R.I.P. Newtype-USA
As you may or may not know the February issue of the U.S. anime magazine Newtype-USA was the last issue of it – period, forever. For those who don’t know Newtype was a model of its Japanese counterpart with large pages in right to left format. The magazine was full of relevant anime news and reviews and for its best point used its large pages to showcase original art from the series in question. It also came with a DVD with amine eps on it every month. It was truly a beautiful magazine – the only of its kind in the USA. After getting over the initial shock of finding this out a short time ago seeing as how I am an extreme fan of what is probably America’s best anime magazine I began to ask why? How is it that this magazine feel through? Mabey anime magazines just can’t sell in the US? No that can’ t be right – so I headed to the website to find a reason. All I found there was a very apologetic but also cryptic post about circumstances beyond their control – read it here. Something did make me feel a bit better however – the mention of a new magazine called PiQ. Surely a magazine by these people would be awesome – so I chose to wait and see.
The PiQ site was launched and I scoured over it here. It was apparent that this would not be the same magazine at all. From what I’ve read on the web its the topics covered that are the big change. According to comics212.net the new break up will be like so:
20% Anime
20% Gaming
20% U.S. Comics / Japanese Manga
20% Genre Movies / TV / Home Video
10% Toys / Collectibles
5% Gadgets / Hi-Tech Gear
5% Lifestyle (fashion, accessories, events)
Certainly not the magazine we are used to. It purports to be “Entertainment for the rest of us”. This drastic change will certainly leave everyone thinking.
I am concerned about how the magazine has changed. It seems to me that the only people who would read the original Newtype are full anime fans considering there wasn’t much that would interest anyone else. It seems that they were happy so why this sudden change to a “jack of all trades” approach? From the posts Newtype left I think left without their magazine the staff is trying to stake their own claim in the market with a new project all together. Also I believe that they are trying to mainstream the anime mag idea a bit by wrapping it up with US entertainment as well as culture and other items in and out of Japan – trying to capture a life style rather than a sub-group. While this has merits I don’t know that it warrants a full scrap of the old mag. After all they are very different ideas – some people just want to read about anime and aren’t interested in the other topics they will cover in PiQ for that reason I don’t agree with the total scrap of Newtype-USA. However I’m not ready to write off PiQ. It has potential as long as they remain loyal to the fans that make there mag – but forget your original audience and its all over.
While I morn the loss of Newtype out of loyalty I will look at the PiQ which is slated to hit stands in a few days on March 14th. We will have to analyze this new magazine – I hope it is a suitable replacement.
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