Shojo Beat By Astra on Jan 05, 2008 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

Shojo Beat is a monthly magazine published by Viz Media. It features regular installments of six manga (Japanese comic books) series plus a random preview chapter of a new manga from Viz. It also includes reviews of music, movies, and video games that would interest its target audience of teenage, female anime fans.

The magazine has both negative and positive attributes. Several of the manga included in past issues have been quite good. Nana, the story about two girls living in Tokyo, was easily the strongest title in the magazine. However, due to racy content in the current chapters, it has been replaced. Godchild, a similarly strong title, was also replaced for the same reason. Other titles were replaced to keep the magazine fresh with new series. This strategy has severely impacted my enjoyment of the magazine. It's simply not fun to keep up with a series and become involved with the characters and then have them taken away. Another problem is the articles and reviews in the magazine. They're quite inane and often full of incorrect information. I'd much prefer an additional manga title in place of all the articles.

Despite my criticisms of it, I continue to buy Shojo Beat. This is because it remains the only monthly manga magazine geared towards a female audience. In addition, I really do enjoy the titles that are currently in the magazine. My favorites are the more mature titles of Honey and Clover, about art college students, and Sand Chronicles, which details the life of a girl who has lost her mother and father. The other titles are hit and miss, but Shojo Beat is entertaining enough that I see myself continuing to buy it for quite some time. I'd recommend the magazine to a female anime fan who is into girly and fantasy manga.