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"A Fan's Viewpoint on Mixx Entertainment" by Stephen Congly
This article was published in issue 53 ofProtoculture Addicts. Please consider buying a copy of the magazine if you enjoy the contents of the article below. ^_^ This article was written in October 1998 so some of the links no longer work.
Mixx Entertainment has been getting a significant amount of negative publicity in the past few months. For some anime and manga fans, Mixx has become their number one enemy. Why is this the case. This article will attempt to examine why Mixx Entertainment has gained such a negative reputation.
To begin with, some background on the company and its history itself. Mixx Entertainment is a "Pacific Rim media and entertainment company focused on combining talent and creativity across borders and cultures." (EC2 Occupants) They are noted mostly for producing the translated manga (termed as "motionless picture entertainment" by Mixx Entertainment) compilation of Mixxzine.
Mixxzine was originally hailed by fans as being great for anime and manga in general because it was a great chance to expand the potential fan base. This was the first time such a magazine had been launched and Mixx Entertainment stood a good chance of being successful. The titles first published very popular ones including "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" and "Magic Knight Rayearth". The other two published to round out Mixxzine were "Parasyte" and "Ice Blade" (Jiraishin)
There was some grumbling about how the translations were "Americanised" too much by the hard-core individuals with otaku-like tendencies; most people though were quite willing to ignore them. However, the one thing that people disliked very much was the choice of dialect used; a 'hip-hop' dialect termed as 'kool' [sic] by Mixx Entertainment.
Many fans gave Mixx Entertainment a chance and quite a few liked what they saw save for the minor gripes listed above. The popularity and the niche for professional English translations of were quite apparent in the "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" fan community as evidenced by the number of people that have claimed to have bought the "Pocket Manga" (Mixx Publication's term for tankobun).
In spite of its initial popularity, there was much complaining about circulation troubles. Reports of how comic shops and non-subscribing customers getting their copy of Mixxzine before subscribers were reasonably common. As well, Canadians have often had difficulty getting copies of both Mixxzine and "Pocket Manga" which often led to frustration and anger. Even so, these complaints were the minority.
Mixx Entertainment has had several problems occur to them within the past 4 months. The major issues include the leaving/dismissal of Chief Editor Mr. Ron Scovel Jr., the dub project of "Kenji's Spring", which has been renamed "Spring and Chaos", the transfer of "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" to the new magazine Smile and the change in the design of Mixxzine. Increasing the significance of these problems are the difficulties in public relations that Mixx Entertainment has had; these will be detailed later.
The first issue that should be discussed is the leaving/dismissal of Chief Editor Ron Scovel Jr. from the staff of Mixx Entertainment and Mixxzine. The phrase leaving/dismissal is used because it is not certain which actually is the case; varying accounts feature different responses. On his departure from Mixx Entertainment, Mr. Scovel has gone public on Usenet and has made statements stating that he left Mixx Entertainment due to his opposition to Mixx's direction and to "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" being moved into Mixx Entertainment' sister magazine Smile (Scovel, Interview)
However, this statement has been rejected by Mr. Levy in a post that he made to Usenet to the forum misc.arts.anime.rec. In his dissertation, which will be discussed later in more detail, Mr. Levy claims that Mr. Scovel was terminated from Mixx Entertainment on 17 July 1998. Mr. Levy then continues on and states that Mr. Scovel did no work at Mixx Entertainment and that his position at Mixx Entertainment was entirely honorary. (Levy, Mixx Entertainment)
It is difficult to determine which account is more accurate based on the facts available at this point in time. There is obvious bias in the statements made by both parties in this issue. The one thing that is clear from both viewpoints is that Mr. Scovel did not part from Mixx Entertainment on friendly terms. Nothing more should be judged from these statements due to the lack of information in existence.
The second issue facing Mixx Entertainment is its dub project of "Kenji's Spring". In statements posted on the Internet, Mr. Scovel offers some interesting viewpoints regarding the Mixx Entertainment dub of "Kenji's Spring", the creation of Shoji Kawamori. Scovel states that the dub is very poorly done and that several of the Mixx Entertainment staff were required to do voices when several voice actors quit. Scovel finishes off by stating that the dub was done in three days and that the director hired wanted to do it quicker.
In defence of the dub, Mr. Levy responds in his open letter on Usenet. Mr. Levy states that: "The dub we produced was produced professionally, like other dubs. We did use professional actors... with some extras chosen from around the office... It took us three days just to record the voices, let alone complete the entire production. Over 30 hours of recording for 53 minutes of relatively dialogue-free scripting is far more time than needed, but we did many retakes to be sure we had the best cuts possible. (For reference, the original Japanese voice recording was completed in 2 days)." (Levy, Mixx Entertainment)
In another interview, Mr. Levy states as well that "It wasn't even really meant for American audiences. It was commissioned by the Japanese government to create a version to expose exchange students to an aspect of their literary culture. It was done on a very low budget, and edited entirely in Japan." (Anime News Network, Levy") As for his comments on a subtitled version, Levy states in the same interview that his negative comments were made because he can speak Japanese and thus does not need subtitles and partially in defence of the dub.
However, when "Kenji's Spring" premiered at Anime Expo 98, the convention Mixx Entertainment sponsored, the dub production was booed roundly by its audience; this is based on the observations of people in attendance. Therefore, it can thus be assumed that the creation is quite poor. Even if "Kenji's Spring" was not really meant for American audiences, Mixx Entertainment is still preparing to sell it; thus, it should have been done better. The way to please almost everyone in this situation seems to be to create a subtitled version for those who want one; in fact, they are cheaper to make than dubs.
The issue facing Mixx Entertainment, that has led to the most public outcry, is the moving of "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" out of Mixxzine. The "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" fan-community was generally reasonably amiable to Mixxzine and Mixx Entertainment until about mid-July when it became known to some of this fan-community that "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" was going to be removed from Mixxzine. There was no warning to the general masses about this move. After first notice of this information, it was confirmed with Mr. Stewart Levy (Publisher Mixxzine) and Mr. Ron Scovel Jr. (Chief Editor at that point in time) via email. In this email correspondence, clarification of "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon's" fate was obtained.
Mr. Levy and Mr. Scovel stated that "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" would be removed beginning with Vol. 2 Issue 2 of Mixxzine. "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" would then be placed into _Smile_, with the plot being advanced to the Sailor Moon Super S series with the original continued in "Pocket Manga" or in a more traditional format. (Levy, Explaination and Scovel, Explaination)
This change was not very well liked by the "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" fan community, who have been the most vocal in expressing their displeasure at Mixx Entertainment. The one thing that has seemed to really anger them is that there has been no formal notice from Mixx Entertainment save for what has be disseminated via email and Usenet. The first notice many people got about the proposed changes were on the Usenet newsgroup "alt.fan.sailor-moon". This lack of communication has been one of the major causes of the anger of the fan-community.
The lack of communication seems to be the major mistake that Mixx Entertainment has made up to this point in time. Mr. Levy states that "we didn't prepare for the transition as well as we should have [through communication]. That's a mistake and I recognise it." (Anime News Network, Levy). This statement is called into question by Mr. Scovel who claims that "Not warning people about Sailor Moon being on its own was an intentional decision. When it was made there was a public Mixx forum that could have informed the subscribers what was going on. Most subscribers still don't have Mixx 2-2 and they've already re-subscribed starting back at issue 6." (Anime News Network, Scovel) Scovel's statements seem to be valid; the moving of "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" was known before July and thus could have been talked about in Issue 2-1, the last issue with "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon."
Along with this lack of information about the proposed changes is information from Mr. Scovel. Mr. Scovel has stated that Mr. Levy would censor any references to homosexuality in "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon". As well, Mr. Scovel has also stated that Mr. Levy does not care at all about the fans; this is contrary to the statements that Mr. Levy has made. (Scovel, Interview)
Whether the above statement is totally reliable is questionable due to the tension between both parties involved. Until more information is available, this statement will have to be judged by the reader.
Coupled with all of these issues is the massive public relations problem that Mixx Entertainment has faced within the last three months. These include Naoko Takeuchi's visit to the ComicCon convention held in San Diego, the "Webboard" controversy and Mr. Levy's seemingly weak attempt to "clear the air" via his open letter.
The first incident regards the treatment of Ms. Takeuchi's visit to the ComicCon convention. Many people are upset with the Question and Answer session held with Ms. Takeuchi. Ms. Takeuchi and Mr. Levy did not always speak into the microphone when formulating responses and thus, reliance had to be placed on Mr. Levy's translation, which some feel was not totally accurate. "Save Our Sailors", the often controversial group has this to say about the interview: "Further, Mr. Levy did not always translate her response. He sometimes gave his interpretation of her response... Because of this we cannot always quote Naoko (as we would like), we sometimes can only quote Mr. Levy's interpretation." (SOS) This was a slight mistake and perhaps could have been done better. However, this is not one of the major issues concerning Mixx Entertainment.
The second controversy regarding Mixx Entertainment and the fans took place on the "Webboard" that Mixx Entertainment had placed up as a discussion forum. After facing many hostile attacks, including comments on how Mixxzine has decreased in size and how Mixxzine is planning to place two pages of manga on one printed page, Mixx Entertainment closed down the board.
This public relations problem with the "Webboard" has led to the establishment of the "Eye on Mixx" group which calls itself "One of the Last Free Refuges For MIXX Info" (Eye on Mixx) This site, which was originally hosted on Tripod, was removed by Mr. Levy's problem with a logo used on the page that replaced one of the X's in "Mixx" with a swastika..." (Anime News Network, Controversy). However, according to Anime News Network once again, "The graphics were removed some time ago." This site has now been moved to another server.
One of the more recent developments in the Mixx Entertainment public relations situation occurred on 23 September 1998 when the "Mixxonline" web site was hacked. The following was placed on the site along with an image of Usagi (Sailor Moon) exposing her breasts: "SailorMoon says: Screw me Stu! Yes-yes! Stu Levy, president of Mixx Entertainment wants to take SailorMoon from YOU! He wants to chop it up like a bad dub! Isn't that evil? Going against his original promises to run SailorMoon allthe way through to the end, he has made this fan, as well as many others, very upset! His money grubbing has ruined MixxZine along with his reputation.
Cancel your subscription to MixxZine and Smile until HE MAKES GOOD ON HIS ORIGINAL PROMISES!" (Mixxonline--25 Sept 1998)
Admittedly, there was some overly harsh words used against staff members of Mixx Entertainment on the "Webboard". However, much of it was intelligently phrased and polite; a notable example is the "Ultimatum" (Eye on Mixx, Questions) which Mr. Levy calls too insulting and disrespectful to take as anything but a joke." (Anime News Network, Levy). When this "Ultimatum" is read carefully, there is much respect in the letter. In fact, Mr. Lascelle states at the end that he will continue to support Mixx Entertainment. Mixx Entertainment should have, at the very least, answered some of the well reasoned questions and thus, would have solved some of their current public relations difficulties.
The entire situation has prompted Mr. Levy to write an open letter to Mixx Entertainment's fans regarding the entire situation. In his long criticism, Mr. Levy begins by criticising the "hecklers" that have been "preventing...a direct, candid relationship [with Mixx Entertainment]." (Levy, Mixx Entertainment) Mr. Levy continues on by criticising Mr. Scovel and his work and insinuates that Mr. Scovel, and his friends are responsible for much of the public relation problems surrounding Mixx Entertainment. Mr. Levy then addresses and explains Mixx Entertainment' view regarding "Kenji's Spring", "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" and ComicCon. He finally finishes asking for forgiveness for Mixx Entertainment' mistakes (such as failing to tell people earlier about "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon's" move) and states that "I'm not Satan or evil or a money-grubber or whatever" (Levy, Mixx Entertainment)
This letter was followed up very quickly by criticisms on Usenet by individuals and was responded to by Mr. Scovel who took issue with several statements in the letter. Mr. Scovel counters that many of the issues, such as "Save Our Sailors'" negative review of ComicCon and "Eye on Mixx" he has no responsibility with. Mr. Scovel then attacks Mr. Levy on the issue of the right to free speech and the issue of how Mr. Levy, in the opinion of Mr. Scovel, appears to oppose criticism. Mr. Scovel finishes off by criticising Mr. Levy's statement that not informing the public about "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon's" moving. Mr. Scovel says that "[Mr. Scovel wants] to claim ignorance and say it was all an innocent mistake after the fact. It was either an error or it was intentional." Scovel finishes by saying that "Stu you do not exist to me." (Scovel, Reply)
The major point that is brought up by Mr. Levy's letter and Mr. Scovel's response is the question of free speech. Mr. Levy criticises strongly the negative response that he has gotten and blames it all on Mr. Scovel and his friends. This is not accurate; Mr. Scovel most likely cannot influence "SOS" and in fact, in his reply, says that he is not. When Mr. Levy was asked about how he connected Mr. Scovel to the negative report of "SOS", Mr. Levy did not respond directly. (Anime News Network, Levy)
Whether the introduction of "Gundam Wing" and "Bakuretsu Hunter" into Mixxzine can restore the good opinion of fans still remains to be seen. Based on the current reaction from fans, this seems a very difficult task to accomplish; fans are not very pleased at the combining of two normal manga pages on to one Mixxzine page. As well, they are not happy with the increased editorial comment.
Mr. Levy, in response to these complaints about the editorial content states that the increased editorial content is necessary to "To stay in business!... we had to introduce editorial sections so that they [advertisers] would place ads with us. We can't make money by just charging for the magazine." (Anime News Network, Levy). As well, Mr. Levy states that these benefit the reader. It is granted that some editorial content is good; however, for those who purchase Mixxzine for the manga alone, it is quite annoying. Nonetheless, Mr. Levy's reasons are quite rational.
In response to the smaller manga pages, Mr. Levy states that "It's the same size as a graphic novel, and besides, it's on nicer paper!... but I think fans will eventually like it this way." (Anime News Network, Levy). Once again, Levy's statements are valid; however, general commentary on the Internet has been that the manga section of Mixxzine has been almost impossible to read; especially "Magic Knight Rayearth" in issue 2-2.
Overall, the fan reaction to Mixx Entertainment has deteriorated significantly. One example is seen in a letter sent to the "Anime News Network" with the following statement: "Hi, I'm Stu Levy. Want to join Mixx? Trust me. :) Oh, man... That's not even funny! @_@ "
Mixx Entertainment has a long task ahead of them to try and regain the confidence of those angered with the current events. There are still a number of questions that Mr. Levy still has pending; these should be answered as quickly and as truthfully as possible to help relieve the public relation's situation quickly.
Works Consulted
An Interview with Stuart Levy. Anime News Network. 10 Oct 1998. <>http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/cover1.html>
An Interview with Ron Scovil. Anime News Network. 10 Oct 1998. <http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/cover2.html>
EC 2 Occupants. EC2. 12 June 1999 <http://www.ec2.edu/companies/occupants.html>
Eye on Mixx. Eye on Mixx. 12 June 1999 <http://eyeonmixx.anime-manga.net/>
Inside the Mixx Controversy Anime News Network. 10 Oct 1998. <http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/cover.html>
Levy, Stewart. Interview by Shannon Weary 12 June 1999 <http://members.aol.com/Animeg3282/index6.html>
Levy, Stewart. Mixx Entertainment, Inc. response to recent controversy 27 Sept 1998. Post to Usenet (rec.arts.anime.misc).
Levy, Stewart. RE: Request of an explaination 20 July 1998. E-mail to Stephen Congly.
Scovel, Ron. Interview by Shannon Weary 12 June 1999 <http://members.aol.com/Animeg3282/index6.html>
Scovel, Ron. RE: Request of an explaination 10 July 1998. E-mail to Stephen Congly.
Scovel, Ron. Ron's Reply. 12 June 1999 <http://eyeonmixx.anime-manga.net/response.html>
Some Good Questions For Mixx to Answer. Eye on Mixx. 12 June 1999. <http://eyeonmixx.anime-manga.net/question.html>
SOS: Comic-Con 98 Report. Save Our Sailors. 12 June 1999. <http://pei.physics.sunysb.edu/~ming/sos/comicon/cc-report.html>
Copyright ©1998
Stephen Congly
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