yen press yuri cafe
i meant to get this out on saturday but i was very exhausted after being out the entire day (and still am, sadly orz) and then sunday night my internet went out. i spent most of my time writing this with a slight headache! yuri doesn't stop for anything!
this blog post is very image heavy, as a heads up.
this saturday i went to the yuri cafe event hosted by publisher yen press and held at enoch's, an art and community centered cafe located in manhattan, new york. i initially found out about this event from yen press' announcement post on social media, but was kindly informed by my sweet friend that they had switched to rsvps rather than walk-ins due to such a huge interest. last i checked, the initial announcement had thousands of views and notes across several platforms. considering this is the first time an event like this has been hosted in nyc, i think thats amazing!
despite there being an "extreme cold warning" of below 10 degrees, SO many yuri fans turned out to this event. the rsvps ended up selling out within a couple hours! i think it definitely shook my perception a bit of how well loved yuri is outside of online spaces. when we can all gather in one place like this, it really shows how well loved yuri has become in the present.
this yuri cafe was inspired by the yuri cafes of japan, where you can usually get a coaster inspired by a specific yuri title with your drink purchase. these spots also have a variety of yuri manga to browse and the ability to sign and draw in some kind of guestbook. theres several videos on youtube that detail experiences at such cafes if you're interested in seeing what its like, such as this one or this one at ANCHOR rainbow port tokyo. enoch's had all of these things, with four coasters (inspired by the guy she was interested in wasn't a guy at all, love bullet, i love amy and she looks to cook, and she loves to eat, which are all some of the most popular titles out right now), a cart full of different yuri titles to browse, a table of books to purchase from kinokuniya, and a scrapbook to place completed yuri cafe cards in. i was hoping to purchase a copy of murcielago, but sadly it was only a part of the reading library! kuroko koumori looks so good on this cover though......
i went with my earlier mentioned friend and their girlfriend, and we had a really good time. it was definitely packed but not shoulder-to-shoulder amounts of overwhelming. because of the limited hour timeslot, we spent most of the time waiting on line or food and remarking on and deciding what things to get. i really wish we could've stayed longer, especially to draw for the guestbook, but oh well. i purchased a couple single volumes i haven't read before (i love you so much i hate you and my broken mariko), got the free postcards, and the coasters that i wanted for myself or for my friends.
i was pleasantly surprised to meet editor, writer, translator, and long-time yuri fan erica friedman right as my group's timeslot was ending. to be honest, by your side: the first 100 years of yuri anime and manga is one of the reasons i am so fond of yuri today as an adult. my perception of it was skewed quite a bit in high school (i used to think kase-san was one of the only yuri titles out there for some reason?) but reading her book was one of the things that made the history and culture of yuri become more lucid to me, alongside talking to other fans and reading more titles. after getting lunch with my friends after yuri cafe i met up with her and her company at kinokuniya to talk about more yuri and browse the store. she was kind enough to share her kinokuniya discount card with me, so i bought the first volume of devilishly sweet girlfriend in japanese. i was so so grateful and so so happy!! T__T i haven't been staying on top of my language studies recently, but yuri is always a huge motivator for anything, right? you can check of erica's blog post about the yuri cafe on yuri blog okazu here!
all in all, it was fun! crowding and a lack of time aside, it just makes me so happy that so many people came together with a shared love for the many kinds of relationships between girls. (although i am grateful that i came earlier rather than later, there was a line forming outside in the cold as i left the cafe!) i really hope this sets a precedent for many more yuri events in the future. not necessarily even more yuri cafes like this (although a permanent location here in nyc would be absolutely wonderful) but just more yuri-related events in general. i especially want to see more events showing off lesser known titles that aren't as popular or well-known. my dream is a yuri themed rave... ðŸ’
here is my final haul below!
