Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – May 30, 2020

May 30th, 2020

Editorial: Online Events, Representation and Accessibility

This will be a summer of virtual events in the anime world and I want you to think about this before we do any thing else:  Because panels and guests are moving online, there will be a tendency for event programming to have less diversity than usual, as organizers talk to people they already know about, for content. Take a moment and write organizers to remind them to seek out panelists and presenters from marginalized groups. Representation and accessibility ought not to be afterthoughts.

If you’ve been following me anywhere, you saw the most amazing thing over the last couple of days. I’ve been trying to ensure that the Online Yuri Panel will have automatically generated closed captions available. YouTube does not offer these for Livestreams unless an account has 1000 subscribers. I had no idea how many subscribers we had on Yuri Studio, for many reasons. Back in 2009, I was just uploading some of the Yuri AMVs we had from our events, and then a few of my lectures and presentations. As it turned out we had 420 subscribers.

So I asked the Internets for 600 more subscribers so YouTube might listen to me and grant me auto captioning. In two days, and people clicked that button. I’m very mindful of the reason *why* they clicked that button – not for me, but so people can get closed captioning. I don’t trust YouTube to turn on that feature for me, so I found a good option, Webcaptioner. It only works in Chrome but it works and it’s free (donations welcome on the site, click and you’ll see.) I tested it to see if it works while watching a Youtube stream and even with an accented voice speaking at normal speed it did well enough.

My point here is, please write these online events and gently remind them to seek out queer and PoC and disabled folks for their panels online and to make sure that closed captioning is available.

I’ve written to Funimation and Anime Expo to ask that they consider these issues for their upcoming events. I hope you’ll write the events you plan on attending. As fans we can and ought to make fandom more welcoming and open every chance we can. ^_^

Having said that, I invite you all to join me tomorrow, Sunday May 31, 2020 at 5PM Eastern US time (with my apologies to folks in Japan for who it will be 6AM)  for the 2020 Online Yuri Panel Livestream on Youtube. I hope to see you all there.

 

Yuri Manga

Kaishaku’s Kannazuki no Miko spin-off manga Himegami no Miko (姫神の巫女), is beginning serialization,.Yuri Navi has sample pages from the first chapter in the July issue of Dengeki Mao. You can get it digitally on Global Bookwalker.

ANN’s Rafael Antonio Pineda has the news that spin-off manga Murciélago Byproduct Araña will be coming to an end with the 5th volume. I’ve reviewed Volume 1 and Volume 2 here.

 

Other News

In one of the few delightful moments of a dark week, Stjepan Seijic offered up this piece of fanart of Color_LES’s webtoon Mage and Demon Queen. ^_^

Global Bookwalker is doing a huge “Stay Home, Stay Safe and Read” campaign with up to 50% coin backon loads of J-Novel Club and Seven Seas Titles.

You may remember my adoration for the novel Gideon the Ninth. A free e-book preview of the upcoming sequel Harrow the Ninth is available on Kindle. /jubilant shouts of joy/ I’m re-reading Gideon right now, because holy heck it’s a brilliant book.

 

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 essential part of the team!

Posted in Yuri Network News | 10 Comments »


Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 1 (おとなになっても)

May 28th, 2020

Shimura Takako’s work with gender and sexual minorities has been very influential and popular among western manga readers, and series like Sweet Blue Flowers and Wandering Son end up on LGBTQ manga reading lists with reasonable regularity. So it comes as no surprise that her newest lesbian manga Otono ni Nattemo has been picked up for license by Seven Seas as Even Though We Are Adults, just as I picked it up off my to-read pile. ^_^

In Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 1 (おとなになっても) teacher Ayano meets Akari after work one night and they end up sleeping together. It’s not a relationship…but it’s not a one-night stand, Akari hopes, when Ayano says that she’ll stay in touch. Only, the next time she sees Ayano, she’s with her husband. Unsurprisingly Akari does not feel great about this major fact having been left out of their communication.

Nonetheless, they do see each other again, this time kind of starting from the beginning. The problem is that Ayano appears to be happily married. And Akari isn’t sure what she wants, generally, with her life, but she’s starting to think that she wants Ayano, specifically. I’m not at all sure what I think about either woman. It’s tempting to be angry at Ayano…but I’m not and neither is Akari. It’s tempting to be distrustful of Akari, but I’m not, and neither is Ayano.

The art is good, shockingly detailed for Shimura, in fact. It looks exactly like the Jousei manga it is.

This is an uncomfortable story about two adult women flailing a little bit while trying to figure out this adulting thing. I have absolutely no idea whatsoever what to expect from this story – I’m not even sure I liked it – but I think I’ll end up reading volume 2 anyway. ^_^ I don’t see a happily-ever-after-ending…to be honest, I’d be disappointed if this ended that way. I wouldn’t mind it staying kind of uncomfortable for the course. Let’s get stories about things that aren’t sappily ever after for once.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Character – A not-sure-yet 7
Story – Same 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 1 Hardly any, in fact. The 1 is mostly on principle

Overall – 7

I’m still unsure of so much yet, but I guess I’ll keep reading. Shimura’s work is, in my honest opinion, very flawed, but if she’s going to lean into the flaws, we might get an interesting story.

Volume 2 is available in print in Japan, but not in print shipped to the US at the moment. Both volumes are available digitally on Global Bookwalker. I’ll be getting Volume 2 digitally. Even Though We’re Adults has a January 2021 release date.

Speaking of Global Bookwalker – they are holding a huge “Stay Home and Read” deal with up to 50% back in coins, that can then be used to buy more books. Seven Seas and J-Novel titles are included in the sale. ^_^

Posted in Shimura Takako, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Mizuno to Chayama, Volume 1 and 2 (水野と茶山)

May 26th, 2020

When I discovered Nishio Yuhta’s After Hours (アフターアワーズ) back in 2015, I really enjoyed the quirky adult life relationship. Not set in an office, it delved into less regulated lives, lives that were built up on the fly. I was very excited that it was licensed by Viz Media. And, once it was done, I was very much looking forward to Nishio-sensei’s next work. Mizuno to Chayama (水野と茶山) is that next series. Volume 1 and Volume 2 came out simultaneously in Japan.

Mizuno and Chayama are schoolmates. Their families are rivals; competing for political power and social standing, as well as natural resources in the form of their companies. But Mizuno’s family is clearly on top of the hierarchy, while Chayama’s struggles to hold their position. The kids in the school respond to this with violence and bullying, locking Chayama in the trashed bathroom, beating her after school and generally making her life a misery.

What their schoolmates don’t know is that Mizuno and Chayama are lovers. Yes, it is a modern Romeo and Juliet. Thankfully, without the dire ending.

Although a particularly mean bully keeps torturing Chayama, long after everyone else has stopped, it’s Mizuno that finally fights back. Mizuno does what she can to help Chayama get out of their shitty town and away from their shitty parents.

This series was a little heavy on lowest denominator service and was not at all respectful of the characters’ bodies, something I had found very appealing in After Hours. The ending a was little less ridiculous than After Hours‘, but I’m not entirely sure you could call it happy, though.

I don’t really know what to say about this series. The art was pretty good – it fit the tone of the story, but I didn’t honestly enjoy reading it all that much. I wanted Chayama out of there, but really out of there, far away, safe, taken care of and never going back to that shitty town. Your mileage may vary, of course. ^_^;

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 5
Characters – 6
Service – 8
Yuri – 8

Overall  – 6

Posted in Yuri Manga | 4 Comments »


You are invited to the 2020 Online Yuri Panel!

May 25th, 2020

Please join me on Sunday, May 31 at 5:00 PM Eastern US Time (9PM GMT/ 2PM PT) as I take your questions about Yuri manga anime and the state of the Yuri state for the 2020 Online Yuri Panel.

This panel is open to the public. I look forward to seeing you all there!

Posted in Events, Miscellaneous | 2 Comments »


Spring Cleaning 2020 Lucky Boxes – Claimed

May 24th, 2020

It’s Spring Cleaning here at Okazu Central and that means Lucky Boxes full of utterly random things. I really mean it’s random. I pack these for fit, not for continuity or sense – if a random volume of a thing fits, it goes in. ^_^ And because we still have a good 2 dozen boxes of Bruce’s books in the basement, I’ll be doing more of these all summer long until the garage is cleaned out.

This time we have 5 Lucky Boxes: 1 Large box, 1 Premium Medium box and 3 regular Medium boxes. All the boxes contain a random assortment of manga, books, candy, toys, random pieces of paper things I put in there, and a lot of stuff from our friend Bruce’s collection.

In addition, we have 2 boxes full of BL and adult doujinshi culled from my wife’s collection. These are classic series, like Yu-Gi-Oh and KareKano.

When you email me, please refer to the box you want by the title and #1. First come, first served and these always go fast! These are listed out so I can cross them off as they go.

Large Box 1 – Claimed
Medium Premium Box – Claimed
Medium Box 1 – Claimed
Large Box 1Medium Box 2 – Claimed
Large Box 1Medium Box 3 – Claimed

For the BL doujinshi, we have 2 medium boxes, doujinshi only – these are priced to pay shipping, Paypal fees and handling (i.e., the price you pay for me to carry piles of books up and down stairs, pack them up and such.)
We have two 16lb boxes at $20 each.

BL Doujinshi Box 1 -Claimed
BL Doujinshi Box 2 – Claimed

I can 100% guarantee these boxes are filled with absolute pure stuff, with no guarantees of any other kind. No returns, because look – either you like the fact that you’re spending money on someone else’s stuff, or you don’t.

***

To be eligible to buy a Lucky Box, follow these instructions carefully. Please. Thank you. Failure to follow all of these instructions will disqualify you. It’s not personal, they go fast and I don’t have time to track you down for a piece of information.

1- You must live in the Continental USA (contiguous 48) only, no APO/FPOs – sorry about that, really. It’s vexing, I know.

2 – You must be over 18, I am not policing which books you get and since these boxes have doujinshi and other items, I really don’t know what you’re getting.

3 -Email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with the subject “Lucky Box”. Use an email you check regularly. Because I will reply asap.

4. *****Please include your name, age, mailing address. ***** Tell me which box you want. Even if you’ve given me your address previously, please include it, I am very lazy.

5- I will contact you at that point and give you details about payment by Paypal. Please be prepared to check your email and get payment out so this post doesn’t linger. Thanks in advance.

This whole process will be handled with utmost capriciousness, as usual. ^_^ 

Ready? Get your Lucky Boxes!

Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »