Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – July 31, 2021

July 31st, 2021

Yuri Events

HUGE NEWS! Join us for a special Yuricon 20th Anniversary Discussion – Global Yuri Fandom, with James Welker and Verena Maser, hosted by Erica Friedman.

We are adapting our Mechademia panel, so if you missed us all presenting about our various research into Yuri fandom and how it’s changed, you’ll get your chance to hear us and ask us questions online, and free! ^_^

When: Aug 14, 2021 08:00 Eastern Time (US and Canada), 13:00 BST, 21:00 JST (Japan).

Registration is free, but there is limited space, so please register early. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. I hope to see you there!

 

Yuri Manga

Playing some catch up this week! First, we have a couple of new items up on the Yuricon Store:

Cocoon Entwined, Volume 3, out from Yen Press is now available in English and the story is becoming more compelling and creepy.

The Whole of Humanity Has Gone Yuri Except for Me is out now also from Yen Press. This is a sci-fi story in which a girl finds herself in a world where everyone is in a Yuri relationship. And yet, I bet there isn’t a single lesbian. /eyeroll./

Ami-chan no Nikki (あみちゃんの日記) is a new Galette publication. Yatosaki Haru’s school diary about the prettiest girl in school, is now a collected volume.

Asumi-chan ha Rezu Fuuzoku ni Kyoumi ga Arimasu! (彩純ちゃんはレズ風俗に興味があります!) is a Comic Yuri Hime manga about a woman who…you know what? It’s about sex. The plot is meaningless. It’s just about sex.

Meijou Shigatai Kanojo to, Ano Goro Okubyoudatta Watashi no Hanashi (名状しがたい彼女と、あの頃臆病だった私の話) is a horror series about a withdrawn girl who meets a woman who manipulates monsters.

UDON Entertainment has announced the project I just finished up, Rose of Versailles Episodes, the final 4 “new” volumes of Riyoko Ikeda’s epic. These volumes were drawn for the 40th anniversary of the series, and will be released here as a 2-volume set. They are *fantastic* and I know you will love them. ^_^

 

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Via Comic Natalie, Volume 3 of a series I hadn’t been following at all, Yuri de Naru ♥ Espoir (ゆりでなる♥えすぽわーる), a sory of a girl who draws little Yuri scenarios about women she sees, but who is herself fated to return home and marry, is on sale now and all the various stores in Japan where it can be found are selling it with special goods.

Ane no Shinyuu, Watashi no Koibito (姉の親友、私の恋人。) is, exactly as it sounds, about a love triangle between two sisters and the older sister’s friend, which debuts in Vol. 94 of Kadokawa’s Dengeki Daiouji magazine.

I haven’t had  a chance to read Volume 1 yet, but Volume 2 of the schoolgirl x mermaid Yuri, Watashi o Tabetai, Hitodenashi (私を喰べたい、ひとでなし) is on Japanese shelves.

And surely this deserve an award for squeezing in a few extra current trends, Kukkorose no Himekishi to Nari, Yuri Shoukan de Hataraku koto ni Narimashita (くっ殺せの姫騎士となり、百合娼館で働くことになりました。 ) which I am reading as “To become a female knight I am working in a Yuri brothel,” because omg, no one has lick of imagination, good heavens. <– This is me rolling my eyes so hard I strained them.

 

Yuri LNs

Via Yurimother, The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Vol. 2 has hit shelves. According to RightStuf, Volume 3 is looking at a November release date.

 

Yuri Anime

ANN’s Alex Mateo has the trailer and news about the upcoming Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Walpurgisnacht: Rising– .

And Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story 2nd Season -Eve of Awakening- OP has premiered and Rafael Antonio Pineda at ANN has details.

I’m also going to draw your attention to Caitlin Moore’s review of Stellvia, an anime that was pretty big in Yuri fandom in the 00s but has been lost to time.  I reviewed it as it came out here, and there was a lot to like and some significant stuff to hate. It has long painful character arcs and the grandest coming out in anime. It’s totally worth a rewatch – and you can get the complete series from Discotek!

 

Yuri Games

Alex Mateo has the detes on Blue Reflection: Second Light with trailer, on ANN.

Via Yuri Navi, Yuri Visual Novel FATAL TWELVE is now available on Switch.

Via press release, Symbiotic Love – Yuri Visual Novel from White Dew Games and Kikai Digital, is now on Steam!

 

Other News

Tor has announced the next book in the Locked Tomb Series, Nona the Ninth in 2022, followed by Alecto the Ninth in 2023.

The California College of the Arts is doing a video series called Comics in the City, featuring folks like Alison Bechdel, the team known as Akira Himekawa, and Emil Ferris.  The videos for this year’s series are online now and I highly recommend them to you.

Folks in Yokohama will be able to enjoy the first Aria art exhibition, Aria the Memoria in late August. Komatsu-san has the details on CR News!

 

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons who make the YNN weekly report possible! Support us on Patreon to help us give Guest Reviewers a raise and to help us support Yuri creators!

Become a YNN Correspondent:  Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share and be part of the Yuri Network. ^_^

Posted in Events, Yuri Network News, Yuricon | 2 Comments »


白と黒~Black & White~, Volume 1

July 30th, 2021

Content warning: The plot here is 100% manipulation, violence and sexual violence.

Shirakawa Junko is beloved in her office. The younger employees look up to her with deep admiration, bordering on crush. She’s competent and, of course, completely suited to onboard the new employee, Kuroda Kayo. Almost immediately, Kuroda and Shirakawa begin to undermine each other, each seeking to establish dominance in the office, and in sex.

白と黒~Black & White~, Volume 1 by Sal Jiang, is so frickin’ nasty, I literally grinned my way through it. ^_^ Kuroda and Shirakawa constantly snipe and undercut each other in public, they attack each other in private in the office, The sex they have is full on power performance. This is not a pretty book about an office romance. This is a violent story about two terrible people being terrible to one another.

I love it. ^_^

For one brief moment, the two principals gang up to take down another terrible person and that’s a fantastic moment of triumph, but it does not change their relationship one iota. Moments after they bask in the glory of destroying a go-between and getting the business for themselves, they are at each other’s throat. Literally. My favorite panel is an image of Shirakawa about to slam her teeth down on Kuroda’s neck. Which she totally does.

You may wonder how no one in the office notices that the two other hate each other? Well, their boss totally does…and set them up as partners because he thinks it’ll be funny.  Did I mention I love this manga? I really do.  The first volume ends with the most delightfully improbable plot complication, as Shirakawa and Kuroda find that they are now neighbors. ^_^

Jiang’s art is terrific – clean and stylish, cute and approachable, and nasty af, in turns as the narrative requires. The characters are terrible people, but they sometimes do good or kind things, which gives them nuance. Neither of them is a sadist to the pleasant office drones around them. They are, however, two dominant humans fighting for dominance in every way possible.  Yeah, baby. I’ll take as much of this as I can get.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service – 7 Not a lot of nudity, but a lot of sex and violence
Yuri – 7 See above

Overall – 10

You can read sample chapters of 白と黒~Black & White~ in Japanese on the Comic Ruelle & Comic Jardin site online.

Volume 1 is available in print from Amazon JP, CD Japan, in digital format on JP Kindle or from Bookwalker JP. However you get it, be ready for a throw down. ^_^

Posted in Sal Jiang, Yuri Manga | 9 Comments »


Ise-san and Shima-san, Volume 2 (伊勢さんと志摩さん)

July 29th, 2021

It’s been a couple of years since I read Volume 1 of this manga about two friends who share daily “challenges,” by Tokuwotsumu. At the end of that volume I said, “They support one another, confide in each other and just generally are very good friends without complication.”

So, we might expect that in Volume 2 of Ise-san and Shima-san, (伊勢さんと志摩さん), we get some complication. And we do get some complication, but not at all what we might have expected. And what we get is absolutely delightful.

First, we are asked to look backwards at how Ise-san and Shima-san became roommates in the first place. And it is here we are handed our first surprise. Ise-san asks Shima-san to share a place and is shocked to find that the other woman’s reaction isn’t…well…encouraging. Devastated that Shima might not enjoy her company as much as she enjoys Shima’s, Ise finally tracks her down and asks if Ise doesn’t want to room. What Shima tells her is unexpected – she is a woman who loves women. Ise had no idea, since Shima’s always popular with guys, and yeah, no it doesn’t change a thing about her friendship with Shima. So they become roommates and embark on an adult life of enjoying their days together. ^_^

That said, it does change something, when Ise is approached by a guy in the office, asking her to talk to Shima on his behalf. Ise is taken by surprise and half-asses a response, but then is taken by surprise again when Shima reacts angrily – Ise knows how she feels, how could she even consider it? Ise tells the guy she cannot do this for him, and she and Shima make up, but…this whole scenario had me screaming at the guy who is presumed to be an adult – wtf?!? This isn’t school, ask the lady out yourself, sheesh. But Shima has a great point about how they are so close, but they aren’t lovers or family and it puts them in an awkward position sometimes.

As the volume winds down, Ise-san is confronted with a challenge and a secret of her own. She’s being offered a promotion and a transfer. And, that would lead her to have to move. Away from her happy life with her friend. She breaks down at last and Shima is totally there for her. They promise what they can promise, that right now, they are there for each other only. “More than Friends, Less than Lovers” fits well here…and we really need to talk about how it is WAY past time that society allows a legal bond that reflects this kind of found family. Why do we get to entrust everything to someone just because we have sex with them, but not because we *trust them with everything*?  It’s bizarre that parents and children are family, but our best friends whom we trust most or siblings, even, aren’t for purposes of medical and legal issues.

Back to Shima and Ise – they sleep in the same bed, holding hands and get ready for work the next day, 100% ready to defend their happy existence. They sit down to talk to to the boss about it and the boss says, “Oh, didn’t I say? I meant both of you?” Bwah~bwah~bwah~~~. ^_^  The volume ends on their newest challenge – finding an affordable place to live in Osaka!

Shima and Ise are intimate without being lovers throughout, although…that is more on the table now than it was previously. Their emotional bond is definitely right on that line. I still couldn’t tell you why, particularly, but I love Tokuwotsumu’s art. It always makes me happy.  In the end that was exactly what this series did – it made me happy. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – YMMV, but for me 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9  They feel like real people
Yuri – 7 Let’s be honest  – a “relationship” already exists here.
Service – Nuh-uh.

Overall – 8

Honestly? Delightful. And just what I needed this week – a story about two women who are there for one another.

Thanks, CW, you were absolutely right about this story. ^_^

You can nab this in print from Amazon JP or CD Japan, and in digital from Amazon JP Kindle or Bookwalker Global.

Posted in Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Kaijuu-iro no Shima, Volume 1 (かいじゅう色の島), Guest Review by Mariko S.

July 28th, 2021

It is Wednesday and you know what that means! It is indeed a Guest Review Wednesday here on Okazu. Today we welcome back Mariko S. (whose compelling review I have sincerely missed!), with a look at Kaijuu-iro no Shima (かいじゅう色の島), Volume 1. Please give her a warm Okazu welcome back. The floor is yours, Mariko!

I can remember clearly a certain type of person from my tween years, as we all navigated that transition between child and not-child. Smaller than other kids, shy, awkward, left out. Maybe because of those things, still interested in (or, at least, still holding onto) “childish” things. A little scared or uncertain about the adulthood their peers were rushing toward (seemingly) eagerly. Chigawa Kon is a girl like this. Slight and tomboyish, she scuttles barefoot around her tiny island town in a one-piece swimsuit and ill-fitting shorts, passing another lazy summer alone.
 
I remember another type of person from those formative years, too. A little too hurried to put on the markers of adulthood, forced by a body that seemingly overnight changed unrecognizably into something else to pretend they’re ready for it. Even more than that, putting on a front of maturity to try to mask the deep insecurities and immaturity that roiled in them as well. Hitoto Furuka is this girl. Taller, more developed, with painted nails and stylish clothes, her sudden appearance on the island presents a curious interruption for Kon, who doesn’t exactly understand the crushes her peers are so excited about, but who now finds Furuka compelling for reasons she can’t quite articulate.

What I find most remarkable about this manga is how grounded it is. That sounds like an absurd thing to say about a manga in which a (maybe real) mystical sea monster features heavily, along with supernatural phenomena of various kinds. But this is a manga about school girls in Japan that features NONE of the tropes or fetishes of school girl Yuri. There are no uniforms, no zettai ryouiki, no absurd clubs or sharing of cakes. This story could take place for any kids anywhere whiling away a summer vacation. Men exist and aren’t toxic creepos – Furuka’s uncle is an easygoing laborer who is confused as to why he has to suddenly put up with a freeloading relative. Kon’s little brother is a fun-loving kid who is really into kaijuu. More than anything, the vibe this story gives off to me is like Blue Drop, another slow-burn sci-fi Yuri tale set in a sleepy seaside town with a richly developed cast.

The first volume isn’t very long, and moves at a languid pace, and yet somehow many momentous things have happened by the end, and many more mysteries have been set up for the future. Does the monster exist? If so, is it embodied in Furuka? What is the relationship between Kon and the women sacrificed to the monster generations ago? Does Furuka have a mysterious power, or was the intervention with the bullies related to the monster somehow? Kon and Furuka have already kissed by the middle of the book, and maybe more, so with that out of the way we can focus on the real development of their relationship, on whether they can overcome both the mundane and fantastic challenges set before them, and of course on delving deeper into the lore of the island.

This story comes closer to transcending the definition of Yuri as “lesbian content without lesbian identity” for a school setting than any other I have read recently. Despite Furuka’s efforts to look mature, she quickly reveals that she has basically run away to this island with little to no plan for her future. Chief among her reasons is her despair and loneliness at not fitting in because she is gay. She never uses the word “lesbian,” but she describes knowing since the fourth grade that she wasn’t like the other girls, and only had eyes for one of her female friends. Unfortunately, she describes herself as “sick.” Kon isn’t thrown by this at all, and decides she must have this same “sickness” since she feels this way about Furuka. I’m not going to say everything that happens between them feels realistic, but it certainly fits in just fine with plenty of other coming-of-age teen romances. Kon is believably depicted as a girl just starting to awaken to the idea that she might love another girl, and Furuka is a sympathetic example of a girl who already knows this about herself and unfortunately feels outcast because of it. Yes, we all love Yuri stories where the protagonists face no obstacles to their love, but it’s also nice to have a story that acknowledges and deals with still very real prejudices.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Extra points for the variety of character designs and the imaginative sea monster renderings
Story – 8 I’m enjoying it very much, it’s different from anything else out there.
Characters – 7 Kon and Furuka feel like real people. There isn’t much of a supporting cast at this point, though.
Yuri – 7 Kon and Furuka’s relationship is at the center of the story.
Service – 7 I wouldn’t say it is prurient, but there is a fair amount of (not explicit) nudity, and a scene of Furuka brooding that is set unnecessarily in the shower.

Overall – 8 Intangibles and personal taste make this a solid 8 for me, I’m eager to see where the story goes! Alas, as I understand it, new installments are released only quarterly, so we may be waiting awhile for the next volume.

Erica here: Thank you so much for another fantastic review! I want to run out and get this manga, right away, now.

Kaijuu-iro no Shima,Volume 1 is available in print from Amazon JP, or CD Japan and available in digital format on Amazon JP Kindle or Bookwalker JP. And, if you haven’t already seen it, take a moment to watch the animated trailer for this volume of manga!

Posted in Guest Review, Mariko S, Yuri Manga | 8 Comments »


The Conditions of Paradise: Azure Dreams

July 26th, 2021

It was 2009 when I read this book the first time. Here was what I wrote at the time,

In Ruri-iro Yume (瑠璃色の夢) Morishima Akiko gets to realize a dream of hers … . She is able to draw a series of stories about adult women in relationships with other women.

As I read that now 12-year old review, I find that I could have cut and pasted a great deal of it into this one, as most of the references she’s made to her other series still have not been licensed. Hanjuku Joshi had a brief sojourn in English with JManga, but is otherwise not available here. Neither are Renai Joshika (Volume 1 and Volume 2) or Renai Joshi File (レンアイ・女子ファイル) .

So here we are, getting to see what Morishima-sensei was thinking about more than a decade ago – and it may be even more relevant to today’s Yuri than it was then, now that adult women and their dreams are the subject of more Yuri than ever before. Here we are at The Conditions of Paradise: Azure Dreams.

As a collection of shorts, this volume holds up rather nicely, I think. Morishima-sensei’s art style is still cute, and this look at different couples and different kinds of relationships makes for a nice variety. I summed up that 2009 review with, “In any case, Morishima’s art is super-duper cute. But her stories are smart, poignant and often very real. And, okay, sometimes her stories are super-duper cute, too. ^_^” And that holds true today. ^_^

Interestingly, in a kind of time warp, the characters from Hanjuku Joshi (from whom you met Chitose and her fujoshi sister) are back again, in “Motto Hanjuku Joshi” which runs right now in Galette magazine. It’s still a delightful series and one half the most problematic couple has aged out of school, so the problematic part of their relationship is less so. ^_^  Is today’s the motto, “everything old is new again” or “old Yuri doesn’t die, it’s just moves magazines”? In any case,

I really like that these three books are being sold as a series and I hope one day you’ll get to read the rest of the stories from which several of these shorts have been spun off.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 9
Lesbian – 7
Service – 7

Overall – 9

It is so lovely to see Elina Ishikawa working on a Yuri manga again – we worked together on the Jmanga volumes. ^_^ Very fine work from Asha Barton on adaptation, CK Russell’s lettering and retouch is a thankless job, so appreciate those sound effects! Nicky Lim’s cover design work is on point, as always, and let me just say, I weep with joy at seeing the proofreaders and Dawn Davis and Danielle King, credited along with editor Shannon Fay. The one thing Seven Seas does that I love most, is give you a glimpse of the entirety of the number of people who work to make this book happen. My sincere thanks to Rhiannon Lissa, and Julie as well. It’s a team effort and most readers have no idea how many folks have to put time in to get a book on their shelves. Thanks so much to the team at Seven Seas.

It has been absolutely wonderful to see more of Morishima-sensei’s art in English! Now, can I ask favor? I really want to see Takemiya Jin’s work in English, too. Pretty please? ^_^

Posted in English Manga, Morishima Akiko, Yuri Manga | No Comments »