My own review of Yen+ part 1, the magazine design

A few days ago, I posted Japanator's review of the brand-new magazine Yen+. After having to spend a booooring long 5 hours in town yesterday, I got lucky & my local supermarket actually has some copies (ironically, no Shonen Jump. Perhaps they were out, I don't know). I'll be doing my review in 2 different posts, so beware for a VERY lengthy post. If ya need to know about the mangas in the magazine, check Anime News Network or the Japanator review. In Part 1, I'll be talking the actual magazine, design, & other stuff. Again, very lengthy & wordy.

Actual magazine: It's roughly the same size of Shonen Jump, but thicker. I measured the thickness of the newest issue of Shonen Jump (Sept. Issue w/ Ultimo) & it was 1/2 inch thick while Yen+ was 3/4 inches thick. As mentioned, the magazine contains both manga & OEL (Original English-Language) & manhwa (Koreans) comics & they read left-to-right, so you start on both sides. The manga/OEL/manwha (THANKFULLY) appeared to be uncensored. It's rated OT & I can see why. Unlike Shonen Jump, there appears to be no censors for nudity (but too early to tell, I think Soul Eater might've gotten some nipples editted out) & non of that swear word censors. & the sound-effects are translated & transliterated (meaning, translated to how they sound, like "Purururu (ringing)") & are either written small near the original Japanese SFX or off-panel. 

Speaking of off-panel, I HATE Shonen Jump's "LET'S INSERT STUPID LINES ADVERTIZING OUR MAGAZINE & CRAP!", so that made me happy. There's a table of contents page, but it hardly helps since it's only on the "Front" page (OEL/manhwa side) & most pages don't tell you what page you're on. It's would've help since at the end of each manga, there's a translator's note thing. Also, all the ads, news about upcoming series, & other stuff is at the front. Literally, every single ad makes up the 1st 17 pages (again, front side). No ads or other stuff between the stuff you care about (like in Shonen Jump, after each chapter, there's something advertised, like card games). Basically, they got all the ads out of the way so you can just skip them & get right on reading.

Cover-wise, it's Soul Eater, which made me get this (& Higurashi), so the back "cover" is fine, but the "front" kinda makes me feel....wierd. My dad gave it a strange look & for some reason, I don't like it either. Like SJ, every month, they'll switch which series will be on both sides (they even tell ya). All the series on each side are listed on the side, which is nice. There's also the "Here's a question-aire & if ya send it in, you might win something" deal (Grand Prize: free 1 year subscription), but it's not tear out. It's a page of the magazine & the other side is the previews. I don't like tearing out a page of a magazine just so I can do something w/ it. I'll have to scan it. & yes, my parents were also shocked by the $9 price tag (including tax, it was about $9.50).

Too Long, Didn't Read version: Some stuff they could fix (like adding more page numbers to pages, table of contents on both sides), but still a nice design. Better than Shonen Jump? Slightly, mainly due to no ads between different series' & none of that useless one-liner stuff at the bottom. Again, this is the 1st issue, so most of the design is just "Let's see if people like it like this".

Coming soon: a review of the mangas/other stuff in the magazine. I've still yet to read the OEL/Manhwa stuff. Hopefully, it'll be up either tonight or tomorrow.

Pic is the "back cover" of the magazine, which is Soul Eater obviously. Part 2 will have (ugh) the "front cover".

PS: We need to add Manga to the Category list.