03-31-2005, 10:40 PM
According to Diamond Comics' "Previews" magazine, a new manga magazine from Viz, "Shojo Beat", will begin publication in June (with a July cover date).
By the description, "Shojo Beat" is, more or less, a companion series to "Shonen Jump" -- like Jump, Beat will have several manga series in each issue (the first issue is said to have 330 pages in length), plus extra articles pertaining to Japanese culture. The exception, though, is that "Shojo Beat" will, as the name implies, feature "shojo" (romance) stories, aimed at girls (Jump is action-based, aimed at boys).
The cover price for the first issue is US$5.99.
The question, though, is how well do Shojo stories sell, as compated to action manga, and how well do you think Beat will sell (especially since there's currently no shojo anime in the US to tie in with the manga featured in that magazine, unlike Jump, where most of the stories also have an anime series to go along with it)?
By the description, "Shojo Beat" is, more or less, a companion series to "Shonen Jump" -- like Jump, Beat will have several manga series in each issue (the first issue is said to have 330 pages in length), plus extra articles pertaining to Japanese culture. The exception, though, is that "Shojo Beat" will, as the name implies, feature "shojo" (romance) stories, aimed at girls (Jump is action-based, aimed at boys).
The cover price for the first issue is US$5.99.
The question, though, is how well do Shojo stories sell, as compated to action manga, and how well do you think Beat will sell (especially since there's currently no shojo anime in the US to tie in with the manga featured in that magazine, unlike Jump, where most of the stories also have an anime series to go along with it)?