Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – May 23, 2020

May 23rd, 2020

Online Yuri Panel

Just a bit over a week until our 2020 Online Yuri Panel. Patrons of Okazu will get special backstage access on Wednesday, May 27th as I do set up!

 

 

Yuri Light Novels

Via Senior YNN Correspondent Sean G., Roll Over and Die, Volume 1, Adachi and Shimamura. Volume 3 and I’m in Love with the Villainess, Volume 1 all from Seven Seas, have early digital pre-orders. I’m looking forward to reading some of these. ^_^

Kasucchi on Twitter recommends 101 Meter Hanareta Koi, (101メートル離れた恋), describing it as a “yuri science fiction work that explores gender (including trans themes), sexual exploitation, and human/robot relationships in a very neat mystery structure.”

 

Yuri Manga

Galette Magazine has found it’s new normal, and Galette, No. 14 (ガレット) is now available as a digital release on Global Bookwalker or on Amazon US Kindle in Japanese!

Volume 3 of Mayu, Matou is slated for a June 2020 release in Japan and creator Hara Tsukiko revealed the cover image on their twitter feed. Not gonna lie, I really hope the school Prince is saved from her hopeless obsession by this plucky younger student and her hair. ^_^

Via YuriMother,Yuri VN Kundan Folklore is getting a manga serialization in Comic Yuri Hime. Also via YuriMother, Seven Seas has licensed the manga adaptation of I’m in Love With the Villainess Light Novel.

Via Comic Natalie, we have news of Kuwabara Tamotsu’s Anata to Watashi Shuuhatsu, (あなたと私の周波数)  collection from Yuri Hime Comics, which includes a story about two women attempting to bury a corpse late at night, so there’s that. ^_^ (It wasn’t a terrible story, honestly.)

Also via Comic Natalie, the June issue of Sunday GX Comics (サンデーGX」6月号) has an addition – a  live-action Vampeerz Special Yuri Photo Book  in which live models are “recreating the world” of Akili’s Vampeerz. So, basically, its a cosplay photo shoot. Vampeerz,  Volume 3 (ヴァンピアーズ) is also available as of last week.

 

Yuri Visual Novel

Studio Élan has announced Highway Blossoms Next Exit: a DLC for Highway Blossoms. The link will lead you to Steam, where you can wishlist it.

Via Senior YNN Correspondent Yeo, we learn of GirlJail which creator Alexander Ocis describes as a “bullet-hell minigame” with an average play time of 3 minutes. ^_^

 

Yuri Anime

YNN Correspondent Megan wants you to know that Mamoru Oshii’s VLADLove anime has announced a second set of key visuals. They added a character type and a voice actress I cannot resist and I hate them for it. ^_^ (I looked at the character design and instantly thought, “/bleep/ers hired Paku Romi, didn’t they?” And yes, yes they did.)

 

LGBTQ News

Via Melon on Twitter, “On May 30, the first lecture of「レインボー大学ＳＡＩＴＡＭＡ」will take place via Zoom. This first session will feature discussions of the manga “Love My Life”, in order to explore the situation of lesbians. Attendance seems to be open to everyone.” Check the thread on how to get tickets. The lecture will be in Japanese.

On June 3rd, grand damme of lesbian fiction, Katherine V. Forrest, will be running a zoom lecture on her classic lesbian novel Curious Wine and the history of modern lesbian fiction.

 

Other News

Check out #Sailormoonredraw on Twitter for some fun, delightful and amazing re-workings of Sailor Moon art. It’s an endless bag of sweets. ^_^

Speaking of something sweet, stjepan sejic posted a piece of Mage and Demon Queen fanart today and the Internets lost their collective mind, as you might imagine.  I just sat there grinning like a loon for Kuru/ Color_LES. ^_^

 

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 | 2 Comments »


In Memoriam, Zac Bertschy

May 22nd, 2020

Okazu is not a globally influential news site, so we’re not in the habit of reporting deaths. We’ve lost a few friends over the years, however. Today we’re joining thousands of others as we say goodbye to ANN Editor-in-Chief, Zac Bertschy.

I knew Zac from back in the day, but over the last decade or so, we’d grown a little closer. He was kind enough to have me on ANNCast from time to time. I always had so much fun talking with him about whatever.  I’ll regret the rest of my life that I never actually got to meet Zac in person. It always seemed like we’d have time. He wasn’t able to make it NYCC last year and we just soft-promised to catch up this year.

What I will remember about him, is the way his voice cracked just a little as he and I talked about Revolutionary Girl Utena and how much it meant to us on ANNCast. He was opening himself to me and to all of our listeners and it was a lovely, vulnerable moment. Thanks, Zac, for letting me come on the show and talking about the things we love together.

Here are links to the shows I did with Zac. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Revolutionary Girl Erica – ANNCast

El Gee Bee Tee – ANNCast

Pop Vulture – ANNCast

ANN La CAST

Zac was a massive influence on thousands of folks every day in the anime community. He has left us a legacy and I hope all of us can continue his work, spreading love of visual media and pop culture.I know. I’ll  continue to do my best. 

RIP, Zac.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 4 Comments »


Tsuki to Suppin, Volume 2 (月とすっぴん)

May 21st, 2020

This past March I became enamored of Akegata Yuu’s Tsuki to Suppin, a Jousei Yuri manga from Feel Comics, about Akari and Shiho, an odd-couple who are nonetheless very happy together. We ended Volume 1 with Akari taking Shiho to her hometown to meet her parents, which went very well.

In Tsuki to Suppin, Volume 2 (月とすっぴん), we meet Shiho’s sister with whom Akari gets along famously…to Shiho’s vague concern. ^_^ You know how it is, if your lover and your relatives are laughing together, its a good bet that they are laughing about you. ^_^

We watch Akari and Shiho move through the year together, through holidays and birthdays and sick days. There’s no doubt that they love each other, although we rarely see them engaging in anything more intimate than hand-holding or a kiss – a choice I appreciate. In fact, there is a vignette in which Shiho is getting a solo photography show and she is asked if the show can use some of the photos she’s taken of Akari on vacation. She talks to Akari about it, but ultimately decides that her private life is private and chooses not to use them…even if they are great photos, they are great photos for her and Akari’s own enjoyment. Which is how this story plays out – we see that they love one another and are in love, but that is as far as we have access. I like the restraint of that access. I don’t need to see them having sex to know they are intimate. It feels very adult and very much like we are friends, rather than voyeurs.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 10
Service – .5 Cat ears for Halloween is about as racy as this series gets.

The story is ongoing, and you can read new chapters (in Japanese) on Manga Jam on Pixiv. I recommend it highly for relaxing Jousei Yuri manga.

Posted in Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Volume 1

May 19th, 2020

It is 1900, and Hanako, a Japanese woman, has traveled to England to find her favorite author, Victor Franks, whom she can’t meet. With no options, she is taken in by Lady Alice, a beautiful young noblewoman who carries a deep sadness. Alice offers a deal to Hanako – she will introduce Hanako to Victor Franks, but only if Hanako helps Alice die. Hanako accepts the offer, but is sure she can somehow convince Alice to live.

Hanako learns Alice doesn’t want to marry Edward, although doesn’t understand why since he seems nice enough. As her maid, Hanako can see that Alice lives in a darkness that she’d like to bring light to. Unbeknownst to Hanako, she’s actually caught up in a surprising coincidence, which turns out to be no coincidence at all.

Deciding that she wants to be by Alice’s side is Hanako’s choice, but what Alice wants is still a mystery to her.

Despite the mystery with which they are treated, the complications here are not all that complicated. In fact, by the end of Volume 1, you ought to know who Victor Franks is and why Hanako was sent to England. ^_^ Nonetheless, if you were looking for a less-realistic Yuri Emma, with an emphasis on underwear and books, you won’t be disappointed. Dr. Pepperco’s art is competent. This is not meant in a dismissive way – the Victoria Sponge looked, even in black & white, like a recognizable Victoria sponge. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Character – 8
Story – 7
Service – 4 Underwear because of course there is
Yuri – ACTUALLY, it’s LGBTQ. There is a discussion of same-sex relationships and Japan and England’s relative lack of feminism. So…7?

Overall – 7

Very recently, I have been reading a number of historical Yuri/lesbian romances and they all do exactly the same thing. But I will let Dr. Pepperco explain it themselves in the author’s note, as “Drawing all my proclivities!” ^_^ So not only do we have maids outfits lovingly detailed and teacups and corsets and stately home libraries and other Victoriana miscellany, but we enjoy pretense to upperclassishness in scene and language. This inconsistency in historical knowledge and desire to set tone has been rendered in English as well as can be hoped, so the occasional lapse into faux-Wildean (as faux-Sperian is not a valid term here,) is not on translator Amber Tamositis and adapter Cae Hawksmoor. They do a fine job. Katlyn Wiley’s lettering is surprisingly delicate. You might never notice it, which is exactly what one hopes for from lettering and retouch. As usual, Seven Seas does such a decent job, you may never even think about it. You should. That’s a lot of work by a lot of people to make this book work.

When I originally reviewed the Japanese volume just over a year ago, I never expected to be reviewing it in English. But here we are and I’m glad you to encourage you to look up Victoria Sponge on your own. ^_^

Thanks very much to Seven Seas for the review copy!

Posted in English Manga, Yuri Manga | 5 Comments »


Sailor Moon Stars Limited Edition, Part 2, Disk 3

May 18th, 2020

There is no chance that this is the last post I ever make about Sailor Moon, but it may be the last post I make about the original 1990s anime. For the last time, we are going to talk about Sailor Moon Stars Limited Edition, Part 2, Disk 3, in which no one listens to either of the Princesses they have sworn to defend, because 16 year olds make shitty decisions.

Because no one listens to Usagi and Kakyuu-hime, and no one else suggests they all work together, they are picked off by Galaxia, whose backstory isn’t as much of a surprise as she apparently felt it might be. No Sailor Cosmos here to clog up the works, just another Senshi blundering around with mostly no idea what to do.

Which makes me wonder how I would have ended it. Let’s do that at the end.

On the positive side, Seiya gets to say what needs to be said to Usagi. This time, I was really glad about that. Once Mamoru’s fate was revealed, it was a lot easier to forgive both of them for everything they didn’t do right.

Haruka and Michiru spend the last few episodes being really gay, in case you didn’t know they were a couple.  I felt and still feel that this was specifically directed at the corner of fandom who just would not admit that they were really together. Their final moments are both heart-wrenching and extended and good heavens there were still people who just would NOT believe they were together. (I bet those people are all gay now, if you know what I mean…)

And then the epilogue comes and everyone lives happily ever after. For real.

Until 1000 years in the future when Crystal Tokyo is destroyed. Because just as no one thinks “Hey, let’s listen to the Princess,” no one would say, “HEY, we know what happens, let’s not be defeated by the Black Moon.”  I’m looking at you, Ami. You’re supposed to be the smart one.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 9
LGBTQ – 5 Michiru and Haruka are very, very gay.
Service – 3 Does Galaxia’s hair count? It’s really great hair. Oh, right, and some nudity

Overall – 8

So, how would I have ended it? How about this…

Sailor Moon and Kakyuu-hime would have convinced the Senshi to work together. They would have combined their powers and healed Galaxia, reuniting her with Chibi-Chibi. Hell yes, I would have included Sailor Cosmos – that’s a great costume. SHE would have told the combined Senshi Galaxia’s backstory and would have accompanied Sailor Galaxia home, by way of healing the planets she destroyed.

We would have had two epilogues…the one we got and one in Crystal Tokyo in the future where everything was shiny and perfect and Princess Small Lady was a little older, playing with the Asteroid Senshi, Saturn and Pluto at the Doors of Time, while the rest of the Senshi attended Queen Serenity and King Endymion in Crystal Tokyo as other planetary Senshi visited.

But no one asked me.

Viz has done an exemplary job with this classic title. I want to once again thank every person who worked on this release. Your love and attention was greatly appreciated. This is the definitive Sailor Moon.

Posted in English Anime, Sailor Moon | 1 Comment »