The View From The Sofa -- Enrique Conty

Introduction Like a great man once said, "Hi." I am Enrique Conty. Some of you may know me from my rants in rec.arts.anime and related newsgroups, from where I foist my opinions onto the unsuspecting masses far too often for the greater good. It would seem those otherwise sensible folks at AMPlus have decided it would be a good idea to give me a regular opinion column in their fine webzine. I solemnly swear that I'll try to the best of my abilities to entertain, enrage, puzzle, comfort, inspire, and challenge the readers of my column. Hopefully, you'll be more entertained than puzzled, more challenged than comforted, and more inspired than enraged, but I make no promises. For my first act, I had originally planned a simple rant entitled "I Have No Brain But I Must Flame," however recent events have caused me to shelve that idea for a later issue. Said recent events being some distressing announcements from Ashdown Publishing in the United Kingdom. ANIME FX, ANIME FX, wherefore art thou ANIME FX? Ashdown Publishing currently manages 9 or so hobby magazines the likes of "Teddy Bear Times" and "Parrot Talk". The evil teddy bear from the second 3X3 EYES series notwithstanding, Ashdown's importance to anime fans is that they also publish what until now has been one of the best anime magazines in English, 1994 Tezuka Award Winner Anime FX (formerly known as Anime UK). Apparently, Ashdown hasn't been happy with the profit margin they get from Anime FX, and plan to make some changes to it. A rumor was running around the nets that Anime FX would be cancelled, but Ashdown's announcement of their actual plans is even more distressing. Dismissing editor-in-chief Helen McCarty and main artist Steve Kyle as mere "freelancers," Ashdown is considering replacing the magazine's staff with one more to their liking, perhaps an American team since AFX has done so well over here. I've heard rumors about other things, like Ashdown wanting to abandon newsstand distribution altogether, but for the sake of fairness I won't comment on those. I cannot believe the nerve of the people at Ashdown. Freelancers?! Please! McCarthy and Kyle have been with Anime UK since its very inception back in 1991, and along with artist Wil Overton and publisher Peter Goll made AUK into a magazine worth paying attention to. On the other hand, Ashdown only recently came into the picture with the July 1995 issue. McCarthy and Kyle built this magazine's reputation and quality, and Ashdown has the gall to refer to them as "freelancers." And this idea of reworking the magazine into yet another American magazine is one of the worst examples of marketing gone mad that I can think of this side of New Coke. What are they THINKING? Don't they realize that what made Anime UK/FX so great was the unique approach it used towards anime and anime-related issues? I'd rather not think about who will they get to replace Peter "Live From Hell City" Evans, or Jonathan Clemens, one of the most literate anime essayists I've ever had the pleasure to read. Not to mention that the British anime fans would lose the best anime magazine that caters to their market. What makes something what it is? In one of his sonnets, Shakespeare wrote that "a rose by any other name is just as sweet." And Juliet asked of Romeo why he is what he is. Ashdown Publications may want to take a close look at what made Anime FX what it is, instead of blindly charging in to "fix" things and end up destroying everything. I'm not worried about the fate of McCarthy and Kyle. I know that at the worst they'll start anew and continue their tradition of publishing great anime magazines. I am very disappointed and somewhat mad at Ashdown for their role in this, in which they have covered the range from mere incompetence to deliberate malice. One thing is for sure: if Ashdown goes through with their plans, the Anime FX we've known to love will be truly dead. Contact Information By the way, if you want to tell those swell folks at Ashdown how you really feel about their plans for ANIME FX, I'll be more than happy to lend a hand. The following information should be useful: Ashdown Publishing Ltd. Avalon Court, Star Road Partridge Green, West Sussex RH13 8RY ENGLAND E-Mail: ashdown@pavilion.co.uk Phone: 01403 711511 Fax: 01403 711521 (British phone numbers of course) Well, that's it for this month. See you in April! Enrique Conty can often be found in the rec.arts.anime newsgroup, where he has been known for several years as an incisive commentator on the anime scene. The opinions expressed by Mr. Conty are his own, and should not be taken as the opinions of AMPlus.