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AniSon Mate Mag to Debut in May, Fanroad Mag to Return
posted on by Egan Loo
The Japanese monthly music magazine Fool's Mate announced on Monday that it will debut a spinoff magazine called AniSon Mate for anime songs on May 17. The 120-page issue #0's main features will cover female artists with anime ties, such as Shōko Nakagawa (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood), Yōko Hikasa (K-ON!!), Kalafina (So-Ra-No-Wo-To), and DJ Saolilith (Evangelion). The issue will also have reports on live concerts and events for Nana Mizuki, Maaya Sakamoto, GRANRODEO, Hatsune Miku, Gintama, Hetalia, and other artists and franchises. Another feature will cover stars who had their first big breaks on the Nico Nico Douga streaming website.
Last Friday, the Japanese publisher Glide Media posted a web page to announce that it has an "F project" in the works. According to the page, the venerated Fanroad anime magazine is being revived under the tentative title of Tōkōdō F (Submission Road F) on June 9. The writer of the webpage, who is identified as Fanroad's editor "Initial Biscuit no K," noted that the 9th of every month is one day before the three major anime magazines (Newtype, Animage, Animedia) are released, so fans would still have money to buy the newly revived magazine.
In a Thursday update, Glide Media revealed that the first issue in the revival will have a big feature on the manga creator Haruaki Katoh (Hyakko, Yūhi Romance). Kato will illustrate the issue's front cover, draw a pinup poster, and give an interview. The issue will also have reader-submitted four-panel manga of the virtual singer Hatsune Miku, and the best entry will be made into a Flash anime short on Hatsune Miku's homepage.
Unlike other anime magazines, Fanroad specialized in printing reader-submitted content such as artwork, comics, and even recipes. Had the magazine's first incarnation not ended in March of 2009, it would have celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. A publisher called Inforest did publish three issues of a short-lived revival from July to November of 2009. Inforest's fourth Fanroad issue was supposed to ship on January 16, but it was abruptly cancelled as the magazine went out of publication again.
In America, Otaku USA magazine editor Patrick Macias revealed in a Thursday blog entry that his jaPRESS studio (Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms, Pure Trance) will be handling the English translation and rewriting of Tokyo Kawaii Magazine, ASCII Media Works' digital app for Apple's iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad mobile devices.
Sources: animeanime.jp, OtaNew
