Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – June 26, 2021

June 26th, 2021

Yuri Events

I’ll be hitting the virtual con circuit in the next few weeks, catch me on Discord this weekend for CasaCon:

8PM EST June 26 for What Goes Into Manga Editing and Translating?

2PM EST US June 27 for the “Secret History” of Yaoi and Yuri.

and I’ll be joining Anime Lockdown on July 10, at 3:30 PM for the first Yuri panel I have done since 2019, How It Began, How It’s Going 100 Years of Yuri Anime. I’m super excited, and wow has a lot changed in 2 years.

Anime Lockdown has a bunch of great stuff – don’t miss Emma Wolfe at 11am when she talks about The Rose of Versailles!

And speaking of Rose of Versailles, I had a chance to chat with the delightful folks of Third Impact Anime about Pride and RoV!

And I’m not the only one out there, Saturday Dentition talked with the lovely Kit and Sarah from Tomochoco on their Yuricast this week! If you’re looking for some fun, take a look at this Yuri trivia game created by Tomochoco’s Kit and YuriMother Niki. ^_^

One more piece of excellent Tomochoco news….they’ve announced an upcoming interview with I’m in Love With the Villainess creator inori-sensei. How awesome is that? Send them questions and they’ll do their best. In any case, make sure you tune in when that is posted. I’m super stoked for them.

August 14th will give you a chance to talk with me, James Welker and Verena Maser about global Yuri fandoms on our upcoming Yuricon anniversary event.  Details TBA next month.

If you’re in or near the Tokyo area on September 20, 2021, you’ll have a busy day, with two great comic events happening. Girls Love Festival will be back in Asakusa, and Comitia will be at Big Site. Both those will be in-person, but I’m a good while out from being inside a building with other people. ^_^;

The winners of the 3rd Pixiv Yuri Short Story Contest are online and available for you to read (in Japanese) for free! You may remember I reviewed the 1st contest winners collected volume and was honestly impressed.

 

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Yuri Manga

By popular demand, we’ve got a few new titles up on the Yuricon Store!

Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru (踊り場にスカートが鳴る) is a lovely and delightful manga by Uttan Yuu, from Comic Yuri Hime about ballroom dancing, body image and self-esteem. Honestly, I love it so far.

I’ve had a number of folks ask me if I’ll be reviewing Kakeochi Girl, Volume 1 (かけおちガール) and the answer is…I really don’t know. My to-read piles are way backed up. So if you have purchased the book from a legitimate source – not reading scanlations – and you want to do a review, contact me and let me know. This story is about a grad student who encounters her high school love who broke her heart and, their relationship picks up once again.

Watashi no Oshi ha Akujyaku Reijou., Volume 2 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。) is out in Japanese! Claire and Rae throw down during exam time. Will Claire beat Rae? Hahaha, no…Rae is the protagonist of the game!

There’s a ton of Yuri manga news from Japan, but I’ve got a blistering weekend of work ahead of me, so here’s a thing I really want you to take a look at – Uyanotsuki by Kuzushiro  – you can read the first three parts in Japanese on Comic-Days.com!

COLOR_Les’s Mage & Demon Queen is back for a Season 3! Check out the Season 3 Trailer on Webtoons and catch up with where we all left off.

 

Yuri Anime

Netflix has picked up the first three seasons of Sailor Moon Crystal, with a premier date of July 1.

ANN’s Alex Mateo has the news that Blue Reflection Ray anime will not be getting a physical release in Japan. Funimation is streaming it for an English-language audience.

Also from ANN, Kim Morrissy, has a roundup of a panel with Junichi Sato at Annecy 2021 about making anime for girls and women. He’s got some serious street cred in that regard, so give it a read!

Kara Dennison wants us to Feel the Drama with These Takarazuka Inspired Anime Series on Otakusa Magazine.

 

Other News

If you frequent the Japanese Bookwalker digital manga site, you’re in luck! Bookwalker is running a Yuri Day special through July 1! Eligible items are available for up to 20% off and up to 30% coin back!

Irodori doujinshi site is also participating in Yuri Day Festivities with up to 50% off selected titles.

Latoya Pennington has a look at The Transformative Legacy of Magical Girl Manga over at Games Radar’s GR+.

Hikaru Utada came out as non-binary with an extremely touching video to celebrate this Pride Month. Lynzee Loveridge drops the details on ANN.

 

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Posted in Yuri Network News | No Comments »


The Rose of Versailles, Volume 5

June 25th, 2021

Today we look at what was, until 2015, the final volume of the grand historical epic The Rose of Versailles, by Riyoko Ikeda.

After the death of Lord Oscar François de Jarjayes, one might expect a final volume of tears and recrimination as the republic she died for turns to wholesale slaughter and a new threat of empire…buuuuuut……..no.

The chapters that comprise The Rose of Versailles, Volume 5 were written a decade after the original story ended and involve Oscar and André as the comedic sidekicks to Oscar’s precocious niece Loulou de Laurencie. These 10th anniversary chapters are an epic unto themselves, known as “The Great Detective Loulou.”

Loulou (and her doll, which functions as something between a backpack and hammerspace) turns out to be incredibly perceptive. Significantly, Oscar recognizes this and after the first adventure, in which Loulou cracks a group of jewel thieves, she takes Loulou’s antics very seriously. Loulou’s influence continues to expand to André, then Rosalie and beyond. It’s a good thing, too, because Loulou proceeds to stop a human trafficking ring and an illicit drug ring.

A little side story here… translator Mari Morimoto and I had a days long conversation about exactly what drug it might have been. I think it was cocaine-laced laudanum based on the chronology and supposed effects. (Heroine wasn’t common for another few decades and opium created a lassitude that any reader of Sherlock Holmes will be acquainted with.) But it’s all speculation and we’ll never really know what Madame Heberra was selling. ^_^

Ironically, the was the first volume of the series I worked on. Mari asked to bring me on since we had been discussing the series already and she wanted someone she knew. It was a lot of fun working on these chapters with her too, as there were so many things that were really left way up in the air after those incredibly detailed, historically accurate earlier volumes.

You might ask at this point if this is where we are meant to leave it all. After all that emotion, all those tears, we’re just walking away on a bunch of stories about a child genius? No, actually. Because in 2015-18, for the 45th anniversary of the series, Ikeda-sensei drew another 4 volumes, all of which I have reviewed here, in fact. I will spoil nothing, except to say two things: 1) I had completely, totally forgotten the one thing at the end of the story and OMG, and; 2) Even as I edited these chapters for the final volume for UDON, I found myself tearing up at Rosalie. Hopefully you will, too.

I don’t know when the final volume will be released, but as soon as I know, I’ll be sure to tell you!

I want to thank all of you who have picked up these books and enjoyed them so much. And my heartfelt thanks to Udon, to Erik for trusting me with these, to Mari and Jocelyne for being awesome to work with and Jeannie Lee, for low-key killing it doing the lettering. Honest to god, she did an outstanding job, matching the s/fx to the shape and feel of the original, and you should notice this kind of artistry.

I’m going to leave you with one more anecdote. After I got the chance to work on this series, I was in Japan, at Mandarake in Nakano, as one does and I saw something I had never, ever before seen – three whole issues of Margaret magazine when Rose of Versailles was running! I was gobsmacked. I grabbed them all and gave Mari and Erik one each as thanks, and kept one for myself.  Here is why.

This is the moment when Oscar, having found and lost her true love, throws herself at the Bastille, to join him as soon as possible. So….yea. I have this volume. It lives on a set of shelves I cleared for the entirely of the Rose of Versailles kanzenban, reference materials, mooks, magazines and…this magnificent collection. It’s just so lovely, I can’t get over it.

Not gonna rate this one, just want to bask in the glow. ^_^

Tell me how much you love this set in the comments!

 

Posted in English Manga, Riyoko Ikeda, Rose of Versailles | 7 Comments »


Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 4 (おとなになっても)

June 23rd, 2021

In previous volumes of Otona ni Nattemo, we met Akari and Ayano, who met in a bar and spent the night together, Ayano’s husband Wataru, who has wondered what that means for him, and assorted family, friends, coworkers and students who have become involved in the lives of our principles. No one know what they are doing. Sure, they are adults, but…

In Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 4 (おとなになっても), the whirlpool sucks them in further. Wataru suggest a separation and Ayano agrees. Wataru’s going home to live with his parents. Akari, not knowing this, has also decided to move to give her distance between her and Ayano. At school, Ayano is playing at being a grown-up with answers for the children who have their own love triangle issues and is torturing herself on faking competent adulthood for elementary schoolers, while her own life is in turmoil.

Ayano and Akari coincidentally meet at the train station and coincidentally look back at one one another and, as the final pages of the volume are turned, Ayano suggest they go to the cafe at the station and talk….

I’m calling it – this series is Shimura Takako’s best work to date.

For years, I have said that her work reminds me of Melissa Scott’s novels – solid concepts with slightly too much emphasis on sex and gender considering the lack of conviction with which it was executed. For the first time ever, I feel that this book isn’t trying to say something – it’s a fully conceived story about people who might be real, and neither sex nor gender is the story, just part of human existence as a whole.

One does not dislike Akari, Ayano or Wataru, they are all sympathetic in their own ways. I don’t pretend to know what the future holds for any of them, frankly. I don’t even have an opinion on whether any of them ought to be together. I’m content to see where the story – which is well-drawn and well-told – goes.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri / Queer – Impossible to tell at this point. Ayano may be bi, Akari is lesbian, Eri might be ace, but we can’t be sure about anyone of them but Akari.

Overall – 8
I hope you’re all reading this story as it comes out in English as Even Though We’re Adults from Seven Seas. It’s Shimura at an absolute peak of her work and a story wholly for as well as about, grownups. Volume 1 is out, Volume 2 just came out last week, and Volume 3 will arrive in October (you can pre-order it on RightStuf or Amazon already.)

Posted in LGBTQ, Shimura Takako | 1 Comment »


Galette Illustration Book 01

June 21st, 2021

Crowd-funded, creator-owned quarterly Yuri manga magazine, Galette is coming up on a third anniversary later this year. It’s currently at 18 issues of the main magazine out, 15 volumes of Galette MEETS, several Collaborations and about a dozen collected volumes under their belt. Not so much a celebration, but as a fun extra book, the folks at Galette WORKS took some time to collect some of the color art from Galette Magazine up into a single volume, Galette Illustration Book 01 .

I comment on this every single time I get an issue – I absolutely love pen’s illustrations for the cover of Galette and also really like the design aesthetic. With this volume, you can see a number of the cover illustrations, some of the inside cover and internal illustrations by other artists and get bios and art from other popular artists with ongoing series… among them Hakamada Mera, Morinaga Milk, Hamano Ringo and Momono Moto.

If you, too are a fan of these artists, of creator-owned Yuri manga, you can get digital back issues of some of Galette’s publications by becoming a supporter on Japanese crowd-funding site Fantia. The illustration book is available to anyone on the “Normal Course 500￥/month or above. If you prefer to support the artists directly without the magazine, there’s also a Galette Pixiv Fanbox, where each month a different artist contributes illustrations and a post.

If you’re interested in the art, but don’t want to support the magazine as a whole, you can grab a copy of the Galette Illustration Book 01 on on US Kindle. It’s only a few bucks and has some really lovely art. And I love that it’s been collected in a single volume to enjoy.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

pen’s work scratches all my artistic itches…stylish, adult, beautiful design, no blob heads to be seen. It’s everything I want in Yuri manga cover art. ^_^  I like it so much I jumped at getting a copy in print. It will be heading over on my next shipment from Japan. ^_^

While you’re at it, get yourself a copy of Galette No. 18 in Japanese on US Kindle and enjoy the new illustrations!

Posted in Galette, Yuri Artbook | No Comments »


It’s a Lucky Box Summer on Okazu! All Claimed

June 20th, 2021

Doing a seasonal clean up of stuff that has accumulated, breaking down some of Bruce’s collection (we’re about half way through the boxes!) and goods from Yuri exhibits and this spring’s Yuriten means…it’s Lucky Box time!

Our summer crop of Lucky boxes for the year are full of comics and manga and poetry and artbooks and toys, candy  and other random things to marvel at. The Premium boxes include other flat fun things like stickers, bookmarks, maybe comix, or postcards.

This time we have 3 Large Premium boxes and 1 Large Premium Plus box that also includes a DVD that my wife asked me to find a home for. Every box includes at least one item from this year’s virtual Yuriten; a clear file or a pin set or mirror.

As always, I assure you that this is all 100%, unadulterated stuff. Lucky Boxes are created by me shoving a bunch of things in boxes. I don’t  remember what went in, so no..I can’t tell you what is in each box. I do try to put random things in there to make the unpacking process an adventure. ^_^

When you email me, please refer to the box you want by the title and #1. First come, first served and these always go fast! These are listed out so I can cross them off as they go. I won’t be able to make an extra box this time, as this is it for the Yuriten items. So when these are gone, that’s it.

Large Premium Box 1 – Claimed

Large Premium Box 2 – Claimed

Large Premium Box 3 – $40

Large Premium Box Plus – Claimed

***

To be eligible to buy a Lucky Box, follow these instructions carefully. Please. Thank you. Failure to follow all of these instructions will disqualify you. It’s not personal, they are all claimed pretty quickly and I don’t have time to track you down for a piece of information.

1 – You must live in the Continental USA (contiguous 48) only, no APO/FPOs. This is disappointing for me too, so I apologize.

2 – You must be over 18, I am not policing books or recipients.

3 – Email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with the subject “Lucky Box”. Use an email you check regularly. Because I will reply asap. The first person who responds to my email gets the box.

4. *****Please include your name, age, mailing address. ***** Tell me which box you want. Even if you’ve given me your address previously, please include it, I am very lazy.

5- I will contact you at that point and give you details about payment by Paypal. Please be prepared to check your email and get payment out so this post doesn’t linger. Thanks in advance.

This whole process will be handled with utmost capriciousness, as usual. ^_^

Ready? Get your Lucky Boxes!

Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »