Comic World
In reviewing the premiere release of "Shojo Beat", "IGN" Jessica Chobot sharply criticized the magazine. She felt it looked and read "like a teenie-bopper magazine" and referred to the issue's cover as a "bright, hot-pink, migraine-inducing, bubble-lettered spectacle". She considered the contents boring, and disagreed with Viz's selection of series, noting, "it's as if Viz had taken everything from their backed-up reject pile and tried to pull one over on the female populace. 90% of what I was reading was either poorly drawn or poorly written (more often than not, it was both)." "Comic World News" David Welsh disagreed, as he felt that the magazine had several good series, with "Nana", "Absolute Boyfriend" and "Crimson Hero" as his version of the top three series of the initial issue. Greg McElhatton, co-founder of "" and former reviewer for iComics.com, praised the magazine's mainstream appearance, calling it a "smart" decision, as it would draw in its target audience by visually showing them that it's a magazine for teenage girls. While he felt that two of the manga titles in the premiere issue had weak openings, he found that the magazine was "off to a good, if not great start".