My own Yen+ review part 2, the manga/OELs/manhwas

Continuing from Part 1 of my review, I shall now give you my own opinion about each of the different series' that are featured in the 1st issue of Yen+. Again, a bit of a lengthy post. Is it going to be worth $9? Let's find out! BTW, pic is the "front cover", which I'll talk about that in a bit. if ya wanna know more about these mangas/OELs/manhwas, go to Anime News Network. Let's start with the manga side:

Soul Eater: I've been watching the anime & it seems both the 1st part of the anime & manga seem to be about the same. I like the artwork (very different from the anime. It's unique) & the humor, but I still can't believe we gotta wait a year until the individual volumes come out....This was one of the reasons why I bought Yen+ & I wasn't disapointed w/ Soul Eater. This MIGHT'VE gotten censored (Blair the witch's nipples?), but it doesn't make any difference.

Nabari no Ou: I have no idea what that translates to. Would've been nice if the magazine had a not about what it meant. Anyways, it's SUPPOSE to be about ninjas in modern day society. So far....meh. Since it's only the 1st chapter, I'll give it some time, but there was hardly any "action" aside from the last few pages, which sorta didn't make sense. It's kinda boring right now, but I'll give it a few more chapters

Sumomo mo Momomo: This kinda reminds me of Zatch Bell (& the name reminds me of Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo), only instead of a little boy who wants to help a high schooler, it's a little uberstrong girl who's dad said she could marry her dad's friend's son (who wants to be a prosecutor (kinda makes me think of Miles Edgeworth from Phoenix Wright) in order to keep the bloodline strong. There was some nice humor (& some ecchi humor also, heh heh), kinda like Bo-Bobo & Zatch Bell put together, but the artwork was slightly above average, or "meh". Overall, I liked it. Also, uncensored little boy wang like in Zatch Bell: NO, NO, NO. Why do they think it's alright to show a little boy's crotch?!

Bamboo Blade: I only heard of this because Tony Taka had drawn some girls from the series. Where were they? The art was nice, humor was kinda funny, but since this is a "sports" manga, I kinda have a bad feeling I won't like it (unless it turns out like Eyeshield 21 & Slam Dunk, which are the only sports manga I like), but it seems to have potential. I should mention this is the ONLY manga where you get 2 chapters. The other 4 have just 1 (While I'll admit, some have a bunch of pages for 1 chapter, I'm still kinda disapointed seeing as Shonen Jump allows 4 chapters of Naruto & mostly 2-3 for each manga (except for Bo-Bobo & I think Yu-Gi-Oh GX. What's w/ Bo-Bobo only having 1 chapter?!)

Higurashi: My 2nd reason I wanted this. The art stays true, but it's almost the same as the anime (aside from a few ecchi moments that didn't make it in the anime), which can be bad considering this is suppose to be a HORROR (with SOME comdedy, but that's before all the suspense) manga. How can I be scared when both the anime & manga are the same & I already know what'll happen next since I've already seen some of the anime? I hope that the "scenario" endings are different in the manga then they are in the anime.

Now let's flip the magazine over & review the OELs/manhwa (I'm so tired of typing those 2 words...):

Maximum Ride: The 1st OEL. After reading the 1st chapter (only series to have color pages, which I'll talk about later), I kinda like the cover better, but that's not saying much (as explained in part 1). Anyways, the art is slightly above average, but the Erasers (why are they called that? Maybe they'll explain later) remind me of Blanka from Street Fighter, only with angel wings. It seems the 1st chapter is setting things up, so I think I'll have to read more to give a full opinion, but right now, I think I'll continue reading this to see if it gets better.

Nightschool: 2nd OEL. WOW, the artwork is so....ew...It doesn't really stand out & it's just so...meh. The story hardly makes any sense, artwork isn't great, & it CLAIMS it has comedy, but I don't see it. One of the few series on my ignore list.

Pig Bride: Now we're getting into the Korean stuff (I can tell by the names & sound effects being in Korean). The 1st chapter turns out to be a dream from 8 years ago setting the story up, which works well. I didn't really like the super close-ups & the eyes that are as big as their hands, but otherwise, nice art. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

Sarasah: Hmm, 1st page has a bunch of "famous" love quotes. OH GOD, IT'S A SHOUJO! One thing I HATE about Shojos are the art work (I tried reading Ouran Host Club, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Thank goodness the anime is good). After flipping the page to see the artwork, I thought "Ehhhhh....*wierd look on face*". After flipping the page again & seeing the main guy that the girl from the last page has a crush on, I literally closed the magazine for about 2 minutes facepalming & groaning at the characters. I mean, almost everyone wears lipstick, even the main dude! The story is SO stereotypical (girl likes guy, but he doesn't like her back, so she tries to make him notice her) & I can hardly stand the artwork. Also, HOW THE HELL CAN SOMEONE CRACK THEIR HEAD OPEN FROM FALLING DOWN SCHOOL STAIRS?!? Yeesh....I won't be reading this, but some of you might like it.

One Fine Day: I was kinda confused at 1st, but then I got what was going on. The artwork kinda reminds me of pics people draw & put online. It's not bad, it just feels abit more relaxed & not so complex. It's one of those "there's no real plot" series like Azumanga Daioh, so who knows what'll happen next. It's suppose to be a Shoujo, but I liked it. BTW, this is the only other series that has 2 chapters, but mostly because it's a bit on the short side.

Jack Frost: THIS...IS.......AWESOME. At 1st, I was thinking snow & snowmen. WAS I EVER AWESOMELY WRONG. The artwork is easily my fav. out of the OELs/manhwa, & if wasn't left-to-right, I would've thought it WAS manga. The 1st few pages look like they're suppose to have color, because it's REALLY detailed (like the pages of, say, Bleach or Death Note) & dark. So dark I can hardly see anything. It's also gory (YEAAHHH!! GIRL'S HEAD GETS SLICED OFF!! & SHE LIVES!! I literally laughed at how awesome the 1st few fight panels were), has some good humor, great art, & a bit of fanservice (the girl's body is slumped over w/ her butt sticking in the air & her panties showing "as a parting gift to a dying man"), which easily made this my fav. OEL/Manhwa. It's too bad that this'll probably never get turned into an anime or cartoon. My only complain (aside from the super-dark 1st pages) was that "Amity" was used, which seems like a giveaway that it's going to be classified as "Horror". It just so cliche to me cuz when I hear something that has "Amity", I think of horror. Not that it made reading this any worse. Did I mention that this is awesome?

Overall, was it worth my $9.59? The Manga, yes. OELs/manhwa? Aside from Jack Frost & MAYBE Pig Bride & One Fine Day, I kinda have to lean on "no" for right now, but hopefully, those 2 & Maximum Ride will get better & make it worth it for me. Is it better than Shonen Jump? Meh. Both have their mentions & "I couldn't care less about this" stuff.

Will I purchase the next issue? Hell yeah! Will I get a subscription? I don't know. Again, it's $50, but considering $9 times 12 months = $108, I might since you'd save $58. I know some sites where you can get magazine subscriptions cheaper, so I'll have to see. Considering if I got both a subscription to Shonen Jump (though my friends get it, so I could just borrow the newest issue from one of them) & Yen+, it'd be about $80...Yikes. I'll have to see. Honestly, I KINDA feel like just waiting for Higurashi, Soul Eater (though it's a year away), Sumomo mo momomo, & Jack Frost just to filter out the other stuff (that, & extras).

If you wanna leave your own opinion about the series' in the magazine or about the magazine itself, go right ahead.