The Lily Cat

Crunchyroll Forms Partnership with WEBTOON to Produce Upcoming Animated Projects

Anime streaming platform Crunchyroll announced that they have formed a partnership with popular webcomic platform WEBTOON. The upcoming projects that both companies will be co-producing will be from that latter’s vast library of webcomic series.

Both companies have also agreed to do distribution, licensing, and retail on these upcoming projects. As of this time, they have not revealed the names of the webtoons that they will put into animated adaptations.

“We are extremely excited to be partnering with WEBTOON … WEBTOON has a tremendous catalogue of content and creators that resonate deeply with our audience and we can’t think of a better way to delight fans than by bringing these stories to life through animation.”, says Crunchyroll General Manager Joanne Waage.

In relation to this big partnership, Taylor Grant, WEBTOON Senior Vice-President of IP Development said, “There is tremendous crossover appeal with our audiences … and exceptional creative synergy on the types of stories we want to tell. We’re excited to partner with Crunchyroll to bring our globally appealing characters to audiences and consumers in new ways, as well as create new opportunities for our talented creators.”

WEBTOON is home to popular webcomics series like Mage and Demon Queen by COLOR-LES, Age Matters by Enjelicious, Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe (the series is confirmed to have its own animated adaptation to be produced by the Jim Henson Company), and more. The platform has a massive volume of webcomic series in various genres. You can check their library through their website or through their app on iOS and Android.

Crunchyroll is a popular anime streaming platform notable for streaming popular ongoing anime series the same day as Japan like My Hero Academia and Boruto. Aside from ongoing anime titles, they also have a huge library of previous anime series and movies in which users can stream through their website or through their app on Android and iOS.

News Source and Image Source (above): Crunchyroll

Yuri/GL Philippines Unveils New Logo, Promising More for 2020 and Beyond

Philippine-based Yuri Community Yuri/GL Philippines posted on their Facebook page on Monday revealing their new logo.

The organization recently participated in Cosplay Mania 2019 as one of the convention’s exhibitors. The said event was held at the SMX Convention Center on September 28 and 29. They also confirmed that they would also be participating as exhibitors for Cosplay Mania 2020.

In relation to its new logo, they also released a statement in the caption which is as follows:

𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠, 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧.

We may have just finished with Cosplay Mania, but the team will not be content with simply hosting booths.

Big changes are afoot and we are all super excited to unveil all these plans for you guys!

For now, let this new look be a sign to all our followers of the exciting things that we are cooking up for all Pinoy yuri fans.

See you at our next events and activities! (Yes, in plural form)
*𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒌*

With this new change, Yuri/GL Philippines is now moving forward to more plans for 2020 and beyond for yuri and girl’s love fans all over the country.

About Yuri/GL Philippines

Established in 2017, Yuri/GL Philippines aims to unite yuri and girl’s love fans all over the country (primarily through their Facebook group) and also to promote related works by Filipino artists and writers. They are hoping to partner with various groups and institutions to organize more events (and hopefully a convention dedicated to Yuri and Girl’s Love) in the future.

Source: Yuri/GL Philippines (Facebook)

Yen Press Announces New Yuri Releases During Anime NYC Panel!

Last weekend’s AnimeNYC (November 16-18, 2018) was epic as American manga publisher Yen Press announced in their panel that three of the 14 new manga licenses they have acquired were under the Yuri or Girl’s Love genre.

The following titles are:

Yuri Life, by Kurukuruhime.

Yuuna’s an illustrator, Manami’s a web designer, and the two are living together! It’s the everyday romance of two women who see a future with each other.

Whenever Our Eyes Meet…: A Women’s Love Anthology.

The love between girls never stops blooming in this collection of office flings and workplace romances.

Killing Me!, by Akiyama

“Love-hate relationship” takes on a whole new meaning in this girls’ love occult romance about two classmates—a vampire…and a vampire hunter!

Three awesome titles! It’s great to know that Yen Press is now slowly picking up yuri titles and and we look forward to their upcoming licenses in the future. You can check their official website for the release dates and purchase details.

Next year’s Anime NYC will happen on November 15 to 17 at Javits Center in New York City.

Source: Okazu (Erica Friedman), Yen Press (Facebook Page), Yen Press (Official Website)

Pre-Order Lily Love Volume 4 English Edition Today!

While Lily Love 2 – Frosty Jewel is ongoing in Lezhin, you can now get yourself a physical copy of the fourth volume of Ratana Satis’ Lily Love! You can pre-order your copy today until November 25.

One book purchase is priced at USD $21 (including shipping). If you are looking for a case to fit all your Lily Love volumes, a soft box is also available priced at USD $3.

Lily Love is one of Ratana Satis’ first successful GL work before her webtoon hit masterpiece Pulse. The series was first released in Thai and was later available for English. It centers on two different girls Donut and Mew as their closeness slowly begins intimate. Their relationship is encountered with a lot of hurdles and doing their best efforts to be there for each other.

While the first Lily Love is centered on Donut and Mew, its second installment Lily Love 2 – Frosty Jewel is centered on Ploy and Ice. Lily Love 2 has just started its second season. Lily Love is also available digitally in Lezhin Comics.

Source: Ratana Satis (Facebook Page)

[Update] We Might Not be Able to See or Read Chinese-Made GL Works Anymore

Note: The article is updated with additional information as of November 1:24pm GMT+8. Those underlined are the updated statements.

This is a bit alarming. Worse, there is a chance that we might won’t be able to see GL artwork and webtoons from Chinese artists and writers and related literature in the future.

https://twitter.com/minorujoeling/status/1065524520461623296

Effective December 1, the Chinese Government will be handing out a huge reward of 600,000 RMB to individuals who will be reporting media under pornography. GL and BL categories might be affected unless it has reached into a degree that the contents of the works contain themes that is considered as inappropriate.

This draw a huge outcry to fans especially those who loyally follow artists and writers who create related content. Artists urged online users not to re-upload and share their works on the following Chinese social media platforms Weibo and Lofter in order to protect them.

Last year, a woman using the pen name Tianyi was arrested by authorities and was given a 10-year and six months sentence for creating and selling her homoerotic book Occupy in 2017. The novel tells the story about an intimate sexual relationship between a male student and a male teacher.

Tianyi admitted to writing the story and sold copies online via the website Taobao. She promoted her work through the Chinese social media platform Weibo.

Pornography is illegal in China and the government is doing all they can to take down those who create and distribute such media.

In the case of Chinese GL works, some of the popular ones are Tamen De Gushi by Tan Jiu and Dear L by Wu Bao. Note that the mentioned works might not be affected on this as this do not really show pornography. There’s still hope after all.

To give you a better understanding of the situation, here is a translation of the situation:

https://www.facebook.com/YuriFanaticsOutThere/posts/1918664468203324

Tamen De Gushi was published in a Chinese language physical book titled SQ: Begin with Your Name! released on October 5, 2015. It contained some insert art and the entire chapters from 1 to 141.

Note: While some of the information still requires confirmation, The Lily Cat will continue to monitor and provide updates regarding this. You may follow the Facebook Page or check back here again for the recent updates.

Source: minorujoeling (Twitter), ABC News Australia, Yuri/Shoujo-Ai Manga Fanatics (translation, Facebook), AsiaOne

LGBT Acceptance Strengthens in Japan Municipalities

In a recent news report, it was revealed that Tokyo municipalities of Setagaya and Shibuya have been issuing domestic partnership certificates to same-sex couples since 2015—an indication that LGBT acceptance is slowly strengthening in Japan.

In the said ordinance (implemented in April 2015), the certificate to be issued to same-sex couples is acknowledging that their “relationship is equivalent to marriage”. This has also encouraged local governments and businesses to take into consideration the rights of LGBT persons and formally grant them their own rights to family discounts, life insurance, auto insurance, corporate policies, mortgages, and so on.

In surveys conducted by Dentsu and the Japan Trade Union Confederation, it was revealed that 8% of Japan’s population identifies themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. That is 10 million people out of a total population of 126 million.

In 2016, the company NTT (currently an Olympic Gold Partner for Tokyo 2020) have been offering wedding bonuses and wedding leave benefits to same-sex couples. In April this year, they have expanded this to treat same-sex couples the same as heterosexual married couples with allowances for dependents, and parental leaves for same-sex couples raising adopted children.

With this big move, there is a major chance that this will spread and sooner or later no one won’t feel left out anymore for being who they are and who they want to love.

Source: Nippon.com