Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – April 12, 2025

April 12th, 2025

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 OkazuYuri Anime

Just making sure – we are all watching Rock Is A Lady’s Modesty, on HIDIVE, right? ^_^ Class S, Yuri service and rock music make for an amusing series so far. Review to come soon! Kara Dennison over at Crunchyroll News has the creditless opening and closing animation segments for your enjoyment.

Speaking of girl bands, over at ANN Egan Loo has the news that two cast members of Girls Band Cry are resuming recording dialogue for the upcoming first of two compilation movies. If you missed that series it is streaming over at Crunchyroll.

Lycoris Recoil: Friends are thieves of time, the six-episode short film series, will be streaming on Aniplex’s YouTube channel starting on April 16, according to Crystalyn Hodgkins on ANN.

From Komatsu-san over at Crunchyroll News, we have Science SARU’s new The Ghost In The Shell anime, which is, for the first time, an adaptation of the manga art style. Check out the trailer on Youtube.

ANN’s Alex Mateo has the news that Gundam GQuuuuuuX anime will be getting same-day dubs. I’m told that, for an Amazon anime, this one has subtitles and translation that are not terrible. ^_^ Today is Gundam day for me. Catching up on my GWitch rewatch and this.

Ken Iikura-Gross has news that the cast and staff of Kaleido Star would *also* like a new anime…and they are hoping to reinvigorate fandom, with a teaser on Youtube to get our blood pumping. As you may recall, I have a complicated relationship with this series, and have a whole category on Okazu filled with my love of Sora and Layla and hate for Yuri and Carlos. ^_^ 

 

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Yuri Manga

Shin Ikkitousen manga is returning from hiatus. It helps to remember that no matter what the world brings us, this series just never dies. ^_^ ANN’s Rafael Antonio Pineda has the news. Did I ever mention that a friend of mine who is scholar of Chinese poetry once came to my house and was absolutely aghast at my Ikkitousen figurines and wrote a whole article about it? ^_^ Fast Times at San Guo High: a Visit to Erica Friedman of Yuricon.

Daryl Harding at Crunchyroll News says that Girl Crush manga, about two girls who want to become K-pop idols, has passed half a million copies sold! Not a romance, but intense relationship, ahoy! Check out the manga trailer on Youtube.

waffle.zone on the Okazu Discord was pleased to share the news that Inklore has licensed Sora and Haena by Jackbull. They describe this as a “sweet and silly GL.”

Once again, I am playing catchup on adding manga to the Yuricon Store!

Otherside Picnic, Volume 12, which was reviewed by Sandy this week on Okazu.

If My Favorite Idol Made It To The Budokan I Would Die, Volume 5 was reviewed by me this week, as well.

SHWD: The Complete Yuri Collection by sono.N will be headed our way in June, from Seven Seas. Frankly, I think this will be good as an omnibus violume. I loved this action series about beefy, but sweet, adult women fighting monsters.

Hitting shelves this summer from Seven Seas is Tough Love at the Office: The Complete Yuri Collection, Sal Jiang’s violence in the office Yuri series which I really enjoyed for all the right wrong reasons. ^_^ Read it in small pieces…it’s a lot.

A White Rose in Bloom, Volume 4 will be here in June, from Seven Seas. When I reviewed this JP volume in January I called it a “gem” of Rakuen Le Paradis magazine.

I Can’t Say No to the Lonely Girl, Volume 6 came out in March, and is now on the Store! This is the final volume of the series…but not the end, because we also have Lonely Girl Hanataba wo – Kashikaze Short Story Collection (ロンリーガールに花束を 樫風短編集) in Japanese – the collection of shorts and doujinshi Kashikaze has drawn about Ayaka and Sora in college. I’m looking forward to those.

Garan no Hime ( 伽藍の姫 -がらんのひめ-) , Volume 1 and Volume 2, is the one science fiction/fantasy currently running Comic Yuri Hime magazine. I love the story, honestly.

Kiraware Majyo Reijō to Dansou Ouji no Kon’yaku, Volume 2 (嫌われ魔女令嬢と男装皇子の婚約) has a cover that does not do the series justice, but in this volume Eve and Ciel take on society, the rewritten history of their kingdom and a surprise antagonist.

Genjitsu Sekai Demo Shiawasenishite Kudasai Ne?, Volume 1 (現実世界でも幸せにしてくださいね？) is a reverse isekai, about characters from a game coming to our world to meet their hero and get her decision on which route she’s taking.

 

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Yuri Audiobooks

Seven Seas Siren released Roll Over and Die: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword!, Vol. 2 audiobook this past February.

I’m in Love with the Villainess: She’s so Cheeky for a Commoner (Audiobook) Vol. 3 is on the Yuricon Store, and completes the story. (For now.)

 

Yuri Light Novels

While we’re talking inori.-sensei’s work, don’t miss Homunculus Tears: Alchemy for the Brokenhearted, her newest novel, self-published on Amazon, with art by I’m In Love With The Villainess manga artist Aonoshimo-sensei and translated by ILTV translator Kevin Ishizaka! This book will hit Kindle later this month.

Also on the way from inori.-sensei in June, is The Girl Who Wants to Be a Hero and the Girl Who Ought to Be a Hero, Vol. 1. (no EN cover for it yet.) I reviewed this in Japanese last year, where I said about it, “It was a lot of fun. Everything I want in a Dengeki Bunko read – a “light” novel in the broadest sense. It’s small, quickly paced, not entirely predictable and ends just where you want it to.” This is coming out from Yen making inori.-sensei one of the few creators I know who are being published by more than one American publisher.

 

Yuri Visual Novels

Hat tip to Matt Marcus for news of the Toxic Yuri VN Jam on itchi.io. I have a theory about the trend of toxic Yuri popularity. Back in the day, when all we had were failed relationships, all Yuri fandom wanted was happily-ever-afters. Now that we are used to couple staying together happily, folks are looking for flaws and nuances and failures in their Yuri. ^_^

Studio Élan’s newest Kickstarter is for Lock & Key: A Magical Girl Mystery Visual Novel, which they describe as “…a pair of married magical girls take on one last case together…” This VN has already surpassed the initial goal with two stretch goals to go!

 

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Posted in Yuri Network News | 5 Comments »


Bakumatsu Joshikousei – Oni to Yoake, Volume 2 (幕末女子高生 鬼と夜明け　二)

April 11th, 2025

Two girls in sailor-style Japanese school uniforms, with black hair and intense, but smiling looks at one another, cross swords.Welcome to the wrongest way to read a series, part 3. ^_^ This series began in 2023, when I was wooed by the repeated appearance of girls with swords on book covers at Japanese bookstores and eventually picked up Volume 2 of one series and Volume 1 of the spin-off. I naturally began with the Volume 1, which was the Volume 1 of a 2-part spin-off of a 3-volume series. Oni to Yoake Yuzuikyo (鬼と夜明け 夕月夜) had me up all night reading about the Bakumatsu, the civil war at the end of the Edo period in which the Shinsengumi “patriots”, supporting the Shogunate, fought the pro-Imperial Shishi “rebels”. The more I read, the more I was convinced that both sides were awful. But, as we are reading about the souls of these shitty people reborn into the bodies of high school girls and playing out the factionism and fighting on the scale of high school kendo matches and hallway bickerings, it’s no less confusing to me, but much more interesting. ^_^ Interesting enough that I picked up Bakumatsu Joshikousei – Oni to Yoake, Volume 1 (幕末女子高生 鬼と夜明け　一) to figure out what was going on.

And, here, at last, Bakumatsu Joshikousei – Oni to Yoake, Volume 2 (幕末女子高生 鬼と夜明け　二) I kind of understand. ^_^ Quite irritatingly, the beginning of the book this time was better at explaining where we are in all this, so all that work I put in previous volumes was summed up in cliff note fashion. Sakomoto (who holds the soul of Sakamato Ryouma) and Hijikata (with the soul of Hijikata Toshizou) are still in love, but the rules of the school are firm – to avoid faction fighting, no relationships are allowed. However, with each regional clan in charge of different committees in school, factions still jockey for power and then…

Yoshida-sensei (who carries the soul of Yoshida Touyou) is brutally attacked by someone at night in the library. A letter is left that states this is “divine punishment” for the school, but no one claims the act. Yoshida-sensei is technically a  Choshuu domain member, but is beloved by the students and the attack sets everyone on edge, especially Takasugi (the bearer of the soul Takasugi Shinsaku), who is, frankly devastated by the act. 

Hijikata has the nagging sensation that they all are being pushed towards the Ikedaya Incident (CW: Some serious shit went down, torture and violence, so maybe only read it if you really want to know). These souls have been through this again and again and they are tired of it. Hijikata approaches Takasugi and asks, simply, if she wants to change this school. I have never been invested in a story of the Bakamatsu as much as I am now that they are going break this stupid cycle. (See my complaints that Kairo did not destroy the Aikata System with prejudice in Galette magazine.)

This series was massively popular on Twitter and Pixiv with Japanese fans and was nominated for Pixiv web manga awards, but missed the international acclaim of other series, presumably because westerners know nothing about the Bakumatsu unless they played one of the several games with related content. But I do like Ikuta Hana’s art and her commitment to the bit. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – Now that the real Bakumatsu rears it’s very ugly head, 7
Characters – 8
Service – Not really
Yuri – 5

Overall – 8

For American readers, imagine a story where Ulysses S. Grant and his generals and Robert. E. Lee and his, are all high school girls and the battle is still real, but they are in love with one another. ^_^;

You can read the comic for free in Japanese on the Michikusa Comics page or on Pixiv. Keep Wikipedia open while you do. ^_^

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If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die, Volume 5

April 10th, 2025

7 young women dressed in cute clothes with purple skirts, different blouses and accessories pose on the cover, looking at us, as if doing a photo op.In If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die, Volume 5, the members of Cham Jam make it to Tokyo. And, while they do not get to perform at the Budokan…or even the other, smaller, Budokan…they are filled with a renewed sense of purpose and gain some new fans.

Eripyo is glad the group has new fans, she is no longer Maina’s only fan…but that puts her in awkward place. Yay, Maina is more popular!, but Eri’s not her one and only any more. Of course, yes, she is and Maina has eyes for no one else. Even though they manage to have an almost normal conversation over a handshake, neither Maina nor Eripyo manage to sake anything of importance, leaving everything they want to say hanging. As always.

It has been six years, *six* years, since I read this book in Japanese. And yet, the sense of desperation and obsession clings to me, still. So when I picked up this volume, I sat down to it much as one does to a meal of leftovers that were just alright the first time and won’t be better now. ^_^; Of course, I know what we’re in for and want to warn you that the next few volumes are just going to double, triple and quadruple down on Eripyo and Maina just not being able to communicate and Volume 7 is, enraging, because it is *almost an excellent volume.* And then, once out of the well*, the story starts to get better somehow.

But as I read this volume, my words from 6 years ago come back to haunt me. “The more I read this story, the more I desperately hope it’s meant to be a cutting commentary on the utterly brutal idol industry, and the equally brutal hobby of being an idol group otaku. Otherwise, it fills me with despair. (Yeah, I know, I know, I keep bringing it on myself.) The idea that this manga is getting an anime is already annoying, but it will probably be meant to be a comedy and I will just want the world to burn.” As we know, to make it a comedy, the anime removed much of the worst parts of the manga to leave us feeling as it was actually a comedy. So if you watched the anime and came to manga from that…the next few volumes are gonna be rough, I’m sorry.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – There is one, yes
Character – 8
Service – 1
Yuri – 3 I was convince when I read this the first time that there was another couple among the members of Cham Jam, I know now that, yes, there is.

Overall – 7

I’ll end with another quote from that review 6 years ago, ““Their eyes meet, they have a conversation, no plants fall and Eri doesn’t end up injured. They are practically married.”

*Many ages ago my father told me of a story in which a person was stuck in a well, with no way to get out, at which point the next chapter began, “Once out of the well…”. This parable reminds us that there is lazy writing and there is lazy writing.

 

Posted in English Manga, Hirao Auri, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Otherside Picnic, Volume 12

April 9th, 2025

Two women hold hands, looking at each other as they jog forward out of the book cover frame.by Sandy Ferguson, Guest Reviewer

Otherside Picnic manga, Volume 12 concludes “The Whisper Is At-Your-Own-Risk” then launches into “About That Rush” concluding with Kozakura’s rebuttal, “Flashback To That Night”.

Another intense read, from gripping action, troubling revelations and a trip to the Otherside where Furth Kind idol Runa will discover the consequences of meeting your idol.

And then there is Toriko’s declaration of her feelings for Sorawo. The conclusion to “The Whisper Is At Your-Own-Risk” is exhausting and satisfying, there are a lot of moving parts and the artwork makes sure that you will be shocked. And then the “About That Rush” gives us a guided tour of The Mountain Ranch, the place created by Runa’s fan club to be a conduit to the Otherside.

So safe to say, there is a lot going on in this volume.

I have often explored Otherside Picnic as an exploration of trauma, of how victims try to navigate the legacy of their trauma. This volume is certainly in this case as Sorawo struggles with a critical question, can Sorawo deal with the fact that other people care for her? And that other people are even willing to risk their lives for her? This is a profound challenge for Sorawo as we are reminded that she was a victim of her own family who tried to destroy her.

So, as well as intense action, there are some intense emotions floating around.

And then to add to the pile, Sorawo also is forced to deal with the consequences of hiding stuff from people she is learning to care about, the stuff they desperately want to know. She fears the consequences of her actions, but eventually also takes ownership of them when the truth is revealed. This leads to Sorawo being confronted with a new situation, people will not abandon her.They may be mad at her but are willing to stick around to try and figure out what the hell is going on with Sorawo, because despite what Sorawo might think about herself, she is worth their care. Cue more angst from Sorawo, after all she is still figuring out what it means to care about other people and that sounds like too much work! Especially in the middle of a crisis.

And it is not just Sorawo who is going through an emotional wringer here. We see Toriko beginning to deal with her own trauma as she is confronted with a dose of reality about the gap between the Satsuki she yearns for, and what Satsuki has become.

And there are her feelings for Sorawo.

Sorawo and Torino’s relationship has mediated through the Otherside is one of a messy rebirth of 2 wounded people learning to care for themselves, one another and other people, something that is heavily illustrated in this volume.

After the intensity of the conclusion of “The Whisper Is At-Your-Own-Risk,” with an interlude where Kozakura hosts the Otherside after party we begin “About That Rush,” which focuses on the messy aftermath of the clean-up of the Farm created by Runa’s cult. There we meet a new group, Torchlight, a security group that participates in this operation. Then we are treated to an idyllic moment in the last chapter as Sorawo and Toriko explore the new possibilities of the Otherside and their growing relationship.

And then everything shifts, and we are given a heads-up that in future volumes Sorawo is going to be facing some unfinished business from her past.

In “Flashback To That Night” Kozakura provides her perspective on the events of “The Whisper Is At-Your-Own-Risk,” as she reflects on the actions of Sorawo and Toriko, and the encounter of what Satsuki has become. Kozakura gives us a glimpse of the gap between the Otherside Satsuki, and the Satsuki she knew.

Ratings:

Story– 9
Artwork– 9 The artwork is intense and vivid, something I learned while enjoying a coffee and a donut, as I followed the confrontation in the Otherside.
Character– 9, there is a lot going on with both Sorawo and Toriko in this volume.
Service– 9
Yuri – Toriko is a 10, Sorawo has some catching up to do, maybe a 8?

Overall – 9

Volume 13 is headed our way in November.

Posted in English Manga, Guest Review, Otherside Picnic, Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


Her Kiss, My Libido Twinkles, Volume 2

April 7th, 2025

In tones of yellow, a girl with long hair, hr mouth open, leans into a girl with shorter hair, as the shorter girl pulls away. It is always fascinating to me to read a collected volume of work I have previously seen as serialized. The story seems so familar, of course, because I have already read it, but also seems very new, as if I am seeing it for the first time.

After a huge debut Kickstarter, Yorita Miyuki’s first volume of Her Kiss, My Libido Twinkles came out last year. Following that, she ran a Kickstarter for volume 2, which was even more successful, coming in at a whopping 770% funded. I reviewed Volume 1 as  part of a two-part Kickstarter review. Today I’m going to take a look at Volume 2. Although I have the Japanese volume, I apparently never got around to reviewing it. It’s not that surprising, as there is so much Yuri these days that keeping up with everything in Japanese is now impossible. ^_^ But since this arrived at my door in English, I thought I’d take a moment to talk about it.

The cover of Her Kiss, My Libido Twinkles, Volume 2, shows Sana and Akane in yet another position that establishes Akane as an aggressor…a theme carried through this volume. Having established in Volume 1, that Akane is some kinds of “broken” – ill, without family, friends and with a tendency to romantically and sexually press her dominance over Sana, without making space for feelings or conversations, wec ome to a Voume 2 where both girls are trying to reframe their relationship to fit their own needs.

Sana struggles to understand Akane who, until the end of the book seems as if she has no interest in being understood. In the final story, we see Akane take a leap to meet Sana where she is, even at the cost of some embarrassment. It is this Akane that we think might work for Sana as a girlfriend. 

What helps is a chapter in the middle from the perspective of Sana’s friend Mi-chan. Cut out of being Sana’s intimate friendship, Mi-chan struggles with jealousy, only to find at the end that she actually admires Sana and Akane as a couple, although she had no idea. Once she makes the attempt to befriend Akane, the other girl starts to warm up a bit. Socialization is very good for our unsocialized Akane.

The technicals on this volume are excellent. BPS Co, Ltd did a bang-up job on the translation and  lettering, with full retouch of the sound/fx. The paper is pleasantly thick – unusually so in these days were paper is almost miraculously thin. And the French fold on the cover always looks and feel nice.

It is nice to see such a good-looking book as a reward for a Kickstarter. The book came with an advert for an upcoming kickstarter to fund the upcoming live-action series. It will be quite interesting to see how that goes!

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Posted in English Manga, Yuri Manga | No Comments »