cover of Yen Plus issue 1

I picked up a copy of the new Yen Press magazine, Yen Plus, at ALA Midwinter.     I kind of let it sit around as I caught up on other stuff but really, I should have picked it up immediately.  I should have known that one of my favorite publishers would put out a great magazine!  Twice the size of Shojo Beat (though more expensive), it offers a ton of manga PLUS manhwa and OEL (original English language).   As with Shojo Beat, I didn’t like every story in there but I did enjoy almost all of them.

I especially enjoyed the manwha.  I really like the pace and artwork.  Manwha tends to move a bit faster than manga and the characters are all long, lanky, wispy things.

The highlights:

James Patterson’s Maximum Ride, I haven’t read the books and I really wasn’t all that excited for the OEL.  However, the first installment was exciting!  A family of young angels (?) live in secret on top of a hill.  Their lives are isolating but they try to make each day special.  Then, the Erasers find them.

Pig Bride, a manwha about a young, spoiled boy who’s tricked into marrying a girl in a pig mask.  This marriage, he’s told will break a curse that leave the girl horribly mutilated – hence, the mask.  He thinks it’s all a dream until his Pig Bride shows up on his 16th birthday.  I can’t tell where this story is headed and that’s nice.  Usually you can spot a love story a mile away but the mystery of the pig bride has me wondering…

The other stories are fairly strong though there are a few that just made me go – what? 

One Fine Day follows the day to day lives of a dog, cat, mouse and their master.  It’s not super interesting but when the focus is on the animals they are drawn as people in animal costumes.  It’s so cute, it will make your teeth hurt.  In fact the whole story just seems to be one long attempt to out cute itself.

Soul Eater can’t decide if it’s a story about a boy trying to become stronger, better than he is or a silly fanservice filled romp.  Though those two things can often go hand in hand.

Needless to say, I subscribed and am searching for the issues I missed.