As you can see the cover art for this volume are amazing!! I’m not all that keen on Bamboo Blade but the cover art for the manga side really gets to me, it’s just so damned cute!!

The manhwa side leads off with Pig Bride on the cover, and it looks so damned cute as well. Out of the three covers so far, I have to say this is by far the best. The manga one is by far the best though, something that cute just has to rule!!

Be warned, like all reviews of the Yen Plus issues this is a rather long post!!

As always I’ll be starting with the manhwa side.

One of the things you’ll note is that Yen have listened to the feed back and done a bit of rearranging. The main thing is that the order no longer really has a major conflict going on. This time it leads off with Pig Bride, One Fine Day, Maximum Ride, Sarasah, One Fine Day (yup, two chapters of this!!), Nightschool and ending with Jack frost.

Overall this flow is pretty good, but I think I would of started with the two chapters of One Fine Day first, and move Maximum Ride after Sarasah. Other than that though it’s a good consistent flow.

October, like September has a load of releases (though October beats September hands down!!)

The focus however has to be on Haruhi which gets it’s debut. Though to be honest I’m not so sure about this title. I finally got around to watching the anime and wasn’t that impressed with it, so the manga has to be exceptional to make up for it.

The titles that I’m going to be looking forward to are Kieli volume two, Love Quest (which going from the synopsis is a Yaoi standalone), Zombie-Loan volume four, Shoulder-a-coffin Kuro volume two (review of that up within the day!!), Spiral volume six (HELL yeah!!), and Black God  volume four.

Abby (she’s famous on the Yen Press website) has this months favourite, and thinks B. ICHI is the one to watch. I’m not sure about this one either, however Abby sells it really well and I have to admit that I’m now looking forward to reading nth first volume.

Ahhh I loved this section, and interview with Dall-Young Lim and Sung-Woo Park. I’m a fan of both these guys and love the uniqueness they have, and when mixed together they create something exceptional.

In this interview they manage to do what what I’ve been trying to do for ages, explain to your average Joe Blog the difference between manwha and manga. Nope I’m not going to say what they say, you’ll have to read the interview for that

The best thing about this interview was that it was an interview, not just a few questions, but rather  a good five pages of questions and answers. Thumbs up there guys!!

Pig Bride – Kookhwa Huh & Sujin Kim

I’m sorry, but this is fast becoming one of my favourites in this anthology. It’s just so damned funny!! Sure it’s full of Cliche’s but they do them so funnily I couldn’t help but laugh. This chapter did kill off one of the ideas I was having over who the Pig Bride is, which is great. If I’d been right I would have been disappointed. We also get introduced into the more darker story elements, which is also good. We’re now finally starting to get into the story.

On the down side the art has it’s off moments in this chapter, especially when characters are showing surprise, they just don’t look right. That said, Doe-Doe supper loli cuteness makes up for it superbly. I want a girl just like that lol

The scene with the cake was just so damned funny I nearly killed myself with laughter over it!! Damn I can’t wait for this to start to be released in tankobon format.

One Fine Day – Sirial

This is the first of two chapters in this issue, and like the previous ones there doesn’t really seem to be any consistent story. Sirial seems to be going for nothing more than a calming, easy going story and art. To be honest he (or she) does it exceptionally well. I’ve been a bit on the stressed side lately, and One Fine Day is like a balm, it sooths and basically sends you off to Never Never Land

You know, this sort of story and art isn’t really my thing, but I can’t help but fall in love with this one for some reason. I think it’s because all of the characters are just so damned cute!!

Maximum Ride – James Patterson & Narae Lee

Sadly, the passion I felt for this series initially ha started to dim,  by the end of this chapter I wasn’t sure if I’d really buy it in tankobon format. I think part of the problem is the fact it’s being serialised. Reading the story in chapter format is stopping me from really getting my teeth into the story. Just as you get hooked the chapter is over, and by the time the next one is release you’ve forgotten the feel of the previous one.

However after the action packed first chapter, there hasn’t really been a lot going on. This chapter especially felt empty and bland. Even the cliff hanger ending of this chapter doesn’t really make up for the emptiness of the rest of the chapter.

Also, Narae’s art seems to have slipped a bit, as the characters don’t feel as smooth and as well defined as they were initially.

Sarasah – Ryang Ruy

I’m still trying to figure this series out, what I thought of as a generic love story is going in a totally different direction. The art is good, the story is interesting, and the fact I still haven’t a clue as to what the hell is going on is great fun.

Though I have to admit I don’t like the way certain things were done, or the way it’s being handled. The pickachu thing looks just plain old weird, not really sure what it’s supposed to be.

One Fine Day – Sirial

This is the second chapter in this issue, and it had me chuckling. Sirial’s art is far from good, if anything in this series it reminds me of the doodles I used to do as a kid. Yet the style fits perfectly. the light airy, doodle feel is perfect for this style of story. The way he moves from actual animals to kids in animal outfits just adds to the cuteness.

This chapter see’s No-ah dead and the animals decide to solve the crime themselves!! The ending was to funny!!

Nightschool – Svetlana Chmakova

This chapter doesn’t have much in the way of dialogue, but it makes up for that in action, which starts off with a cat fight (ya know, a fight between two highly strung girls that no one in their right mind gets involved with hehe), and ends with a vamp fight.

However it does have a focus shift which I found a bit annoying. I was looking forward to seeing Alex kick some but, we don’t get that this chapter though. The focus is moved to another part of the cemetery where the hunters are. Though given the ending it looks like we’ll get that fight in the next chapter (fingers crossed).

Svetlana’s art is superb as usual, and the flow of the story is great. Initially the lack of dialogue is a bit of a let down, but when you consider in a tankobon it’d be surrounded by chapters with more dialogue, so it balances out.

I love Svetlana’s art style, while it’s definitely more western styled, it’s still beautiful, and tied with the story that that’s slowly unfolding, it’s worth following. I especially like the little bonus pages she does for the chapters, giving insights into her work.

Now I have the agony of waiting another month to get my next fix

Jack Frost – JinHo Ko

This chapter was pretty good to be honest, I actually enjoyed more than the previous chapters. Still not really sure what the hell is going on though, which is good, since it keeps me coming back for the next chapter.

JinHo’s art style is pretty good and carries the series on it’s own, which is good because the story so far hasn’t really impressed me overly much. Granted this is only the third chapter, but I find it’s focusing to much on the action and the story is suffering because of it.

I was hoping that in this chapter we’d get some explanation as to what’s happening, which it starts to do. However it swiftly swaps into yet another fight with a new enemy, and guess who ends up dead yet again. I get the impression that the focus is going to be more on the action and less on the story, which is a shame, since it’ll only carry the series so far.

It’s unlikely that this will change in the next few chapters either, since this new enemy seems to be a well known evil guy (though when compared to Jack it’s hard to say which is the evil one lol)

This ends the the Korean/english section. It ends with a feedback page, and a advert calling for established artists to do a thirty page manga to go in the anthology. While they aren’t taking new comers for this, they do leave a message at the bottom saying there’s a competition coming up in the months to come for a new talent search.

Now onto the Manga section *flips the book*

I spilt my coffee laughing at the insert advert on the manga section, Shojo Beat >.< I mean advertising rival anthologies hehe

I really don’t like the gummed in reply cards, why they can’t leave them loose is beyond me. I mean the book comes in it’s own plastic cover so it’s not like it’s going to fall out. That said, at least they haven’t followed Viz’s example of putting loads of cards in the magazine, and sticking them in the most annoying and impossible way to remove. At least Yen uses perforated card so they’re easy to remove, so it’s not all bad I suppose.

Bamboo Blade – Masahiro Totsuka & Aguri Igarashi

hmm while this is two chapters, to be honest it doesn’t feel like it’s two chapters. I went through both of them without even realising it. They’re really short this time around.

Aguri’s art is growing on me a little, though I still don’t like the eyes, they look freaky at times. The personalities of the team were allowed to come through this time, and I was really impressed with the way the story was allowed to grow, while at the same time we got a healthy dose of action. Yen have this knack for picking the best point to end the chapter, and they did it again for this one, leaving you wondering who won the exchange.

However something about this still turns me off, I’m guessing it’s because I’ve watched the anime, which had no appeal at all for me. Hopefully something in the next few chapters will grab me.

Soul Eater – Atsushi Ohkubo

You know, despite me going on about how bad this series is, I’m actually beginning to like it. The art style at times still annoys the hell out of me, Atsushi seems to only make an effort with the girls, and they’re all babes.

Despite this though I can’t deny that this chapter has me laughing since it was bloody funny. Though the fact it’s episodic will be a bit annoying, there’s doesn’t seem to be a central story, just monster of the week sort of thing. I’ve never really liked series like that, they’re okay at first, but they get weak as they go on.

While it’s funny, I just don’t see it as having the strength to be a good tankobon.

Nabari no Ou – Yuhki Kamatani

Raimei appears!! That’s all I need to say about this chapter really. The spunky babe with a sword….well sorta >.<  spunky tom boy with a sword is more true. Yet she still gives the series the more light hearted humour it needs. Miharu adds humour true, but the two have different sides, and their humour together makes the series more full and vibrant. We have Miharu with his disinterested humour, and Raimei with her insanity.

We also get to see one of my favourite parts when Miharu uses his good looks to win a basket ball game, it was one of my favourite scenes in the anime and was handled even better in the manga.

This series seems to be a bit more fast paced compared to the anime, though not overly so. Yuhki’s art is great, and the few flaws I noticed before have been smoothed out. The story is going smoothly as well, with nothing to much revealed, but what is revealed is just enough to keep you hooked. It looks like we’ll start to get to the meat of things in the coming chapters which is great.

Sumomomo,Momomo – Shinobu Ohtaka

I’m sorry, but I freaking love this series!!

The anime has a slew of flaws in it, but the manga more than makes them up. This series has been slammed because Momo looks so young, but to me that’s why a lot of the humour works.

This chapter had me in fits of laughter as usual, Momo comes out with the weirdest things at totally the wrong time causing more havoc than ever. Koushi is just trying to live his life normally, but he’s been dragged into the world of martial arts, and what’s worse Momo makes his life a mess as well.

Shinobu’s art is pretty good this chapter, though I still find the chibi character a bit annoying, but I can live with it. What I am hoping though is that the major flaw of the anime is fixed, and that’s the story is explained more, and carried on a bit.

Tenka makes his appearance in this chapter, and his insanity is believing that his football can talk to him >.< He’s the first assassin to come after him in the martial arts war, and Koushi’s plan to get out of it backfires a bit and  ends up in a death match over Momo’s heart. This is especially funny since he doesn’t want her, everyone just assumes he does, he’s actually got his eye on someone else, a nice normal, studious girl that suits his personality perfectly.

Wonder what the future has in store for him hehe

Higurashi – When they Cry: Abducted Demons Arc – Karin Suzuragi & Ryukishi07

Word of warning folks, do not do what I did for this chapter >.<

By the time I got around to this chapter it was pretty late, dark outside, and I only had my little book light on. Reading this chapter like that will give you nightmares for the rest of your life, it’s that creepy!!

Ryukishi07′s story starts to delve more into the nitty gritty this chapter, with more on the murders revealed, and with more of the warped personalities shown. However on it’s own that wouldn’t be to bad, creepy, true, but not nightmare worthy. what’s really freaky is Karin’s art, she takes art to a whole new level of creepiness.

There are times in this chapter that Rena really does look like a demon, despite the changes to the art being only minor. I love the way she’s drawing the characters, what’s worse, for me at least, was that even in her creepy moments Rena still has the whole cute thing going on, which makes it even worse.

While I know how things are going to end, since I’ve seen the anime, the manga conveys it in an all new way. The anime tormented me, and so does the manga, the difference is the method used. The anime was more direct, and at times more softer. The manga however comes at you more subtly, and holds nothing back.

This is one series I’m really looking forward to seeing in Tankobon form. What’s more from what I’m seeing on the Yen Press website, they’ve licensed the entire Higurashi series, that’s all 21 volumes. Though don’t expect to own all the volumes any time soon, volume six isn’t scheduled for release until February 2010. With that as a guide, we’re looking around the 2016-18 mark for all the volumes to be released. Sucks don’t it

Closing thoughts

With the titles shuffled around a bit, they’ve finally got a good roll going in the manhwa side. And while some of them still wouldn’t appeal to me outright, they’re growing on me more and more.

Some like Jack Frost and Soul Eater, have a long way to go though, and sadly, some like maximum Ride, I have begun to lose interest in.

I’m not sure on the format they’re going for though, one volume only serialised. I think it would have been better to carry on the serialisation of some titles, such as Higurashi, which would take near two decades to get published other wise. That’s always been one of the attractions of scanlations for me, why wait ten years to see the ending of a series when I can get the scanlation now?

With the anthology version I get the best of both worlds. That’s one of the plus points of Shojo Beat. Guess we’ll have to see how thing carry on with Yen Plus though.