Although I helped Publishers Weekly cover Comic Con, I jotted down some notes at the Shojo Beat panel for PCS. As a Shojo Beat subscriber myself, I found the panel absolutely fascinating.

SDCC 2008: Shojo Beat Panel

The panelists were Pancha Diaz, Narasu Rebbapragada, and Marc Weidenbaum.

More girls attended this panel than, I would guess, any other panel at the convention. The room was packed with the younger, more anime-interested attendees, many of whom were cosplaying with a few gothic lolitas sprinkled through the crowd.

Marc Weidenbaum seemed incredibly concerned that people might leave before he had the chance to ask the audience some questions. I found all of these questions extremely fascinating.

Weidenbaum asked the audience which interested them more: Fashion, travel, cooking, or video games? By far, most of the audience was interested in video games. Weidenbaum asked for a show of hands: Portable, console, or PC games? Hands were raised equally for each platform.

This totally blew me away: Interest in video games laughably outweighed an interest in fashion from the magazine’s overwhelmingly female readership. I think this represents an awesome unmet market demand – no magazines are catering specifically to girl gamers at the moment! Shojo Beat could throw in more video game coverage and totally corner that market.

Before that, however, the panelists reviewed lisenses annouced at AX:

• Honey Hunt by Miki Aihara, author of Hot Gimmick
• The Magic Touch, about a shiatsu masseuse girl who finds the perfect back
• We Were There, by Yuki Obata, about a girl pursuing a guy still grieving for his dead girlfriend. (An anime just started airing based on this title…)
• The Nana anime series is to be released later this year
• Fushigi Yugi and Hot Gimmick will get the Viz Big treatment in March 2009
• Otomen (a new license) volume 1, February 2009, is about a boy who has girly hobbies who falls for a tomboy (sounds good to me!)
• Heaven’s Will, December 2008, about a girl who can see ghosts and a friendly cross-dressing exorcist who bakes cake.
• The Honey and Clover anime series is set to be released
• Captive Hearts, from the author of Vampire Knight, November 2008, about a family cursed to be butlers to another family
• Saint Dragon Girl. My note on this reads, “Martial arts demon-fighting panda bear,” but I can’t verify my use of the word “panda” here. There’s definitely a dragon spirit.
• Blank Slate, December 2008 has all male protagonists who are killers and gangsters (I’d pick it up!)
• The Arina Taremura Collection artbook will come out in October
• Viz is expanding their artbook line because of fan support
• Naruto, Death Note, and Bleach are available in the iTunes store.
• The panelist showed a trailer for the Vampire Knight anime with permission from the Japanese studio, but assured the audience that it has not been licensed yet.

The panelists seemed hyper-concerned about the panel becoming too boring and broke up the announcements with trailers for anime in addition to THE WORST AND EASIEST TRIVIA QUESTIONS EVER. Seriously, name the protagonists? Come on guys, this is Comic Con! You can ask harder questions. It was the opposite of the attitude at the CMX panel, which could have used some trivia and prizes to spice things up.

Weidenbaum asked the panel attendees how many of us want to learn Japanese? Most of the audience did. How many speak it already? Many people did what I did – waved their hands side-to-side to indicate “sort of”. Dear Shojo Beat, please print material to help us study for JLPT levels three and four!

Weidenbaum asked who subscribes and who buys the magazine off the newsstand every month. It was an equal split. What keeps newsstand readers from subscribing? One woman named Patrice volunteered that she was worried about the future of the magazine, having been burning on magazine subscriptions in the past. (I assume she meant NewType USA.) “We’re not going anywhere,” Weidenbaum assured the audience.

A significant number of the audience reads Shojo Beat in the library. Libraries are “…second only to teenage girls in supporting the magazine,” according to the panelist.

One attendee asked why Shojo Beat doesn’t include more extras like Japanese magazines (many of which come with pencil boards or small gifts). Weidenbaum explained that in Japan extras do not tend to disappear from magazines in bookstores. He has tried going so far as to attach extras into the binding itself, and the items still get stolen. Additionally, 50% of the magazine readers subscribe, so bulky extras mean additionally shipping costs.

Perhaps this has already been covered elsewhere, but Weidenbaum also talked about an upcoming feature in the magazine where various American artists will draw 1-3 pages of nonfictional/biographic comics about their first exposure to Japanese pop culture and entertainment as a regular column. It sounds interesting to me, although the crowd didn’t seem terribly enthusiastic.

Weidenbaum asked how many girls in the audience were artists or interested in making their own comics. Surprisingly few girls raised their hands, but those who did also read the “Drawing with Yuu” feature of the magazine (by Yuu Watase).

The boys at the panel were, by and large, boyfriends of subscribers, and all of them identified Vampire Knight as their favorite title. Ed Chavez of the MangaCast, one of the few male subscribers present, said Crimson Hero is his favorite (since he loves sports). Later he won a prize for the only halfway difficult trivia question: What is the oldest manga title Shojo Beat has ever published? (Answer: Princess Knight)