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NEWS: A.D. Vision's PiQ Mag to Cover More than Anime, Manga

No, I was not telling you anything, especially not what percentage of manga on bookstore shelves is shojo. And no bookstore I shop at breaks manga into boys and girls sections so I have no idea that percentage may be, even if it were slightly relevent to the question that I was asking.

I was merely asking what basis there was for presuming that a projected 30% female readership for the new magazine represented an enormous swing from whatever the demographic of Newtype USA (or other magazines) might be (although I was also implicitly suggesting that such a basis might not exist because I am perfectly capable of admitting that I don't know). And indeed, your reply suggests that based upon covers, etc., that the difference may very well not be as disparate as comments in this topic have been forcefully asserting.

In any case, I was still just curious as to whether there were facts at available to substantiate these opinions to which I did not have access.

No bookstore I know of divides shonen from Shojo either (I shop a couple that split off yaoi, but they also split off hentai), but looking at the covers & authors. Even the shonen stuff can be qualifying-InuYasha by a female author just might have a larger female than male readership (sure seems like it). Same for FMA. I'd gamble Bleach probably clocks in a little over that 70-30 spread because there are a large number of hot guys in it just like Saint Seiya has a pretty good-sized female fanbase (maybe a larger percentage than male to female DBZ fans). The image shonen outsells shojo is a bit skewered because many of the popular titles do transcend their gender grouping. Ouran has a lot of male readers even though the target is female-the author expressed amazement at boys reading her title in those little comment columns. In a Newtype article ages ago it was pointed out Saiyuki exceeded the studio's expectations in drawing in a larger male audience than expected since the manga's target is female.

My disappointment with the Otaku USA I picked up was most of the articles were on "guy" titles. Yes, there was a 6-page article on yaoi zines in Japan. I was interested in the Hell Girl article, although that isn't a title particularly aimed at gals. I will read the Appleseed article because I sort of like the title, but it's very much a guy title. I've really gone off Naruto so the article is only mildly interesting (God, that one deteriorated quickly into endless fights), though if they bother with One Piece, it's a whole different story. Eva, StarBlazers...I see more effort in their reviews (large number of yaoi reviewed) to appeal to gals than their article selection.

I don't particularly think about Anime Insider articles. I read the interesting ones, but the charm of that zine is the jokes. It does have good info in some of its articles, but if all the articles were duds, I'd probably still consider it successful because the letters & the photo captions are the biggest reason for me buying this zine (& Last Man Standing).

PiQ can't be "Newtype re-named" unless they manage to keep a healthy share of the articles from Newtype Japan which I don't see happening if they aren't a franchise any longer. Newtype Japan, Animage & whatever that other one my teen talked me into going halfsies on but I never get to see are not 20% anime & 20% gaming, etc. None of the American zines pay as much attention to staff & cast lists as Newtype did, but PiQ does, it will give them an edge in my book.

I do find it amusing I got a "Last issue-re-subscribe 2/1 is your last issue" Newtype letter yesterday pitching "Don't miss out on the latest from Japan!" when it isn't going to BE Newtype I'd be subscribing to. It's almost like bait & switch-they're hoping I (& everyone else) haven't heard & will re-subscribe. I saw no mention of PiQ when I scanned the notice.

With the cover work and style, I smell a brilliant flop.

I feel a conspiracy theory coming on:

Newtype USA wasn't making money, and the japanese Newtype's licensing costs were high enough where it would never conceivably by a winning venture for ADV...

But, ADV can't simply stop newtype altogether, because that would require refunding people's subscription fees: Which frankly have probably already been spent. They couldn't afford to take that kind of a hit right now, but also couldn't afford the long-term bleeding the magazine was causing.

So they come up with a "replacement" for newtype and basically offer it up to the current subscribers simply as a stop-gap measure to prevent massive amount of subscription cancellations.
I don't think PiQ will be around longer than a year, unless it is magically successful and gets a ton of new subscriptions.

The clues to this are that ADV doesn't seem to be hiring any new people to work on the new magazine, just using their old newtype staff. Wouldn't a magazine that covers 70% different material require, you know, different people with different expertise? I'm sure the employees at newtype USA have various other interests than anime, but that doesn't really make them qualified to write reviews of tech gadgets or video games.

On a more upbeat note: does this mean that newtype Japan articles would be up for grabs by other magazines to sub-license?
For example, if Protoculture Addicts wanted to publish one of newtype's interviews, could they pay them for the rights to just one article?

^^^

Well I've been thinking the same thing about what is going on for while. Not sure I consider it a "conspiracy theory" as much as a personal thought on what is going on, YMMV time Razz

.

Edit: I wanted to add that I do hope I'm just being cynical here Confused

.

The magazine sounds like shit. excuse my french.
I don't game I watch anime and I read manga. thats it. Newtype was already a stretch for my interests(they had some good articles though). This sounds like absolute suck. I don't want anything to do with the magazine.

The 70% male demographic is also bs. Im so tired of the north american anime industry right now I don't even know what to think anymore.

we might just have to wait and see but if the magazine is anything like adv's website then it will look like a 70% male demographic 30% female demographic. We know how adv loves girls with their boobs bouncing around. That makes me very unhappy but I would love to see the day when adv does something for the girls anyway. As much as I want to say that this magazine is going to be great and it will do a great service to the anime community just like newtype did I can't but I will have to buy at least one issue to form a solid opinion.

Its just honestly sad to see the way they are heading. I've been buying the magazine since November of 2003 and subscribed the following summer. The days of NewtypeUSA nostalgia are over.

I am upset, but understand the reasoning behind not putting out DVDs because of finances, but to change the format from traditional Janapnese to American. They say its 'only a name change'. What a crock. It seems the magazine was only a financial project more than something of content and soul. Not to be wholly bashing it. Im sure it will still have some quality too it and I will take on the first few issues to see if it hits the ground running, but to sell out so you can appeal to kids who think its 'weird' to read it the way we do with manga, its just unfortunate.

Im also glad to see that I found this out early last month through ANN and not even through an e-mail, call, or letter from ADV or Newtype. They didn't even set it up on their own website. I say this in jest, but if they had not brought over and produced Azumanga Daioh, I would be cursing them for slighting their fanbase with a knockoff magazine that is going against half of the content and style of NTUSA. Lets just hope for now though.

Who knows, maybe if they're lucky, the magazine will rebound with a moderate sucess and they will bring back the DVD. I wonder if they are also taking away the centerfolds or adding the poster back in as collateral too?

Alright ...so who's got it???

I just got my first issue yesterday and the verdict: big fat ugly pile of crap :[

They ditched the anime theme with flying colors and filled it with ...junk. There was one, ONE article that I found interesting (death of anime ironically) but other than that it was useless. Frisky Dingo?!?! ADV seriously went for the broader audience and in the process, lost a subscriber. I'm asking for my money back asap. Sorry to say, but after Newtype, PiQ doesn't even come close to cutting it.

I'm really curious what you guys think.

Got mine today, and have been flipping through it. I think the interesting-to-disinteresting ratio isn't much different than it was for NewtypeUSA.

Main articles are about 50% anime, 50% mainstream sci-fi. Gone are things like the 'character art of XXX series' spreads, two paragraph 'reviews', the right-to-left format (things which I don't miss) and (predictably) the japanese columnists and the screener dvd ( things which I do miss). In is coverage of US comics, sci-fi live-action shows, and anime-inspired western animation, such as Avatar.

Physically, the new issue is smaller than NTUSA, just a standard sized height and width. Pages number 128, including the Shin-Chan comic at the end (the comic is right-to-left, not flopped). Gluebound, not stapled. Pages are a heavy gloss white paper, similar to a National Geographic (Great for photos, bad for Mother Nature).

The article about the state of the US anime market is the one I'm finding most engrossing at first glance... if they continue in this vein, I'll like the magazine a lot more than NewtypeUSA. Although I understand the stance, NTUSA's policy of 'all sunshine, all the time' never struck me as lending itself to penetrating insights into the industry. One of my favorite movie magazines was Premiere, which wasn't afraid to poke sticks into hornet's nests and stir vigorously. I like my industry magazines to call 'em as they see 'em.

I'd tried OtakuUSA for an issue or two (mostly for the dvd), but found the sophomoric writing style to be a bit too juvenile to take seriously. PiQ retains the more adult tone that NTUSA had, perhaps with more of a sense of whimsy than before.

Those who are predisposed to hate it probably will, those who read it with an open mind may find that it's not that much different than NTUSA was. It could be worse - after the publishers discontinued the respectable movie magazine Premiere, they sent me USWeekly, a Hollywood star trash tabloid. Compared to that bait-and-switch, I'll take PiQ quite happily.

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Forum - View topicNEWS: A.D. Vision's PiQ Mag to Cover More than Anime, Manga

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NEWS: A.D. Vision's PiQ Mag to Cover More than Anime, Manga