#yen reviews

[yen-stanning]

I saw Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania last night in IMAX and here are my SPOILER-FREE thoughts:

I love Ant-Man as a character, however, for some reason, I never really love his movies, and same here to be honest for the third installment. But I didn't think it was as bad as the Rotten Tomato score made it out to be... think it should be more in the 60%

Paul Rudd is a delight as always and I did enjoy Hope/Wasp more this time around, but by the time the credits rolled around, I didn't get the feeling I went on this journey with the 2 supposed main characters, which I felt was a shame

Basically, this movie tries to do so much plot-wise and has so many characters to juggle, that it didn't really work in my opinion

A lot happened, but not really? I don't know, this is spoiler-free so I don't want to get into the details of what I thought didn't work

It was cool to explore the quantum realm and the visuals are interesting, but they reminded me too much of Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars, which I thought was an odd choice

And MODOK... don't get me started.

Even the jokes didn't really land for me most of the time 😩

However, when things worked, they WORKED!

The Avengers are cooked basically because... KANG.IS.HERE!!! And omg, did Jonathan Majors carry this movie!!!!!!!! Adored his performance! Every time he showed up, the movie got so much better in my opinion. I was afraid he was not going to be in it a lot but happy to say he was! Worth seeing this one for Kang alone!

A major surprise was Janet van Dyne. Michelle Pfeiffer was getting her shine and it was glorious to see! Her scenes with Jonathan Majors were chef's kiss, incredible stuff! 😍

I also really enjoyed Hank Pym this time around, he was fun!

You know the drill, stay after the credits!! (excellent omg, I gasped both times) BE CAREFUL with spoilers!

I did like this movie is setting up a major event in the MCU, which is what I feel has been lacking from a lot of projects in Phase 4. So in terms of setting up the grand plan, this is a good start to Phase 5

I really hope the MCU gets back on track in terms of direction, because there are SO MANY loose ends from different projects, how are they all going to tie together??? Trust in Kevin Feige, I guess? But ngl, I am a little nervous about it

Should you see it in IMAX or another premium large format? I am not sure, I do not think it's necessary for this one

Seeing it again on Saturday with friends and am looking forward to it, but mostly to see the Janet and Kang stuff again...

[mysblog]

Movies/Dramas I'm gonna watch next.

Apparently 'Daydream' is just a short Movie on YouTube, so I'll start with it and tell y'all how it was :)

Update: it's not a short Movie on Yt and its not called 'Daydream'💀. The name is 'A little Romance' and is a BL. I have literally no idea where I've got that info from but I'm not interested in any Romance story, so I'll skip it for now and watch 'nobody knows' instead.

Nobody knows: Definitely a must-watch. The Movie is about a mother abandoning her 5 children. Leaving them with a bit of money and barely any food at home. It's a wholesome and at the same time heartbreaking story. Especially to know that the events are based on a true story.

Shadow beauty: Kinda entertaining and that's it. Koo Aejin is getting bullied at school but secretly is 'Genie' a famous influencer by editing her face to an extreme level, so that no one is able to recognize her. One day she receives messages that someone knows about her most hidden secret and that's when the plot begins. I didn't like the ending it seemed so rushed like all the problems that were built up through several episodes simply get solved by 'clearing the misunderstanding'. And tho sometimes in life it really is like that, still I feel so disappointed. Especially that one issue between Aejin and her mother. In general it's so much drama, too much drama. Most troubles are solely misunderstandings. At this point the movie made me more angry than anything else. Not a big fan.

[gallopinggallifreyans]

Making a list for the curious eyes

-crouching tiger hidden dragon (beautiful. outstanding. incredible. I rewatch this every chance I get)

-enter the dragon (bruce lee beats up criminals)

-way of the dragon (bruce lee is a comedian)

-bloodsport (jean claude van damme has a nice butt. I didn’t appreciate it as a teen and forgot about this movie for years)

-the ip man series (donnie yen plays bruce lee’s teacher and also wing chun teacher)

-drunken master (it’s in the title)

-kung fu panda (first three movies ONLY. I do not acknowledge 4)

-big trouble in little china (not technically a martial arts movie but it’s fun)

-kung fury (dinosaurs)

[b3crew]

REVIEW | "Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf" | B3crew.com

Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf is a pitch-perfect remake of an already perfect anime, giving viewers a feeling like a hug from an old friend.

[quirkycatsfatstacks]

Review: Villains Are Destined to Die Vol. 2

Author: Gyeoeul GwonArtist: SUOLPublisher: Yen PressReleased: February 21, 2023Received: LibraryFind it on Goodreads | More Manga | Manwha Summary: You know how the story goes: a young woman in a horrible situation wakes up one day to find herself in a new world—complete with a new face! Usually, this second chance at life is a dream come true. Not for Penelope. She’s the unwanted Daughter of…

[ecargmura]

Crimson-Shell Manga Review - Mochizuki's Debut Work You've Probably Never Heard Of

Every great creators have their small starts before becoming big. Take God, for example, he started off small on the first day of creation by creating light and then went off to create more things until he got to Adam and how humans came to be. Jun Mochizuki is no exception to this. When people think of Mochizuki, either Pandora Hearts or The Case Study of Vanitas comes to mind. However, did you know that Pandora Hearts is NOT Mochizuki’s debut work? Yes, she actually has another story that’s her debut work and it’s a one shot. Meet, Crimson-Shell, Mochizuki’s long forgotten first child.

The story is about a world where people have powers given to them by roses. There is a special organization called Crimson-shell and its members who are trying to capture the Black Roses. The star member of the group is Claudia, the Crimson Rose. Her mission is to capture Black Roses as they are dangerous and rampant, but there is a rumor that someone in the organization possess the Black Roses and suspicions lie on her dearest friend Xeno.

While I love Mochizuki’s works, I can tell that this isn’t her best one at all. It makes sense given it’s a one-shot and her first dabble as a mangaka. It’s practically a sounding board for her writing style and storytelling prowess in a way. Think of Crimson-Shell as like an experiment of sorts. If you look through it, you can tell that a lot of Pandora Hearts’ details and story-telling came from this story, making it a Mochizuki signature before she became more polished.

Out of all of her three stories, Crimson-Shell is the fastest in terms of pacing and development. Heck, it’s way too fast. There’s never really time to develop a concrete plot or delve into what Roses are in general. It was definitely a story with a lot of potential, but alas, it was never meant to be.

Reading this manga really shows what Mochizuki got better at and what she’s not good at. Mochizuki’s style needs to be a slow-paced story that needs a lot of buildup before dropping plot twist bombs. Crimson-Shell had a lot of interesting concepts that fell flat. The story has a lot of interesting characters, but only Claudia, Xeno, Shion and Wilheim are of interest. Everyone else is just there. Though, I can tell Mochizuki LOVES plot twists given what happens at Chapter 5 with a big reveal on who the Black Rose traitor is.

Regarding her characters, I can tell Crimson-Shell has a lot of characters with characteristics and details that Mochizuki likes. Claudia has long black hair, which is practically a staple of Mochizuki’s story. There’s also Xeno, the tall protector of sorts, which is present in PH and VNC. There’s Shion, a cute twink. There’s Wilheim, the mysterious and suspicious person. These four character types are probably her favorite because you can find them in her succeeding works. However, because this is so short, not much comes out of them. The ending with Xeno and Claudia did get me a little emotional, however.

The story’s art is also good because there’s a lot of details and the scenery is good too. One can tell Mochizuki’s art was already good from this debut work alone. Mochizuki is good with expressions, hence why not everyone looks too same-faced.

Anyways, you can tell that this is the foundation for what Mochizuki becomes present-day. It’s crazy how much she has improved since her debut and I’m just so glad I was able to discover a wonderful mangaka because she works so hard. I honestly wouldn’t recommend Crimson-Shell because it’s a one-shot, but I would tell people who like both Pandora Hearts and The Case Study of Vanitas to read Crimson-Shell at least once in their lifetime to get a sense of how Mochizuki started and compare the past to her present. This is probably the only three-star story that I’ll give to a Mochizuki work. If you have read this manga, what are your thoughts on it?

[twenty-words-or-less]

First Love (2019)

Summary: Up-and-coming boxer Leo (Masataka Kubota) and call girl Yuri (Sakurako Konishi) get roped into a drug-smuggling scheme.

Energetic, comedic, bloody, and wildly entertaining, even if the romance between two leads isn't as convicing as intended.

Rating: 3.75/5

Photo credit: The Last Thing I See

[thenerdsofcolor]

Donnie Yen is Officially Returning as 'Caine'

Donnie Yen is Officially Returning as 'Caine' @Lionsgate @JohnWickMovie #Caine

What more is there to say about the legend of Donnie Yen that hasn’t already been communicated through his fists? The unparalleled actor and master of martial arts was recently seen giving John Wick a hard time in John Wick: Chapter 4 last year. But we’re not done with his seeing-impaired assassin just yet! Lionsgate is officially moving forward with a Caine spin-off! Continue reading Donnie Yen…

[ratleyland]

The cinematography and choreography were top notch throughout.

Truly fantastic movie... but a tad long-winded.

[yen-sids-tournament]

The Little Mermaid (1989) v Mulan (1998)

The Little Mermaid: With "witty songs" and "catchy musical pieces" this film brought Disney into their new age of animated domination: the Renaissance! It has also been said this movie brought Broadway music to the animated silver screen.

Mulan: At the time of the film's release, the music wasn't the most impressive but clearly that was wrong. Sure, we get that it can be hard to put a soundtrack together when the first choice collaborators leave, but this one endures. After all, "I'll Make A Man Out of You" gets all kinds of people excited and motivated to this day.

[blerdyotome]

Fox-Colored Jealousy Manga Review

Fox-Colored Jealousy is a one volume fantasy boys love manga by Machi Suehiro and published in English by Yen Press. Akiha Konno has a secret—he’s a fox boy. Well, it’s more of a fox spirit that shares his body, so sometimes he sprouts canine ears and a tail when he gets worked up. Whiiiich is exactly what happened the day he first met Yukuri Takahashi, the cute guy who saved him from the perv…

[darkeraven22]

Yen Press She Loves To Cook She Loves To Eat Volume 4 Review Finale Chapter Thirty-Seven (Digital)

Towards A Brighter Future…This is a short review, but I looked up the wiki for the series. It out some very good news in my hands. Coming up. So with the idea of a Takoyaki party? Nomoto & Kasuga are ready to confess their relationship to Nagumo & Yako. So Yako brings the Takoyaki plate, and it’s so on. By now you might have seen a takoyaki plate grill on several manga and animes. It’s easy.…

[unblinded-by-nostalgia-blog]

The beginning of the longest arc of SAO, Alicization! The Story The story is about Kirito ending up in a VR world after he is killed(?) by an old foe from Aincrad. One thing I will bring up is that this volume is very different from the previous volumes, it's has slower-paced storytelling (similar to The Isolator) and it is much more mature. There is no fanservice in this novel whatsoever. Not even Kirito walking in on somebody or any tentacle Monsters. They play this story completely straight and serious and I love this novel more because of it. Some people may not like the changes made in this volume, but I think it makes a great change, since the audience of this novel is getting older, and the series was originally released in 2001, so a more mature story is definitely welcomed. The Characters The Characters in this novel is great. Even Kirito gets great character development and even becomes a mentor to the new lead of this series. Yes, Asuna doesn't play a huge role in this novel, but we do see how much Kirito and her love each other. It is so great to see when it feels like Kirito is starting to become the harem king. Okay that joke has been done to death, but since the last few novels barely had Kirito and Asuna interacting, it feels like she should of stayed dead after the first novel. I mean, I still think it would make more sense plot-wise if she stayed dead, but seeing them being lovers makes it feel like that she still has a purpose in this series. The Illustrations The illustrations are really good, but the only issue I have with them is that there are too few of them. This book is very stingy when it comes to the quantity of the illustrations. Final Thoughts Overall, this volume brings Sword Art Online back to its roots, bringing back what we loved from the original first novel, while giving us something new. Honestly, if you were short on money, I would suggest skipping volumes 2,3,4 and 8 (don't skip Phantom Bullet and Mother's Rosary. They are also great) and go straight to this arc. This series is definitely showing promising signs to becoming a masterpiece in the making! The Story 5/5 The Characters 5/5 The Illustrations 4/5 Overall 4.5/5

[doublesama]

How much is your life worth? Would you sell 30 years of it for less than $2,000? What about if it also meant you only had 3 months left to live? That's the plot of the manga I sold my life for ten thousand yen per year.

READ: https://doublesama.com/i-sold-my-life-for-ten-thousand-yen-per-year/

[curried-mermaid]

A Review: Chained Soldier

Author: Takahiro Illustrator: Yohei Takemura Publishers: Yen Press Age Group: Older Teen Genre: Shonen Type: Manga

Content Warnings: Fan service, Nudity

Spoilers ahead

Plot

Yuuki Wakura, a teenage boy who wants nothing more than to fight on the Demon Defense Force instead of facing his future of a 9-5 grind, cannot believe how unlucky he is. First, he’s a boy, while only girls get to be on the Demon Defense Force. Since Mato, an otherworldy and dangerous dimension appeared, the world turned upside down to a modern matriarchal society. Special fruit known as “Peaches” grant unique abilites…but only to girls. 

 Second, his skills include cooking, sewing, mending, and household chores (which he is quite proud of). He has a fighting spirit but not a single fighting bone in his body. Until he gets involved in a Mato mishap where he is saved by Kyouka Uzen, the beautiful (slightly sadistic) commander of the 7th squad of the Demon Defense Force, who…orders him to become her slave?! 

Character Development

The character development in Chained Soldier is actually really good. We follow our househusband-type protagonist as he’s thrown into the world of the female-only Demon Defense Force. Yeah, he’s a slave, but he takes that in stride as he’s more excited by the prospect of doing what he’s always wanted. Who doesn’t wish to avoid the workforce grind and pursue your dreams, even if they’re logically unreasonable? 

Kyouka Uzen is a sadistic all-business commander. She trains her people hard because she expects great things. Her team is at the Reverse Ogre Gate which sees a lot of monsters. They need to always be ready because the barrier that surrounds their dorm isn't always going to save them. She dislikes using her power until Yuuki comes along (which comes with its own sets of problems). 

Each of the girls in 7th squad has a blaringly obvious personality type. Yet, there are twists and turns as we get close interactions between each one and Yuuki. I look forward to reading more of these to see how each personality type twists to make each girl memorable. 

World-building

We have our standard modern world, but mostly men have to deal with the workforce grind. There’s also a lot of tension between the sexes as men are pretty much considered slaves to women. Yuuki laments his future until he’s involved in a Mato Mishap. This is when random portals to Mato open up letting humans into Mato or demons into the world. 

We learn that Yuuki’s sister had the same thing happen to her and was never found. All he can do is follow the guidelines they’ve been taught (repeatedly) to stay put and wait for the Demon Defense Force to save you. He does just that until he gets mobbed by monsters and books it through Mato just to stay alive until he can be saved. 

Once he is saved, we learn from various characters that Mato is divided into quadrants. Each quadrant has a squadron of the Demon Defense Force. If we read the translation notes it further explains the world. The ogre gate (northeast) is considered inauspicious or bad. The same holds for the reverse ogre gate (southwest). If we follow this logic also knowing that more monsters spawn at the 7th squad’s southwest location, Yuuki is in for a rough time. 

I like world-building in Chained Soldier because it uses specific things from Japanese mythology and superstition that add flavor and depth to this created world. Even the use of peaches is a reference when the god Izanagi fled the underworld after failing to retrieve his wife. To get away, he threw three peaches at his pursuers. 

If you read this series, definitely check out the translation notes at the end for more context. It explains some of the world-building and fleshes things out in post. 

Themes

While there is a lot of fan service in this series, it has some good themes such as never giving up on your dreams—they may happen but in unexpected ways. 

Another one is no skill is lesser than others. Yuuki’s skills for housework earn him his caretaker role in the 7th squad. Without that, he wouldn’t be there. He earns a lot of respect from fighting as a slave on behalf of Kyouka but also by doing the chores. He puts up with a lot of shit from the girls. 

Observations & Predictions

There will be more fan service. I can also see that we’ll be introduced to other characters. Along those lines, we’ll also see more of the current cast’s personalities as Yuuki wins them over one way or another. He may just start collecting a harem without realizing it. If he does realize it, it won’t be like the ones in his dreams. 

As for world-building, we are already immersed in it pretty well. I think it’ll just flesh itself out inadvertently as the author tries to focus more on the fan service and character relationships. We may also see some character development from Yuuki so he doesn’t feel like he’s useless outside of the fight. We see a little bit of this when he grabs anythingg of Kyouka’s he can, forcing himself to transform to help one of the other girls out of a tight spot. The dormitory is under attack and she’s the only one, so Yuuki figuring out a way to help earns him a lot of points. 

Recommendations

Fan-service fans:

Monster Musume By: Okayado

High School DxD By: Ichiei Ishibumi

Similar Shonen arcs:

Spriggan By: Hiroshi Takashige

Combatants will be dispatched (light novel) By: Natsume Akatsuki

[animehouse-moe]

Whoever Steals This Book Volume 1 Review

Out of all the weird and interesting things going on in this first volume, the thought I'm left with is, "Man, I really hope Yen Press licenses the novel this manga is adapting". Whoever Steals This Book still remains a worthwhile read, but within the context of its visual limitations and lackluster adaptation to a visual format, I'm hard pressed to say that this is a very good way to experience this story.