Editing Protoculture Addicts

{{short description|Canadian anime and manga magazine}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2010}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=August 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox magazine
 |title           = Protoculture Addicts
 |image_file      = Protoculture Addicts issue 97 cover.jpg
 |image_size      = 250px
 |image_caption   = Cover of issue #97, the last regular issue
 |editor          = 
 |editor_title    = 
 |previous_editor = 
 |staff_writer    = 
 |frequency       = 
 |circulation     = 
 |category        = [[Manga]] and [[anime]]
 |company         = 
 |publisher       = 
 |firstdate       = Fall 1987
 |finaldate       = 2008
 |based           = Montreal
 |country         = Canada
 |language        = English
 |website         = [http://www.protoculture.ca/ protoculture.ca]
 |issn            = 
}}

'''''Protoculture Addicts''''' was a Canadian-based [[anime]] and [[manga]] themed magazine published by Protoculture Inc., an [[Anime News Network]] company. The term "Protoculture Addicts" was also used by the [[Zentradi]] (an alien race that appeared in the ''[[Macross]]'' series) to refer to all the races that have been in contact with [[Protoculture (anime)|Protoculture]].

Although it was a North American publication, it also covered many things about the state of anime and manga in France and the French-speaking world. Manga and anime are readily available in Europe, and the magazine was started in [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]], a [[francophone]] region of Canada with a mixture of French and English speakers.

==History==
''Protoculture Addicts'' was the first large mainstream anime and manga magazine in North America. Its name derives from the popularity of the ''[[Robotech]]'' anime series, and its namesake, [[Protoculture (anime)|Protoculture]]. It started as a ''Robotech'' [[fanzine]], became officially licensed as such, and then expanded to cover anime in general. Many of the series that it reviewed and presented details of, including [[Spoiler (media)|spoilers]], were months in advance of legal release in the English-speaking West.

The first test release, Issue #0, was published by [[Claude J. Pelletier]] in the fall of 1987.<ref name="acc">{{cite book|author=Anne Cooper-Chen|title=Cartoon Cultures: The Globalization of Japanese Popular Media|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=duL8WZh9xjQC&pg=PA135|access-date=November 13, 2015|year=2010|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-1-4331-0368-1|page=135}}</ref> Issue #1 officially launched the fanzine in the spring of 1988. It later became a standard commercial magazine.

===Acquisition by Anime News Network===
In 2005, with Issue #82, ''Protoculture Addicts'' became ''Anime News Network's Protoculture Addicts'',<ref name=acc/> a sister publication to popular anime news and information website [[Anime News Network]]. In May 2006, the first full color issue (#88) of ''Protoculture Addicts'' was released with the addition of a manga insert and several changes based on the readers feedback. Issue #89 was published later in end November and returned to its bimonthly schedule.

===End of regular production===
The last regularly released issue of ''Protoculture Addicts'' was #97, the July/August 2008 edition.<ref>{{cite web|title=Protoculture Addicts 97|work=Protoculture Addicts|url=http://www.protoculture.ca/PA/PA97.htm|access-date=April 26, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709153737/http://www.protoculture.ca/PA/PA97.htm|archive-date=July 9, 2011}}</ref><ref name="deal">{{cite web|url=https://nergalheavyindustries.wordpress.com/2014/06/20/dead-english-language-anime-magazines-protoculture-addicts/|title=Dead English Language Anime Magazines: "Protoculture Addicts"|date=June 12, 2014|work=The Anime Archivist|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913170116/https://nergalheavyindustries.wordpress.com/2014/06/20/dead-english-language-anime-magazines-protoculture-addicts/|archive-date=September 13, 2014|access-date=November 13, 2015}}</ref> This was a symptom of the general collapse of the North American anime market which occurred throughout 2008 following the closure of [[Geneon USA]] in September 2007  However, it was also the result of increased competition with anime news websites, such as Anime News Network itself. Only  a few months before, ''[[Newtype USA]]'' shut down in February 2008  This was followed not long afterwards by the closure of ''[[Anime Insider]]'' magazine in March 2009, the last anime news magazine published on a monthly basis in North America.

The magazine still technically exists, though only as a neglected subsidiary of Anime News Network, and for all intents and purposes it has been directly absorbed by ANN.  According to their forum, Anime News Network officially discontinued efforts to release ''Protoculture Addicts'' as a regularly released magazine with issue #97, but hoped to continue the name as a bi-annual trade paperback, not focusing on news (a function which had been supplanted by the internet) but on special features and reviews.  However, the project has not been given a high priority, and only two staffers were assigned to gradually produce the special trade-paperback issue, which was still going to be numbered "''Protoculture Addicts'' #98" to continue the legacy of the original magazine. A new issue of ''Protoculture Addicts'' had not been published since 2008.<ref name=deal/><ref>{{cite web|title=Any news yet about issue 98?|work=Anime News Network forum|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=131120&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0|access-date=April 26, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724220023/http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=131120&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0|archive-date=July 24, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> This leaves ''[[Otaku USA]]'' as the only regularly published anime news magazine in North America, which is published on a bi-monthly schedule.

== See also ==

* [[List of manga magazines published outside of Japan]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.protoculture.ca Official website]

[[Category:1987 establishments in Quebec]]
[[Category:2008 disestablishments in Quebec]]
[[Category:Anime and manga magazines]]
[[Category:Bi-monthly magazines published in Canada]]
[[Category:Defunct magazines published in Montreal]]
[[Category:Magazines established in 1987]]
[[Category:Magazines disestablished in 2008]]

[[ja:ハーモニーゴールド USA#プロトカルチャー・アディクツ（Protoculture Addicts）|プロトカルチャー・アディクツ]]