We now live in an era where there is a positively surprising amount of sapphic media releasing on a fairly regular basis, to the point where it can be difficult to get a good grasp of just how much is out there, especially when it’s imported from non-English speaking countries. Because of this, we used to do a monthly blog series called Girls Love Roundup! where we listed as many localized English releases of Girls Love media as we could find releasing in a given month to help people get their bearings.
Well, Girls Love Roundup! is back, in video form!
But before we begin, a clarification of terminology. Girls Love, or GL, is a Japanese genre term for sapphic media. It’s synonymous with Yuri, which is the more commonly used term. We use both interchangeably, but either term works. They do not have separate meanings and Japanese audiences use both in the same way. Now let’s get a good look at what Girls Love media have been localized into English in January 2023 – in Europe at least, sometimes the dates shift a week or two in either direction for North America.
Book Localization – New Releases
Starting with localized books, we have seven volumes of manga, manwha and light novels that were released in English this month.
We have two books we want to highlight in particular among these. First; Adachi and Shimamura, published by Seven Seas. This volume sees our titular leads tackling the new year and valentine’s day together for the first time since they started dating. If you’ve watched the anime, you have a year’s worth of story to catch up on here.
Second; Vampeerz, published by Denpa Books. Vampeerz is a really good lesbian vampire story with a very diverse cast of characters and tense drama. The second volume has Aria, the vampire, transfer to the main character Ichika’s school. She also brought along her deeply problematic butch vampire guardian to become the school nurse.
Other Girls Love books this month include the third volume of GUNBURED x SISTERS, the fourth volume of I’m In Love With The Villainess’ manga adaptation, the second volume of the raunchy comedy I’m Not A Succubus, the second volume of the popular manwha PULSE and the third volume of the manga Yuri Espoir.
Anime Simulcast – Winter Season
Of course, with a new year comes a new season of anime. While there’s only one show this season that’s firmly in the sapphic romance genre, it’s a good one.
In The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, we follow the love story between Anis, a princess who have relinquished her claim to the throne, and Euphie, a noblewoman whose reputation is tarnished when the prince of the kingdom breaks off their engagement.
It’s an extremely well made adaptation of the original light novel by Piero Karasu and we actually want to make a separate video on this series because of how good it is. But for now, the four episodes that were released in January are by far the best ongoing anime right now and if you haven’t checked it out yet, you should as we rarely get Girls Love anime of this caliber. It’s available on Crunchyroll.
While they’re not romance stories, if you want more good sapphic content and subtext we also recommend the second season of BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt so I’ll Max Out My Defense and the new series Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire ♀.
We also want to mention that the second season of D4DJ, titled D4DJ All Mix, started this month and that the special episode bridging the two seasons, D4DJ Double Mix, also released in English on Crunchyroll and YouTube in time for this.
Game Localizations – New Releases
Moving on to video game localization, we have a pair of games from the same classic series to talk about this month.
It was quite a surprise to us when Kogado announced that they would be bringing their classic 2002 yuri and town management PS2 game, Aoi Umi no Tristia, to modern systems and with an English translation at that. Tristia:legacy released on Steam on January 21st with a Switch release planned for later in the year.
If you’re a fan of games like the Atelier series or its town builder sibling Nelke and the Legendary Alchemists we highly recommend giving this game a look. It’s got a great female lead, and yes, same-sex romance for said lead. We actually own the original PS2 game ourselves, but can’t wait to sit down with the official localization.
There’s also a smaller spinoff title, Tristia:restore, which was released alongside Tristia:legacy on Steam. This title has more of a minigame focus, but it’s part of the same series. Both games also have demos on Steam if you wish to check them out.
And with that, we’re closing out the Girls Love Roundup for January 2023, thank you so much for watching and if you don’t mind please leave a like, a comment, subscribe and hit that bell. We just moved to a new YouTube channel so the engagement is very much appreciated.
We would also like to say thank you to those who help support us financially.
Jos Luce Queen hikari no yume TB Bean Miss Nixie
Michael Rosenbloom Benjamin Schmitt Hayley Question-Mark
Jacob Springwood Shawn Pedersen Spiderrebelnews
SadGayMusic Kit Stubbs RumRay raine The Clayote
Moto Alan C. Ahmed G. Taru T. Dale R. Beck
Rebecka L. RB Bekbelle Dominik V. Simon L.
If you want to support us, giving just a single dollar on Patreon, Ko-fi or Paypal puts you in our credits and you have our thanks. There are links in the video description and on screen.
List of Releases – Books
Adachi and Shimamura (Volume 10, Light Novel)
Author: Iruma Hitoma – Publisher: Seven Seas
Release: January 17th
GUNBURED x SISTERS (Volume 3, Manga)
Author: Mitogawa Wataru – Publisher: Seven Seas
Release: January 17th
I’m In Love With The Villainess (Volume 4, Manga)
Author: Inori – Publisher: Seven Seas
Release: January 31st
I’m Not A Succubus (Volume 2, Manga)
Author: Horitomo – Publisher: Seven Seas
Release: January 31st
PULSE (Volume 2, Manwha)
Author: Ratana Satis – Publisher: Seven Seas
Release: January 3rd
Vampeerz (Volume 2, Manga)
Author: Akili – Publisher: Denpa Books
Release: January 19th
Yuri Epoir (Volume 3, Manga)
Author: Naoi Mai – Publisher: Tokyopop
Release: January 31st
List of Simulcasting – Anime
BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense. (Season 2)
Studio: Silver Link – Simulcast: Crunchyroll
Premiere: January 11th
D4DJ All Mix (Season 2) + D4DJ Double Mix (Special)
Studio: Sanzigen – Simulcast: Crunchyroll / YouTube
Premiere: January 13th
Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire ♀
Studio: Studio Comet – Simulcast: Crunchyroll
Premiere: January 10th
The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady
Studio: Diomedéa – Simulcast: Crunchyroll
Premiere: January 4th
List of Releases – Games
Tristia:legacy (Steam)
Developer: Kogado Studio – Publisher: Komodo
Release: January 20th
Tristia:restore (Steam)
Developer: Kogado Studio – Publisher: Komodo
Release: January 20th
Andrea Ritsu 