Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – July 15, 2023

July 15th, 2023

A blue silhouette of a girl with a white flower in her hair, embracing the earth. Blue block letters read YNN Yuri Network News. Art by Lissa P. For Okazu.

Yuri Anime

Don’t miss Volicia of Pluto, streaming now on Youtube with English subtitles.  Crystalyn Hogkins has the details over at ANN.

 

Yuri Manga

New on the Yuricon Store, from Yen Press, we’re getting another collection by Mikanuji, this one a bit more adult than previous ones. I Don’t Need a Happy Ending: A collection of short stories” is a tantalizing mix of seet and spicy” according to the publisher.

Seven Seas has licensed Keyang’s Kimi to Shiranai Natsu ni Naru, a story I have very high hopes for. It had a strong beginning, but is flaging a little here in the middle. I really hope it sticks the ending. I have reviewed Volume 1 here on Okazu. Rafael Antonio Pineda has details on ANN.

Twin Star Cyclone Runaway by Ogawa Issui (based on a short story of the same name that ran in Yuri short story collection, Asterism ni Hanataba o Yuri SF Anthology (アステリズムに花束を 百合 SFアンソロジー), is getting a manga. Joanna Cayanan and Rafael Antonio Pineda have the story on ANN.I am concerned about the key image, as the costuming designs seem bizarre for the content of the story, but maids, whatever, I really don’t get the obsession. The story was pretty good, though and I’m very interested to see this comicalization!

Sasayakuyou no Koi wo Utau,Volume 8 (ささやくように恋を唄う) is hitting Japanese bookshelves this week. It’s everything I hoped for from this series. I wish this volume was going to be animated. In English Whisper Me A Love Song, Volume 6 is available and we’re looking forward to Volume 7 when it hits in December from Kodansha!

Via Comic Natalie,  OL VTuber to Oshi JKchan (OL Vtuberと推しJKちゃん) Volume 1 is now available. It is, as the title implies about an office worker and a high schooler who both are Vtubers.

Via Yuri Navi, Tomoru Me Ni Nagareru (灯る目に流れる) is a short Yuri story about two people who fall in love by staring at one another, available on Shounen Jump+.

 

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Yuri Light Novel

Yuri Tama: From Third Wheel to Trifecta The Third is out and it’s even softened up Sean Gaffney who says of it, “When Yotsuba turns off her self-doubt and constant second guessing brain and just goes with the flow, she manages to be a fantastic romantic partner.”

 

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Yuri VN

Via Yuri Navi, the trailer for the upcoming Yuri Visual Novel Uso Kara Hajmaru no Natsu (嘘から始まる恋の夏) can be seen on Youtube.

 

Other News

YNN Correspondent Patricia B suggests some summer reading with Firebird, by Sunmi, from Harper Collins, “following the lives of Caroline and Kim, two queer, Asian American teenagers growing up in the suburbs of the San Francisco Bay Area, as they forge an unexpected connection.”

 

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Summer Rain Lucky Premium Lucky Box – Claimed!

July 14th, 2023

Well, it’s raining and I have nothing today, so I decided to sit down and make a single Premium Lucky Box.

This box has an Artbook AND a Drama CD AND manga and other stuff like toys, candy, paper goods and other fun goo-gaws! I assure you that this is all 100%, unadulterated stuff.

This time we have 1 Large USPS flat rate box only and because I filled it up with some extra fun, it’s going for $75. This is 18lbs of utter nonsense. None of that 5 snacks and a cheap plushie crap here. (Although I probably should by cheap plushies – they’d provide more padding.)

Large Box – $75  – Claimed

To be eligible to buy a Lucky Box, follow these instructions carefully. Please. Thank you. Failure to follow all of these instructions will disqualify you. It’s not personal, they are all claimed pretty quickly and I don’t have time to track you down for a piece of information.

1. You must live in the Continental USA (contiguous 48) only, no APO/FPOs. This is disappointing for me too, so I apologize.

2. You must be over 18, I am not policing books or recipients.

3. Email me with the Yuricon Contact Form with the subject “Lucky Box.” Use an email you check regularly. Because I will reply asap. The first person who responds to my email gets the box.

4. *****Please include your name, age, mailing address. ***** Tell me which box you want. Even if you’ve given me your address previously, please include it, I am very lazy.

5. I will contact you at that point and give you details about payment by Paypal. Please be prepared to check your email and get payment out so this post doesn’t linger. Thanks in advance. These will be shipped out asap, as well; the whole point of this is to get these out of my house. ^_^

This whole process will be handled with utmost capriciousness, as usual. ^_^

If you come here too late to get a Lucky Box, you know what? Contact Me and I could, possibly, put one together for you. I got plenty o’stuff sitting around.

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Mayu, Matou, Volume 5 ( 繭、纏う)

July 12th, 2023

A girl with long hair wearing a dark-colored old-fashioned Japanese school uniform reaches out into a dark void, with a desperate look on her face. Three is a very fine balance in a story that has to be maintained. We have to care about the characters we’ve been asked to care about…we have to be invested in the ending. When a story adds characters, they have to maintain that balance or they distract.

Mayu, Matou, Volume 5 ( 繭、纏う) is so carefully riding that line here in the penultimate volume.

What appeared to be a love triangle in which one side had no idea she was involved, has become more complicated. Kujou is vying with the unknowing/absent Hoshimiya for Saeki Hana’s heart. But Kujou does not know that Yokozawa is also in the ring.

Kujou, trying her best to entwine Saeki, asks her to the dance…and makes it almost impossible to refuse. Saeki, who has no interest in being the school prince, acquiesces. But when the dance starts…Hoshimiya arrives…!

This whole manga is a fairytale in which the princess is absent, the prince is emotionally tortured by the witch and the heroine is ignored by nearly everyone in the story. I don’t even want Kujou to come to a bad end, I just want Saeki out of there and away from this mishegas of hair uniforms and creepy ritual. Frankly, the best thing any of these girls can do is to get the heck out of that school. 

Volume 5 and and Volume 6 came out at the same time in Japan, which I think was a very good idea – even moreso now that I’ve read Volume 5. I definitely felt the urge to speed into reading the final volume, in hopes that Yokozawa would free Hana from, not a cocoon, but a web,  built from her own desires and self-loathing. Instead I sat with it, and how deeply uncomfortable it made me. The cover, when unfolded, shows Saeki Hana reach desperately into a black void, only trailing hair visible, as whomever passes beyond the border.  Hara Yuriko-sensei’s art is quite outstanding.

Ratings:

Art – 9 It’s beautiful and repulsive
Characters – 8
Story – 9
Service – 5 As in Volume 4 this is dark, creepy, sexy in ways that are uncomfortable
Yuri – 8

Overall – 9

Volume 6, when it gets there, will change that narrative completely.

I hope.

(Spoiler alert for clicking the link and seeing the cover.)

 

 

Posted in Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


白と黒~Black & White~, Volume 3

July 10th, 2023

In Volume 1 we met Shirakawa, top of her department in her office and Kuroda, a promising up-and-comer who threatens to take everything Shirakawa has built. They briefly team up, but in Volume 2, Kuroda makes a mistake that sets her back. Luckily for her, she’s got a mentor who pulls her out of the jam.

In 白と黒~Black & White~, Volume 3 Shirakawa is done playing nicely. She doesn’t care what she has to do, who she has to use or who gets hurt…she’s going to destroy Kuroda. With her own powerful patron within the company, she will ruin careers, physically and emotionally use and abuse others and she will get her way. There is no doubt that Shirakawa wins the battle…

…but does she win the war?

This was not the ending I wanted for this series, I’ll be honest. As I have long said, I like equals who go toe to toe. Choices are made here that are not fighting with a respected rival. As Shirakawa rises, I lost respect for her. Her decisions get ugly and the collateral damage grows. Now, the thing is…in the same position, would Kuroda have been any different? Without spoiling why, Kuroda has an outside chance to fight back…but doesn’t take it. In the end she walks away from the fight.

Having seen so many power struggles in the office  – this is not inaccurate. One cannot lose in a political struggle and still remain on top. So, while not what I wanted, this manga remains a kind-of-accurate version of a intra-office battle for power. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service – 7 A lot of sex and violence, including rape
Yuri – 7 Above, and now, jealousy!

Overall – 10

I had called this series the Best manga since GUNJO for best worst couple, but Shirakawa lost me in this volume.

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Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – July 8, 2023

July 8th, 2023

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.Yuri Manga

Kodansha announced the license for I Can’t Say No To The Lonely Girl by Kashikaze at Anime Expo. I haven’t reviewed volumes of that, but I really did enjoy it when it was running in Comic Yuri Hime. It’s a very sweet story about acceptance, friendship and love. I’m glad they picked it up.

Yuri Is My Job!, Volume 11 was released as Expo was underway. Make sure you have a chaser for that one. Phew.

NHK has a special episode on The Rose of Versailles online. English subtitles are available.

YNN Correspondent Patricia B caught that Nekobungi Sumire has a new doujinshi in English up on Amazon. Silhouette of the Sea Breeze appears to be a Juliet and Juliet story about a sky person and a sea person.

If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die, Volume 2 is being released in English in August. I reviewed the Japanese edition in 2016.

We have Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games, Volume 5 on the Yuricon Store.

There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover, Unless… manga Volume 2 hit shelves in June.

The English edition of Akiko Morishima’s short story THE SINGLE LIFE vol.1: 60-year-old lesbian who is single and living alone. is up on Kindle She said this will be part of a series.

Iberis no Hanayome, Volume 2 (イベリスの花嫁) is the conclusion of Akiyama Haru’s series about a wedding planner who falls for a bridezilla.

Gal to Nekula to Kyuketsuu Kankei (ギャルとネクラの吸血関係) is a gal x vampire love-ish story.

Still cranking away at Vampeerz, (ヴァンピアーズ ) this time we have Volume  4  of this schoolgirl x vampire love-ish story.

 

Yuri Events

Yuri/GL Phillipines announced that they will be returning to the Cosplay Mania event in Pasay, Sept 30- October 1.

Girls Love Fest is returning to Asakusa in Tokyo on October 9th for their 39th event!

 

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Yuri Visual Novels

YNN Correspondent Patricia B wants you to know about The Chrono Jotter by Orca Layout, a Chinese visual novel “receiving an English translation two years after its original release. The game focuses on a young woman trying to uncover the mystery of her girlfriend’s murder by utilizing her newly acquired time traveling powers. The focus is primarily on suspense and horror aspects, but the main character is still very clearly motivated by her relationship.”

 

Yuri Audiobook

Yen Press announced at Anime Expo an audiobook format for The Executioner and Her Way of Life. ANN’s Alex Mateo has the details.  This intrigues me. I hope they’ll add one for MagiRevo. I’d like that be re-read to me. ^_^

 

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Yuri Anime

YNN Correspondent meow wants everyone to know about Volicia of Pluto-Vapor Trail Another Age 2006- a crowdfunded ‘feature-length mecha vampire yuri anime released on 3rd of July.” It appears to be premiering on Youtube tomorrow, July 9, 9PM JT. I’ll try to be up to see it. Check out the trailer also on YT.

Alex Mateo at ANN has casting announcements for the upcoming Hoshikuzu Telepath anime.

Sean Gaffney gives his final thoughts on Birdie Wing, Episodes 1-25 and, as always, his thoughts are worth reading.

History Hermann also has a spoiler-filler review of Birdie Wing, Season 2.

I’m having a hard time finding a way to talk about everything  I want to say about Birdie Wing, so I appreciate these reviewers who can.

James Whitbrook at Gizmodo writes about how Witch From Mercury’s Finale Made One of Gundam’s Most Fascinating Ideas Queer as Hell

 

Other News

Star Fruit Books announced a new English language manga magazine last year, Comic Bright. They confirmed this year that it is still being worked on. I love the folks there and wish them well, but I am skeptical about the future of print magazines in English that aren’t celebrity gossip.

The Nippon Club is holding an exhibition called JAPAN’S ANIME SWEEPING THE WORLD both in-person and online. This exhibition will include friends June Kim, whom you may remember as the creator of 12 Days and Hiroki Otsuka whose most recent manga series, Backstage in New York, was made into a live action show in Japan.

Nimona creator ND Stevenson has travelogue comics about the Nimona on Netflix Press Tour. Nimona was a nice movie and if you have Netflix, it’s definitely worth a watch. Very good queer rep, among other things.

 

If you’d like to support Yuri journalism and research, Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips. 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 our readers.

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