Images From Prism Garden

May 13th, 2026

On a pale green background, bordered on right and left with decorative white lilies, the word "Prism Garden" in English and Japanese, and "Hiakri no niwa ni saku, hitohira no omoi" in Japaneseby Sasori, Okazu JP Correspondent

Last week, the anime and manga chain Melonbooks sponsored a Yuri event called Prism Garden. Our Japan events Correspondent Sasori visited and took a number of photos for us!

Sasori noted that this ran for the whole of Golden Week in Omiya.”..it was an entire gallery and interactive standee walk along complete with a sticky note board for event goers. They also sectioned off buyers in accordance to time slots so it was never too busy.”

This was, like most of the Yuri exhibitions in Japan, part exhibition, part pop-up store. Enjoy these photos as we walk through the event space with Sasori!

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Posted in Events, Sasori | 2 Comments »


Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko!, Volume 2

May 11th, 2026

A blonde woman in pink, whispers into the ear of a woman in a grey suits and white button down shirt, who is visibly cringing with embarrassment, under the words Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko (echoed)In Volume 1, we were thrown into a torrent of emotion as beloved and competent office sempai Hiroko, has a passionate, if awkward, junior, Ayaka, who is doing everything she can to catch Hiroko’s eye. 

When Ayaka finally just tells Hiroko how she feels…Hiroko rejects her. As Ayaka grieves, her best friend Risa asks if Ayaka couldn’t find a way to going out with her. But, no, Ayaka is not able to give Risa what she wants. Everyone is unhappy. 

And then something important happens. The ladies at the lesbian bar unpack Hiroko’s baggage.. They explain to Risa and Ayaka just how much different things were 15 years ago and how being out carries a lot of weight for an older generation of lesbians. This is a crucially important bit of storytelling. Hiroko has her own personal heartbreak and the consequences that she’s been carrying, but also a lifetime of society forcibly rejecting queer people. Not like the conservative extinction burst attacks we’re seeing now, but the full confidence of a majority of society being queerphobic. Hiroko’s beloved sempai, a woman she admired and loved, took the fall for her and she cannot let that go lightly.

I love that this has to be explained…how genuinely wonderful for younger queer folks who rightfully see transphobia and homophobia as the problem, rather than themselves. But it does have to be explained, because while that kind of queerphobia still does exist-  people are still regularly thrown out of homes, lose jobs, access to family, children, housing, – it is nowhere as common as it once was. So for folks who have not experienced it, here is an example.

And, having learned the whole truth, Ayaka, Risa, and Hiroko are ready to move on. No, wait, Risa and Hiroko are, but Ayaka has other ideas. She’s still convinced that Hiroko just need convincing. In Ayaka fashion, that means she’ll choose the wackiest way to go about it.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 10
Service – 6 When Ayaka stops dressing for attention, it’s actually pretty funny
Yuri – 7
Lesbian – 9

Overall – 8

This volume manages to be funny and poignant with Sal Jiang’s fabulous reaction expression art. A good read, a fun read, and a read that I hope in 15 years will make almost no sense at all to the next generation of queer youth, who will be befuddled by anyone who doesn’t just automatically acknowledge their right to exist.

Posted in English Manga, LGBTQ, Sal Jiang, Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Yuri News Network – (百合ネットワークニュース) – May 9, 2026

May 9th, 2026

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

This week’s news is looking mighty global!

English Yuri News

Via Sr. YNN Correspondent Sean Gaffney, Tokyopop has licensed Hiraeth Remained by Nitamoto. “Sanayama Kazura, a girl who just wants to be loved, discovers that the girl she had been spending all of her money on to look her way has betrayed her. In her moment of despair, she is approached by Yoshibe Kinka, who asks if she would like to die with her.”

Chinese Baihe News

Baiheverse has two announcements this week!  Have No Fear, Shijie’s Here!, is”a xianxia transmigration story created by the independent manhua creator CantNameThings.” The first 10 chapters, along with all future extra chapters, will be completely free to read.  I’ll try to make time for this.

They also have announced the long-awaited collaborative work with nihaohaohaojun, Long as We Have Loved. The synopsis for this reads, “Years later, after another call from her mother about getting married, Zhou Ruoheng couldn’t help but think back on her school days—how, once upon a time, there had been someone she loved.”

Yuri novelist 九夏／Irene309 says on X that they were interviewed by Litmus  magazine about Idol Yuri and several of their novels. They go on to say that they are glad that there can be this kind of exchange across oceans. This interview is in Chinese, but hopefully I’ll be able to find and read it one day. 

 

Korean GL News

Via GirlsLoveInfo on X, Korean GL comic, The Wingless White Angel (하얀 천사에게 날개는 없다: 타락 소녀) “follows a bullied girl who meets someone who feels like an angel… but is she salvation or something darker?” This will premiere this month on Lezhin Snack. I’m guesssing that this is shorter form comics.

 

Thai GL News

Thai GL novel, 4 Elements: The Earth by Salmon, which was made into a live-action drama starring AppleMim, is getting a Japanese translation as 4 Elements: The Earth（フォーエレメンツ：アース）.

 

Japanese Yuri News

Urusekai Picnic (裏世界ピクニック) manga, Volume 16 is getting a May 12 release in Japan and Square Enix holding a release commemoration fair, with extras at every retailer.

Galette WORKS is releasing GALETTE ILLUSTRATION BOOK 06 on 6/6! Fun with numbers. ^_^ Check their website for purchasing links. 

Here’s a classic lesbian pulp-style Yuri novel on Bookwalker JP – Hannari Yuri-iro Onsenkyou (はんなり百合色温泉郷). Mio loses her job and home and ends up working at an onsen…where she and the landlady start a steamy affair. The description warns that there are “lesbian scenes between women.” I actually grinned reading this description.

Via Yuri Navi on X, we have  Koushaku Reijō No Rouraku Misshon ~ Maou To No Seiryaku Kekkon Ga , Jinrui Saigo No Kirifuda Desu ! … ~Tsu Te , Maou Ga Onnanoko No Baai Wa Dousureba Ii No Desu Ka ! ? (公爵令嬢籠絡ミッション～魔王との政略結婚が、人類最後の切り札です！…って、魔王が女の子の場合はどうすればいいのですか！？) is a ridiculously titled story about a young noble sent to seduce the Demon King to save humanity, only find her target to be is a Demon Queen. I’m definitely going to read that nonsense. ^_^

 

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Yuri Visual Novel News

Via YNN Correspondent Roxie, Dance of the Butterflies is “a WLW psychological thriller visual novel with 4 yurious love interests… and no choice that comes without a cost.” This was created by a Vietnamese studio, Parapuro. Wishlist it on Steam!

Via Sr. YNN Correspondent Matt Marcus English and Japanese localization for Citrus Summer – A Visual Novel is being worked on! Follow developer team Lime Studio on X for updates.

Studio Lightbulb on X is working on Tsurugaoka no Nanafushigi (鶴ヶ丘の七不思議) “a science fiction x yuri feature-length free ADV”  about a beautiful girl who saves beautiful girls. This is in production, an we’ll keep an eye on it. ^_^

 

Yuri Events

The new permanent Yuri cafe space in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Atelier LILIUM is hosting an art exhibition on June 5-June 17, 平尾アウリの描く女の子展～Girls, by Auri Hirao.

Via Rica Takashima on Instagram, Yume, the pre-Pride Yuri market in Brooklyn, NYC is taking applications! This event is happening on May 31, 2026 in Flatbush. I am going to try to attend.

 

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Other News

Congrats to Anime Herald, for going into production on the second issue of Anime Herald Magazine! The first issue was fantastic (if I do say so myself, as I contributed an article.) ^_^

 

Your support for Yuri journalism and research has never been more important than right now. Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips.  Our goal is to raise our guest writers’ wages to above industry standard, which are too low!

Your support goes straight to paying for Guest Reviews, folks helping with videos, site maintenance, managing the Yuricon Store and directly supporting other Yuri creators. Just $5/month makes a huge impact! Become part of the Okazu family!

Become a part of the Yuri Network, by being a YNN Correspondent: Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share with us.

 

Posted in Yuri Network News | 3 Comments »


The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants to Serve the Villainess, Volume 3

May 8th, 2026

On a background of fiery flowers, a woman in a blue uniform/dress with long pink hair is back to back with a woman in a blue dress, long pale hair and a tiara of dark crystals, weilding flame.In Volume 1 and Volume 2, we met former Office Lady Natori Midori, a woman whose genuine desire to be useful lead her to be fired by her employer. Reborn into the world of a otome game, Natori – called Natalie by the characters – find herself working as the familiar and assistant to the villainess, Lapis.

Natalie is in a bind. She likes the game protagonist, Diana, and wants to protect her from having to kill Lapis. She really likes Lapis, more than just wanting to save her. But the more she tries to protect them from their fates in the game, the more the game world pushes them all to the same end.

What’s a reincarnate to do? In The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants to Serve the Villainess, Volume 3, she gives up pretending. Having met the Prince’s confidant, Rubeus, who seems to be manipulating them all for his own (and, unwittingly, the Prince’s) sake, Natalie only sees one way to stop the worst possible things from occurring. She tells Lapis the truth. Then she tells Diana what she can. By trusting in people by whom she wishes to be trusted, Natalie believes she can protect everyone. She and Lapis share another confidence as well. They now know they their feelings are more than just assistant/employer, but there is much more to be said about that.

Rubeus is sending the country down a path towards commoner uprising and noble rebellion. will Natalie be able to stop it? Lapis and hopefully, Diana, are on her side. The relationship between these two is strained as well, so where all of this is headed, we can’t be sure. The story is actually getting a little fraught, but I’m hoping this game gets a well-deserved happily ever after.

Nekotarou’s art is great. While the magic is fairly standard, it’s fun to see Diana use people’s own spells against them.
And in the bonus story, one of Natori’s former coworkers learns that Natori was a decent person and she was the jerk all along. I wonder if that is going to play into the story at all.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – We’re up to intimate embraces
Yuri – 4…we’re getting there!

Overall – 8

Posted in English Manga, Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Watashi-tachi no Koi ga Hanahiraku Toki Isekai Renai Yuri Anthology (私たちの恋が花開くとき 異世界恋愛百合アンソロジー)

May 7th, 2026

In 2019 I reviewed the Isekai Tensei Yuri Anthology (異世界転生百合アンソロジー) from Ichijinsha. Instead of interesting and well-conceived shorts about Yuri in “another world,” I found a collection of vehicular deaths and very few original ideas. The cover art was the best thing about it. 

Here we are in 2026 and I was really hoping Watashi-tachi no Koi ga Hanahiraku Toki Isekai Renai Yuri Anthology (私たちの恋が花開くとき 異世界恋愛百合アンソロジー) from Takeshobo would hit the spot but here even the cover did not meet up to expectations.  

We all know that “Isekai” is most cases means being reincarnated into a feudal gaming-style society, with magic, perhaps. And yet, as we look at this cover, we see two women in Edwardian-esque school uniforms? Ah yes, that feudal early 20th century private school for girls.

To be clear, these stories are not terrible, they are just not-particularly isekai, not-originla – full of some of the dullest tropes – and IMHO some are not Yuri.  Hereafter, any story about a maid and her infantile mistress will never, ever count as “Yuri” to me. It’s a bad trope that stomps on several boundaries: Power harassment, classism, and inappropriate age gap at the very minimum. 

There is so much Isekai in existence, and some of it is Yuri and so much of that is decent. I’m In Love With The Villainess, and The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants To Work For The Villainess, Muryoku Seijo to Munou Oujo ~ Maryoku Zero de Shoukansareta Seijo no Isekai Kyuukokuki (~無力聖女と無能王女～魔力ゼロで召喚された聖女の異世界救国記～)…all of these are interesting and create fully realized worlds out of games/fantasies. Unfortunately, this anthology makes little attempt to incorporate isekai, or depict relationships that offer any depth.

The “best” of the stories is the first, “Watashi no Koibito ha Tsuika Kakinsei no Keiyaku Kanojodesu! ~ Keiyaku Kanojo nanoni Mechamechasematte Kurunode Totemo Tsuraidesu ~”『私の恋人は追加課金制の契約彼女です! ～契約彼女なのにめちゃめちゃ迫ってくるのでとても辛いです～』, written by Karasu Piero, creator of MagiRevo, with very decent art by Mizuyu. In this tale a respected, powerful elite guard is swindled by a hustler into taking her as a lover. The thing is, they really do like each other, and share some personal stuff, and it would be, as the story says, happily ever after, if it weren’t just a contract. If there was isekai in this, I honestly missed it. The bittersweet ending was a nice change of pace.

Surely it is not *that* hard to write a short isekai Yuri story without focusing on the death part, as the 2019 anthology did, or just writing the same old maid, animal girl stories but calling it “isekai” on the cover as this one does. The art and stories here are fine, just, not isekai,sometimes not Yuri, and kind of just the same old, same old. 

Ratings:

Overall – 5

 It’s 2026 and I still don’t have a cool knight/princess Yuri story and I’m getting tetchy. ^_^;

Posted in Yuri Anthology, Yuri Manga | No Comments »