Animerica - History

History

Animerica was introduced in 1992 with the release of issue 0, a preview issue, in November 1992, with the first official issue following in March 1993. With Viz's connections to Shogakukan, the magazine was one of the first professional-quality anime and manga oriented magazine to be released in the United States. At the magazine's launch, it was co-edited by Seiji Horibuchi, Satoru Fujii, and Trish Ledoux. In 1998, Viz introduced a related magazine, Animerica Extra, which was its first monthly manga anthology. This secondary magazine was canceled in 2004. To celebrate the magazine's ninth anniversary, Viz launched a redesign of the magazine starting with the November 2001 issue that included a new cover design, a new logo, and an increased focus on news, reviews, and Japanese trends. Fold-out posters were also added to every issue. By 2003, the magazine had also doubled its initial page count.

When Viz began publication of Animerica, it registered the name as a trademark. In 1997, a Japanese company named Redsun began using the domain name "animerica.com" to host an adult oriented and hentai distribution website. Viz attempted to purchase the domain name from the company, but Redsun refused. Viz filed a lawsuit claiming the website infringed on its trademark. The court agreed that the website was causing confusion with Viz's publication, but that the confusion was primarily limited to American audiences. The court refused Viz's request that the site be shut down and its assets frozen. It did, however, require that Redsun put a disclaimer on its website and all advertising noting that it was not affiliated with the Animerica magazine nor with Viz Media and that it provide a link to Viz's existing official website for the magazine at "www.animerica-mag.com." In November 2004, Redsun's adult website closed. Viz claimed the name in 2005, and by October the site had been relaunched as the official website of the new Animerica magazine.