Zee J. Yan. He has become a household name in magic already, and for good reason. Once I heard about his pass project, I was excited. Zee has published several things including Itoshito, BIMO, How To Do Coin Magic, Project Z, and Retention Zee. Mostly these projects are coin magic based and excellent at that, so I knew his card magic would be good. Here is my review of the project:

Zee's approach is a very good one. I have been taught, I've read, and I've purchased many projects or books that include thoughts on the pass or are based solely on the workings of it. Having some of these to compare this project to, I do notice quite a few similarities to other approaches. However, I hardly believe this to be important. Zee has contributed some very good points to add to your current approach. As magicians we are all different in our styles of performing, our hands are all different, and we may even just have different views about sleights. I believe that this project will give any magician more tools to add to their toolbox. I especially liked the fact that Zee included a PDF of his thoughts in written form. This is an incredible detail that I feel every magician who publishes their work in video format should think about doing. I would like it if the PDF was more so the project, and the video was the supplement, but that is neither here nor there. The PDF goes into great detail on Zee's thinking process as it related to the pass, and I honestly believe that every magician should take note of it. Zee had a problem. He made subtle changes to find his solution. This is wonderful, and these small details are some of the things others might pass over (pardon the pun) as they dive into the project.

There are a few drawbacks, unfortunately, that I personally have with this approach. First, the angle sensitivity. This is not usually an issue for me, but from studying magic I do not believe that any sleight should be challenged and burned. Regardless of how invisible this pass may be, I do not think it is a good idea to encourage burning. Therefore, I would not recommend this project to anyone who is a beginner or as an introduction to the pass, but for more intermediate and advanced individuals who understand these things or have considerable experience using sleight of hand. In the video portion, you mostly see Zee's hands and there isn't much showing the rest of his body for body language, which is also a small flaw. In some points you see just Zee's hands as he talks, which might not be too thrilling for some viewers. Some typos can be found in the PDF section, which was a small negative for me.
It would have been great to see him perform this for a live spectator for clarity and context. There are, however, multiple angles in the instruction, the film quality is phenomenal, the audio is crystal clear. Even some jokes are added, which is always nice.

Overall, Zee truly understands what he is doing, and he does it very well. He has the ability to explain it in such a way that you too can understand where his head is at. I think this is what makes him such a great teacher. Although I have stated that this project is not for a beginner, I do believe that there is much to be learned from it, even unrelated to the pass he teaches itself. He goes over angles, tension, and he talks about his problems with what he's seen so far. We as magicians are all problem solvers. We love to find solutions and each of us have our own problems we must solve, making us all unique. Zee states that this pass is not the be all and end all to passes, but a building block, and I couldn't agree more.

Rating: A
Conclusion: Recommended

I hope this helps anybody out there!

-Travis Askew

I must apologize profusely. Zee promptly sent me the download, but I am horribly late in holding up my end of the deal and posting my review.

I wrote it up, and got busy and completly forgot about it. I assumed I had posted it, but clearly I was mistake. I'm so sorry about that.

Any who, onto the review.

Let's start off with how beautiful this looks. The production quality is top notch here. Visuals are sharp, and audio is clear. Background music is soothing, and not distracting.
The graphics used are eaqualy sharp, and the colour choice accents perfectly on the black leather.
Onr minor criticism here is that I would have liked to have seen Zee's face a bit more. Once the video focuses in on his hands and the deck, the camera doesn't really pull back for some breathing room til the end.

On to the teaching.

Zee does a fantastic job of breaking down his reasoning, identifying problems, and explaining his thought process and approch to solving those problems.

Zee makes sure to cover the obvious concerns such as viewing angles, but also has fantastic tips on getting INTO the shift. This kind of attention to detail is often lacking in a lot of teaching, and the little tips like these Zee drops are the real hidden gems here.

The pass itself.

This is beautiful, plain and simple. Zee has picked up on a few ideas and approaches similar to several before him, including Doc, Frank Thompson, and myself.

Some may find the approach "limiting," or angly, but compared to what? The traditional classic pass is already VERY limiting in many respects, from viewing angels, to noise, to sheer technical difficulty. The the combined approaches and touches here can help actually OPEN your angles, once you're aware of your spectators eye lines.

The action dramatically reduces a lot of vertical concerns, while providing a wide horizontal viewing range.
That said, if you find yourself performing for André The Giant and Verne Troyer at the same time, you may want to opt for a different control.

To summarize, this is a beautiful, well taught, insightful approach that can take your classic pass in a whole new direction!

I would like to get a review copy😊
thank you Z

and happy new year to everyone ☘️🐖🌸

Wow, those are a lot of great reviews!

Thank you guys for your reviews! It is always great to see what others think of my work and my approach!

Haven't dropped by here for a while, but I just had a great time reading all these great reviews.

Really, thank you all for taking time and writing a review for me.

Also, happy new year, everyone!

Zee

PS: If you liked what I did in Classic Pass Z, then you might also like what I have to share in Smooth Z. Just a FYI hahaha