Animerica - Your thoughts, first experience, etc.

[kndy]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kndynt2099 ... 445010451/

If I credit one magazine for getting me interested in Japanese animation in a more active manner, it would be "Animerica". Like many people on this forum, grew up with anime as a young child of the '70s and the '80s but it was the '90s when I became more active in the club and convention scene but also as a sysop and owner of an anime BBS.

But "Animerica" made an impact for me because it included not only interviews with the creators of the Japanese animation industry but also followed the releases, the top 10 from Japan, anime related video games and even a manga store owner in Japan contributing an article, in addition to the inclusion of manga with the magazine.

I nearly passed this magazine #0 up because at the time it came out, it was during a time when everyone buying comics was on the "X-Men" train, the "Death of Superman" train, the release of Image Comics and the popularity of Valiant comics. Also, when it came to magazines, I was purchasing the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" magazines and yes, I was more interested in bringing a Star Trek convention in the area and involved with a local club.

But a friend of mine told me to check out "Animerica" and he told me that he would like to introduce me to modern anime (at the time) such as "Ranma 1/2" which were fan subbed but also, he would like me to come by the local anime club (which was more an hour away). But before he lets me borrow the Ranma VHS tapes, to read Animerica.

I thought the cover was attractive and so, I purchased the magazine and during my trip to Los Angeles, I read the magazine over and over. Reading about A.D. Police, Super Girl and all these titles I knew nothing about but I was so darn amazed by it, I called my friend and told him I would be visiting him and will check out this "Ranma 1/2".

Went to his home and saw a Ranma painting that his girlfriend painted in his living room and he was playing a Ranma video game on his Sega Saturn. But he brought me to an anime club meeting and I then became very involved with this club. But "Animerica" was very influential in me discovering new anime, wanting to try the latest anime even though it was in Japanese but also leading me to purchase Japanese music (it's important to note we were raised with a little interest in Japanese culture as my father was stationed in Japan but he would send us music like Pink Lady).

So, I became a loyal follower of Animerica each month during its first few years (only missing one issue, Vol. 1 #3), discovering anime BBS and message boards in 1992 and I went on to create Neo Tokyo 2099 BBS in June 1993 which would later evolve to J!-ENT in 1996 on the Internet.



While at work at "Anime America 1994" as press (yes, I'm not wearing sunglasses for once) and with Animerica's Trish Ledoux.

By 1994, I was covering anime conventions as press, interviewing the Japanese guests at the convention, still reading "Animerica" and other anime publications, I realized that I was listening to a lot of the music from anime. Noriko Sakai and others from "Video Girl Ai", music from "Ranma 1/2", "Maison Ikkoku", "Kimagure Orange Road" and felt that the anime industry, there were a good number of people writing about it, why not write about something different.

So, by 1995....I changed direction. Still covering anime but primarily covering Japanese music and eventually discovering Japanese rental video stores, I focused on writing about Japanese entertainment (especially music) and dramas.

But I still continued reading Animerica up to 1997-1998 or so.

I do credit "Animerica" for a lot what i do right now, it was the magazine that led me to getting me interested in Japanese pop culture again and led me to be more active with it. 20-years-later and I still have a wonderful relationship with Viz.

[Kid Fenris]

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, say, the nerdy video-game magazines I was buying. All things considered, it was a nice resource for young anime nerds of the era.

I also recall some people getting mad mad MAD at Animerica and Trish Ledoux because the magazine trashed Wedding Peach and allegedly killed the show's chances of becoming the next Sailor Moon or whatever. But hey, ten years later ADV released Wedding Peach over here, and I assume everyone was happy.

[danth]

I loved Animerica! You know why? It was a magazine about anime.

Seriously, I bought Animag until it disappeared, and then I moved one to Animerica. Actually I can show you why I started buying Animerica. This is why:



That picture just captivated me. Animerica taught me that Ryoichi Ikegami is awesome, so give it credit for that at least.

[kndy]

I loved Animerica! You know why? It was a magazine about anime.

Seriously, I bought Animag until it disappeared, and then I moved one to Animerica. Actually I can show you why I started buying Animerica. This is why:



That picture just captivated me. Animerica taught me that Ryoichi Ikegami is awesome, so give it credit for that at least.

You reminded me about "Mai the Psychic Girl" and what about the Tim Burton film that was mentioned back in the 90s... The only recent news I was able to find was this:

http://www.firstshowing.net/2010/tim-bu ... chic-girl/

[usamimi]

Animerica was an eye-opening thing for me, because at the time I really didn't think a lot of people even CARED about anime in America (I mean, I knew there were tape-trading circles and fansubbers, and I'd seen a little anime/manga stuff at comic conventions, but I figured that on the whole, no one really liked it). Then my local comic shop had this sitting on their shelves one day:



And I was FLOORED. An entire magazine dedicated to anime?! I bought it without even looking through it, and I read that thing cover-to-cover, over and over again. And the next time I went to the comic shop, I requested for them to keep stocking them, even if it was just one issue. I'd never seen the mag at any local newstands before, and there were SO many domestic releases listed inside that I'd never even heard of. And there was fanart? Letters from people? I was just like "Wow, hey, look! There's other people out there who like this stuff, and not just the kiddy shows or just the porn! They like the stuff with cool storylines and characters, like I do!" Before I had semi-regular access to the internet, this magazine was where I got most of my news from after I discovered it.

A couple years later in 1998 I went to the first Baka!-con (now Sakura-con) and met a lot of cool people...then proceeded to never miss a Sakura-con until I moved in 2010.

After the internet boom of the 2000's, I stopped buying the mag as frequently...but around then, I felt the magazine wasn't as good as it used to be. The focus shifted from "what's NEW NEW NEW" instead of "what we think you should try watching" (which I can understand, you need to sell magazines & give people what they want, right?) and a lot of the stuff that was featured I didn't REALLY have a ton of interest in...I was sad when they announced the mag was cancelled, though. It felt kind of like the end of an era (though I knew that "era" was long gone...it was confirmation of that fact, though, I guess...if that makes sense? ) Whenever I read any of the back issues from the 90s, I just get SUPER nostalgic--it'll always either make me think of sitting on my bed flipping through the magazine while watching fansub tapes, or how I used to bring issues to anime club to let other people look through them. Ah, memories~

[danth]

I bought it without even looking through it, and I read that thing cover-to-cover, over and over again. And the next time I went to the comic shop, I requested for them to keep stocking them, even if it was just one issue. I'd never seen the mag at any local newstands before, and there were SO many domestic releases listed inside that I'd never even heard of. And there was fanart? Letters from people? I was just like "Wow, hey, look! There's other people out there who like this stuff, and not just the kiddy shows or just the porn! They like the stuff with cool storylines and characters, like I do!" Before I had semi-regular access to the internet, this magazine was where I got most of my news from after I discovered it.

Yep, like you, Animerica was my only connection to the world of anime. I didn't have a computer let alone the internet until I was 18 (1996). So I devoured those old mags. My huge anime DVD collection mostly a result of finally being able to buy all the shows I read about way back then.

[SteveH]

I feel soooooo jaded... Animerica just wasn't that big a deal to me. Never really did much other than show me a crapton of stuff I wasn't interested in. Sorry. I'm old.

Oh, wait, I think it was Animerica that told me Licensed By Royalty was going to be good. They lied. LIED! ARRGGGH DAMN YOU L/R! I WANT THOSE HOURS BACK!

*pant pant pant pant*

[Mike Toole]

Yeah, I remember Animerica! I picked up a few issues (first one was the Macross Plus cover, which would've made it late '94 or early '95), sussed out Trish Ledoux's email address, and asked about writing for the magazine. She told me to send in a writing sample, so I sent in a review of Blue Seed (which I'd been lucky enough to watch in advance via the local Anime Crash - yep, THOSE guys). Couple of days later she responded that it was good enough to print, and please send more! Yeah, it was honestly that easy.

I spent a couple of years writing for them - good times. Despite its high production values, Animerica felt barely different from the punk and hardcore zines I wrote for in Boston - every five or six weeks, there'd be a heavy flurry of "alright, what are we writing about?!" emails and Julie Davis, the managing editor, would get assignments sorted out. A lot of excellent writers - Jason Thompson, Carl Horn, Patrick Macias, Geoff Tebbetts, just to name a very few - passed through that mag. To their immense credit, Animerica never significantly edited a submission of mine, nor did they kill a story. Can't say that for many other publications I've worked for over the years.

I wish they were still around, but magazines are on the way out.

[SignOfZeta]

I had issue #1 but couldn't get issue #0. My comic shop...kinda sucked. I read Animerica along with Anime UK and Protoculture Addicts pretty regularly. Good times.

The best thing about Animerica was the Shogakukan and Viz connections. That was also the worst thing about it though. When they started pushing that "J.A.I.L.E.D." initiative I lost interest in...pretty much everything Viz. At one con I went to the Viz people were trying to get people who sold recast garage kits kicked out of the dealers room, which IMO was BS. It's not like Viz sold GKs, and it's not like anyone sold legit GKs there anyway. SM CDs are one thing, but anyone who's into modeling at all knows that the lines are really grey with stuff like that and the people who spend the most money on legit stuff also have lots of pirate stuff. Just like the people I know who spend the most money on music also have the biggest collections of jacked MP3s.

I really appreciate the early articles and the translated Porco Rosso manga and stuff like that, but they just got too big time and too focused on US fandom. As a "hard core" fan (as a joke...but maybe for real) I was into fansubs and import LDs. I wanted to hear about Gundam Sentinal and Patlabor and The Laughing Salesmen, not interviews with English voice actors staring in dubbed versions of Ranma 1/2 sold on crappy VHS tapes in cheap cardboard sleeves.

[Path]

Animerica was my big gateway to anime. I remember pouring over the pages until they came out, staring at the kanji on the ranking page. I thought at first furigana were like accents. Ha! I also remember being stunned to discover that some guy named Osamu Tezuka had worked on Kimba. I knew Kimba from the Leo the Lion series I was obsessed with in the 80s. I knew it was some foreign cartoon since the mouths never matched, but the credits were no help. Of course one of the first things I did when I got internet access was order every single Leo tape I was missing.

Also, in high school, my friend and I entered some contest in Animerica. She won a year's subscription to the magazine, and I inherited them once she gave up on anime. I still have them, somewhere.