Manhwa-ga: SangEun Lee
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: February 2010
Synopsis: “Hee-So’s stuck with Sae-Bom on cooking duty at the Scout’s joint volunteer outing at a local orphanage, ruining her chances of showing off in front of Won-Hun! And Sae-Bom’s no help either, ‘cose she’s too busy making lunch for her dearest Whie-Young! Suddenly, it occurs to Hee-So that making lunch of Won-Jun might not be such a bad idea. But when the two girls go make their special deliveries, a dangerous accident threatens both their lives. And in the heat of the moment, Won-Jun, who witnesses the accident, takes a most unexpected course of action. Has he gone and irreparably crushed Hee-So’s dreams? Will Whie-Young be able to pick up the pieces?”
Love-triangles are nothing new to any story containing a sliver of romantic drama. Two boys love the same girl? Two girls love the same boy? No biggie. But 13th Boy pulls off the far lesser utilized love-cluster – the dreaded love-square. If you thought things were already looking shaky enough for Hee-So’s love life, wait until you see it all laid bare in this third volume.
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Manhwa-ga: Lee YoungYou
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: December 2009
Synopsis: “When Hee-Ju’s hostage negotiations for Ya-Ho with Ha-Eun, Yumei and Mi-Woo go south, the tragic result of his failed attempts leads to heartbreak for Myung-Ee and company. And to make matters worse, those on Earth aren’t the only ones on the move. The leader of the Moon Foxes is about to make a trip to the Blu Planet and mete out heavenly punishment to those who get in his way… that is, if he can stay awake long enough!”
Tears are shed, pasts are hinted at, the supposedly dead come back to life and foxes continue to hunt rabbits and rabbits continue to hunt foxes. While a reread of previous books allows a semblance of clarity to the book’s still-growing cast and multi-faction plot, it leaves one to question if this should be necessary every time a new book comes out.
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Manga-ka: GooGoo Gong
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: November 2009
Synopsis: “Thrust in the middle of a family feud, Jae-Gyu reluctantly accepts Whie-Hwan’s proposal. For the next month, she’s agreed to pose as his live-in girlfriend and obey his every command! It’s been less than a week since she moved to Seoul, and already she’s in way over her head! And small-town life has done little to prepare her for the dark deeds of city nightlife. When Jae-Gyu’s ignorance lands her in a roomful of eager playboys with money to burn, will it be her millionaire “boyfriend” or her rock star admirer who comes to the rescue?”
Taking the path of so many girls’ comics before it, Sugarholic presents us with yet more complicated shenanigans that lead to two characters faking a relationship. Does it manage to overcome it’s clichéd plot? Fortunately GooGoo Gong does manage to squeeze some originality into this work, a fairly standard Korean shojo comic.
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Manhwa-ga: KookHwa Huh/SuJin Kim
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: December 2009
Synopsis: “Now that she has discovered Si-Joon’s secret fiancée, Doe-Doe will stop at nothing to rip the masked girl away from Si-Joon, whom she has already claimed as her own. But Mu-Yeon’s affection for Si-Joon is not something to be trifled with, especially when dark spiritual forces are involved. As memories of his past life with Mu-Yeon resurface, the time when Si-Joon will have to face the mystery of the pig bride head-on is drawing near. But will he be prepared when the moment comes?”
Past-live dream exposés, the feeling of sinister eyes upon him and the clock ticking ever closer, Si-Joon has more than a few things on his mind. But with his life (or is it his chastity?) at risk at the hands of an ‘assassin’ on top of that, and his constant refusal of Mu-Yeon’s advances, the Pig Bride needs to turn to some different tactics with only a day left to lift her curse and have Si-Joon finally confess his feelings of love (whether they exist or not).
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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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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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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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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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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).
Manhwa-ga: Lee Eun
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: November 2009
Synopsis: “When a mermaid princess’s hopes to marry her human prince are squashed by the domineering, morbidly obese ex-ballerina to whom the prince appears to be tied, she decides to return to the Han River. But she’s beaten to the punch by the prince…and then the ballerina! What grave secrets about these two does the murky water conceal… and will either of them make it out of the river alive?”
Bun-Nyuh can’t handle it anymore – she’s through with that cursed Antique Gift Shop, no matter what the deal she made with her shaman Grandmother was. Though she finds herself able to storm away from the shop, her memories of it are another thing, struggling over the loss of her best employee, the beautiful but enigmatic, Mr. Yang – the man who always seem to know what to say. Feeling humbled and abandoned, Bun-Nyuh takes to the rainy streets in this ninth volume of Antique Gift Shop, the book which also sees the end of the twisted ballerina take on the Little Mermaid.
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Manhwa-ga: SangEun Lee
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: October 2009
Synopsis: “With fierce determination, Hee-Soo continues to follow her heart — not to mention her beloved Won-Jun — everywhere! When she discovers Won-Jun is a Boy Scout (and that pesky Whie-Young too, boo!), she wants nothing more than to be a Girl Scout, especially so she can take part in the joint Scouts campout and be by Won-Jun’s side! But the other girls won’t let her get away with it that easily! Sheer willpower may not be enough to get Hee-Soo there…but maybe a little magic might do the trick?”
Thankfully for our abounding curiousity since the end of volume one, this second volume of 13th Boy picks up right where we left off as far as the resident plot-oddity is concerned. Return of the talking cactus! Who turns into a pretty boy once a month for 24 hours. Why? We’re not sure yet but it’s so silly and out of no where that I’m too entertained to bother being critical about something that’s just meant to be fun.
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Author: Dall-Young Lim
Manhwa-ga: Sung-Woo Park
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: October 2009
Synopsis: “Having systematically destroyed all the protective soul stones in Japan, Hiyou reveals his plot to gather alter egos together and unleash a massive wave of negative energy that could threaten the entire country. The last soul stone is in Okinawa — the stone once guarded by Makana and Kakuma’s family. With Kuro and Keita detained at the resort and Kakuma captured by Tribal Ends, Makana’s ready to step up and defend the pure place of his fallen relatives. But a lone Mototsumitama may not have the strength to oppose the evil at work…”
Keita and Kuro have infiltrated the hotel serving as Hiyou’s plotting base but when the enemy swoops in and captures Makana, Kakuma flies off in a rage to do whatever he can to save her. But with her abilities to unseal Japan’s final sacred stone now in the hands of the enemy, it may very well be the world that the group is out to save… or at least that’s what I believe is going on.
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Manhwa-ga: Lee Eun
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: July 2009
Synopsis: “When a Nepalese goddess appears at the Antique Gift Shop, Bun-Nyuh is taken in by the beautiful woman and her knack for sales. Sensing that her freedom from the antiques is near as the money rolls in, Bun-Nyuh leaves the goddess in charge and begins planning for her life away from the shop, despite Mr. Yang’s protests. But the goddess’s sales come with strings attached, and those strings will pull Bun-Nyuh back to the heart of the shop where a new darkness awaits…”
Continuing as a manhwa-source for the supernatural, and artistically home to characters who’re too distractingly gorgeous to this reader for their own good, The Antique Gift Shop takes a pleasantly linear turn here in the eighth volume as the shop sees an unfortunate shift in staff and Bun-Nyuh finds herself faced with an uncertain new perspective of her life.
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Author: Jeon JinSeok
Manhwa-ga: Han SeungHee
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: August 2009
Synopsis: “Sehara’s sudden departure leaves the other inhabitants of the palace dumbfounded. Willing himself out of shock, Sultan Shahryar takes matters into his own hands and goes on a journey of his own, only to end up face-to-face with the enemy… and a ghost from the past!”
After Sehara leaves willingly with the invading commander, Sultan Shahryar brashly leaves his palace to attack the political side of things head on. But before that, he must confront his own demons in the form of the woman who was responsible for them: his believed-to-be-deceased wife, Fatima.
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Lots of great announcements here at the Yen Press panel, so as before while this will be a brief overview until I have the time to write something full, but here’re the goodies in the meantime!
New license announcements:
Black Butler by Yana Toboso
Darker Than Black by Bones, Tensai Okamura, Nokya, Arklight
Romeo & Juliet by William Shakesspeare/Adapted by COM, Gonzo, SPWT
Bunny Drop by Yumi Unita
Sasameke by Ryuji Gotsubo
Omamori Himari by Milan Matra
My Girlfriend’s A Geek (Fujyoshi Kanojo) by Pentabu & Rize Shinba
Novel By Pentabu (blog collection by boy that inspired the Fujyoshi Kanojo)
Otome by Yuuki Fujinari
Dragon Girl by Toru Fujieda
Natsukashi Machi no Rozione by Sumomo Yumeka
Kobato by CLAMP (Coming May 2010)
Lots of great titles in the list, and following the licensing is a nice-sized Q & A which you can read a few excerpts from after the cut.
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