Inside Anime Insider

[Kid Fenris]

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."



Yeah, I was at Anime Insider from mid-2005 to mid-2008, well after the magazine changed from "Anime Invasion" and shed the price guides. It was a goofy puffball magazine aimed largely at mainstream readers and the teenage crowd; in other words, the very people who were driving the anime craze of the early 2000s.

Working there was loads of fun, and yet it was frustrating in its limitations. Our major coverage always went to anime that wasn't commercially available in the U.S., so any old/obscure stuff was confined to news stories or broader features about the first magical-girl and mecha shows or whatever. We managed some neat old-school stories, though; my favorite was a piece where a bunch of modern-day anime directors talked about their favorite childhood shows. Probably the only time Ogon Bat was ever mentioned in the magazine.

We also didn't have any reviews. At first this was due to Wizard's overall policy, but even after that loosened the editors didn't want to run actual reviews because a) they didn't want to redesign the magazine and b) they didn't want it turning into some cult-of-personality thing. If we hated something, we'd either avoid covering it or make fun of it in the news section.

I thought we were selling ourselves short, but I've also noticed that a lot of anime fans don't like criticism of any fashion. Whenever there's a caustic review on ANN or some other popular site, people will emerge to complain about the entire concept of reviewing. A lot of anime nerds will buy, watch, and defend just about anything, and there's no telling them they shouldn't.

And yes, working with Japanese companies was often a hassle. Japan's anime media doesn't enjoy the same sort of antagonistic independence typical of the American press, as a lot of companies wanted to see our features and news stories before they went to press. That's something a journalist should never do, not even for a fluffy anime article. But the editors would relent for a big exclusive every now and then.

Don't even ask about the company who demanded that we print all Naruto copyrights without a period at the end. You know, just to make sure we were paying attention. Like Van Halen and the M&Ms.

But you know what? I loved it all: the goofy tone, the industry shenanigans, the guy in prison who was promised free cigs by "Big Chunk" if his letter saw print. It was sad to watch it all come down when the anime bubble (and Wizard itself) collapsed. If you really want to know more, I posted my favorite memories and reader fan art here.

[kndy]

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 know if your experience mirrored how the were feeling (again, as mentioned on the podcast), but for you alone, what did you enjoy about working with Anime Insider.

Although, I have not read or owned many Anime Insider issues, working with you guys were great. For the test event for a convention I was starting up a decade ago, Anime Insider was quick to jump up at the chance of sending us issues for our attendees. I thought that was pretty awesome!

[Kid Fenris]

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 know if your experience mirrored how the were feeling (again, as mentioned on the podcast), but for you alone, what did you enjoy about working with Anime Insider.

Yes, the company behind Anime Insider, Wizard Entertainment, was falling apart all around us. The best thing I could say about Wizard is that they didn't meddle with Anime Insider as much as they did other magazines. The higher-ups didn't understand anime or its fans that much, and it was a blessing in disguise.

As for what I liked, the day-to-day of it was really fun. I called up all sorts of people and asked about everything from Ashita no Joe to the new Appleseed movie. I watched anime from every era and figured out the most interesting ways to present it. I did some in-depth stories for each issue, despite the magazine's non-critical approach. I was a professional nerd, and I liked it.

And the readers were a big part of that. We'd get letters from a self-described "little old lady in L.A." who sent us cards every Halloween and Christmas, from a nice man in Montana who offered to take the director of Black Lagoon out to a shooting range, from four-year-old kids who drew Lupin III, and from teenagers who just wanted to watch some cartoons.

We also got letters from possibly insane people who were convinced that we could turn their incomprehensible space-opera stories and Sailor Moon fan-fiction into anime shows, and even they were fun.

[usamimi]

We also got letters from possibly insane people who were convinced that we could turn their incomprehensible space-opera stories and Sailor Moon fan-fiction into anime shows, and even they were fun.

Haha, oh man...I remember one of the first conventions I went to, I ended up standing in line for something behind a guy who was bragging that he had found the personal home address of Shoji Kawamori & he mailed him a script for a new Macross series that he just KNEW would be made into a new movie--"Or maybe even a full-length TV show!". I was just like..."Who is this guy trying to impress, and does he seriously think that's going to happen?"

I mean, there's nothing wrong with fanfic, or even coming up with your own original stories that you think might make a "cool anime" or whatever, but there's a line between enthusiastic and delusional.

It does sound like you had an amazing experience, though! I always wondered why AI never had reviews in them...I guess that makes a lot of sense, when you put it that way. I didn't read it that often, but every once in a while there was some cool/fun stuff in it that would make me pick it up on occasion.