The first thing you'll notice about PiQ when compared to Newtype - besides the obvious size difference - is the very, very different editorial tone. Newtype's blase fawning has given way to something that is more sharp and sarcastic. I did laugh a few times reading this, a reaction I can safely say that Newtype never provoked. Plus, the reviews are actually reviews, and the writers now have full license to be critical about the products they're observing. While I do enjoy the change in tone, readers used to things being given easy-to-digest scores in their reviews will doubtless be disheartened to learn that they still have to actually read the reviews and previews to find out exactly what the author thinks of the product in question, as no scores - numerical or otherwise - are given.

The layout style has also seen a serious revamp. While you'll still get lots of big, pretty splash pictures, things are a bit more... I hate to say "Web 2.0" but it's about the only term I think works. Lots of bright solid-color backgrounds, big and bubbly text splashes... it's minimalist but also somewhat over-the-top at the same time. While the magazine even goes out of its way to say that they aren't trying to ape Play magazine, the art and layout style definitely gave me a Play sort of vibe. That's not exactly a compliment, as I try to forget about the existence of Dave Halverson's pretty-pictures-and-editorial-handjobs rag whenever possible.

PiQ does have some pretty glaring problems, though. For one thing, the content seems arranged without any rhyme or reason to it. You'll have a piece on XXXholic, then right after it, with no real explanation, is something about Avatar. Following that is a bit about n+ (an XBLA video game) followed by Code Geass and Sarah Connor Chronicles. There's no flow to the content, no grouping of anime/manga, game, and movie/tv features together, it just jumps all over the damn place whenever it feels like. It's a bit of a jarring read, to say the least.

On top of that, there's the main issue that PiQ's angry detractors take umbrage with. NewType was a Japanese anime/manga/game-centric publication, but PiQ covers a far broader spectrum of anime, manga, games, sci-fi, tv, movies, comics... stuff for nerds in general, basically. The content of the magazine, while certainly well written, doesn't really present anything fresh or different from the other general geek-interest magazines. While anime and manga are definitely the main attractions here, there's an overall sense of "been there, done that" with a lot of the other material. We can pick up a sci-fi or general animation magazine to hear about things like Sarah Connor Chronicles and Avatar (to say nothing of all the other "nerd entertainment" catch-all publications)- and their articles would probably be longer and more interesting to people with even just a casual interest in those properties. The sheer lack of focus or uniqueness is really what drags PiQ down for me.

Finally, some of the stuff included is just... well, baffling. A feature on LARPing? A goofy, obscure pastime that's a punchline in and of itself to anyone who isn't in the scene? Come on. Are we saving the look into fursuiting for issue 2, or what?

Overall, PiQ is... a magazine. It's not astoundingly great - I certainly don't feel like this is something I'd want to spend $7 each month on - but it is an enjoyable enough read to warrant a look. It's certainly not like ADV is mailing a manila envelope filled with dog turds in Newtype's place. Maybe it will improve as time passes. I certainly hope so - it's got the potential. And hey, as far as I'm concerned, any magazine that gives Barkley: Shut Up and Jam Gaiden a glowing writeup has merit.

To end this summary, how hilarious is it that the head of Bandai Visual USA was surveyed as an expert on the North American anime DVD market in the "Is Anime Dead" article?