Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – October 31, 2020

October 31st, 2020

Yuri Live-Action

Huge news this week as Netflix announced a live-action adaptation of Nakamura Ching’s GUNJO (羣青). This dark, but magnificent, Yuri manga follows two women – one, abused and desperate, the other a lesbian who loved her, after they conspire to kill the abusive husband. To be called Kanojo (彼女) in Japan, the series is getting simultaneous global release and has a site named Ride or Die on US Netflix. The synopsis on the US page reads, “Her abusive husband is dead, killed by her lesbian friend who’d do anything for her. Now they’re running for their lives.”

Check out Komatsu-san’s report on Crunchyroll News of the initial announcement!

GUNJO has long been one of my favorite series. Volume 1 of GUNJO is available in English on Nakamura-sensei’s website as a chapter-by-chapter purchase. Erin Subramanian did the translation and I was editing, until the pandemic put the project to a halt.

The Queer Japan documentary is alive! and will be available on demand through Apple TV, Amazon Prime and Google Play on December 11.

 

Yuri Manga

We’re doing a massive cleanup here and as a result, you have a chance to get some Yuri history for amazing prices. Our friends at cheapmanga.com are doing a sale on the remaining ALC Publishing manga, including WORKS, which was the second Yuri manga ever published in English and our global anthology Yuri Monogatari.

You can get all of the remaining ALC Manga, Yuri Monogatari 3,4 &6  and WORKS for $25 on Cheapmanga.com – and they are offering free shipping for $25 or more with the code ALC2020! While you’re there, look around. The folks there are good friends and have lost a lot of business to the pandemic. If you have the money, fill in a few holes in that collection, try a new series, give them a hand. ^_^

I get a lot of questions about Yuri Monogatari Volumes 1 and 2. They were both extremely limited runs. Only 200 copies of YM1 were ever published. I don’t even have a final copy, only a proof. So, no, we don’t have more of those, sorry. We didn’t have Volume 3 until a little while ago when I found another box. ^_^ There only the one box left, so get ’em while you can!

Seven Seas has announced a January release for Takako Shimura’s new series Even Though We’re Adults, her adult-life Yuri drama manga.

 

We’re only a few patrons away from hitting our 2020 goal. We’ll Guest Reviewers a raise,
do more videos, and support more queer creators directly. Become an Okazu Patron today!

 

Yuri Doujinshi

YuriMother has taken a look at a new Yuri doujinshi over at Lilyka, As You Wish by Aosaki Rusou. She’s noticed some improvements in their offerings. Lilyka are doing another signed art event, this time for Ruri Kumashika’s work.

 Irodori Sakura has a new title, Yuriyon which is a collection of shorts by Why Does Love Do This To Me? creator Ayano Ayano.

 The University of Tokyo’s Yuri Enthusiast Research Group has announced on Twitter the 4th volume of their doujinshi collection, Lilliest, Vol. 4 available through Booth.pm. Check out the free sample pages (in Japanese).

 

Yuri Light Novel

Yuri LN ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! is now out in print from Seven Seas.

Bloom Into You, Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 3 is slated for the end of December. ^_^ Don’t forget to add it to your holiday wish list.

 

Yuri Visual Novel

Meru on Twitter notes that Kudan Folklore from Sukera Sparo is now available in Chinese, English and Japanese. That’s pretty awesome.

 

Other News

Via YNN Correspondent Sandy F., Shinsokan is planning a  2021 Kase-san series calendar. This is exactly the kind of thing we have Tenso and Buyee accounts for. ^_^ It appears that you can customize the calendar by putting the images in the order you want. I’m fascinated by this and may have to try it out.

The Murderbot series by Martha Wells stars an agender cyborg protagonist in a humorous and action-filled science fiction series. mar has created a 5-book synopsis animatic (spoilers!) on Youtube that I found to be superb. Check out I’m Not Your Hero – The Murderbot Diaries Animatic, using Tegan and Sara’s song of the same name.

BBC Bitesize interviews creator Cienan Muir on superhero diversity, touching on Indigenous and LGBTQ representation and even a bit about anime.

This week was the 110th Birth Anniversary of Kenkoy’s creator, Mr. Antonio “Tony” Velasquez, who is regarded as the Godfather of Taglog Komiks!

Via YNN Correspondent Kat C, check out this handmade lily-themed Japanese school uniform in early 20th century style. The Haruka Kimie shop is worth a look if Meiji-Taisho period cosplay is your schtick.

The Library of America shares this fun snippet: “When Clare Winger Harris’s byline appeared in Weird Tales in 1926, she became the first woman to publish a story under her own name in any of the American science fiction magazines.” The name of the story? The Miracle of the Lily. ^_^ It’s not at all Yuri, but the title made me smile.

 

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!

Posted in Yuri Network News | 8 Comments »


Éclair Rouge: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart

October 30th, 2020

Éclair Rouge: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart is the fourth volume in Kadokawa’s Éclair anthology series put out by Yen Press. Overall, I thought it a pretty decent anthology, with some inclusions I very much liked. It still makes me so personally happy that you’re able to read work by Kitao Taki and Amano Shuninta in English, finally.

There are some changes made from the Japanese edition, which I reviewed almost a year ago. I know of two and think I understand both, although I don’t know specifically if I might have also chosen them, having not been in the position of editing this volume. So let’s address these up front and then get in to happier tidings. Yen was very honest about having cut a story from the Japanese edition. I have been asked what it was about, but to be perfectly honest, I can’t answer that. My copy of this volume in Japanese is buried in a carton with a thousand other volumes, while I have undertaken a massive cleaning and renewal of my office. While I cannot tell you specifically what was objectionable, I know Itou Hachi’s stories tend to be unreadable for me and I feel absolutely no loss whatsoever not having to skip past it quickly.

The other change is something I cannot do more than speculate why as it was made. In my review of the Japanese edition, I noted that Morishima-sensei had added trans inclusivity into her story, “When I Undo Her Button.” The scenario is that a woman does not like to show her body to anyone, not even her lover. At the beginning of the story, Rikako wonders why that might be. Among other possible scenarios, she considers if Miyu might be trans. Rikako’s not concerned about that, she’s concerned that she hasn’t communicated to Miyu that she is loved unconditionally. Please do not assume the worst of Yen. Since we do not know why the choice was made, let us give them them benefit of the doubt and assume it was a specific request, or something similar. It is absolutely possible that they thought mentioning being trans in that context would read like it was on a list of bad things that had to be accepted and, with that reading, was best left off.

All that having been said, my favorite stories remain the same, Kabocha’s “Nice to See You, It’s Been A While” and Taki Kitao’s “The Legend, the Newbie & Me” which gets to the heart of her style that I enjoy – crazy reaction faces and silly situations. Fans of Canno will be happy to see the continuation of her “Unemployed Woman and High School Girl” series.

Translator Eleanore Summers does a fab job and the lettering by Erin Hickman ought to be noted, especially when the font really captures the tone of the original. I know Yen doesn’t always credit everyone who worked on a book, but the technicals are solid, so hats off to the entire crew.

If you’re a fan of Yuri manga, Éclair Rouge: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart gives you a chance to experience some of the best creators in the business.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

All in all, a solid Yuri anthology. This volume is a hefty 251 pages of content by creators who are riding a wave of popularity in Yuri – some of them have been doing it for 20 years, some are relative newcomers, but they all bring a lot to the table. The next one in the series is Orange, which came out last winter in Japanese. There has, so far, been no further volumes of the series in Japanese.

Posted in Yuri Anthology, Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Kyou, Koshiba Aoi ni Aetara, Volume 2 (今日、小柴葵に会えたら)

October 29th, 2020

In Volume 1, we met Sahoko, who had some kind of feelings about her classmate Aoi. In Kyou, Koshiba Aoi ni Aetara, Volume 2 (今日、小柴葵に会えたら) the story gets infinitely more complex. Sahoko is falling for Koshiba Aoi, but Anna is falling for Sahoko. A fun afternoon doing karaoke puts them in proximity, but does not help solve either of their problems.

Worse, though, Aoi herself has fallen in love… with a guy, and has asked Sahoko for help. What’s worse than helping the girl you like look beautiful for someone else? Sahoko follows them to find out, and ends up sitting with Aoi.

Meanwhile, in the future, Koshiba Aoi won’t be joining them again, today.

As I said in my review of Volume 1, I really like Fly’s art.  But Takeoka Hazuki’s story has taken on a Waiting for Godot feel at this point, since Koshiba Aoi isn’t coming now, or maybe ever? If she won’t come to see Sahoko, what happened between them? Tune in to the next volume to find out!

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Service – 2
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7

Kodansha has licensed this series as Chasing After Aoi Koshiba. Volume 1 is slated for a March 2021 release, with Volume 2 arriving in May!

Posted in Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


GUNJO, by Nakamura Ching Getting a Movie on Netflix!

October 27th, 2020

Thanks to YNN Correspondent Mercedes for bring this to my attention early today. Nakamura Ching’s GUNJO is being made into a movie by Netflix. This true-crime style story follows the aftermath of a murder. A desperate woman has the woman who has loved her for years kill her abusive husband. The story happens as they run from the police. The Netflix movie will star Kiku Mizukara and Honami Sato.

Komatsu-san at Crunchyroll News has the details.

Volume 1 of GUNJO is available in English at Nakamura-sensei’s site, on a per-chapter basis. I was able to edit is, with Erin Subramanian doing a fantastic job on translation. I hope you’ll read it! With luck, we’ll get a collected e-book volume soon.

Posted in LGBTQ, Live Action, Nakamura Ching, Yuri Manga | 9 Comments »


A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 5

October 26th, 2020

A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 5 by Makoto Hagino addresses an important conundrum for young people. Their lives are not theirs to decide until they are…and then the entirety of their trajectories as adults are dumped into their laps all at once. What do you want to be? Where do to want to live? What do you want to do? How can they possibly know who they want to become, when they barely know who they are?

Koyuki is facing this conundrum. Typically, she’s struggling alone and in silence until Konatsu’s classmate Kaede inserts herself into the older girl’s life. It’s an accidental meeting at first, but Kaede’s easy manner and forthright honesty helps Koyuki come to several decisions – one that might bring her closer to Konatsu…and one that might separate them forever.

Until this volume, I hadn’t really given Kaede a thought. She was “Konatsu’s classmate and friend.” But here, she becomes a catalyst for positive change. What will happen remains a mystery to me because my copy of Volume 6 is stuck in a warehouse in Kawasaki, not being shipped for another month!

I’ll probably have Volume 7 before 6 ever arrives. (-_-); Nonetheless, you can catch up to me shortly, as the salamander comes out into the light to be seen, at least for a little while.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 0 not really
Yuri – 3

Overall – 7

The team at Viz: John Werry, Eve Grandt, Yukiko Whitely and Pancha Diaz once again did a great job, with this quietly sweet, quietly angsty story of coming out of one’s shell.

Thanks very much to Viz for an advance review copy. You’ll be getting a chance to read this book in November.

Posted in English Manga, Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »