The Old School Otaku Lounge

Some favorite layouts from what I call the "otaku databooks" that were included in special issues, like the 5-year anniversary ones. Readers could see what was popular each year, on the covers, and in the calendars. Collector merchandise was photographed, and summer events detailed. One o...

An old issue of Anime-zine had a spread about Honneamise and the Star Quest alterations. I wrote about it, and I scanned in the pages, too!

http://kidfenris.com/starquestlarge1.png
http://kidfenris.com/starquestlarge2.png

It's a mixed, really enormous mess. On one hand, it's consistent with the production values of the previous episodes; glorious mecha combat; introduces some of the best tracks in the show's entire soundtracks (and which are, in my opinion, heavily underused in it). But in a story-telling point of v...

Oh yeah, I remember this one. Felt kinda like a British version of Animerica.

In fact, I recall that exact issue with El-Hazard on the cover. It had a fairly interesting piece about the Street Fighter II movie.

Wow, a magazine that mentions VAMPIRE WARS on the cover. Never thought I'd see that.

I first read Animerica in the late 1990s, and it was my introduction to a lot of anime standards. It was always interesting, even though the reviews were rarely harsh and the design was a bit spartan. The black-and-white pages and the lack of screenshots made it feel just a bit fanzine-ish next to, ...

Man, I miss reading Hobby Japan. Pages and pages of great-looking, carefully photographed mecha and other anime toys, with only a few creepy anime-girl figures in between.

I haven't read it since the local Kinokuniya shut down years ago, so for all I know the moe toys have eclipsed the robots.

My point was that the publisher of Animerica, Viz, also was the company that dubbed and released Macross II in North America. Struck me as a tad self-serving. Viz released Macross II? I thought that U.S. Renditions/L.A. Hero/Books Nippan did the dubbing and marketing. I'm sure Viz had some skin in ...

After listening to the ANN cast from the former editors on the ANN cast (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/anncast/2013-04-10), I didn't realize things were tough working at Anime Insider. It seemed as if morale was low during those last few years. Especially having to travel the cons and I don't kno...

I started replying to another thread about anime magazines, but this went on so long that I thought "Well, this forum doesn't have an Anime Insider thread, so I may as well start one." http://www.kidfenris.com/ai50.png Yeah, I was at Anime Insider from mid-2005 to mid-2008, well after the ...