Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – November 2, 2024

November 2nd, 2024

In blue silhouette, two women face each other. One wears a fedora and male-styled attire, one is in a dress and heels. Their body language is obscure - they may be dancing, or laughing or fighting. Art by Mari Kurisato for Okazu

Yuri Manga

The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All, Volume 1 is just out of the gate, but Yen isn’t waiting on this – The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All, Volume 2 is already up for pre-order.  Because they were kind enough to give me a review copy of Volume 1, I picked up a copy of the Kinokuniya exclusive with the variant cover and signed image board. I haven’t even had a chance to open it yet. ^_^;  I’ll get V2 up on the Store when it has a EN cover. ^_^

Catching up on the manga for the series, The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, Vol. 5 is up on the Yuricon Store, with Volume 6 headed our way in December. I’ll get that up as soon as it has a EN cover, as well.

Kuzushiro’s Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 8 ( 雨夜の月) is headed to JP bookshelves this month! I always look forward to this manga so much.

Ikuta Hana, creator of the Bakumatsu high school girls series Oni to Yoake, that I quite randomly reviewed this past week, has a new Yuri series Ryuu to Ryuu no Kekkon (竜と龍の結婚), starting on webcomic site Shiori. This follows two Dragon Princesses from  different Dragon Kingdoms who marry to bring peace to their lands.

Creator of Octave, Akiyama Haru’s new series Watashi no Blue Garnet (私のブルーガーネット) will be hitting shelves in Japan at the beginning of December. Interestingly, this does not appear at the moment to have a digital option.

The next to last volume of Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 13 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな) hit shelves last month in Japan. Miwa and Saeko go on a trip together.

 

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Yuri Anime

The Gundam franchise has announced the next series on their official X account. Mobile Suit Gundam ALC ENCOUNTER (機動戦士ガンダム ALC ENCOUNTER) appears to be starring two female leads once again…and, as some of you may remember, ALC Publishing was the very first Yuri manga publisher in the world! I ran ALC – which was short for AniLesboCon – from 2003-2010. So I’m giggling, imagining that they named the next Yuri Gundam after my ALC…which, they most likely did not. ^_^ Fun coincidence, though.

And for fans who can’t get enough Mobile Suit Gundam The Witch From Mercury, check out Mecha Girl of the Day’s account on X for these fab matching jackets for Suletta and Miorine from Bandai! I would get one, but nearly $400 a piece is a bit above my budget for my obsessions for anime and jackets.

I know I mentioned this last week, but it bears repeating, Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi, will be getting an anime in 2025. Check out the beautiful trailer on Youtube. I absolutely love this manga and have high hopes for the anime. Reviews of the manga are here on Okazu, through Volume 8 in Japanese, and Volume 1 and Volume 2 of This Monster Wants To Eat Me, out now in English from Yen Press.

 The Rose of Versailles anime movie has paired up with a florist in Japan to present themed flower arrangements. Check out the official account on X to see the Oscar, the Marie Antoinette, the Fersen and the Andre. ^_^

The official X account for the Puella Magi Madoka Magica franchise has announced a trailer for Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Walpurgis no Kaiten Part 2: SIDE Homura.

 

Yuri Visual Novel

Studio Élan has launched a demo to their upcoming Yuri VN, Lock & Key: A Magical Girl Mystery.

Ebi-hime has also released a new game this week for Halloween, The end of an obsession is “a short yandere yuri horror vn where you play as a princess trapped in a tower. Your only company is your kidnapper: a witch who seeks to torment you. Will she ever let you escape?“

 

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Yuri Light Novel

Also headed our way this month is The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, Vol. 8, in which Anis and Euphie continue to build their city of dreams, only to run in to obstacles.

Kadokawa is mining the step-sister Yuri mines with new novel Atarashiku Dekita Onee-san ha, Yuri Toiu no Suki Mitai, (新しくできたお姉さんは、百合というのが好きみたい). You can pick it up on Amazon JP or Bookwalker – and if you do and want to review it, let me know.

 

Other News

Dark Horse announced on Bluesky that STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC ADVENTURES PHASE III–THE WEDDING SPECTACULAR, will feature a wedding between Lula Talisola and Zeen Marla. IGN has an article about the pair.

The Tokyo University of Science Yuri Lovers Club is participating in the Ritsumeikan University Festival with snacks, mocktails and their new publication, mock tale. Check out the cover and announcement on their X account. And can we have a moment of pure joy that the Tokyo University of Science has a Yuri Club?!

Kyodo News reports that a Tokyo High Court has (once again) decided that the lack of same-sex recognition in Japan is unconstitutional and the Diet really ought to do something about. Recent elections has gutted the LDP stranglehold on power, so maybe we might see some change in our lifetime.

For those of us in the US, here’s an awesome event you can be prat of – everylibrary is celebrating Manga Day 2024, tomorrow on November 3 at 7PM Eastern US time on Facebook and Youtube, featuring speakers from Viz, Kodansha, Fantagraphics and Yen Press! Great people talking about great manga. Register for free!

Castlevania is getting a Takarazuka adaptation! If they go with the Netflix anime for inspiration, we might even get some lesbian vampires out of it. Probabaly not, but it would be nice.

 

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Posted in Yuri Network News | No Comments »


Bakumatsu Joshikousei – Oni to Yoake, Volume 1 (幕末女子高生 鬼と夜明け　一)

October 31st, 2024

A girl with medium length dark hair, wearing a Japanese high school sailor-style uniform holds a sword in a unique two-handed style, as she grimly faces an opponent we cannot see.Back a the beginning of the year, I reviewed the second volume of a sequel to this series, Oni to Yoake Yuzikiyo (鬼と夜明け 夕月夜). Given that I knew almost nothing about the Bakumatsu period and the appalling people in the Shinsengumi and the Hitokiri, beyond what a few nights with Wikipedia offered, I did pretty good reviewing it, I think.

Today I have backed up and started with the beginning of the series, Bakumatsu Joshikousei – Oni to Yoake, Volume 1 (幕末女子高生 鬼と夜明け　一). The students and teachers here at Koharu Girl’s School are reborn members of the Bakumatsu, the end of the Edo period of Japanese history. As I noted in the previous review, this book follows two high school girls who have the reborn souls of Sakamoto Ryouma and Toshizo Hijikata. Sakamoto transfers to  this high school, where the spirits of late Edo period warriors attend school, and falls in love at first sight with Hijikata, a member of the public morals committee. However, love is strictly prohibited by school rules.

And…that’s basically the whole story. There is a lot of running around as Hijikata keepsragging at Sakomoto for her lax uniform or showing up late but, as mostly every one else, Sakomoto only does this when Hijikata is on duty.

Everyone – including our principles – knows they are in love, but the rules of the school are clear. Love between students MUST be forbidden as any kind of bad feelings could spill out into another civil war. Since everyone is aware of who they are, who everyone else is, and all the various lives they’ve lived, everyone takes this rule very seriously. Nonetheless, they have allies, even if they aren’t aware of them.  Okita Sou, who hold the soul of  Okita Souji, is dedicated to protecting them both.

And this, in a nutshell, is what I genuinely like best about the series. Everyone knows who they were and are, they understand the larger issues amongst themselves but, reincarnated  in the 21st century as high school girls, all the politics they were involved with are meaningless. Both sides of the Bakumatsu period were using the Shogun and the Emperor for their own power, to reclaim the kind of past they imagined would be best for them, a peace that allowed them to be on top really. No one was fighting for a future that was more kind, more healthy, more equitable. And here they are, reborn into a world as girls in a decidedly not violent state where their primacy is determined in on a kendo floor, not in the street. As a result, all they have left of themselves is their relationships – which they care about deeply.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – There isn’t much of one, so 5, maybe?
Characters – 8 Much nicer than their historical precedents
Service – Not really
Yuri – 5

Overall – 8

Posted in Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Affair, Streaming on Youtube

October 30th, 2024

Promotion poster for the Thai yuri series Affair, showing the two characters Wan (Lookmhee) and Pleng (Sonya) holding each other.

by Frank Hecker, Okazu Staff Writer

After GAP and Blank we now have Affair, a recently completed Thai live-action yuri series available on YouTube. Like those series, Affair is based on a novel by Chao Planoy, interconnected with the other two, although the connection is rather minimal and barely touched on. It tells the story of Pleng (Sonya Saranphat Pedersen), the pampered daughter of a wealthy family, and Wan (Lookmhee Punyapat Wangpongsathaporn), the daughter of Pleng’s family’s housekeeper.

The two girls are fast friends, and perhaps more than friends: Wan is besotted with Pleng and openly declares her love. Pleng—though clearly in love herself—is more hesitant, and pushes Wan to get a boyfriend, in the person of fellow student Ek (Pop Pataraphol Wanlopsiri), who doggedly pursues Wan every chance he gets.

Then their life together is interrupted by a series of tragic events that separate the girls. Wan goes on to become a doctor while Pleng tries to make a living as a musician, until their paths cross again thirteen years later. In a perfect world the two women would mutually declare their love, resume their relationship, and live happily ever after. However, at this point we’re only four episodes into an 8-episode series, and there’s a lot more drama (and melodrama) to come, courtesy of Wan’s and Pleng’s bruised feelings, battered by the circumstances of their separation, the presence of Ek, who’s still hanging around like a bad case of the flu, and Wan’s mother (Um Apasiri Nitibhon, as toxic here as she was as Lada’s mother in The Secret of Us).

Lookhmee and Sonya (collectively “LMSY”) play well together, one of the better couples in Thai live-action yuri. Lookhmee has a delicate beauty that the camera loves, and particularly excels in portraying Wan’s times of anger and despair—which occur fairly frequently. Sonya has more of a “girl next door” vibe, a vibe she subverts as Pleng and Wan tease and flirt with each other—again, the show has a lot of that, and they do it well. Lookmhee and Sonya both do a good job of portraying characters who are flawed in various ways: Wan, traumatized by her separation from Pleng, is overly possessive and prone to fits of jealousy, while Pleng often hides her feelings and is reluctant to commit.

Affair was produced by Change2561, a sister company to BL powerhouse GMMTV and the same company that produced Love Bully. The production is high-quality, with often inventive cinematography, good background music, and a blessed absence of annoying sound effects and “comic” relief. However, being based on a Chao Planoy novel, Affair has more than its fair share of over-the-top drama, including a would-be kiss interrupted in the most melodramatic manner possible. Like season 2 of Blank, Affair also hits its peak short of the finish line, frittering away some of its remaining time on a pointless BL moment and one last bit of interpersonal drama.

Ratings:

Story — 5 (not one [redacted] by [redacted] scene but two, and a [redacted] subplot to top it off)
Characters — 7 (some of both Wan’s and Pleng’s behavior is hard to understand at times)
Production — 8
Service — 4
Yuri — 10
Overall — 7 (1 point deducted for the Ek subplot)

Affair is a worthy companion to GAP and Blank in the Chao Planoy Extended Universe, although those allergic to melodrama should note that Affair goes harder on it than either of those series.

Posted in Frank Hecker, Live Action, Staff Writer, Thai Drama | No Comments »


Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc, Streaming on Amazon Prime

October 28th, 2024

The roof of a city building with the magical girl staff and office cast of Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc, with protagonist red-haired Kana, with pigtails tied up in ribbons in the center.Sakuragi Kana is engaged in the miserable grind of looking for a job after graduating college. She’s smart, energetic, determined and has a great memory, but the companies she’s interviewing with don’t value any of those qualities. When she encounters rough-around-the-edges magical girl Koshigaya Hitomi the sole magical girl working for a small company, Kana’s memory becomes the key to saving the day.

In Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc, streaming on Amazon Prime, Kana finds a place for herself in a start-up magical girl agency and a place in our hearts for a company that values what Kana brings to the table.

There’s no Yuri in this series, either explicit or implied, but this may well be the most affirming anime I have ever watched. Kana’s skills are not just useful to people around her – they and and she are valued. She is praised not just because she is helpful, but also because she is empathetic, smart and caring.  This anime provides Kana, a girl who has been rejected by every company she’s interviewed with, a home where she can be seen as her best self. I cannot tell you what a gut-deep pleasure it is to watch a story that is not rooted in loss or trauma, or confusion or guesswork. Kana learns the tools and techniques, even as her team develops new magical attacks for her and Hitomi.

The only real mystery we face is what the nature of the Kaii are, and why they exist at all, but I allow that as the one handwaved fact for this series. – and given that one fact, the rest of the series is thus far holding itself together consistently. I even approve of the transformation sequence which is firmly rooted in shoujo references, but utterly avoids the kind of service that “magical girl for adults” often engages in.  In fact, this series feels a bit like a magical Josei, in which real-life adult concerns are presented as a matter of course, and gives us a specific situation in which this particular women’s work is lauded, but devalued, in other companies, even as Kana’s company affirms and uplifts her.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Solid
Story  – 9 Great so far, with one evil company on the horizon
Characters  – 7 I hope to learn more, without raking anyone through the emotional muck
Service – 0
Yuri – 0

Overall – 8

You can read Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc manga on the Shonen Jump app, or the Viz site in English, or for free in English on the Mangaplus app from Shueisha, or Shonen Jump Plus in Japanese, so you have several opportunities to enjoy this surprisingly affirming series. I don’t know about you, but I really needed this. ^_^

Posted in English Manga | 5 Comments »


Bakajo 26-ji, Volume 1 (バカ女26時)

October 27th, 2024

Two women eat as they walk through a nightscape lit with bright red and yellow lanterns, smiling at something funny.Akko and Yuri have been friends since high school and Yuri has always been a bit of a basic bitch. Akko has bailed her out over and over, but since Yuri got married to a very rich man who beats her, Akko hasn’t been able to do much. Until circumstances bring her and Yuri together one long night in Bakajo, 26-ji, Volume 1, (バカ女26時) written by Touno Meza, illustrated by Ayano Ura.

Akko invites Yuri out, handing over a bag which she says contains Yuri’s abusive husband’s head. In fact, it holds a motorcycle helmet, but the conversation inspires them both to hop on Akko’s motorcycle, head to the airport and get out of Japan. They end up in Vietnam, where an acquaintance of Akko’s (who is a chat app idol,) gives them a place to stay.

The problem is that Yuri learns nothing from all this. She constantly relies on Akko, for money, information, ideas, and solutions, while she worries only about her appearance. Embarrassed by the scars on her arms as she is, Yuri still insists on buying an Áo dài . It’s not until Fotui, Akko’s friend, offers her a jacket, that she covers up the thing she’s most embarrassed about.

It’s hard to understand Akko by the end of Volume 1, as well. Yes, Akko clearly cares about Yuri enough to take care of her – even to the point of killing her husband, which she seems to have done. While they are in Vietnam there is news about an explosion in an expensive Roppongi mansion. 

It is even harder to sympathize with Yuri, even with the visible reminder of domestic violence. She walks through this manga making really weird  choices, even to the point of repeatedly doing the one thing she was asked to not do.

It’s hard to see what Akko gets out of this “friendship,” which does lead one to believe that Akko’s feelings are stronger than just friends. But there is no sign of that in her behavior and we are not given much time in her interior monologue. What we do get is Yuri stomping through the world simultaneously oppressed and oppressor…and wow, it’s annoying. They call her a “baka,” but surely there has to be something stronger than that for someone so demanding, so clueless and thoughtless and yet also helpless and hurt.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – ? I have no idea.
Characters – 5
Service – There is some, we encounter Fotui doing a group sex stream, let’s say 4
Yuri – Tough call. Maybe. Let’s say 3

Overall – 6

The plot had me thinking of the vastly superior GUNJO throughout. Where Nakamura-sensei’s characters were deep and compellingly flawed, I don’t know if I really care to find out what happens to Yuri or Akko in Volume 2. Maybe if I need to find something to read, who knows. I bought this with points on Bookwalker, which is exactly the kind of thing that makes Bookwalker useful. Maybe if I get a lot of extra points again, I find out what happens. ^_^

If flights of fantasies about escaping DV to another country without a plan suits you, then maybe you’ll enjoy this story more than I did.

Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »