This is the first of six catch up posts to bring me up to date on my Yen Plus Anthology reviews.

First however some bad news. It’s now been confirmed that Yen Press have withdrawn Yen Plus as a dual release in both the UK and US. While it is still available through Diamonds, it’s now double the price (£6.99). Also subscriptions that were being done by the Magazine Cafe have been cancelled, and are being refunded. Though they’re taking their sweet time over it. Also, Yen Plus no longer carries a GBP price on the cover, only the US$ and CAN$. Sad times for us Brits

Full review below the cut, and as always with these reviews the post is rather long!!

I miss the cute art of the last issue, this time around Yen lead off with Soul Eater on the manga side and Jack Frost on the manhwa side. That said I prefer the manhwa side, which is easier on the eyes and more appealing than the Soul Eater one, which is a bit meh IMO.

The Manhwa & OEL

The manhwa side leads off with the obligatory book of the month, which this time is Higurashi When They Cry. And I agree, it was the best release of the month!! Though it was a close call with Alice on Deadlines final volume also being released.

Next we have a double page spread of Haruhi, promoting the new manga that was released.

Then we get a break down of the website (which has since been revamped), and a subscriber offer for the yanks and Canadians offering a whopping 53% off the cover price (oh how I wish I lived in the states *sobs*)

The we have two unrelated adds, the first a series off books being released by Orbit, and then a sketching manga style book.

Another competition, offering a Soul Eater poster and badges. But once again sucks to be a Brit since we can’t enter any of the Yen Plus competitions since they’re only open to those in the States.

This side leads off with Jack Frost this time.

Jack Frost – JinHo Ko

This chapter is nothing but a long fight, and lets face it. After the first three chapters it’s pretty much a given that this volume will be nothing but fighting.

No story at all really in this chapter, when I say its a fighting chapter I mean everything in it is fighting. Truthfully I’m wishing JinHo had waited on this fight and explained things a bit more.

Naturally as I’ve come to expect of this series we have decapitation and panty shots, followed by more decapitation. The main thing that’s going to irritate me is that Noh-ah was built up as some sort of highly important person. But she’s the first one to get cut to pieces, even by the guys on her side >.<

This fourth chapter was great, but also bad since nothing was explained. That said looking at the full sized manga is freaking awesome!!

Nightschool – Svetlana Chmakova

What a kick ass chapter!! Svetlana is telling an amazing story that’s travelling at a good and steady pace. I love her characters, especially Alex and her Astral. I want one of those Astrals!! Yen Press should do a line of Astral plushies hehe I know I’d buy one

We don’t get to know what happened in the previous chapter, though we’re given some interesting hints.

My main complaint with OEL’s has always been tat they look terrible, trying to mimic manga. Svetlana’s however look awesome. Yes there are some similarities to the manga style of drawing, however I see a lot of her own style in it. Rather than trying to mimic something else, she’s doing her own thing.

I loved the panel of Sarah sticking her tongue out at another teacher, it was so childish and yet so perfectly fitting.

The new Astrals introduced this issue look a bit weird to me, wonder how they’re going to grow.

Finally the bonus page, ROFLMAO, I’m sorry buy Kurt just looks so evil in the picture a vampire about to pounce hehe. And after reading it the poor waiter has my sympathy lol.

Maximum Ride – James Patterson & NaRae Lee

NOOOOOO!!! Stop torturing the loli hehe. A lot goes on in this chapter, though our favourite girl is absent. This time around it starts of with Angel, who learns a dark truth. Iggy and Gasman who seem to be running around blowing stuff up hehe And Fang and Nudge. Who seem to be having a bit of a romance thing going on, and Nudge has a minor emotional breakdown.

the art of this series is awesome, and very consistent, and for someone who doesn’t know much english NaRae is doing an outstanding job adapting the novel.

Once again we get a bonus page, and I was laughing like mad after reading it.

“While I was working on the fourth chapter, I finally got the first two issues of the magazine.”

“wow”

“I can’t read it…”

Something about it had me in gales of laughter.

One Fine Day – Sirial

I wasn’t sure about this series when I first started to read it, but I have to admit I love it. Sure it’s light and airy, but it fits perfectly to the nature of the story.

Nothing goes on in the story, it’s just a day in the life sort of thing with no real destination. In a lot of ways it reminds me of AMG which has a similar no destination sort of thing going on.

It’s simple, the perfect light read, and the perfect introduction to manga/manhwa for the kiddies.

Pig Bride – Kookhwa Huh & Sujin Kim

This chapter of Pig Bride wasn’t up to much, though there was some funny bits. I like the art in this series, and the oversize anthology allows it to show off to it’s best. For me this chapter is saved by Doe Doe pulling her sexy loli look

There are some funny parts of the chapter that made me smile, but nothing that really made me sit up and pay attention.

Sarasah – Ryang Ruy

hmmmmm I really don’t know what the hell this series is trying to do, since I’m still trying to figure it out. This is good in a way, since it does keep you reading, however I hope that it’s not dragged out for to long. That said the end of the chapter throws an interesting cliff hanger into the mix.

This is the last of the Manhwa side. what follows are some ads for already released titles. Feedback and submission form and details, next issue previews. And a paragraph afterword  from the Yen Press team.

Manga Side

Soul Eater – Atsushi Ohkubo

This side starts off with Soul Eater, and I still can’t decide if I like it or not. The art style is growing on me, probably cause I’m reading B.Ichi, so it’s not so strange anymore. It also helps that we seem to be getting into the actual story finally.

That said though, there’s still something about this series that I find off putting. I think its partly because Atsushi is inconsistent as hell with his art. When it comes to the girls (with the exception of Maka), they’re all sexy babes. However all the guys are rather crappily drawn. I got the impression he just doesn’t care about the guys of the story and is focusing on titillation and fan service.

B.Ichi (Preview Chapter)

After Soul Eater there’s a chapter preview of B.Ichi, see the review I did earlier for more info on B.Ichi.

Nabari no Ou – Yuhki Kamatani

A totally uninteresting and dull chapter. Nothing happens in this one so much so that when we got to the end of the chapter I kept going expecting another chapter. This is definitely one of those that could have used two chapters.

The only saving grace about this chapter was we get to see Miharu bring evil well worth it, even if it’s over in a panel lol.

Sumomomo, Momomo – Shinobu Ohtaka

I’m officially renaming this chapter ‘How to make a grown man cry’. The chapter itself was nothing special, but the second half of it was bloody funny. What’s more it sets up possibilities for other encounters and how they’re handled. Shinobu’s art was a bit lacking at times in this chapter, but even so I found it enjoyable.

Bamboo Blade – Masahiro Totsuka & Aguri Igarashi

Once again we get two chapters, and frankly if Yen had only given us one chapter I’d have been on a plane over to the US to beat up Kurt for playing an evil prank hehe

It’s nothing more than a continuation of the fight from the previous chapter, and the ending is pretty awesome. Though I do wonder at revealing Tama-chan’s special move this early. It was a fun chapter, but still lacking something to make me like it outright.

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

The last chapter in this issue is Higurashi. And like it’s previous one it’s creepy as hell. While I loved the manga version there’s something awesome about seeing the series in large oversized format. We get loads of space for the art to really show itself off, and we get to see just how awesome Ryukishi07 really is. I love the demon eyes of the girls, talk about creepy hehe

Also things really start to heat up in this volume with the story taking an even darker turn.

Final Thoughts

I wish Yen would settle on an order for the chapters and stick to it. Once again they moved things around and I really don’t like the current listing. Starting off with Jack Frost is really bad IMO, it should have been last.

Out of all the titles in the anthology currently, only Soul Eater fails to grab me. Future issues should be interesting as they’re going to have fan art and stuff in them