Publishers are falling for yuri, or girls’-love manga featuring romance between female characters. The category’s “opening up now in a big way,” says Mark de Vera, marketing director at Yen Press.
Yuri fans have “gotten queerer and louder and more demanding,” adds manga historian Erica Friedman. They’re also loyal: while manga publishers often rely on anime to turn a series into a bestseller, with yuri the success is more often driven by pure passion for the books. That said, recent breakout series The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy at All and This Monster Wants to Eat Me now have anime adaptations in the works.
Here are six forthcoming releases that range from sincere to saucy to sinister.
Common Sense Monster
In this horror-romance mashup, a socially awkward girl becomes fascinated by a classmate after discovering she’s a flesh-eating monster. Yen reports it’s hoping this series will have as much bite as its ongoing horror yuri This Monster Wants to Eat Me.
Convenient Semi-Friend
A withdrawn girl and her lusty dormmate become friends with benefits in this alternately spicy and silly gag manga. The story unfolds in a series of traditional Japanese four-panel comic strips.
The Lying Bride and the Same-Sex Marriage Debate
An out lesbian falls for an old friend while helping her escape a dysfunctional marriage. As with I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up, Kodama addresses the controversial topic of same-sex marriage, which is still not legally recognized in Japan.
Not So Shoujo Love Story
A manga-obsessed teenager wants her life to be just like a romance manga, but instead of scoring a date with a popular guy, she attracts the girl she thought was her rival. This manga runs online on Webtoon, where it has an audience of more than one million readers in English.
Pink Candy Kiss
A 30-something woman reconnects with the girl from middle school she had a crush on—and the spark is still there, but now the other woman is married. This josei manga offers a look at LGBTQ+ romance between mature characters.
Reincarnation
Two women are drawn to one another across multiple lives—past, present, and future—in the experimental debut manga by outsider artist Eury, to be released in two omnibus editions.
