Aug 1, 2009
You know, I was sitting here reading the August issue of Otaku USA, and as I was reading it, I found myself skipping lots of pages, including the anime and manga reviews. Ironically, this was the section I used to read with the greatest interest. And I began to wonder if Otaku USA is even worth buying anymore. For a while now, I have become less and less enthused with the magazine, even though I have bought every issue since it began. Maybe I'm just bored with it? But why?
One of the problems with the magazine is that there seems to be very little reporting going on. It's just reviews and opinions with very little data about the anime or manga they're doing an article on. I like the Protoculture Addicts style more, where they give a summary of the show and then all kinds of breakdowns and graphics on the main chracters and episode guides. For example, say you're doing a feature on Fullmetal Alchemist, show pictures of all the main players with captions about them. Even Anime Insider did stuff like this. It's sad but I'm even beginning to miss the visual overload of Newtype. So, I mean, keep the opinions, but also have just as much emphasis on actual information about the show as well.
Another thing that bothers me about Otaku USA is the fact that it seems like a "dubbed" magazine, in that most of the writers are writing their features from a second-hand point of view. There are very few interviews with the original manga creators or anime staff so again you're writing in circles and just having the viewer or reader's side represented in the magazine. It's kinda like when I used to watch an ADV anime dvd and they would have a commentary track with the dub actors. What could the English voice actors possibly know about the original intentions of the Japanese actors, directors, and staff? So it ends up being an interpretation within an interpretation and I'm not interested in that.
If you look at the cover of the August issue of Otaku USA you will find that none of the shows it lists are unreleased. Newtype would have had this cover on their magazine probably in January of this year instead of August. It's completely out of date. I used to read the anime magazines to look AHEAD, instead of reading articles about what is already out. I remember looking at pictures and reading about shows in Newtype that were sometimes years away from being released here. Now, as more and more anime and manga companies are going straight to the internet, sometimes days after their release in Japan, Otaku USA is going to have to figure out a way to get ahead of the curve with looks at shows that haven't already been released for months by the time the next issue comes out.
And where is the reporting? I have yet to see the definitive breakdown of what the hell happened at ADV and Geneon. It probably has to do with the fact that there are no "professional" anime or manga reporters. We're all just amateurs really. But you know if I had connections in the anime world, I'd want to find out the truth of what happened to the anime market, like a Bob Woodward. How did the anime company that truly originated the US market completely collapse? And you know what, I'd make it the cover story of an issue of Otaku USA.
And can you believe there is no mention at all of the media blitz put on by Viz last month with Shonen Sunday, Ikki, and their Haikasoru sci-fi line? Not one line. Silence on what could be one of the most important developments of the past couple of years. I would also like to hear the story of how Funimation singlehandedly saved the US market for anime fans. They truly did. And no opinions or mention of the coming One Piece locust manga infestation.
Anime News Network seems to be the true source of what is going on in the anime and manga world. I find out more about what's going on there in one day than in all of the issues of Otaku USA put together.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the mag is falling behind the curve and I'm thinking about not picking up the next issue. Trust me, I'm probably not the only one. I'm all for opinion, but I don't expect people to pay for mine. If this magazine doesn't change, I don't see it surviving.
And PLEASE take the word CHEAP off your cover. It's got all sorts of unseemly connotations.
It\'s funny, because I have exactly the same response to Protoculture Addicts - it seems vacuous and flickable - endless synopses and descriptions without any critical comment. Newtype USA managed to do the same kind of thing so prettily that i forgave it...
But I like Otaku USA - it feels like the heir to PULP magazine (an old Viz manga mag) which I used to love. I do agree that it could have more timely features. There\'s no point in a news page, but a feature on some of Viz\' recent manga blitzes, or a feature on how Funimation saved the world/ruthlessly wiped out their rivals would be very interesting.
Actually, my favorite magazine used to be Animerica. I think it was closest to my ideal of what an anime/manga magazine could be. It had news, reviews, and previews. I think that Otaku USA is the opposite of Newtype, which is not necessarily a good thing. Instead of 95% fact it\'s 95% opinion. To me, it\'s cool to read a person\'s view of an anime or a manga, but why pay for it? I think you could do a mag that could combine the best parts of something like the data of Protoculture Addicts with Otaku USA\'s criticism and the previews and visuals of Newtype.
I don\'t think Funimation wiped out its rivals. I think ADV wiped itself out. And really, along with Bandai, Funimation and ADV were the only major anime companies. Without Funimation, the current anime market, at least in terms of DVDs, would be the size of a dust mote.
I guess there\'s really no point in complaining about Otaku USA because they have no competition to drive them to be anything else. I don\'t feel that they\'re trying to expand anime or manga audiences. It just seems to be articles written as injokes amongst a clique. Protoculture Addicts has become a non-entity. I haven\'t seen a copy of Addicts in a bookstore or comic store in about a year.
I still get the feeling that Otaku USA will fold within a year\'s time.
The CHEAP! is more than anything a reference to MAD Magazine, which had that marking their price since as far back as I can remember.
I religiously bought Newtype for a good six months before I realized how little of it was relevant or even interesting for being \\\"95% fact.\\\" The reviews were watered-down capsule bites, the TV listings were for Japan and the spreads, while pretty (real pretty), provided little worthwhile information. I ultimately found the only thing worth reading were the little editorial columns in the front and, of course, the little sampler DVD for that cartoon fix.
Ditto for Animerica. While the reviews and editorials and interviews were usually lengthy and worthwhile, I quickly skipped the character summaries. Protoculture Addicts, for how difficult it is to find, also became an eye-roller when I realized that it was just a rag filled with character summaries.
Otaku USA was the one anime publication I found myself reading cover to cover. It touched on what I loved about Animerica but written with a modern voice thanks to contributors like Daryl Surat and Michael Dent. It\\\'s not perfect - your point on not actually covering the inside of Geneon\\\'s fall is actually quite a good one - but it\\\'s by far the best of English language anime publications I\\\'ve read in recent times.
It actually sounds like someone needs to write a new book about the rise and fall of the US anime market. I guess I wouldn\'t really call it fall, but the transformation. Otaku USA not covering the ADV or Geneon debacles would be like the Wall Street Journal never analyzing the bank crisis. Why not report on it and let everything be brought to light? It\'s not like any of the anime or manga companies are giving them exclusives or special access and both companies are practically dead, so who can get upset? It\'s like the magazine exists in a void.
I will say this, Otaku USA\'s online site is much better than the actual mag. Even if I stop buying the physical representation, I will continue to visit and enjoy the online part.
I think you\'re missing the point. The reason they aren\'t covering the \"latest and greatest\" in the news is because there\'s not point. You clearly already know about the news. Why? You read it online. Most fans are doing this now and the editors at Otaku USA know this. The same goes for boring character/episode summaries. The edge that Otaku USA has on the rest is the writers. I but the magazine because I want to know what Dave Riley thought of Resident Evil 5. I want to read Daryl Surat\'s thoughts on Fist of the North Star. You\'re right that they never report on anything, but I don\'t recall them ever claiming to be a news source. I\'m not sure what else to say.
p.s. The word \"cheap\" sells magazines. Newtype was incredibly expensive for what you got. Even Otaku USA had a high price for a while. They\'ve since lowered the price and they want people to know.