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Posts Tagged Yen Press

Swag Bag – Gotta Catch ‘Em All

I still haven’t completely finished unpacking what I bought at the recent New York Anime Fest (or finished my write-up about it for that matter – eep!) but that certainly hasn’t stopped me from my weekly trips to Strange Adventures for all that’s new, shiny and on sale.

First off, I couldn’t help but pick up Dark Horse’s omnibus edition of Cardcaptor Sakura. I already own the floppies, Mixx tradebacks and Tokyopop editions of the series but this one was too shiny and high quality to ignore. If you’ve been looking to replace some old copies or haven’t had the pleasure of owning one of the most adorable and magical manga series ever made, then you owe it to yourself to pick this edition up. It’s printed on high-quality paper, has nice lettering work and a thus-smooth translation plus it’s stuffed with full colour illustration inserts. This is a beautiful book indeed!

Next I spelunked through the stack of new Yen Press books out this week and decided on the third volume of Black Butler. This series has so much fan-service that is absolutely, perfectly and deliberately tailored to me. Or at least that’s how it feels sometimes and judging by it’s time on the New York Time’s Best Sellers list, I’m guessing I’m not the only one.

Next to enter my awaiting arms was the omnibus edition of Strawberry Panic which looks super pretty. I’ve heard good things so hopefully I am rewarded! I’m really falling in love with these omnibus editions, they’re fantastic.

Viz Media had a whole bunch of new books to choose from and there seemed no solution other than picking up most of them. For a new series, I picked up March Story (Vol. 01) and continuing a personal-favourite, Pokemon Adventures (Vol. 09). Naturally I had to make sure I nabbed a copy of 20th Century Boys (Vol. 11) while there was still one remaining and I was happy to see the second volume of Kingyo Used Books.

And rounding off my purchase of new releases and a new edition of a series I already own, I bought volume of boys’ love classic, Kizuna. It’s another beautiful omnibus edition of a great series. I will be enjoying some nostalgic reading this week for sure!

Then there was the discount shelf, full of snazzy and affordable little surprises to round out my purchases of the day. I picked up the first two volumes of Aegis from NetComics. I don’t own many of their books but have bought a number lately and liked the majority (though I have my share of complaints about their lettering – pet peeve of mine!). That said though, the lettering in Aegis actually looks quite a bit tidier than the others of theirs I’ve read so good start! Apparently it’s “a heart-thobbing sci-fi epic that echoes Lord of the Flies!“.

Lastly I got La Corda d’Oro (Vol. 08) and Togainu no Chi (Vol. 02), both of which I felt sort of lukewarm about prior volumes but I’m always up for giving series another book to impress me! I had opposite thoughts on them both – La Corda d’Oro has fantastic art but a meh story, where as I really disliked the art of this Togainu no Chi manga but like the original story. We’ll see where these volumes lead!

And to top it all off, though not manga, I had to buy a copy of UDON’s Vent anthology. It’s a collection of artwork from their company’s collection of contributing artists and it’s gorgeous.

Those were my purchases this week – what about yours?


Review: Kobato (Vol. 03)

Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo
Kobato (Vol. 03)

Manga-ka: CLAMP
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: September 2010

Synopsis: “Kobato’s mission to fill up her magic bottle might just be on the backburner. It seems that the members of Yomogi Kindergarten’s staff are no strangers to wounds of the heart, but despite Kobato’s efforts, she’s no closer to healing either Sayaka-sensei or the ever-solemn Fujimoto-kun! Moreover, the center is still on the verge of being shut down by unscrupulous gangster types! Leaving Kobato to her own devices, Ioryogi-san meets with some odd characters from his past and uses his otherworldly connections to investigate Yomogi.”

Kobato’s quest continues! She’s still out to fill a jar with the healed hearts of those she’s helped, yet I can’t help but notice her accomplishment level still sits so slow, it leaves one to wonder how long this series could go. Currently her big project remains the daycare at which she’s been given work, an establishment with a loving clientele but a looming shadow above. Unfortunately while the potential for progression and drama is there, the will to carry it seems more lacking. Choppy chapters and a serious case of far-too-much-plush-dog left me a bit cold.

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NYAF 2010: Yen Press

NYAF 2010: Yen Press

Yen Press’s panel today at New York Anime Fest kicked off the longest string of manga-related panels at the event this year. It was also the first event I sat in on that had the pleasure of being on the opposite wall of an anime-themed dance/scream-fest next door. Huzzah!

On the panel was Abby Blackman (editorial assistant), Kurt Hassler (editorial director), Ju-Young Lee (lead editor) and Tania Biswa (assistant editor). They received a good amount of applause right from the start which was nice to see.

After brief introductions, they kicked off a slideshow with the following info:

With the Light (Vol. 08) – The upcoming final volume of With the Light. It includes the material the late-Keiko Tobe had been working on before she passed.

Soulless: An Alexa Tarabotti Novel – A licensed series of young adult fiction that Yen Press is looking to adapt into graphic novels. The original novels were written by Gail Carringer. Yen Press is currently seeking an artist for this project which will be serialized in Yen Plus. The series is set in a semi-steampunk Victorian England where a women with no soul is at odds with vampires and werewolves in a society that has accepted them.

During this point in the panel, Kurt Hassler pointed out that artist Svetlana Chmakova was in the audience and would be signing books at the end of the event. They also noted that her series Nightschool is having the fourth volume released this month and the most recent chapter was published in the newest Yen Plus installment.

Witch & Wizard – Another novel by James Patterson (creator of Maximum Ride and Daniel X), this is another new Yen Press adaptation in the works. Svetlana is doing the art for this series which they expect may begin serialization in Yen Plus by the year’s end The series is about two siblings who discover they have magical powers only after being charged with it as an offense.

Yen Press said they did have licenses to announce at NYAF but their contracts didn’t come in as expected so they were unable to announce anything further in regards to new titles.

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Review: Romeo x Juliet (Omnibus)

Reviewer: Shannon Fay
Romeo x Juliet

Author: William Shakespeare/GONZOxSPWT
Manga-ka: COM
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: July 2010

Synopsis: “For fourteen years, Neo Verona has lived in terror of Lord Montague’s iron rule. But in their despair, a light shines forth! Donning the guise of the Crimson Whirlwind, Juliet Capulet has chosen the path of the mercenary, opposing Montague on behalf of the people. When she falls for a noble who seems sympathetic to her cause, Juliet is devastated to learn he is a Montague!”

It’s always tricky reviewing manga that was based on an anime. It’s tempting to give flaws a pass, as in the back of your mind there’s a voice whispering “Well, maybe they handled it better in the anime.” But eventually, like anything and not just manga, you have to look at it on its own terms and not in relation to something else. With that in mind, Romeo and Juliet is a fun manga. There are certain rushed plot points, but maybe they were handled better in the – oops, sorry, won’t happen again.

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SDCC: YP Licenses New Titles, Offers Free Preview of YenPlus

San Diego Comic Con is upon us! As one of the largest (the largest?) convention of its kind, it tends to be a safe bet we’ll hear some snazzy manga news from the packed convention panel rooms over the weekend. So far the biggest list goes to Yen Press who had their panel today. The folks on Twitter and ANN were there to share the news –

New licenses:

Aron’s Absurd Armada – Misun Kim
Highschool of the Dead – Shoji Sato/Daisuke Sato
Higurashi: When They Cry Demon Exposing Arc – En Kitou
Otoyome-Gatari (The Bride’s Stories) – Kaoru Mori
Uraboku (The Betrayal Knows My Name) – Hotaru Odagiri *Missed one!

The title here that really excites me is Kaoru Mori’s The Bride’s Stories. Granted, I was rather bored by Emma and couldn’t finish but I really like her artwork and after watching some digital art-processes with some of the cover art from The Bride’s Stories, I was in love. I look forward to giving another of her series a go and Yen Press should give it fantastic treatment, which according to Deb Aoki “will be a hardcover edition w/ a larger trim size”. Extra shiny!

In other news:

After announcing back in April that Yen Plus would be moving to digital, Yen Press staff announced at their panel that today is the day. Starting today a free preview of the format and content is available up on their new Yen Plus website. All it takes is signing up for an account and you’re ready to go.

I must say, the cost of $2.99 a month is a really good price and includes access to the current and past months’ edition of Yen Plus. New content, serialized chapters and each issue is available to the purchaser for two months after its released. I also like that they chose not to make it Flash based – it loads really smoothly and can be viewed on mobile devices such as iPads. More info is available via their site’s FAQ page – though the link most will likely be curious about (“What series are in the magazine?”) is currently not working.

My only real issue with Yen Plus digital as it stands now is the difficulty much of their target audience will have paying for the subscription. It’s only available via PayPal (which works through credit cards or bank accounts) and this isn’t something the younger audience really has access to. I hope they have some sort of at-convention registration process as well in the future. Not being able to buy subscriptions in multiple month installments also seems like something people won’t like but this policy could change as the process evolves. All a learning experience!

During their panel’s Q&A, YP staff also stated they’re not currently looking into license-rescuing any of the titles previously held by the recently expunged CMX, and they don’t at this time have any new light novel announcements to make.


Review: One Fine Day (Vol. 02)

Reviewer: Marsha Reid

Manga-ka: Sirial
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: All Ages
Release Date: May 2010

Synopsis: “With No-Ah’s childhood friend/tormenter added to the mix, all sorts of new adventures are brewing at the green-roofed house. Nanai the dog, Guru the cat, and Rang the mouse have cooked up even more fun this time around: visiting the library, searching for treasure—and tailing Rang on her first date?!”

If you think of volume one of One Fine Day as a test pilot, then issue two is the smoothed out first episode. There is more time spent on showing us the world these characters live in than episodic cuteness, which is fantastic. Sirial really got it together in this second instalment starring animal cuteness beyond comprehension.

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Manga Publishers Combine To Form Scan-Fighting Manga Coalition

News travels fast in the manga-world and this is definitely news worth spreading – a press release circulated by Viz Media today outlines the creation of a publisher coalition teaming up to target illegal distribution of their work.

“Working together, the membership of the coalition will actively seek legal remedies to this intellectual property theft against those sites that fail to voluntarily cease their illegal appropriation of this material.”

Along with a list of Japanese license-holders, North American manga publishers Viz Media, Yen Press, Vertical and Tokyopop are also all on the list showing a crackdown on piracy that many had hoped (and some expected) was coming.

So what does this mean for the manga scanlation world? In some ways a lot, and in others probably not so much. While the specifics of this coalition isn’t addressed in much detail in the press release, it seems safe to say that Viz, Yen Press and Tokyopop aren’t likely to call out the big guns over things like individual scanlation groups unless they’re outright violating licenses they hold. The large aggregator sites that make money off of posting full series (many of which fully available in English) on the other hand, are something that’s been a huge eyesore in the entire industry and medium for ages, offending companies, fans and scanlators alike as they dropkick any percieved notion of nobility square in the proverbial balls.

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PR: Multi-National Manga Anti-Piracy Coalition Formed

MULTI-NATIONAL MANGA ANTI-PIRACY COALITION FORMED

San Francisco, CA, June 8, 2010 – Today a coalition of Japanese and U.S. publishers announced a coordinated effort to combat a rampant and growing problem of internet piracy plaguing the manga industry. “Scanlation,” as this form of piracy has come to be known, refers to the unauthorized digital scanning and translation of manga material that is subsequently posted to the internet without the consent of copyright holders or their licensees. According to the coalition, the problem has reached a point where “scanlation aggregator” sites now host thousands of pirated titles, earning ad revenue and/or membership dues at creators’ expense while simultaneously undermining foreign licensing opportunities and unlawfully cannibalizing legitimate sales. Worse still, this pirated material is already making its way to smartphones and other wireless devices, like the iPhone and iPad, through apps that exist solely to link to and republish the content of scanlation sites.

Participants in the coalition include the 36 members of Japan’s Digital Comic Association, Square Enix, VIZ Media, TOKYOPOP, Vertical, Inc., the Tuttle-Mori Agency and Yen Press. Working together, the membership of the coalition will actively seek legal remedies to this intellectual property theft against those sites that fail to voluntarily cease their illegal appropriation of this material.

Read more…


Super Savings: BookCloseOuts Adds Yen Press Titles

BookCloseOuts is a site that’s long been a source of getting Tokyopop books for super cheap (of which there are still lots to choose from). Thanks to librarian and fellow manga blogger, Tagnognat, we’ve learned that BookCloseOuts has now added a couple pages of Yen Press titles to their offerings as well.

There’s a fairly good range of titles there, from the Korean-shonen Croquis Pop to the cute 4-koma, Hidamari Sketch. I’d also personally recommend the title History of the West Wing – a one-shot book with gorgeous full colour artwork. The books are listed at 65% off which puts their prices down to a very attractive $3.99.


Super Savings: RightStuf Fulfills Your Yen Press Desires

RightStuf Fulfills Your Yen Press Desires

RightStuf is bringing manga fans more snazzy-savings this week, this time with all Yen Press titles. From now until June 14th, all Yen Press’s titles are 30% off their already listed prices! This means a nice chunk off every book so snatch ’em up while the price is good.

Lots of great new titles have come out recently such as Kobato (Vol. 01-02) and My Girlfriend’s A Geek (Vol. 01). The second volume of the popular Black Butler is out as well, along with a slew of other continuing favourites. And if you haven’t picked up Yen Press’s re-release of Yotsuba&! and their March release of the incredibly charming, Bunny Drop then by all purchasing means go out and do so, you won’t be disappointed.


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