saw this in the junk market

[davemerrill]

We saw one issue of "Anime Iku" in a stall full of video games at the flea market in Courtice. Having never heard of this otaku culture magazine before, we were curious, but not curious enough to spend $5 on it. After checking out their sole online presence - one blog post, more than a year ago - I am still unsure as to whether or not we just saved five bucks, or missed out on the chance of a lifetime.

"about us"
Anime IKU is an underground, online, anime magazine focusing on all aspects of Japanese animation including the stuff everyone knows about, but few people talk about. Our goal is not to be crass and cater to the lowest forms of attention-grabbing. We’re honest, smart, and sexy, just like the true fans of anime.

Yup, it's so underground that the sole evidence of its existence is one blog post with two replies, one of which is from "AnimeIKU".

blog post -
The magazine isn’t officially dead. Just put on hiatus.

To clear some misconceptions: Anime IKU was envisioned as an online destination from the very beginning, with a special printed component put out once in a while. It would be a more honest reflection of anime fandom compared to other media outlets who were either too conservative, or too extreme.

Everything went awry when we were unable to find qualified individuals to handle the website, and concentrated too much energy on the printed portion.

Three years later, the need for a true alternative is greater than ever as anime companies clamp down on their properties, and new fans are led astray by the sometimes, unfriendliness of existing fan bases.

Whether you are a hardcore otaku, or casual viewer, you’ll like what we have planned for the future. Stay tuned.

I agree. We need a true alternative because fans are being led astray! And some media outlets are too conservative, and others are too extreme! Also only time will tell and tomorrow is another day as the winds of change start blowin' the sands of time!

Trouble is that rather than give us this true alternative, "Anime IKU" prints one issue of one magazine and then vanishes because it's difficult to write about freakin' cartoons if you don't have enough qualified individuals to handle your website. And then fans get led astray, and we all know how painful that can be.

I know FOR A FACT that if Toole didn't have a crack team of qualified highly paid professionals, he would never have been able to keep Anime Jump going for a decade. And my writing about anime at Let's Anime for years? Without FutureWare Associates(tm) and their crack team of web-savvy technicians and their quick-dispatch team of DigiWebTroubleShooters (tm), forget it! This is really difficult, even for those of us who aren't honest, smart, or sexy!

There's nothing anime fandom needs more than a pompous, know-it-all "magazine" determined to show those mean smarty pants in that 'unfriendly" fan club what time it is -by talking about the stuff nobody else has the GUTS to talk about. Curious as to what that is exactly, what dark controversial topics have yet to be brought to light in the anime fandom world. I guess we'll just have to bide our time until the triumphal return of "AnimeIKU."

The ironic part is that by printing a failed magazine and writing a blog post filled with attitude and unkept promises, "AnimeIKU" is inadvertently presenting a very honest picture of anime fandom as it actually is - a kindergarden filled with egos, desperate to waste time and money to show everybody else who the TRUE FANS are, long on plans and short on willpower, where the only thing cheaper than used anime VHS tapes is talk.

Not like those OTHER fandoms, which are filled with godlike, physically-fit superhumans posessed of incredible wisdom and maturity.

Comments

[dwinghy.livejournal.com]

On the cover, it promised articles about "Glomping" and "Pocky". Surely these are the topics no one else is willing to talk about. I'm so glad that "Pocky" is no longer being shunted away to the dark corners of fandom, where no one dare speak of it except in hushed tones, and always accompanied by fearful glances over one's shoulder. ONLY BY PUTTING POCKY UNDER THE HARSH LIGHT OF EXAMINATION WILL WE BE ABLE TO HEAL.

[tohoscope.livejournal.com]

Pocky is made of PEOPLE!

(Did you read that in Charlton Heston's voice?)

[gyopi.livejournal.com]

The fact that they make "Men's Pocky" proves that pocky is sexist. You won't hear about pocky's misogynistic tendencies anywhere else!

[sbfone.livejournal.com]

God knows we wouldn't be able to keep Colony Drop up and running without the millions of dollars of venture capital that have gone into our weekly alcoholic binges and subsequent mini-golf expeditions. And we actually ARE superhumans!

Also, the second comic is pretty great.

"I will say this, I picked up your first issue at a convention a few years back, and aside from the pictures of cute girls, it lacked substance. The articles were pretty weak."

[sbfone.livejournal.com]

comment, jeez words

[hipsterdad.livejournal.com]

They're certainly keen to let us know how sexy they are.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

Research is concluding that at least one of the editors is a Toronto local, so I'm probably being a hater by even writing all this stuff.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

I....I....what?

Oh you HAVE to go buy this now. The Future must be made aware.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

I especially want to read the "rants".

[rootstudio.livejournal.com]

I first read that cover as saying "Oh great... It's Air Gear... :rolleyes:"

Out of breath . . .

[(Anonymous)]

Wooh! I usually don't laugh this hard ; )

[hooverdam.livejournal.com]

Oh, someone had to mock up a magazine cover for a class.

[wednesday]

GLOMPING THE VULVA: A COVER SPECIAL

[kidfenris.livejournal.com]

Well, that's better than the first Otaku USA's cover (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OtakuUSA2.JPG). Or the early Anime Insider cover that looked like particularly high-end fan art.

[dwinghy.livejournal.com]

Otaku USA's cover looks like the cover of an anime magazine. Yes, it's garish and the font colours clash, so do Japanese anime mags. Anime Iku's cover looks like a Spiegel catalog from 1983.

[(Anonymous)]

I'ts like a freakin' DOLLAR OFF the cover price, Merrill!!! Besides, it's not like you're going to be giving them the profits.

You could maybe do a "Stupid Anime Mag" section, but I don't think there are enough of 'em around to make it worthwhile. I say that after unearthing a copy of "Animag #6" that I didn't know I had (although I wouldn't exactly call that one stupid). I expect Trish and Toshi were sweeties next to the guys who produced the one you were too cheap to buy.

RWG (you don't get to, like, take it off your taxes or whatever?)

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

If I had a bunch of old anime mags (American ones), the comedy value is probably in the big ads for shows that failed to sell, or the industry predictions that failed to come true, or the (in the case of Animerica) the patent shilling for Viz product. But I, in fact, don't have a lot of old American anime mags. By the time there were four or five on the stands, I had zero interest in whatever they were hawking that month. Not to mention no desire to shell out $4 or $5 a pop.

[sobieniak.livejournal.com]

That's how I felt too.

Also, I can see how running a mag/site can be as well, especially when you don't have a good competent staff to help you along the way.

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

Luckily I have a stack of Anime UK,Animag, Animerica, Anime Inside, Newtype USA and of course Otaku USA for just such events.

Plus some of those early things like the rag the AD Vision people pooped out, and "Japanimation' straight out of DEEEEtroit and god knows what else.

Just saying.

[footyfoot.livejournal.com]

"sometimes, unfriendliness of existing fan bases"

Didn't they open up for Franz Ferdinand once?

[tohoscope.livejournal.com]

No, that's an REM b-side from the 80s.

[gallo-de-pelea.livejournal.com]

Couldn't resist.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

I don't even know what "O.F.F" is.

[gallo-de-pelea.livejournal.com]

Me neither, but "Pocky" and "Glomping" make up for so much.

And I will never utter that sentence again.