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If there was a publication on anime and manga that I enjoyed back then, because they were laid-back and was more fan-based in their earlier years, it would be "Protoculture Addicts" Magazine.
While I never was able to get issues #0 or #1-6 because of its availability, let alone, eBay prices for them have been quite expensive, just reading the letters from fans and their editorial was interesting.
Each issue during the earlier years, you can see how a group of anime fans from Canada would work on this publication, trying to balance college life with this magazine. They got a lot of support but also a lot of people upset with them because of unpredictable distribution at the time. But still, it was interesting how PA would transition from Robotech articles to more anime/manga.
You could see the shift as more people started wanting more inclusion of anime/manga articles and I also was fascinated by how PA would discuss the latest anime magazines that were being released as well (in this case, they really enjoyed "Animag").
But their interest in mecha didn't wane as they released "Mecha Press", although it only lasted less than two dozen issues.
Similar to Mangazine, "Protoculture Addicts" was a publication that was not ordered all that much (during its earlier years) by our comic stores. If you saw one issue, you know you had no choice but to buy it because they weren't getting anymore. At the time it was easy for me to purchase most of them, but when anime and manga became popular, somewhere around the 40's or so, even as more magazine issues were purchased, I never was able to find a copy (along with other anime publications which also became popular at the time).
While "Protoculture Addicts" was acquired by Anime News Network and the publications are now available via PDF/E-Zine, including it's final #97 issue, I never read PA when it got too popular. I think one time I picked up a #63 (which was a surprise to find at the store) but I never followed the publication from the #46 and on.
I'm assuming like other publications, during the heyday of the anime industry, they were obtaining more advertising but by 2007 or 2008 they were also affected by the crash of the anime industry. But perhaps others on here can discuss how Protoculture Addicts was in the last few years of its circulation.
Not really enough to make a totally sound opinion, but I did like what I saw. It did seem very akin to a fanzine at the time, which I thought was neat.
