While flipping through some of my older issues of Newtype USA recently, I found a feature story on Bee Train within the March 2005 issue. Written by Amos Wong, the story was well-timed as the first DVD volume of Madlax was to come out in America soon after on April 12th of that year. I enjoyed reading the feature when I originally bought the magazine and again when re-reading for this episode because it gave me a look into the origin and development methods of the studio that was deeper than I had obtained through the inserts packaged with Noir DVD’s.
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I got home from classes about an hour ago and found in my mailbox a letter from Newtype USA. “Oh great!” I thought, “this will probably explain how the transition to PiQ will work!” The first sign that there was something odd was that the return address was in Maple Shade, NJ, and not Houston, TX. I opened the letter and found out that it was asking me renew my subscription since I have two issues left. What?!?
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The news this week that Newtype USA was ceasing publication with February’s issue took me by surprise but the follow-up announcement of its replacement, PiQ, was more so. Supposedly the new magazine will put out its first issue in mid-March and ADV is giving subscribers a two-for-one exchange rate on their remaining issues which makes me think that it’s going to be priced on the same level as Anime Insider. That also means that since my 6-month stint was supposed to end in April, I’m due to receive the first four issues of this new endeavor for free. I’m still going to miss the preview discs and postcard contests but hopefully PiQ (”peek”? “pique”?) will be worth reading.

I just got this month’s issue of Newtype USA in the mail today and was a bit surprised when I began flipping through it. Among their regular two-page series spreads were eight consecutive vertical spreads (16 pages in total) that composed the Japanese half of their Anime Invasion ‘08 theme. This caught me off guard since I don’t remember them doing this in the past. When I read a magazine I might be fine turning it sideways to read it maybe once or even twice but it gets to be uncomfortable if it happens on a regular basis. I might get used to it but it’s bugging me right now.

On a positive note, I was glad that many of the “new style” layouts involve currently airing anime such as Bamboo Blade, Ghost Hound, Dragonaut, and Rental Magica. I’m also making a poll about this topic so let your voice be heard there as well as in the comments about whether you prefer vertical or horizontal photo spreads or simply don’t care.

After the jump: some more vertical spread pics and, for comparison, the two horizontal layouts that bookend them in the volume.
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The preview disc packed in with this month’s issue of Newtype USA contains the first episodes of The Wallflower (Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge), Magikano, and Yawara! I watched all three episodes in subtitled form and short answer: I didn’t like Magikano but did enjoy the other two. You can read my long form opinions after the jump.
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When I was over in Germany I saw two different versions of AnimaniA, the rough equivalent to Newtype USA, for sale: a DVD-edition for 8.50 Euro (~$11.88) and a DVD-less version for 4.80 Euro (~$6.71). One can also subscribe to DVD and DVD-less versions of the magazine. This made me think about Newtype USA, its current $12.98 newsstand price, and the possibility of a similar thing being implemented.
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