Love with the Villainess: She’s so Cheeky for a Commoner, Volume 2 and The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, Volume 6 are both on the Yuricon Store, have been read and will get reviews as soon as I have a free moment!

Via Sr. YNN Correspondent Sean G, J-Novel announced From Two-Bit Baddie to Total Heartthrob: This Villainess Will Cross-Dress to Impress! Sean notes that the author’s page says that this story has “yuri elements.”

 

Queer Comics

zOMG, happy 10th Anniversary to The Lumberjanes! This awesome YA series is turning 10 years old and Boom! has announced a 10th Anniversary collection Kickstarter. Sign up to be notified when you are ready to go back to camp.

 

Yuri Visual Novel

Studio Élan has launched their kickstarter for Without A Voice: Blooming Edition, a physical release of their ” dark fantasy yuri” VN.

 

Other News

Natsuo Mutsumi-sensei drew  up a poignant little comic essay It’ll Happen Someday after the latest Japanese High Court decision declaring the lack of same-sex marriage unconstitutional. As we have seen, the LDP has no intention of lifting a finger to change that.

This Week In Anime takes a look at Anime Adaptations That Aren’t As Good As They Should Be and rightfully include Otherside Picnic and I’m In Love With The Villainess. Steve and Nick always come to these discussions from a place of love, which makes it really easy to agree with them, when we also wanted these to just be better anime. ^_^

 

If you’d like to support Yuri journalism and research, Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips.  Our goal now, into 2024, is to raise our guest writers’ wages to above industry standard, which are too low!

Your support goes straight to paying for Guest Reviews, folks helping with videos, site maintenance, managing the Yuricon Store and directly supporting other Yuri creators. Just $5/month makes a huge impact! Become part of the Okazu family!

Become a part of the Yuri Network, by being a YNN Correspondent: Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share with us.

Posted in Yuri Network News | No Comments »