Syrup: A Yuri Anthology, Volume 2

March 11th, 2021

There are several games in town on the Yuri Anthology playing field in Japanese, Kadokawa, Ichijinsha and Futabasha. (Thank you CW for the correction!) In English, we’ve gotten the Éclair anthologies from Yen Press and Syrup from Seven Seas, respectively. If you read all the anthologies, as I am wont to, you’ll see a lot of the same names floating around on the contributor list, which occasionally gives one a sense of deja vu. ^_^ Today we’re looking at the second Syrup anthology  out from Seven Seas. Of Volume 1, I said “Syrup is a very good Yuri anthology for your growing Yuri anthology section of bookshelves and a great way to add work by some of the best in Yuri.” This holds true for Syrup: A Yuri Anthology, Volume 2, with some caveats. 

“Caveats?” you ask? Yes, to be very honest, overall, I am less fond of the Ichijinsha and Futabasha anthologies than I am of the Kadokawa. Second, because an anthology covers a wide range of styles and content, you are unlikely to love everything in any given anthology. In this volume’s case there were a few stories that put me off quite severely. One, by an author I know I don’t like and was therefore able to skip it, and at least one other by someone I had not previously been familiar with.

That said, here in Syrup, Volume 2, we have a fair number of decent stories and a brace of stories that I thought lifted the whole anthology out of the pack.

Matsuzaki Natsumi’s “The Fourth Woman” was an excellent crossover between two subgenres, with a idol fan and her idol meeting once again in office life, which left me smiling at the short, but on point story. The final story, “At What Point?” by Morinaga Milk also hit me in a few sensitive spots. The collection as a whole has some names I’m pleased to see; among them, Takahashi Mako, Whispered Words‘ Ikeda Takashi, Amano Shuninta, who I’m always really glad to see in any anthology and what now looks like a very, very early contribution by Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl creator, Canno.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Solid work by translator Jennifer Ward and adaptor Asha Bardon make this a quick read. I want to note that doing lettering and retouch on multiple author’s work, as Kaitlyn Wiley did here, can be trickly. Another fine job from everyone at Seven Seas and another authentic manga reading experience.

Thanks to Seven Seas for the review copy!

Posted in English Manga, Yuri Anthology, Yuri Manga | 3 Comments »


A Witch’s Love At The End of The World, Volume 2

March 10th, 2021

In Volume 1, we meet Mari a girl at a school for witches who apparently has no magic. Assigned to help her in her studies is top student Alice who has a great deal of magic, and who has been warned to never fall in love. As I say in my review, ” Mari and Alice discover that they can transcend not only their personal limitations, but the strictures placed upon witches. Mari becomes a key and a lock, which Alice unlocks. In doing so, she finds herself changed.”

In A Witch’s Love At The End of The World, Volume 2, Kujira’s tale of magic and loss and love takes a shocking turn, as Mari and Alice find themselves wandering Mari’s old neighborhood…only to discover that all traces of her family have been disappeared completely. The situation is not at all cleared up when Madam Dolly finds them and sends them back to the school. Alice is feeling feeling she has been explicitly warned to stay away from and Mari, who doesn’t really care about being a witch at all, just wants to know what the heck is going on.

This book reminds me a great deal of a story from my childhood that I loved. The multiple perspectives of same events and characters trying to understand those perspectives. It’s not at all the same story, but it has a similar feel. As a result, I find myself probably more engaged with Mari’s quest to find the truth and make a path for her and Alice through this than maybe I might otherwise might have. In any case, I still enjoy the art – which has become much more filled in now that Mari and Alice are in the “real” world –  and the characters. I hope the story will hold up to through the end.

Yen’s edition is nicely put together, featuring the translation of Eleanor Summers and lettering stylings by Sara Linsley (who, relevantly, just had a great little Twitter thread about lettering over art.)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – The jump comes from an unlikely quarter, but…yes
Service – Still not really

Overall – 8

Volume 3 will be out in May, and I’m hoping for the ending I want, not the ending it’ll probably get. ^_^

Thanks so much to Yen Press for the review copy and for bringing out this interesting story.

Posted in English Manga, Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


Still Sick, Volume 3

March 8th, 2021

Here we are at the end of Akashi’s workplace-romance that became a completely different story. In Still Sick, Volume 3, as I said in my review of the Japanese edition, there is a lot of story to tell and, overall, this volume is up to the task.

Maekawa is still locked in a struggle with herself about drawing manga. But being locked in a struggle is what Akane does best, as she’s simultaneously locked in two other struggles. Also vying for her attention is her increasingly serious feelings for Shimizu Makoto ,and her refusal/inability to deal with her depression…a depression that has some deep roots.

Makoto, in the meantime, has decided to be everything she can be for Akane. She’s supportive of the other woman’s choices, and forces her to confront some of those roots. And, while Makoto forces Akane to grow on in her personal life, her editor pushes her to do the same professionally. When the dam breaks for her, Akane, she is finally able to get past her blocks. Makoto takes a leap into the unknown too. Ultimately they walk together into a much less foreseeable future than either of them could have predicted.

As a story, this was also a stronger one than we could have predicted. There was a lot of room for Akane’s passive-aggressive nature to just continue to be played for “laughs,” but I believe that would have done a disservice to characters and readers. Instead, Akashi ties the series up pretty tightly and allows us to close the book knowing neither we nor Akane and Makoto were jerked around by lazy writing. As I said with the JP edition, to get everything tidy, the art suffers on some places, but I will always take a well-told tale with slightly sketchy art over detailed art, with an underdeveloped story.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Characters – 9
Story – 9
Yuri – 9, LGBTQ – 7
Service – 3 some noodling around, underwear, bed

Overall – 9

Tokyopop did a decent job on the technicals with a solid translation by Katie Kimura, editing by Lena Atanassova and some very nice letting and retouch by Vibraant Publishing Studio. I took a closer look at the cover design and, honestly, without the title and author in black across front of the the cover, Sol DeLeo & Soodam Lee’s cover design is honestly more open and easy to read than the original. Nice work, folks!

Tokyopop has not announced any other Yuri Yuri manga, but they are still bringing out manga-inspired comics, so keep an out for more from them. ^_^

Posted in English Manga, Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


The Complete Guide to “Yuri Movies” (「百合映画』完全ガイド) 

March 7th, 2021

While on the Yuri Tour in 2019, one of the last places I visited was Toranoana’s Yuri section. I mention this because, while it does not have a Yuribu like Animate, Gamers, or Shosen, Toranoana’s logo-less “Yuri Corner” is by far and away my favorite. Of the Yuribu, I think Shosen gets closer than the others, with curation that spans a wider range of interests for Yuri fans, but nothing approaches the scale or comprehensive curation that Toronoana offers. It begins next to a broom closet on the 4th or 5th floor of the Toronoana in Akihabara (I can never remember which floor) that’s covered with fake brick designed paper ( which you can see on the second picture.) The Yuri Corner goes along the wall, across the wall on the side where the registers are, then down back along the first full size bookshelf, then it turns the corner and is now another, growing section  on the other side of that same bookshelf. Here a few photos of the section. You can see how low-rent the sign is…totally printed from a computer.

 

 

 

 

BUT – and here is the key point – this is the best Yuri section in Tokyo.

Why?  Because it has manga and novels and light novels and reference guides and mooks and other nonfiction and doujinshi. And so when I am in Tokyo, I always save this store until last, because it will not only have everything I wanted to get, but couldn’t find anywhere else and things I didn’t know I wanted, but it will also have books I didn’t know existed and obviously need to read.  Books like the subject of today’s review.

In actual fact, I bought this on Amazon JP last year, but I guarantee that had I been able to visit in 2020, I would have found this book on those shelves.

The Complete Guide to “Yuri Movies” (「百合映画』完全ガイド)  by Fujinoyamai is a fascinating look at someone outside the anime and manga industry looking at media through an explicitly “Yuri” lens.

The book begins with an interesting explanation of the history of Yuri, and then a justification for the use of the term Yuri for looking at movies that have lesbian content without lesbian identity…a distinction that breaks down only towards the most modern of the choices here.

The guide itself is split into three parts. It begins with Japanese movies, beginning with the 1933 silent film Japanese Girls at the Harbor  (港の日本娘) and continues to 2019’s A Girl Missing,  Yokogao よこがお.  Each entry includes a synopsis, a short analysis and details of staff and forms of release.

The second part of the book cover non-Japanese movies. These begin in 1931 with the German film Mädchen in Uniform and continue through 2020’s The Half of It, which I reviewed here on Okazu.

The third part might be the most interesting for us here on Okazu, as it covers anime movies, from 1986’s Doreamon movie, Doreamon –  Nobita and the Steel Troops (ドラえもん のび太と鉄人兵団,) to 2020’s High School Fleet (ハイスクール・フリート), neither of which I knew anything about. So that’s all to the good.

Some of the anime choices are – to my mind, obviously – not “Yuri” as I understand it, which doesn’t bother me in the least, and one or two that I might have included that are not there. I won’t hold it against Fujinoyamai-san, they’ve taken on a huge topic with this book and done an interesting and thoughtful job with it.  I found the book to be a really interesting read. I’m particularly happy to have a guide to Japanese movies I might not otherwise have known about, with English-language lesbian film history being so Europe- and America-centric. On the whole, I’m inclined to agree with their choices.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

If Yuri as a genre interests you, and like me, you believe that it is a useful genre term for media outside anime and manga, this book is a great addition to your shelves…and these movies to your watchlist! And, if you get a chance to get to Tokyo post-pandemic drop by the Akihabara Toronoana and see what other unique Yuri printed material they have for sale. You never know what you’ll find.

Posted in History of Yuri, Live Action, Miscellaneous | 3 Comments »


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – March 6, 2021

March 6th, 2021

Yuri Events

The Yuriten is on! Take a look at the Yuriten Store for exhibitions by your favorite creators. Exhibits and goods are organized across the top toolbar by creator, series or kinds of goods, which makes it fun to look around. If you are using a buying service, you won’t be able to right click to copy, you’ll have to go to the page source. If you’re buying directly and sending it to a shipping service, it won’t be a problem.

Yuri Studio

We have a new video and a new answer to a very common question this week on Yuri Studio! Please enjoy Why Is There More Boy’s Love Than Yuri?. Give it a like on Youtube, and share it with folks you think might be interested. Also note my spiffy visual allegories on the section headers, my funny jokes, and my cool office! ^_^

If you want to be thanked by name on a Yuri Studio video become an Okazu Patron at the Producer Level. Thanks to all my Okazu patrons for their support. With your help we have a couple of great videos planned. I’m really excited to get working on the next one. ^_^

 

Yuri Manga

We’ll start of with a bunch of items on the Yuricon Store:

Still Sick, Volume 3 marks the end of this fun office romance series and is available now!

A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 6 continues the saga of Konatsu and Koyuki trying to figure out who they are and what they mean to one another. Crystalyn Hodgkins on ANN has the news that this series is coming to an end in Dengeki Mao, at what will be Volume 8.

Our Teachers Are Dating!, Volume 3 is headed our way in a couple of weeks. This series just wrapped up in Comic Yuri Hime, so you’ve got one more volume to enjoy of this adorable couple.

Yuni’s Hitogoto Desukara Volume 3 ( ヒトゴトですから!)  ends this office life Yuri manga. It’s been a fun ride!

Tokuwotsumu’s Tsuki to Koi wa Michireba Kakeru, Volume 2 (月と恋は満ちれば欠ける) finishes up this story about good friends who are trying to figure out who they are to one another.

Seven Seas wants you to remember that the entire Kindred Spirits on the Roof manga collection is available on Kindle and Comixology!

Shoujo Manga Shuujinkou x Rival-san, Volume 1 (少女漫画主人公×ライバルさん) is pretty fun.  A serious-minded young woman is thwarted in her love for the cool boy by the cool girl…who confesses to her.

Ohzora Publishing has a pretty specific new Yuri Anthology Shuuden Nogashita OL-san-tachi no Chotto Abunai Yoruna (終電逃したOLさんたちのちょっとアブナイ夜な百合アンソロジー) about Office Ladies who have missed the last train and spend a “dangerous night” together. ^_^ Could be fun, could be trash, could be both. I’m not familiar with any of the names contributing to the collection.

 

Yuri Light Novels

The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Vol. 1: Thus, She Is Reborn from Yen Press hit shelves this week. Read my review of this volume here on Okazu.

Also headed your way this week is ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! Volume 2. Again you can read my review here on Okazu.

 

 
Anime News

Crunchyroll’s Paul Chapman has the news on cast announcements for the upcoming Blue Reflection Ray anime.

Also on CR News, Komatsu-san has the video for Alicia’s look back at the Aria franchise for a promotion of the newest of the series, ARIA The CREPUSCOLO . ^_^ And, following this new anime, another is already in planning, Aria the Benedizione. Crystalynn Hodgkins has that news on ANN.

Funimation announced that they will be streaming Battle Athletes Victory ReSTART!. ANN’s Alex Mateo has the details.

Crunchyroll will be streaming the second half of Vlad LOVE on March 14. Egan Loo at ANN has the details.

 

 
Other News

Prism Comics is taking submissions for the 2021 Prism Comics Awards until March 12th. If there’s a queer comic you think deserves an award, definitely submit the name!

 

Become a YNN Correspondent: Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share and be part of the Yuri Network. ^_^

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons who make the YNN weekly report possible! Support us on Patreon to help us give Guest Reviewers a raise and to help us support more queer creators!

Posted in Yuri Network News | No Comments »