Viz Media is quietly carving out a little niche for themselves, aren’t they? ^_^ Along with all the quiet little school Yuri from Shogagukan, like Rainbows After Storms, they have complex adult Yuri in How Do We Relationship from Shueisha, and now Pink Candy Kiss, Volume 1, by Ami Uozumi.
Taka is coming off another breakup with a boyfriend. She just doesn’t seem to have that *feeling* of wanting to be with them and she doesn’t know why. (As an aside – this is perfectly normal! We should be dating to date, not to marry!) She meets up with an old school friend and is blown away at how much Ema has changed.
In her memories, Ema was quiet and needed protecting. They were so close…why did they stop keeping in touch? Taka can’t stop watching Ema, and is jealous that Ema’s husband Hario has had all these years to be with Ema. But, as Hario repeatedly says, he’s never seen Ema this happy, since Taka is back in her life.
Having set this up situation up, we run into the story’s biggest weakness – Taka’s denial setting is on 11. So for the rest of the volumes, she is torturing herself. “What am I feeling?” goes only so far to carry a story.When she finally remembers that she and Ema stopped speaking after Taka tried to kiss her friend, it feels almost like psychological horror that she never, ever, ever, ever thought this through. At last, at the end of Volume 1, Taka realizes that she loves Ema, although no one yet has noticed that Ema is also in love with her. It all feels all very old school “what is this feeling?” The creator does mention that their wish is that people can love freely, which makes this feel more of a moral than a story. But, I get that many people really don’t understand themselves until later in life, so I am willing be convinced.
Having recently finished up Takako Shimura’s Even Though We’re Adults, Viz apparently felt that we needed another lesbian falls for a married woman story. ^_^ Only in this story, the marriage is not on the rocks. I could, almost, visualize a relationship in which Ema had two partners but for one thing…Emma herself. She seems much too unaware, unless that is her method of self-preservation? ” I guess we’ll find out in future volumes. Tsumetakute Yawaraka ( 冷たくて 柔らか) is already up to 4 volumes in Japanese, so there is room for drama.
Ratings:
Art – It’s a bit rough, but somehow very Josei-feeeling
Story – Reunions are nice as a premise, but the backstory/secret it a tad weak, hoping for more as it develops
Characters – I am wholly invested in Ema’s happiness. Taka better not hurt her. Grr.
Service – None
Yuri – All kinds, Ema’s feeelings for Taka, both implicit and explicit, Taka’s feeeling for Ema, bot overt and covert.
The Expression Amrilato is the first visual novel by Yuri developer SukeraSparo, initially released in Japanese in 2017 and localised into English and Chinese by MangaGamer. The original Japanese-only version is available on Windows, Android and IOS whilst MangaGamer’s release—which this review will be covering—is available on Windows, Linux and Mac OS.
The Expression Amrilato tells the story of Rin, a high school girl whose life is upended when she suddenly finds herself in a strange world only slightly different than her own, where the sky is pink and everyone around her speaks an unfamiliar language. Lost and confused, Rin is saved from despair by a girl named Ruka who knows a smattering of Japanese. Conversing with Ruka, Rin learns that in this world people speak a language called Juliamo (a fictionalised version of Esperanto), and with the help of Ruka and a woman named Rei, she sets about mastering this language in order to most effectively communicate with those around her.
I didn’t run into any major issues on the technical side. The game runs nicely in both windowed mode and fullscreen. All language options are available in the game’s settings menu and the store page on Steam even encourages playing the game in Japanese or Chinese to help learn those languages. The game does have full controller support, but there isn’t a button layout guide and the menus aren’t designed around it, so I found myself only using a controller for advancing text and used a mouse for menus and lessons. Also, the only way to exit the game when playing is to go to the settings menu first in order to go to the main menu so you can exit the game, which is slightly confusing.
The English translation reads excellently, which is doubly important in a game that teaches you an entire other language. Naturally, there are a lot of misunderstandings and puns involving Japanese and the translation cleverly approaches this by selectively rendering the Japanese word in romaji above the English translation, a bit like furigana. Gameplay is largely linear, with only minor choices until near the end where it diverges into the game’s three endings. There are also the Juliamo lessons which are optional and can be turned on or off in the settings, though I recommend keeping them on for the best experience. The soundtrack is sufficiently earwormy with the opening theme song being a particular standout, a pop rock tune sung by Sagara Kokoro (aka 556t of kairo) with composition and arrangement by RYU of BLOOD STAIN CHILD. A full instrumental version plays in the main menu, so you can enjoy RYU shredding a wicked guitar solo as you fumble around in the settings. The game has full voice acting, including spoken Juliamo which greatly adds to the worldbuilding. The voice acting is largely excellent all round, with my only gripe being some of the native Juliamo speakers sounding a bit too stilted for what you’d expect of a native of a language, but this a very minor complaint. The art is solid, with the perpetually pink sky giving off an almost exotic vibe to what is an otherwise equally mundane world as ours, which feels quite fitting for Rin’s perspective. I particularly liked the surprised reaction sprites for Rin and Ruka, they’re very goofy and cute.
Juliamo. What is Juliamo? Juliamo is a fictionalised version of the real constructed international auxiliary language Esperanto, created in 1897 by a guy named L. L. Zamenhof. Constructed means the language was consciously devised for a purpose instead of developing naturally, and for Esperanto that purpose is for communication between people who do not share a first language. So what’s the differences between the fictional Juliamo and real Esperanto? The main one is the script. Esperanto uses the familiar Latin alphabet whereas Juliamo uses its own fictional one, albeit heavily inspired by Latin with a side dish of Greek and Japanese. The other differences are Juliamo has some additional vocabulary and small changes to grammar as mentioned in a splash screen every time you boot up the game. As I am not an Esperanto speaker, I can’t pinpoint the exact differences here unfortunately, but the game was supervised by Japan’s National Esperanto Association so rest assured that the majority of what you learn is proper Esperanto. Sure enough, I checked out some Esperanto resources after finishing the game and a good chunk of early vocab and grammar I recognised from what I had learnt ingame. The game teaches you through both lessons and the narrative. The lessons are minigames where you memorise a bunch of vocab and match them with the translation and this is where you learn the majority of vocab. These lessons can be accessed at any time from the main menu for additional study, and you’ll need it if you want to do the optional quiz for the final lesson as the vocab list is simply way too long to memorise in a single sitting. Grammar is taught through the narrative where you effectively study alongside Rin, but unlike vocab you’ll never be quizzed on it. There’s a good chunk of Juliamo dialogue early on in the story that by design the reader likely won’t understand, so taking the time to study Esperanto independently can reward you with an interesting new experience on a second playthrough.
Outside of the language difference and the pink sky, the world of The Expression Amrilato isn’t much different from ours. One of those similarities is social and systemic discrimination, which now extends to the vizitantoj—those who are isekai’d into this world like our protagonist Rin. Vizitantoj are essentially immigrants. The government provides a scheme for vizitantoj which includes a stipend and store discounts, but we are told these benefits have recently been the subject of major cuts (which very much made me think of the UK’s recent cuts to disability benefits.) We are also told of shop owners charging higher prices for vizitantoj and—the most relevant of these to the story—school bullying.
There are three main characters in The Expression Amrilato. The first is Rin, our protagonist and a vizitanto who frequently considers herself boyish, particularly in contrast to Ruka. She isn’t overly adept at learning languages, wishing she put more effort in learning English at school. This is most evident by how she often speaks in Japanese to people she knows won’t understand her, and for those who do understand to some degree, she rarely attempts to consciously speak slower so she can be understood easier and occasionally slurs her words without realising she is doing so. This can be both equally amusing and frustrating to watch and there definitely were a few facepalm worthy moments (how do you accidentally buy an apple instead of a potato? just use your eyes?), but most importantly it adds to the misunderstandings between Rin and Ruka which naturally results in a plentiful of Yuri situations. These misunderstandings all strike the right balance of being sufficiently amusing and cute without veering into downright uncomfortable territory. Speaking of cute, Ruka. Rin frequently gushes about how cute she is from the moment they first met. She speaks some Japanese, enough for basic communication with Rin but little enough that she is a mystery in a lot of ways for much of the story. One thing that isn’t a mystery is that she is very fond of Rin from very early on, but she struggles to effectively put her feelings into words, something that is difficult even when you speak the same native language. Rin too clearly develops feelings for Ruka early on. This ties into the central theme of the story—language—neatly, as we follow these two girls as they work to find their own expressions to convey their love.
Our third character is the librarian Rei who mainly acts as a teacher to Rin. She is unfortunately the weakest part of the story. Initially she appears to not know any Japanese, however it slips during a heated argument with Rin and following this she starts teaching Rin. My problem with this is that at no point in the story is there a reason given for why she withheld her knowledge of Japanese from Rin. Especially given her job responsibility in working with vizitantoj, it comes across as extremely irresponsible. Maybe this is the intended reading of her character, but even so it doesn’t really fit the general atmosphere that the rest of the story goes for. I reckon this is all simply for narratives sake to force Rin to study with Ruka early on in the story, but have Rei later on for the more difficult stuff. And certainly, Rei does often act as a matchmaker between the two, not that this interpretation makes her actions any less irresponsible.
The story is mostly paced well, though there is a bit of lull in the middle where Ruka isn’t present as much, and at times it feels less like you’re reading a Yuri story and more like you’re back at school (whether this a good or bad thing, you decide.) The story splits into three endings, one bad ending and two good endings. After I first reached one of the endings, I initially didn’t even realise that there were any other endings as there is no ending counter or similar in the menus. It was only when I saw CGs I didn’t remember getting in the now unlocked CG gallery did I look up an ending guide online to make sure I wasn’t suffering severe memory loss. The first of the good endings I got seems like the true ending as it results from making what seems like the best possible choices and I believe it’s where the sequel continues from, and while it was satisfying as far as the Yuri is concerned, it seemed a little underwhelming as a climax to story. The second good ending however was more of the climax I was expecting. I think one big singular ending which combines the best of both would’ve worked better.
Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 7 (8 for Rin and Ruka, 5 for Rei)
Service – 2 (one mildly revealing bathing CG)
Yuri – 8
Overall – 8
If you’re a language nerd, a Yuri fan or most importantly a language nerd Yuri fan, I thoroughly recommend this delightfully unique combination of Yuri and language learning.
KatGrrrl finds herself getting more addicted to Yuri by the day. Socials at linktr.ee/katgrrrl
Our first in-person live Sailor Moon stage show was in 2002, when we stumbled into a performance hall quite accidentally, and found ourselves in a Sailor Moon gift shop for a show that was playing. It was a version of the third season, Super, so were were delighted to be able to see it. We went to Shining Moon Tokyo, the Sailor Moon restaurant as part of the 100 Years of Tokyo Tour, where the show had incredibly clever use of a very small space. One of the defining moments was Mars using some kind of LED light effect baton that, when swung, looked as if it was flames. (This is pertinent to this report, bear with me!)
And, finally, we were able to see the first iteration of Sailor Moon The Super Live when it came to Washington, DC and New York City in 2019. That was a lovely fully 2.5D experience, with panels from the manga in the background as the story played out. Beryl was joined by Kunzite alone of the Shittenou who appeared as baddies.
And on Friday, my wife and I attended the Sailor Moon The Super Live North American Tour 2025 event in Newark, NJ at NJPAC, as part of the 21-city North American Tour. We had sat on the idea of going for a week, so were unable to get VIP tickets, but when we got an email from NJPAC to RSVP to a “secret” pre-show event, obviously, we did immediately. And that, starting right off, was an indication of just how far NJPAC was leaning into this show. We used secret code “silvercrystal” to get an RSVP. It was adorable cringe. ^_^
Of course, we arrived too early! I walked up and down the line as people arrived taking pictures of all our cool Sailor Moon dress up, shirts and gear. At the bottom of this post is a gallery of photos I took of everyone. Two quick disclaimers: Everyone gave me explicit permission to use these photos, but if you want yours removed, please free to ask and I will! Conversely, if I took your picture and it’s not here, I apologize, just let me know and I’ll find it and add it. I had a lot of pictures to comb through. The entire (windy) time we waited, music from Sailor Moon anime and shows wafted around the plaza. You could see folks bopping and singing along to their faves.
Once inside, we headed up to the pre-show event. Again, NJPAC did a wonderful job. When we checked in, we got a bingo card. I did my best to fill out as many of the boxes as quickly as I could, because it was fun, and ran back to get a prize, which was a really large, cute Luna stuffed animal. She now sits proudly next to our Osaka-ben talking Kero-chan next to where I am typing. ^_^ We had “asian-inspired” food, which was a very generous interpretation of Chinese-ish pork, shrimp or mushroom buns, pasta with sesame oil and desserts choices of brownies, lemon bars, strawberries, and mochi donuts, with a choice of hibiscus or matcha boba drinks. We ate some food then had a few of everything dessert, while (again) ran around taking pictures…because everyone was SO cute. ^_^
Here are a few pictures I want to share specifically, just because the Outers looked amazing, as they always do. But do please check the entire gallery.
And this outstanding group of Outer Senshi princesses:
Then it was time for the show. The story hasn’t changed…but actually, it has. Every show I have seen has made small changes to the story. Here, they did some interesting things on a meta-level. While several songs insisted that all of the Senshi are still “normal girls” they likewise insisted that their powers are part of that “normal.” THIS is who they are and it’s perfectly okay.
They leaned deeply into their defining characteristics of Justice (Moon), Intelligence (Mercury), Passion (Mars), Courage (Jupiter) and Love (Venus.) This theme repeated, as did the song Starry Heavens and My Universe. And, while their introductory songs did briefly give their backstories, these were stripped of angst and centered on how Usagi changed their lives. If a lack of something can be considered a theme, then lack of angst was a key theme here. We get a number of pieces about Beryl, the war between the moon and earth and Endymion and Serenity in the second act, but the death of the senshi is – refreshingly – absent, and it is Sailor Moon who lifts herself up, then rejoins her friends. Likewise, Queen Metallia is presented as an annoyance to Beryl, a tool, that she had no choice but to use but she is uninterested in giving her the Legendary Silver Crystal if possible, as she plans to keep it for herself.
There were a number of moments played for jokes and a number of moments in which the audience just laughed, knowing what thing was being referenced.
The effects were presented in several ways – stage lighting and a large screen in the back that ran subtitles of dialogue and songs and also stood in for city scenes. Miasma and Queen Metallia were nicely presented on the screen. There was a metal framework in front of the screen implying the city of Azabu Juban and Tokyo tower, which I quite liked. It would light up as the miasma left and Sailor Moon saved the city..again. ^_^ But, once again my favorite effect was in the different LED light sticks that were used…and the LED spinners.
This show had LED lighting effect in short batons, long lances which I thought were extra cool and rhythmic-gymnastic-like ribbons which lit up, then could be stiff, as well. They were incredible, but completely overwhelmingly the winner were the spinners. You know fire spinning, right? These were similar. Things that were spun, but because it is a programmable LED, the effects were amazing. They could imply a galaxy, or an attack…the Senshi’s attacks were met with crowd approval, but when the spinners kicked in to show the planetary symbols, the crowd went wild. ^_^ It looked amazing.
The cast was excellent. This was an exhausting show. Just the number of times Usagi had to collapse to her knees make me tired. ^_^ They had stairs which they ran up and down, singing (they were doing the singing live as the occasional imperfect note confirmed,) and of course dancing, “fighting” and generally running around. The harmonies were solid, and they were just…the Senshi. Riko Tanaka’s Usagi was cute, clumsy, and somehow stronger than you expected (wifey says, “with a pair of pipes”,) while Kanon Maekawa as Ami was slightly less vulnerable than she previously has been portrayed, Rei Kobayashi was a perfect Rei, focusing on her own strengths and desires, Kisara Matsumura as Makoto had a pleasant soprano, and left her heartbreak behind in one sentence, and Marin Makino’s Minako was confident and still, somehow, a little goofy. I find myself less and less tolerant of Tuxedo Mask, but have to give props to Riona Tatemichi’s performance and the script for somehow making him a bit sympathetic. But the winner and still champeen is, without a doubt, Sayaka Okamura as Queen Beryl. Holy crow could that woman sing.
Once Beryl kidnaps Mamoru and the Senshi have to travel to the Dark Kingdom, the tone of the music changes dramatically. A neon sign reads “Dark Kingdom,” and the world is not dark, but a brightly lit party-all-the-time-even-if-you-don’t-want-to honky-tonk. Beryl sings “Burn Up The Dance Floor,” a song of violent, yet catchy, retribution and she just nails every note. Her reprise in the revue portion was even more enthusiastically received. Absolutely outstanding performance.
Props to the extras, as well, who work really hard with little credit, playing characters like the Dark Kingdom creatures, Haruna-sensei, Naru’s Mom, and Usagi’s Mom, in scene after scene.
The revue portion included a version of La Soldier. I sat next to a family that included a dad who was not familiar with any of this, but clearly bopped to some of the catchier tunes, a mom who was a fan and a kid who was not, but was well-behaved and absolutely befuddled when the entire audience suddenly began to sing this song. ^_^ My wife howled at the appropriate point and was delighted that she wasn’t the only one.
After a few other songs, it concluded with Moonlight Densetsu. I don’t know how long this will stay up even though the audience is given explicit permission to record and post this video with the hashtag #SailorMoonSuperLive, but here is Moonlight Densetsu from the finale!
I hope you will also take a look at these photos of the creativity and joy of the audience.
This was a fantastic show. There are a very few seats left for remaining NYC shows…it looks like Philly and Hartford are sold out. I highly recommend this experience, if only to be part of a dedicated, shockingly non-toxic fandom. ^_^
Now that this tour has been so successful, you know I’m hoping that they do Super with the Outers next time. ^_^ I understand that having 8 more people on the tour is a lot of logistics, but…I wanna see the Outers use those LED spinners for their attacks!
I am writing this in a post-show haze from an incredible Sailor Moon The Super Live! event. Tomorrow, I’ll write it all up. There are a very few tickets left for the remaining shows in Connecticut, Philadelphia and New York City. If you can, go. It was a great show. ^_^
I am incredibly excited to announce that I will be guest at Y/Con in Paris, France, on November 14-15, 2025. I cannot wait to meet French Yuri fans and folks from all around Europe!
Girls Love Fest 44 Yuri doujinshi event will be held on June 29, 2025 at the PiO building in Ota-ku, Tokyo. I’m already hoping to attend the March 2026 event, because I miss GLFes! Last time we made it to one was 2019 for the 100 years of Yuri Tour.
Baihe
Baiheverse has begun releasing chapters of The Clouds of Past Millennia, a time-travel tale of fate. They appear to be taking a free-sample-to-paid-chapter model.
Ize Press has announced a manhwa license, I Love Amy, by unni, a 4-volume girls love series. Wonhee Cho has the details on ANN. This is Ize’s first Yuri release!
The Anemone Feels the Heat, Volume 1 is the first of a LOT of volumes following a girl who accidentally missed her chance at the path she wanted to take and now is trying to rebuild, who meets someone who never had those chances at all. Anemone ga Netsu wo Obiru, Volume 2 (アネモネが熱を帯びる) in Japanese is also up on the Store.
Assorted Entanglements, Volume 7 by Mikanuji, continues to throw us tidbits of the lives of various women finding their places with each other
Yuri Manga in Japanese
I fell very behind on these, in the last few months, so I apologize for the manga dump, but I am now caught up with my previous bookmarks and am starting in on the new ones. ^_^
Doushi Shoujo yo, Teki o Ute, Volume 1 (同志少女よ、敵を撃て) is a dark tale of a girl whose family is killed by the Germans, so she is taken in by Russians to become a sniper, and her intense and violent relationship with the woman who trains her.
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 9 (雨夜の月) New volume, new volume! I can’t wait to see what happens with Saki and Kanon. ^_^
Kimi ga Hoeru Tame no Uta o, Volume 1 (キミが吠えるための歌を、) Haru loves to sing, but is afraid of being mocked for her deep voice, Yu is a “vocaloid”_type singer who wants to write for her.
Haikei, Arishi Hi ni Saku Sana-tachi e (拝啓、在りし日に咲く花たちへ) In this books and Yuri story, a girl transfers into a girls school and discovers a relationship from the past in letters hidden in library books.
YNN Sr. Correspondent Sean Gaffney says fans of LGBTQ manga and Yoshinaga Fumi ought to keep an eye out for Tamaki & Amane from Yen.
Via Okazu Staff Writer Matt Marcus, Kathleen Gros’ graphic novel I HATED YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL “is an enemies-to-lovers story inspired by classic romantic movies—with a queer twist.”
Nichegamer wants you to know that The Great Villainess: Strategy of Lily, a deception-based turn-based strategy game will available be on Steam this July.
Yuri Anime
Cutie Honey – The Original TV Series – Blu-ray is now available from Discotek. This is Go Nagai’s original vision for the series and, as weird and horny as it is, it also has some amazing moments.
Next week we have a brand-new original self-published work from inori.-sensei, illustrated by Aonoshimo, Homunculus Tears: Alchemy for the Brokenhearted. Don’t miss this fantasy light novel about finding one’s place in life when everything around you is changing.
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Gakepucchi means “on a cliff’s edge,” that is to say, someone pushed to desperate straits. And so, we meet Clarice, the eldest daughter of a failing minor noble household. Her sister Charlotte is ill and her parents have sold everything they can to pay for her treatment. In order to save her family and her beloved little sister, Clarice accepts an offer of marriage from the infamous Black Knight Frost.
And this is where I really kind of like the way the English and Japanese play in the title. Because Frost is a Marquis or Marquess (depending on your language of origin,) which is to say a ruler of the March…the very edge of the land. So when Clarice goes to Frost’s home, she is literally on the very edge of the civilized world, where she finds that the edge is not that civilized after all.
Frost is a huge, black-armored creature who, when a monster attack during their wedding, dispatches it with ease, but seems antagonistic toward Clarice. Clarice is not a shrinking violet – she has committed to this relationship and she’ll be damned if she fails. When she discovers that Frost is a still-huge, angry and fearsome creature, she is also a very attractive woman. While Frost shuts her out, Clarice rallies the few maids left in the household and brings Frost the best dinner she can muster and seeks to win her heart.
Frost clearly has some ancient trauma she is avoiding, so is spending her energy keeping Clarice at a distance, but her new wife is energetic, dedicated and a really kind and competent person. When a visiting merchant is attacked, Clarice defiantly saves the merchant and his daughter, proclaiming herself the wife of the famous Black Knight, Clarice von Galeria! By the end of volume one we are merely waiting for Frost to…defrost, if you will. There’s a lot of road to travel before that will happen, however, Clarice is showing herself to be a very determined heroine. I really like her!
The art by sometime, creator of Superwomen in Love! is fun, energetic and provides us a lot of near-naked, Frost bulging with muscles and covered in scars, both physical and emotional. suoh’s story is adapted well buy this veteran artist.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – Clarice is 9, Frost needs some work
Service – 1 Mild semi-nudity only
Yuri – 4 Actually, very little as of yet. Something tragic in Frost’s history, but it’ll be there in a bit
Erica Friedman is the Founder of Yuricon, ALC Publishing Lesbian Icon. Speaker, Writer, Editor/Adapter, LGBTQ manga tastemaker, 百合人. Proud to be a MLS. Learn more >>
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Viz Media is quietly carving out a little niche for themselves, aren’t they? ^_^ Along with all the quiet little school Yuri from Shogagukan, like Rainbows After Storms, they have complex adult Yuri in How Do We Relationship from Shueisha, and now Pink Candy Kiss, Volume 1, by Ami Uozumi.
Yuri Events
