It was 7ºF in Manhattan (with winds making it feel like -13), and the line for Enoch’s coffee shop on Tenth Ave—temporarily transformed into the Yen Press Yuri Cafe—was out the door.
The announcement for the pop-up event organized by Yen Press went viral on social media, forcing the team to implement a registration system and extend the pop-up from one day to a full week. Still, when my girlfriend and I came in for the time slot we’d signed up for, there were several people trying (and failing) to get in without reservations. Everyone was given a colored wristband upon entry and ushered out as soon as their one-hour slot was up to control traffic.
We made our way to the counter and ordered a “green yuri” matcha latte and a “red yuri” hibiscus tea, as well as a creme brûlée mochi donut. Each item came with a free coaster depicting a Yen Press yuri manga.
The cafe was fully decorated for the event. Standees of Love Bullet, The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy At All, and She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat lined up against one wall. A CRT TV played episodes of There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless…, and a projector shined pages of Bloom Into You onto the ceiling. The latter two are interesting choices given that they’re both licensed by Seven Seas in English, but yuri is yuri!
Besides the yuri drinks, there were also yuri books available for purchase, provided by Kinokuniya. The store also provided exclusive keychains and special editions of the viral “green” and “red” yuri manga, as well as a few volumes of Yen Press’s most popular and recent yuri titles.
I was excited to grab a copy of Common Sense Monster, which I’d wanted to read since Merve Giray’s excellent review here on The Beat. But when I got to the register, the clerk informed me that I needed to spend $25 to get the event-exclusive postcard set. So I grabbed the first volume of I Love Amy, which I’d also been meaning to read since The Beat‘s Adam Wescott reviewed it for Yatta-Tachi.
As far as activities go, there were plenty of photo ops as well as a coffee table with markers and paper to draw something for the guest book, a yuri trivia crossword puzzle, and a library containing several volumes of every yuri manga Yen Press publishes, from Murcielago to the Eclair anthology series. If you were really stuck on the crossword, you could probably use the library to find the answers.
Even with timed entry, there wasn’t enough seating to accommodate every attendee, and without an activity that encouraged people to talk to each other, most guests either talked to the friends they’d entered with or looked at their phones. Most yuri fans are fairly shy, so they need an activity to help them talk to strangers!
The raffle 50 minutes into the hour was the only real moment that sparked some interaction. Yen Press raffled off eight copies of Love Bullet, Vol. 1, and everyone congratulated the winners—which included me!
But between getting our drinks and waiting for the raffle, there wasn’t that much to do, especially since there wasn’t enough seating or flat surfaces where we could fill in the crossword. We browsed the library for a bit before we had to shuffle aside to allow other people to browse, and then ended up hanging out by the standees for a while since space had cleared up there.
The Semantic Error cupsleeve event Yen Press held at Enoch’s a few weeks earlier had a more interactive stamp rally activity, but also much lower attendance (possibly due to the massive snowstorm that was predicted to start later that night). I didn’t even know it had happened until a staff member mentioned it at the Yuri Cafe, and I love Semantic Error! I wonder if maybe a stricter attendance cap on the Yuri Cafe might have made for a better experience. Then again, few cafes are worth fighting sub-zero winds for.
Seeing so many yuri fans come out despite the terrible weather was inspiring, and it was fun to be surrounded by yuri manga and merch for an hour. Enoch’s is a small but cute coffeeshop with tasty and creative treats, and with the Javits Center only a short walk away, it could be a great location for similar pop-ups closer to convention time.
The virality of the Yuri Cafe announcement prompted Yen Press to extend the pop-up for a full week. I hope this success means that Yen Press will continue to license and promote more yuri titles, whether green, red, or any other color of the rainbow.
