Type:
Magazine
Genre:
Manga
Price:
$4.99/$5.99 Canada per issue|
Type:
Magazine
Genre:
Manga
Price:
$4.99/$5.99 Canada per issue |
 |
About 4 months ago I saw an ad for Mixxzine. I figured
Sailor Moon was the only good thing, and the rest o' the Manga was just
filler. That's usually the case with stuff like that (y'know, value pack
stuff), ya get one good thing and the rest sucks. For once I was wrong.
Mixxzine is probably my favorite mag now. For those of you who've never
heard of it, let me break it down for ya. Mixxzine (now Tokyo Pop) is basically
A mag crammed with Manga, with some anime previews and reviews, and video
game first looks and strategy guides. It also has some news on popular
Japanese music. And each issue has atleast one interview with some kinda celebrity, like Jim Lee (one o' my favorite comic book artists), Hideo Kojima (creator of Metal Gear Solid) or Yuko Miyamura(very cute voice actress ^_^). The current line up of manga that's in Mixxzine/Tokyo Pop is Magic Knight Rayearth, Parasyte (probably my new favorite manga), and Sorcerer Hunters. Sailor Moon's been gone for awhile now (it moved to Smile Magazine), Harlem Beat (another one o' my favorites) is gone, but it'll continue to be translated in Pocket Manga Format, same thing with Iceblade, except it'll just be regular format. You can get Manga and Pocket Manga from www.Mixxonline.com, and some from the Toonami Store. Anyway, all 3 of the current Manga's in Mixxzine are great, and are enjoyable for a wide audience (my little bro actually reads 'em). As ya might already know, Mixxzine is changin' it's name to Tokyo Pop and goin' monthly (well, 10 issues a month) the subscribtion price'll stay the same, but the mag itself has become a little smaller (roughly about 20 pages smaller). The newstand price is stayin' the same though, but it's still a good deal. Also Tokyo Pop'll start coverin' more than just stuff in Tokyo, the editor guy said they'll start havin' some stuff from all over Asia, all he mentioned was coverin' Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Sammo Hung (all martial arts super stars if ya didn't know). I'm a huge fan of all of them, so I don't mind at all, but I can't think of anything else from Asia that'd fit into Tokyo Pop...yoga tips perhaps? Whelp that about covers everything. By the way, I give Mixxzine/Tokyo Pop a 5 outta 5. Let's just hope the editor doesn't do anything stupid, like put some origami lessons in the mag (not that I don't like makin' paper swans or anything). |
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T h i s m a g a z i n e i s a g o o d s o u r c e o f s o m e s e r i a l i z e d m a n g a . ( S e r i a l i z e d m e a n i n g t h a t i t c o m e s i n s h o r t e p i s o d e s k i n d o f l i k e S t e p h e n K i n g ' s " G r e e n M i l e " b o o k s . ) A l s o i n s i d e , y o u w i l l f i n d r e v i e w s a n d p r e v i e w s o f a n i m e , r e v i e w s o f w e b s i t e s , l o o k s a t v i d e o g a m e s r e c e n t l y r e l e a s e d i n J a p a n , a n d r e v i e w s o f i m p o r t C D ' s . T h a t ' s a l o t o f i n f o r m a t i o n , a n d I r e a l l y l i k e t h a t a s p e c t o f t h i s m a g . I a l s o e n j o y t h e a r t i c l e s s u c h a s i n t e r v i e w s w i t h s o m e o f J a p a n ' s t o p g r a p h i c a r t i s t s a n d m u s i c i a n s . H o w e v e r , t h e p a g e l a y o u t s f o r s o m e a r t i c l e s a r e l e s s t h a n w o n d e r f u l . I n o n e e x a m p l e , i t w a s n e a r i m p o s s i b l e t o r e a d t h e w o r d s d u e t o t h e r a t h e r b u s y p a t t e r n a n d d a r k c o l o r o f t h e g r a p h i c p l a c e d u n d e r t h e t e x t . T h i s m a y o n l y h a v e b e e n a n i s o l a t e d i n c i d e n t , b u t i t w a s s t i l l o v e r s i g h t o n t h e p a r t o f t h e l a y o u t m a n a g e r . O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , m a n y o f t h e p a g e l a y o u t s a r e u n i q u e , o r i g i n a l , a n d a d d a g o o d v a r i e t y o f s t y l e s t o e a c h s e c t i o n o f t h e m a g a z i n e . A l l i n a l l , i t ' s a d e c e n t m a g w i t h a n i c e s e l e c t i o n o f m a n g a s a n d i n t e r e s t i n g m i s c e l l a n e o u s i t e m s . A n d d o n ' t b e f o o l e d b y h o w t h i n i t l o o k s , i t ' s p a c k e d . B u t , i s i t w o r t h p l u n k i n g d o w n $ 2 4 . 9 5 f o r t e n i s s u e s ? I ' m u n d e c i d e d o n t h a t . T h i s s o r t o f t h i n g i s n ' t e v e r y o n e ' s c u p o f t e a , a n d I w o u l d s u g g e s t p i c k i n g u p a n i s s u e t o t r y o u t a n d g o f r o m t h e r e . |
