Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – October 17, 2020

October 17th, 2020

Yuri Manga

We have some new items on the Yuricon Store!

December is going to see loads of Yuri riches, beginning with Tamifull’s How Do We Relationship, Volume 2 from Viz.  Volume 5 of the same series is just out in Japan, with Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 5 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな ), but if you’re reading the EN edition, do not read the summary of V5! Huge spoilers. ^_^;

Inui Ayu’s office romance Teiji ni Ageretara, Volume 4 ( 定時にあがれたら) continues as Kaori and Kayoko celebrate their 1st anniversary together.

Hero-san to Moto Onna Kanbu-san, Volume 3 (ヒーローさんと元女幹部さん) continues the tale of hero Rapid Rabbit’s love affair with a former middle manager for the bad guys.

Naoko Kodama’s Days of Love at Seagull Villa, Volume 1 has a November release in English, while the series has wrapped up in Japan with Umineko Bessou days, (海猫荘 days) Volume 3.

Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts creator, Usui Shio, will be starting up a new series in monthly Yuri magazine Comic Yuri Hime, Onna Tomodachi to Kekkon Shitemita, according to ANN’s Crystalynn Hodgkins. This should not be confused Tanaka Yuuki’s Shonen Jump Plus one-shot webcomic, Tomodachi Kekkon. Usui’s series Donuts Under a Crescent Moon,is slated for a 2021 release from Seven Seas.

 

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Anime News

Via Senior YNN Correspondent Eric P., Diskotek’s new releases for Devilman Lady and Battle Athletes (TV series *and* OVA on Blu-Ray!) are up for pre-order. Justin Sevakis has been tweeting about these and it’s interesting to read about the process from the inside. I’m really looking forward to seeing Devilman Lady. These will be getting December releases as well.

Kim Morrisey at ANN lets us know that Shiraishi Jougi, creator of Wandering Witch: The Journeys of Elaina has asked the animation staff to not upskirt the character. I hope more creators request this, because as an industry, animation is far too comfortable with what is – at absolute minimum – a pervasive form of sexual harassment. I’d really like to see it shamed out of existence because it is fucking creepy to upskirt. The anime is streaming on Hulu. Yen Press publishes the Light Novels, Square Enix is publishing the manga.

ANN’s Alex Mateo want us to know that a new extended trailer for Sailor Moon Eternal is now out. This is the first of two movies that will cover the “Dream” arc. of the manga. It’s not my favorite arc, but there’s still some good stuff to look forward to. For one thing, it looks honestly really well animated. This will also be the first time the Inners’ power up includes the spirits of their planetary castles, which I’m actually really excited about. (Nerd!) Naomi Watanabe as Zirconia is a great choice, but I feel like we’re all owed a redo of the first two seasons of Crystal with Kon Chikai in the director’s seat, because she is absolutely killing it.

Can we declare a “curse” on the first two seasons, since they’ve kind of been screwed over twice now? ^_^;

RetroCrushTV is streaming – free and legally – Dear Brother (Oniisama e) based on the manga by Riyoko Ikeda, directed by Osamu Dezaki. I’m going to keep reminding you of this until you have all watched it. This should be assigned homework for any Yuri 101 course. In fact, one could do an entire class on it. Monique Thomas and Steve Jones cover some of this vast territory in their review on ANN, Does Dear Brother Still Hold Up?

 

Yuri Light Novels

Via Senior YNN Correspondent, Sean G. J-Novel Club has announced the license – and new translation – of GL Bunko’s Girls Kingdom 1 written by Nayo with art by Shio Sakura. Part 1 is available on the J-Novel website as a preview. I reviewed this novel back in 2018, when GL Bunko did their own translation. I’m really liking Shio-san’s revised art on this current crop of webnovels-turned-LNs.

J-Novel Club has also announced a December release date for Otherside Picnic, Volume 4. This link leads to the Kindle edition. It will also be available on Global Bookwalker.

 

Yuri Games

Via Senior YNN Correspondent Louise P, we have Thirsty Sword Lesbians Tabletop RPG by April Kit Walsh. This Kickstarter has one of the most compelling video pitches I’ve ever seen and if I played games, they’d definitely have my money! With 26 days to go in their campaign, they blown past their initial goal almost 4x over.

 

Other News

My brain got five times bigger, listening to Third Impact Anime Podcast’s Interview with Anime Scholar Helen McCarthy. Helen is my idol and anytime I have a chance to learn from her, I take it. I hope you will, too.

 

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! Special thanks to Okazu Patrons for being an important part of the Okazu family. I couldn’t do it without you!

 
Posted in Yuri Network News | 10 Comments »


Hello, Melancholic!, Volume 2 (ハロー、メランコリック!)

October 16th, 2020

Volume 1 introduced us to Minato, a girl who loves playing music, but has been hurt by schoolmates. She is discovered by Hibiki, a sempai who runs a casual band/club who encourages Minato to have confidence in her skills.

In Hello, Melancholic!, Volume 2 (ハロー、メランコリック!), the band is about to perform live for the first time, but there are no ends of problems and setbacks. For one, Hibiki’s wrist is injured and she’s had to refrain from playing drums. Secondly, Minato is near paralyzed at the idea of performing in front of people. But both these things are resolved by Minato. She suggests making plastic bottle maracas to get the crowd to be part of the show…and even though she spots classmates from her previous school in the audience, Minato find some strength in herself, leading the audience and rocking out on trombone. It is a massive success.

As she looks around after the performance, Minato spies Chika and Sakiko kissing, which throws her into a tizzy. Chika drags the hapless trombone player off to a family restaurant and regales her with the tale of how she and Sakiko met, fell in love and became a couple. More importantly, though, Chika makes Minato confront the idea that she might be falling for Hibiki. A “date” with Hibiki does not help clear that off the table.

I cannot tell you why, exactly, I want Minato to be happy – although there are a lot of superficially obvious reasons that I might feel that way – but I really want Minato to be happy. If Hibiki can make her happy, I’m all in for them. But I also know that there’s a lot standing between them before they get there…among them Minato herself. She’s a walking bundle of insecurity and hesitation. Ohsawa Yayoi’s come so far in the last few years – Minato’s expressions are really something. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9 Humanizing Chika is surprisingly effective
Service – 2
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8.5 we’re climbing, slowly

Nonetheless, we’ll watch and wait, and listen to pleasant ensemble music featuring flute, drum, piano, and trombone as we do. (Couldn’t also find one with a guitar, but this was close…)

Posted in Ohsawa Yayoi, Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


Girls Love of the Dead, Shi ga Futari wo Waka..tanai?, Volume 1 (ガールズラブ・オブ・ザ・デッド〈死がふたりを分か……たない？〉)

October 15th, 2020

It’s October, which means all my friends are finding virtual ways to celebrate Halloween. I’ve decided to join in with Ooooohhhh~~~kazu on Twitter. Every day I’m sharing a spoooooky review from the last 20 years of Okazu, starring witches and vampires and ghouls of all kinds. It’s not in order, because hashtags and threads are smart and I am not. Here’s a link to a Twitter search. ^_^

While I was collecting up 31 days of creepy reviews, I came across a news item I had bookmarked. Because of Ameko Kaeruda’s work we’ve talked a lot about Syosetsuka ni Narou, the free website for web novelists that has spawned a couple of new faves. But there’s also Yomuco, a by-the-chapter service where a number of novelists have paired up with well-known artists to created serialized-for-pay webnovels. Yomuco webnovels are also available on Global Bookwalker and Amazon JP Kindle. There are a ton of Yuri stories on Yomuco and I’ve been meaning to get to reading some for a long time.

Well, here I am reviewing a jaunty seasonal little story called Girls Love of the Dead, Shi ga Futari wo Waka..tanai?, (ガールズラブ・オブ・ザ・デッド <死がふたりを分か……たない？>) written by  Hoshii Nanao, with illustrations by Morishima Akiko.

The story begins on a dark and moonlit night, as Mitsuki decides she must leave her life behind…her beloved Rin is gone from this world and there’s nothing to live for. So she has come to this secluded old school building to die. Only, for a secluded place, it’s awfully full of…zombies!

Chased by zombies, Mitsuki finds herself in the art room, where she paints herself to look like a zombie. And so, Mitsuki finds herself in zombie school…sitting next to none other than her late lover Rin! Rin doesn’t remember Mitsuki, but that’s okay…Mitsuki says we have all the time in the world (since Rin is dead) but no, Rin only has 6 months of undead existence before her life force will dissipate! Mitsuki has to find out what Rin wanted to say to her before that or she will never know.

There’s a mystery in the middle of all the screamers. Rin was on swim team, so how was it even possible that she drowned and was never found? And who is the girl whose eye keeps rolling out? And why is there a school for zombies at all?!?

Tune in to Volume 2 to find out, because as of now, I have no idea. ^_^

This novel is very much formatted to be read on a phone screen, so is much like a VN, with about 3-4 of text lines per screen. Morsihima-sensei’s art is both fabulous and hilarious. For some reason all the zombies are blonde with golden eyes, which provide a splash of color in an otherwise gloom- and death- filled story. A cute death- and gloom- filled story, with adorable dismemberment and moe eyeballs rolling across the room. What more could you ask?

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 7 Goofy, might still be great
Characters – 7 Rin’s a bit deadpan, (hah)
Service – I don’t even know how to score this….
Yuri – 7 Well, yes, dammit. Even if they are a inter-biological couple.

Overall – 8

If you’re into horror Yuri, as befits the season, and want a little something that isn’t too challenging, is good for practicing reading, I think there’s a good case for webnovels generally, and Girls Love of the Dead, ‘Til Death Do Us Part…Not?, one specifically. ^_^

Posted in Light Novel | 3 Comments »


Assault Lily Bouquet, Guest Review by Kristin

October 14th, 2020

Welcome to Guest Review Wednesday! It’s always such a pleasure to have a Guest Review and even more exciting, today we have a brand new Guest Reviewer. I’d like you to all give a warm welcome to Kristin, who is doing me a huge favor today by taking a look at Assault Lily Bouquet which is streaming on Funimation.com!

Well hello! I don’t think I’ve ever been here before! Years ago I used to be the manga and anime reviewer for ComicAttack.net, but these days I just shit talk on Twitter with my former peers. Anyway, I’m Kristin. You can find those old reviews here. Today I am lending Erica a hand and giving her eyeballs (and blood pressure) a break. She really didn’t need to watch this one.

Assault Lily: Bouquet is a new anime based on a mixed-media franchise, the primary mode being toy figurines. The doll line was created by Azone International and Acus in 2013. A light novel was published by Micro Magazine/GC Novels in 2015, and a manga is currently running in Monthly Bushiroad. Monthly Bushiroad’s parent company, Bushiroad Media, primarily concerns itself with trading card games and associated media. Azone International makes fashion dolls. Now, this mixture of media is very common. I don’t know why the Assault Lily series is particularly popular at present, but then America made a movie about the game Battleship in 2012, so time frames aren’t really an issue. To be honest, the dolls are kind of cute, and the “girls with guns” (or random weapons bigger than they are) genre is perennial. Not my style or interest, personally, but they look well made.

That’s the main thing that can also be said about the anime. It’s well made.

Assault Lily (and in conjunction Assault Lily: Bouquet, of course) tells the story of a group of teenage girls (the show specifically says 16-17) who attend a prestigious academy. Not just any academy, of course, but one that teaches these girls how to fight large, mechanical monsters called Huge. Yes, the Huge are huge. To fight these monsters, the girls sync up with their Charms through a ring they wear. Yes, their Charms are charms. Charms are the weapons the girls use to fight the monsters, and teenage girls have the greatest ability to synchronize with this technology. Hitotsuyanagi Riri is the newest Lily, arriving in episode one at the academy in order to follow her idol, Shirai Yuyu, who saved her from a Huge two years ago. Right away, Riri is thrust into combat as she joins Yuyu and another student, Kaede, in tracking down a Huge that escaped the school’s research facility. Unfortunately, while Riri’s combat experience and ability are fairly suspect, the main problem is that she has not yet synced up with her Charm. This is quickly remedied, and Riri and the snobbish, Yuyu-obsessed Kaede finish the Huge off. Riri saves Kaede from the explosive aftermath, making Kaede abandon Yuyu for her new savior. Since the girls do tend to pair up with combat partners (called “Schutzengel,” or “Guardian Angel”), it seems Riri may be on track to form such a relationship on day one.

Well. There’s a plot there, somewhere. In between all of the zettai ryouiki, the “absolute territory” of thigh skin revealed between a girl’s skirt and (usually over-the-knee, mid-thigh) socks. Because the series pays very close attention to this little patch of skin. You’ll note the, ah, generic lore. Which is probably fine for a collection of dolls, but isn’t very interesting or impacting in an anime series. Nothing is really unique here – girls with guns/large weapons, teenagers fighting monsters, large and nasty robots. There’s hardly anything to talk about. It’s just sort of…dull. There’s a couple quick fight scenes, and they’re pretty, but not much else. Really, the whole show is pretty. SHAFT is the animation studio, and they’ve done some beautiful work in the past. They’re also no stranger to “magical girl” series, which would be the closest genre Assault Lily: Bouquet could fit. Nor are they stranger to overly sexualized teen girls. They’ve even done strong friendships with girls. This, though, is some kind of…light Yuri fan service for middle-aged men. The show airs in a past-midnight time slot on a Thursday night/Friday morning, so it’s certainly not directed at young girls. Which really makes it sort of uncomfortable. There are just so many thigh shots and boob shots, and the uniforms are designed to make this extra effective.

Ratings:

Art – 9, it’s beautiful! SHAFT knows how to animate, no question.

Story – ….4? For the first episode. It’s just so generic, honestly. I’ve seen this many times, even if the technical aspects of the magic and technology are new. Look, it’s based on a toy line. Which is fine, but it’s designed to sell more dolls.

Characters – 6, I suppose. If the designs weren’t so…zettai ryouki focused, they might be cute. There’s also a lot of characters. Maybe too many, as far as who seems to be featured.

Service – Depends on what kind of service you want. Are you really into the thigh skin of 16-year-old girls?

Yuri – It’s a trap. If you’re drawn to the not-so-subtle Yuri undertones, it’s a trap, run away. They’re gonna lean into it for its audience, but I highly doubt it will be worth it unless you’re really into the skin and bouncing boobs of teenage girls.

Overall – Seven highly deliberate shots of the “absolute territory” on teenage girls.

Erica here:  Thank you so much Kristin. I did try, but as you say, it was not good for my blood pressure. In my opinion, Assault Lily Bouquet is a magical girl version of Ikkitousen with about as much respect for its female characters, only starring fetuses in frilly dresses. ^_^ Thank you again and we hope to have you back soon!

Posted in English Anime, Yuri Anime | 13 Comments »


A Lily Blooms in Another World

October 12th, 2020

The land of Pajan, we’ve learned, has a real problem. Women are forced to do more, for less, and given very little respect for it. In Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With a Mythical Sorceress! powerful and skilled women in the villages are dismissed and demeaned because they are women, while mediocre men are given rank and power they do not deserve. In A Lily Blooms in Another World, we learn that life is not much better for women among the nobility.

“I’m Still Talking.”

Miyako Florence is the daughter of the noble Florence family, who has just learned that her engagement to the powerful Klaus Reinhardt has been canceled. Her reaction is the very opposite of unhappy, as she ecstatically runs off to use her new-found freedom and confess her love to the reason she’s here in Ode in the first place, the lovely, talented Fuuka Hamilton.  Miyako has a secret that Fuuka can’t possibly know…she not from the capital…she’s not even from this world. Another unappreciated and overworked corporate drone from our world, Miyako has found herself in the world of her favorite game and…she’s ready to romance the villainess, Fuuka Hamilton.

Fuuka has good reason to want to escape her circumstances, but being seduced away by a rival was not among them. Nonetheless, she gives Miyako 2 weeks, 14 days to convince her to say that she’s happy.

It is obvious to us that they are almost instantly happier in the country together than they ever were in the capital, with oppressive rules that treat them as not much more than fodder for trade negotiations. But it will take a lot more than just a country idyll to convince Fuuka that there are alternatives to a toxic system that poisons men against women, and women against each other.

“Nevertheless, she persisted”

This Light Novel is so adorable and fluffy and sweet, with a cute magical creature and bathing and cooking, that you might be tempted to not notice the gigantic hammer that crushes up the patriarchy, and all the little razorsblades that slice it into ribbons as you read. And that’s okay. A Lily Blooms in Another World isn’t a treatise, it’s a grin-making little Yuri romance. A grin-making Yuri romance that wields a powerful message nonetheless: There is power is recognizing and appreciating what women are capable of.There is power in love.

“Sisterhood is powerful”

As I noted in my review of the Japanese webnovel back in July of this year, “In the way that Sexiled creates a female revenge scenario in which the man is merely made to be seen as foolish as he actually is, and the women’s skills and power appreciated for what they actually are…in Isekai ni Saku ha Yuri no Hana the woman is finally seen and appreciated for what she can and does do. In a lot of ways, I found this story, as gobsmackingly silly as it is, to be more touching and personal.”

Back in July I had one small, request. I hoped that the art for the Light Novel would be better than the cover image…which, honestly, makes the leads look 10 years old. Well, I am very pleased to report that the teenagers look like teenagers in the final art. ^_^ And, although I would have gladly traded Miyako’s fantasy image for one of Maria coming home…or would it kill anyone to illustrate the epic climax?…I’ll take what I can get.

I know I am among legions this time as I was with I’m in Love with the Villainess, but I do highly recommend A Lily Blooms in Another World, for a spoonful of sweet Yuri sugar wrapped around a bitter pill so many women are still being forced to swallow.

Top marks to translator Tom Harris, who pretty much nailed the tone of voice and all the goofinesses in the dialogue, especially that of magical creature Umi. And thanks to the entire team at J-Novel Club for bringing us another great read!

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 2
Yuri – 9
LGBTQ – Yes. Wait for it.

Overall – 9

In 2020, Kaeruda’s stories are doing something extraordinary – they are fun, romantic, epic and meaningful all at the same time, without anything having to be sacrificed to make anything else work.

The Yuricon Store link leads to the Bookwalker Global version of this book, but it is also available on Amazon Kindle  and other sites where J-Novel Club sells their books.

Posted in LGBTQ, Light Novel | 3 Comments »