100 Years of Yuri and More at AnimeNYC

November 14th, 2019

This weekend may be light on reviews and there will be no YNN this week, but it won’t be light on content! I’m heading out to New York City, to be part of AnimeNYC which is sincerely everything NYCC wishes it were in regards to anime and manga.

I’ve written up a manga-focused pre-event report for The Comics Beat which I’ll link to when it goes live. In the meantime, here’s the queer highlights for you if you’re planning your schedule! The panels schedule is available in full on the event website.

Friday

I will be presenting 100 Years of the Yuri Genre at 3PM in Room 1E17. I don’t have a lot of room in my luggage, but I have some small prizes for good questions!

Con guest translator Zack Davisson and myself will be shouting into the void at The Great Debate at 6PM in Room 1E17.

 

Saturday:

The day begins with That’s Gay! Anime and Manga for the LGBTQ Audience at 10:30 in Room 1E17.

Yuri OVA Fragtime will get its US Premier at 1:30 in Room 1E13.

 

Companies that will be there, holding panels, sponsoring guests, and who have been licensing Yuri include Viz Media,who are celebrating the release of the Stars season of Sailor Moon, Sentai Filmworks, who just released a premium box set of Bloom Into You, Yen Press, which has with the Kadkoawa pipeline, J-Novel Club, who just launched a line of Yuri novels that were great), Funimation, Kodansha and Denpa. I’m also going to see if I can ask Square Enix for a book or two.

I’ll see you there!

 

Posted in Events | 2 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau, Volume 1 (ささやくように恋を唄う )

November 13th, 2019

Takeshima Eku’s Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau, Volume 1 (ささやくように恋を唄う) charmed me from the very first pages I read in Comic Yuri Hime magazine. 

Himari enters high school and as she and her friends watch performances during club recruitment, she falls head over heels for frontman Yori. Yori is shocked that this first-year just admits to having fallen for her. The rest of the story is not the kind of tortured “will they get together?” that we’re often required to sit through and, while Yori is an intense and tightly wound Nadesico beauty stereotype, she’s not self-loathing, tortured by her past or unnamed abuse. She’s just probably never had anyone want so badly to, you know, be around her. She’s had fans, but Himari isn’t just another fan.

There really aren’t plot complications here. I mean, yes, they can’t see each other for a few days after school and Himari is sad…so they decide to meet at lunch instead. Phew!

The big climax here is that Yori and Himari go out on a date. They share food, they have a lovely time, it’s delightful.

Artwise, everyone looks a bit drippy, but its otherwise very decent. As you can see on the cover there’s a lot of bright smiles and cutely reddened cheeks.

Mostly, the story is just a matter of two nice kids getting to know one another. It’s all very lovely and relaxing and I really like them and want them to be happy. Himari is very good for Yori, and Yori knows it. As a result, she’s really trying.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8 There is none. It’s very nice.
Characters – 9
Service – 10000 where the “service” is two girls who are having a great time as they learn to love one another
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

I’m actually looking forward to the school festival just to see Himari watch Yori perform.

Posted in Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


Yuri Manga: MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 11 (English)

November 11th, 2019

In a world where almost everything is a reference to H.P. Lovecraft’s Chthulu Mythos and all bad guys are deranged, and violence is almost always the answer, “horror” becomes relative.

In MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 11, horror is indeed relative…and also relative. The Deep One arc, which began with a giant shark, ends up as it inevitably must, in a lab where human brains are stored. The arc allows us to get an unusual glimpse into Tsuru’s past. It will come as no surprise, I hope, that it is filled with horror, while the deeply broken priest and his mother decay into even more gibbering madness than ever.

(It suddenly dawns on me that I have lost a great number of opportunities to write reviews of this series in Lovecraftian patois. I am saddened by the loss. I can’t do anything about it now and the next few volumes aren’t conducive. Bleah. I’ll just have to wait for another opportunity.)

We all get an unexpected few days off, filled with sea slugs and bonding with murderous children and ugly lesbian sex before the new arc picks up. When it does, we probably could not have expected that it would be a young woman possessed by the spirit of a master swordsman. But, it is.

Ratings:

Art – As I said in my review of the Japanese Volume 11, you have got to know what you’re in for by now
Story – Same as above
Characters – 8 Cheerful psychopaths, ftw
Service – 9 Sea Slugs and ugly lesbian sex
Yuri – 9 Ugly lesbian sex ftw

Overall – 8

I know I keep telling you I love this series. I adore the bizarro deaths, the creepy complications, the hideous monsters, the ugly lesbian sex and the fact that a psychopathic lesbian and her pack of cheerfully amoral, exceptionally violent friends are the protagonists. As the author never hesitates to remind us – there are no good guys here. Only good bad guys.

Thanks very much to Yen Press for the review copy. It’s always such a pleasure to read this series. Except when it isn’t. ^_^

Posted in English Manga, MURCIÉLAGO | No Comments »


RESISTANCE: The LGBT Fight Against Fascism in WWII

November 10th, 2019

Queers & Comics is an event held once every two years alternately on the east and west coast of the United States. It has been my incredible honor to have been part of this event since its inception. In 2015, I moderated a panel about erotic comics, in 2017 I participated in a panel about queer manga history and moderated a panel about queer manga art. In 2019, I moderated a panel on queer manga history with artists and academics from Japan.

There is no artist’s alley or dealer’s room at Q&C in NYC but, since almost all the participants are artists, there is a room managed by LGBTQ Comics consortium Prism Comics, that features works by many of the creators participating. This past event I was able to pick up a book I had seen mentioned online, but had not yet had a chance to buy.

RESISTANCE: The LGBT Fight Against Fascism in WWII contains a series of short biographies of queer people who fought against fascism in dozens of ways. Each short biography, written by Avery Casell, edited by Diane Kanzler, is followed by a short bibliography , and an illustration by a well-known queer comic artist, suitable for coloring. Both subjects and artists are a diverse bunch, from the famous to the less-well known. Artists, writers, political activists, musicians, teachers, scientists, researchers all get their due.

Despite being a kind of augmented coloring book, there is nothing about this collection that is light reading. Many of these brave souls died in German concentration camps, others were exiled or ran from their homes. Although many of these people did survive the war, some were killed by their own government’s hatred of LGBTQ people. This is no fun to read, but it is a testament to their bravery, their persistence and their strength that faced with racism, homophobia, religious intolerance, sexism and every other conceivable form of prejudice, so many of these people made a concrete difference in a world that didn’t care if they lived, much less if they lived happily.

Read a chapter a night. It’s three or four short pages. Understand what was done by the people who laid down the road upon which you walk. Honor their memories by laying down road for the next generation and pass their stories along. You and the world will be better for it. 

Ratings:

Overall – 8

This book is both a eulogy and a celebration of people you should know. Read this book then share it with friends or your local library.

I will be glad to gift my copy (which is very slightly battered, I am hard on books) to a reader who wants it. Please share a short story of a LGBTQ person who inspired you, personally, in the comments. Please include an email you will check and I will choose one reader at random to send this book to.

Posted in LGBTQ | 4 Comments »


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – November 9, 2019

November 9th, 2019

Yuri Events

Next weekend, catch the 100 Years of Yuri presentation at Anime NYC, Friday, November 15, at 3PM at Javits Convention Center, Room 1E17. I’ll also participating in the Great Debate with Guest Zack Davisson at 6PM! Watch us argue passionately about things that do not matter. ^_^

It is not the last chance to hear about 100 Years of Yuri, though – you can still contact me with an invite to be on your podcast, at your school or convention!

 


Comiket is approaching in Japan and circles are announcing their participation. Twitter is a great place to track those announcements. You can use #コミケ97 as a link for all posts regarding the event or check out my Yuri Resources List on Twitter for folks to follow.

Sexiled author Ameco Kaeruda has announced on Twitter that she’ll be contributing to a ComiketYuri anthology called DSD Project. If anyone of you is going to be there and can get it for me, please let me know, as I won’t be able to make it myself.

 

LGBTQ Comics

You remember I was at FIT Diversity ComicCon a few weeks ago? It was *awesome* and while there I got to talk to the amazing Alison Wilgus about her comic Chronin (which I have, of course reviewed. Read my thoughts on Volume 1 and Volume 2 here on Okazu.) Our chat on her queer time-travel, crossdressing historical samurai epic has been published on the Comics Beat. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed doing it!

The emotional climax of Shimanami Tasogare is upon us. Volume 4 is available for pre-order.

Via Yuri Times on Twitter, Saburouta’s Citrus+, Volume 1 is going on sale digitally in 7 countries on the same day and Argentina just slightly early (because of distribution schedules.) However I feel about the content of that series, this is a groundbreaking moment. You can get this digital release on Kindle or Bookwalker Global. The print volume will be out in English in February 2020 from Seven Seas.

Rafael Antonio Pineda on ANN reports on Nagata Kabi’s newest manga about her worsening mental and physical health. Genjitsu Touhi Shitetara Boroboro ni Natta Hanashi (現実逃避してたらボロボロになった話) is available this week in Japan.

Kyra Kupetsky posted an adorable romance comic between a middle-aged woman and the woman telemarketer who calls her in “This is She” on her Twitter feed. Read and enjoy!

 

Yuri Anime

The Bloom Into You Premium Blu-Ray box set from Section 23 has been added to the Yuricon Store. You know this is the holiday present you want. ^_^

The Fragtime OVA will be premiering at Anime NYC on Saturday, November 16 at 1:30 to 3:00 PM in 1E13 with guest voice actress Miku Ito and producer Yusuke Terada.

ANN’s Egan Loo has the news that Revue Starlight will get two films in 2020, one is a compilation and the other will be new content.

 

Other News

Via Out magazine, actress Lucy Liu has been painting beautiful lesbian erotic and romantic paintings for years. Just one more thing to like about her.

Via Anime Herald‘s Seth Green on Twitter (one of my compatriots on the Comixology manga panel at NYCC October 2019) here is a fun Yuri-ish music video from Sheena Ringo and Hikaru Utada.

 

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! Write me with any questions you have, and I’ll do my best to answer them on my YNN podcast, when I revive it this winter!

Special thanks to all of our Okazu Patrons on Patreon, who make this report possible!

Posted in Yuri Network News | 1 Comment »