Otaku USA Issue 8 (Sep/Oct)
...and then there was issue 8 of OTAKU USA magazine! Hey, this one is pretty good and should be hitting subscribers and stores near you starting next week. Big features on Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage, Overman King Gainer (with a “Kill ‘em all” Tomino sidebar), Paradise Kiss, Toward the Terra, and a huge fold-out poster for GaoGaiGar. And with Shippuden on the horizon, we're actually dropping the Naruto bomb again with Joseph Luster leading the charge of the light brigade. Oh yes.
Things I like about this issue: The Shokotan interview, the Sugizo interview, the Hideyuki Kikuchi interview, the old poster of Odin I dug up, letters demanding the return of Megaman NT Warrior, Mike Toole making his OUSA debut with a review of the New Fist of the North Star / Neo Tokyo Double Pack, the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya manga excerpt, exclusive art from Machine Girl, reviews of Rodan and War of the Gargantuas.
And of course pictures and writing about anime, manga, and Japanese pop culture in general by the likes of Matt Alt, Brian Ashcraft,Yunmao Ayakawa, Emily Balistrieri, Zac Bentz, Casey Brienza, Austell Callwood, J.L. Carrozza, Paul Thomas Chapman, Ed Chavez, Mike Dent, Caleb Dunaway, Tim Eldred, Erin Finnegan, Shaenon Garrity, Clarissa Graffeo, Heidi Kemps. Gilles Poitras, August Ragone, Dave Riley, Daryl Surat, and Darius Washington.
We do it all for you!
I'm slightly disappointed that you decided to feature Naruto AGAIN but I can't really blame you, Naruto sells. I'm sure I'll enjoy the issue anyway and I've been looking forward to the Shokotan interview a lot.
Posted by: Cameron | August 27, 2008 at 10:00 PM
When you edit a magazine, one of the first things you learn is that some people will give you static no matter what you put on the cover. So you might as well go with something that will sell like crazy and bring in lots of readers. Like Naruto.
Posted by: Patrick Macias | August 27, 2008 at 11:25 PM
While I personally would have liked to see a Black Lagoon cover, there was presumably no available images in which Revy's colossally unattractive tattoo was not visible. The Ethereal Caste then decided that for the Greater Good the best way to get people reading about GOLDIONNNNN HAMMERRRRRRR was by way of Konoha village.
Perhaps when Black Lagoon Season 3 rolls around there will be some sort of artwork of Revy looking to the right in profile. Then we could make a magazine cover where she's looking to the right and the villain dude from Demon City Shinjuku was looking to the left, with the caption reading REVY VS REBI! The unbridled power of a magazine from the future containing both Black Lagoon AND Demon City Shinjuku is unimaginable.
OR IS IT? Since this next issue contains a Hideyuki Kikuchi interview plus a review of Second Barrage, as the Robotech song goes "the future is now"!
Posted by: Daryl Surat | August 28, 2008 at 07:33 AM
>>REVY VS REBI!
Oh you
Posted by: wildarmsheero | August 28, 2008 at 02:33 PM
Daryl's GaoGaiGar piece is worth the price of admission alone.
Posted by: Patrick Macias | August 28, 2008 at 03:31 PM
They'll come for the Naruto. They'll come for the GaoGaiGar.
They'll stay for the Aria.
I love how it's sandwiched between Toward the Terra and Overman King Gainer on the cover. It should have been juxtaposed with New Fist of the North Star, though.
Posted by: Caleb Dunaway | August 28, 2008 at 06:38 PM
Old school to new school with every weird thing in-between...
Posted by: Patrick Macias | August 28, 2008 at 06:53 PM
I am glad that Overman King Gainer is getting some love. It has its flaws but I enjoyed the heck out of it.
Now if only some forward thinking company would license Xabungle.
Posted by: Steve Harrison | August 28, 2008 at 09:12 PM
Can't wait to get this in the mail. So glad I subscribed.
Where is Mike Toole posting or podcasting these days?
Posted by: Vince | September 03, 2008 at 03:15 AM
Mike just did an amazing video version of his Dubs That Time Forgot panel over at ANN-TV. A total must-see, even if only for the theme song for The Amazing Three.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/video/376/
Posted by: Patrick Macias | September 03, 2008 at 07:05 AM
If anything, keeping up with the practice of putting a mainstream shonen title on the cover will draw in more casual people and blow their minds (in a good way)
(hopefully)
Mike Toole's panels are always a treat and ANN is awesome for letting him do some on their streaming video service.
Posted by: Tatsujin | September 11, 2008 at 06:53 PM
What's that website of that Tokyo dvd they advetise in the mag?
Sorry I read the issue at a newstand and didnt buy cuz some pages were torn! ^_^
Posted by: Kevin | October 15, 2008 at 05:41 PM
I think you're talking about http://tokyology.tv/
Hope that helps!
Posted by: Patrick Macias | October 15, 2008 at 06:09 PM