12:30pm, and it’s already been a long day…

Anime:
- I got an anonymous tip pointing me to this post by former PiQ editor Kevin Gifford talking about why the magazine (and other magazines) fail. In it he also mentions the status of his former employers: “…the parent company is more-or-less run by the creditors at the bank, my 401(k) got cut off a couple weeks earlier and health insurance was undoubtedly following soon after, and the office was more empty and barren than most of New Mexico…” Ouch.

- SaiAni reports on the Gunslinger Girl OVA, which will be getting its own website soon.

- Aaand Moon Phase has cast details for the upcoming anime adaptation of Ga-Rei. Tooru will be voiced by Tomoaki Maeno, who is also in this summer’s Someday’s Dreamers sequel as Gouta; Eri Kitamura (Blood+’s Saya) will voice Natsuki; Tetsuya Kakihara (Minamike’s Fujioka) will play Masaki. Mami will be voiced by Masaki Fukuen (Darker than Black’s Yin) and Kudou will be played by Rikiya Koyama (Hajime no Ippo’s Mamoru Takamura).

Manga:
- Should have posted this ages ago: Same Hat! Same Hat! has acquired a copy of the first US edition of a manga ever: Barefoot Gen, published back in 1978 by a group of anti-nuclear activists. How awesome is that?

- ANN has the scoop on the second International Manga Competition from Morning, as well as information on the upcoming third competition, taken from MangaCast.

- The PW Beat has learned that cute/crazy artist Junko Mizuno is going to be doing some work for Marvel…although the original link has disappeared. Still: do want.

Cons:
- Anime Expo has announced their AX Backstage hosts in the form of a video. The hosts are: Addy (the “AX Backstage Funky Fresh Fashionista”), DeMo (”Demosthenes,” or “AX Backstage Funny Man,” or as I’m going to call him, “that Shatner Wannabe”), and Luna (”AX Backstage Professional Diva”). A so-so video with so-so personas, but I do give them kudos for the Jem reference though. HELL YES JEM.

In Japan:
- In an attempt to counteract conceptions of Akihabara being dangerous, cops have started doing random searches of peoples’ stuff. In an attempt to counteract the searches, there has been another Akihabara stabbing. That does not bode well.

Required Reading:
- Newsarama has a wide selection of responses to TOKYOPOP’s recent changes from Tpop’s current and former creators.

- This Yomiuri has a nice article on the Toy Show and “toy otaku” in Akiba, if you’re interested. And I know you are.

Posted by gia in Features, Roundups • Comments (8)

So, turns out that the reason for those PiQ shutdown rumors is that some freelancers have reported getting notice that the magazine’s final issue will hit stands in July. Over at CWR Johanna explains why she originally deleted her post on the matter, but has restored it, seeing as how news is spreading ’round the ‘net anyway.

So now my question remains: will ADV be at Anime Next, and if so, what the heck does one say to a company in the midst of so many failures? And yes, several people have suggested that I hunt ADV reps down like dogs and somehow (magically?) force them to explain what’s going on, but frankly, that’s just not plausible– and odds are that what’s going on is simply that they’re scrambling to put together enough money to keep running. If there’s anything more specific going on (like being acquired or partnering up or something), I’m going to call it unlikely that they’ll leak it to me early.

That said, I’ll do my best to learn what I can…if they show.

Posted by gia in Gossip, News, Western News • Comments (4)

Boy, it’s a good thing I’m a loser with no Friday night plans– lots of late news today! Or semi-news? Maybe news? Hm.

Anyway, Simon Jones posted (NSFW) what is now a broken link at Comics Worth Reading announcing that ADV’s Newtype USA replacement PiQ is closing its short-lived doors. But PiQ just posted their fourth volume’s cover yesterday and there’s no trace now of the Comics Worth Reading post– not even a Google cache.

…So maybe it was just an error on CWR’s part, although clearly one with enough evidence for Simon to go for. Or maybe CWR broke some news and PiQ requested it be taken down? I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see PiQ disappear; reviews of the mag haven’t been terribly favorable and now’s not a great time to be a print magazine in a geek fandom, especially a magazine whose editorial goals are virtually identical to a couple of other mags.

Well, time will tell.

Posted by gia in Gossip, News, Western News • Comments (11)

So I got an e-mail from Gary Steinman, former editor-in-chief of Newtype USA and, until today, editor-in-chief of PiQ. In the e-mail he passed on info about the next person to talk to about the magazine if we have questions, and I noticed that it was at a new domain: PiQmag.com.

So there you have it: the official PiQ website has launched, or at least pre-launched since it’s mostly a placeholder. Still, I thought I’d let you know where to keep an eye out if you’re interested in the new mag.

Comic212’s Christopher Butcher received a media kit about ADV’s magazine PiQ, which is apparently both just a name change for Newtype USA and, at the same time, an entirely reworked magazine.

The magazine will be a bit smaller both in trim size (8″x10″ instead of 9″x12″) and length (~130 pages versus ~160), and in price as well: $6.99 to NTUSA’s $12.98 (that’s USD of course; CAD will be $7.99, versus NTUSA’s $16.98). It will also read standard left-to-right instead of NTUSA’s right-to-left and have a spine instead of being stapled.

No word on DVDs, but the content will broaden; it’ll be roughly 20% anime, 20% gaming, 20% “US comics/Japanese manga,” 20% genre movies and TV, 10% toys and collectibles and 5% each of gadgets and lifestyle. Butcher notes how amazingly similar this is to Wizard’s magazines, especially when you factor in that PiQ will be “squarely addressing the needs of a cutting-edge young male audience.” (I wonder if they really wanted that phrase to be published; as a cutting-edge female I can’t help but feel a little neglected.) They’re estimating a 70/30 split in favor of guys for their readership– I wonder what NTUSA’s was?

Butcher also shares a potential cover for the first issue featuring Appleseed Ex Machina, which you can go see at his post.

I think Butcher’s statements that the magazine sounds a bit more generic geek than otaku-specific are pretty apt given this information, though of course we’ll have to wait and see how it actually turns out. Given the current market for magazines, broadening probably isn’t a bad move anyway– but it may put off some of the fans who would rather see more features on anime and manga than on, say, Heroes or Cloverfield.

And I have to admit I’m a little annoyed that I’m gleaning all the info on PiQ via other people receiving media kits or having their questions answered, rather than via a response to my own e-mail to Gary Steinman regarding the magazine, or even an e-mail to all us former NTUSA writers.

Original source: Comics212
Secondary source: MangaBlog

Posted by gia in Anime, Misc, News, Western News • Comments (4)

Here’s hoping I got to this oh-so-clever title before the rest of the anime blogging world.

That said, MangaBlog got a user tip letting them know that ADV’s new magazine– set to replace Newtype USA –will be titled PiQ. ANN confirms this news by sending its peons to ask about their NTUSA subscriptions, and they receive promises that NTUSA subscribers will receive a subscription to PiQ equal to double their remaining time with NTUSA.

As someone who has written for NTUSA, I can tell you that as of this moment I’ve heard no word about PiQ or its content. Only time will tell!

But you know who I’d REALLY like to hear from? Kadokawa Shoten, who publish Newtype in Japan. Presumably they were getting some money from ADV for Newtype USA, the “official” English version of the magazine. Maybe this is Kadokawa’s punishment for being so nice to Bandai Entertainment? Or maybe Kadokawa wanted to pull out of the magazine? Or maybe they have nothing at all to do with it? Hmm!

(Note: Since Rob’s an expert in the US anime magazine world, having been chief editor of Anime Insider, I recommend taking a look at his take on it as well.)

Posted by gia in Gossip, Misc, News, Western News • Comments (1)