Tag: News

Theater Performance Photos of ‘Bloom Into You’ Stage Play Released

The stage play adaptation of Bloom Into You has officially began its run in Japan. Performance photos of its first day were recently released. It is off to a good start.

Check out the photos below. The production’s accuracy to the original manga is just unbelievable. 

 

The stage play’s official website released official visuals of the cast in full costume:

Kawauchi Misato as Koito Yuu

Koizumi Moeka as Nanami Touko

Isobe Karin as Saeki Sayaka

Ishiwatari Masyu as Seiji Maki

Harusaki Non as Koyomi Kanou

Igarashi Haruka as Hyuuga Akari

Tanoue Marina as Hakozaki Riko

Tatemichi Riona as Miyako Kodama

The stage play production will have a limited run from May 3 to 12 2019. Official selling of tickets began last April 13 and priced at 6,800 JPY each. According to the official Q and A page, the play will run for estimate of 2 hours.

Yagate Kimi ni Naru or Bloom Into You was first published in April 2015 in Japan and still ongoing. It is now being released in English by Seven Seas Entertainment. The manga was ranked number 3 in a Japanese poll asking which manga series that you want to be animated next and the results were revealed during the AnimeJapan 2018 weekend.

The anime officially premiered in Japan on October 5, 2018 and ended in December of the same year. Sentai Filmworks gets exclusive distribution rights for the anime in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Ireland, South Africa, Netherlands, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. You can watch and stream the series on HIDIVE. Sentai Filmworks plans for a home video release of the anime.

Source: Natalie.mu, stage_natalie (Twitter), Ani.ME – Raven

‘On A Leash’ Creator Aji Assures that Series Will Return

In a tweet posted on Friday, webtoon creator Aji shared that the GL webotoon On A Leash will continue once everything is in clear agreements with webtoon publisher Lezhin Comics on the webtoon ownership right. The creator will be providing updates the soonest.

The tweet received a lot of replies from fans holding on to hope that the series will come back the soonest.

The announcement of the series’ indefinite hiatus happened last February, the same month Team Gaji announced the cancellation of their webtoon hit What Does The Fox Say. 

On A Leash is set in a chaotic battleground where tension and emotions run high. In the midst of the chaos, the story is also centered on the love-hate relationship of Red and Luce (which respectively morph into a dog and snake).  You can read the series in both English and Korean in Lezhin Comics.

Source: agi_mung (Twitter)

 

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.

Image from ABC AU

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

‘Yagate Kimi Ni Naru’ Anime Premieres TONIGHT! – October 5, 2018!

The highly anticipated anime adaptation of Nio Nakatani’s award-winning yuri manga series Yagate Kimi ni Naru (Bloom Into You) will premiere TONIGHT, October 5. It will be aired at 9:30pm Japan Standard Time on the following channels: AT-X, followed by Tokyo MX, Sun TV, KBS Kyoto, BS11, TV Aichi, and TVQ Kyushu Housou starting October 5. dAnime Store will also be streaming the series online.

Both Hisako Kanemoto and Minako Kotobuki will be voicing Yuu Koito and Touko Nanami respectively. Other cast members include Ai Kayano as Sayaka Seiki and Taichi Ichikawa as Seiji Maki.

Yagate Kimi ni Naru or Bloom Into You was first published in April 2015 in Japan and still ongoing. It is now being published in English by Seven Seas Entertainment. The manga was ranked number 3 in a Japanese poll asking which manga series that you want to be animated next. The results were revealed during the AnimeJapan 2018 weekend.

Sentai Filmworks recently gets the license for the anime making it available for the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Ireland, South Africa, Netherlands, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America.

Sources: Crunchyroll News , Moca News, Yagakimi (Twitter)

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.

Stock image | Pixabay

 

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