Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – November 12, 2022

November 12th, 2022

I’ll be at Table D04 in the Artist Alley at Anime NYC. Details of a con exclusive to come later this week!

 

Yuri Anime

Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! / Yuri Is My Job! anime will begin broadcast in Spring 2023. according to the official wata-yuri Twitter account. ANN’s Crystalynn Hodkins has news of additional cast members.

Joana Cayanan on ANN reports that The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady  anime has revealed that the voice actresses for leads Euphyllia and Anisphia will be singing the end theme.

ANN’s Rafael Antonio Pineda wants you to know that the Gundam: The Witch From Mercury prequel short, Shukufuku is up on Youtube.

Via YNN Correspondent Jeyl, we have the trailer for Dragon Age: Absolution which will be upcoming on Netflix in December.

 

Yuri Live Action

More huge news in Yuri, this time from Thailand. The official trailer for Pink Theory GAP The series is up on Youtube and…it looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun. Think a Yuri Devil Wears Prada with a side of social consciousness. This will be the first all-Yuri live-action in Thailand and based on the numbers I’m getting on my Okazu post about the series and the numbers that trailer is getting…I think it’s likely to be a big hit, which may blow the door open for Yuri in Thailand. The book it is based on was originally digital-only but has recently gone to print and it looks like there’s a volume 2.  GAP : ทฤษฏีสีชมพู on  ARN Books, by chao_planoy.

The trailer and the whole series will be available, subtitled in English for free on Youtube on the official Idol Factory channel, starting November 19. Just subscribe and you’re set.

 

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Yuri Manga

I Can’t Believe I Slept With You, Volume 3 is out now in English, from Seven Seas.

Rafael Antonio Pineda tells us that Assault Lily: League of Gardens – Full Bloom, manga is entering it’s final phase.

Galette No. 24 (ガレット) is available as a PDF download from Booth.pm

Volume 2 of Mikanuji’s food and Yuri series, Sempai, Osihii, Desuka? (先輩、美味しいですか?) will be in bookstores in Japan in December.

 

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Yuri Light Novel

I’m in Love with the Villainess: She’s so Cheeky for a Commoner, Volume 1 is headed our way in February 2023. This is presented as the same story from Claire’s perspective, but I assure you that it is not just the same thing all over again. There is quite a bit of new content, as well as seeing things from a number of different perspectives. Part 7 of this series only recently landed on inori-sensei’s Pixiv Fanbox and all I can say is that I it was very emotional.

 

Yuri Visual Novel

Studio YuriEureka has changed the release data for their Yuri Visual Novel Kiss the Demiurge to December 2 and hopes you’ll bookmark the Steam page!

 

Other News

Reads Rainbow offer us a Twitter thread of sapphic books that are not YA.

Shelby Tozier brings us Toy Discoveries from “Saban Moon” over at ANN.

This week comics and cartoons have lost of number of people, but the one that hit me the hardest was Kevin Conroy, best known for his portrayal of Batman/Bruce Wayne since Batman the Animated Series (which, legit is the only Batman I have ever enjoyed.) To celebrate his life and his experiences as an out gay man, DC is offering up the entirety of the Pride 2022 anthology free for you to read. This includes Conroy’s story “Finding Batman.” Sign up on the DC site and read! He will be missed by many.

To balance out some loss, let’s end today’s report with a note of recognition. Manga creator Moto Hagio has been awarded one of Japan’s highest honors, the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with neck ribbon, for her contributions to women’s and girl’s manga. Alex Mateo has the news at ANN.

 

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Posted in Yuri Network News | 2 Comments »


Look Back by Tatsuki Fujimoto

November 11th, 2022

Tatsuki Fujimoto is a well-known name in manga right now. Chainsaw Man is a popular Shonen Jump manga and the anime for the series was one of the most anticipated this year. And, honestly, I think the manga is pretty darn good, myself. I’ve been reading it on Shueisha’s official Manga Plus app for free, completely legitimately.

At the end of last year, the Mangasplaining crew took a look at this one-shot by Fujimoto-sensei and, as I had it on my to-read pile at the time, I bumped it up, and cried my way through it. Now Look Back by Tatsuki Fujimoto is out in print in English and I nabbed a copy at my local Kinokuniya when I saw it.

This is still a fantastic manga that you really ought to read. Read it slowly. Pay attention to the details. It’s a slim volume, and not terribly complicated in terms of concept. In fact, I’d call this a very typical “the second story a manga artist does after their series goes mega-hit and they need to write about creating manga” manga. But it is loaded to the gills with feels.

Fujino has always been told that she’s a great artist. But there is another girl in her school who is better. Look Back is a beautifully crafted tale about creating manga. It’s not a beautiful book, but is so stunningly rendered that it will hit you solidly in the gut time after time. As I mentioned in my review of the Japanese volume, there is a scene at the beginning where Fujino ugly cries that is so powerful, it will live with me for a very long time.

Content note: There is some violence at the end. It is pretty clear that this was, at least in part, written as a reaction to the Kyoto Anime tragedy. Yet another punch to the gut in a book full of them. 

I’m reviewing it, so you might expect there to be Yuri. There is not. But the relationship between Fujino and Kyomoto is lovely and heartbreaking. Just read it.

Ratings:

Art – 9 Outstanding
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 0
Yuri – 0 The story is about a life-changing relationship between two girls

Overall – 9

I mean this with absolute sincerity – you really should read this volume. Just bring some hankies.

Posted in English Manga | 7 Comments »


Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou -Revolution-, Volume 2 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。-Revolution-)

November 10th, 2022

As we all wait breathlessly for the formal announcement of an anime for I’m in Love With the Villainess, today I am looking at the Japanese print edition of Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou -Revolution-, Volume 2 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。-Revolution-). As a reminder, this series came out in print in English before it made it to print in Japan. So the edition you have read is the English translation of the webnovel which was put out digitally by GL Bunko. The series was licensed for print by Ichijinsha. Volume 1 of the JP print edition was reviewed here on Okazu last spring.

This will make the third time I have read this volume, having read it in the GL Bunko novel and English language editions. Because this is a new, deluxe version, with extra stories that have been written since the webnovel was initially licensed, there was quite a bit of new material tucked in between things with which we are already familiar.

There are several key elements to this content, even aside from the new content.  Lily becomes a major player on the board and we eventually learn several secrets regarding the Royal Family and their advisors. Rae explains her former life and tragic first love to her friends. Claire’s class consciousness is awakened when they visit Rae’s hometown. Manaria arrives and forces Rae and Claire’s relationship to change during the Scales of Love arc, which coincidentally completed in the December issue of Comic Yuri Hime as grandly as I had hoped. ^_^

So while the Yuri goes up significantly, with the addition of Manaria and her boyish charm, as well as the Love Scales, the LGBTQ rating stays high with open discussion of complicated queer lives, once again.

Ratings:

Art – 7 Still portraits of the people rather than the scenes.
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Yuri – 10
LGBTQ –10
Service – Rae’s obsession about Claire shifts more to her moods than her body, but there’s still some body commentary, Let’s still say 2

Overall – 9

The board is set now for what is to come. In Volume 3, what is to come will be…revolution.

Posted in I'm in Love With the Villainess, LGBTQ, Light Novel, Light Novels | No Comments »


Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru, Volume 2 (踊り場にスカートが鳴る)

November 9th, 2022

In Volume 1, we met Kiki, a young woman who dreams of being the following partner in ballroom dance, but due to her height, is always assumed to be lead, and Michiru, a diminutive, but forceful young lady who wants to be Kiki’s lead.

In Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru, Volume 2 (踊り場にスカートが鳴る) the two are still working out exactly what their partnership will look like. But in the meantime, they have their first test competition to get through – which does not go all that smoothly. Michiru passes out after they clear their test.

While they try to build something more stable between them at the dance club’s training camp, we turn our eyes towards Kiki’s former partner, Shion. She and Kiki are able to repair their fractured friendship and Kiki is finally able to step up and take Michiru’s hand fully as a dance partner. But she’s taken by surprise when Michiru asks if they couldn’t form a deeper relationship to make their partnership work. What if they pretend to be a couple…?

In a magnificent climax for the volume, the two open their hearts and begin to dance. They count the waltz steps and come together in a beautiful sequence.

This series is a surprisingly realistic look at the interior lives of young women. The drama is small and personal. No hysterics, no dramatics, but there is deep passion for ballroom dance (and what it means to be part of the Quadrille) and a wholly relatable struggle with being an adolescent girl.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – Bumping it up to 2
Service – Nope

Overall – 9

This is, IMHO, a sleeper hit of the year. It won’t take over Times Square, but I have a warm place for it in my heart and really hope to see it in English!

Posted in Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Cats and Sugar Bowls

November 8th, 2022

If you have picked up a Yuri Anthology in the past several years, you may well have encountered a story by Yukiko. This collection of several of Yukiko’s short stories from Seven Seas looks sweet, but right from the beginning, the claws are out. Cats and Sugar Bowls is a 18+ collection which includes BDSM and related fetishes. Content notes: A few of the stories are quite violent, others focus on other forms of domination and a few are rather sweet, depending on the anthology for which the story was written.

Overall, this collection is not my jam, but I would not hesitate to recommend it to someone who liked stories about dom/sub women. The art is surprisingly shoujo-like; characters tend towards cute rather than stylish. One of the strongest qualities of this volume is the characters themselves. The couples actually like one another and the partnerships seem to be based on mutual consent and attraction.

My favorite story is the final one, which was written for Cinnamon: Demihuman x Human Yuri anthology ( シナモン 人外×人間百合アンソロジー)  from Kadokawa, that pairs a priestess and a mountain god in a surprisingly gentle story.

Great job on the translation/adaptation, which manages to be sensitive and straightforward, without making anything here feel uncomfortable (there’s nothing worse than a translator whose discomfort is palpable in a translation of BDSM and yes, I have read some of those.) So thanka to Amber Tamosaitas and Asha Bardon. James Dashiell’s lettering is solid and supportive and, where it can be, is retouching, rather than just adding glosses to s/fx. It looks so much better that way. Beautiful cover design by H. Qi. And thank you to all the editors and proofreaders and technical folks that made this a smooth reading experience.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Stories – Not to *my* taste, but you may love them
Characters – 8 They know who they are
Service – Whether you consider adult exploration of domination or pain “fanservice” is up to you. But there is little salaciousness. Let’s split it down the middle at a 5
Yuri – 8

Overall  – 8

If you’re looking for something adult that isn’t all panty shots and lowest common denominator, why not give this volume a try.

Posted in English Manga, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »