Ask John: What Anime Magazines Are There?

Question:
How many anime magazines are their that are available in English and what are they? I have only heard of Manga Max and Animerica and was wondering if there were any others available to Americans?

Answer:
If you’ll indulge me a little bit, I’d like to provide a somewhat expansive answer to this question. I’m certain that there have been and still are many small-press and fanzine anime magazines printed in America. (In other words, excuse me if I happen to forget to mention one or more publications that I probably ought to.) The earliest major anime publications in the US appeared in the mid and late 1980s. These early publications included Animag, Anime-zine, and Protoculture Addicts (which started life as a Robotech ‘zine). Other, slightly more recent publications include the Japanese-language tutoring magazine Mangajin, and the anime magazines V-Max, Animenominous, Animerica, G-fan (a magazine focusing on Japanese kaiju “giant monster” movies), Game-On (a short-lived Viz publication focusing on anime-related and import video-games), Chibi-Pop, Animeco, and British magazines including Manga Max and AnimeUK/Anime FX. Much more recently, Kadokawa Shoten has begun publishing an English language version of Newtype Magazine, full of information about both the American and Japanese anime and manga scene. And Gutsoon! has begun publishing the Raijin Game and Anime Magazine that features weekly updates on manga, anime, and video game fandom in Japan. While some of these magazines have gone the way of the dinosaur, many of them are still publishing regularly. Check out the AnimeNation web-site for the ones that we currently carry.

Article updated on December 30, 2002.