Although this has been a chaotic time, with pandemic and other uphrevals, we’ve accomplished a lot so far this year with your help.
Take a look at the full list of what we’ve done, what we’re doing and what we plan on for next year – our 20th anniversary! – at Yuricon and here at Okazu.
https://www.yuricon.com/blog/2020/11/08/yuricon-okazu-updates/
Yuri Manga
Akiko Morishima’s The Conditions of Paradise: Our First Time is a prequel for Sumi and Sabrina’s relationship in The Conditions of Paradise, coming to you this month from Seven Seas!
Our Teachers are Dating, Volume 2 will be here at the end of January.
Takako Shimura’s Even Though We’re Adults, Volume 1 is heading our way from Seven Seas next February,
Yen Press has Kujira’s A Witch’s Love at the End of the World, Volume 1, coming our way this month!
Help us reach our 2020 goals – subscribe to Okazu on Patreon!
Yuri Anime
RetroCrush TV has added Yamibo: The Darkness, The Hat and the Travelers of the Books. ANN’s Jennifer Sherman has details.
This rather mediocre anime has had ridiculously long staying power. It’s quite befuddling.
RetroCrushTV also has announced that they have the Vampire Princess Miyu OVA, which is wonderful. I hope they get the TV series, because it fantastically queer and creepy.
Via YNN Correspondent Megan, Takarazuka-esque revue troop story, Kageki Shoujo, is getting an anime. While not Yuri, it’s a really great story, I hope you’ll enjoy it. Seven Seas has the manga as Kageki Shoujo: The Curtain Rises!.
Otherside Picnic anime gets some key visuals and frankly, I’m a little disappointed at the service. Rafael Antonio Pineda has the details on ANN.
Yuri Light Novels
We’ve added I’m in Love With the Villainess Vol. 2 to the Yuricon Store. It has a January release date.
And ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! is now out in print!
Other News
The fabulous Stitch has written about rap artist Megan Thee Stallion’s love for anime and says, clearly, “No one gets into anime for clout.”, for Teen Vogue. (Lizzo, whose chanteuse voice and flute playing charmed me, is also is a fan of Sailor Moon and that’s just one more of a zillion reasons to love her.)
Legendary composer Yoko Kanno is collaborating with Takarazuka for an upcoming work about the Silk Road, reports Sora24’s Casey Baseel.
The Yagate Kimi ni Naru live-reading of the stage play is happening in Japan, in two parts. Streaming is available for purchase for an earlier version and they have an English language page, which I presume means they allow overseas viewers.
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 important part of the Okazu family. I couldn’t do it without you!
In Volume 1, we met Iori and Minami, an career woman and a server at a izakaya whose relationship is surprisingly not fraught, and Saori and Shizuku, Iori’s little sister and Minami’s “sister” at the orphanage whose relationship is more of a light hand-to-hand combat than a battle.
In Volume 2 we added manga artist Heke and her editor Shinohara, who are partners in an onling RPG, but not quite there in real life.
Volume 3 of Fuzoroi no Renri (不揃いの連理), by Mikan Uji, adds a new couple to the collection. Kujyo-sensei is interested in women but cannot bring herself to go into the lesbian bar, so she keeps visiting the maid cafe next door. Sugimoto one of the students at school, works at the cafe and thinks Sensei is kind of cute and awkward.
The remainder of the volume is snips and clips of the various couples’ lives, as they deal with whatever life throws at them. The art is cute and also kind of dynamic. The stories are slice-of-lifeish scenarios and the characters are all pretty cute. Although I really hope that Shinohara manages to finally confess to Heke-sensei soon.
This manga is light-hearted and fun. It’s a lovely distraction in these stressful times. I’m glad for Mikan Uji-sensei having three volumes so far and think Kadokawa seems a good fit for their work.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 2 Even less than usual, as we spend time with more couples, less of it is intimate.
Yuri – 10
Overall – 9
I’m always happy to see Shizuku and Minami’s piercings and Minami’s tattoos, just because we so rarely get characters that look like that, but also because I like piercings and tattoos! If you’ve seen me in person you know I have my own collection of holes in my face and a couple of tattoos that are waiting patiently to be added to. ^_^
There were loads of great stories in Comic Yuri Hime, November 2020 (コミック百合姫2020年11月号). The cover is one again Rolua’s scifi-ish ouvre, which I am really enjoying. Honestly so far, maybe my favorite year since the 2011 reboot covers.
The issue starts off with a rough chapter of “Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu!” by Miman, as everyone in Liebe Cafe struggle with the tangled relationship between Hime and Mitsuki, as the cafe celebrates a double birthday event for Kanako and Mitsuki.
“Futari Escape” takes us to, among other places, the Fukui Prefecural Dinosaur Museum. Honestly, I love that we have an honest-to-goodness Yuri travel to random places series. I’m not in love with Taguchi Shouichi’s characters, but I forgive that because…dinosaurs.
Overall, Shime’s “Yurizukushi no Kyoushitsu de,” we focus on Oohkouchi Kisaki, a rarity in Yui manga. Kisaki is genuinely heavy, not just plump. She’s also well-loved by her classmates and a badass at volleyball. It is so refreshing that her weight is neither a joke, nor a caution, and the girls around her adore for her self.
The star story this issue is “Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsuiatteiru” by Ohi Pikachi, as Hayama-sensei has something very important she wants to ask Terano-sensei…. Look, I know this series is complete fantasy, but please allow my fantasy in which women who love each other are given room to be adorable and adored. ^_^
“Watashi no Oshi ha Akujyaku Reijou,” hit a key scene which, if I described it to you, you would stare at me like I was crazy. Don’t believe me? Okay – Rei blackmails Claire’s father into allowing her to be Claire’s maid. Yes, blackmail. See?
Equally as wonderful is Ohsawa Yayoi’s “Hello Melancholic!”. I mean, yes, I love that Minato and Hibiki are starting to communicate – that Minato is starting to communicate, specifically and yes, they may be on the same page after all…but I love that Minato took the reserve chair position in the grownup band, too. She’s changed so much already.
“Kaketa Tsuki to Donut”s is moving towards a climax, so this chapter is the new girl meets the old girl episode. Hinako is going to have to figure out what she wants. It’s not that simplistic, of course, because adults. ^_^ I love everything about this story – art, story, characters. Usui Shio is my jam right now. (Also Yuni, but that’s a review for another day.)
Inui Ayu’s autobiographical comic has gotten to the heart of every lesbian relationship – who cooks and who cleans. ^_^
Ratings:
Overall – 9
A fantastic issue this time and I look forward to the final issue of the year to see what it brings!
Our friends at Cheapmanga.com have been kind enough to make all remaining ALC manga volumes available at discount prices!
Yuri Monogatari Volumes 3,4 & 6, the English-language global Yuri anthology from ALC Publishing are available for $18.00 for the set! This Yuri anthology includes selections from Japanese artists like Rica Takashima, Eriko Tadeno, Akiko Morishima, Nishi UKO, as well as artists from every corner of the world.
YM1 and YM2 were very small runs and due to a host of reasons could not be reprinted. I’m sorry about that now, but the initial idea was to print it like a doujinshi, with short annual runs for shows. Then it got a little more popular and we had to print more, and then printing exploded and all our files couldn’t be read the same way and what had been high resolution was now very low and we didn’t have a way to fix that (or, in some cases, reach the artists to get the rights to reprint permission,) so those are long out of print.
WORKS by Eriko Tadeno, the second Yuri manga to ever be published in English is available for $7. This collection of 4 stories that walk us through lesbian lives and loves, including stories of coming out to family, old school crushes and a workplace romance long before the current Shakajin craze.
Buy all 4 books for $25 – and with the code ALC2020, you’ll get free US shipping on orders of $25 or more! This code is good for any books and it’ll stay good, so feel free to hit them up later, for more manga!
I want to personally thank all of you who have already purchased these books – the folks at Cheapmanga let me know they *love* the kind notes and comments they’ve been getting. With all the conventions canceled, they’ve missed the interaction with fans. This morning I handed over another set of boxes and was told, specifically that my crowd was the nicest people. I’m so thankful to all of you for being the nicest people! ^_^ Definitely keep writing nice notes and comments for them, please. They’ve been good friends for many years, and the loss of conventions this year has been hard on them emotionally and business-wise.
Thank you all for your patience with this weekend’s website security issues and for your support of Yuri manga! And also of my massive cleanup of the office, because every box of books you buy is extra space for me! ^_^
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