Only weeaboo complain about PiQ. The honest truth is, Newtype started out this bad (Trust me, I have their Issue #0), and has been worse than this for years.

Thanks again for the great review. I’ll be looking forward to your review of volume 2.

I’m not sure how I feel about PiQ’s “Hooray! Everyone’s a winner!” review style (especially since, as you pointed out, it’s often hypocritical). I admit I’m way too wussy to completely rip something apart and attack the author, but if something’s just not entertaining me, I’m not afraid to say it.

I think that’s why I like this write-up so much. It’s informative, it’s fun to read, it says what needs to be said, but it refrains from the grade three schoolyard insults that anyone else would have resorted to.

i’m going to have to pick this up and blog my reaction.

I think Newtype USA started up right around the time when the Internet could get you any otaku information you needed with relatively little fuss. I’ve always thought a magazine for hardcore otaku seemed a little obsolete…hell, the reason anime as an industry is having TREMENDOUS financial problems is how technology savvy the fans are (downloading the cartoons and comics from the nets and whatnot). Unless you’ve got really cool extras like DVDs or even weird, furoku-style goodies like they give away with manga magazines in Japan, I think your magazine is going to be largely redundant for a hardcore otaku, and will focus on plenty of genres s/he has no interest in (since manga has made us so genre-divided). I wish magazines like PiQ the best of luck, but I don’t envy the workload they have in front of them. I have no idea where they should even start, and I worked for a print anime magazine for a year or two and was offered a full-time position as an editor for it that I just barely turned down.

I say this as we’re working out the aesthetic and flow of the first issue of my zine Electric Ant, and I struggle to make it reach the level of design/layout majesty I know is possible :) Just promise you won’t do this degree of review on our issue #1.

ha ha, ryan!
http://electricantzine.com

Could you expand on this a little? Not here and now, nessicarily, but sometime? It sounds fascinating.

I have pretty myopic, insular tastes, so I really don’t have high expectations for any magazine, at least not in terms of pushing my buttons. Then again, I’m out of the 18-34 demographic, so my likes and dislikes are of zero interest to the Powers That Be.

As for issue #1 not being confusing… I’ve laid out my case pretty well. I don’t think I was unfair. If you don’t think the criticism is all that applicable then feel free to ignore it.

I really don’t have an axe to grind with you guys… I appreciate that you’re getting a lot of shit right now from pissed off fanboys and girls and that’s probably clouding your reaction here. I didn’t really follow Newtype that closely, I don’t buy very much anime, and I’m not generally participating in that fandom. I’m a retailer who sells many of the items you feature in your magazine, who likes magazines and writing, and I decided to check this one out and see what it was all about. It’s not good, Scott. Either on its own merits or in comparison to the polished, professional, and consistent magazine that you used to publish. I’ve just done 6500 words of free consulting for you, it’s in your best interests to pay attention to it.

Seriously though: Good Luck.

I don’t really think it’s appropriate for me to engage in a back and forth with you as a spokesman for PiQ, but I want to address a couple of things you just said.

First off, let me again say that you are completely incorrect in writing that a few words “tell you quite clearly what the editorial staff thinks of its readership.” This is why I responded to your post in the first place. When put in context these words are very clearly intended as good natured ribbing and couldn’t be any less mean-spirited. We have enormous respect for our readers and devote every day to making a magazine that they will enjoy.

Obviously fine tuning is needed as this is a brand new magazine, but I don’t think issue #1 is anywhere near as confusing or strange as you have presented it here. It’s pretty obvious what we’re shooting for: that people who are interested in anime/comics/movies/games will pick it up and be exposed to content they wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise. The approach of the magazine reflects that, with anime features next to comics features and so on. We don’t want games people to just flip to the games section or DVD collectors to just flip to the DVD reviews. I understand that some people want a very rigidly structured magazine as Newtype was, and there are plenty of those out there, but that’s not what we’re interested in making at this point. Some may regard this as disorganized or “schizophrenic,” but we’re trying a different approach.

And judging from the emails and subscriptions we’ve received since the magazine hit stands late last week, it has worked. We’ve gotten emails from anime people who were now interested in the comics we covered even though they haven’t read a comic book in years. We’ve gotten emails from sci-fi people who now want to check out anime, a genre that seemed daunting to them before. These people get what we’re trying to do, and we couldn’t be happier.

And I sincerely hope everyone who doesn’t like PiQ now can look at it with fresh eyes in the coming months. We’re very proud of what we’ve made and hope we can make it even better as time goes on.

While this isn’t really supposed to be a Newtype replacement (aside from it actually replacing Newtype in both subscriptions and in release schedule), I fear that it won’t have enough of the content that drew fans to Newtype in the first place in order to keep them now. Considering that a large part of their readership is former Newtype readers, not giving them what attracted them in the first place while almost blindly throwing an assortment of articles together does seem like it would alienate them, intended or not. I know it’s missing the stuff I liked about Newtype and didn’t really have anything that interested me that wasn’t anime related (like the Is Anime Dead article), despite my varied interests in the subjects they want to cover.

Yes I know my Japanese is atrocious. :)

Here it is;

[quote] “Dear NewType USA reader,

By now many of your are aware that NewTypeUSA published its final issue in February 2008. Although many of us will miss that magazine-including me-I couldn’t be more thrilled to announce a new publication that will surely be everything from NewTypeUSA…and much more!

With many of the same creative staff from NewTypeUSA, PiQ Magazine will fulfill your anime wants and needs, while also delivering the most cutting edge content in all areas of entertainment. From video games to movies, music to manga, comics to TV, DVDs, and more, PiQ will live up to its bold mandate: “Entertainment for the rest of us.”

And here’s the best news! The fine folks at PiQ.LLC want to give you double the value for you[r] remaining subscription, but you’ll also receive two issues for every remaining NewTypeUSA you’re owed. Double the number of magazines, and you don’t have to do a thing to take advantage of it!

So enjoy the first issue, and rest assured that you’ll continue to receive the best coverage of all aspects of entertainment delivered straight to your door. And don’t hesitate to let us know what you think. Drop us a line at letters@piqmag.com, and tell us what you want to see covered in these pages.

Be sure to tell your friends about PiQ, because we’re positive they’ll love it as much as we enjoy producing it. And stay tuned to http://www.piqmag.com for our exciting web offerings!

Gary Steinman
Publisher” [/quote]

P.S.: What is with this comment on the bottom right hand side of page 6 of PiQ under their contact information?
“Created in the great city of Houston, where I only shot two or three people on the way to work today.”

Is that supposed to be funny? Considering all the school shootings in the past few years its actually insensitive and crude at best. Not very professional at all IMHO.
But maybe that’s just me.

Dave- Old school otaku like yourself should be the most upset about this. I didn’t want to get into the generational fandom thing (it’s totally going to blow up in the next year) but PiQ has literally nothing to say to you, and that’s kind of embarrassing. As for coming by the store? Whatev. I love you guys whenever you drop in. Though I’d love it if you guys would invite Andrew and I for a housewarming at some point so we can bring you a house plant…

Retro- Dude, your romanji is awful. Domo Arigato Gozaimasu! Train Harder! That said, glad you liked the piece, I kind of figured you would :). I think that your complaints at Johanna’s blog really are legitimate, and it’s important to find satisfaction for yourself and others who feel they have a legitimate grievance following the cancellation of Newtype, particularly as ADV has not declared any sort of bankruptcy. If you’re unhappy, work to rectify the situation, and more power to you.

Also, I did not see the Newtype subscriber letter, but I feel like I know what it says based on complaints I’ve seen elsewhere. Feel free to print it here.

Amy: Thanks. Glad you liked it.

My bad.

Have you seen the letter from Gary Steinman that was inside the front cover (inbetween the Battlestar Galactica advertisement). It reads “Dear NewType USA reader…”

If you haven’t seen it, would you like too?

I do hate that attitude of “Wow, us crazy nerds who like these weird strange SF movies and TV shows, we’re so out there!” Guys, it’s called popular culture for a reason.

Sorry we haven’t been in to bug you and buy stuff lately, if we’re not unpacking boxes we’re working like crazy or buying more shelves at Ikea. I’m way behind on my comics.

I loved the article. :)

After reading this, I’m totally glad I went with my initial opinion and didn’t actually buy the magazine… one of the things I liked about NEWTYPE is that, on the occassions that I did buy it, I could at least count on it to be filled with art or interesting photos I could use as reference… I found PiQ to be surprisingly bare visually… there wasn’t much to look at.

It really bothered me that they didn’t segregate their content… it was almost epileptic.

I will at least LOOK at the second issue, but, yeah, they’d have to really get their shit together to get me to actually buy it.

This is Scott of PiQ. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the first issue, but hopefully we can win you over in the coming months. I did want to comment on 2 things though that have come up repeatedly.

1) We have the utmost respect for anyone who would pick up our magazine and those who think otherwise are deeply mistaken. In planning and creating PiQ we made a very conscious decision to stay away from the snarky, bullying tone of most entertainment media nowadays, and every piece we write and edit keeps this in mind from beginning to end.

2) I understand that you probably wouldn’t like the first issue of PiQ whether or not Newtype USA ever existed, but I hope that over time we can overcome comparisons to it. Newtype wasn’t something that we had a whole lot of freedom in creating; it was the American version of a Japanese magazine. PiQ is completely ours from start to finish, a fact that enables the staff and contributors to insert more of their own personalities and ideas into their work. We’re trying very hard to make something brand new from scratch, and I hope we can be judged on our own merits as time goes on.

Thanks for giving us your attention, and I hope future issues are more to your liking!

;)

- Chris