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Posts Tagged Yen Press

Review: Ichiroh! (Vol. 02)

By Marsha Reid on Wednesday, January 6, 2010

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Reviewer: Marsha Reid

Manga-ka: Mikage
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: November 2009

Synopsis: “Nanako has been pouring all her effort into her exam prep class, however she still isn’t meeting her high expectations. But never say die! With the help of her friends, Nanako struggles through procrastination and distraction, determined to reach her goal. Unfortunately, that goal comes with a hefty price tag, and as the cost of study guides, enrollment, and dorm fees climbs, the penny-pinching Nanako jumps on the chance to make some extra cash with a part-time job… at a maid café?! Now with even more work on her plate, will Nanako ever be able to pull up her grades and make it into the college of her dreams?”

The penny pinching Nanako is still at it, out to get the best deal on everything without realizing she’s shorting herself on life’s little pleasures. Best friend and roommate, Akane is still on hand but the madly in love (with Nanako) Shino is too busy with college life to hang around as much as she used to. Like in all cute, fluffy and girly manga, crazy hijinks ensue on this adventure through life as the all discover more about themselves and each other.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Yen Press

Review: Time and Again (Vol. 01)

By Marsha Reid on Tuesday, January 5, 2010

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Reviewer: Marsha Reid

Manhwa-ga: JiUn Yun
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: December 2009

Synopsis: “Baek-On and Ho-Yeon are exorcists-for-hire, traveling throughout the country in search of grudges and ghosts. Each encounter reveals a story of tragedy and loss, sentiments they are all too familiar with themselves. But sometimes the violence of the most murderous spirits is nothing compared to the cruelty of the living.”

A new story from the mind of JiUn Yun, the author and artist for Cynical Orange, Time and Again is a collection of ghost stories she’s based off poems and tales from primarily Chinese literature. There are five stories in total and they’re all strung together by either the presence or mention of one Yoo Ju – a young and talented, though also arrogant and lazy, exorcist.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manhwa, Yen Press

Review: Crimson Shell

By Andre Paploo on Sunday, December 13, 2009

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Reviewer: Andre

Manga-ka: Jun Mochizuki
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: November 2009

Synopsis: “Rescued from the darkness by Xeno, a mysterious swordsman, Claudia the Rose Witch is the foundation of the Crimson-Shell, a special division of the Red Rose-an organization aiming to capture the results of one mad scientist’s experiments, the deadly Black Roses. But when Xeno’s loyalties are called into question, will Claudia be strong enough to believe in her dearest friend?”

Fans often see manga as primarily never-ending epics, when in fact, much of the material published in Japan is far shorter. Works are more commonly intended to just be short stories or mini-series, often earlier works of creators who later go on to longer series. Crimson-Shell is one such series, from the creator of Pandora Heart, Jun Mochizuki.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Yen Press

Review: Bamboo Blade (Vol. 02)

By Andre Paploo on Friday, December 11, 2009

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Reviewer: Andre

Author: Masashiro Totsuka
Manga-ka: Aguri Igarashi
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: September 2009

Synopsis: “With the expert Tama-chan on the squad, Kojiro feels confident in his team’s chances in the upcoming kendo meet. But the match is rapidly approaching, and he’s still shy one member – not to mention getting newbie Miya and elusive Saya up to speed. With a year of all-you-can-eat sushi on the line, Kojiro’s determined to use every trick he can think of to win, but just how far is he willing to go?!”

When reading the first issue of the Yen Plus anthology, of the Japanese series I was most absorbed by Bamboo Blade. It offered a more down to earth, approachable read that complimented the general audiences vibe of the Korean and domestic series, despite it’s seinen origins. Over the course of the series it became a favourite. The serialization has ended, but Yen delivers more Bamboo Blade direct to trade paperback with this second volume.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Bamboo Blade, Manga, Yen Press

Review: Jack Frost (Vol. 02)

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, December 7, 2009

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manhwa-ga: JinHo Ko
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: November 2009

Synopsis: “All hell breaks loose when gangs from schools all over Amityville erupt into an all-out war for supremacy. Bt even as they battle one another, these distracts all have the same goal – to be the grave soul who defeats Jack Forst and claims the title of Amityville’s greatest fighter. Jack has a mission of his own: escorting Noh-A, the much sought-after mirror image, to a place where a great evil was sealed many years ago.”

After she begins to have nightmares of a girl she can’t quite remember, Noh-A comes to realize that she has no memory of her life before coming to this world. But it seems to bother her just as little as the vast amounts of violence around her and she soon sets out with Jack Frost to investigate some unusual activity at one of Amityville’s most important sites. They’re not the only ones on their way there however but just as many who are there to investigate are there to battle the infamous Jack Frost for title of Amityville’s strongest.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manhwa, Yen Press

Review: Yotsuba&! (Vol. 07)

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, December 4, 2009

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: Kiyohiko Azuma
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: All Ages
Release Date: December 2009

Synopsis: “Mooooo…! MOOOO…! Cows are neato! It’s fun pretending to be a cow! And milk comes from cows, so I bet they’re real nice too. ‘Cos milk is super-yummy, right?! Yotsuba thinks so! And milk comes in lotsa flavors, so cows must come in different flavors too. How else is there white milk and coffee milk and chocolate milk?! Then there’s the black and white cows, they’ve gotta make a super-secret special flavor, huh?! Yotsuba wants to know! Let’s go ask the cows at the ranch, Daddy!”

Paper cup phones, strawberry shortcake, a fever in bed and a trip to the ranch – that and more in this volume of Yotsuba&! – and for those who’ve already fallen in love with the title character’s forthright curiousity, comical expressions and childlike wonder, that’s all you need to hear (if for any reason the title wasn’t enough anyway).

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Kiyohiko Azuma, Manga, Yen Press

Artist Call for Dragon Girls and Nightschool Students

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, December 2, 2009

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Two new contest calls are out for artists so sharpen your pencils and dust off those tablets (though may you artists out there keep your tablet much better dusted than mine!).

First off Viz Media is looking for fan art submissions for upcoming volumes of St. Dragon Girl. Via Twitter (@viz_media): “AM: Calling All Artists! Fan Art needed for future volumes of St. Dragon Girl manga.” The most recent volume of St. Dragon Girl is volume five and it’s available on store shelves this week.

Meanwhile over on her DeviantArt journal, Svetlana Chmkova is holding a contest for fan art to potentially appear in the next volume of her currently running series, Nightschool. Winners will be published in the third volume of Nightschool, due out from Yen Press in April 2010, and will be sent signed copies of the book when it’s released. All entries must be submitted to Yen Press by the fast-approaching deadline of December 28th along with a fanart consent form available on their webpage.

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Categories: Contests
Tags: Global Manga, Manga, Viz Media, Yen Press

Review: Legend (Vol. 06)

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, November 30, 2009

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manhwa-ga: Kara/Woo SooJung
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: October 2009

Synopsis: “As No-Ah battles on with Toh, Eun-Gyo’s past life resurfaces and she emerges from the pagodas as Joo-Ji, the central blade of the Seven Blade Sword. Having chosen to abandon the balde and be reborn as a human, Joo-Ji (in Eun-Gyo’s body) is eager to reunite with her lover once again. But though he loved her in his past life, No-Ah is hesitant. If he accepts Joo-Ji, will he loose Eun-Gyo forever?”

Eun-Gyo awakes after being kidnapped but she doesn’t seem to be herself and No-Ah fights to protect her while confronting some harsh truths about their quest to collect the blade of the sword – shockers abound! Meanwhile Hu-Dong is going through some changes of his own though he doesn’t seem to be the only one on whom age has played a game. Yet on top of that, what perhaps seems most important in the long-run is that Eun-Gyo questions the often unquestionable by many a shoujo heroine – why has she accepted all this crazy magical, other-worldly stuff that keeps happening to her without question until now?

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Legend, Manhwa, Yen Press

Review: You’re So Cool! (Vol. 05)

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, November 29, 2009

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manhwa-ga: YoungHee Lee
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: November 2009

Synopsis: “Having delivered an angry ultimatum to his mother, Seung-Ha wanders the rainy streets aimlessly, only to end up sick in bed at Nan-Woo’s! But after a night of feverish dreaming in the Jung house, he walks out with what seems like a plan… a plan that doesn’t involve his family or Nan-Woo! Jay, on the other hand, is still on the fence about Hyun-Ho… even though Hyun-Ho isn’t quite ready to take no for an answer. Will Nan-Woo follow Hyun-Ho’s lead and follow her heart?”

Confronting his ailing birth Mother, Seung-Ha sets down his final words before taking to the typhoon soaked streets. Fever-ridden and depressed, he’s taken in by girlfriend Nan-Woo and her overzealous family. After a one night heal and a day of flipping off his own family, Seung-Ha has his eyes set on America to run away from that which he doesn’t want to deal with at home. To make sure he severs all ties it also means he needs to ensure that the feelings he’s managed to cultivate between himself and Nan-Woo are promptly squashed.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manhwa, Yen Press

Yen Press To Publish Manhwa of James Patterson’s Daniel X

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, November 6, 2009

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A press release out today revealed that Yen Press will be releasing a manhwa version of James Patterson’s Daniel X.

Readers will likely recognize the author as the creator of Maximum Ride, which Yen Press is currently releasing an adaptation of with artist NaRa Lee. The artist for Daniel X will be Seung-Hui Kye whose series Recast was published by Tokyopop. Hachette, Yen Press’s parent company, is releasing the original Daniel X novels, which are science fiction aimed at older teens.

“Fifteen-year-old alien hunter Daniel X is on a mission to finish the job that killed his parents to wipe out the world’s most bloodthirsty aliens on The List. At the number-one spot, The Prayer is Daniel’s ultimate target. With mind-blowing skills like telepathy and the ability to transform and create, Daniel’s got more than a few tricks up his sleeve. Along with his friends Willy, Joe-Joe, Emma and Dana, Daniel hunts down the aliens on The List one by one. But as he battles towards his top target he can’t forget one thing: he’s got a host of aliens to fight, but on their lists there’s only one name at the top… and that’s his.”

The Daniel X manhwa will originally be serialized in Yen Press’s Yen Plus anthology with the first volume to be released in summer 2010.

So what do you think? Personally I was more happy to hear in the press release that Maximum Ride has proven so successful for Yen Press – the excitement of another James Patterson series is lost on me since I’d never heard of the author before Yen Press announced Maximum Ride. Still, I’ve heard a lot of good things about Seung-Hui Kye’s Recast, and having never had the chance to read it, will be vaguely interested to see how Daniel X turns out, even if it is being built out of what sounds like a mountain of cheese (see plot synopsis above).

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Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Global Manga, Manhwa, Yen Press