Shojo Beat - Reception

Reception

Shojo Beat was nominated for a 2008 Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation Award in the category of "Best Publication", but lost to Japan's NewType.

In reviewing the premiere release of Shojo Beat, IGN's Jessica Chobot sharply criticized the magazine. She felt it looked and read "like a teenie-bopper magazine" and referred to the issue's cover as a "bright, hot-pink, migraine-inducing, bubble-lettered spectacle". She considered the contents boring, and disagreed with Viz's selection of series, noting, "it's as if Viz had taken everything from their backed-up reject pile and tried to pull one over on the female populace. 90% of what I was reading was either poorly drawn or poorly written (more often than not, it was both)." Comic World News' David Welsh disagreed, as he felt that the magazine had several good series, and he praised Nana, Absolute Boyfriend and Crimson Hero as the top three series of the initial issue. Greg McElhatton, co-founder of Wizard: The Guide to Comics and former reviewer for iComics.com, praised the magazine's mainstream appearance, calling it a "smart" decision, as it would draw in its target audience by visually showing them that it's a magazine for teenage girls. While he felt that two of the manga titles in the premiere issue had weak openings, he found that the magazine was "off to a good, if not great start".

After its cancellation, Publishers Weekly's Heidi MacDonald reported that the common response she saw from fans was that "everyone liked it but nobody paid for it". She noted that many fans expressed sorrow over the magazine's demise while indicating that they did not subscribe to it. Katherine Dacey, the former senior manga editor for PopCultureShock, remarked that the magazine had offered "just the right mixture of new stories, continuing series, and articles" and praised it for having a "funky, DIY vibe". The staff of the School Library Journal called the magazine "one of a kind" and felt that its loss would leave a void for female fans, a generally under-acknowledged group of comic and manga readers. Staff member Brigid Alverson felt Shojo Beat was a great overall package that "featured intelligent articles that allowed the reader to be enthusiastic about Japanese pop culture without being geeky" making it distinct from other magazines for girls that were normally "filled with brainless celebrity stories or service articles tied to commercial products". Other participants praised the magazine's fashion articles for its educational articles on Japanese culture and for featuring girls of a variety of body types wearing affordable fashions. Two staffers questioned Viz's decision to drop the magazine and wondered if the company had unrealistically expected the magazine to have the same circulation numbers as Shonen Jump.