Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – August 10, 2024

August 10th, 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 Okazu

Yuri Manga

New items up on the Yuricon Store!

Chasing Spica, Volume 1, by Chihiro Orihi, follows the tried and true formula of a popular girl who is targeted by the head of the morals committee at school. Volume 1 is available now from Seven Seas.

Also from Seven Seas is the final volume of my beloved end-of-the-world series, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou Deluxe Edition, Volume 5. I’m so glad to have been able to get this in English. It is just so beautiful.

There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless…, Volume 4 continues this love triangle / polyamory story by Teren Mikami.

Via her post on X, Mira Ong Chua’s ROADQUEEN: ETERNAL ROADTRIP TO LOVE ~afterglow edition~ “is an 288pg 18+ romcom graphic novel about love, revenge, and getting your bike back. This new PDF edition includes everything from the original, plus a new preface and bonus story. Also, it’s free!”

Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 7 (雨夜の月) is up on the store.  I cannot WAIT to tell you about this volume of Kuzushiro’s story. It was perfection. Volumes 1-5 of The Moon On A Rainy Night are available in English from Kodansha!

Two girls who are a little introverted try grabbing their springtime of their youths in Inkya Gal Demo Ikigaritai!, Volume 1 (陰キャギャルでもイキがりたい！)

Yuri manga artist Aneido has launched a kickstarter for Now No One Lurks Beneath the Snow: A Queer Fantasy Romance.

Hanakage Alt’s ALL BE PLUS Yuri manga about a heavy woman is available for preorder on DLSite. Check out some sample pages.

The Galette magazine kickstarter has passed it’s third stretch goal with 3 weeks left to go. I’d like to see it get to the 5 million yen stretch goal. To encourage folks to pick up the top reward level, they are adding more rewards to it! I’d love to, but $1000 is a little steep for me right now. They are going great guns, though and are only a few hundred away from fundraising 2x what they wanted for the initial goal.

In a conversation on the Okazu Discord, I noted that supporters for the Japanese edition are credited inside every issue of the magazine, so I counted how many people support that edition. As of Issue 30 (the one before the most recent issue) there are 210 supporters.  As an interesting point of comparison the English edition has 279 supporters as of this morning. So probably about what the JP edition began with. I’m too lazy to dig out the first issue and count. ^_^

The magazine crowdfunding has gone through a couple of platform changes  – and Fantia just stopped accepting overseas credit cards, which has caused support drop-offs.  Comic events are back in Japan, so some of their sales may have shifted back to those as well as on online bookstores and digital platforms – so the low number of supporters may be deceptive, but the fact supporters give them guaranteed income they can go into the creation of each issue before they sell issues through other venues. On this Kickstarter, they intelligently accounted for 6 issues, so about one volume’s worth each of the ongoing stories.

 

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Yuri Anime

Toei announced on X that Girls Band Cry has been licensed for a digital-only North American release. Alex Mateo has the news on ANN.

Discotek’s remastered Dear Brother is back in stock on Amazon. Don’t miss this gorgeous edition of Osamu Dezaki’s masterwork of shoujo anime.

Discotek’s new release of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A’s Complete Collection on Blu-ray is now available on the Yuricon Store! I want to commend Discotek for writing a superb synopsis for this, the best I have ever seen from an anime company.

 

 
Yuri/Baihe Novels

In extremely exciting news, via YNN Correspondent Patricia Baxter, Yáng Shuang-zi’s novel Taiwan Travelogue is being released in English by Graywolf Press, with a November release date. You may recognize Yang’s name as the co-author of Girls’ Love: The Development History of Lily Fan Culture in Taiwan’s ACG Industry 2023 Revised Edition (少女之愛：台灣ACG界百合迷文化發展史 2023增修版), which I reviewed here on on Okazu in May. She is a famous lesbian novelist – I’m thrilled to have one of her books headed our way.

Via YNN Correspondent Sean Gaffney, Yen Press announced the license of the novel Lycoris Recoil: Ordinary Days. I reviewed it back in 2023. It was very like the anime, which makes sense, as the writer is the same. There is a little Yuri at the end in a dream sequence.

New friend zhufree on X has these pics from an ice cream shop in China that is also a Baihe novelist qxhs goods shop! We agreed that we are both jealous. ^_^

Now that it has a manga, I finally added the first novel of Twinstar Cyclone Runaway, Volume 1 (ツインスター・サイクロン・ランナウェイ) to the Store. In a world where only married straight couples can fish the skies, two young women decide to believe in one another.

 

Yuri Events

Japanese manga artists are gearing up for Comiket 104, so don’t forget to keep your eye on the #C104 hashtag to discover artists like Chigusa Minori, or find out that Takemiya Jin’s circle Junk-Lab is back!

 

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Other News

Mieri Hiranashi, creator of The Girl That Can’t Get A Girlfriend is releasing a new series of manga how-tos. The first part, Making of a Manga (pt 1) – Storyboards is up now on Youtube!

Clearly inspired by Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu/ If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It To The Budokan, I Would Die (推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ ) , an “Oshi Meguri” in Okayama has been announced for October. See popular spots featured in the series, led around by founder of the Yuri Times, Fujishiro Ayumi!

 

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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Cheerful Amnesia, Volume 3

August 9th, 2024

A woman with long brown hair smiles with a wide, gaping expression. Behind her another woman with short brown hair, looks serious. Both women appear at an angle on the cover.Memory loss is no fun, I can attest to that. When I was younger, I had a mind like a steel trap, now I frequently struggle to remember things that happened moments ago. As I read Cheerful Amnesia, Volume 3, I also struggled with the relationship between Mari and Arisa.

Despite neither of them (or their doctors or the author) creating any plan for Arisa to regain her memories, Arisa and Mari are bullishly moving forward, just sort of pretending that being together is enough. They both think about sex with the other, but neither has the emotional wherewithal to have a real conversation, so they end up missing each other’s meaning. Over and over. It is hard to take them seriously as a couple.

 Arisa and Mari genuinely are interested in one another. Arisa even goes so far to ask Mari to marry her. But Arisa’s memories are not only coming back, she’s losing her memory of nights they spend together now. And no matter how many womp-womp noises you make as you draw that, it’s going to read as a concerning thing, not all that funny.

There is a problem with this sort of “awkward comedy.” It gets really tired after we’ve all heard the joke. And something has to give here, and the thing that gives is the cause of Arisa’s amnesia in the first place. Turns out that it’s because “too many good things happened…!”

I know it’s meant as comedy. I know. I just… . I laughed at loud at She Can’t Say No To The Lonely Girl! I swear I’m not an anti-comedy curmudgeon – I am a profoundly pro-comedy curmudgeon. But this just feels like a thin joke dragged out too long and I have a creeping feeling I know the punchline of this series is going to be Mari losing her memory and we do this all over again….

If you’re used to Oku Tamamushi’s art, Arisa’s gaping mouth won’t come as a surprise  – to me it reads like she’s always inappropriately loud. Mari’s pained reactions in some cases are understandable. This story isn’t complicated, so translator Jenny McKeon has some work to do to make us care about Mari and Arisa. As usual, she is successful. The panels are, likewise very empty, so I’m a bit sad that letter Chiho Chritie was not given time or money to do full retouch.

Next volume  it looks like these two are going to go through a whirlwind journey of getting Arisa to stop collapsing, coming out to their parents and getting married. Can the final volume  take up the slack in the rest of the series? We’ll find out next month, when Volume 4 hits shelves in September, from Yen Press.

Ratings:

Art – 7 Noticeably better again
Story – 7 It’s try, but do what, I’m not sure
Characters – 7 They are adults who need to grow up already
Service – “Sexy” things. Sigh.
Yuri – 9

Overall – 7

Many thanks to Yen Press for the review copy. I’m really hoping Volume 4 makes this story a triumph.

Posted in English Manga, Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Galette, No. 26 (ガレット)

August 8th, 2024

A doll-like girl with long, pale hair and multi-colored eyes stares out at us from a collage-like background of predominantly black and white.Energized by this week’s Kickstarter for an English-language version of creator-owned, crowdfunded quarterly Yuri manga magazine, Galette, (which has now surpassed it’s 3rd stretch goal with more than 3 weeks left to go!) I wanted to get back on my soapbox and start shouting again. ^_^ Issue No. 31 just came out, so I’m more than a year behind. Galette, No. 26 (ガレット) came out in May of 2023, right as I was struck with Long Covid. It’s been a lot of year between me and when this volume came out, but I’ll try to make time to catch up. ^_^

Morinaga Milk’s Watashi no Kawaii Neko-chan takes a turn for the serious – something is very wrong with Rena. Yun is at her wit’s end, as her lover suddenly is sleeping constantly. If this were not fiction, I’d recommend getting tested for mononucleosis. But there is no chance that this will be handled with any gravitas in this story. ^_^

This issue has a full slate of school life stories, including more than one about a girl who is not confident about herself, her ability to communicate, or of, course, her looks, and is quickly seduced by a charming, confident classmate. This also includes at least one adult story…actually, two, one by Inui Ayu that I hope will resolves with coworker gaining her wings, even if the relationship doesn’t work out.

A love triangle makes a refreshing change, and so does Tamamushi Okau’s story about a woman who wakes up and finds a naked girl in her bed. It’s uncomfortable humor, but the characters carry it off.

Hakamada Mera’s “Aikata System” continues, as the kouhai contemplate the graduation of their admirable, yet toxic sempai.

This issue features the 140-character stories solicited from fans a short story and an interview with Yuri manga artist Oku Tamamushi to round it out.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Popular Yuri manga artists making manga for themselves! What’s not to like?

Issue. No. 27 came out in January 2024,  so that’s next up for me!

Posted in Galette, Magazines | No Comments »


She Makes My Heart Flutter

August 7th, 2024

Promotional poster for the South Korean live-action yuri series She Makes My Heart Flutter, showing Jung One (left) holding a clipboard and her niece Kang Seol (right), looking surprised.

By Frank Hecker, Staff Writer

I like to highlight yuri series from different countries (why should Thailand get all the attention?) and from new directors and studios. In that spirit, today’s pick is She Makes My Heart Flutter, a short web series (just over an hour in total running time) from South Korea’s SOO NOT SUE Studio. It’s not exactly new, having been released almost two years ago, but I wasn’t around these parts to review it then; please allow me to rectify that omission.

She Makes My Heart Flutter wastes no time in kicking off its plot, as “optimistic” 20-year-old Seol Kang (or Gang Seol—the subtitles have inconsistent romanization as well as name order) awakens to her girlfriend breaking up with her via text message. Meanwhile her aunt, “considerate” 33-year-old One Jung, posts a “help wanted” poster for Dickinson’s Room, her café and bar, which is frequented by Seol’s friends. (The series also doesn’t waste time introducing its characters: they each get an introductory graphic with name, age, and personal traits.) As she joins her friends for drinks, Seol is surprised to learn that her aunt is the cafe’s owner, and schemes her way into getting a part-time job.

This sets up the first of the show’s two plot threads: unlike Seol, who is proudly out, One is both closeted and very reserved, and wants herself and her café to have as low a profile as possible—the café has no exterior signage and its social media account is private. As Seol brashly points out to her, this strategy is not conducive to running a successful business, and Dickinson’s Room is often empty of patrons. Well, not completely empty: Re Lee, the woman who designed the café’s interior, now comes in every evening at 8 pm sharp to have a drink and talk with One. Seol’s friends think Re is straight, but it’s impossible to miss the sparks flying between the two. The two parallel subplots briskly play themselves out, with conflict between generations on the one hand and mature reticence on the other, but all is well in the end.

She Makes My Heart Flutter is a romantic comedy that separates the two aspects: Seol and her friends provide the comedy (along with Bin Yu, the café’s manager) and One and Re supply the romance. This works quite well from both a story and character perspective. Ji-Hyun Byun as Seol Kang is the very model of an extroverted young lesbian who’s come out at a time when that’s increasingly a normal thing to do, while So-Mi Park as One Jung gives a subtle and touching performance as a mature thirty-something who still fears the disapproval of her parents and society at large.

The director of She Makes My Heart Flutter, the pseudonymous Soo Not Sue, has released two other web series on YouTube, the 15-minute short Chalna: Enough Time to Fall in Love and the 3-episode series Out of Breath. In an interview, she’s expressed her desire to make more shows reflecting the reality of lesbian life in what is still a relatively conservative and hostile South Korean society. I hope she gets that chance.

Story — 8
Characters — 8
Production — 7 (director Soo makes maximum use of limited resources and locations)
Service — 2
LGBTQ — 10 (the series reflects the lesbian scene in Seoul’s Hongdae neighborhood)
Overall — 8

She Makes My Heart Flutter is a can’t miss combination of young adult lesbian comedy and mature adult lesbian romance, both wrapped up in an easy-to-watch one-hour package. If you missed it back then, consider checking it out now.

Erica here: This year there was finally some good news for same-sex couples in Korea, as a high court ruled that discrimination by national insurance is illegal, but Korea is generally far behind on rights for queer folks.

Posted in Frank Hecker, Live Action, Staff Writer | No Comments »


I Can’t Say No to the Lonely Girl, Volume 2

August 5th, 2024

A girl with long, dark hair, wearing a white blouse and sweater vest leans over a girl with color length pale hair, who grasps the first girl's hand as she lays it on the second girls' cheek.Sakurai Ayaka is an excellent student who sucks at tests. A teacher offers her a recommendation to the college Ayaka aims for with a pretty manipulative twist – get a missing student back into the classroom and she’ll get that recommendation. Ayaka agrees, with some legitimate concerns and finds herself again subject to someone else’s whims. Classmate Honda Sora will only come back if Ayaka succumbs to one request” a day…and that request might even be a kiss!

Volume 1 of this series was very cute and also quite problematic, at the same time.

As I Can’t Say No to the Lonely Girl, Volume 2 evolves, both Ayaka and Sora are trying to understand what they mean to each other. Having met in such an unconventional (and frankly unpleasant) way, neither Ayaka nor Sora really have any way to understand how they feel.

The school sports day festival isn’t helping…but a new transfer student is. Watanabe sees what is going on and jumps right in to make sure they have to talk about it…at least a little. This leads to a chuckle out loud moment when Sora wonders how the costume for three-legged race that she’s just been subbed into fits her so well.

In the meantime, it’s hard to not be rooting for Sora and Ayaka as they navigate other people’s expectations, their own reticence and the unknown.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7, but climbing
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – pushing upwards at 6

Overall – 8

If, at this point, you are wondering what the deal is with Sora, her level of disassociation seems really high for no reason, tune back in for Volume 3…there is definitely a reason.

Oh, and I’m sorry. I localized the author’s name as Kashikaze and that’s what Kodansha uses, but just to complicate things, the author localizes their name as Kashykaze in Comic Yuri Hime now. Woops.

Posted in English Manga, Yuri Manga | 3 Comments »