The last Okazu list of the year is replete with people and individual series that I felt were notable. This year there was a substantial set of changes to celebrate. As the second century of Yuri dawns, we are seeing massive shift in not only the quantity, but the quality of Yuri – and the multitudes of formats Yuri is available to us. There’s a lot to unpack here, and you’ll be given a lot of links to click, so let’s get to it!

Yuri Studio

Most years I find myself traveling to various events in order to participate on Yuri panels and take questions from folks. Well, obviously the pandemic put the kibosh on that for 2020. Instead, I decided to bring the panels to you – beginning with an actual online Yuri panel in May 2020, and from there, a series of videos to answer commonly asked questions. Yuri Studio videos were received well and I can’t see any reason not to continue! You may not get to see me at a local event, but you can still have your questions answered and hopefully have some fun watching!

Many, many thanks to the folks who have contributed to our videos so far with questions, our Patrons who have supported their creation, and the team who helps me make them reality. I’m definitely looking forward to our second season on Yuri Studio!

Yuri Doujinshi

In early years, many fans of anime and manga only knew Yuri through doujinshi, those self-published comics sold at periodic comic events, like Comitia and Comiket. Many, arguably most, of our favorite creators in Yuri came up through the ranks of artists selling both derivative and original works. Now that Twitter and Pixiv have made it easier than ever to encounter new artists, and platforms like Booth and Fantia, Pixiv Fanbox and Melonbooks has made it possible to buy their works,  the western audience is even more open to translated editions of these manga. Lilyka opened the door for this audience, and they are continuing to grow their library. This year they are joined by Irodori Sakura, a company focusing on LGBTQ+ as well as Yuri and BL titles – a sentence I would never have been able to write even a few years ago. As more gender and sexual minorities bring their stories out in doujinshi, the more people will have a chance to read those experiences and we’ll get to see more of those creators move into the professional world. It’s pretty exciting time to be a fan of doujinshi in general and queer doujinshi especially. ^_^

Yuri Webcomics
There are so many excellent Yuri we bcomics out there, and more every day. Platforms like Lezhin, Webtoon, Tapas all make it easier than every before to find fun, often free, high quality Yuri. It’s impossible to list all the Yuri webcomics I read and enjoy, but here are a few standout titles for this year: Mage & Demon Queen by Color_LES combines fantasy and gonzo comedy; Opium on Tapas, story by Aji and art by Junghyun makes a really pleasantly adult change of pace, and;  Shilin’s fantasy Carciphona  – and her alt-universe romantic comedy for the leads of Carciphona, Amongst Us, are both absolutely among the best art I have ever seen. For a ridiculously silly but well-conceived tromp through Shoujo Yuri stereotypes, I really enjoy Not So Shoujo Love Story, by Cutyuku.

This is not a “best of,” just a few titles I enjoy. There are far too many to list…and maybe one year they’ll get a list of their own. ^_^ But once again Yuri webcomics are on this best of year list.

Yuri Visual Novels

The past few years have been an absolute revolution in Yuri Visual Novels. From Studio Élan to SukeraSparo,  Aikasa Collective to Oracle and Bone Studios, and hosts of indie developers, I don’t think I have ever seen such an abundance of Yuri VNs. so many of them are good. Not just playable but actually good stories, interesting characters and great art. There are a ton of Yuri games and VNs coming out of Japan and over the ocean to you.

We are in an absolute Big Bang of Yuri VNs and I am so excited for those of you who enjoy them! As a reminder, if you’ve experienced a great Yuri VN and would like to review it here, I am open to pitches. Please take a look at our Guest Review Submission Guidelines and don’t hesitate! I would love to give your review a read and someone out there will love to learn about that new Yuri VN. ^_^

Okazu Family

Every year there is a spot on this list for you. Okazu readers, YNN Correspondents, folks who leave comments, folks who help other people out in the comments, our Guest Reviewers and, of course, our Okazu Patrons, whose support makes all of the things we do possible – you are all part of the Okazu family…part of my family. Thank you for for your support of Yuri manga and anime, for purchasing volumes in print and e-book, for subscribing to platforms that provide us with the Yuri we want. I can never thank you enough for your sharing and engaging and encouragement and interest,  You are always a fantastic part of the global Yuri network.

Yuri Sci-fi & Shakaijin Yuri

In 2020, we had a concrete sign that Yuri was maturing as a genre. We’ve had schoolgirl Yuri for 100 years, but in this second century, we can now say we have two more subgenres!

2020 is the year of Science Fiction Yuri. Hayakawa is putting out a second Yuri issue of SF Magazine, and Otherside Picnic is not only doing well as a Light Novel series, we will shortly see it realized as an anime. As a long time science fiction fan, I am ecstatic that horror and scifi are now established as a subgenre of Yuri, as it is with any other genre.

I’ve been talking about Shakaijin Yuri – that is, Yuri that takes place in adult life in society  – for years. But this year, the dam broke open. We’ve had more adult life Yuri than ever before. And for the first time, Jousei Yuri has really been the breakout subgenre. We’ve had plenty of adult life Yuri by adult women for adult women, but this year, a new publisher entered the fray, putting the period on something they’ve been half doing for a long time.  Which brings me to…

Yuri Publishers

Shodensha is the premier Jousei magazine publisher in manga. They were one of the first publishers to do Yuri, in fact, with Sakarazawa Erica and Yamaji Ebine. Oddly, as Yuri became more popular, Jousei Yuri sort of faded into the background, which if you think about it is both understandable and maddening. (Understandable because as it became more popular, male otaku would predictably demand that their idea of Yuri was more “real” than work by women for women, but maddening because Jousei artists were there in the early days telling stories by and for women, so standing their ground would have been nice.) This year Shodensha threw down. On their MangaJam online platform they unleashed several of the titles that made my top Yuri manga list this year.  In English, we got Futekiya’s Manga Planet platform picking up these same Shodensha titles.

We have competition in Yuri doujinshi, and Web- and Light Novels, and Manga. Every major publisher in the US and Japan, and several smaller ones are investing in Yuri. I’m a huge believer in competition being good for all of us…it means we’ll get more choice and more chance to see something that is what we want to see, something that we don’t usually see  I offer my thanks to  Yen Press, VIZ Media, Seven Seas Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, J-Novel Club, UDON Entertainment, Kodansha Comics, Denpa, Lilyka Manga, Irodori Sakura, Manga Planet,  and in Japan, Ichijinsha, Futabasha, Shueisha, East Press, Seidosha, Hayakawa Shobo, Kadokawa Shoten, Akita Shoten, Shogakukan and Shodensha.

I didn’t get to visit Japan this year, but I also want to add my thanks to the various bookstores that have continued their Yuribu, which has made it possible for folks to find new Yuri during this time when we all need good stuff to read. ^_^

Yuri Webnovels /Yuri Light Novels

We’re here at the apex of the list and I am confident that you will not take issue with this or my top choice. ^_^

Yuri webnovels really broke into the conversation last year with a huge impact. This year, well, Yuri webnovels have taken their place as just another really terrific source for licensable materials.

Both J-Novel Club and Seven Seas have jumped on some of the best titles which had gone from webnovel to licensed light novel in Japan, giving us something I would not have been able to predict even a few years ago – a whole new Yuri media format to enjoy!

This year we enjoyed ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword!, A Lily Blooms in Another World,. We got Girls Kingdom just this month, the above-mentioned Otherside Picnic and many more very excellent and fun(!) Yuri light novels. And right at the end of the year, we have the super-light phone novels from Yomuco available to us on Manga Planet, like Two Guns Under the Sheet.

It is because of these media that I can, with absolute confidence, announce the best Yuri of 2020!

Bloom Into You Regarding Saeki Sayaka & I’m in Love With the Villainess

For years I have said that Yuri is “lesbian content without lesbian identity.” And for years I have longed for more queer content in my Yuri. Well, this year I had that handed to me on silver platters with Lily filigree, wearing little gold gay foil crowns.  ^_^

The Bloom Into You manga ended nicely but the side story, an intimate look at a young lesbian’s life, was superb. I loved the final volume – I am overjoyed that you all loved it as much as I did. Seeing Sayaka learn who she was, and learn to love someone who loves her back, was one of the high points of of the year for me. AND it has begun a collaboration that I’m honestly delighted about. In every way, Bloom Into You Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 3 was exactly what we wanted.

Amazingly, Sayaka wasn’t alone in this. ^_^

Here was a webnovel, a fun little isekai story, another tale of a overworked career woman who wakes up in a game she’s played a million times, only instead of being in love with one of the game’s principles, she fancies the Villainess. It could have been dire and derivative. It could even have been fun and forgettable. Instead it was…amazing.

Rae Taylor, who might have been pitiable, might have been a stand-in otaku with no real personality, is instead so awesome a protagonist that even had this novel not included an actual conversation about sexuality, I probably still would have kept reading the series. It did, however, actually have that conversation about sexuality and Rae admits in this fantasy world what she kind of really never did in ours…that she’s a lesbian. The rest of the story is political and funny and emotional and snarky. I’m in Love With the Villaness, Volume 1 was outstanding.

Bloom Into You Regarding Saeki Sayaka  and I’m in Love With the Villaness are available from Seven Seas and they share the honor of being the Top Yuri of 2020.

Thank you all for a fantastic year –  on behalf of everyone at Okazu and Yuricon, I wish you a happy healthy 2021!