Manga Village

It makes sense to me that one of the most cutting edge manga in Yen Press‘ manga collection is Soul Eater Not! The series is published on the same day and date in the USA as it is in Japan, and is the only series that Yen Press releases with that schedule. In Japanese comics, it stands beside Rumiko Takahashi’s Rin-Ne from Viz Media as the only other mainstream* comic that is released day and date in both Asia and America. The reason why this makes sense to me has quite a bit to do with the characteristics of Soul Eater Not! – it is neither shojo, shonen, or moe, but rather a strange mix of all three. By Atsushi Ohkubo Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Older Teen Genre:  Slice of Life/Action/Fantasy Price: $11.99 USA The best way to describe Soul Eater Not! is that is not the same manga as Soul Eater, another popular release from Yen Manga. Written and illustrated by the same author and set in the same world, it even uses some of the same characters to tell a much different story. Tsugumi, our main character, is a girl enrolled in the DWMA, an international organization in charge of training meisters and “weapons” in order to make sure they are able to control their abilities…

The girls of the Mureo High kendo team face off again against Ishibaki’s pupils from Kamasaki High. And then the drama abounds as the popular TV show, Burnish Academy shows an interest in filming the girls for the sports segment of the show. But first, they must survive not just the rivalry between the co-hosts, but also of some surprise guests; kendo prodigy Ura Sakaki and some of the strongest girls from around the country known as Kendo Komachi! Story by Masahiro Totsuka; Art by Aguri Igarashi Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Sports Price: $11.99 I read the first few chapters of Bamboo Blade in Yen Plus when it first came out, but wasn’t impressed with what I read at the time. It’s eight volumes later, and I decided to check out the series and see if there was any improvement. I couldn’t believe the difference! The characters and story drew me in quickly, and the kendo action kept my eyes glued to the page. This is the first sports manga to really got its hooks into me. There’s been a lot of character development since the series began. When I read the first chapters, I was…

There are some comics that defy example and expectation. Take for example, Chew, an American book written by John Layman with art by Rob Guillory. It has a fairly simple premise, but it manages to be a book of suspense, mystery, action, and sometimes a bit of horror. And it’s freaking hilarious. All these different traits make it a great comic book, but don’t necessarily make it easy to classify. In some sense, that’s the same way Sumomomo Momomo is, except, that where Chew manages to mix these ingredients up into a great comic, the result from Sumomomo Momomo is a bit more schizophrenic and pervy in its final presentation. By: Shinobu Ohtaka Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Action/Comedy Price: $10.99 Sumomomo Momomo follows the lives of Koushi Inuzuka and Momoko Kuzuryuu, two children of the greatest martial artists in Japan, and heirs to martial arts techniques of great power. Momoko’s father, fearing her to be too weak to continue the bloodline of the Kuzuryuu clan, decrees that she should be married to the son of the Inuzuka clan. Koushi, unfortunately, is no martial arts fanatic. Having given up the ways of the fist, Koushi attempts to lead a “normal” life by…

High Schooler Ji-Hae is desperately in love with her classmate Seung-Hyu.  She has done all she can think of to win his affection, but to no avail.  When her latest scheme crosses the line, Seung-Hyu decides he’s had enough…and inadvertently pushes her down a staircase! Ji-Hae awakens in the world beyond, only to learn that it’s not her time to die.  But why go back when the love of her life hates her to death!  Touched by her passion, the keepers of heaven send Ji-Hae to her past life to mend the rift between her former self and Seung-Hyu.  But can Ji-Hae keep up the act long enough to find Seung-Hyu and set things right? By Ryu Ryang Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Teen Genre: Historical Romance Price: $10.99 No, not really…  Sarasah is a modern-girl-gets-sent-to-the-past story combined with girl-dresses-up-as-a-boy-to-be-near-boy-she-loves story.  Neither of these plots are usually appealing, but Sarasah adds a karmic twist to the Ji-Hae’s dilemma. The reason Seung-Hyu hates her some much is because of something that happened in their past lives, and Ji-Hae is given the chance to correct it.  Though, the more I read of this series, the more I wondered if it wasn’t a…

Yen Plus is Yen Press’ monthly manga magazine.  It’s about 450 pages of mostly pure manga, and divided into two sections.  One side reads left to right (western style) and is composed of OEL and Korean titles.  The other side reads right to left (Japanese style) and is all Japanese titles.  The magazine carries between 10-12 titles, some titles occasionally taking a month “off”.  For example, in this issue, Maximum Ride and Sumomomo Momomo did not have chapters, making for only 10 titles. By Various Publisher:  Yen Press Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Action/Romance/Supernatural/Horror/Slice of Life Price $8.99 On the OEL/Korean side, the titles that ran this month are Nightschool: The Weirn Books, Pig Bride, Time and Again, Jack Frost and One Fine Day.  These are all strong titles, making this side of the magazine most enjoyable. Nightschool by Sveltlana Chmakova is a supernatural adventure story about a girl named Alex who is a weirn, a kind of witch who seems tied to some sort of dark future.  Sveltlana’s art is beautifully done and her story remains intriguing month after month. Pig Bride is a romantic comedy.  Si-Joon Lee, when he was young, got himself engaged to Mu-Yeoh Park, a…

The manga market is fairly saturated with books about ninjas. Ninjas are the latest craze for boys, just like vampires are the latest craze for girls. It’s no surprise that plenty of people are trying to get in on the ninja bandwagon.  Yen Press’ entry into ninja fiction, Nabari no Ou, has been publishing monthly in its Yen Plus anthology for more than a year now, and it’s picked up a lot of steam, but only recently has the compiled trade paperback (manga fans call them tankobon) been released. By Yuki Kamatani Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Action Price:  $10.99 The first volume introduces us to Miharu Rokujou, a completely apathetic schoolboy who wants nothing more than to take over his family’s restaurant and make sure that he never has to care about anything. Unfortunately for him, he is the carrier of hidden ninja world’s most powerful secret – the Shinra Banshou, and a faction of ninjas called the Iga Grey Wolves wants it bad enough to kill him for it. Members of the Banten and Fuuma villages don’t want that to happen though –his classmates Aizawa, Shimizu, and his strange teacher Kumohira have all decide to…