Forum - View topicNEWS: Shojo Beat: Kaze Hikaru Out, Backstage Prince In
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Yeah, we had a post about this in the manga forum awhile ago, I personally am happy to see Kaze Hikaru go, it was the only series in the magazine that I skipped completely.
I'd still really like to know ANYTHING about Backstage Prince. There isn't an encycopedia entry for it that I can find and I don't have my copy of the next Shoujo Beat yet so I can't see what it says itself about the new series, if anything. |
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holl.e.rama
Posts: 102 Location: California |
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I'm also exstatic that Kaze Hikaru is going. I stopped reading it after the first few issues of Shojo Beat
 It was incredibly boring. After a bit of searching, I've found that the Japanese title of the series is (Kiwametsuke) Gakuya Ura Ouji. That actually doesn't help me, because I still haven't heard of it and it isn't in the ANN encyclopedia. It's by Sakurakoji Kanoko. Supposedly it's about a Kabuki dancer and a high school girl. This is all from Google search though, so who knows if that info is correct.
Most places I've seen it say 'Gakuya Ura Ouji', but some places have the 'Kiwametsuke' before it. I'm not sure why 
I hope it's better than Kaze Hikaru at least. |
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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At very least it can't be any worse, since I was already skipping an entire series.
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holl.e.rama
Posts: 102 Location: California |
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This series seems to be pretty unknown though. I'm having a very hard time finding anything about it (in English at least) It certainly sounds interesting, however. |
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RabbitRevolution
 Posts: 218 |
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Shucks, all these people who are so happy to see Kaze Hikaru go
 It was my favorite series in Shojo Beat! If I hadn't started reading it in Shojo Beat, I probably would have dismissed it as another Kenshin or Peacemaker look-alike, but it has its charms and its a great way to learn about some Japanese history (and less confusing than Kenshin in this regard). At least the graphic novels will hopefully come out faster now. KH is at currently 20 vols and still going in Japan, so it would be nice to catch up a little bit.
I really hope that Viz will put another historically-themed manga in SB soon. With both Godchild and KH out of the magazine, all of SB's current stories are set in the modern day, which is a little boring IMHO. I like the variety of SB, but with the removal of KH, I'm praying that Viz won't start putting a bunch of cliche shoujo manga in the magazine now. |
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holl.e.rama
Posts: 102 Location: California |
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I don't think any of the manga in Shojo Beat at the present are particularly cliched.
And the new series, which involves Kabuki dancers doesn't sound all too cliched. I think it will be okay. I'm glad Viz listened to all their subscribers though. I'm pretty sure Kaze Hikaru was the least liked by a large margin, and they looked at the polls and acted upon it. Of course, it was really annoying that they took out Godchild. I'm pretty sure that it was at least the 3rd most liked series in Shojo Beat. I guess they took it away because they thought it would be too similar to Vampire Knight
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Haru to Ashura
 Posts: 617 Location: Termina |
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I'm unhappy to see it go as well. If wasn't my favorite series, but It was finally starting to get a lot more interesting than the beginning chapters, it was going in a good direction. And the cultural articles they attached to the comic were interesting. I really really hope they don't replace baby and me next. I was fine with replacing Godchild, but that was only a few months ago! They need to space out their changes.
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holl.e.rama
Posts: 102 Location: California |
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Since Kaze Hikaru won't be in Shojo Beat anymore, it will come out faster. That's one good thing for fans.
I'm glad that the manga selection is being changed around. That means we have some manga in Shojo Beat that is a few volumes in, while a few manga are still at the beginning. I'm thinking that NANA and Absolute Boyfriend won't ever be taken out of SB. |
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jgreen
 Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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I wish they shuffled things in and out a bit more in that regard, like Viz did with Manga Vizion back in the day, where they'd print a story arc for Ogre Slayer, then a story arc for A, A', then back to OS, etc. I actually did a profile on Shojo Beat for the magazine I work for where I did reviews of each series. I ended up reading the entire first year's worth of the other 5 series inside of a week, which, as you can imagine, burned me out pretty bad. And after reading so much great manga in the magazine, it was hard to even start Kaze Hikaru....it just didn't do a lot for me, and after the first two chapters I was still having trouble keeping track of all the characters and just...meh. I couldn't get into it. I hope Viz keeps the book going for its fans, but I'm happy to hear a new series will be joining the anthology. |
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kensukeyura
Posts: 38 Location: Rochester, NY |
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Kaze Hikaru was my second to least favorite series after Baby & Me, so I must admit I'm glad it was dropped. (I do have sympathy for its fans, however, because Godchild was my favorite series, and I was quite dismayed when it was dropped recently.)
However, I am opposed to the concept of dropping series from Shojo Beat's line-up. I wish they'd find a good one and stick with it until the completion of the series. If that kind of commitment makes them nervous, then they should only run surefire hits (such as NANA), regardless of length, or shorter series (such as Absolute Boyfriend). They should not use the magazine as a means to advertise series that they know aren't very good or won't be very popular. In fact, when they switch series like this, it makes me feel like I am paying for a magazine that is actually one big marketing gimmick. First, I have to pay for the magazine, and then I have to pay for the graphic novels if I want to finish the series? It makes me wonder what the point of buying the magazine is in the first place. It's incredibly rude to force money out of their readers this way, and they're going to lose subscribers if they keep it up. Losing subscribers at this point would be crippling for Shojo Beat, because most of their subscribers were established when the magazine began, and it will be hard to lure in new subscribers when the series are in the middle of their run. So, they'd better watch it. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15564 |
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kensuke:
Some of those series can take forever to finish.
They tried that in Extra, and it didn't fly, because there was so much crap in-between the decent titles, that it didn't justify buying the mag.
"Very good" is subjective. After all, you admitted you like Godchild. And the market needs some diversity. If publishers catered to the "very popular" crowd, it'd be nothing but harem titles. In fact, the glut of those is why the market's correcting itself in the first place.
Of course it's a marketing gimmick! You think they're publishing these titles just to promote the magazine? No, it's the other way around. And either way, you're going to have to pay, so I don't see what's the problem.
So you can decide whether you like a particular series enough to continue it in TPB form?
It's also incredibly expensive to run a mag and a label for titles which may only have niche appeal.
I thought diversifying content is how you keep subscribers.
They have summaries at the beginning of each chapter, and people who are lost can buy the graphic novels. |
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Sailor Maddie Mouse
 Posts: 14 |
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I have mixed feelings about this...
It does seem that they've taken out 2 series in a short amount of time... And I finally like Kaze Hikaru (after having enough issues to read the story straight through, it wasn't as confusing or hard to keep up with) On the other hand, it's nice to seem some change. But it does seem too soon... But I am really happy that not all the series will be on the same chapter anymore... Variety is good. It does seem to feel more like an authentic shoujo anthology... Now I'd kill for some little furoku type items.... 
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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The more I think about it, the more I actually like that they will switch out series often, because it gives me a chance to read more series, and to read more of them than just the first chapter in a preview. And because everything is released in GN anyway, fans get to read the stuff regardless.
I would be disappointed to have say, Crimson Hero dropped, because while I am enjoying it, I don't like it enough to want to pay money to buy the GNs. But I do enjoy getting a chance to read a whole variety of series without having to spend $12 on each. |
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shirokiryuu
Posts: 714 Location: Northern California (SF Bay Area) |
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I believe this is the point for these mangazines in Japan. If you look at the Japanese Shounen Jump for example, although it's much larger than the american version, it only has the newest chapters of various series, and the paper quality/print quality is horrible.(well they are much cheaper anyways) It's so people can find series they like and then purchase the manga volumes to put into their collections. Although i do hate it when series are dropped before they're finished. |
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kensukeyura
Posts: 38 Location: Rochester, NY |
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Good and bad are, and this goes without saying, subject to opinion -- but only to an extent. For example, most people would say that Hitler was a bad person and Gandhi was a good person... there are certainly exceptions to this, but there is a general trend toward people thinking something is good or bad. And if a title is popular, that doesn't mean it isn't unique/diverse and is merely mindless drivel. There are things that are popular that really don't deserve to be and just became so by luck, but usually things are popular for a reason. They either have high entertainment value (Naruto) or are genuinely emotionally enriching (Fruits Basket). You seem to be falling into the mainstream=tehsux thought process, which is just as stupid as thinking anything that isn't trendy and popular is bad.
I know Shojo Beat magazine was created for the purpose of making money - I mean, of course it was. But that doesn't mean they have to go about things the way they are now, which is insensitive to readers and intentionally jerks them around. They could have mainstay titles that will run until their completion as well as previews for series that will not. They have previews of the first chapter of most new titles in their graphic novel line in the magazine, which I think is absolutely fine... and I wouldn't even mind having an additional chapter or two to preview the series with... but it's annoying to have a title serialized for a year, just long enough so that you can start getting into the series, and then dropped. Really, you don't need that many chapters to preview a series, so it is just a waste of space in the magazine if it is going to be dropped anyway. From the first chapter alone of a series, I think you can usually decide whether it is a series you would be interested in buying the graphic novels for or not. And titles with long-standing serializations don't have to be dropped to force people into buying its graphic novels. I know plenty of people who are following both the magazine and graphic novel runs of their favorite series. I could respond to your other points, but these were the two that most stood out to me, and I think it's a bit silly that you went through and nullified every point I made just for the sake of it... plus, I've already rambled long enough. Good god, look at the size of this thing!! It's repulsive! Sorry, I just love to write. *sweatdrop* |
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