PREVIOUS UPDATES
News: Fantasia 2005 [June 29, 2005]
Fantasia, North America's premier genre film festival, is back for a ninth edition!! It will be held at Concordia University, downtown Montreal (Hall Theatre and J.A. de Sève Theatre: 1455 & 1450 De Maisonneuve West), from July 7th to 25th.
As usual it offers an impressive programmation with more than 90 long feature films and more than 100 short films coming from sixteen countries. There will be about 30 movies from Japan (including nine anime and half-a-dozen kaiju or manga-inspired movies), 16 from Korea and 8 from Hong Kong.
Tickets (at $7.50) will be available on July 5th at 2 pm at the Concordia Hall Theatre and throughout the Admission Network. The program will be on sale ($3.00) in selected stores from June 30th and at the Concordia Hall Theatre from July 5th. For information: www.fantasiafestival.com.
Update [June 28, 2005]
Now you can access Drive Thru RPG's catalog of Protoculture Addicts' back issues in eBook format directly from Protoculture's catalog. More to come soon.
News [June 25, 2005]
More back issues of Protoculture Addicts are available for download as eBooks from Drive Thru RPG. Now issues # 68-70 and #79 have been added. More issues will be added every month.
News [June 13, 2005]
The shipping and mailing of PA #84 is now completed. As usual the magazine should be in stores by the end of next week and in your mail box within one to four weeks (depending of your location).
News [June 8, 2005]
Protoculture Addicts #84 is now at the printer and will ship around June 13th.
News [May 10, 2005]
Back issues of the magazine are now available for download as eBooks from Drive Thru RPG. For the moment only the issues #71 to 78 are available (at $3.95 US), but all back issues will be available in the coming months.
News [April 26, 2005]
The final cover for PA #84 is now available.
Part of the staff from both ANN and PA will attend Anime Boston 2005 from April 29th to May 1st. If you can, come and see us: we will have a panel Saturday at 3pm and will have a table in the dealers' room. See you there!
News [March 24, 2005]
The shipping and mailing for Protoculture Addicts #83 is now completed. The magazine should be in stores by the end of next week and in your mail box within one to four weeks (depending of your location). In the meantime, have a look on its table of contents.
Update [March 10, 2005]
PA#83 is now at the printer and should start shipping around March 23rd.
News [February 4, 2005]
DVD Vision Japan has just released an interview with ANN's Christopher Macdonald and PA's Claude J. Pelletier. Read it all here!
Update [January 24, 2005]
All of Protoculture Addicts #82's shipping to distributors and mailing of subscriptions & orders are now completed. The magazine should be in most stores by the end of the week and in your mail box within one to four weeks (depending of your location). You can check the content of this issue and if you like it please consider taking a subscription. Enjoy!
You can also discuss the content of this issue in the forum or simply send us your comments.
Update [January 17, 2005]
Several sections of the site have been updated and new content has been added. Check the "What's New" window for details. More will be added soon, so stay tuned!
Update [January 7, 2005]
PA# 82 will ship around January 20th. More details soon.
Update [November 17, 2004]
The Production Schedule and the Advertising Rates sections have been updated.
News [October 30, 2004]
I want to remind people that the Previews Vol. XIV #11 (November issue for products shipping in January from Diamond Distributor) is now available and that it offers PA#82 (on page 360, in the Asian Themes subsection of the Magazines section, right beside Newtype!). If you want a copy, you have until November 13 to give your order to your local comic retailer.
Also, PA's web page is available from yet another web address: www.protoculture-mag.info !!
Finally, more Product Reviews have been added to the web page content lately. More to come soon. Stay tuned!
News [October 10, 2004]
Animefringe is talking about the "re-launching" of the magazine as ANN's PA in an article titled "Protoculture Addicts: The Addicts Nip/Tuck". That's a nice article (although it seems the writer didn't know the magazine before). They mention that PA is "North America's oldest anime magazine," that it is the "longest running" and a "long-time indie" anime & manga magazine, but do you realize that, very soon, PA will be coming of age? This November, the magazine will be eighteen year-old and will reach its majority! That makes us the most mature of all the anime magazines! I wish we could celebrate a little more the fact that we survived 'till adulthood... At least we can offer our readers the pledge that we will continue to inform them for several more years.
I have added a few Product Reviews to the online magazine content. I'll try to continue adding a new review or article every couple of days (but I must also work on the content and layout of PA#82...), so keep checking the web site for new stuff! [CJP]
News [September 23, 2004]
Anime News Network has created a specific Forum for Protoculture Addicts' readers to discuss the magazine content together and give us some feedback on what they think about the magazine.
I have added some Anime Stories to the online magazine content.
News [September 21, 2004]
ICv2 is talking about ANN's and Protoculture's collaboration to produce a new version of the magazine. They also make some interesting (and very flattering) comments. You can read it all here.
I've started putting online some material. For now, Anime Voices offers some editorials and Essays.
Press Release [September 18, 2004]
Anime News Network and Protoculture Addicts Join Forces! At Nan Desu Kan today, Anime News Network announced that it has partnered with North America's oldest anime magazine, Protoculture Addicts, to produce Anime News Network's Protoculture Addicts. First Issue of Anime News Network's Protoculture Addicts on Sale in January. [ More ]
If you want to support Anime News Network's Protoculture Addicts, please ask your local stores to get it (see our list of distributors), order it directly from our online catalog, or subscribe. You can also discuss this annoucement on Anime News Network's Forum.
If you are not familiar with the magazine, you can get a pretty good idea by checking our cover index (you can see the table of contents of most recent issues) and by downloading a PDF file of a sample issue.
Update!!! [September 15, 2004]
Protoculture took the Summer to ponder on its future and think about the best way to continue to inform anime & manga fans. We considered several options: evolve to a web magazine format (more cost effective), switch to a quarterly schedule (less time-consuming) or improve the production with the influx of new sources of financing (made possible by the fact that we were contacted by potential buyers and/or investors). Don't worry, one way or another Protoculture Addicts will pursue its mission and continue to be your best guide to anime culture! Stay tuned: an announcement will be made soon...
We also took this welcomed respite to rest our tired mind, attend a few movie festivals (Fantasia, Montreal World Film Festival), watch & review more & more anime, work on new book projects, and help our friend Simon at his really sensass gadget store. This Fall, we will update the web page (finally uploading all the material we worked hard to produce in the Summer) and resume working on the layout of PA#82, which will be released early in the Winter. It will be quite an issue, believe me! Stay tuned: there will be lots of changes and improvements to both the web site and the magazine. Take care and enjoy your return to work/school! [CJP]
Update!!! [June 15, 2004]
It has been a long time since the last update and particularly since an issue of the magazine was that late. We are quite sorry about that. We worked hard to pack this issue with as much information and articles as possible and we also worked hard to prepare the expended version of our web page, offering more articles and reviews than ever (it is coming soon)! Those things take time. And since we have a very small staff, many little problems (health & dental problems and computer glitches, etc.) can cause production delays. Recently our server has been under constant attack with lots of messages with viruses and it caused problems with our e-mails and the web page (we might have lost some e-mails and it delayed the update of the web page -- whoever is doing this, please STOP). However, whatever the circumstances, be assured that we are always doing our best!
PA#81 has been at the printer since the beginning of June and is expected to be delivered to us Thursday (June 17) or Friday (June 18). As soon as we have it, we will start the shipping and mailing! Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Update [March 30, 2004]
I've just made a small update. Nothing really visible: a few bugs in the ordering buttons of the catalog and a few e-mail links were corrected. Let us know if you see more problems. Right now we are still preparing the ground for the internet content that we have announced (working on the web page structure and writting some preliminary content), but we are mostly finishing the layout of PA#81, which should be released at the end of April or early May. The bulk of the online content should then start appearing on the web site right after that. Be patient, it is coming! In the meantime, a few articles and reviews will be posted from time to time, so keep checking!
Please note that our fax number was changed to (514) 528-7933. It is a much more convenient number, with a more efficient setting, so it was worth the trouble of changing the number. However, please try to send most POs, Press Releases and correspondance via e-mails. It is easier, faster, cheaper that way. E-mail is our preferred way to exchange information, but if needed the fax is also there (useful to communicate with analog people!). Also don't forget that ALL our e-mails addresses have changed (see previous update), so please change your records and address books accordingly. Still more to come soon. [CJP]
Update [February 21, 2004]
In the last few days we have updated a few pages, including the Conventions Listing, and we have added the Picks & Products Showcase for PA#80. Please have a look on them. More to come soon. [CJP]
Update: IMPORTANT CHANGES [February 11, 2004]
We are currently in the process of restructuring our domain names and moving the web page to a new host server. This process may causes some temporary difficulty to access the site and a few page or image links may not work properly. We will do our best to correct all the links problems quickly and when the new DNS will have propagated to the entire internet network everyone should be directed to the right place. In the meantime, we thank your for your patience and understanding.
Actually, if you have reached this page, it's that you already are at the right place!
In May, the domain "protoculture.qc.ca" will be retired. This will affect our e-mail addresses, so please note carefully the following change:
ALL our e-mail addresses ending with "protoculture.qc.ca" are now changed to "protoculture.ca." This change is effective immediately. However, the old addresses will remain active until the end of February 2004. Here are our new contact e-mails:
More changes and improvements will be announced soon. Of course, with all this extra work on the web page, some production delays are to be expected. PA#81 will most probably be released only at the end of April or early May. We are sorry for the inconveniences that all those changes may cause, but it is all to improve the web site. Take care! [CJP]
Update [February 2, 2004]
The shipping & mailing of PA#80 is all done! That was quick! As usual, this issue should be in most stores and in Canadian subscribers' hands by the end of next week (around February 12) and it should reach the mailboxes of other subscribers (USA & International) late February or early March at the latest. Now, let me rest a little.
I cannot believe how expensive the mail has become. The Canadian postal service raised both the prices of a regular stamp for the U.S. and overseas of fifteen cents each! And the subway pass went up, the electricity bill went up, everything seems to be more expensive this year! I guess that's the price of war and (in)security... How can we afford to live in times like these? We will have to revise the shipping fee for the mail orders, but we will do our best to keep the subscription fee the same. No promises, though. [CJP]
News & Update [January 29, 2004]
We received PA#80 this afternoon. Much earlier than expected. I guess the printer rushed the job to compensate for their terrible delay on the previous issue! We will prepare the shipping and mailing over the week-end and it should ship out early next week (monday February 2nd & Tuesday February 3rd). I sincerely believe it is the best issue we have ever made: nice cover, good balance of material, and it covers fourteen anime titles! Please have a look on the PA#80 info page. Eighty issues. Sixteen years. We surely have made a long way since the beginning...
News worthy: Last Exile will air on TechTV (in the US), Cartoon Network finally announced that they will air Gundam Seed in April, the new Astro Boy TV series starts this week-end in Canada on YTV (Saturday January 31st at 15:30), and the Japanese Live-Action Twilight Samurai (reviewed in PA#80) is in nomination for the Best Foreign Movie Oscar (running against The Barbarian Invasions, darn!) at the 76th Academy Awards (February 29th). That's all for now. I don't put much news because, anyway, I don't have time to update them often enough because I am too busy working on the magazine (our specialty is Anime Stories and reviews folks and you know that). If you want more detailed news check Anime News Network ! [CJP]
Update [January 28, 2004]
Sorry for not updating the web page sooner, but I was quite busy finishing the layout of PA#80 and, after that, I was immobilized for an entire week by a very painful low back strain. I am better now: I have recovered mobility (although my back is still a little stiff) and the pain is manageable (it hurts only with certain moves). Just in time to work on the shipping of PA#80, which is at the printer right now. We expect to receive it at the end of the week and it will ship next week.
The Web Advertising Rates have been added and the Media Kit has been updated, as well as the Production Schedule, the Contributors' Guidelines, the Upcoming Issues sections and the PA#80 information. A couple of weeks ago, I have also added the Site Map, but it is not complete yet. More update to come after I am done with the shipping of PA#80. [CJP]
Update [December 29, 2003]
The French-language section of the web page, Clodjee's Safe-House, is now online. We have also added several new sections: PA#79's Picks, some extra manga reviews for PA#79, a conventions listing, a sample issue of PA in the form of a PDF file, and a list of anime & manga essential references. Please check them out!
Many of those new sections, as well as the bottom of the main page, now offer products' links that you can use to purchase books, manga and DVDs. This is a convenient system to suggest you interesting products, provide information about them as well as an easy way to find & purchase them if you want. You will probably see more and more of those links on the web page in the future. Any purchase made through those links will help supporting this web site (and it really does need your support). So, at least have a look and don't hesitate to do some shopping!
More web page updates will come in the following weeks. Now, we wish to everyone an Happy Holidays and a great New Year! Take care! [CJP]
Update: PA#79 has shipped! [December 16, 2003]
The magazine was delivered by the printer with even more delays. The freshly-repaired industrial stapler used to bind the magazine together was still not working properly. However, we FINALLY got the magazine and worked on the shipping last week, over the week-end and earlier this week. Now, all the copies to distributors, stores and subscribers are on their way. It should be in most stores by the end of the week, an Canadian subscribers' hands by next week and into other subscribers' mail box by mid-January at the latest. Sorry for the delay, but it is a great issue, well worth the wait. We hope you will enjoy it. In any case, give us some feedback! [Now, before resuming my work on the layout of PA#80, I'll take a small break and go see Lord Of The Rings]
Update: PA#79 Ships December 8th [December 3, 2003]
PA#79 is still at the printer... but will ship next week! It was already late because of production delays (a couple of ads came in late and a local convention kept us busy, just to name a few reasons), but more delays were caused when some equipment broke down at the printer. Now, the printing is almost done and the magazine should start shipping out to distributors and subscribers on Monday December 8th.
We are sorry for this delay. However, this year, the magazine was each time close enough to its schedule (we worked so hard) that, for the first time since 1996, we were able to release SIX (6) issues instead of the usual five!! That's quite great. Even better is the fact that this issue covers a little more than a dozen anime titles! You can have a look on this issue's contents here.
News [October 28, 2003]
Montreal will finally get its Anime Convention! It will be held as part of the Montreal Comic Expo / SFX 2003 at the Palais Des Congres De Montreal on November 14-16. This year, the only anime guests are voice actors, but that's a start! And there will be a huge dealers' room. So wherever you live (Ontario, Quebec, Eastern Canada or even New England) this first Montreal Anime Expo (MAX) is an event not to be missed! And the staff of Protoculture will be in the dealers' room to answer all your questions! [ More ]
Promotion! [October 27, 2003]
This Fall, the first fifteen (15) customers to purchase over $50 from Protoculture web site (any combinations of subscription, back issues, or other products) will receive a FREE copy of Dream Pod 9's Jovian Chronicles RPG 2nd Ed. Player's Handbook !! [ More ]
Update [October 20, 2003]
Recent web site updates: The Cels' page has been added to the catalog (10/6). The French Manga In Stock section of the catalog has been updated (10/12). We have also started to add more titles to the English Manga In Stock section of the catalog. More titles will be added soon. Some cosmetic improvements were also made to the main page, the Protoculture Info section and to the menu. Please have a look!
Update [September 29, 2003]
Wow! That was quite a busy summer! So busy that I feel I didn't see it at all (and I didn't update the web page for months! Sorry!). We had lots of catching up to do on the administration stuff (accounting, etc.), we have attended Fantasia (I've seen 25 movies and that doesn't count the screeners), we went to BAAF in New York for Labor Day week-end (great con, but unfortunately we missed a lot since we arrived only on Saturday; at least we met a couple of guests and screened a few movies), then we went to the Montreal Film Festival (but there was only 9 Japanese movies this year). And, through all this, we also managed to work on PA#78 of course!
PA#78 arrived last monday and we worked hard all week (and the week-end also) to ship it to all distributors, stores and subscribers. The last part was mailed this afternoon. So, normally, it should be in most stores and in Canadian subscribers' hands by the end of the week and, as usual, US and overseas subscribers should get their copies within a month or so (by the end of October). Let us know if you don't.
As ever, this is a very fine issue and we are very happy with its great and balanced contents. We hope you will enjoy it! Of course, PA has no glossy, oversized color pages, but offers only useful information condensed in an affordable format. Each page is packed, not with color illustrations, but with a thousand words telling anime & manga fans what they really need to know. Designed for those who want substance and to whom content matters over look (people who take anime very seriously), Protoculture Addicts is definitely your best guide to anime culture! Tell that to ALL your friends (and to your anime club members, and to people attending your convention)!
The catalog has not been updated yet (if you are looking for the CELS, sorry that page is not ready yet) and lots of the promised online content is still missing, but I'll do my best to do WEEKLY updates and to make this material available soon. But there is still lots of work to do for PA#79! Thanks for your support! [CJP]
News [September 28, 2003]
Macross Zero Vol. 3 (BCBA-1334, ¥5000), which is eagerly awaited by fans, has finally been announced for 11/28/2003 ! (Source: CDjapan)
Great News! [July 25, 2003]
One of the best Miyazaki movies, Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind, will finally be released on R2 DVD (in Japan) on November 19!!! Like other Ghibli releases, it has English subtitles and bonus extras include the complete storyboards (as alternate angle), audio commentary, theatrical trailers and teasers. Only ¥4700! Also two alternate limited editions will be released at the same time: one including a Nausicaa figure (¥7800), and the other including the same Nausicaa figure, an "Ohmu" model, and a framed "Tormekia Sen-eki (war)" artwork (¥24800). All three editions can be pre-ordered (with 15% off) from CDjapan! Other Miyazaki or Ghibli titles can also be ordered from CDjapan with a 15% saving! It can also be pre-ordered (with 20% off) from Amazon.co.jp. Check it out! (Sources: CDjapan and nausicaa.net) [CJP]
Update [July 16, 2003]
The shipping and mailing of PA#77 is now done! The magazine should be in stores and in Canadian subscribers' hands by the end of next week (if there is no Canada Post strike). US and overseas subscribers should get their copies within a month (by mid-August). Let us know if you don't. Enjoy!
Now I will split my time between working on PA#78 and attending Fantasia festival! [CJP]
Update [July 11, 2003]
PA#77 arrived today and will start shipping Monday. You can find all sort of cool details about this new issue here.
News [July 10, 2003]
FanTasia International Film Festival, dedicated to culturally diverse & innovative genre films, will be held from July 17 to August 10 2003, in Montreal (Quebec, Canada), at the Concordia Hall Theatre and De-Sève Theatre (1455 de Maisonneuve West, Metro Guy). This year anime program includes Cowboy Bebop The Movie, FLCL, Goldorak, Parasite Dolls, Sakura Wars The Movie, Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat In Space and Voices Of A Distant Star. There will be plenty of movies from Japan (27 including 7 anime, 6 shorts, 4 Takashi Miike, 2 Godzilla and 2 Ultraman), Hong-Kong (16 including 4 restored Shaw brothers' classics), Korea (11) and other Asian countries (3 from Thailand and 1 from Taiwan). That's about 60 Asian movies among the 90 features & 40 shorts that will be screened by the festival over 25 days! Check www.fantasiafestival.com for details!
Update [June 27, 2003]
PA#77 is at the printer and should ship around July 15. We had to change the cover. Since Bandai pushed back the released of Stand Alone Complex to 2004, they didn't want to promote it too early so we couldn't use the scheduled art for the cover. Instead we got a Witch Hunter Robin cover, which is as great. The content is the same than previously announced. It will be a superb issue!
We have added the solicitation information for PA#79. More updates will come in the following weeks. Take care! [CJP]
Update [May 26, 2003]
The shipping and mailing of PA#76 has now been completed. The magazine should already be in stores distributed by Diamond. It should be in most of the other stores and in Canadian subscribers' hands by the end of the week. US and overseas subscribers should get their copies within two to four weeks (by mid-June). Let us know if you don't. As usual, this is a great issue!
Unfortunately, the new printer screwed up again (it is the third time in the last five issues: they printed a smaller quantity than requested for PA#73, used the wrong paper for PA#74 and now this): there is a ink (or oil?) stain on most covers, one centimenter of diameter, right on the Read Or Die title. We are very sorry for this problem, but please don't ask for a replacement copy if yours is affected, because we don't have any. This dumb-ass printer seems to have a very poor quality control and we are wondering if we should say "Three strikes and you're out!"
Anime North was nice and fun, but now that the shipping & mailing is done, we really have to get back to production. We will try to update the web page in the following weeks (like adding the promised web-exclusive articles), but don't expect to much since we will be quite busy finishing the layout of PA#77 (which, hopefully, should not be as late as PA#76). Take care! [CJP]
Anime North Go! [May 15, 2003]
If you happen to be in the Toronto area this week-end, come see us at Anime North! We will be wandering around in the dealers' room, in the panels and other great events:
Also, PA#76 arrived today and will start shipping out on May 20th!
Special Promotion! [May 1, 2003]
For the month of May, the first fifteen customers to subscribe to Protoculture Addicts or to purchase for more than $30 of products will receive a FREE copy of Dream Pod 9's D20 Mecha Compendium gaming book:
 MECHA COMPENDIUM™
Dream Pod 9's first D20 Gaming product, the D20 Mecha Compendium delivers the firepower and strength that players need to deal with those awkward situations where the party is running for their lives.
Control a towering magical knight that can go toe-to-toe with dragons, a transformable superpowered aerofighter, or anything in between!
The D20 Mecha Compendium holds nearly a hundred of mecha designs and variants from eleven game worlds spanning several genres, from magical fantasy to space opera by way of the modern day/near future. The book offers detailed vehicles and armors ranging from man-scale suits all the way to giant planetbusters. In addition to brand new, never-seen-before models, the book offers D20 game statistics for DP9-owned mecha designs, including vehicles from Heavy Gear, Jovian Chronicles and Gear Krieg! Gamemasters and players alike will find the new D20 Mecha Compendium an indispensable aid in populating their D20 campaigns.
Protoculture Addicts #76 at the printer! [April 28, 2003]
When the previous issues have been a little late, it is always difficult to release the new issue on time. Despite the usual problems (like being sick or articles not coming in on time), we did our best to recover as much as possible of the previous delay, but this issue is still a little late. Anyway, it is now at the printer and should ship between May 15 and 22. PA#76 is definitely worth the wait, because, as usual, it is one of our finest issues! Stay tuned for more details on its contents soon.
Distribution Note [April 15, 2003]
We are particularly glad to announced to our Canadian readers that Protoculture Addicts is now available in the Chapters, Coles and Indigo Bookstores. You can visit their webpage to find the store nearest you.
Looking For Feedback! [April 11, 2003]
We are planning to restart the Letters Column in a future issue of the magazine (probably PA#77) so we are inviting you to write us letters! What do you think about PA? What would you like to see in PA? What do you think about the state of the anime industry (both in Japan and in North America)? What's your favourite anime? Why? Etc. Don't hesitate to send us name suggestions for the new Letters Column. And you can also send us your fan arts. Most interesting letters, name suggestions and fan arts will receive free goodies! Send your letters either to comments@protoculture.qc.ca or P.O. Box 1433, Station B, Montreal, Qc, H3B 3L2 Canada.
Protoculture Addicts #75 now available! [March 18, 2003]
PA#75's shipping to distributors and mailing to subscribers are done. The magazine should be in most stores and in Canadian subscribers' hands by the end of next week. US and overseas subscribers should get their copies within two to four weeks (by mid-April). Let us know if you don't. This is quite a beautiful issue, loaded with great content. For a preview of its contents, click on the PA#75 cover on the right. Enjoy!
Apology & Update [January 27, 2003]
The shipping and mailing for PA#74 are now completed. The last subscribers copies were mailed this afternoon. The magazine should be in most stores by the end of the week, Canadian subscribers should also get their copy by the end of the week. US and overseas subscribers should get theirs within two to three weeks (by mid-February). If you don't get your copy(ies) by this time, please let us know.
When we received the magazine last week, we realized that the printer had made a TERRIBLE mistake. The magazine was printed on the WRONG PAPER! That's particularly annoying since we purposely changed our printer to improved the printing and paper quality, and had greatly announced the improvement. The printer (and particularly the poor guy responsible for the mistake) was very sorry and apologized profusely. Unfortunately, we were too tight on our dealines to have time to reprint the entire magazine, so we took it as it was and negociated a sort of compensation with the printer instead. We join the printer to express our apology to all our distributors, retailers, subscribers and readers. Nevertheless, the printing quality is excellent and the content is better than ever. Be assured that next issue WILL be on glossy paper! Thanks for your understanding and support! [CJP]
News & Updates [January 20, 2003]
All the team of Protoculture wishes you a very good, prosperous, peaceful and happy year 2003! We also want to thank you for your faithful support as we are entering our sixteenth year of publication!
PA#74 just arrived today! We will process the shipping to the distributors & stores as well as the mailing to subscribers in the following days. In the meantime, you can check PA#74 >>
We are extending for a couple of months the special deals on back issues of the magazine, so don't hesitate to check them out! [CJP]
Updates [November 29, 2002]
With Thanksgiving, the Official Christmas Shopping season is starting! We would like to take advantage of this time to remind you that many of our products would make perfect gifts for anime fans! Like our Anime Guide, or a subscription to Protoculture Addicts, or a nice Manga in French or even the Five Star Stories manga in English! We also have some used LDs & R2 DVDs on sales and special deals on back issues of the magazine Protoculture Addicts (both version of PA#73 for $9.90 or the latest fifteen issues for $50!!). Please check our online catalog and have a nice shopping!
Updates [November 17, 2002]
I've just updated the French Manga In Stock and the Five Star Stories sections, so check them out! I've tried to put a little more illustrations, so you can have a better idea of what the covers look like (and even sometimes the inside art). There will not be much update for a while since I want to concentrate my efforts on the layout for PA#74... [CJP]
Updates [November 15, 2002]
The shipping and mailing for PA#73 is now complete. The copies for all distributors and subscribers are now on their way. The magazine should be in most stores by the end of next week and subscribers should receive their copies within one to four weeks (depending on their location). We hope you'll enjoy this one, because we surely worked a lot on it. Don't forget to let us know your comments...
More updates were done on the web page in the last week: mostly cosmetic addition, plus the solicitation information for PA#76 (see the Upcoming Issues section).
And don't forget: Protoculture Addicts is an independent magazine (i.e. not affiliated to any anime company or big publishers). We are the oldest anime magazine in publication (so we KNOW anime) and we offer more useful information than any other anime magazine! It's not the number of pages that matters, nor the number of illustrations or color spashed-pages, but the quantity of information... [CJP]
News & Updates [November 9, 2002]
PA#73 finally came back from the printer yesterday! We started working on the shipping right away. Some distributors' order have already been shipped and are on their way. It is surely quite a nice issue! Check PA#73 >>
In the last week, many sections of the web page have been updated: most of the "Anime Magazine" menu (Cover Index, Distribution, Upcoming Issues and FAQ submenus) and part of the "Online Catalog" menu (Protoculture Products and Anime submenus). For the next few days we will be busy on the shipping and mailing of PA#73, but soon after more sections of the web page will be updated (starting with the manga In stock section) -- but just a little at a time, because we have to work on PA#74! Enjoy the long week-end (here we will be working anyway)! [CJP]
News & Updates [November 3, 2002]
Sorry, again, about taking so long to update the web page. I was quite busy on the layout of PA#72 (trying to catch up on our production schedule, compensating for the delays encountered with PA#71); then covering the Montreal World Film Festival (we saw about 15 movies in a week!); and then covering Anime Expo in New York! I had no time left for the updates and had to work on the layout of PA#73 right away... And I am not talking about all the horrible problems we got during this latest layout (multiple computer crashes, lost of data, layout problems, etc.). However, everything is now back to normal (hopefully), and PA#73 is finally being printed (it was sent to the printer on October 18th, but our computer problems caused some last minute delay, and then a pre-press problem at the printer caused extra delay). It will start shipping on November 12th (sixty-four days after the previous issue shipped, which -- despite all the problems -- is reasonable for a bimonthly magazine!!).
If your have not ordered or reserved your copy of Protoculture Addicts #73 yet, DO IT RIGHT NOW! It is definitely one of our best issues: it offers a 10-page spotlight on the Gundam movie Char's CounterAttack (all in color!), a dazzling load of anime stories (presenting Azumanga Daioh, Cosmo Warrior Zero, Cowboy Bebop The Movie, Digi Charat The Movie, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Kinnikuman II aka Ultimate Muscle, Natsu He No Tobira, Project ARMS, Sakura Wars The Movie, Scryed, Slayer Premium, Vandread Second Stage), two different covers, and so much more! It is now on glossy paper, has more color (20 pages!) and is definitely your best guide to anime culture, since it offers more information on more anime titles than any other magazine!
ALL BACK TO ORDER. The computer being down for over a week also caused some delays in the order processing, but if you have ordered books or PA back issues, don't worry: all orders have now been shipped. It is a little different for the order from Europe. We did receive some manga in early September (Brain Powered #1-4; Fushigi Yugi 1-18, 10, 11, 16; Gasaraki # 1-3, Getter Robot Go #1-4; X #15; etc.; and the English Five Star Stories #1-12 from Japan) but were too busy to update the catalog. It should be done soon. The next order to Europe was also slightly delayed, but we should get the new French manga by mid-December. Check the manga In Stock >>
We have hired some help to work on the layout, starting with PA#73. Of course, the effect won't be felt right away, since it takes time to adapt to new people & procedures and to find new ways to divide the work load. However, it will eventually improve the regularity of our schedule and even the look of the magazine. Stay tuned!
PA#72 shipped between September 4th and 9th. It has been in stores for a while now. If you are a subscriber and have not received your copy yet, let us know. Also, we had to do a last minute change on the cover. We couldn't get in contact with anyone at Disney to approve the Spirited Away cover, so instead Pioneer provided us with a Sherlock Hound cover! Some people complained that this new cover was ugly, but we cannot always have hot mecha action on the cover. I personally like this cover a lot and, after all, it is the hot Miyazaki spotlight inside that matters! Let me remind you that this issue also has a greater quality of printing and glossy paper! Check PA#72 >>
Speaking of covers, the cover projects for PA#74 & 75 have also been changed. Since Bandai postponed to early 2003 the release of Kikaider, we decided to do the same and give you a 12-page feature article (and a cover) on Mobile Fighter G Gundam instead! Also, the Osamu Tezuka feature will be splitted is several parts to allow for a celebration of Anime Stories in PA#75, which will display a .Hack cover! Check the Upcoming Issues section for more details on the contents of those issues. [CJP]
About Being Late!
Recently, some people complained that Protoculture Addicts was always late and that it was published God knows when. I beg to differ. I admit that we have a problem of chronic small delays, but those delays are rarely dramatic. Yes, PA #71 was extremely late, because of an exceptional cumulation of various problems, but such delays are the exception not the norm. And we are working on solving that problem definitively. The fact that PA#73 -- which was plagued by a similar cumulation of problems -- is on time (a couple of days late at worse) is the proof. More >>
News [July 10, 2002]
At the end of July, Protoculture Addicts magazine will start being distributed by Tower Records and should be available in all their U.S. stores. That means that you will be able to find PA in many more places! To look for the closest Tower Records, please check the store locator on their web site.
The great online store Amazon has just open a Canadian web site! Located at Amazon.ca, their new online store will make it easier for Canadians to order books, CDs and DVDs. Since we are one of their affiliates, any purchases that you make through their links on Protoculture web site (like the link in the left column) helps support our operations (the web site and the magazine).
Anime Expo 2002 is now over and, more than even, the anime releasers have flooded us with new title acquisition announcements. ADV announced Bandit King Jing, Blue Seed OVAs, Cosplay Complex, Kolaida Star, Nuku Nuku Dash, Pretear, RhaXephon, Sorcerer Hunter OVAs, Steam Detectives, Steel Angel Kurumi, Super GALs, and Zaion OVAs (I Wish You Were Here)! Bandai announced Argent Soma, Infinite Ryvius and Ronin Warriors OVAs! CPM announced Alien 9, DNA2 and Neko Jiro-so. Media Blasters announced Sentimental Journey, Seraphim Call, Seven of Seven, Tales Of Eternia. Pioneer announced Ai Yori Aoshi, Chobits, Fushigi Yugi Eikoden, Gatekeepers 21, Lupin III Second Series, Mahoromatic Maiden, Master Keaton, Patlabor Movie 3: WXIII, Sakura Wars Movie, and Tiny Snow Sugar Fairy! Right Stuf announced Gakuen Senki Muryou, Girl Next Door, Gravitation, Hooligan, Ijiri Sisters, Lovedoll, Nonamura Hospital, Tres Marias. Etc. Etc. So much stuff to watch! [CJP]
Update [July 9, 2002]
PA#71's shipping is now done. It is on its way to all subscribers, stores and distributors! So please check it out and give us your feedback! Also, the web site has been updated with all the new information related to the new issue (available here). More updates will come soon (particularly on the catalog).
There are two shows that I've been watching lately and that I find absolutely great: .Hack//Sign (that will be released by Bandai later this Fall) and RahXephon (just announced by ADV at AX). The first one is particularly cool if you have ever played any RPG or MUD before and is quite reminescent of Mamoru Oshii's Avalon. The second one is similar in many ways to Evangelion, with a little of the depth of Escaflowne. We will definitely cover them before the end of the year. [CJP]
News [July 5, 2002]
I just bought the french-translated manga of Capitaine Albator (Captain Harlock) published by Kana and it is great! I warmly recommanding it to all Harlock fans (even if it is in French)! I will soon update it in our manga catalog section for those who would be interested in ordering it.
The volume 1 of Capitaine Albator had also a surprising announcement: from September Kana will start publishing the superb shojo manga by Riyoko Ikeda, The Rose Of Versailles! Once again, even if it is in French, it is a must for any serious shojo manga fans!
I know it must be annoying that we write all those comments about French manga. But it is unavoidable: there is much more interesting manga titles available in French and, unless you are already fluent in Japanese and can read them in the original version, French is much easier to read than Japanese. You just need a good French dictionary and you can guess the general meaning and the grammatical structure (unless you are fluent in French, of course). And if you are in mostly for the art, the French version are generally easier to find (just check our catalog) than the original Japanese edition. Anyway, as soon as we have set up the French section of the web page (The Safe-House), we will have a section dedicated to French manga (The MangaZone!) and all French manga-related news & reviews will move there. [CJP]
Update [July 2, 2002]
Sorry for failing again to keep you up to date. The past month or so has been quite busy. Not only the production of PA#71 started late because of the various computer set-up we had to do, but the preparation for Anime North was also rather time consuming. And we stayed an extra day in Toronto to help the convention organizers with a presentation by Mr. Matsutani, the head of Tezuka Production. When I came back from Anime North, I was so exhausted that I couldn't work normally for almost a week. A last minute rush helped catching up a little (some nights I slept just a couple of hours). Then I had to run after some missing advertisement, wait for a last minute advertisement, solve some problem with the hi-resolution print-out (the place I print the lino had not updated their version of Pagemaker) and finally deal with the usual printing delay (on top of that the printer was close for Quebec's National holiday and Canada Day -- when the magazine is at the printer there is always an holiday to add to the delay just to make things worse!). All in all we are one month late! Sorry about that.
The magazine finally arrived this afternoon and it will start shipping tomorrow. We will be working on the shipping all week and up to next monday (July 8). It should be in stores at the end of next week and, by the end of the month of July, everybody should have received their copy. If not, let us know.
The work on PA#72 is already going well, but I will also try to update the web page and the catalog in the following weeks. I'll do my best to do it quickly, but the layout of the magazine is a priority (we'll try to catch up on the production schedule) and there are many administrative tasks (boring but necessary stuff) that need to be done. Anyway, as soon as it is in store, please check out PA#71 -- that's really a great issue! -- and enjoy the summer (I don't know for you, but here it is sizzling hot!). Jane! [CJP]
News & Update [May 6, 2002]
The work on PA#71 is going well, so I took some time this week-end to continue the update of the web page. The following section have been updated: Upcoming issues, Contributors' Guidelines, FAQ, Long Poll, Protoculture Products in the catalog and How To Order. More updates to come soon. BTW, we haven't received musch feedback about the new layout of the web page. Do you like it? Is it slow to load? Please, e-mail us your comments!
There was many conventions in the past weeks and many announcements have been made. ADV announced the acquisition of Angelic Layer, Full Metal Panic, Mazinkaizer, Najica, and Noir. Media Blasters announced Babel II, Cosmo Warrior Zero, Dante's Inferno, Dog World, Genma Wars, Gun Frontier, Gundress, Space Pirate Mito, Varoom One, and Wild Seven. Right Stuf announced Comic Party. Viz announced Project ARMS. More great stuff to watch!
Some new released has been announced on the side of the French Manga as well. Dargaud announced the release of the Albator (Harlock) manga in May. Delcourt announced Fruits Basket and Togari for June. Dynamic Visions announced Berserk #1 and Golden Boy #5 for the end of May and Pika announced the acquisition of CLAMP's Chobits. By the way, we should receive a new batch of French manga in the following weeks! Stay tuned!
Also, Protoculture will attend Anime North in Toronto from May 24th to 26th. If you happens to be in the area, don't miss a chance to come and see us. There will be several great Japanese and North American guests! Check their web site! [CJP]
Update [April 12, 2002]
PA#70 has now been shipped to all subscribers, distributors and stores. It should be in stores by the end of next week (maybe even this week-end in some places). For subscribers it will take a little longer (at least one or two weeks -- and up to a month for US subscribers).
Many pages of our web site have been updated (with the new design): the pages related to PA#70 (intro, presentation, contents), Indexes (PA, Special, MP), Distribution, Subscription, Ordering PA, Upcoming Issues, the Catalog for recent issues of PA and a good part of the Essential Links. More to come soon, but first I have to reformat my entire hard drive. Apparently, that's what was causing the problem with OS X and PageMaker in the first place: drive corruption (apparently not found only in some governments). While trying to simply fix the problem, it got worse and my e-mail program got zapped (along with my e-mails of the last decade -- if you sent a e-mail to us recently and haven't received any answer, maybe you should send it again -- and my address book as well)! Formating and re-installing everything from scratch should really solve all problems. Hopefully. After that, I will continue the update of the web page (slowly, because now I really have to work hard on PA#71 which, you have all guessed, will be late).
Finally, please give us some feedback about PA#70 and the new web design. We cannot make it better if you don't tell us what you think about it and what more you want us to do. You can do so by e-mailing us your comments. Thanks a lot and take care. [CJP]
News [March 31, 2002]
First of all, Protoculture Addicts #70 is finally at the printer and should ship between April 4th and 10th. It is a pretty nice issue (we worked quite hard on this one), so please check it out. As usual, the Table of Content and the Presentation are available on the web site.
Of course, we had some computer problems (still struggling a little with OS X, Pagemaker crashed, corrupting the layout and destroying three weeks of work!) which caused delays, which made us miss the reserved printing time at the printer, which caused more delays, etc. Same old problems. I think we have resolved all the issues with OS X and I got the newest version of Pagemaker, so everything should be fine for PA#71... Yea, right!
The new season (today was a superb spring day!) will bring lots of improvements for the magazine, one of them being a new official web address: www.protoculture-mag.com (the web site can also be accessed by www.protoculture.ca, but the old www.protoculture.qc.ca is still working). We are working on a new web page design that should be gradually introduced during the next months or so (the update of the home page is just the beginning; more is coming soon). We have also produced a new, slightly different cover design (the cover of PA#70 is different, but that's not the new design: it's an hommage to Mecha Press!) that will appear on the cover of next issue!
Beside PA#70, there is not much news for the online catalog. It will be updated in the following weeks (promised) and more French manga are on their way. Expect them for the end of April. Still no news on Five Star Stories vol. 13, but we are investigating.
Take care and enjoy Spring! [CJP]
Update [February 11, 2002]
PA#69 shipped between January 29 and February 7. It should now be in stores and susbcribers should start to get it soon (US subscriptions being shipped by surface mail, they should arrive at their destination a little later, like within the next couple of weeks -- if you don't get it before the end of February there might be something wrong so please contact us). You can access here all the information about PA#69 (description, table of content, presentation, etc.). Some more information (like the web links) will be added later when I'll have time for more updates. For now, I must work on PA#70.
Of course, as usual, there was plenty of problems to cause delays: the regular computer glitches, difficulty to find illustrations for some articles, an important package that got lost (if you ship by Puro, it arrive later: don't ever use a carrier named Purolater), change of cover at the last minute, lots of advertising troubles (advertiser that changes its ad, advertiser that cancels its ad, getting ads from the internet, advertiser that send its ad almost too late, advertiser that doesn't provide POs when they are needed, running after advertisers that don't pay on time, etc.) and printing delays. The usual hell. At the same time that we are busy on the magazine, we have to answer e-mails from people needing information, order manga from Europe and Japan to help fans get the stuff they need, package and ship those products when they arrive, plan the next issue, do the accounting, etc. There is also the absolute unexpected, like my wife getting attacked by two young female punks at the exit of the subway (fortunately she was not hurt much and they didn't succeed to steel her purse -- but it is disturbing to think that this kind of stuff can happen and now I walk her back every night). On top of that, I was sick like a dog in the last few weeks (not totally true, since a dog would probably have died!) due to a VERY bad case of flu that kept me in bed for a good week. What a pain.
Finally, to solve all those computer glitches, I decided to upgrade my Mac and to switch to OS X. Now, it looks cool, it is faster and I can get all the newest fun & cool stuff. However (beside that it was quite expensive), the new OS is so different that it took a week just to get used to it. Of course, almost everything is not compatible anymore (I had to shell a bundle in software upgrades, get a new printer, and eventually I will have to change scanner, CD burner, video grab card, etc). The worse is that the french canadian keyboard I was using before isn't there anymore so I have to learn to type again with a different keyboard. I would almost think that Apple is as bad as Microsoft, doing that just to get us to spend lots of money. The bastards! For some stuff, I have to reboot in OS 9.2 (like to grab pictures or burn CDs), but now I am getting used to it and it really looks cool and smooth. And it hasn't really crashed once. Nevertheless, my advice is: if you don't need to, don't change your OS until you have to change your computer. It is really too much trouble.
To conclude, like I said in PA#69, our latest issue is a little bigger than usual (76 pages! No wonder it took me so long to do the layout) and contains tons of useful information about anime. It is the result of our hard work and express our love for Japanese animation, so please enjoy it and let all your friends know about it! If you don't have your copy, go buy one! Now, I better go back to work. Take care! [CJP]
Update [February 2, 2002]
PA#69 came back from the printer Tuesday January 29th. The shipping process is under way, although slowly (we are still struggling with the new Mac OS X, a very bad case of flu, and power outage certainly doesn't help!), but should be completed by Wednesday or Thursday (Feb. 6-7).
At the end of January we also received some more manga in French from Europe. We have restocked in the Golden Boy and UFO Robot Goldorak series, received some more Generation Comics titles, as well as the fifth and final volume of Go Nagai`s excellent series Devilman ! Manga orders will ship out in the following days along with PA#69. Check the "Manga in Stock" sub-menu of the Manga In French section to see what's available!
We`ll do our best to update the various web pages of the magazine and of the catalog in the following weeks. Don't forget to try out our new online purchasing system provided by PayPal! (See the “How to Order” section for details). [CJP]
Update [January 5, 2002]
Welcome to 2002! I hope everybody had a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! First,PA#69 is nearly completed and will go to press as soon as the printer re-opens next week. It should ship around January 25. Sorry about that delay, however this issue will surely pack some punch! It is now 76 pages and full of precious information about lots of anime shows. Note that the cover has changed: since 4Kids never came back to us about the YuGiOh cover, we switched to a Love Hina cover (my deepest thanks to Maki at Production I.G.)!
Also, I have recently re-discovered an internet radio station entirely dedicated to anime and J-Pop! I found out about it a couple of months ago, but last week, while doing some layout, I listened to it again and it rocks! So please encourage them the best you can and listen to this station:
Catalog Update [January 5, 2002]
Welcome to 2002! I hope everybody had a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! First, we should get some more french Manga from Europe before the end of January. Also, in early December, some computer-related production problems that were out of our control caused some delays and PA#69 couldn't be printed before the printer went in vacation for the Holidays (for nearly three weeks!). Now, it will go to press as soon as the printer re-opens next week and it should ship around January 25. Sorry about that delay, but this issue will surely pack some punch! It is now 76 pages and full of precious information about lots of anime shows. Note that the cover has changed: since 4Kids never came back to us about the YuGiOh cover, we switched to a Love Hina cover (my deepest thanks to Maki at Production I.G.)!
Update [December 11, 2001]
Not much news at the moment. Despite many distractions (taking care of the french manga orders, corruption of the Pagemaker layout file that forced us to redo the base of the layout from scratch, robbery attempt on the office and a few days spent cleaning up and increasing security), we are working hard on PA#69 (which, btw, will now be 76 pages!). However, we won't be able to give the magazine to the printer before Christmas and (since the damn printer is closed for a little more than two weeks) it will ship only around mid-January.
The online catalog has been updated with the French manga we received a couple of weeks ago (in a new "Manga In Stock" section) and we remind you that credit card payment is now available.
We have also just discovered a glitch in the Top Five Anime contest form. It doesn't seem to work with some browser, like Netscape 6, so if you are brought to an e-mail composer page, just copy your answers into the e-mail and send it that way -- if not we will receive only a blank e-mail. Go figure. If you have sent your answer that way in the past, there is a good chance that we never received them, so please send them again via e-mail. Sorry about that.
Happy Hanukkah and Happy Holidays to all of you!
Catalog Update [December 10, 2001]
At the end of November we received our order of french Manga from Europe. Unfortunately, many of the titles we were expecting were not included because our distributor was temporary out of stock or the titles were out of print. However, we were able to complete most of the orders we had and we will get more french manga in January. You can see what titles we still have in stock by looking in the "Manga in French" section, under the "Manga in Stock" sub-menu. The list is not complete yet and more titles will be listed soon. In the meantime, I am going back to work on PA#69!
Update [November 20, 2001]
PA#68 shipped between November 9th and 15th. It should be in stores by the end of the week and subscribers should start receiving their copy soon.
 Big News! You can now order online and pay with your credit card through PayPal Shopping Cart and Web Accept payment system! The catalog has been updated with this system for all the Protoculture Products and the other parts of the catalog will slowly be updated as well before the end of the year. The “How to Order” section has also been updated.
You can now subscribe and buy back issues of the magazine in a quicker, more secure, way. The "Subscription" and the "Ordering" sections have been updated.
Please, shop happilly for Christmas!
Catalog Update [November 20, 2001]
PA#68 shipped between November 9th and 15th. It should be in stores by the end of the week and subscribers should start to receive their copy soon.
Big News! You can now order online and pay with your credit card through PayPal Shopping Cart and Web Accept payment system! The catalog has been updated with this system for all the Protoculture Products and the other parts of the catalog will slowly be updated as well before the end of the year. The “How to Order” section has been updated as well.
Please, shop happilly for Christmas!
Update [November 8, 2001]
The web page has been updated with the information about PA#67 and PA#68. You now have access to the presentation and table of contents of both issues. The only information missing are the suggested web links (PA#66-68) and the Showcase (PA#68). Those will be updated in the following days -- after I take care of the shipping of PA#68.
In PA#67, we were running a contest among those who would send us their list of Top 5 Anime. We have been too busy to put this contest online, but it is now available. Please participate in great numbers! We will run this contest until February 1st.
Finally, you probably have noticed, a new Quick Poll has been put online. Please, don't forget to cast your vote, because you opinion is very important to us. Unfortunately, the exact results (500+ votes) of the previous poll were lost due to a stupid mistake. However, we know that a special issue about Miyazaki was first, followed (in order) by Matsumoto, Tezuka, Monkey Punch and Nobuteru Yuki. We are not sure yet when (or if) we will be able to make such special issues of the magazine, but we will certainly do an issue with Miyazaki as main subject sometime next year. Thanks to all of those who took time to answer the poll. [CJP]
Update [November 7, 2001]
We DO live in interesting times. Terrible times. So much has happens since the summer that I feel like I am ten years older. There was the Fantasia Film Fest (that somehow left me rather depressed) and then the Montreal World Film Festival. In those two events we were able to meet with lots of people and see tons of great movies -- both animated and live-action. We'll talk more about that in the following issues of the magazine. After that I had to rush on PA#67 (what a nice cover!) that was quite late (but what a great content!). So late that we missed our reserved time window at the printer, had to wait for another opportunity, and then had to wait for updated orders from the main distributor. Finally, the magazine was ready to ship on September 11th... No shipping was done that day. We were glued to the TV (watching CNN), speechless. Somehow, the end of September was wrapped in a strange cloud, my mind was all foggy (I have the same feeling when I try to remember the summer when my sister died) and I don't remember anything in details. All I know is that the magazine was shipped before the end of the week (no need to hurry since the border was closed), I got a satellite dish (I felt more than ever the need to be in touch with the rest of the world -- BBC News is really great), and that life eventually went on with the production of PA#68...
At the end of October, we went to the Big Apple Anime Fest. I thought of not going at first, but then (listening to Rudy) I realized that not going would be to succomb to the fear that those Bastards!! wanted us to feel. So we went. Luckily, the convention hotel was so eager to get customers that the rooms were down to a really affordable price, which was great. BAAF was lots of fun and we met lots of nice people. They did quite a good job for a first convention, right in the middle of New York City! At last, a convention on the East Coast! It would really be unfair and undeserved nit-picking to complain about some corridors that were sometime too crowded, slow elevators or changes in the programs that were not properly announced. It was great, we had lots of fun and you'll read all about it in PA#69. We also took the opportunity to visit around and do some long overdue shopping in big Japanese bookstores! I was back just in time to finish the news section of PA#68 and send it to the printer. This yet-another-great-issue will ship in the following days. Jane! [CJP]
Catalog Update [November 6, 2001]
Our order of French manga from Europe is on the way and should arrive by mid-November. Please be a little more patient. We should get more Devilman, Getter Robot Go, Golden Boy, UFO Robot Goldorak (mostly) and some other manga from Tonkam. We will also have some manga from a new publisher, Generation Comics (Brain Powerd, Eden, Kirara, Kamikaze). Stay tuned and wwe will let you know when we update the catalog with the new arrivals.
Protoculture Addicts #68 will ship around November 9th and 12th.
Catalog Update [September 26, 2001]
Still no news about our order from Europe. We hope to get new French manga by early November. Please be patient. However, we have received the lastest Five Star Stories in English, volume #12!
Protoculture Addicts #67 shipped on September 12th. It should now be in most stores and subscribers should get it soon. However, following the tragic events of September 11th, you must expect delays in mail delivery.
The catalog has not been updated in a while because we have been quite busy lately (as usual -- and we are already hard at work on PA#68). We'll try to update it slowly in the following weeks. Gomen!
We are also planning to make the catalog available in a printable PDF format soon.
Catalog Update [July 27, 2001]
Apparently, the order from Europe will be, again, delayed. Sorry about that. It will probably go to early September. In the meantime, we have received Five Star Stories #11!
News [July 6, 2001]
The official web site of Fantasia Festival (www.fantasiafest.com) is now available. The program should be available on Monday (July 9). A few more Japanese guests are mentioned on the web site: Kiyoshi KUROSAWA (director of Séance), Mitsuko KUROSAWA (producer of The Fuccon Family), Daiji HATTORI (assitant director of Sakuya), and Tomoya SATO (director of L'Ilya). Quite interesting!
A new anime magazine, produced by the publisher of Wizard, has just been released: ANIME INVASION (88 pgs, full color, $4.99/$6.95 Can). The next issue won't come before November.
Anime Expo has now started and lots of news are already coming in: the East Coast is finally getting its well-deserved and long-awaited convention. Starting next year, Anime Expo East Coast will be held in New York City on Labor Day weekend! We will try to keep you posted on the news, although many anime news web sites (like Anime News Network, see our Essential Anime Links) are doing a much better job. For now, I'll go back working on the layout of PA#67 (and don't forget to check out PA#66, now available in stores, our updated catalog and give us some feedback -- by answering our polls or sending e-mails!). [CJP]
News [July 4, 2001]
The press conference for the sixth edition of the Fantasia Film Festival was held today. This year, the hugely popular festival (there was over 75,000 attendees last year!) will feature over 100 new action, thriller, comedy, horror and sci-fi films from around the world. It will take place from July 10 to July 31 at the majestic Imperial Cinema, located at 1430 Bleury (metro Place-Des-Arts) in Montreal. Jointly with Fantasia, the Just For Laughs Festival will present films from the Comedia series at the Parisien Cinema (480 Ste-Catherine West) and the Eat My Shorts series at the NFB Cinema (1564 St-Denis). Tickets are $7, Booklet of 10 tickets are $50 and Festival Pass are $115. For more information, you can check our complete list of films here or visit the festival's official web site: www.fantasiafest.com.
Anime-wise, the festival offers several (about 15) great titles: the remastered version of AKIRA, a selection of episodes of ALBATOR (aka Captain Harlock), three episodes of BOOGIE POP PHANTOM, ESCAFLOWNE: A Girl In Gaia, FINAL FANTASY, hommage to Tenkwaku Naniwa (five animated shorts), LAPUTA: Castle In The Sky (by Hayao Miyazaki!), METROPOLIS (script by Katsuhiro Otomo based on a manga by Osamu Tezuka, directed by Rin Taro!), MILLENIUM ACTRESS (dir. by Satoshi Kon -- Perfect Blue), Nekojiru-So, etc. On top of that you have tons of action & horror live-action movies from Japan (about 14), Hong Kong (about 10) and Korea (about 8) -- aside the 52 other international movies and shorts! An impressive program that no one can afford to miss!
There will be at least three great Japanese guests: Satoshi KON (director of Millenium Actress and Perfect Blue), Yoshomasa ISHIBASHI (director of The Fuccon Family) and Tomoo HARAGUCHI (director of Sakuya).
Protoculture Addicts' staff contributed to the program book by writing some of the presentation texts: Claude J. Pelletier wrote the text for Akira and contributed to the text for Boogiepop Phantom, and Martin Ouellette wrote texts for the Escaflowne movie and Laputa. Of coure, we will attend the festival and will write reports in the next issues. See you there! [CJP]
Update [July 1, 2001]
First of all, you will notice that the catalog web page has been updated with its new look. We hope that you will like it and find it more practical. Please let us know what you think. You feedback & comments are always important to us. Of course, more updates will come soon. We are planning a new anime video section and the PA Showcase section, where you will be able to purchase most of the products that we reviewed or talked about in recent issues of Protoculture Addicts.
Also, since we have been so busy lately working on the web page update and on PA#66, our orders in Europe have been delayed by at least a month. So now, we will probably receive new stuff around the end of July or mid-August. If you have ordered books and manga, don't worry: it's coming, but it's just a little late.
Finally, Protoculture Addicts #66 is now available! Check our Protoculture's Products section or PA's web page for more details.
Update [June 30, 2001]
Protoculture Addicts #66 has started shipping out. The last bunch will ship tuesday July 3rd (everything is closed here on monday because of Canada Day and everything will be closed in the USA wednesday because of Independance Day, so expect some delays in the mail -- and the printing was delayed because of Quebec National holiday on June 24th -- damn holidays!). It should be in stores for sure before July 13th and by then subscribers should also start receiving their copies. Sorry if this issue is a little late, we ran into the usual problems (sickness, computer jam, convention to attend, texts to write for FantAsia's program, working on the web page update, etc.) and, of course, a bigger issue (72 pages !!!) takes longer to layout! Now we are also working on updating the catalog web page and the magazine web page (with the info of PA#66) should be updated next week. After that, I'll start work on PA#67 (which is already late on its schedule, but most of the texts are in) and in two weeks FantAsia festival will start with lots of cool anime and Asian live-action movies to watch! Wednesday or thursday, I'll probably put some news on the festival's schedule. Stay tuned (and give us some feedback -- answer the damn poll!!!). [CJP]
Catalog Update [May 7, 2001]
We haven't receive much new stuff lately, but we still have a great selection of products that can be ordered any time. Check the catalog for details! Our next order to our European distributor will be on June 1st, so if you want to make a special order, please do so before this date. Also, we will attend Anime North on May 25-27 in Toronto. So, if you are in the area, please come see us!
Protoculture Addicts, #65 (Saber Marionette, Turn A Gundam), is now available. Starting with PA#66 (Big O, Rurouni Kenshin), the magazine will have 72 pages! Don't miss it!
Don't forget to order our great book Anime: A Guide To Japanese Animation (1958-1988). It is a 320-page filmography of the first thirty years of Japanese animation, from Astroboy to Akira.
Finally, we have started updating our web pages starting with the main Protoculture pages and most of the magazine pages. The next step (after we're done with the layout of PA#66) will be the catalog! Not only it will have a new look, but it will also offer many new products!
Update [May 5, 2001]
The most important and recent parts of the Protoculture Addicts section of the web page have now been updated. We will finish it and update the catalog later. Now, after more than one hundred hours spent on this update, we must go on with the production of Protoculture Addicts #66 -- which is already late. With lots of layout still to do for PA#66, my wedding anniversary, the garden to start, my birthday, and Anime North (come see us in Toronto!), May will be a very busy month! [CJP]
Update [May 1, 2001]
First of all, you probably noticed that we started a major update of the web page's look. I hope you like it. We tried to make it look nicer, but mostly, we tried to have more practical menus. Don't hesitate to let us know what you think about this change. Your comments are important to help us make the magazine and its web page better. In the following weeks and months, we are planning the bring more improvement (hey! this is a work in constant evolution!). We will first finish the update of the Protoculture web page and then we will update the catalog.
Protoculture Addicts #65 shipped between April 20 and 24 to distributors and subscribers. It should be in stores by now and subscribers should get their copies within the next two weeks (depending where they are located). As usual, information about the new issue (table of content, presentation, web links, etc.) is available here. Enjoy! [CJP]
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