Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – April 11, 2020

April 11th, 2020

Print schedules are in the air, but digital editions are still headed our way! Before you knee-jerk comment “I like print better”, consider…if you’re reading scanlations or online comics, you don’t like print better, you value print more. Take a moment to consider what you are saying about the effort of writing, editing, drawing, lettering, proofreading, laying out content for you to enjoy. If you happily read digital content for free, you’re saying that that is worth less to you than the paper being used to make a book. I’m NOT saying you can’t like a book. Obviously not. I love books. What I’m saying is life is going to irrevocably change during this pandemic and you might want to re-evaluate the value you place on the work and the content over the physical container.

Because I cannot get my physical copies of Comic Yuri Hime, and I was on Bookwalker Global, I picked up the May issue digitally. You can subscribe to the magazine through Bookwalker Global and never need a place to put giant cartons of magazines you can’t get rid of! ^_^

BOOKWALKER Global is doing a sale for 60% coin back on selected English manga and light novel titles right now. I picked up Ghost in the Shell Standalone Complex Volume 1 for $1.06. If you’re following me on Twitter, you know I’m doing a massive rewatch of all the Ghost in the Shell properties in the order they were made. I’ll be doing a post on my thoughts after the new Ghost in the Shell SAC 2045 launches later this month on Netflix. I’ll do the same for the manga, and see if I can get a hold of the new manga when/if that comes out in the fall.

What you can find on Bookwalker is a wide variety of English and Japanese manga from many publishers on – and here’s the part that I think is the best thing – any device, since their reader is usable on iOS and Android devices, as well as on desktop and other systems. Few regional limitations – this isn’t like Kindle, which insists one account= one country. In effect, Bookwalker is the store you all want, with titles from every major and many minor publishers, in English and Japanese. They have a Yuri category on their English and Japanese stores.

This has been an unsponsored, unprompted advert, but I gotta tell ya, last night I sat down to read that issue of Comic Yuri Hime and it was so *nice* to read on my tablet. So clear and easy to see, I might not go back. ^_^

 

Yuri Manga

I spent some time catching up on the big backlog of stuff for the Yuricon store:

Our Wonderful Days, Volume 3 is currently still slated for a July release. This volume wraps up Kei Hamuro’s sweet, quiet slice of country life Yuri romance out from Seven Seas.

In Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 4 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな) Saeko and Miwa are still trying to find their way. If you’re a fan, take a look at this doujinshi anthology for the series on Melonbooks! A couple of sample pages are available.

Comic Yuri Hime, May 2020 (コミック百合姫2020年5月号) is up on Amazon JP, but I’m not seeing any print issue after that…yet.

The Éclair series has put out a new one-shot collection, Éclair Special Kazuno Yuikawa Masterpiece Collection (エクレアSpecial 雑草譚 結川カズノ百合作品傑作選).

Yagate Kimi ni Naru Koushiki Comic Anthology, Volume 2 (やがて君になる 公式コミックアンソロジー_ is the second official Bloom Into You manga anthology. The first one was very good.

An adult woman falls in love with a cool, good looking woman, in this collected online comic Ikemen Onna to Hakoirimusume, Volume 1 (イケメン女と箱入り娘).

Galette No. 14 (ガレット) is taking pre-orders directly for folks who back the magazine at 500￥or more/month in Japan. Because all the events have been canceled, it looks like they are doing a limited print run.

Not gonna lie, I was really glad Tsuki to Suppin, Volume 2 (月とすっぴん)  arrived in my last shipment of books from Japan. I really like this adult odd couple daily life romance.

 

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Yuri Light Novel

Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 2 is headed our way shortly in digital form! The print will be delayed. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to read this translation of Sayaka’s high school one-sided love. I enjoyed it in Japanese, for sure.

Otherside Picnic, Volume 3 is also on it’s way for the middle of April. Got my pre-order in for this creepy-cool adventure sort of Yuri-ish series. Thanks to Sean G and AV-chan for the date corrections.

 
Yuri Visual Novels

Aikasa Collective is taking pre-orders for their beautiful Chinese folklore0inspired Yuri Visual novel Mizuchi(白蛇心傳) with 33% off through the 13th.

J-List has the preorder for the third installment of Innocent Grey’s Flowers series, FLOWERS -Le volume sur automne- Limited Edition.

 

Yuri Doujinshi

Lilyka is starting to sell their catalog of Yuri doujinshi on Kindle and Nook, according to their official Twitter account.

 

LGBTQ Cartoons
 

DC’s Harley Quinn cartoon is returning and will “explore” a relationship with Poison Ivy, reports Kat Calamia on Newarama.

 

Other News

Via YNN Correspondent Timeboxer, we have a beautifully written short scifi, Distant Stars by P.H. Lee. Lovely and sad.

Unrelated, I wrote a short story, recently. I like to think of it as a fanfic for the plague year. ^_^ Dodecahedron.

I’m going to end this week with a memorial note. LGBTQ rights pioneer Phyllis Lyon died this week at 91. She’s being remembered as the first person, along with her wife Del Martin, to have been married in California when gay marriage became legal, but she was so much more than that to LGBTQ history in America. She and Martin co-founded the first lesbian organization in the USA, the Daughters of Bilitis, and have been unceasingly on the front of LGBTQ civil rights. Lyon and Martin have a wikipedia page on their work together and as a tribute to this amazing woman, I’d like you to take a second and read it: Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. You should know who they are and what they have done for you.

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 essential part of the team!

 

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Nettaigyo ha Yuki ni Kogareru, Volume 5 (熱帯魚は雪に焦がれる)

April 9th, 2020

Here we are at Nettaigyo ha Yuki ni Kogareru, Volume 5 (熱帯魚は雪に焦がれる) and Honami Koyuki is putting the brakes on her almost-not-even moving-life. Why would she do that? Well.

Koyuki has always been a model student, and the teachers have relied on her to do the right thing. But that was also used as a bludgeon by the teachers, who compared the other students to her, which meant that the other kids pulled away, even though they didn’t mean to.
The end result is that Honami Koyuki is horribly lonely – lonely enough that she finds it inconceivable to not be lonely. While Koyuki was stranded in this Saragossa Sea of emotion, Konatsu came into her life. And she’s still not entirely sure what to do about it. Especially as she’s planning on going to school very far away, in Tokyo.

Oddly, the person who breaks her free is not Konatsu, but Konatsu’s friend Kaede who can see the (kind of obvious) truth. Kaede has no skin in the game beyond seeing her friend happy, so she’s free to force Koyuki into admitting the burden she carries. Even as we’re finally thinking something might break for the better, Konatsu sees Kaede and Koyuki walking together… and, naturally(????) fears the worst.

This volume was pretty annoying, I’m not going to lie.I get that Koyuki is not a happy character and this is a very slow-moving romance, but holy heck, what was that last bit about? Folks. Let me assure you your lover smiling while being next to someone else does not mean automatically mean anything bad. Sheesh. Nonetheless, I feel like something has got to happen now, surely. ^_^ (No, I kid, nothing is going to happen now.)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 1 on principle only, there really isn’t any
Yuri – 2

Overall – 7

I hope Volume 6 will move forward, but not moving forward is kind of this series’ thing.^_^; In the meantime Volume 3 in English is headed our way in May (with possible delays because of the pandemic.)

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MURCIÉLAGO -ムルシエラゴ- BYPRODUCT -アラーニァ- Arania, Volume 2

April 8th, 2020

MURCIÉLAGO has been a favorite of mine since Volume 1 hit shelves in Japan in 2014. And I loved that we got a side story about crazy-eyed sniper Reiko in 2018. It kind of ended and I forgot about it. Imagine my surprise, then to find that not only had I fallen behind on the main MURCIÉLAGO manga, but that there were like 5 more volumes of Reiko’s adventures in the underworld!  D’oh!

So here we are at MURCIÉLAGO -ムルシエラゴ- BYPRODUCT -アラーニァ- Arania, Volume 2 and Reiko is still corpse-deep in a Chinese mafia gang war. But, don’t worry, she’s cool. She is hired by one of the sides, which spell sdoom for the other side, and I wonder if you get shot like that, specifically, if your eyeball would hang out of your head like it does here. When I read this series, I end up wondering a lot of things like that, far more than I ever question the plot.

Reiko’s domestic idyll with her nice girlfriend is now permanently interrupted by the presence of a former Chinese mafia girl who likes to sleep naked and who fantasizes about Reiko.

Ratings:

Art – 7 Extra bloody and gutsy
Story – 7 Ditto
Characters – … … … What do you want me to say, really?
Service – 7
Yuri – 5

Overall – 7

I mean, who can blame her.

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Yuri to Koe to Kaze Matoi, Volume 2 (百合と声と風纏い)

April 6th, 2020

In Volume 1, we met Matoi, a high school senior who is a talented songwriter who doesn’t understand love. She meets Yuriko, older by a few years, attractive, cool…and suddenly, Matoi is starting to figure it out. As attractive as Yuriko is, Matoi isn’t sure what she wants, and Yuriko seems clear about what she doesn’t want.

In Volume 2 of Yuri to Koe to Kaze Matoi (百合と声と風纏い), Matoi and Yuriko wrestle quietly with themselves, becoming closer friends until Matoi is off to college in Tokyo.

Once in the big city, Matoi is befriended by Rio, who introduces her to concepts like demisexual, nonsexual, and people like lesbian friends of hers who have been a couple for three years. Rio likes Matoi and makes no bones about it, but when Matoi says no, there’s no drama, they can be friends. And she helps Matoi to understand her feelings for Yuriko better.

In the meantime, Matoi’s younger sister confronts Yuriko, forcing her to deal with her own feelings.  Yuriko heads to Tokyo to see Matoi. As the volume comes to a close, Matoi will come face to face with Yuriko’s secret.

This series is quietly outstanding. With discussion of LGBTQ sexuality as a fixture in the conversations, this is one of the queerest manga I’ve discovered in the past few years. I like that it’s part of the normal conversation in normal circs that a young human might actually encounter during their time at college.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 3
LGBTQ – 7

Overall – 8

It’s a joy to watch Matoi on her journey….and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens now that Matoi and Yuriko will have to confront the things that are holding them back.

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Yagate Kimi ni Naru Saeki Sayaka ni Tsuite, Volume 3 (やがて君になる 佐伯沙弥香について)

April 5th, 2020

Saeki Sayaka, very serious, prone to overthinking things, has met someone who will change her life. Edamoto Haru, first year in college has confessed to liking Sayaka, and now she needs to decide what to do about it.

In Yagate Kimi ni Naru Saeki Sayaka ni Tsuite, Volume 3 (やがて君になる 佐伯沙弥香について), we get to ride along as Sayaka overthinks the whole thing in the most lesbian ways possible. ^_^ Haru, who tends toward being bright and energetic, in exactly the way Sayaka isn’t, is honest about her feelings. And, thankfully for us, patient as Sayaka works her way through what exactly her response ought to be.

I’m not going to spoil any of this for you because, although we may or may not get a print version of Volume 2 in time for June, we are likely to get the digital version. Instead of spoiling this ending with a detailed synopsis, I’m just going to call out a few things that I really particularly enjoyed. You’ll get to read it when it comes out in English and you can squirm through every lesbian thing Sayaka does – or doesn’t – do. 

Haru quickly takes to telling Sayaka to call her ‘Haru,’as one might expect. On brand for her, Sayaka continues to call her ‘Edamoto-san’ well into their relationship. It’s kind of a joke, kind of being an asshat, and kind of endearing…and, as I say, very on brand for Sayaka. My favorite scene in the book might well be when Haru pushes the point and Sayaka calls her “Edamoto” without the honorific. ^_^;

I loved the moment when Sayaka, standing alone in her room just stops and says out loud, “I have a girlfriend.” Squee.

As we know from Volume 8 of the manga, Sayaka meets Yuu while with Haru, and she kind of expected Yuu to tell Touko. Yuu stands her ground and tells Sayaka that it’s her responsibility, not Yuu’s. The conversation that Sayaka really has to have with Touko does happen here. I was so relieved, honestly.

Iruma Hitoma did an exceptional job of writing for this series. For an author I’ve found to be inconsistent, every one of these three volumes absolutely hit the mark for Sayaka’s voice and personality. Of course the art was on point, as well, given that the character creator was doing the art, but something more than that was apparent here. For one thing, every scene that ought to have been illustrated was. That’s unique for light novels, which so often emphasize irrelevancies in the art. And, in every image, the two characters were shown exactly the way we know them to be. I’m not sure I can explain this correctly, but you’ll see when you read it. Sayaka’s composed, staid way of holding herself, Haru’s more mobile expressions and body language…and the final picture, the satisfaction on Sayaka’s face, all were perfect.

Ratings:

Art – 10
Story – 9 A solid relationship story from the perspective of a young lesbian
Character – 10
Service – 3 A couple of small things and a big thing
Yuri – 9 A solid relationship story from the perspective of a young lesbian

Overall – 9

A better end to the Bloom Into You / Yagate Kimi ni Naru series than I could have ever imagined back in 2016, when I reviewed the first volume of the manga. A very satisfactory ending for Sayaka. I wish her and Haru (and Yuu and Touko) well.

Oh! I forgot to mention….I grinned throughout this book. It was really just that spot on. ^_^

Posted in Bloom Into You / Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Light Novel, Nakatani Nio | 5 Comments »