Yen Press announced at NYCC that they will be starting their Yen Plus (or Yen+?) manga anthology on July 29th. They have acquired the Higurashi manga, Nabari no Ou, Soul Eater, Bamboo Blade, and Sumomomo Momomo to serialize in their magazine, with tankobon coming in early 2009.

Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat are gonna have one heck of a rival. The anime forms of Soul Eater and Nabari no Ou just started in Japan, so there’s still going to be a fair amount of buzz about those right in July. While I didn’t care for Bamboo Blade and Sumomomo Momomo, I am positively thrilled that someone licensed the Higurashi manga. (Us North American fans lost our Higurashi fix when Geneon went down, remember? Of course, the ultra-conservatives will be crapping kittens about this for months, hehehehe! :D)

gia’s post on the publication says that it’s going to be monthly, with 460+ pages per issue (more than most issues of SJ) and $8.99 a copy. The price point is the only thing that’ll keep it from topping SJ in terms of sales, but the non-Narutards of the North America will still be clamoring to get their hands on a subscription. (PS- gia’s post has more details than I have time to type, so go read that for details about serialization and the like.)

The only downside of this whole shibang? I can almost guarantee that this anthology will be rated 16+ solely because of Higurashi, hence I won’t be allowed to purchase it until February 6th of next year. ;_; Yeah. I’m SO getting a subscription for my birthday.

Fabulous job, Yen Press, and good luck~!

~CJ