#éclair anthology

[joseiai]

My favorite girls love manga & light novels!! ❤️👭❤️👭❤️👭

I’ve been reading GL manga & light novels for a long time now and just thought I’d share my favorites. Take these as a recommendation list, if you will. ❤️

(Note: I have not finished all of the mangas & light novels on this list, but I have read enough of them to get an opinion on them.)

(Note #2: this list will change over time, so come back every so often to see if things have changed!)

“Strawberry Panic” light novel by Sakurako Kimino

“Adachi and Shimamura” light novel by Hitoma Iruma

“Sweet Blue Flowers” manga by Takako Shimura

“Our Teachers Are Dating!” manga by Pikachi Ohi

“Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka” light novel by Hitoma Iruma

“Yuri Is My Job!” manga by Miman

“I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up” manga by Kodama Naoko

“A Lily Blooms in Another World” light novel by Ameko Kaeruda

“Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink” manga by Milk Morinaga

“Secret of the Princess” manga by Milk Morinaga

“éclair orange: A Girls' Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart” manga by multiple authors

“A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow” manga by Makoto Hagino

“Beauty and the Beast Girl” manga by Neji

“Cocoon Entwined” manga by Yuriko Hara

“Syrup: A Yuri Anthology Vol. 1” manga by multiple authors

“Even Though We're Adults” manga by Takako Shimura

“Run Away With Me, Girl” manga by Battan

“Tadokoro-san” manga by Tatsubon

“Handsome Girl and Sheltered Girl” manga by Majoccoid

“She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat” manga by Sakaomi Yuzaki

“I'm in Love with the Villainess” light novel by Inori

“I'm in Love with the Villainess: She's so Cheeky for a Commoner” light novel by Inori

“The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady” light novel by Piero Karasu

[yuribookclub]

[aaroncutler]

Sessão Mutual Films: Nascimento e origem: Os enganados + Diálogo árabe israelense [Mutual Films Session: The Dupes + Arab Israeli Dialogue]

May 14: The link above leads to Portuguese-language information about the 23rd edition of the Mutual Films Session, co-curated and organized by me and Mariana Shellard, whose screenings will take place on May 15th and 26th at the São Paulo-based unit of the Instituto Moreira Salles (IMS) and on May 19th at the Instituto’s unit in Poços de Caldas.

The event places into dialogue two restored films from the early 1970s. The undervalued Egyptian director Tewfik Saleh’s Syrian production The Dupes, from 1972, is today considered a classic work of Arab fiction filmmaking, including in its inspired and instigating relation to its source material, the Palestinian author and activist Ghassan Kanafani’s debut novel Men in the Sun. The American filmmaker and activist Lionel Rogosin’s last film, a medium-length documentary from 1974 called Arab Israeli Dialogue, has gone in recent years from relative obscurity to ever-greater circulation as the issues discussed in the film's central conversation between the Israeli journalist and playwright Amos Kenan and the Palestinian poet Rashed Hussein have come to seem increasingly relevant. (The film’s legacy is discussed in greater detail in a recent feature-length documentary directed by Michael Rogosin – one of Lionel’s two sons – called Imagine Peace.)

Both films were recently digitally restored by the Cineteca di Bologna. The Cineteca and World Cinema Project’s restoration of The Dupes utilized as its primary source materials a duplicate 35mm negative (located in the Bulgarian National Film Archive) and the original sound negatives (housed with Éclair Classics, in France), while the Cineteca and Rogosin Heritage’s restoration of Arab Israeli Dialogue utilized the film’s original 16mm materials (which have been preserved by Anthology Film Archives, in New York).

The screenings at IMS of Arab Israeli Dialogue will have free admission. The screening of The Dupes in São Paulo on May 15th will be followed by a public conversation between me, Mariana, and Arlene Clemesha – an author, translator, film curator, and professor of Arab History and Culture at the University of São Paulo.

It is inevitable that the screenings of these films will raise connections to present-day events. With this said, we prefer not to make claims about what those connections might be. It interests us more to invite viewers to observe conversations that people were having half a century ago and consider for themselves how those conversations have changed over time.

To this end, we have included three supplemental items on our website, in addition to our synopses and curatorial text. One is a translation of part of an interview that Saleh gave about The Dupes in 1976, four years after the film’s world premiere; one is a translation of material from a conversation held in 1990 between Lionel Rogosin and Amos Kenan about issues salient to Arab Israeli Dialogue (a recording of which appears on the film's North American DVD release); and one is a translation of a poem called “With the Land”, written by Rashed Hussein.

I have found myself often thinking in recent times about how my preferred literary critics right now are Edward Said and Marjorie Perloff, both of whom argued at various times for the importance of valuing a multiplicity of perspectives and voices. It is true, of course, that some things are much bigger than cinema, as well as art in general, but the perspectives of artists on them will always be vital.

[vixvaporub]

Éclair: A Girls' Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart

Hairdresser by Isaki Uta

[recentanimenews]

Yen Press Announces New Slate of Light Novel and Manga Licenses 

  Yen Press recently went live with a bunch of new license announcements, including six manga titles and two light novels. They're all lined up for "future publication" at the moment, so we'll have to stay tuned for more details, but for now you can check out the latest reveals and their descriptions below.

  Manga

  The Eminence in Shadow

Original Story by Daisuke Aizawa

Art by Anri Sakano

    There’s only one thing in this world Cid wants to be. And it’s not some bland protagonist or the final boss—he has his eyes set on becoming a mastermind working in the shadows. Now that he’s been reborn in another world, Cid has been hard at work, building the perfect stage to act out his long-desired role. The issue is that these imaginary adversaries and plot devises exist in this new world…and he’s the only one left in the dark!

  The Eminence in Shadow is the manga adaptation of the popular light novel series of the same name, currently published under the Yen On imprint. As a story filled with secret organizations, beautiful recruits and a ton of comedy, The Eminence in Shadow has taken the light novel world by storm and is now ready to win the hearts of manga readers.

  Farewell to My Alter

Story and Art by Nio Nakatani

    From author Nio Nakatani (Bloom into You, Éclair) comes a new collection of short stories and illustrations.

  Nio Nakatani stands out as one of the most beloved yuri creators and has gained a mainstream following due to her work Bloom Into You being adapted into an anime. Fans of the series and Nakatani’s contributions to anthologies such as Éclair will be thrilled to add this collection to their shelves!

  The Whole of Humanity Has Gone Yuri Except for Me

Story and Art by Haruse Hiroki

    Marika was perfectly happy with her perfectly “normal” life. That is, until the day she saw a couple of girls openly kissing each other on her way to school. Indeed, that morning, Marika Junno learned that she somehow ended up in world where only women existed. And so starts her journey to study the new norm…!

  Taking place in a world where everyone is female and there are no boys to be found, The Whole of Humanity Has Gone Yuri Except for Me has one of the most intriguing premises seen in a yuri manga with a beautiful and vibrant art style that is just as unique.

  I’m the Villainous Daughter, So I’m Keeping the Last Boss

Original Story by Sarasa Nagase

Art by Mai Murasaki

    When Aileen, the Duke’s daughter, regains her memories of her past life, she realizes she’s barreling towards ruin at full speed. Searching for any way out of her hopeless situation, the method she chooses is to capture the heart of the last boss—the Demon Lord Claude!

  I’m the Villainous Daughter, So I’m Keeping the Last Boss sticks with the isekai genre trend of being reincarnated in a virtual world, but adds a heaping dose of fantasy romance! This is the perfect series for fans of titles like The White Cat’s Revenge, As Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap and The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess.

  The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious

Story and Art by Wakame Konbu

    I hired a maid who has something about her I just can’t put my finger on. Sure, she looks great and is a fabulous cook, but something about her’s not quite right.  What have I gotten myself into!?

  The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious is a new addition to the ever popular category of ecchi fantasy. This series of short stories involving a young boy and his alluring new maid will appeal to fans of series like The Elder Sister-Like One.

   Captivated, By You

Story & Art by Yama Wayama

    High school relations are moody, quirky, and full of surprises. But most of all, they’re downright captivating.

  Captivated, By You is a collection of short stories focusing on the lives of strange, unique and, most importantly, interesting high schoolers. This manga compilation is critically acclaimed in Japan and has won a New Face Award from the 23rd Japan Media Arts Festival and the 24th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in Short Work Category in 2020.

  Light Novels

  The Detective Is Already Dead

Story by Juu NIGO

Illustration by Umibozu

    “You will be my assistant.”

  During a plane hijacking four years ago, Kimitsuka Kimihiko wound up becoming the assistant to a beautiful detective named Siesta. The pair traveled the world, solving crimes and battling criminal organizations. Until Siesta died, anyway. Kimitsuka thought that would spell the end of his adventures and a return to ordinary life, but an encounter with a girl who bears an uncanny resemblance to Siesta suggests that fate has other plans.

  Combining mystery, adventure and romantic comedy, The Detective is Already Dead appeals to fans of series like Spy x Family. The light novel series is quickly growing in popularity in Japan, winning the 15th Annual MF Bunko J Light Novel Rookie Award in 2019.

  Spy Classroom

Story by Takemachi

Illustration by Tomari

    When every country in the world engages in a shadowy war of espionage, there will always be work for those who are willing to take on the risks. To answer the call, the world's greatest spy creates an organization dedicated to tackling missions considered impossible...though it remains to be seen why the seven members of this group all have no experience!

  Spy Classroom is a highly-anticipated light novel release that stands out as a rising star in Japan. This comedy harem series, with its focus on spy action, intrigue and high-level organizations, appeals to fans of Combatants Will Be Dispatched.

  Source: Press release 

    -------

Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. You can read his brand new comic, MONSTER FLIGHT, at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter @Moldilox.

By: Joseph Luster

[biandlesbianliterature]

Lesbrary Link Round Up

[image description: a collage of 16 covers of the books mentioned in the links below, with the text “Lesbrary Links: Bi & Lesbian Lit News & Reviews]

This is the Lesbrary bi-weekly feature where we take a look at all the lesbian and bi women book news and reviews happening on the rest of the internet!

[image description: the covers of Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins, Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole, The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhias, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Rey Tercerio, and The True Queen by Zen Cho]

Autostraddle posted

68 LGBT YA Books to Get Excited for in 2019

33 Literary Books With Great Lesbian Sex Inside Them

Helen Keremos, Pulp Fiction’s First Dyke Detective, Is Getting Her Own Graphic Novel

Book Riot posted

2019 Sapphic Books to Add To Your TBR (40+ Titles)

2019 LGBTQ Comics and Graphic Novels

8 Amazing Historical Fiction Books About Lesbians and Bisexual Women

[image description: Hurricane Child by Kheryn Callender, The Last Nude by Ellis Avery, The Summer of Jordi Perez by Amy Spalding, This Is What It Feels Like by Rebecca Barrow, and Pulp by Robin Talley]

Bustle posted 15 Sapphic Romances To Cozy Up With This Valentine's Day.

Lambda Literary posted Award Winning Novelist Ellis Avery, 46, has Died.

LGBT @ NYPL posted Love & Resistance: LGBTQ+ Memoirs and Stonewall: Core Reading for the Past, Present, and Future.

LGBTQ Reads posted Black History Month 2019.

Queerty posted New Jersey high school library quietly removes lesbian graphic novel “Fun Home” from its shelves.

Women and Reads updated their New Releases and Coming Up page.

[image description: the covers of The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan, Stray City by Chelsey Johnson, Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker, Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan, and Éclair: A Girls' Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart]

"A Conversation about Yuri Genre: Interview with Erica Friedman" was posted at Sugoi.

"Yuri-1919-2019, Then and Now" was posted at Anime Herald.

"How genre has failed and served queer representation" was posted at Syfy.

Stray City by Chelsey Johnson was reviewed at Autostraddle.

The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan was reviewed at Rich in Color.

If you like what we do at the Lesbrary and Bi & Les Lit, support us on Patreon at $2 or more a month and be entered to win a queer women book every month!

[yuri-caps]

I feel bad for asking this cause this kinda question is like every other one you get. But I'm trying to find a short manga where a girl play piano, and another girl has day dreams of her gettin hurt, but then it actually happens and she feels super bad about it and then they date. I don't remember if it was in a one shot by itself or in a collection

oh wait, i actually know what it is this time!! lmao, it’s a oneshot by nio nakatani (author of bloom into you) called “happiness is the shape of a wound”

(that story’s in an anthology called “éclair” that i think has an official english translation out in b&n)

[yurimother]

Secret High School Yuri Romance 'Rainbows After Storms'

On February 2, Viz Media announced that it has licensed Ruka Kobachi's high school Yuri manga series Rainbows After Storms (Hana ni Arashi) in English. The first volume will be released in Fall 2024.

The manga follows Nanoha and Chidori, best friends attending the same all-girls high school. They share the same group of friends, the same classes, and they and also share a heart-pounding secret: they're lovers.

Rainbows After Storms was serialized online on Shogakukan's Sunday Webry from 2017 until its completion in August of 2023. Shogakukan published the manga in 13 collected volumes.

Ruka Kobachi is known primarily for Rainbows After Storms. She also contributed to ASCII Media Works' Éclair Yuri anthologies, which are published in English by Yen Press.

Be sure to check out Rainbows After Storms when it is released in English this Fall.

Source - Viz Media X (Formerly Twitter)

[yenpress]

NEW YORK, NY (5/3/2019) – Yen Press, LLC announced its latest acquisitions today, the first releases of which are all slated for release in November 2019. The new properties include subsequent installments of the yuri anthology ÉCLAIR: A GIRLS’ LOVE ANTHOLOGY THAT RESONATES IN YOUR HEART, a new manga spinoff of BUNGO STRAY DOGS, the manga adaptation of RASCAL DOES NOT DREAM OF BUNNY GIRL SENPAI, a short story manga collection entitled SEVEN LITTLE SONS OF THE DRAGON: A COLLECTION OF SEVEN STORIES, and two new light novel debuts: YOU CALL THAT SERVICE? and THE EMINENCE IN SHADOW.

ÉCLAIR: A GIRLS’ LOVE ANTHOLOGY THAT RESONATES IN YOUR HEART – BLEUE, BLANCHE, and ROUGE by ASCII Media Works. Following the breathtaking anthology ÉCLAIR: A GIRLS’ LOVE ANTHOLOGY THAT RESONATES IN YOUR HEART come three new sets of girls’ love stories: BLEUE, BLANCHE, & ROUGE! Featuring artists like Reine Hibiki, Miman, and more, these girls’ pure feelings will resound in your chest. BLEUE comes to stores everywhere November 2019, BLANCHE in January 2020, and ROUGE during April 2020.

BUNGO STRAY DOGS: ANOTHER STORY, VOL. 1: YUKITO AYATSUJI VS. NATSUHIKO KYOGOKU story by Kafka Asagiri, art by Oyoyo and Sango Harukawa. When a request flies in from the government enlisting the help of Yukito Ayatsuji, a top-ranked skill user and detective notorious for his deadly skill, and Mizuki Tsujimura, a devoted newbie agent from the Special Ability Agency, the unusual duo find themselves with more than just an open-and-shut case on their hands… A must-read spin-off for all fans of the popular BUNGO STRAY DOGS series!

SEVEN LITTLE SONS OF THE DRAGON: A COLLECTION OF SEVEN STORIES by Ryoko Kui. Ryoko Kui, the master storyteller behind the beloved manga series DELICIOUS IN DUNGEON, pens seven brand-new tales that will delight fantasy fans and manga devotees equally. Covering a broad range of themes and time periods, no two stories in this collection are alike!

RASCAL DOES NOT DREAM OF BUNNY GIRL SENPAI,story by Hajime Kamoshida, art by Tsugumi Nanamiya, design by Keeji Mizoguchi. Bunny girls do not live in libraries. This is simply common sense. And yet, that’s exactly where Sakuta runs into one in the wild. More bewildering is who the bunny girl is: Mai Sakurajima, an upperclassman and well-known actress currently taking a break from industry work. Wanting to find out more about the mystery surrounding Mai (and maybe get a little closer to her in the process), Sakuta launches an investigation to figure out what’s making this bunny girl invisible to everyone around them.

YOU CALL THAT SERVICE?, VOL. 1, story by Kisetsu Morita, art by Hiroki Ozaki. When a vampire kingdom suddenly appears within the borders of Japan, a beautiful boy-meets-vampire romantic comedy blooms from the mind of the creator of I’VE BEEN KILLING SLIMES FOR 300 YEARS AND MAXED OUT MY LEVEL! One fateful day, Ryouta wanders into a town that’s been declared sovereign territory by the rulers of the night, and before he can blink, an adorable vampire pounces him. Now his only duty in life is to serve her hand and foot as her minion in the hilarious, romance-filled days to come!

THE EMINENCE IN SHADOW, VOL. 1, story by Daisuke Aizawa, art by Touzai. Shadowbrokers are those who go unnoticed, posing as unremarkable people, when in truth, they control everything from behind the scenes. Sid wants to be someone just like that more than anything, and something as insignificant as boring reality isn’t going to get in his way! He trains in secret every single night, preparing for his eventual rise to power—only to denied his destiny by a run-of-the-mill (yet deadly) traffic accident. But when he wakes up in a another world and suddenly finds himself at the head of an actual secret organization doing battle with evil in the shadows, he’ll finally get a chance to act out all of his delusional fantasies! Coming to stores everywhere digitally and in hardcover November 2019.

[yuribookclub]

[vixvaporub]

Éclair: A Girls' Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart

Human Emotion by Amano Shuninta

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 5/28/20

Dr. STONE, Vol. 11 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – Balloons! Yes, Dr. STONE is taking it upon itself to do something it does best, which is show off the gorgeous vistas of this not-really-that-explored future Japan it takes place in. And that means hot air balloons. It also means speedboats! But alas, just because Senku is a scientist does not mean he can cook. So they use some of the last remaining fluid to un-stone a butler-cum-chef-cum-everything, Francois, who is flamboyant and also a lot of fun. There’s actually some really good humor in this volume as well, be it the reporter getting her camera and its undercutting right afterwards, or Senku’s Einstein impersonation. This remains one of the essential Jump titles. – Sean Gaffney

Dungeon Builder: The Demon King’s Labyrinth Is a Modern City!, Vol. 2 | By Rui Tsukiyo and Hideaki Yoshikawa | Seven Seas – After wrapping up the cliffhanger from the first volume (he names his first monster girl, which gives her the power-up (and bust expansion) she needs to win), the cast gets down to the nitty-gritty of what he wants to do: build a city, not a dungeon, which feeds on positive emotions. Of course, there are a few problems. Location, labor costs, the neighboring demon lords, and of course Marcho’s impending death, which she seems to have accepted more than Procel has. This remains sort of mid-tier manga—not interesting enough to stand out, but the pages turn easily, and you could do worse. Also, brilliant pun for the back-cover blurb. – Sean Gaffney

Éclair Blanche: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart | By Various Artists | Yen Press – The second of the Éclair anthologies to come out over here, this one seems to focus more attention on love that is already in bloom when the story begins than love that we see the start of. There’s a nice mix of funny, heartwarming, sad, and generally melancholic. Some highlights are “Azalea Corner,” about a minion’s crush on the arrogant ojou she follows; “The Unemployed Woman and the High School Girl,” which should be awful but is by Canno so is cute instead; and “That Summer Won’t Come Again,” about a girl trapped in her sister’s past who bonds with a senpai and learns to swim again. There’s good and not-so-good here, but overall well worth buying. – Sean Gaffney

Éclair Blanche: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart | By Various Artists | Yen Press – This is the second Éclair anthology, but aside from two continuations, all the stories here are new. The quality varies, and it seems the better stories are in the front. The first story, Fly’s “Flowers in a Storm,” sets the tone for bittersweet, ambiguous endings with the tale of a first kiss that comes too late. There are also several stories about unrequited love for a friend who loves someone else, be it another girl, an idol, or a guy. Kabocha’s “Though Summer Won’t Come Again” is a standout, about a girl who assumes the senpai she’s developed feelings for prefers her older sister, as everyone else seems to. Unfortunately, I found the stories toward the end of the volume to be less enjoyable, particularly the final one, which includes the most awkward teacher-student embrace I have ever seen. Still, I will read the next installment when it comes out! – Michelle Smith

I Didn’t Mean to Fall in Love | By Minta Suzumaru | Futekiya (digital only) – Yoshino Kiritani is a beautiful 30-year-old salaryman who happens to be both gay and a virgin. With no relationship prospects on the horizon and wanting to finally have sex, he goes to a gay bar, meets a charismatic college student named Rou, and sleeps with him. The back-and-forth that follows between these two guys is so well done. Rou is a notorious playboy with a hot-and-cold routine he has employed many times to manipulate his conquests into falling for him and confessing their feelings. He tries this on Yoshino, even though he’s actually serious about him, but it doesn’t work. Self-effacing Yoshino genuinely thinks Rou wants nothing more to do with him, forcing Rou to face the seriously scary prospect of rejection by declaring his feelings first. There are a few explicit scenes, but they serve the characters and story well. Highly recommended! – Michelle Smith

Love Me, Love Me Not, Vol. 2 | By Io Sakisaka | Viz Media – First of all, a word of advice to the author: don’t sink people’s ships in your author’s notes, OK? Secondly, this continues to have the strengths of Io Sakisaka titles—it gets teenage love in a good way, has characters who are likeable but clearly flawed, shows gradual character growth, and has clean, easy-to-follow art. She’s still trying to balance out the idealistic girl with the realistic girl, though it may be leaning towards the former. Sadly, it also contains what’s always been one of this author’s big weaknesses to me—I like her series but never love them. Each volume is fun to read and I’d call it good, but it’s never going to be tops in my favorite shoujo manga lists. It’s not life-changing the way a Yona of the Dawn is. – Sean Gaffney

Ping Pong, Vol. 1 | By Taiyo Matsumoto | Viz Media – Ever since Matsumoto was a guest at TCAF in 2013 and spoke in depth about the series, its development, and how it fit into his overall career, I’ve been desperately wanting to read Ping Pong in English. When the excellent anime adaptation came and went soon after and the original manga still hadn’t been licensed, I didn’t expect that we’d ever see it translated. But it is actually here! The first of two beautifully designed omnibus volumes. And I am absolutely in love with Matsumoto’s Ping Pong. Ostensibly a high school sports manga, Ping Pong spends very little time explaining the ins and outs of the game even though table tennis is essentially omnipresent; instead, the series devotes its attention almost entirely to the characters themselves. With strong psychological elements, in part the work’s themes explore talent, motivation, and self-determination, all supported by Matsumoto’s distinctive and spectacularly dynamic and expressive artwork. – Ash Brown

Prince Freya, Vol. 1 | By Keiko Ishihara | VIZ Media – The land of Tyr is threatened by Sigurd, the empire to the north. Our “wimpy and weak” heroine, Freya, happens to be the spitting image of Prince Edvard, who’s just been poisoned by Sigurd, and so takes on the role of impersonating him to protect her country. Alas, Freya’s performance as Edvard (and characterization in general) is inconsistent and in a way that doesn’t seem intentional on the mangaka’s part. Sometimes she boldly and capably takes action, sometimes she just cries. In my notes I wrote, “This ain’t no Basara,” prompted by a panel in which Freya is making an extremely insipid face because of something sappy her love interest has just said, but then something super dramatic and unexpected occurs and… well, now I’m cautiously on board. It may turn out to be fluffier than I would like, but I will at least give it a couple more volumes. – Michelle Smith

The Quintessential Quintuplets, Vol. 9 | By Negi Haruba | Kodansha Comics – There’s less swapping in this one, but the one time there is a swap it blows the reader out of the water. I suspect Ichika’s popularity took a nosedive after this volume, as her ideal of “all’s fair in love and war” is taken to a somewhat cruel conclusion. She’s not even the thirstiest of the quints, as both Nino and Miku are trying to make their feelings for Futaro as clear to him as possible. Meanwhile, Yotsuba is trying the opposite tactic, saying that she’ll support whichever sister that isn’t her he picks, showing off a core of self-deprecation that we’ve seen before, but never to this level. And then there’s Itsuki, who seems to have forgotten she was supposed to be first girl. Great harem antics. – Sean Gaffney

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, Vol. 9 | By Yu Tomofuji | Yen Press – I missed reviewing the eighth volume of this, for some reason; I’m not sure why. It continues to be quietly sweet, with a heroine who perhaps leans a little too much towards “can save everyone by the sheer power of being really nice.” That said, nice can only go so far, and when she discovers a country that’s being blackmailed into slavery, nice becomes determined and fierce. There’s also some tortured romance at the start—the king’s chief bodyguard and the princess’s attendant clearly are headed towards each other, but there are a few steps back here before we can move forward once more. I admit that I’d likely enjoy this more without its central conceit of animal people, but oh well. – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 7 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – I admit I was a bit more surprised than Shirayuki was at the identity of the leader of the Lions of the Mountain. That said, it does remind us that Shirayuki is another one of those great “shoujo heroines who underreacts to everything,” which can be quite amusing when done right. That said, this volume is when the series transitioned from the quarterly DX to the main LaLa magazine, and as such much of the middle part is taken up with introducing new readers to the main cast and the situation. This includes an amusing “personality reversal” chapter where Mitsuhide starts acting like a chivalrous knight. the book ends with the implication that their love is going public. How will that go? Great shoujo. – Sean Gaffney

Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, Vol. 1 | By Jougi Shiraishi, Itsuki Nanao, and Azure | Square Enix – This is a manga adaptation of the first fourth or so of the light novel, and it’s a very good adaptation. I will admit that Elaina is a lot more expressive than I was expecting… her delivery in the novels is somewhat cool… but it makes sense given the manga’s visual medium, and she’s cute. This volume shows off what we’re going to get from now on: some cute fluffy stories, some melancholic stories with deaths, some stories of Elaina having to extricate herself from a situation, and some backstory showing how she came to be wandering. The final story was one of my favorites in the book, and it’s the best one here too. A nice adaptation. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

[biandlesbianliterature]

Lesbrary Link Round Up: Bi & Lesbian Lit News & Reviews

[image description: a collage of 16 covers of the books mentioned in the links below, with the text “Lesbrary Links: Bi & Lesbian Lit News & Reviews]

This is the Lesbrary bi-weekly feature where we take a look at all the lesbian and bi women book news and reviews happening on the rest of the internet!

[image description: the covers of Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins, Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole, The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhias, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Rey Tercerio, and The True Queen by Zen Cho]

Autostraddle posted

68 LGBT YA Books to Get Excited for in 2019

33 Literary Books With Great Lesbian Sex Inside Them

Helen Keremos, Pulp Fiction’s First Dyke Detective, Is Getting Her Own Graphic Novel

Book Riot posted

2019 Sapphic Books to Add To Your TBR (40+ Titles)

2019 LGBTQ Comics and Graphic Novels

8 Amazing Historical Fiction Books About Lesbians and Bisexual Women

[image description: Hurricane Child by Kheryn Callender, The Last Nude by Ellis Avery, The Summer of Jordi Perez by Amy Spalding, This Is What It Feels Like by Rebecca Barrow, and Pulp by Robin Talley]

Bustle posted 15 Sapphic Romances To Cozy Up With This Valentine's Day.

Lambda Literary posted Award Winning Novelist Ellis Avery, 46, has Died.

LGBT @ NYPL posted Love & Resistance: LGBTQ+ Memoirs and Stonewall: Core Reading for the Past, Present, and Future.

LGBTQ Reads posted Black History Month 2019.

Queerty posted New Jersey high school library quietly removes lesbian graphic novel “Fun Home” from its shelves.

Women and Reads updated their New Releases and Coming Up page.

[image description: the covers of The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan, Stray City by Chelsey Johnson, Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker, Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan, and Éclair: A Girls' Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart]

"A Conversation about Yuri Genre: Interview with Erica Friedman" was posted at Sugoi.

"Yuri-1919-2019, Then and Now" was posted at Anime Herald.

"How genre has failed and served queer representation" was posted at Syfy.

Stray City by Chelsey Johnson was reviewed at Autostraddle.

The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan was reviewed at Rich in Color.

If you like what we do at the Lesbrary and Bi & Les Lit, support us on Patreon at $2 or more a month and be entered to win a queer women book every month!

[zoegmiller]

éclair: A Girls' Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart

With yuri manga, as a genre being especially vulnerable to endless cycles of will-they-won’t-they (often without even directly acknowledging the characters have romantic feelings for each other in the first place), the one-shot format is a great way to cut the BS and get straight to the meat, as immediately illustrated by Nio Nakatani’s “Happiness In The Shape Of A Scar,” which gets first billing and provides the cover art. It’s an angsty, internal little piece which delivers all the set up-pay off-resolution of a “crush from afar” storyline in a few dozen pages that I found infinitely more compelling than what I read of Bloom Into You.

The vast majority of the stories are high school dramas, which is basically what you expect going into anything yuri, but there are a few that break the mold, and, if you’ll forgive the inelegant formatting, I’ll rattle off a list of the stand-outs below:

Shuninta Amano’s Human Emotion is the tale of a low-affect, underemployed service worker and the klutzy clod of a co-worker she learns to love (to bully). As a sort of “full disclosure,” Amano is my favorite artist in the genre, and I *believe* this is her first English-released story, and also a new one for me,  AND it’s about bullying a cutie, my favorite trope! So it’s like stumbling ass backwards into a full-on treasure trove of horny zoh-based stereotypes. Really, if I’d known she was in it in the first place, that would’ve made my purchasing decision for me (and I’d kill to see any of her other stories—ESPECIALLY her long-form The Feelings We All Must Endure, translated into English). So, that kinda makes Eclair a five-stars-by-default sort of thing for me……..

THAT BEING SAID, the rest volume is no slouch. Izumi Kawanami’s “My Cute Bitch,” which dives deep into another perennial favorite trope of mine “the “straight” girls who—shocker!—actually only has eyes for each other best friend, but torques the method slightly, as the title aptly suggests, by toying around with who��s the top/bottom in their relationship.

Kagekichi Tadano’s Game Over justifies itself by its twist alone, which I won’t spoil, except to say that it’s one of the few stories to acknowledge modern day homophobia—albeit obliquely, and without angst. It’s pretty rare for yuri to address that sort of societal ostracisation (and when it does, it feels like it’s more often in manga that are technically categorized as “seinen”). Game Over is barely 10 pages long, but it tells a complete tale with all the obverse details it doesn’t portray about its world.

That trifecta forms the stand-outs for me, but other relevant stories include Canno’s The Unemployed Woman and the High School Girl skirts age lines—which is something you often have to stomach just to read yuri in the first place—but I’m a sap for overachieving younger partners paired up with useless couch potato older ones, so sign me up! Kazuno Yuikawa’s A Tale of Weeds is a sweet, and thankfully chaste, grade school story of trust and betrayal. And, finally, I was surprised by the penultimate story, Hachi Itou’s Belle the Rabbit and the Wolf. I wasn’t expecting a dose of kemono-mimi in here, and while the story itself, about cute animal people running a pastry shop, was a little too twee for my tastes, I’ll never say no to an aloof wolf girl (*with* ~kakkoi~ facial scar, no less). And seeing the author essentially making their own built-in Coffee Shop AU was a nice way to bring the anthology to a close.

As far as I know, Eclair is basically the only anthology of its kind in the English mangasphere (though I’d be happy to be corrected!) and it comes out of the gate swinging for its genre. If you’re interested in more traditional yuri stories, there’s easily twice the amount of standard high-schoolers-being-cute in here as the ones above, that appealed more to my “ughhh wait i’ve almost spent more of my life PAST high school than UP TO high school sensibilities. Either way, Eclair’s a hard recommend, and you can… take that to the bank? …i guess? i don’t have catch phrase worked up and I’m a little done with writing this and you’re probably a more than a little done with reading it, so thank you for your time and let’s call it at that!!)

(as a side note, both the cover and the paper stock feel a little flimsier than your average manga release, even Yen Press’s other recent, Delicious in Dungeon. I understand it’s probably a given, since it’s got a bigger-than-average page count for a manga volume, but just be warned if you’re picking up the hard copy. It’s not a big deal, but I thought it was worth mentioning that I felt I had to be a little more careful with throwing this into my bag on the way to work than I usually do)

[yurimother]

Yuri Romance Light Novel from the Creator of 'Adachi and Shimamura' Licensed in English

On Friday, Yen Press announced that it has licensed the Yuri drama light novel series My First Love's Kiss (Watashi no Hatsukoi Aite ga Kiss Shiteta) and will release the first volume in August 2024. The series is written by Adachi and Shimamura creator Hitoma Iruma and illustrated by popular Yuri artist Fly (Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki).

The publisher describes the series:

Takasora Hoshi’s life is upended when a girl from her class named Umi Mizuike and her mother temporarily move into her family’s cramped apartment. From the outset of this arrangement, Takasora finds herself annoyed by Umi’s behavior...and her good looks. And though the two girls initially agree to avoid interfering with each other’s lives, Takasora can’t help but start to wonder where Umi keeps wandering off to at night…

My First Love's Kiss is connected to Iruma's high school Yuri series Adachi and Shimamura, with crossover characters appearing in later volumes. However, unlike that series, its story is more bittersweet and gloomy.

The light novels began publication in Japan in January of 2022 under ASCII Media Works's Dengeki Bunko imprint. The third and final Japanese volume was released in December of that year.

Hitoma Iruma is a Japanese author best known for his series Ground Control to Psychoeletric Girl and Adachi and Shimamura, both of which received anime and manga adaptations. He frequently collaborates with Bloom Into You creator Nio Nakatani, working with her on the Bloom Into You spin-off series, Regarding Saeki Sayaka, and the original light novel works End Blue and Shoujo Mousou Chuu.

Fly is an illustrator known especially for her Yuri artwork and for illustrating Bottom-Tier Characters Tomozaki and Chasing after Aoi Koshiba, as well as creating Kemono Friends and providing the character designs for P.A. Works' Iroduku: The World in Colors. Fly has also contributed artwork, cover illustrations, and manga for several anthologies, including four volumes of Syrup (Licensed by Seven Seas), the first Bloom Into You Anthology (Seven Seas), and éclair (Yen Press).

You can check out My First Love's Kiss when Yen Press releases the first volume in English this August.

Source: Press Release, Email Correspondence