Save the Date for a Yuricon Community 20th Anniversary Event!

June 18th, 2021

Back in the day, there was a brand-new online community for fans of lesbian characters and stories in Japanese comics and animation. That group was named AniLesboCon mostly as a joke1. By 2001, I was transitioning that name to a new name, one that I hoped would re-connect this new genre to its ties to Japanese lesbian history. In August 2001, I relaunched our website as Yuricon2, a virtual convention and community for fans of what we were now calling “Yuri.”3. Here we are, 20 years later, and still going strong! If anything, we’re stronger than ever, with more Yuri manga and anime coming out in Japan and being translated for a global audience. (Okazu followed a year later, also in August, and I’ve got some ideas for next summer, too.)

Clearly, a 20th anniversary calls for a celebration.

As you may know, I was part of what I believe was the very first Yuri-focused panel at Mechademia this year, at which I was joined by Prof. James Welker and scholar and translator Verena Maser. It was a tremendous honor and a lot of fun. But, because to attend you had to register with Mechademia, we ran into a lot of limits – we had limited access and we couldn’t record the panel. And so, to celebrate the Yuricon community’s 20th anniversary, I invite you to save the date for an exciting event:

Saturday, August 14th, 2021, 21:00 JST (8 AM US EST, 1PM BST) I will be joined once again by James and Verena for a live panel on Yuri!

We will be recreating our panel from Mechademia, Transporting Yuri Across Borders. This panel focuses on challenges and opportunities in the evolution and transformation of Yuri as it is transported across chronological, geographic and linguistic borders. This time we will be able to discuss things more leisurely, take more questions and, hopefully, record the session to be able to post on Yuri Studio later, for folks to watch the whole thing.

Registration will be free, but there will be limited space available. Okazu Patrons will get early access to registration and be able to send in questions beforehand. I want to apologize to folks on the West Coast, this timing is the best we can do to not drag into super late hours for Japan and still be accessible for me on the East Coast. Hopefully some of you early birds will still be able to attend.

I hope to see many of our friends and Patrons there! Links to registration will be posted to Okazu Patrons in July, followed by general registration in August. So, save the date and we’ll see you on August 14th at our Yuricon anniversary event!

***

1Named after the fictitious Animated Lesbian Convention (AniLesboCon) from Dreiser’s fanfic, Scenes From An Elevator.

2This was followed in November by YahooGroups nuking the ALC community in a Yuri/BL/Queer/Porn purge and me re-starting it as Yuricon, a group that survived into late 2010s.

3https://www.yuricon.com/what-is-yuricon/#whatisyuri

 

Posted in Events, Yuricon | 4 Comments »


Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts, Volume 2 (欠けた月とドーナッツ)

June 17th, 2021

In Volume 1, we met Hinako, a woman who is crumbling under pressure to conform to society’s requirements for a “good” life and Asahi, a woman who has cast aside any interest in conforming for her own reasons. Usui Shio’s Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts, Volume 2 (欠けた月とドーナッツ) brings them to a whole new level of intimacy between two adult women who are very tentative about trusting someone else with their true selves. I know I have said this before, but it bears repeating – I adore this series. There’s nothing melodramatic here, just quiet real-life concerns, and two women whose loneliness had become a fact of their lives that they didn’t think they could do something about.

In Volume 2, Hinako is desperately trying to not impose on Asahi and Subaru but, equally desperately, loves spending time with them. When Subaru asks Hinako bluntly to please, please free her sister from her own choices, Hinako finds a little courage to admit that she actually wants to do that…and then, magically, takes steps to do so. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that her feelings for Asahi are more than she’s willing to cope with, until she meets Fuuka, Asahi’s ex (bing bing! the bell goes off in Hinako’s head) and best friend. Fuuka makes Hinako look her own feelings straight in the face and acknowledge them.

As for Asahi, we learn why she’s so removed from her own life. She’s made choices that prioritize Subaru over herself. This will not go unnoticed by her little sister, who simultaneously wants Asahi to have a happy life of her own, for herself to be free of obligation and to forge her own path forward. To be fair, Subaru really likes Hinako and is clearly rooting for the two older women to get together, for all the reasons.

I absolutely love everything about this story. The characters are all entirely likeable and we cannot help but root for them, not just to get together, but to be happy. I love the art, which is stylish and clean, and the constant touches that make this story feel so firmly rooted in adult women’s lives. Clothing and makeup and food and peer pressure and work concerns….these could be real people who you might know.

The struggles are internal, the drama is internal. This is not the explosive hyper-dramatic relationships of high school. It’s not even a messy relationship. It’s just really…tentative. And we want, so very much, for everyone to be happy. If Hinako and Asahi end up happy together, then yay for all of us. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 6
Service – 0

Overall – 9

Volume 1 is already available from Seven Seas and Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon, Volume 2 is headed your way in August, so get ready for some grown-up feels!

Posted in Usui Shio, Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Comic Yuri Hime, June 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年5月号)

June 16th, 2021

Okay, yes. inori-sensei is right, Relaire is very cute. In Comic Yuri Hime, June 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年5月号) we get to meet our very own Yuri water slime and it is an adorable jiggly thing, with cute eyes. ^_^ Even more importantly, in “Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou.” Claire and Rae are about to take each other on in the big Academy Knights qualification bouts! I’m really looking forward to this.

In Yuama’s “Kimi to Tsuzuru Utakata” I sincerely hope we’ve moved past the not-at all-convincing plot complication as Hoshikawa-san finally lightens up and has…gasp!…fun.

“Sasayaku Youni Koi wo Utau” by Takashima Eku, turns back towards our principals and allows us to squee at their cuteness together all over again.

I’m delighted to see “Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru” by Shiime start up again. I find this one utterly charming, even beyond the issues of body discomfort and conformity…the art is so lovely, I just want it to go on forever.

“Lonely Girl ni Sakaraenai” by Kashikaze comes to a major turning point, where everything about Sora finally drops into place and Ayaka is very angry on her behalf. Go Ayaka!

Normally, this is where I say “I read some stories and not others,” but I feel like I barely read this volume. Whole chapters look unfamiliar to me! I’d better get back on that.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Before I wrap up I want to say that semelparous is getting worse and, at this point, I find it physically repulsive. I would never mention it again, except that I already know that the next chapter, from Comic Yuri Hime July 2021, is one of the most incredibly ugly and ridiculous things I have ever seen in my entire life. I might mention that, because good fucking gods on high, tits DO NOT do that. So if I have time, I absolutely plan on ridiculing it. Then I will never mention it ever again, as long as I live. ^_^

Posted in Comic Yuri Hime, Magazines, Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Girl’s Kingdom, Volume 3

June 14th, 2021

Girls Kingdom, Volume 3 is a remarkable book. I am not lying to you about this. You will absolutely agree with me when you read it that it was, indeed, remarkable.

We pick up Volume 3 after Misaki, our normal girl in an abnormal and absurd environment, has undergone a series of trials that has pushed her skills as a detective and diplomat to their limits and, in the end, increased her skill points as maid to the Vice-Chairman of the Amanotsuka Academy, Amanotsuka Himeko.

Please do not worry too much that her being a detective and diplomat making her a better maid makes basically no sense. The entire premise of this series and the school it exists within, makes no sense. It doesn’t matter, however, because this book is so remarkable that nothing, not even semi-ootsey-cutesy sexy bathing scenes, sexual harassment by girls on other girls that is just as absurd and offensive as one might expect, idiotic plot complications, and the entire premise of the school setting, will change the fact that this book is remarkable.

There is no question, either, that Misaki makes this book work. This despite her showing up to a school that has an endlessly long list of written rules and even longer list of unwritten ones, none of which with she’s bothered familiarizing herself, despite the fact that she is the highly visible maid to the Vice-Chairman of Amanotsuka Academy, Amanotsuka Himeko. Entirely unremarkable, the relationship between Misaki and Himeko is actually quite sweet and I find myself rooting for them as a couple, even though it’s a stupid idea given the setup of the story. The first scenario leapfrogs pleasantly through the absurdities of this set-up for a genuinely human moment.

Ratings:

Art – 8 I’m losing my mind, I think, because the Societal Arts uniform is starting to appeal
Story – 7 Blows Volume 1 and Volume 2 out of the water on “What did I just read?”
Characters – 8 Likeable and loopy
Service – 7 Underwear, baths, groping are endlessly exhausting
Yuri – 4.25 Misaki admits to finding Himeko’s body appealing

Overall – 7

Volume 4 is in process now, with an August release date and oh boy, I just can’t wait to find out which Salon the new girl joins! Yes, I am kidding. I couldn’t care less. ^_^

Amanotsuka Academy, you see,
is for young women both rich and lovely
With salons on the line
for those the most divine
Won’t you please join them for tea?

Thanks very much to J-Novel Club for the review copy. ^_^

Posted in Light Novel | 5 Comments »


Meisou Senshi – Nagata Kabi (迷走戦士・永田カビ)

June 13th, 2021

In my recent conversation on with the folks at Manga Mavericks about My Alcoholic Escape From Reality (a conversation that will go up on their Patreon later this month) we talked a little bit about this book as well. In the comments on Nagata Kabi’s TCAF spotlight, some lovely person expressed a wish that the author’s next book is about her hugging kittens. Well…it is definitely not that. 

Having given herself recognition that her comic essays are a valid form of artistic expression, Nagata-sensei has once again turned the spotlight on herself. In Meisou Senshi – Nagata Kabi (迷走戦士・永田カビ), she  tackles some of the things we might have been asking all along about her relationship with her gender and sexuality…and how that, and her physical and mental health,  affect and are affected by that relationship.

This is not an easy book to read. If anything, it open up whole new areas of discomfort. Content Warning: this book deals with sexual assault as a child. But, as we make our way through this in her wake, we can see (more clearly than we can with ourselves) how pieces of a life make up a whole. Her discussion of how  insurmountable was the effort of filling out the questions on a dating app, really struck home with me in regards to something wholly unrelated to dating.

Once again we see the power of a comic essay. This book contains increasingly intimate knowledge of her past, and tantalizing tidbits of her present, but we know we will never know the actual person through these.  These chapters are the comic equivalent of Van Gogh’s self-portraits….a visual record of her over time looking at a mirror and drawing what she sees. Some days the face that looks back at her is more haunted than others…sometimes it is almost happy. This records allows her to explore why that might be…and expose what the roots of that haunted look is.

I am curious, for reasons that will become immediately apparent when you read this book, what her parents thought of it. Nagata-sensei’s feelings about how she hurt her family in her initial volumes are made plain in later volumes and in her TCAF interview. This volume wasn’t going to make for light dinner table conversation and yet, I got the feeling that she and her family may have struck a bargain over this and while it may not be fun, they won’t be blindsided again.

Seven Seas has announced the license of this book as My Wandering Warrior Existence, which has a projected release date in English of March 2022. If you don’t want to wait, you can read this online in Japanese on Web Action. 

Yet again, I will not be rating this book, for reasons that will become apparent when you read it.

It is compelling.

Next up, we return to the beginning, with her plumbing the depth of her relationship with food, in Meisou Senshi・Nagata Kabi Gourmet De GO!  (迷走戦士・永田カビ グルメでGO！) the first chapter of which available on Web Action.

Posted in Comic Essay, LGBTQ, Nagata Kabi | 4 Comments »