Yuricon at AnimeNEXT in Atlantic City, NJ!

May 28th, 2018

Please join me at AnimeNEXT, June 8-10 in Atlantic City, NJ where I am a Guest Panelist. I will be bringing Yuri content and prizes for great questions all weekend long!

Thursday, June 7, 2018:

Sailor Moon Musical – Le Mouvement Final Screening
Join me and other Sailor Moon fans 8:30P at the Bourbon Room, inside the Showboat Atlantic City Hotel for a screening of the live-action Sailor Moon musical! I’ll be presenting a short intro, explaining the musicals, Takarazuka and things to note!

Friday, June 8, 2018:

Yuri Court  -12:45pm – 1:45pm
Join me for a game where you defend or accuse a Yuri series of being bad (guilty) or good (innocent)! This panel is full audience-participation and prizes for convincing arguments will be lavishly awarded!

Must Read/Must Watch Yuri – 6:15pm – 7:15pm
We’re talking classic and new series and stuff to watch and read! ^_^

Saturday, June 8, 2018: 

!? vs ?! – The Great Debate!!! – 11:00am – 12:00pm
Two passionate duelists on the field of battle….which one will convince you that they are right? Watch me take on another Guest for a mystery debate that will shock you!

The “Secret” History of Yaoi and Yuri – 12:15pm – 1:15pm
Have you ever wondered where the tropes all come from? You should! Boy’s Love and Yuri have a rich literary and artistic history in Japan. Learn about it all here.

Sunday, June 10, 2018:

An American Otaku in Japan -11:15am – 12:15pm
If you have ever wondered how to get to Japan, how to get around once you’re there, what to eat, where to eat and how to find anime and manga goods, you’ve come to the right panel

Posted in Events, Yuricon | No Comments »


Drama CD: Kara no Shoujo Tenni Musubuyume (虚ノ少女-天に結ぶ夢-)

May 27th, 2018

You may be familiar with the Flowers Yuri Visual Novel franchise, with it’s classic girl’s school setting. We’ve had several reviews here on Okazu of the VNs, Jye’s discussion of the VN in Japanese and mine in English.

Last year, as I was perusing one thing or another, I encountered a suggestion for something a little different – an Original Drama CD from Innocent Grey. Kara no Shoujo Tenni Musubuyume  (虚ノ少女-天に結ぶ夢-) is a two-disk Drama CD set from the same team that brought you Flowers. The first disk immediately recalls the tone of Flowers – gothic depression meets ‘S’-informed school.

Yukiko is a girl with a dark past. People she cared about have died, several of her friends among them. But these have all been classified as “accidents.” She is surprised and pleased when Mie wants to be her friend. The two of them become close and then very close. Yukiko feels a bit bad this time, one hopes, when she kills Mie. But at least it allows the police to finally arrest her.

The second drama CD is obscure and vaguely Dante-ish. A wooden doll finds herself in the afterlife with no memory of her life. She is first met by an angel who brings her to Purgatory, where she is handed over to a goat-man who acts as a guide. He pushes her to remember her sins in life and, when at last she does, she recalls that she had been a rabbit. 

The vocal tones of the series are grim and gothic, the music tends towards atmospheric and angelic.  The voice acting was done well enough. I’m not entirely sure if I enjoyed either story, but I am deeply disappointed that Mie did not kill Yukiko first, and that the goat-man’s name was not Baphomet. These were missed opportunities in the story-telling and the whole gets points off for blowing both. 

Ratings:

Overall – 6

Like the VN authored by this team, the intentions were good, but they needed some help in execution. I think I would make a fine Drama CD and/or VN editor, if overly an overly critical one. ^_^

Posted in Drama CDs & Audiobooks | 1 Comment »


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – May 26, 2018

May 26th, 2018

Kase-san News

The theatrical debut for Asagao to Kase-san is rapidly approaching and promotion is ramping up. Given that this movie is targeted towards a niche genre, they are doing a fair spread of promotional efforts. YNN Correspondent Verso S has kept on top of all of them for us:

“Yamada and Kase feature “in character” in an advertisement for キネパス/Kinepass, the ticket booking / payment system. The animated ad, narrated as a “Kase-san to …” mini episode by their voice actors, “currently” plays in the loop on foyer monitors as well as in the cm block with trailers etc, screened before main features in the cinema. (screened independently from the OVA PV). [Yamada fancies a film date with Kase but how to arrange that? Kinepass makes it easy …]” You too can see this ad (which I found highly amusing,) included in the “LineLive / YouTube broadcast” with the voice cast, beginning at the 1hr, 6 minute mark. I have not yet had a chance to watch the cast talk, but that’s on my to-do this weekend.

The fifth volume of the Kase-san series, Sakura to Kase-san (さくらと加瀬さん。) went on sale in Japan this week, and will hit the English-language market as Kase-san and Cherry Blossoms  in December 2018. There’s also a deluxe set on Amazon JP, that includes the manga, an original Drama CD and clearfile, for those of you who are huge fans.

Just to circle back to the issue of promotion – folks presenting their tickets at a participating theater June 9-15 will receive an original manga by series creator Takashima Hiromi! And the official site is pushing special premier movie events the week of the release, as well as the live cast talk mentioned above. Additionally, the twitter account is doing a “language of flowers” post every day, featuring a flower and it’s meaning, which makes me absolutely want to hug someone. ^_^

 

LGBTQ News

Verso continues to wow us with more news. Tasogare Shimanami by Kamatani Yuki has been licensed by Akata for release in France as a two-volume set and the publisher has announced that a portion of the proceeds will be going to an organization that combats homophobia!

Also from Verso, NHK has announced a DVD release for the NHK live-action TV drama of Otouto no Otto (弟の夫) in late July. 

 

Yuri Manga

Read the first chapter of Seta Seta’s Yuri-kabe  on digital publisher Sukima (in Japanese.) The title and cover art indicates that “kabe-don” (pinning someone to the wall with one’s arms) is going to be the defining theme. ^_^

Via Comic Natalie, You can also take a look at  Koi, Irodoru Made, (恋、彩るまで) by Kyouko Kouta, a Yuri school life fantasy online (in Japanese) for free on comico.

 

Yuri Anime

ANN has news that Viz is planning theatrical showings for the Sailor Moon movies this summer, including the Ami’s First Love short with Sailor Moon SuperS!  Check out the Fantom website for ticketing and location details.

New cast and music news have been added to the upcoming Yuri-ish, horror-ish anime, Happy Sugar Life on ANN.

 

Yuri Visual Novels

After last week’s announcement that Valve was cutting off Visual Novels by a number of creators and companies with little warning, Mangagamer has announced alternate arrangements to host their Yuri VNs, including Kindred Spirits on the Roof and A Kiss for the Petals series on GOG.com.  ANN reports that Steam is now saying that they will review each game before a decision is made (which is just about the stupidest thing ever, as that would have been an obvious first pass, had any one thought about it for ten seconds.)

 

Other News

ANN has news that tween novel imprint Aotori Bunko will be shipping a new novel adaptation of the Sailor Moon series, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon 1 Ebereta Senshi, (美少女戦士セーラームーン①選ばれた戦士) authored by Fairy Navigator Runa‘s creator, Ikeda Miyoko. I’ll keep my eyes out for a pre-order link for this.

Via Twitter, Webtoon is running a contest to find their next set of stars. The LINE Webtoon contest will run from June 11 with a substantial amount of money for the winner – and, even if you don’t win, a place for your comics on Webtoon.  

Yuriten in Hokkaido will be wrapping up shortly, and so far that seems to be the end of this year’s run. It was an amazing and wonderful and crazy spring for Yuriten and I look forward to seeing what’s next. I won’t say お疲れ様でした just yet, in case they have any new news. (Especially as the Kase-san movie events seem like a possible extension.) But I will note that via Verso S once more time, the editors of BELOVE, from Kodansha, tweeted about the Yuriten flyer they saw at Comitia noting that Yuri manga is hot right now.

I have intermittent issues with my various Japanese IMEs and recently found that Google has a useful Input tool that can allow you to type in romaji for Japanese kana and kanji output. If you don’t want the hassle of setting up an IME, but want to occasionally be able to type in Japanese, bookmark this baby! It makes for a good backup when something has borked your IME, as well. ^_^

 

Okazu News

We’re only 6 Patrons away from our Spring Patreon campaign goal and (if I do say so myself) this is a great time to become an Okazu Patron!

 

You’ll be getting more advance glimpses at the “Big Book o’Yuri” in August and all patrons at a cumulative $25 are eligible to set up an hour Skype with me as a their own personal Yuri panel. Now you can *finally* ask me what I really think of a series, since I don’t take that question at public panels. We’re also looking into a bunch of new rewards, including an Okazu news podcast, a Discord channel and more! A dollar a two a month makes a huge difference, so don’t hesitate to subscribe at the $1 level. Every patron is an important part of the team. If you’d like to become a patron, click on the Okazu Patreon link and start today!

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to!

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

Posted in Yuri Network News | 4 Comments »


Photo Album: Aka no Ryusei Double Room

May 25th, 2018

Let’s talk “schtick.”

We all know that every idol group is given some manufactured gimmick to play to on stage. We’re used to seeing a prepackaged concept delivered by fresh faces in the western music industry. This is true in Japan, as well. In the attempt to create edginess where there is none, it’s not surprising that sometimes same-sex attraction is the schtick. Even less surprising when the group is a female duo, because zOMG lesbians, amirite? /eyeroll/

So there I am in the second annual Yurimate event in the Animate store in Ikebukuro and there’s a table with a little portable video player, showing two women performing for what is visibly a smallish crowd in some club. And next to them is this booklet, Double Room, of photos and illustrations by Furai (Fry) for this “performance” duet, Aka nu Ryusei (赤の流星). In English, their name means “red meteor,” but their gimmick is not, as you might expect, space…their gimmick is proximity. Proximity = Yuri in this case. Which is to say there’s nothing about these two that is half as fake lesbian as t.A.t.U was. They just sort of lean on each other in some of the pictures. ^_^ 

No, I’m being unfair, they touch and their eyes meet, they are even shown embracing. And yet, I remain uncovinced that they are anything other than two singers trying to make a buck, being told to act like a Yuri couple for the camera. And so they do.

Ultimately, I bought the book for the illustrations. Like this one, which is quite nice:

The group’s videos are visible for Japan only, but if you’d like to see them, you can catch clips on their Twitter or website.

I’ve definitely decided that I do not have the energy to ever be an idol fan and I’m not sure I envy those who do, but this was a fun glimpse into that fictional world, that wasn’t itself a manga. ^_^

Posted in Miscellaneous | 2 Comments »


Yuri Anthology: Yuri + Kanojo (百合＋カノジョ)

May 24th, 2018

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about Yuri anthologies. They serve a unique purpose for a niche genre, as a gathering place for up-and-coming artists to have their original (or parody, in the case of series-focused anthologies) work highlighted. Yuri anthologies often end up being full of creators who are not yet famous enough to warrant their own series, but who have built a following at comic shows. Read a few contemporaneous anthologies in any niche and you’ll start to see the same names over time. 

Today we’re looking at Yuri + Kanojo (百合＋カノジョ), a fun Yuri anthology that lives on the intersection of Yuri manga, and Yuri Visual Novels.

The format of the book makes it clear that Yuri VNs are the inspiration for the story. It begins with “Now Loading….” and then moves on to a chapter labeled “Episode of high school students.” Each vignette is short, and we, the player character are not seen in full any of the vignettes, we are merely spoken to (although we do see peces of ourselves, like our hands or feet.) Credits for the stories are presented like game controls and after each short vignette ends, (they run about 6 pages each,) the final page shows us character design and bio for the “other” character, our love interest. 

This book is already kind of fun and unique, but it adds one more nice feature – only the first chapter happens in high school. “We” then move into college and the workplace and life. We go on dates, take jobs, go out with friends, have lovers, and continue, one chapter and one individual at a time, to live life vicariously through the PC point of view. 

Because the vignettes are short, there’s very little story-telling. “Two women on a date” is not a plot so much as a fleeting thought. But, as a series of scenes written around the prompts, this was a very enjoyable exercise and a very unique volume.

Ratings:

As an anthology, it’s all variable, but for the adult art and thinking about life, I give it a solid 8

This book sold out incredibly quickly on Amazon JP, so I was absolutely thrilled to find a copy on display at the Shosen Yuribu in Akihabara. Yay Yuribu!

Posted in Yuri Anthology, Yuri Manga | 8 Comments »