Anime Insider

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Cover of Anime Insider Issue #35

Anime Insider is a monthly magazine published by Wizard Entertainment consisting of news and entertainment pieces relating to the Japanese anime and manga subculture. It was originally published in Fall 2001 till Fall 2002 as a series of quarterly specials under the title “Anime Invasion.” It became a bi-monthly magazine in November 2002, and was re-named Anime Insider in April 2003. It was changed to a monthly release schedule in July 2005, which remains its current cycle. While containing informative features such as interviews or exclusive reporting, articles dedicated to satire or humor are often included. A trademark feature in Wizard Entertainment publications, word bubbles are added to printed pictures. The magazine dropped its cover price in winter 2007 to $4.99 for the U.S. and $5.99 for Canada.

Content

News

The News portion covers events and trends in the anime & manga industries as well as coverage of conventions. Factual column “Coming Soon” consists of licensing announcements and expected releases, while “By the Numbers” incorporates numbers relating to Japanese, video game, and anime/manga headlines, and “Con Job” lists upcoming conventions by location and programming. Entertainment columns with this section include “Death of the Month” (a character death from a selected series), “Top Five” (editors’ praise for something related to anime culture), and “Gratuitous Fanservice” (a chosen pair of male and female characters designed to appeal to fans due to their appearances)

Reader Contributed Material

Animail, a combination of the words “anime” and “mail,” is a section dedicated to answering questions submitted by readers. Results from Anime Insider’s monthly web-poll, reader comments, and selected fan art are posted here.

Anime Features

The feature “A.I. Five” summarizes a popular anime title debuting domestically that month by suggesting the top five reasons why viewers would enjoy this particular series/OVA/movie. In their “Flash in Japan” segment, an anime series currently airing in Japan is profiled for American audiences. Article “Last Man Standing” is a fictional story that puts two anime characters that are similar in nature (ex. Ninjas) but are from different shows against each other in a type of imaginary match.

Manga Preview

Each month, a new manga title scheduled to be released in America is previewed in Anime Insider, publishing a chapter from an upcoming volume. Some past manga include Trigun Maximum and Kashimashi. The 41(feb)'s manga preview is Disgaea 2!

Main Sections

DVD

Dedicated to information regarding domestic DVD sales, this section has a listing of new releases for that month. Recurring segments include “Lip Service” (interviews with voice actors), “Eastern Egg” (extras in Japanese DVD’s), “Must See” (new release recommendation), “Free Swag” (merchandise sold with discs), and “Disc Drive” (Japanese releases).

Theatrical

This section focuses on theatrical releases of Japanese-produced films and anime. “Casting Call” (suggestions for actors portraying anime roles) is the recurring column for this section.

Manga

Offering a listing of English releases and publishing news, the segment includes “What’s the Difference” (comparison of titles in both anime and manga forms), “Must Read” (new manga recommendation), and “Read on Arrival” (manga not available in English).

Television

This portion concentrates on anime broadcast on television in English-speaking countries and Japan. The “Tune in Tokyo” (profiles of anime new to Japan) piece is located here.

Music

Music incorporates “Backstage Pass” (profile of a Japanese artist), “Face the Music” (new soundtrack releases), and “Pop Top” (top-selling musical recordings according to Oricon, Japan's equivalent of the Billboard charts).

Video Games

Video games cover both Japanese and non-Japanese games and news on consoles and game producers. Columns in Video Games consist of “Continue” (news brief) and “Must Play” (new game recommendation), “Import Report” (anime related or odd Japanese games).

“Stuff”

The heading “Stuff” is used to describe the portion on anime merchandise, anime figurines, and collectable card games. The only column is “Thanks Japan” (funny anime related products from Japan).

“J-Life”

This section discusses Japanese lifestyles and youth culture. Segments on commercially packaged food, drinks, and other products are under “Eat It, Drink It,” interesting locations are profiled in “Tokyo Travelogue,” and lessons in Japanese are given in “JPN101.”

Other Sections

Other sections include “From the Top” (an editorial column) and “Parting Shot” (a bizarre photo of an event/place in Japan).

External links

• Anime Insider's Official Website
• Anime Insider & Wizard Forums