Yet again, the year went by in a flash, or at least that’s how it feels to me. And in old YuriReviews fashion, we’ll of course talk about our highlights of this oh so short year, so let’s just get right to it.
I feel like, compared to 2015, 2016 had a noticeably larger amount of yuri content to offer to us, especially when it comes to Visual Novels. FLOWERS, Kindred Spirits on the Roof, and Nurse Love Addiction, just to name some big titles here. But that’s the thing, despite having them and numerous others, it doesn’t just stop there. There are actually even more in the making right now, and that is a situation that has never, ever been there before.
And that is exactly my first highlight. We have so many new yuri visual novel titles ready and waiting for us to get discovered that it is even hard to actually keep up with it. I have no idea just how much money I was able to spend on games like these during this year. I’m pretty sure it’s at least ten times as much as last year, and I can proudly say that I probably bought every yuri game 2015 had to offer back then. What is even weirder is the fact that we get so much content that I even have a hard time keeping up with it. I actually have so many games in my library—as well as my to-buy list—that I think I won’t be done playing any time soon. This definitely is a situation we have never seen before, and I find it absolutely amazing, which is exactly why I will always keep this year in mind as the year of the rise of the yuri visual novels.
Though, I still wanna say that my personal highlight when it comes to visual novels this year is definitely my all-time favorite one, Kindred Spirits on the Roof.
Another thing I will probably always associate with 2016 is the “rise” of non-Japanese manga. I know, they’ve been around since way before 2016, but only this year did I notice the rising number of translated works spanning from not only countries like Korea, China, and Thailand, but also European countries. It is amazing to see the numbers grow so fast, and I’m honestly surprised by the fact that I basically fall in love with each and every one of these works. They are like a breeze of fresh air, sometimes feeling completely different from what we’re normally used to from Japanese works, and that is simply amazing. I sure hope it will continue just like this in 2017 as well. And maybe we’ll finally get some German ones, too~
Moving on, how could I not talk about that glorious day we were hit with the news of both Citrus and Netsuzou Trap getting anime adaptations? I know, it doesn’t really affect the current year, but the mere news of this happening already affected so many of us in just the right kind of way. Especially in the case of Citrus, many of us were already waiting a very long time for this kind of information to finally reach us, and yet it still came as a surprise, even more so since it’s not only Citrus but Netsuzou Trap on top of that. Both should be shows with the highest possible amount of yuri content. Unfortunately, there are still no more information out about it, but this alone is already enough for many of us, I believe.
Lastly, and this is something that I purposely haven’t talked about on the blog before, simply because I think it doesn’t affect the yuri community as much as it just affects me personally. I’d like to talk about my favorite game of 2016, which is surprisingly not a visual novel or anything like that, but rather another type of game. And who would have guessed it, it’s Overwatch. Though, I’m not here to talk about the game itself, but the revelation of one specific character to be gay. Well, Blizzard did mention many times before that Overwatch would include some LGBT characters, though they never really specified who and kept this information rather open. With them actually revealing that a character, namely Tracer, who is pretty much the mascot of the game, to be gay and in a relationship with another girl, that’s just a big deal, especially since we’re talking about one of the best-selling games of 2016. I’m still surprised about this bold move, since Blizzard can be sure to meet a lot of criticism for this, which is why I’m all the more happy that they still decided to go with it. So yeah, it might not mean much to you, but it was quite the big news to me, and it still is~
So those are my highlights of 2016. I sure hope I didn’t forget about anything, but I feel like I covered what was most important to me this year.
So what do you guys think? What are your personal yuri highlights of 2016?
Also, happy New Year everyone! We wish you all the best for 2017~
YuriReviews and More 
The rise of webtoons was the best thing to happen in 2016. I totally agree to that one. I should really start playing Kindred. I seem to be missing out a lot.
Cheers to a new year!
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How about you start the new year in the best way possible, by playing some Kindred Spirits? 😛
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For me one of my highlights was watching New Game! i know the yuri wasn’t too obvious and we don’t have many doujins and fanfics of it yet but it was just so much fun to watch 🙂
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I’m actually still waiting for some doujinshi about New Game…
I find it pretty weird that we still don’t have that many, seeing how much subtext the show had to offer.
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Oh yes, the rise of the Manhwa and lesbians in both VNs and video games were definitely two of the best things to happen to the Yuri Nation in 2016 among many other gifts. Here’s hoping we’ll get even more yurirific surprises in 2017.
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I have my hopes up OG. I’m pretty sure 2017 will have some nice surprises in store for us~
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That it shall Euroninja-chan.
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Pingback: OG’s Happy New Yuri Year Celebration + Blog Update | The Yuri Nation
There were so many highlights last year for yuri and I agree with all the ones you pointed out. Last year saw so many yuri visual novels released all over the world and we have even more on the way in 2017! its a yuri VN renaissance! I bought so many of these VN idk where to start after finishing Starlight Vega! and with so much more on the way… what is a yuri fan to do?! >.< The announcement of Citrus and NTR anime was one of the best shocking news developments of last year and I cant wait to see how they turn out! 😀 The reveal of Tracer being in a lesbian relationship was something no one was expecting but it was great to finally get confirmation! even if the reveal nuked some of the fan pairings everyone had for tracer! 😛 I never played Overwatch because I just cant get into multiplayer only games but now… I might have to take a look. 😉 FOR TRACER! 😀
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Play Overwatch! Play it with meeeeeee~
Come on *tries to convince you* 😛
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hmmmmmmm…. idk 😉 what system do you have it for? what systems do you have for that matter? 😀
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I play it on my Laptop, I don’t have an XBox or a PlayStation. Sooo if you have a good PC or laptop… let’s goooo 😀
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I remembered this old post the other day when I saw that Overwatch may be going on sale next week due to Thanksgiving?Black Friday here in the US. I may get Overwatch on PC, if an awesome yuri loving German girl still wants me to join her online. 😀
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I recognize Their story, What does the fox say, and Fluttering feelings. But what is the name of the one between What does the fox say and Fluttering feelings? Thanks
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That’s Pulse by Ratana Satis~
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Thank you!
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Well… regarding Overwatch i am going to drop this link and go back to hide under my rock: https://youtu.be/4zOHTl3LzAU
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Omg haha, that was super awesome 😀 😀
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Kindred Spirits was my favorite of the year. I think I put about 80 hours into enjoying it.
A manga that has my attention right now is Nanashi no Asterism. It’s a total soap opera, and it’s not clear who will end up with who, but am guiltily enjoying it.
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Oh I think I’ve read parts of that before too, but I’m so our of it lately. I either read though it in one go or I might actually forget about it at some point…
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Well, it just wrapped up, and the ending was…not great.
Would recommend skipping this one sadly.
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!
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I’m so happy to see What Does the Fox Say? on here! I agree that webtoons definitely became a lot more popular during 2016, and that’s a big reason why I was able to find that series. Just the fact that the characters were depicted so realistically made me so happy! It was also cool to find a title with three girls as main characters, since I don’t find a lot of titles like that that I can enjoy. I’d love to hear more of what you guys thought about the series!
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