Review copy kindly provided by Yen Press

Please be warned, this post is HUGE!!

Yen+ is the long anticipated and much publicised anthology being released by Yen Press.

For me, well, today has been the worst day of the year. I went through hell at the hospital, my physio was cancelled half way through while the docs reviewed why it’s not working >.< and my blood tests came back showing that the med’s I’ve been taking for six months haven’t been working at all, so I have to start all over again on a new set of med’s. Which means hell while I get used to a new set of med’s *urgh*

Anyway, I arrived home to find this awaiting for me, ended up needing a bib cause of the amount of drool

The English/Korean cover is Maximum Ride and is awesome!! Angel just looks so damned cute!!

I didn’t want to, but I can’t help compare this Anthology to Shojo Beat, which I get as well.

Firstly, is the availability; in the UK Shojo Beat is a pain in the rear to get taking forever to arrive. Yen+ however is being sold here with only a short delay after the US release.

Next we have price, Shojo Beat sells for between £4.95-5.50 per issue, depending on various things, because it’s an import there’s no set price on it. Yen+ however is being released from within the UK as well and has a set price of £3.99 YAY!!

Note: Just a quick note on the price, in the US SB sells for $5.99, Yen+ however has a cover price of $8.99. Though I think the extra cost is worth it given the contents.

Paper wise, both magazines seems to be using the same, however there’s a huge difference. Shojo Beat is printed on coloured paper, which personally I find damned annoying since it can and does get in the way of reading. Yen+ however isn’t. it’s printed on straight paper and is all the better for it. It’s a lot easier to read!!

Next is page count, Shojo Beat runs around the 300-325 pages, Yen+ clocks in at over a whopping 450 pages!!.

Content wise Shojo Beat has a slight head on Yen+ at the minute, since they include fan art, fan letters, and pages on Japanese culture and shops. Hopefully Yen will look at other aspects, such as adding a section on manga/anime in Korea, as well as talks with the artists and stuff, as well as Korean culture. And of course the fan mail and art.

About the Issue

Right from the outset is a HUGE double page advert for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which makes it’s English debut in October, in both manga and novel format!!

After that are several pages of adverts from both the Yen Press stable and the Little Brown stable. Little Brown is mostly books including several by James Paterson whose Maximum Ride leads the Yen+ English/Korean side; as well as adverts for Right Stuff and Dark Horse (have to admit that one threw me a bit, advertising a rival company hehe)

Next we have releases of the month, and Kurt Hassler’s favourite of the months releases, which S.S. Astro: Asashio Sogo Teachers’ Room.

Then a big competition with a load of goodies up for grabs!! Ranging from a free years subscription to Yen+ to two volumes from the Yen Press catalogue. Well I say competition but basically all you have to do is answer a few question and send it in, which will then be entered into a raffle.

What’s being offered:

Grand Prize – ! year of Yen+ for free!!

Runner-up Prizes:

• Spiral volumes 1 and 2 for mystery fans
• Black God volumes 1 and 2 for action fans
• Goong volumes 1 and 2 for romance fans
• Zombie Loan volumes 1 and 2 for horror fans
• Moon Boy volumes 1 and 2 for fantasy fans
• Shoulder a Coffin Kuro volume 1 and Sunshine Sketch for fans of uber kawaii!!

Each category will have 5 winners, but since the winners are being announced September 15th, it’s going to be hard for those in the UK to enter. Would of been nice if this was both a postal and online survey, that would of given bit more time to the UK fans to get their survey in.

Next we have a break down of the website, and on the opposite page a full page ad for the subscription, sadly still no word on a UK subscription I hope they offer one soon. There’s a huge call for it over here, and a lot of fans would prefer to be getting it in the mail on time, rather than relying on the local newspaper shop which may ‘forget’ to order it!! (I’ve had that happen a few times, it’s bloody frustrating!!)

Then a ad for the Maximum Ride novels. I have to admit that while I used to be a huge fantasy novel fan, when I found manga I moved away from novels. Though I’m tempted to get the Maximum Ride novels, especially after reading a chapter one of the manga

Now onto the manga!!

First the English and Korean side of things..

Maximum Ride

DAMN YOU YEN PRESS!!! How dare you end the chapter at a cliffhanger like that!!

I’ve made no bones over my dislike of OEL’s but we have two in this Anthology I love to bits!!

The Maximum Ride chapter is a bit short, but it’s crammed full of good stuff. Action, cuteness (I dare anyone to say that Angel isn’t cute!!!), tension, and a cliff hanger that will leave you cursing Yen for not having two chapters in this issue!!

I couldn’t find anything on NaRae Lee, but since this is her first serialisation that’s not to unusual. I hope at some point Yen update their website, there’s an authors section of the site, but it’s still empty.

For a first attempt though I’m blown away, her (I’m guessing NaRae is a woman) art is just stunning. From experience I’ve found flaws in newcomers to the arena, but there was nothing in the first chapter.

The six colour pages are nice, but its the double page of Max flying that blows me away, it’s awesome!! With only a few colours NaRae manages to paint a living vibrant image that took my breath away. I can’t wait to see this in tankoubon form with (I hope!!) glossy colour pages cause that will be even more awesome!!

At the very end of the chapter is a ‘Congratulatory Art’ page by NaRae.

Nightschool

I’ll be honest, this is one of the chapters I was not looking forward to. In fact I had planned to just skip over this chapter. But I can’t do a review by skipping stuff can I

So I read it and was hooked within a few pages!!

First we have Svetlana’s Congratulatory Art, which I have to admit I love to bits!! I actually loved it the most out of ALL the art in the issue. Wonder if I could get permission to scan, colour and incorporate it into my next blog theme design!!

While it has a mangaish feel to it, it reminds me more of the old comics I used to buy, Witchblade and Lady Death, even the designs feel the same at times.

Not a great deal happens in this chapter, we’re just introduced to what seem to be two opposing sides, the hunters and the shadows. Yet despite this she has an interesting story with some action towards the end.

However there is a feel of something great to come in the future. I especially loved the mix of normal and comicy characters. Awesome work Svetlana!!

I’m now off to see what else she’s done and order it. Damn I’m going to max out my credit card again this month *sigh*

On the disappointing side, Nightschool doesn’t seem to be getting a tankoubon, or at least there’s no listing for it in Yen’s Fall 2008-Winter 2009 listing guide (HUGE thanks for sending me a copy of that as well Lisa!!). I do hope that they release it as a tank at some point.

This chapter ends with a sort of omake page, I was surprised to see that manga is still drawn on by hand on paper. I’d assumed it was all done on computers these days >.< Damn makes me love manga all the more

Pig Bride

If I’m honest this is another I wasn’t expecting much from, and initially it was as bad as I expected. The first few pages have so many clichés wrapped up in them it is impossible for the story to breath properly.

However I have to admit at the same time I found it a little funny. However it wasn’t until towards the end of the chapter that my interest was piqued. Something about the art is a bit off putting, and the main character, Si-Joon, was just plain old annoying.

The later half of the chapter had some interesting developments though, and I’ll probably give it a few more chapters. Not sure if I would of bought this if it was released as a tankoubon straight away.

Sarasah

I honestly don’t know what to make of this one, the art is, well I don’t know, at times I hated it and at others I liked it. I thought this was just going to be another one of those one sided love stories, so nothing in it really appealed to me. However the end of the chapter has me at least interested in how it pans out, so I’ll give it another chapter or two.

One Fine Day

KAWAII!!! that’s the only way to describe this series and I’m totally hooked on it. If you like soft, fluffy and cute stories, then this is definitely one you’ll love. Nothing really happens in it though, no high adventure or action, just cuteness in the extreme.

I thought Siral’s art was weird at first, but it actually fits perfectly and is a good match for the light airy story. This is definitely a story I’ll be following every month, and I hope it gets a tankoubon release. there is nothing listed in their Fall 2008 – Winter 2009 listing.

Jack Frost

I think the title of the first chapter tells you all you need to know about this series lol: Jack Frost Violence 1. Amityville anything with Violence and Amityville in the title is going to be interesting, and pure horror. This lives up to that standard in a big way, right from the outset. I am not a big horror fan, to be honest I never have been. Yet something about this series sparks my interest. Be warned though, if you don’t like gore or panty shots, this probably won’t be to your taste. Not really sure if it is mine for that matter, but I’ll be giving it a few more chapters I think.

Now for the Japanese side of things…

Soul Eater

To be honest I’m not a fan of Soul Eater, I didn’t like the anime, and I don’t like the manga. What’s strange is that I like the premise and the story, what I hate however is the art, it just feels so wrong.

The first chapter has its moments though and I have to admit I chuckled occasionally. I doubt I’ll actually read it religiously, but I think I’ll probably read the occasional chapter. Something about this series just turns me off though. Maybe I’ll grow to like it or something, you think??

Nabari no Ou

Damn this series rocks!! I wasn’t keen on the anime, and I had the feeling this was going to turn into another Naruto or Bleach styled series. This chapter lays that to rest though, its full of everything I like in my martial art series, only thing missing was the hot babe character these series should always have!!

The main thing with this series is the characters, I got a better feel from them in the manga version that I did in the anime. I’m hoping the other characters have a better feel as well, as in some of the later episodes really got on my nerves.

Oddly this series has no congratulatory art like the others have which is a shame because I’d of loved to see what Yuhki Kamatani would have drawn

Sumomomo, Momomo

One of the ones I was waiting on, and well worth it. While the anime was fun, the manga is awesome. I can’t wait to get my teeth into future chapters as this one was just to damned funny. Momo and Koshi are amazing leads who both encourage pity but entertain at the same time. I was changing from pitying Koshi and Momo from page to page, and laughing in between. The thing I noticed however is that Koshi has a slightly different personality to the anime, in the manga he’s even weaker than he’s portrayed in the anime. I’m looking forward to seeing how this plays out next month!!

Bamboo Blade

This was another I didn’t have high expectations of. When the anime started a while back and I read the synopsis I just went ‘meh’ and gave it up as crap and didn’t bother watching.

The manga version however I found rather funny. Certainly not the best series in the Anthology, but it got me interested enough to read through a few more subsequent chapters. What’s more this series actually has two chapters in this issue, which it does need really. If it had ended with just the first chapter I think I would have given up on it. The art is a bit inconsistent as is the story. However it did in the second chapter gain ground enough for me to keep reading a bit more.

Higurashi – When they Cry: Abducted Demons Arc

I have to admit this one was another I didn’t want to read. As someone who doesn’t like horror much, this really didn’t appeal to me. I remember when the anime came out something about it made me want to hide under the covers hehe

However, this series is really good, I really got into it and I’m really looking forward to the next chapter. The first chapter gives off a creepy feel without being over the top horror. I was also impressed with the flow in the chapter, it was consistent right through. Art wise, it was also extremely well done, the creep bits were creepy and the rest were well drawn as well. The vacant eyes on Mion and Rena were awesome to say the least, the creep factor went through the roof, especially with their facial expressions.

End of the Japanese section.

Well, there we have it folks the monster is finished and I’m now counting the hours till the next months release!!

Yen+ gets a huge thumbs up from me, and a bucket full of drool as well!!.

If I had to pick one series from each section I’d say…Nightschool from the English/Korean side and defiantly Higurashi from the Japanese side. I’ll defiantly be buying Higurashi when it’s released in tankoubon, and if Nightschool is ever released as a tank I’ll be buying that as well!!

On the down side, Yen+ is definitely getting a mature rating from me, i’d say it’s a 16+ collection given the violence in a few of the serialisations. None the less it’s worth getting!!