Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – November 8, 2014

November 8th, 2014

YNN_Lissa

Yuri Light Novel

This time last year, I reported on a Light Novel called  Yuri Gra-doru Yui: Forbidden Girls Love (百合グラドル・優衣 禁断ガールズラブ). “Gra-doru” is short for “gravure idol” one of the bikini-wearing models that adorn Japanese men’s magazine covers. I have it sitting here and haven’t so much as cracked the cover other than to scan the pictures – which were so appealing, that it sits there on the floor, untouched. Well, hey, if you loved the fictitious story of the exploitation of Japanese gravure idols, you’ll be pleased to know that there’s a sequel! Yuri Gra-doru Yui and Shiho Mechaku Love Shot (百合グラドル優衣&詩歩 密着ラブショット), presumably follows the explicit adventures of Yui and Shiho. Let me know how it is. ^_^

***

Adult Yuri Manga

Well, since I started out on such a high class note, I might as well keep going. For fans of adult entertainment in manga form,  there’s Onna no ko-doushi no ecchi ‘tte, Iroiro Sugosugirundaga (女の子同士のエッチって、色々凄すぎるんだが), which  I, with a loose hand and tongue in my cheek, would translate as something like “Speaking of girls doing it, it’s way zOMG”.

Also likely to be questionable is “Yuri Violence Comic” (according to Comic Natalie,)  Murcilago. To get an idea if this is your kind of Yuri and/or violence, there is a Youtube commercial for Volume 3 . The ad says there’s no good guys, which appeals to me.  If you want to give it a chance, here’s links to Volume 1 and Volume 2. Don’t expect much, it’s from Young Gangan. ^_^;

Birz is getting into the Yuri swing of things, as well. They are running a Yuri collection in their December issue, and have an upcoming Yuri anthology from Birz Comics Deluxe, Yuribon (ユリボン). Which is not all that surprising to me, as they’ve been working with Morishima Akiko-sensei on the Yuri Kuma Arashi manga (Volume 1 of which has a street date in two weeks.)

***

Yuri Game News

ANN reports on Yuri game imprint, Sei Michael Joshi Gakuen, that is looking to gain Twitter followers by offering up an anime if they reach 50,000 followers. Sono Hanabira fans are going to want to look into this, as this project shares some of the same team.

***

Goods News 

ANN has a “wrap-up” of all the cool Sailor Moon paper goods available for the holiday season from Premiun Bandai and household goods from the Family Mart convenience store chain. Oh heck, let’s just bomb this, topic, with all the Sailor Moon things ever.

Again, we turn to ANN for this report on a Homura-themed hoodie that, clearly, we all need. And here’s a terrific Card-Captor Sakura stained glass charm for all your high-class jewelry needs. ^_^

***

LGBTQ News

The fine folks at Geeks OUT! have begun a Kickstarter for an LGBTQ Comic Con, which they are calling Flame Con. With 25 days to go, they are over halfway on hitting their first goal. They’ve got the breakdown on what they plan on using the money on, and while I think they are being optimistic on costs, and they don’t have a date or venue yet, I think they are great folks and if I can I’ll be supporting this. My only concern is that they’ve chosen May as their possible date range and the Queers &  Comics Conference and TCAF are already in May. I’d hate for them to lose potential guests to bad timing.

Library Juice Press is calling for papers for their collection Queer Library Alliance: Global Reflections and Imaginings, a collection dealing with Libraries and LGBTQ issues.

Comic Natalie (and my entire FB feed!) reports on  the awarding of the Japan Medal with Purple Ribbon to one of the mothers of Boy’s Love, co-founder of the Magnificent 24-year group,  Takemiya Keiko-sensei. The Purple Ribbon is awarded for significant academic and artistic endeavors.

***

Subcribe with Patreon Enjoy staying up-to-date on Yuri news? Subscribe to Okazu with Patreon!

***

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

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

Posted in Yuri Network News | No Comments »


Yuri Manga: Mebae, Volume 1 (メバエ)

November 5th, 2014

mebae1Nature abhors a vacuum, we’re told and apparently that goes for Yuri anthologies, as well. With the retirement of Tsubomi and Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari (although several of those titles have migrated to web format),  a new anthology has jumped into the space.

Mebae (メバエ) is decidedly male gaze, but it had only a few stories I found completely unpalatable. And it’s a good reminder that the Yuri audience is varied in both demographics and intent. For every Yuri fan that is looking for a Takemiya Jin story, there’s another looking for  something by Kurogane Kenn.

With such a service-y cover, it was not really a surprise to find the opening story was in fact by Kurogane Kenn. (And along with Kurogane-sensei’s work, there were a few other Tsubomi contributors in the pages.) It was a little surprising to find the opener bereft of emotion or connection. He usually works a little harder than this. Two girls have sex in a restaurant booth, with little setup, in a classic PWP.

The next story is a complete contrast, “Paanto,” which is a melancholy look at admiration and competition in ballet.

I very much liked  “kitsuku! DAITE Honey”, which was a cute little twist on a superheroine and the girl she protects and loves, who turns out to not be who she seemed. In fact, Mei turns out to be Kurara’s arch enemy. Despite her spectacular defeat, Mei finds Kurara waiting for her after school anyway.^_^

Akamurasaki’s “Nibi-iro Nokosu,” was a pleasant look at a woman’s reluctant affection for her unfashionable friend.

The final story in the collection “Aoi Honoo Kaoru Tsuchi,” by Naruko Hanharu, appeared, I believe, actually in Tsubomi magazine, and is re-cast here as a nice ending piece in which time heals several wounds.

While I didn’t find the more explicit stories particularly appealing, I certainly didn’t hate this collection. In fact, Mebae Volume 2 is in one of the piles, waiting to be read. I’m kind of interested how many of the Tsubomi contributors just picked up and another anthology jumped in to fill the gap.

Ratings:

Overall – 6

For those of you interested, Volume 3 hits the streets at the end of this month.

Posted in Mebae, Yuri Anthology, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Supporting Okazu by Shopping for Stuff

November 3rd, 2014

Hi all, I know I’ve been away a number of times recently and I have one more week of crazy ahead.  I just want to do some quick housekeeping, as requested by Okazu Reader Alison (sorry for the delay Alison! Thanks for your patience. ^_^). We’re moving into the holiday season and some of you will be buying gifts for your love ones on Amazon or RightStuf. I know a lot of you want to support Okazu, and don’t always have the money to subscribe. If you’d like to make sure Okazu gets a penny or two of your purchases, you can do this one of several ways:

On Amazon:

The easiest wait to throw an affiliate fee my way is to simply click through a link on Okazu. Purchases made through the Yuricon Shop are also affiliate links, but that site is a bit of a mess and horribly outdated. I need to update that, I know, I know. I kept hoping Amazon would update their shop interface, but nope. It’s on the to-do list.

You can also bookmark this page and shop through this clunky and unappealing search feature. The default here is “Yuri Manga” but you can search for anything:


 

On RightStuf.com:

We added Right Stuf affiliate links this year by popular demand. Interestingly, while a number of you used these right away, there’s been a lot of clicking, but very little buying on these. (This is not a judgement, I just found it sort of fascinating that more of you click on those links than on Amazon links, but for buying the percentages are flipped.)

As it turns out, practically everything I link to on TRSI is excluded from affiliate promotions, which is annoying, but understandable, as their discounts are crazy. ^_^;

To search for items on Right Stuf’s website through my affiliate account, please use this SEARCH on Rightstuf.com link.

Here’s a link if you want to use the Table of Contents on RightStuf.com.

Since Alison specifically wanted the Sailor Moon DVD set, here’s the links to those specific items:

Sailor Moon Blu-ray/DVD Set 1 (Hyb)

Sailor Moon Blu-ray/DVD Set 1 (Hyb) Limited Edition

Sailor Moon Blu-ray/DVD Set 2 (Hyb) Limited Edition w/GWP

Sailor Moon Blu-ray/DVD Sets 1-2 (Hyb) Limited Edition + 2nd GWP

As we’ve done for the last couple of years, I’ll put together a Okazu Gift Guide in the days ahead and it’ll have a lot for fans, new and old. ^_^ If you are looking for a particular link and haven’t seen it listed, just ask in thee comments and I’ll do my best to get it to you! And thanks for your support!

Posted in Okazu News | No Comments »


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – November 1, 2014

November 1st, 2014

YNN_MariK

Top news this week is the upcoming December issue of Japanese literary magazine Eureka (ユリイカ) which will be all about Yuri, with some *amazing* contributors, including Amano Shuninta, Maria-sama ga Miteru creator Konno Oyuki, scholars Mizoguchi Akiko, (hopefully) James Welker and, gods willing, me. Keep your fingers crossed and take a look at the magazine when it comes out.

Yuri Manga

Yuri anthology Mebae (メバエ) has made it to a Volume 3 which will hit the streets in late November. I’ve just finished up Vol. 1, and while it is firmly male gaze, it had a few stories worth reading.

 

Yuri Hime Comics has a veritable embarrassment of Yuri riches, with a load of current and upcoming releases:

Katakura Ako’s Ashita no Kimi ni Hanabata wo (明日の君に花束を)

Himitsu no Kakera by  Fujisawa Makoto (秘密のカケラ)

Humming Girl by Nakano Tomo  (ハミングガール)

Hiruno Tsukiko’s 2-parter Shirogane Gymnasium, (白銀ギムナジウム) Part 1 and Part 2.

Kodama Naoko’s going with the overused title Renai Manga for her collection (レンアイマンガ).

Starlight Melody by Fuki (スターライト メロディ)

Also keep your eyes out for Minamoto Hisanari’s two new collections, Yuridori Midori (ゆりどりみどり) and,  Rokujyo~hitomano Nekogamisama (ろくじょ~ひとまの ねこがみさま).

 

Annnnnd we’re finally get a few of the promised Hirari Comic wrap ups:

Shoushin (傷心) by Yukimura

Wakemonaku Kurushikunaruno (理由(わけ)もなく悲しくなるの) by Hakamada Mera

Kono Yo no Tadahitori (この世にただひとり) by Fuji Tamaki

Comic Natalie reports that Fujio-sensei’s autobiographical comic series  parlor that ran in Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari is moving to webcomic platform Wanpoko.

***

 LGBTQ Comics

The Advocate speaks with comic artist Paige Braddock about her long-running slice-of-lesbian-life comic Jane’s World.

***
Other News

Andrew Wheeler takes a look at the naming problems faced by female superheroes in Lady She-Woman: Female Superhero Codenames and Identity on Comics Alliance.

 

***

Subcribe with Patreon Subscribe to Okazu with Patreon and keep the Yuri news coming!

***

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a cool YNN correspondent’s badge. Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

Posted in Yuri Network News | 3 Comments »


Hayate x Blade 2 Manga, Volume 1 (はやてxブレード 2)

October 30th, 2014

hxb2-1In Volume 1 of Hayate x Blade Nyan, the new semester is beginning at Tenchi Gakuen and everything is different. Students have split into two dorms – Tenkuu and Daichi, aligning with our favorite scion of the Amachi family, Hitsugi  or her “Black Group”-leading cousin, Hajime.

The Hoshitori has been revamped, as well, with more one-on-one battles ahead, and much, much more intense fighting. The first battle nearly mangles Ayana’s poor roommate Kei and introduces us to our first enemy of the new series,  a sadistic sociopath named Terma.

But before we can truly understand what drives Terma, we are turned towards Nagi. Nagi, Hayate’s older, more talented twin, who expected to take her place at the top of the Tenchi hierarchy only to find her goofy little sister firmly entrenched there. Instead of fighting for her place, Nagi has been overwhelmed by ennui. Even the passionate enthusiasm of her shinyuu, Kanai, has been  unable to motivate her. In fact, she’s gone so far as to join the Daichi dorm, but even Hajime doesn’t trust her. Hajime challenges Nagi to a duel and with the help of her shadowy shinyuu Shingetsu, defeats Nagi handily.

Kanai is terribly worried about her brusied and beaten partner, but Nagi insists she feels nothing. Hayate supports this, and calls in their mother to explain. Nagi, it turns out, doesn’t feel pain. At all. Which leads to another worry, because as part of the new Hoshitori rules, individual fighters can be called out for a duel – and Nagi has been challenged by Terma.

As everyone waits on pins and needles for Hitsugi’s opening salvo, the “Ultimate Hoshidori”, they watch as already wounded Nagi and Terma face off in a potentially 5-round fight. Nagi pulls out all the stops and wins the bout in a spectacular display of raw guts and skill. Hayate is so moved that she starts to mimic Nagi’s finishing technique.

Around the corner is Hitsugi’s “Summer Festival”, which they all dread, just because Hitsugi’s looking like she’s relishing the idea.

***

Subcribe with Patreon Enjoy reviews on the latest Yuri manga? Subscribe to Okazu with Patreon!

***

Missing from this volume are the linking chapters that ran in the magazine, in which students were forced to slide across greased pipes to get to the new campus, but is otherwise full of the same kind of low gags and awesome fight scenes that we’ve come to expect from Hayashiya-sensei!

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Character – 9
Yuri – 1 Hayate gropes Ayana, and reminds herself to tell Jun. ^_^;
Service – 4 Hayate gropes Ayana, and reminds herself to tell Jun. ^_^;

Overall – 9

And, then, Nagi went BAM! and it was like “whoahhhhh….”

Posted in Hayashiya Shizuru, Hayate x Blade | 10 Comments »