Shojo Beat reactions around the web

Welcome Datacomp continues its translation of a lecture series by Kentaro Takekuma, this time focusing on the artistic development of Katsuhiro Otomo.  Definitely give this a read.

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Followup on Shojo Beat’s cancellation: Manga Xanadu, Manga Widget, and Anime Vice have additional commentary.  Anime Vice, in particular, makes the interesting observation that migrating SB subscriptions to Shonen Jump may increase the advertising rates for the boys-oriented - and more succesful, by most accounts - anthology magazine.

It’s difficult to gauge the success of a manga magazine in terms of mere profit/loss or circulation numbers, ergo it’s difficult to pinpoint the reason behind the cancellation beyond vague generalizations (such as “a weak economy”).  Shojo Beat has likely been in the red since its very first issue… the same may even be true for Shonen Jump.  They’re loss leaders.  And they don’t exist for the benefit of the Narutos or One Pieces of the world… they’re about selling the mid-list titles that, on their own, would not warrant a marketing budget.  It’s those new, untested, fair-to-mediocre selling books that stand to lose most from Shojo Beat’s cancellation.  At some point, Viz decided that SB’s efficacy at selling those midlisters does not offset the cost.  Or it was never very good at it.

Or, maybe, Viz has adopted a new strategy that involves a reduction in the number of midlist shojo licenses.  SB would have become an expenditure with no purpose.

But, going back to Anime Vice’s consolidation theory, let’s also not forget that Viz is facing competition from Yen Press’ anthology, which doesn’t split its content down gender lines, and possibly Kodansha USA, whose publishing plans are still a mystery.  Rather than fight a battle on multiple fronts, Viz may very well have opted to reinforce its core publication.  With sympathy for all the SB readers, this is probably the right thing to do.

Edit: More links…

Publisher’s Weekly notes that Shojo Beat had a circulation of 35,000, compared to 200,000 for Shonen Jump.  That’s still many more times the circulation entire print run of Comic AG than I’d care to admit.

The Manga Critic feels SB was more in touch with real girls than other teen rags. (via Robot 6)

Robert’s Anime Corner Store writes that sales of the magazine started dropping for the retailer three quarters ago, all the while ad prices went up.

After reading this, I wonder if there are many libraries out there that depend on Shojo Beat because they couldn’t afford to have a big trade paperback manga collection.

And what of its freelance writers?

Edit 2: The Beat spots a trend in some online discussions.