Welcome to the WORLD of Shannon "Roku-chan" Townsend, artist for the webcomic Otaku -no- Yen. Shannon is a professional freelance artist who specializes in the style of Anime and Manga, and is happy to have a spot here on TheOtaku! Visit Otaku -no- Yen online Mondays and Thursdays www.otakunoyen.com

PiQ Magazine: An Interesting Concept

I took my first trip to Borders since about two months before the move. I've been avoiding the store like a madwoman, mainly because I am a whore for Borders. I seriously go in there, and I have no problem spending a good $200 on manga, CD's for bellydance, the occasional DVD, and how to/art books for my personal collection. I am horrible. You know how in R.O.D. Yomiko Readman had flyers up that said 'customer of the month' and what not? Yeah, Borders should have one of those for me. Only it should say "pshcho geek will buy you out of Minakura comics and anything Miles Davis produces! You have been warned!"

I wasn't actually going for manga this time, though I did debate picking up Wild Adapter 4. I opted not to, but I'll get it later this week. Instead, I went with the sole purpose of picking up ADV's new magazine project since ditching the NewType USA franchise, PiQ.

The concept behind PiQ fascinated me, though I don't like the mostly male demographic they have said they are aiming for. We chick-geeks are large in numbers! We're like Spartans, dammit. Spartans with boobs. But enough of that visual, because I don't know about you but the mental picture I just got? Yeah, not cool.

PiQ is an interesting pop-culture mashup of movies, games, anime, television series, comics of the western and Japanese variety, and loads of editorials from ADV staff. I was a little worried that they were trying to be the next Maxim without the pretty centerfolds, but you know what? It's kind of a neat magazine.

The price is the first thing that turns me off. $7.99 for a magazine that lacks the dvd's and goodies that NewType presented is a bit high for me. I don't splurge on magazines at all, but this one I would, and I would often...if it wasn't so pircey. The subscription prices are a bit much for me too, so I'll probably just end up purchasing the ones that cover things that I'd like to follow. The only other thing that bugs me is the mostly-male target audience. I think they missed the point; I know chicks will read up on this too. Hell this issue was worth it just for the Crisis Core rundown and the section "Is Anime Dead?" which gives numerous views on the state-of-the-industry on both American and Japanese shores. Even Monica Rial comments in this section, and it gives an interesting perspective or two on the entire industry crisis.

Go pick it up and check it out for yourself. There're some great bits in there about the upcoming Sweeny Todd dvd (April 9th!) and some video games that caught my interest, like Apollo Justice and Patapon. There's also some neat ads for cosplay books and some movies from Korea and Japan being brought over.

It's worth looking at, and I give ADV credit for dumping the bank-drainer that was NewType USA. I just hope PiQ stands up to the test of time.