All you ladies out there, I have officially received my copy of Viz Media's new manga anthology for women "Shojo Beat," and I am here to tell you all about it. About three years ago Viz unleashed "Shonen Jump" on the world. Essentially the magazine was built like a Japanese manga anthology, with several different series, from several different authors, all appearing in one magazine for the low price of $4.99. It was a great idea, one that put all the American comic book releases to shame, and became a huge success (although, to some credit, the series pretty much banked on popularity the of "Yu-Gi-Oh!" quite a bit). "Shonen Jump" attracted fans of current series like "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and "Dragon Ball (Z)," while making hits out of "One Piece" and "Naruto." Thanks to the success of "Shonen Jump," we now have "Shojo Beat," which is pretty much the same concept as "Shonen Jump" but with one twist: "Shojo Beat" is geared torwards women. Not just any women mind you, Viz wants the female market of ages 20 to 30. So while Viz had something of a sure bet with "Shonen Jump" being marketed to teenage boys, Viz is facing a whole new battle in trying to capture the 20 to 30 year old female market. While there are women of that age who do read manga, the majority of women who read manga of that age group is relatively small, which is why Viz is hoping word-of-mouth will help sell this magazine and make it just as big a hit as "Shonen Jump" is (and maybe even more).

From what I've read in the magazine there are definitely lots of great things about the magazine, which is putting many of my previous fears to doubt that this magazine will be a failure. I'm going to discuss the magazine in great detail, but the one thing I will NOT discuss is the quality of the series themselves! I know lots of people are briefly touching on whether they liked a series or not in many of their reviews of this magazine, but I will not. When the time comes I'll write full reviews of the series contained within this magazine, so you'll get my opinion of the series when I write those. One thing that Viz has been getting constant praise for (and rightfully so) is the cover:

Now THIS is a great cover! The logo looks like something that looks similar to logos from other popular women's magazine, the cover highlights a Top 10 list, fashion, interviews, and there is even a spot that proudly proclaims that you could win a Mini Cooper (see inside for full details). In short, it advertises everything most women care about. It also catches people's eye because it looks like a magazine women wouldn't be embarrassed to be found reading in public. It looks just like any other women's magazine out there, and if a woman were to read this on the bus they will most likely not feel embarrassed for having it. The cover design is very important for a women's magazine, and Viz nailed it this crucial part of the magazine perfectly. It should also be noted that the age rating for the magazine is OT (ages 16 and up), which re-enforces once again who this magazine is geared for. I don't think we'll have to worry about any censoring being done here. What seals the deal is that the back of the magazine features an ad from Sephora, which is a popular beauty parlor who sells makeup and perfume. While some men who want to read this may be put off by ads like these, I should point out that people who buy products from Sephora (and similar companies) are the audience that Viz is gunning for, so get used to it.

The extras in the magazine are also plentiful. There is a DVD sampler from Geneon that contains the first episode of their new series "Ultra Maniac," there is an interview with Ogonna Nnamani (a volleyball pro), some articles on fashion and other manga, tons of various ads, and a manga sampler of Viz's DTGN (Direct to graphic novel) release "Ultra Maniac" (hmm...think Viz and Geneon are expecting this to be a huge hit?). I want to focus a little bit on the ads and manga sampler, as they are two of the magazines high points. While many people loath ads in their magazines (especially manga fans), the sad fact of the matter is magazine companies make their money from ads. They make pennies from each magazine they sell, but with ads they make bank. The variety of ads makes me smile, as it means Viz is making money from this magazine right off the bat. There are ads for "Full Metal Alchemist" video games and toys, ads for online girl sites, make up ads, ads for anime (including one for FUNimations much anticipated anime release "Kodocha"), an ad for clothes, and an ad for a special set of markers. This is a VERY good start, as most of these ads are for products that would appeal to women, and the "Full Metal Alchemist" ads make perfect sense since that show appeals to both women AND men (and Viz is hoping that this magazine will also attract some male readers like yours truly)!

The mini manga sampler that came with the magazine is also a good idea, and one that I would like to see Viz use for future previews of "Shonen Jump," as readers get ticked off when they have to sacrifice a chapter or two of one of their favorite series JUST so that a preview of a DTGN series can be squeezed into the pages of the magazine! The paper quality is about the same as "Shonen Jumps" was when it first premiered. It appears to be of good recycling paper, though the magazine doesn't feel like it's supposed to be thrown away. All of the articles are printed on nice magazine quality paper, so I'm guessing Viz has made this magazine sturdy enough to be kept for a good number of years, which is just fine since most women are known for keeping the magazines with their favorite articles inside. Finally I'll touch upon the selection of the series within the pages (without actually giving you my opinion on them). The series that Viz is pushing the most is "NANA" by Ai Yazawa (who is responsible for giving us "Paradise Kiss"), which gets just a little over one hundred pages in this issue alone. This series appears to be a coming of age drama (much like "Paradise Kiss" was), and I guess it would only make sense to put the big push on this series since "Paradise Kiss" became one of the biggest surprise hits of manga in America. "Absolute Boyfriend" is a comedy, "Godchild" is a gothic "Alice In Wonderland" type drama, "Kaze Hikaru" is an action samurai series for girls, "Baby & Me" is a drama, and "Crimson Hero" is a sports manga.

While this selection may seem totally random to most people, this is actually the best thing about the magazine. As much as I love "Shonen Jump" I have to admit that there is not much of a selection in the magazine when it comes to genre's. There's action, action, action, action, action, and drama ("Hikaru no Go" is the one exception to the rule). Not only that, but most of the series included were meant for teenagers, which can rub an adult the wrong way most of the time. The selection of series in "Shojo Beat" are extremely varied, giving women a sampling of all the genre's manga has to offer, instead of giving the readers one flavor and told to run with it. This is smart because this gives people who haven't read much offer a chance to see just how diverse it really is, and maybe even get them started so that they can see what works for them and what doesn't. It was a very wise decision on Viz's part, and one that pays off well. Still, despite all the praise I have for this magazine there are still a couple of uphill battles Viz has to fight with this magazine. While I still think it was a mistake to not include "Full Moon wo Sagashite" in the magazine, I kind of understand why they didn't. "Shojo Beat" is being geared torwards adults, and while the finale of the series is very depressing and grim, for the first two thirds the series is cheerful and fun, and I'm guessing Viz wants to market this series to kids (which is an audience this magazine is NOT geared for).

As such, "Full Moon wo Sagashite" got the boot, and it will premiere DTGN instead. Also I'm not sure what Viz is telling stores, but they may want to give stores a better understanding that this is a MAGAZINE, and as such belongs in the MAGAZINE section of the store!! It doesn't belong in the manga section, it doesn't belong in the import section, it belongs in the magazine section, and the sooner Viz makes that clear the better (I've seen stores place this magazine in the strangest of places...including the media section at a Borders Books). I'm still a bit worried about the lack of franchises in this magazine, but seeing as how word of mouth is already being generated the magazine might be okay (and who knows, maybe Viz will acquire the rights to "Sailor Moon" and put it here). What may also bug people is that "Shojo Beat" costs $5.99 an issue instead of the $4.99 for "Shonen Jump." I'm not bothered by this since "Shojo Beat" is a much more risky experiment then "Shonen Jump" was, but hopefully the price will go down once this magazine becomes a success. When all is said and done, "Shojo Beat" is an excellent magazine. It's off to a great start, has a very diverse selection of series, and seems to have many articles and ads that women care for. Despite the earlier worries I had about this magazine, now that I've seen it I wouldn't be surprised if "Shojo Beat" became one of the biggest success's of manga in America.

- -Kevin T. Rodriguez- -