Hey, is Shoujo Beat the only English shoujo manga magazine out there? Because if it isn't, I won't be so depressed. =|

Probably isn't. But you can always just buy the tanks. xD

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It really makes me wonder about shojo sales in general in North America. I know on sales lists, rarely are shojo titles seen, but there are sales out there. I know Viz and CMX have both picked up the licenses for a few new shojo, so hope isn't lost!

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that's sad...I found out a long time ago, but I decided to just reply now.

I don't particularly care so much because I didn't subscribe to them, but I do buy a lot of their titles. Now if they actually stopped releasing all their manga, then I would be going crazy!! but they're still continuing, so it's all good

Well, I know a few other magazines have shojo-esque titles in them like Yen Plus... But honestly, the only manga magazines I've seen in stores are Shonen Jump, Shojo Beat, and Yen Plus. There might be more, but I haven't seen them

I bought my first subscription and got six issues before they announced that they're discontinuing. Now I'll get half Shojo Beat and half Shonen Jump
I don't mind that it happened out of nowhere (for me) since I just flip through the pages and glance at the chapters.

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wow, u spend money just to quickly flip thru them?
i wish i was rich enough to do something like this.

i've never suscribed before.
in any case, fans' scanlations have better translations most of the time, so i'll just stick w/ them.

That's not exactly true.
In any case, I feel that the publisher's have the BEST and most correct translations because they are professionals that have been studying the language for years and have years of experience compared to fan translators who have maybe only had a few years of just studying the language in school. They just alter the translations a bit to be more appealing to English readers.

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♪MONSTARR~ will eat all your cookies and steal your bishies~♪ Φ_Φ

that's exactly what i mean. it loses its appeal when they do that. things like attack names can sound so strange that the reader feels estranged from the story.

and there are fan translators who are natives of the language, not all of them are newbies. i believe they are better than the 'pros' who learn the language as their 2nd/3rd/etc language. i like it when they explain stuff on the side or on another page. it can be informative and it lets you learn more about the Japanese culture and feel closer to them.

besides, as my prof says "the purpose of a business is to make a profit". that is to use the least amount of input to create the largest output. you can't be sure that they hired some 2nd- or 3rd-rate translators over the more costly 1st-rate ones. and even 'pros' can make mistakes. they aren't necessarily the best, or better.

and to not make this a spam, end of Shojo Beat is not the end of shoujo manga. you can get them somewhere else, and i suppose that is why you guys come to MU.

Last edited by b1ue_wishes at 12:20 pm, Oct 10 2009

It doesn't necessarily make the translations "incorrect" though when they alter it, it's just how they're interpreting Japanese slang. It only sounds strange if you've read scanlations, but to a person who doesn't, it could sound perfectly normal. And yes, there are SOME native speakers, but however, most of the time, that isn't the case. They can mistakes also. They may or may not be better than professional translators (And some of those professional translators have Japanese as their native language also.) When foreign people come to an English-speaking country, they may know their language, but over time, it can have a lot of changes. Most of those native speakers weren't born and raised in Japan also. I know that from experience with my own language. You forget words and sentence structure, etc.
And yes, I'm not sure if they hire more unqualified translators, but I'm sure that even if they do, there have people who check over the translations just like we do in scanlation.

XD Ok, let's end this discussion.
/ontopic: ShoujoBeat will still release tanks though~ So not the end of shoujo beat manga. You'll still be able to buy it in stores. Just not in a monthly serialization.

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♪MONSTARR~ will eat all your cookies and steal your bishies~♪ Φ_Φ

Oh no no no!
It was a god send for shoujo manga.
Because of the good publicity from the magazines, all of the shoujo beat manga released cost less. As well it got more people interested in manga because magazines are easier to lend out. Plus, with more then one manga inside people were more likely to latch on to at least ONE of the series sending them into the deepest depths of manga.

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I'm generally not a shoujo fan but once in awhile i come accross a shoujo series i like like tale of the moon and i was wondering if it was just the magazine that was ending and not the release of the accual manga's i"d be a lot less disappointed if it"s just the magazine because i never bought one i'd only flip through one if i was in a book store but i accually buy the manga so that would be worse

I know this is a little late and all. I can understand why Shojo beat didn't last. I bought the magazines. the things I hated about it were that every series had a different color set of pages. Right there is a big waste of money. Next, the magazine itself. The mangas chosen weren't all that great. If they set to the same standard as Shonen Jump, it might have had a chance. Picking mangas that reach a broader demographic. Most of us girls will admit that we read shounen manga. If they found the same formula that drew in the 20 somethings and 30 somethings guys and girls, it probably would have survived.

A lot of guys read shoujo manga as well however the manga chosen in shoujo beat just wasn't that great honestly. It's not that much of a surprise that few people read it really. Luckily we still have lala

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