I just finished reading the first issue of Shojo Beat and found it good. I think for age range it does skew older than Shonen Jump. There are certainly a few scenes in some of the comics that deal with sex, but not very graphically. If that isn’t a problem for your library, it should be a no brainer to subscribe to the magazine. The fashion bits were sort of lame, but I thought the horoscope illustrated by Junko Mizuno was cute. Of the series it contains:

Nana - I was really looking forward to reading this because I liked Ai Yazawa’s series Paradise Kiss. So far though I’m not a big fan of Nana, because I don’t find the pattern of behavior where she constantly falls in love with older men all that interesting. Nana is very immature as she just decides to move to Tokyo and go to art school so she won’t be seperated from her friends. I wonder what will happen in the next installment of the series when the other girl named Nana is introduced and the characters start to interact. The art is really attractive though, and the character designs are less punked-out than Paradise Kiss.

Absolute Boyfriend - I’m a big fan of Yu Watase, and this series about a girl with a mail order boyfriend who is deliverd in a giant cardboard box has all of her humor and character development. So this is the only series so far where I’ll probably buy the digests once they start coming out.

Godchild - Dark gothic story about a killer in nineteenth century England. The main character Alice comes from a “new money” family and she meets the intriguing Lord Cain, who seems to have a habit of collecting poisons. This is by Kaori Yuki, author of Angel Sanctuary. I wonder if Alice and Cain were brother and sister in a past life….

Baby and Me - Focuses on domestic life as a little boy struggles to help raise his little brother after his mother’s death.

Kaze Hikaru - A girl disguises herself as a boy to join the Shinsengumi. Seems like it would be fun to read for people who like historical fiction and samurai action.

Crimson Hero - Sports manga about a girl who wants to play volleyball, but is at odds with her traditionally minded Mother. This was a pleasant surprise, Nobara is an engaging tomboyish character and it will be interesting to see how far she’ll go to start a girls vollyball team at her new high school.

I think the series I liked most out of the initial issue was Absolute Boyfriend, although I want to keep reading Nana to see if the characters develop more. Godchild and Crimson Hero also look interesting. Overall the issue collects a wide variety of stories with different settings which is just what you’d expect from a good anthology series.