Wizard has announced that it’s ending the publication of its Anime magazine, Anime Insider. This neither surprises me nor bothers me. I didn’t care for Anime Insider. The articles read like one info-mercial after another, a problem not just for this publication, but all of Wizards magazines (except maybe Toyfare). I remember back in 2005-06, there was a lot of chatter on the interwebs about it. And let’s face it, Wizard hasn’t been doing real well in the last few years. Conventions cancelled, and this is the second of their pubs to be cancelled, Inquest, their gaming mag to go first. It was only a matter of time, before a niche mag like this would see the chopping block. Of course, this isn’t just a trend in anime/manga, as some have suggested. Yes, advertising for anime and now manga has been going down in the last few years. And anime and manga mags have been biting the dust (Animerica, Newtype/PIQ, etc.). But let’s face it. This is a trend in publishing in general. Printing and distributions costs have gone up a lot, with daily/weekly publications taking the biggest hits. Newspapers are either shutting down or searching desparately to keep their…
We knew it was coming. The writing was on the wall for a while now. Cartoon Network has officially killed Toonami, and has effectively killed any chance for Adult Swim anime (who’s going to stay up/get up at 5am to watch Code Geass or Guardian of the Spirit, on a Sunday?!). So, anime companies have had to find new outlets to show their anime. They know no one is going to buy it without seeing it first. Sci-Fi seems to be doing fairly well with their Ani-Mondays, and Funimation is expanding their shows on their channel (for those of us lucky enough to have Verizon FiOS. hehe). But the wave of the future, and we all know it’s coming, is internet broadcasting. And anime companies seem to be embracing it now, while it’s still early.
This past year, anime companies have been claiming that fansubs are killing the anime industry as we know it in the US. The people involved with dubs are especially vocal about this, the producers, directors and actors, since it is their side of production that is most affected. Here’s a thought for these people; instead of crying doom and gloom for the anime industry, why don’t they try an area that fansubs CAN’T compete with them on? Audio Dramas based on manga.
In case you missed it the first time around, Bookcloseouts.com has another sale on Tokyopop books. They range in 50%-75% off, but most of the books I’ve looked at are 60% off. That’s still only $3.99 a book. It’s a steal if there are some older titles that you’ve been thinking about getting. My suggestions: Pet Shop of Horrors Genju no Seiza Dragon Voice Dragon Knights Vampire Game Crescent Moon Planetes RG Veda – For Clamp Fans Clamp no Kisenki – For Clamp Fans Comic Party That should be a good start. Some of those series are only the first couple of volumes. For others, you can get a near complete run! The books are in good shape with maybe just a black mark on the bottom of the books to mark them for closeout. I couldn’t find an expiration date for this sale, but the last one was for a month, so I’m gonna guess the same for this one. On an unrelated note, but I wanted to point out that Walmart and Amazon.com has the One Piece Season One Uncut Collection for only $22.00. That’s half off the regular price! It’s only for half a season (13 episodes),…
The latest issue of Otaku USA has a couple of features on the anime classic series Space Battleship Yamato. While reading these features and the writers talking about their first times seeing the series, it got me thinking about how I was introduced to it. Like most other people my age, my first exposure to Japanese animation was through the cartoons that were brought over and re-written for a US audience. Kimba the White Lion, Speed Racer, and Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman) were all shows I remember watching and liking, but they never differentiated them from the other cartoons I watched. That honor goes to another show; Star Blazers. It was 1978, I’m almost certain. KTLA, channel 5, a local television station in the Los Angeles area. It had a show on the weekends that showed movies for kids; The Family Film Festival. It ran in the afternoons, after the morning cartoons were over, and there was only sports on the local channels (there was no cable at the time). So, the Family Film Festival was the best thing on. It was hosted by Tom Hatten, a well-known local personality. He sat in a director’s chair, a clipboard in…
As many parents with school age children know, getting your child to read can sometimes be a real hassle. This is especially true if your child is struggling in school. In this post-“No Child Left Behind”-world, this can mean pressure from teachers and schools to get your child to improve. I was having this problem with my youngest daughter. Now, I’ve always believed the way to get someone interested in reading, was to give them a book about something they were interested in or enjoyed. So with my youngest, we tried finding books that she would like, and let her choose the books she wanted to read, but she still struggled with her reading, and never wanted to do it. We were at a loss of what to do, until we found a breakthrough in the form of an anime. As well as reading manga, I enjoy watching anime based on manga. One series I got interested in was Sgt. Frog from Tokyopop. When I found some fansubs online, I downloaded them to check the anime out. So, I’m out in the living room, watching the shows, and both my daughters come out to see what I was doing. Since…
According to ANN, ADV is discontinuing Newtype USA. No reason why, just that a “new, unnamed” magazine will take it’s place. To be honest, I’m not going to miss Newtype USA. Of all the anime/manga magazines out there, this one had the greatest potential that was completely wasted by ADV. But then, that’s no surprise either. I remember the excitement at the news that Newtype would be coming to the US in an english form. Newtype was the bible to anime back in the day (and I mean the 80’s when I say that). Getting a version here was awesome news to the anime fan. And then…ADV got a hold of it. It became a big, glossy ad for ADV advertisers, and not the premiere magazine on anime that it should have been. Up until this year, there was no anime/manga magazine that I thought was worth my time. Anime Insider, from Wizard, it just another Wizard magazine cosplaying. There aren’t any real reviews and nothing bad is said about the advertisers products. Protoculture Addicts…it was a nice fanzine, but really lost it when it became a published magazine. I just don’t feel I can trust what’s said in it,…
ANN has reported that two new anime series’ for the spring have been announced that are based on manga; Golgo 13 by Takao Saito and To Love-Ru -Trouble- by Saki Hasemi and Kentaro Yabuki. Manly men can rejoice that one of their idols is finally getting his own series. Golgo 13 is about an amoral assassin that takes on assignments from all over the globe. This series started in the 1960’s, and is still published today. It’s 147th volume was published on December 5 in Japan. Duke Togo, code name Golgo 13, is a crack shot and a magnet for the ladies. He can pop off a target in one panel and then score with a beautiful woman in the next. Few men are more manly than Golgo 13. But for all his manliness, Golgo 13 has never had his own series. He’s only had a live action movie and 2 animated movies. Finally, he gets to come into his own. Viz Media has published 12 volumes of Golgo 13’s adventures under their Viz Signature line. To Love-Ru -Trouble- is a sci-fi romance comedy drawn by Kentaro Yabuki, best known here for his Black Cat series, also being published by…
Viz takes another step into the digital domain by offering one of it’s biggest sellers online. Naruto joins Bleach and Death Note on Direct2Drive , IGN Entertainment’s digital retail store, at the reasonable price of $1.99 an episode. It’s for windows users only right now, as it uses Mediaplayer’s DRM, but intel macs with windows emulators can run them too. Apparantly all the shows are also dub only, so if you like the watch your anime in the original japanese with subtitles, you’re going to have to stay with DVDs.