First of all, thank you Louis for bravely handling not one, but two, YNN reports while I was gone. It was a pleasure to know that while I visited the Bayeaux Tapestry and ate the most amazing crepes I have ever had, you were only miles away, laboring over my blog. ^_^

We’ll have a ton of news to catch up on this week and next as I’ll be running down some of the announcements from Anime Expo last weekend and San Diego Comic-Con, which is happening as you read this report! 

LGBTQ News

Our top story is the announcement by Seven Seas at Anime Expo that they have licensed Kamatani Yuhki’s Shimanami Tasogare. But…you all knew that, since they were kind enough to break the news before AX as a climactic end to my Pride month of manga recommendations on Twitter. Thank you to them from the bottom of my heart, it really made so very, very happy. Check out the ANN report for details and be sure to get this when it’s released…it’s really good. Volume 3 was, I was told, meant to be the final volume in Japan, but this week will see the release of Volume 4, so no complaints there.

Rebecca Sugar has gone on record saying that the Crystal Gems, who are meant to be seen as non-binary, express their creator’s gender identity, as well in this article on io9. The Steven Universe Panel at SDCC is tonight, so look for teasers tonight. 

Comicsverse reports on the Crunchyroll-hosted very first LGBTQ+ in Anime Panel at Anime Expo and it went very well or melted the very definitions of reality as we agree upon them, depending on who you ask.  I’m sorry I missed it, but I consider it another major milestone for LGBTQ representation in anime/manga journalism. 

Entertainment Weekly has has released visuals from Noelle Stevenson’s upcoming She-Ra cartoon series! More than a few folks noted that She-Ra shorts and skirt combo give them an Utena vibe, although I thought of a tennis outfit myself. With openly an queer showrunner we at least can hope for the She-Ra we all deserve.

And, just to make sure that as many childhoods are ruined as possible, the CW has announced that Batwoman is getting a TV series and she’s going to be a Jewish lesbian.  ^_^

Last night we got more excellent news, as Gengoroh Tagame-sensei’s manga My Brother’s Husband won an Eisner Award at Comic-Con, and so did Taneka Stotts for the Elements: Fire anthology. Read her rousing acceptance speech on behalf of the queer creators of color who worked on that book. (And, Rumiko Takahashi *finally* was inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame.)

For Okazu readers, we’re stepping into the nerd world we’ve been working for for our whole lives. The future of girls’ entertainment is queer, it’s female. it’s black, it’s diverse. Revel in it, friends, rejoice and sing paeans, then let’s get back to work, there’s a lot to do, yet. ^_^

Yuri Manga 

Kodansha also had amazing news for us at Anime Expo, with the announcement of Miman’s Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! license. Kodansha picking Yuri is my Job! (article at Comics Worth Reading) up is good news on several fronts which I’ll discuss in a little greater detail for this week’s podcast. ^_^ 

ANN reports that Seven Seas also announced the spinoff manga for Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid. 

ANN also has the news that Saburouta’s Citrus is ending in August. 

Yuri Anime

ANN reports on Section 23s’ Maiden Japan imprint announcement that they’ve picked up Maria-sama ga Miteru after Nozomi/RightStuf’s license lapsed and it will be migrated to the new HIDIVE streaming platform before being released on Blu-ray. 

Viz Media announced the dub casts for the Sailor Moon movies, which have a few lovely Uranus / Neptune moments.  ^_^ Check out the dubbed clip of the Sailor Moon S movie as the Outers fight the ice dancers. Bonus points to anyone who can tell me why I consider this the best clip in all of Sailor Moon-dom. Feel free to guess in the comments. 

Anime Feminist‘s Vrai Kaiser reviews Happy Sugar Life, Episode 1, and predictably, doesn’t like it. I cast no aspersions on Vrai here, I would not like it, either, which is why Vrai’s a braver soul for watching it than me. But hey, it exists as a thing streaming on Amazon Prime Video, if it’s a thing you might like. ^_^ And if you do like, it, you’ll be happy to learn that Yen Press has licensed the manga (which, I want to be clear, has never been and will not be reviewed here on Okazu for all of the reasons Vrai mentions.)

SakugaBlog has a lovely article about the trials and tribulations involved in making the Asagao to Kase-san anime OVA, with a focus on the choice to animate emotional states, rather than inserting sweeping vistas or other typical artistic choices for animation. 

Other News

Realistically, I am probably the only one who cares about this, but ANN reports that Ikki Tousen is getting a spin-off manga. Gods know we hardly ever get stories with pantyshots and exploding clothes anymore, so phew.

Mainichi News reports that a support group in Nakano Ward intend to offer free housing to impoverished LGBT people in Tokyo.

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Check out our YNN Podcast on Patreon for a little more thought around today’s news.

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

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Yuri Light Novels

Some very exciting news out of Japan this week! A new company, GL Bunko, is publishing Yuri novels in Japanese *and* English for simultaneous Kindle release. You can order their first book GIRL’S KINGDOM 1 & 2 on US Kindle. This gives you the English translation and the Japanese original. The translation is not sophisticated, but it’s certainly understandable. 

Yuri Events

Yurithon is around the corner and this year they are bring in special guests Lauren Landa and Erica Mendez, the English voice actressed for Sailor Uranus + Neptune in both the new Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal dubs. Get yourself to Montreal, Quebec, Canada on August 3-5 for a weekend of Yuri programming!

The Girls Love Fest Yuri doujinshi event is on once again for September 9th, back at the PIO building in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area.

Save the Date! May 17 &1 18, 2019, Queers & Comics is returning to New York City, and it’s going to be amazing~~!

Yuri Manga

ANN reports that Namori has put Yuru Yuri on indefinite hiatus as of the September 2018 issue of Comic Yuri Hime. They also are reporting thatAmano Sakuya’s  Konohana Kitan is being moved from Monthly Comic Birz, which has been shuttered, to an online venue, Densha Birz. In the meantime, Amano-sensei posted images on Twitter of the Tokyopop German-language release of Konohana Kitan, which appears to be titled Fox Spirit Tales.

We have a new pile of stuff on the yuricon Store!

In Hiru Shitagari, Mata (昼下がりに、また), she’s been married for three years, the lady who lives downstairs is a famous designer. And they are interested in one another.

Chidori and Nanoha are closer than friends in Hana ni Arashi, Volume 1 (はなにあらし ).

The Yuri + Kanojo Anthology series takes at the life of the heroines who protect their princesses in Yuri + Kanojo Heroine-doushi no Happy End (百合+カノジョ-ヒロイン同士のハッピーエン).

Kuzushiro’s Heian gag comedy Kimi no Tamaenara Shineru, Volume  8 ( 姫のためなら死ねる) is on sale now.

I’ve reported that Nakamura Asumiko is trying her hand at Yuri in Rakuen Le Paradis magazine, and now Unita Yumi is doing so as well. Volume 27 has a new “girl’s love” story by slice-of-life master Unita-sensei, according to Comic Natalie.

Equaly as exciting, Hayashiya Shizuru has a new manga in Ultra Jump! Tanerabo manga do it! (『たねラボ manga do it』) starts in the August issue.

In Lilymaria to Wakaiseyo (リリィマリアと和解せよ) a goddess of Yuri recruits a BL manga artist to provide her with the Yuri stories she craves.

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to!  I’ll post the YNN Podcast as soon as it’s ready.

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

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LGBTQ Comics News

San Diego Comics Con hosted the Second Annual Prism Comics Awards. Catch the full list of winners at Panel Patter!

Yuri Manga

We’ve noted that the 27th issue of Rakuen Le Paradis magazine (楽園 Le Paradis) has 5 “Girls’Love” manga entries. Comic Natalie noted this too, and has an 4-part interview with Takemiya Jin ( Fujyourina Atashi-tachi, 不条理なあたし達) and discussion of Nakamura Asamiko (Mejirobana no Saku,メジロバナの咲く), Kazuma Kowo (Junsui Luminscence ,水ルミネッセンス), Shigisawa Kaya (Kimi Dake Ni, 君だけが光), Unita Yumi (Moko, モコ),and Harumi Chihiro’s ( Hasu no Hana, 蓮の花) Yuri contributions. 

We’ve got a couple of new items up n the Yuricon Store:

Shiroshi’s science fiction/human nature slice-of-life ROID-ロイド-1

Kodama Naoko’s first post-NTR series couldn’t have been more different – in a good way. Oya ga Urusainode Kouhai () to Gizoukekkonshitemite (親がうるさいので後輩()と偽装結婚してみた。).

Model-chan to Jimi Mane-san (モデルちゃんと地味マネさん) by Taneko was a a cute, fluffy Pixiv Yuri Hime comic about a flakey model who finds stability with her new manager. 

Kururkuruhime’s Yurigurashi (ゆりぐらし), webcomic slices-of-adult life of happy female couples was adorable.

And crowdfunded, creator-run independent Yuri magazine, Galette No. 7 (ガレットNo.7) is shipping this month!

Yuri Games

The Yuri Game Jam is set to begin on September 1, 2018! You’ve got 2 months to make that game, so get moving!

Live Action

The Revolutionary Girl Utena ~Shirokibara no Tsubomi (少女革命ウテナ ～白き薔薇のつぼみ～) live action musical is available on DVD or streaming on Amazon JP, (regional restrictions may apply.)

Other News

Over at ANN, Lynzee Loveridge has put together a great article on the Japanese LGBTQ activist community’s response to politician Sugita Mio’s 2015 comments that LGBTQ people don’t deserve social services because they aren’t “productive.” (Before you get outraged about this, think about channeling your anger into activism locally, because I guarantee that wherever you live, there are politicians currently making decisions about money in your area that agree with her.) I definitely recommend reading the article, especially if you are among the fans who have wondered if there is any correlation there is between the popularity of BL and Yuri and LGBTQ rights in Japan.

Check out the Okazu YNN Podcast for a little more discussion on this week’s news.

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to!  Check out the YNN Podcast for a deeper look at a couple of this week’s top news items.

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

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Yuri Anime

Senior YNN Correspondent Verso S took some time to catch us up on the Asagao to Kase-san OVA news this week. We were both convinced that the end of July would see the end of the run, but new theaters were added this week! Verso writes in with: “Inside Japan, starting this Saturday, August 10, the short film will be screened for two weeks in three theatres of a cinema chain, Korona Cinema World. This chain did not originally pick up the OVA upon first release. Screenings in all other cinemas on the original list have ended. The three Korona cinemas are located in Handa city (Aichi Prefecture), Ogaki (Gifu Prefecture) and Fukui city (Fukui).” I’m fascinated by the longevity of this theater run.

Komatsu-san on Crunchyroll reports that Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san, a Yuri-ish anime (painfully translated, probably for copyright reasons, as Ms. Vampire Who Lives in my Neighborhood) based on a  manga which is running in Cune, has a Promotional Video available for you to view.

Enjoy Yuri manga and anime reviews and news! Get special sneak peeks at upcoming research and book chapters! Be part of the Yuri network – support Okazu on Patreon. Even $2/month can make a huge difference to us to bringing you all the best in Yuri!

LGBTQ Manga

Also from YNN Correspondent Verso S, is news that the HMV in Shibuya is going all out for the release of Shimanami Tasogare (しまなみ誰そ彼), Volume 4. Check out the pictures on their Twitter account and read their newsletter! Also…look at that cover, will you? ^_^

Yuri Manga

Risou to Koi ~Otona Yuri Omnibus (理想と恋 ～大人百合オムニバス～) is an online comic on Comic Walker. You can read a chapter for free (in Japanese).

From Yuri Hime @Pixiv, we have Tsuki to Koi ha Ochireba Kakeru (月と恋は満ちれば欠ける。) by Tokumutsumu. You can read the first 4 chapters of that on Pixiv (in Japanese.)

Catcher in the Rhyme, Volume 2 (キャッチャー・イン・ザ・ライム) hit shelves at the end of June and I can’t wait to read it (even though the rap is often beyond my ability to read. ^_^;)

Matuzaki Natsumi is another jousei manga artist with a Yuri story set in school, this one from Feel Comics. Lullaby for Girl (ララバイ・フォー・ガール ) goes on sale next month. 

Live-Action News

YNN Correspondent Stacy L tell us “Jacques Demy’s very rarely seen (outside of Japan) 1979 live-action adaptation of Rose of Versailles, Lady Oscar, was released on blu-ray this year.” Read a review of it on Mondo-Digital. 

Other News

Unrelated at all whatsoever to Yuri, the Satoshi Kon film Perfect Blue will be receiving a theater release in the US. I bring this up because we’re seeing more and more theaters picking up anime movies now and there seem to be two routes: 1) Major chains in small towns and 2) Art theaters. I believe the second one would work well for a Kase-san release, so I’m just going to hope like heck that Pony Canyon will consider bringing the OVA to the US for limited theatrical run, although realistically, these do better for older movies with established audiences – Evangelion, Sailor Moon, etc.

I do also recommend Perfect Blue, with some trigger warnings for rape and violence. There is no rape in the movie, but there is still a rape warning. It’s an amazing movie, fwiw. Check out the Fathom Events page for other anime movie nights at a theater near you. 

From Twitter, Morishima Akiko-sensei’s Comiket booth info includes a LINE stamp. How fun! Check out the QR code on this Yomuco tweet.

Harvey Awards nominees are out and the field is pretty diverse with some great queer-friendly content up for awards.

Queers & Comics 2019 is calling for panelists! Submit your application by September 30, 2018.

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to!  No YNN Podcast this week, while our audio engineer is out on vacation and I’m off to go picnic! Check in next week for a new episode!

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

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In Volume 7 of 2DK, G Pen, Mezamashitokei.  (2DK、Gペン、目覚まし時計。) Aoi’s wedding gets Nanami and Kaede thinking about getting married and living forever with someone. We’re reminded that when we met Nanami she was engaged, but that seems like a long time ago.

Nanami heads to Kyoto, while Kaede stays back in Tokyo to hit some tight deadlines. The day before her wedding, Aoi confesses her whole history with Kaede to Nanami, making it clear that she was in love with her former roommate. Kaede arrives and she and Nanami enjoy a nice wedding…and find themselves seated with the bride’s current girlfriends. 

On the ride home, after Nanami falls asleep, doubts about her own life roiling inside her head, we see Kaede confess her true feelings to Nanami with a kiss. 

So, that was a surprise. Kaede’s been a bit of a labrador puppy this entire time and we’ve been lead to believe she’s been largely unaware of the emotions around her, until they were made plain. This calls that perspective starkly into question.

Volume 8 is going to have to bring us to some kind of climax on this – there’s no way the tension can hold too much longer. But I’m perfectly willing to hunker down and wait as long as I have to. This series has been one of my all-time favorite Comic Yuri Hime series, not just because the art and content is adult, but also because it’s been give a lot of time to develop slowly and organically. I’ve never felt like the story demanded I accept that people are attracted to one another for no particular reason, without any motivation other than plot. And, since both Kaede and Nanami are the leads in a harem manga, it’s made for a fun excuse to watch them slowly, inexorably be drawn together.

Ratings: 

Art – 9 
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 5 It’s climbing
Service – 1

Overall – 9

The look on Nanami’s face as she realized they weren’t at Aoi’s exes table, they were at the current lovers’ table, was great. 

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Yuri Game

The Yuri Game Jame is just around the corner! You’ve got two weeks to get your duckies in a row and start jamming!

MangaGamers has a couple of announcements of interest and one of them confused the heck out of me. First, as part of their English Game Dev week, they announced Razzart Visual’s Yuri title, Love Ribbon, a tale of forbidden love between two sisters. (You can imagine I type this rolling my eyes because seriously. How about we come up with a new idea one year. This is so so done.) The second announcement is The Expression: Amrilato by Sukerasparo which is the second (!) Yuri game I’ve seen in the last few months that involved Esperanto, along with Yuri Oboeru Yuri Amor / Yuri Oboeru Esperanto (百合でおぼえるユリアーモ/百合でおぼえるエスペラント) . I’m sure it’s coincidence, but weird, huh?

LGBTQ Manga

While the release day is in Spring 2019, the pre-order for Shimanami Tasogare, Volume 1 from Seven Seas is up! Boy howdy, I’d like to see the success of this book rival My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness, if only to prove conclusively that LGBTQ manga sell.

Yuri Anime

Senior YNN Correspondent Verso S wants you to know that a host of new online streaming services have been added for Japanese fans of Asagao to Kase-san, pointing out that they seem to be going with a 3-episode format, presumably to maximize rental fees.  Verso also notes that there is still no official disk release yet.

The August issue of Ultra Jump (ウルトラジャンプ 2018年 08 月号) includes two chapters by Hayashiya Shizuru-sensei, her first after Hayate x Blade has come to an end. She’s hit that moment in her career when the reaction to a long-running and intense monthly series is to write a story about being a mangaka. In “Tanerabo manga do it” a GL mangaka and a BL editor face off on the next story. I have no input, but I would read the hell out of “Shiritsu Amazoness.” Just saying.

Manga News

There’s a new publisher in town, Denpa LLC, and they are out of the gate with a number of new licenses including Tetsudo Shoujo Manga, which they are translating as Maiden Railways. This work by Nakamura Asumiko is not Yuri, but there is one chapter that had some Yuri. It was otherwise an interesting read. Check out Bruce’s review of the manga from 2011 here on Okazu.  I’m hoping that, since this is a Rakuen Le Paradis title, we may get more from this magazine other than the thin dribble we’ve seen. Since, as this Comic Natalie interview with Takemiya-Jin-sensei makes plain, Yuri has been part of the magazine’s premise from the beginning, there’s a lot of room there for some good jousei Yuri to come out from Denpa.

Anime News

Fans of the anime series Den-noh Coil might be interested in the news that some archived material was gathered together in a production sketchbook sold at Comiket, according to ANN.

Crunchyroll has added Murder Princess to it’s catalog. It’s not a Yuri Anime, really, but you sure can imagine that it details the beginning of a possible relationship, if that works for you. I like it for a bunch of reasons, almost none of them that one. ^_^

According to this report in the Canadian press, a First Nation teen from Canada is subtitling classic anime in Anishinaabemowin and Cree. That’s damned cool.

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to!  Our YNN podcast will be posted tomorrow. 

Got questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

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

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Bloom Into You, Volume 5 is a fairly major turning point in this story – characters are starting to be more honest with themselves and about themselves and, as a result, running into far more complicated questions about who they really are.

Touko and Yuu spend some time together during summer vacation. For a little while they get to be just two teens having a nice day together. It feels good. But once back at school the school festival is getting close and Yuu has become even more convinced that ending of the play must be changed – for Touko’s sake and for the sake of the play.

Which brings about an unusual shuffling of allegiances in the student council. Sayaka, who likes Touko and has always been by her side, betrays her for her own good. As they wait for their time on the stage to begin, Touko finds Yuu demanding she leave the idea of her sister’s unrealized legacy behind and be who she is. Forced by the play, and her best and closest friends, to give up everything she though she was, Touko has nothing but belief in Yuu left.

This volume feels different in a lot of ways. We and Yuu have been watching Touko define their relationship, but in this volume this changes. Now it’s on Yuu and she’s never seemed more confident. I’ve said from the beginning that I want to believe in the creator and hope that she will carry this story through. In this volume I think I can see where she’s going. Touko had no idea who she was, and neither did Yuu. Once Touko finds herself, if Yuu finds that she does have feelings for Touko it won’t feel like nearly so much of a punt. Ultimately, I really kind of hope that this isn’t a manga that ends with Yuu and Touko together, but I expect to be in a minority of one on that. ^_^

There’s also a side story about playwright Koyomi learning that her favorite writer is a woman and being surprisied by that. She’s forced to rethink her own expectations about meeting the author. I wonder, every time I have read that scene, just who it was for. I feel so strongly that there’s a semi-private conversation gaining on between Nakatani-sensei and someone specific there. 

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8 As they become more complicated, I like them more
Yuri – 3
Service – 1

Overall – 8

Quoting from my review of the Japanese volume, “This is the first volume we’ve seen Yuu push back at Touko and my interest in this series grew three times as a result. I guess I’d been waiting for Yuu to be an active participant in the narrative; 5 volumes into it, she finally has become one. I now look forward to seeing what becomes of her.“

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Yuri Manga

Got a bunch of new Yuri manga up on the Yuricon Store!

Nishio Yuhta’s adult life drama After Hours, Volume 2 is now available and now After Hours, Volume 3 is up for pre-order. What will happen to Kei and Emi? tune in to find out!

Because there are never enough Vampire Yuri stories (thanks, Sheridan Le Fanu), Killing Me! (キリング・ミー!) is a Vampire Hunter x Vampire school life romance. Comedy.

YNN Correspondent Shez pointed out that there are a couple of new Yuri anthologies on the way, Yuri + Kanojo Tomodachi ha Kinou Made (百合+カノジョ-友達は昨日まで-) and Eclair rouge Anata no Hibiku Yuri Anthology (エクレア rouge あなたに響く百合アンソロジー).

I might be alone in being excited about this, but “violence Yuri” manga MURCIÉLAGO is getting a spin-off about sniper Reiko with the crazy eyes. ^_^ MURCIÉLAGO BYPRODUCT – Arania –  (ムルシエラゴ- BYPRODUCT -アラーニァ-).

And I may well be equally alone in not being excited about this, but ANN reports that Saburouta’s Citrus, which ended this month in the October issue of Comic Yuri Hime, will get a spin-off manga, Citrus Plus, this winter. ^_^

Comic Natalie reports on online Yuri comic Tsukiatte Agettemo Iikana (付き合ってあげてもいいかな) by sittori-oblaat.

YuriNatsu-Minshuku Kagaya- Volume 2 (ゆりなつ -民宿かがや-) exist. I was deeply disappointed with Volume 1, so I won’t be reading this. If you do, let us know how it is!

Yuri Anime/Cartoons

Senior YNN Correspondent Verso S writes to report on the Asagao to Kase-san (あさがおと加瀬さん) anime OVA one last time, “Thursday August 23, 2018 – Looks like the last day of theatrical screening has arrived for Kase-san OVA inside Japan. The short-film is not on tomorrow’s schedule for the three remaining theatres and no additional cinemas have been added, as far as I know.” 75 days is an extraordinary run for an anime OVA  roadshow  in Japanese theaters.  Cheers to the folks at Pony Canyon and here’s hoping they’ll release it here in the west as well.

Nick Romano’s From Steven Universe to Voltron: The fight to bring LGBTQ characters to kids’ shows on Entertainment Weekly is a great overview of where we are in American cartoons.

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Our YNN podcast is now available, in which I take a look at some key news items this week..

Got questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

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

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We have a very light week this week, as the summer wraps up and we’re past the major license announcements of SDCC, Anime Expo and Otakon, so it’s time to get ready for the next wave of events!

Events News

Start by checking out Heidi MacDonald’s Comicsbeat report on Flamecon. 

Girls Love Fest is fast approaching in the Tokyo area on September 9, 2018

New York Comic Con is in New York City on October 4-7.

Anime NYC is coming to New York on November 16-18.

And get those panel ideas in for Queers & Comics 2019 at NYU in NYC. Panel submissions are open until September 30!

Yuri Anime

Zac Bertschy has an Interview with  Kase-san and Morning Glories Director Takuya Sato and Producer Yusuke Terada on ANN.  

Egan Loo on ANN covers the new Bloom Into You anime cast and music announcements.

Yuri Manga

Via Alextasha, Yuri manga Pulse, Volume 4 is available for pre-order on Ratana Satis’ facebook page!

Two girls, one very high school girlish and one totally not, meet in Futaridashi ni Ochiru (ふりだしにおちる!) by Mushu.

Other News

For those of you looking for good research material – via James Welker, his chapter “From Women’s Liberation to Lesbian Feminism in Japan: Rezubian Feminizumu within and beyond the Ūman Ribu Movement in the 1970s and 1980s” in Rethinking Japanese Feminisms (2018) is now open access…”

YNN Podcast

This week since the news is so light I take a moment to talk about weddings in Yuri. Check out the YNN Podcast on Patreon. If you enjoy it, please consider subscribing to Okazu on Patreon. We can really use the help!

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Our YNN podcast is now available, in which I take a look at some key news items this week..

Got questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

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

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This week saw the end of Adventure Time‘s 10-year run. In a special finale, we finally got confirmation of the the ‘ship we all knew existed. Heck, they even knew it in Japan where I saw this tote bag back in 2016:

And now, as the series ends, everyone knows that PB and Marceline are a couple. Well, we knew that all along, but now folks who spend their energy denying the obvious will have one more couple they have to check off their “we’re not sure yet, need more proof” list. ^_^

Take a a look at this tweet and remember that, despite all the bad things happening right now, there is good in the world- and an awful lot of that good is in the form of comics and cartoons.

HERE’S A HIGH QUALITY VERSION. Watch it before you sleep to have clear skin and peace of mind #Adventuretimefinale #AdventureTime #Bubbline pic.twitter.com/JOap28Tkrn

— ᶜᵃˢᵉʸ ˡᵒᵛᵉˢ ᵇᵗˢ (@caseyreyes25) September 4, 2018

And that, as they say is that. 

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Yuri Anime

The Asagao to Kase-san (あさがおと加瀬さん。) OVA has finally moved out of theaters completely, but it hasn’t disappeared. Senior YNN Correspondent Verso S. notes they’ve added the series to several Video on Demand platforms, including Amazon JP and iTunes. Verso says that the iTunes version is not Japan-only – I can’t confirm this, so of anyone wants to jump in and let me know if they can watch it outside Japan, that’d be swell. I’ll cough up a few bucks as soon as I have a chance and test the Amazon Video version. It appears that the three-episode format at $2-3/episode is how they are marketing this on all platforms. 

And now we turn towards an incoming anime, Yagate Kimi ni Naru/Bloom Into You. Slated for an October 5th premier in Japan, we’ve got new visuals. More interesting to me, however, is the news that Sayaka will be getting her own side-story in a novel! Please excuse me for caring about the lesbian a little bit more than the others. ^_^ Check out ANN’s report for details and then join me in being displeased with the choice of author. Sigh. Volume 6 of Yagate Kimi ni Naru (やがて君になる) hits shelves later this month in Japan, and Volume 5 was released last month in English! 

This series is the kick-off point for this week’s podcast, so keep an eye out for that to be posted later today! ^_^

Kickstarter News

From Yuri Visual Novel creative team Aikasa Collective, the Kickstarter for the Mizuchi 白蛇心傳 – Visual Novel has launched. From the KS site: “Mizuchi is a fantasy romance visual novel, inspired by the Legend of the White Serpent with a yuri twist and other folklores mixed in.” 

Yuri Manga 

Watashi no Kobushi o Tsuketetomete! (私の拳をうけとめて!) is a slice-of-life comedy(ish) story about two adult women who fight, a lot. ^_^ You can read a sample (in Japanese ) on Web-ace.

From Comic Natalie, we have news that Complex Age artist Sakuma Yui has a Yuri story, Warui Onna no ko (わるいおんなのこ) beginning in Comic Days magazine. It takes place in “boy’s not allowed” all-girls’ school, so you know it’s going to be amazing. (-_-);

Yoru to Umi ((夜と海) may or may not be Yuri, but it seems like it might be an interesting look at two girls’ relationship and the other kids buying Yuri stuff on Amazon have bought it, so… 

Senior YNN Correspondent Mariko S. writes about Sal Jiang, “a Chinese lesbian living and working in Japan who draws manga as a hobby. I don’t think she’s ever put out a full book before, just short comics on her Twitter feed. What’s nice about her work is that it all features adult women, and has a bit more variety in the body types than you usually see in manga (she favors a curvy aesthetic). Anyway, she posted recently that she’s being included in an upcoming anthology, “ゲス×百合”.”  Mariko notes that, since Gusu can mean “sleazy”this may not be to everyone’s taste, but continues, “all her stories that I’ve read to this point have been very smart and fun. So I thought I’d mention it.” 

YNN Correspondent Eric P reminds us that the third and final volume of Legend of Korra: Turf Wars is shipping. Are we worried that Korra won’t save the day and get the girl (again)? No, but I still want to read it!

Other News

Rai submitted this overview of Yuri, The Journey and History of Yuri, Part 1, as part of a movable blogging feast with their Otaku blog circle, OWLS. It’s been added to our Yuricon Essays page where you can find all of the current scholarship on Yuri and related topics listed for your own research needs!

We’ve got an Okazu Discord channel and we’re not afraid to use it! I’m not always there, but this past week we did an informal hangout, talking about great stuff we were reading in novels and manga! Put us on your list and look for the next time we’re running a chat!

We’re working on  Yuricon.com reboot and a lot of other things including a new Patreon campaign. If you’re enjoying all of our Yuri News and reviews and the podcast and the communities and paid Guest Reviews,  subscribe to us on Patreon and help us reach an even bigger Yuri Network!

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Our YNN podcast is now available, in which I take a look at some key news items this week..

Got questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

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

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Today we’re discussing problematic themes in Yuri. ^_^; on the Okazu YNN Podcast! 
Fess up and let us know what are some of your favorite problematic Yuri series?

Let us know in the comments on Patreon, here on Okazu or chat with us on the Okazu Discord channel!

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Top news this week is the relaunch of Yuricon.com! We originally started just around 20 years ago as an online mailing list for fans of a genre that didn’t have a name. We fought for recognition for our genre and spent many hours talking about Yuri anime and manga. Now Yuricon members are taking it on the road running Yuri lectures, writing articles and promoting Yuri all over the world. Drop by and see the new, streamlined Yuricon site!

Yuri Manga

Azumakawa Miso’s Pixiv Yuri comics have been collected into a single volume of 40 shorts, covering the good, the bad, the bitter and the sweet of Yuri couples in Totsuzen Yuri (突然の百合).

The newest of the Eclair collection, Eclair rouge Anata no Hibiku Yuri Anthology (エクレア rouge あなたに響く百合アンソロジー) hits Japanese shelves at the end of this month.

Via YNN Correspondent Alextasha , Volume 4 of Pulse by Ratana Satis is available for Pre-order!

YNN Correspondent Mariko S wants you to know about a “series called Lily Marble by Kisugae that I like – it’s about a gym called “Fitness Club Lily” and the Yuri hijinks the various staff members get up to.” You can read it on the publisher’s site (in Japanese) for free.

Yuri Anime

Via YNN Correspondent robin from cyberia, the Asagao to Kase-san Flower Edition Blu-Ray with desktop calendar (あさがおと加瀬さん。」Blu-ray Flower Edition(初回限定生産)(オリジナル卓上カレンダー付き) is up for pre-order available from Amazon JP! It’s slated for a November release. There is also a DVD version available, but…for possibly the first time ever, I actually recommend the BD.  The Blu-Ray set includes extra disks with audio dramas and cast talks. I have not yet confirmed whether it has English subtitles. 

Yuri Events

Via YNN Correspondent Serena, the Yuri/GL Phillipines group will have a table at Cosplay Mania in Manila on September 28-29. Drop by to meet a great group of Yuri fans!

From Yuiko on Twitter, the office-romance focused Yuri doujinshi event 20OL is happening once again on September 16 in Nagoya, Japan.

Other News

YNN Correspondent Serena also noted that webcomic site Lezhin has apologized to creators after an earlier scandal regarding blacklists and unfair payments which affected the GL section of the site very heavily.

Queer-friendly, female-focused magazine Sparkler Monthly is running their 6th annual Kickstarter campaign. 

One of my favorite comics series for kids, Hilda, is getting a cartoon on Netflix. Check out the trailer on Cartoon Brew and this guide to the graphic novels.

I’m probably preaching to the choir here, but it seems to me that if you don’t want your online group to be understood as a campaign of harassment and intolerance, then maybe you ought not to name it after a previous campaign of harassment and intolerance. JA Micheline discusses Comcsgate in, what is in my opinion, the definitive article on this particular incarnation of angry men angry at women, people of color and LGBTQ folks existing, in Comicsgate is the latest front in the ongoing culture wars for The Guardian.

No podcast this week, I seem to have run myself ragged. ^_^ But do feel free to send me questions you’d like me to address on the next YNN Podcast!

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Our YNN podcast is now available, in which I take a look at some key news items this week..

Got questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

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

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Yuri Manga

Exciting news for Yuri fans this week! Seven Seas has licensed two new Yuri titles. First up, EVE x EVE by Nagashiro Rouge, as part of their manga for mature audiences line – as I pointed out on our Yuricon Facebook group, I haven’t read the original Japanese volume of this yet, so I am cautiously optimistic. 

Also announced this week was a manga I reviewed last week – Kodama Naoko’s Oya ga Urusainode Kouhai () to Gizoukekkonshitemite (親がうるさいので後輩()と偽装結婚してみた。) as I MARRIED MY BEST FRIEND TO SHUT MY PARENTS UP. I suggested “I Fake-Married My (Female) Best Friend To Shut My Parents Up” might have been a bit more accurate, but maybe less funny? ^_^

Kodansha is releasing the Sailor Moon Perfect Edition, and Deb Aoki and editor Lauren Scanlan talk about it on the ANNcast this week!

Ultra Jump editors on Twitter announced Ultra Jump‘s very first Yuri anthology! Yuritora Jump (ユリトラジャンプ) will be available in Japan in mid-October. This will include the recent story by Hayashiya Shizuru, “Tanerabo manga do it!” I’m not bouncing out of my skin, you are. (This is not to be confused with the Kindle story Yuri-couple vs Bengal Tiger (百合ップルvsベンガルトラ) that exists in the real world. Why?!? Someone with 300yen and a JP Kindle account needs to get it and tell us what it is. ^_^ The description is hilarious – a ship full of Parisian girls sinks and a tiger is eating the girls. OMGWTFLOLBBQ.)

The first volume of Hisakawa Haru’s Yurikon (ゆりこん) serial about female couples who get married, has hit JP shelves.

Yuri Anime

A second, longer promotional video for the upcoming Yagate Kimi ni Naru (Bloom Into You) anime has been released on Youtube.

Still not Yuri, but still of interest, Aria the Origination has been added to the Crunchyroll catalog, according to ANN. ^_^

LGBTQ Comics News

For folks in the New York area, the Zimmerli Museum at Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, NJ is running an exhibition of art from Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For comic. Self-Confessed! The Inappropriately Intimate Comics of Alison Bechdel will run through December 30, and Bechdel will be there to do a talk on October 10. I love the Zimmerli and recommend it highly. 
 

Other News

Cartoon Network is running a Storyboard Training Academy. Applications are open. Definitely read the FAQs, because it is a form of paid internship at CN, but you’d be responsible for your travel and room.

A group of Maine pastors with no sense of irony attempted to get a copy of My Lesbian Experince With Loneliness pulled from a Banned Books display, ANN’s Lynzee Loveridge reports.

Over on Crunchyroll, Nicole Meijas reports that Akiyo Nagano, Atsuko Ishizuka, and Akira Himekawa Discuss Being a Woman in the Anime and Manga Industry.

Nippon.com has a tidy little article about the spread of LGBTQ acceptance in Japan beginning with Shibuya’s offering same-sex partnership certificates.

Catch my discussion of this week’s news and some other items of importance on the YNN Podcast on Patreon! I did the audio editing myself this week, so don’t blame Ashley for it. ^_^

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Our YNN podcast is now available, in which I take a look at some key news items this week..

Got questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

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

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Light week this week, I think we need some distraction from the real world….

Yuri Anime

Couple of news items on the upcoming Bloom Into You anime – ANN reports that Sentai Filmworks has licensed it, which means you’ll never hear when or if they actually release it, until you remember to look next year, since Sentai is great at licensing announcements, but has no followup. ANN also says that it will be streaming on the HIDIVE network. The stream will start with a sub, then add in a dub, Jennifer Sherman reports.

Yuri VN

Fans of the Flowers VN series will be happy to hear that Flowers 4 Seasons (FLOWERS 四季) is getting a PS4 release, according to the YuriNavi blog.

Okazu News

No podcast this week. Instead, because I had my video recording equipment set up for a Secret Project^TM, I recorded a short video, inviting you all to become an Okazu Patron and be invited to an online Okazu Patron Holiday Party/Yuri Panel Extravaganza! Because I want to do something special for Patrons, to thank you all for your generosity and kindness. If you’re not yet an Okazu Patron, you still have time to become one and join us!

Other News
Someone on the Okazu Discord asked if getting the Uranus/Neptune character pair made the game more Yuri. Take a look at them holding hands in the Victory pose and tell me what you think! ^_^

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Our YNN podcast is now available, in which I take a look at some key news items this week..

Got questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

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

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Yuri Manga

Ultra Jump’s Yuri Anthology Yuritora Jump (ユリトラジャンプ～ウルトラジャンプ百合アンソロジー～) is out this week in Japan, and can be ordered by those with Japanese IP access on Kindle.

English-language edition of Yukiko’s Futaribeya, the Yuri-ish story about two roommates (from Tokyopop!) will hit shelves next week. Tokyopop is also working on the English language edition of Yuri Kuma Arashi – Yuri Bear Storm, Volume 1 will be shipping in winter.

Yuri is My Job, Volume 1 by Miman is available for pre-order, it’ll be shipping in the new year.

Comixology is now picking up indie Yuri manga. Check out Kotonoha, Volume 1 by Kisu Gae. You can also catch Lily Marble, Volume 1 from the same creator on Kindle – you may remember from a recent report that this is a Yuri manga set in a gym.

Yuri Anime

Yagate Kimi ni Naru will be participating in a collaboration cafe at the Animate in Akihabara in November, according to Comic Natalie. Bloom Into You is streaming on HIDIVE. 

LGBTQ Comics

Via The Beat, the new Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire comic was announced at New York Comic Con. It’s scheduled to hit stores in spring 2019.

Via Deb Aoki, winner of the Harvey Award for Best Manga of the Year went to Kabi Nagata’s My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness. Wow! Congratulations to Nagata-sensei. 

Once again, from The Beat, Zack Quaintance reports on r(ender), a new comic by Leah Williams, put out by Lion Forge Comics described as “X-Files, but lesbians and magic.”

LGBTQ Comics/Manga Studies

Via Professor CJ Suzuki, a Call for Papers for the first LGBTQ Comics Studies Reader. “250-word abstract for this Comics Reader should be sent to Professors Alison Halsall and Jonathan Warren by 1 November 2018, at ahalsall [at] yorku.ca and jwarren [at] yorku.ca for consideration. Completed articles should be 15-18 pages, double-spaced, bibliography included, due 1 March 2019.”

CFP for the next issue of Mechademia: Second Arc Queer(ing) is now available. “Guest edited by James Welker, “Queer(ing)” will focus on queer(ing) comics, animation, and games, and other related media as well as their fandoms in Asia. Submissions of 5000-7000 words are due 1 June 2019 for an expected publication date in Spring 2020.”

Not comics or manga specific, but Victoria Brownworth’s discussion of the lesbian erasure in critical research is eye-opening. Part 1 | Part 2.

Other News

The Yuri/GL Phillipines group had a booth at Cosplay Mania. Check out this video from Serena, to enjoy a walk through.

She Makes Comics is now available to stream from Netflix. This movie “traces the fascinating history of women in the comics industry. Despite popular assumptions about the comics world, women have been writing, drawing, and reading comics since the medium’s beginnings in the late 19th century.”

Due to the upcoming Olympics, Tokyo has taken steps to ban discrimination against LGBT people. Regardless of the reasons, this step forward seems like a good place to wrap up for the week.

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Our YNN podcast is now available, in which I take a look at some key news items this week..

Got questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

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

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This week I’m going to pound out all the links of “stuff that may interest you, but isn’t for me,” so I can clear these out of the folder. Buckle in for a rough ride through inappropriate-Yuri land (or get out of the car before we start! ^_^)

Yuri Manga

Kusanagi-sensei ha Tamesareteiru  (草薙先生は試されている。) follows a student hitting on a teacher and the teacher’s downfall. Its a comedy. Haha! Read the chapters in Japanese for free online or pick up Volume 1 on Amazon JP.

Also available on Amazon is Shouryuu Sakka to Yuki (女流作家とユキ) which is a romance about a female author.  You can check out the first chapter online in Japanese for free. I like Taisho period pieces, but the “authoress” of the title and the maid thing put me off. YMMV. 

Comic Natalie reports that Yasetai-san to Shitsuren-san (痩せたいさんと失恋ちゃん) seems to be setting us up for disappointment from the title on down, but the description of it being about a woman looking for love and a woman who knows a lot about dieting seems like despair in manga form.^_^ This series started in the October 19th issue of Ultra Jump and the first chapter is included in….

…the cover does not look promising, but I’m keeping my mind open for Yuritora Jump ~Ultra Jump Yuri Anthology~ (ユリトラジャンプ～ウルトラジャンプ百合アンソロジー～). Ultra Jump is Shounen Jump‘s “big brother” magazine and has a lot more nudity and sex (and concomitant sexual dysfunction and service.) This collection is available to Japanese Kindle owners and globally on Bookwalker Global. I started reading it last night, but will withhold judgement until I finish. It includes a contribution by Hayate x Blade‘s Hayashiya Shizuru. The Bookwalker link is up on the Yuricon Store.

Also on the Yuricon Store are the two Avalon Anthologies, Avalon Koufuku wo Tsumugu Anthology (Avalon 幸福を紡ぐ百合アンソロジー) and Avalon ~bitter~ Anthology (Avalon 幸福を紡ぐ百合アンソロジー).

Yuri Anime

Watashi ni Tenshi ga Maiorita! anime is moe lolicon Yuri series that runs in Comic Yuri Hime about which I know nothing because I do not read it (as you might expect). ANN reports key visuals and cast for it’s winter premiere.  Comic Natalie has a short comment (in Japanese) from voice actress Ueda Reina, who will be playing Hoshino Miyako in the anime.

Other News

The cover of Xena, Volume 1: Pennance looks so damn good I just had to add it here just to make me feel less ick. ^_^ 

For wore discussion of this week’s news, check out the Yuri Network News Podcast for October 20, 2018. Thanks to our Okazu patrons for making it available to everyone!

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Our YNN podcast is now available, in which I take a look at some key news items this week..

Got questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

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

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Yuri Manga

Let’s start with some new Yuri manga on the Yuricon Store!

Futaribeya: A Room for Two, the Yuri-ish slice of life gag manga by Tsukiko hit shelves in English this week.

Miman’s Yuri is My Job, Volume 1 will be available in January 2019 in English from Kodansha USA.

Enjoy getting weekly Yuri news and reviews?

Kotonoha, Issue 1, Kisu gae’s Yuri doujinshi is available in English on Kindle/Comixology. 

Anata no Soba ni Iru to Watashi ha Shakaiin Yuri Anthology (あなたの側にいると私は 社会人百合アンソロジー) is another adult life/office setting Yuri anthology hitting Japanese shelves. 

Mayu, Matou Volume 1 (繭、纏う) is a collected Yuri volume by Haru Tsukiko from Beam Comics.

Comic Yuri Hime December 2018 (コミック百合姫2018年12月号).

Hero-san and Moto-Kanbu-san (ヒーローさんと元女幹部さん), details the love affair between a hero and the evil mastermind she’s fought for years. You can read this online in (Japanese) on Pixiv.

Yuri Anime

HIDIVE has announced the cast for the dub of Bloom Into You, and has released the first dub episode, ANN reports.

Japanese women’s magazine DaVinci (a mainstream magazine which has been very lesbian-content supportive over the years,) has an interview with the Director of Yagate Kimi ni Naru (Bloom Into You.) This interview is in Japanese.

An!bu online reports that a Yagate Kimi ni Naru pop-up shop will be hitting up Parco locations in Ikebukuro, Nagoya, and Fukuoka, and Loft in Umeda in November and December. Check the schedule for the locations and dates.

Events

An Overseas Comics Reader Guide talk event covering LGBTQ comics will be held in Chiba, Japan at the JUNNU building on November 3rd.

Comitia will be back at Big Site in Tokyo on November 25th. 

Cast members from the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Super Live – the Sailor Moon musical starring members of the Nogizaka  46 group – will be performing in the opening ceremonies of Washington, DC’s Cherry Blossom Festival on March 19th in Washington, DC! Crunchyroll News has details. 

Other News

I really want to end with this piece of news because it is so random and wonderful. The のワの Tumblr by sushiobunny details the connection between the new SSSS Gridman anime and a previously posted Twitter Yuri novella by director Amemiya Akira, called The Uniform from a School I Don’t Recognize (私の知らない他校の制服). Furthermore, the credits  for episode 3 of SSSS Gridman confirm that the characters are, in fact the same ones from the Yuri novella. And JP blogs have picked up on it now. Fans (including me!) are loving the idea that the director has inserted their original characters into this anime, because why not? ^_^

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Our YNN podcast is now available, in which I take a look at some key news items this week..

Got questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

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

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I am very pleased to be able to announce the first-ever Yuri Fest on BOOK☆WALKER GLOBAL! Click this link for all eligible titles.

From November 1 through November 14, BOOK☆WALKER GLOBAL is offering up to 3000 free reward coins (worth approximately 3 free books, depending on the cost) and a free “I Love Yuri” bookshelf wallpaper. ^_^ Participating English publishers include Seven Seas, One Peace, Viz and Kodansha. This is the perfect time to get reacquainted with classic series like Strawberry Panic! or Whispered Words as well as Bloom Into You and Hana & Hina After School.

Here’s how it works:

Not eligible for the YuriFest promotion, they also have Yen press titles like MURCIÉLAGO and Kiss & White Lily For My Dearest Girl. Check out their Yuri category for all their Yuri.

BOOK☆WALKER GLOBAL’s digital manga platform has been a terrific resource for folks looking to read manga without shouldering shipping costs and storage issues. BOOK☆WALKER is multi-publisher and can be used for English and Japanese manga, so if you haven’t yet downloaded the app and tried the service, I recommend it. It’s easy to use and  if you are interested in manga or magazines that are only available from Japan like the Ultra Jump Yuri anthology, Yuritora Jump), you can actually subscribe to the Japanese digital edition of Comic Yuri Hime right through the site, something you cannot do with Kindle outside Japan. I’ve been a big supporter of BOOKWALKER since the Global site launched and I find it a great way to read manga I can’t get, don’t want to have to make space for or – or had never even heard of!

Get those clicking fingers ready and I’ll see you online for BOOK☆WALKER GLOBAL’s Yuri Fest!

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Yuri Events

The Kase-san and Morning Glories OVA will be screening at AnimeNYC on Saturday, November 17 – Panel Room 2 – 7:30 PM! I will be attending AnimeNYC for at least some part of the day on Friday and Saturday, so keep a look out and say hi if you see me! No special ticket is required for the screening, just general admission to AnimeNYC.

I will be presenting two panels at Derpycon in Morristown, NJ on Friday November 9 at the Hyatt Regency.

The Secret History of Yaoi and Yuri: 2:30pm-3:30pm, Panel 2
LGBTQ in Anime,Comics, Manga, Cartoons: Friday 5pm-6pm, Panel 1

Prizes for good questions, and a lot of fun!

BOOK☆WALKER GLOBAL is running a digital manga Yuri Fest event, in which you can receive free reward coins for buying Yuri manga from their selected list of eligible Yuri titles. The event runs through November 14th, so make sure you get over there and get your free “I love Yuri” Bookshelf wallpaper. (Which, yes, I got first thing on November 1st!)

Speaking of online events, this year Okazu is having a special online holiday party for Okazu patrons. Subscribe to Okazu by the US Thanksgiving and receive an invite! We’ll have some secret project previews and  announcements, so if you don’t want to miss it, join us as an Okazu patron at any level!

LGBTQ Manga

Seven Seas posted a lovely tweet this week, marking the initial pre-orders for the 2019 release of Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare, Volume 1 and Volume 2. Tune in tomorrow for the YNN podcast for discussion about why this is so important.

No matter who you are, there’s a beautiful place where you belong.

The beloved 4-volume LGBT+ manga OUR DREAMS AT DUSK: SHIMANAMI TASOGARE by Yuhki Kamatani begins in May. Pre-order Vol. 1 in the RETAILERS section at the link. #mangapreorders #7seasbookshttps://t.co/YyZxFkB0iu pic.twitter.com/gck6JxCp6Z

— Seven Seas (@gomanga) November 2, 2018

Seven Seas also sent out a press release that I want to mention, because it does something too few manga companies think to do – it ties their releases of Bloom Into You, Volume 1-5 into the currently running anime. There’s a reason why companies fail to do this so often – licensing of anime and manga are handled by different companies who often pay no attention to one another. It’s good to see the Seven Seas folks not making that mistake.

Kickstarter Watch

Luscious Spirit Studios are working on a new Yuri Visual Novel, Mystics of Sapphia. They offer an expanded playable demo and, I gotta say, the video was pretty appealing. ^_^

Via YNN Correspondent Ashley P, ROADQUEEN: ETERNAL ROADTRIP TO LOVE, an F/F lesbian graphic novel about love, revenge, and getting your bike back is something to check out!

Other News

The New SHE-RA and the Princesses of Power cartoon is premiering on Netflix on November 13!

DaVinci magazine has *another* Bloom Into You interview, this time with Sayaka’s voice actress,  Kayano Ai, about the “feeling of love.” 

Loryn Stone over at PopLurker takes a look at Yuri manga offerings Konohana Kitan and Futaribeya from Tokyopop and has some thoughts.

Shoot the Breeze Comics has a roundup of the The Top 10 Ongoing Comics Queer Women Should Be Reading, that might interest you. Summit from Lion Forge is something that has been on my to-read list for a while. ^_^

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Our YNN podcast is now available, in which I take a look at some key news items this week..

Got questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

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

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