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I've been trying to recommend manga that are lesser known, not super popular, whatever you call it, in order to bring them whatever meager attention my friendslist creates to get more people reading. Skip Beat isn't any of those things. It's pretty damn popular without me doing my puny thing here but I don't care how many fangirls and boys Skip Beat has, it deserves a thousand times more. The manga is just that awesome people.
Skip Beat is the tale of Kyoko Mogami whose life is shattered when she finds out her childhood friend and longtime love interest, Shotaro Fuwa, sees her as nothing more than a maid. He confesses to his manager that he only brought her to Tokyo, where he launches his singing career, so he wouldn't have to clean up after himself and cook his meals. You can read Skip Beat for free at Manga Traders and One Manga.
Due to Skip Beat's immense popularity I'm sure Viz will be releasing the entire series but is only up to Volume 18 thus far. The manga is still being released in Japan and Manga Traders and One Manga provide the most up to date scanlations so if you get addicted (and I surely did) you can go there to keep reading. Since the series is made of awesome please purchase the volumes from Viz though.
Now onto the plot! Skip Beat is a long manga with a complex plot that's ever changing and is still being produced so I can't go into a lot of it but I'll at least give the premise and explain why Kyoko is the best heroine ever. As said before, she arrives with Shotaro aka Sho in Toyko. They both grew up in Kyoto where Sho's parents own a hotel and Kyoko lived and worked there with her mother who was a cold and emotionally abusive woman. Kyoko has always loved Sho ardently, something he assumed would never change. Sho refuses to take over the family business, wanting instead to go to Tokyo to start a singing career, and asks Kyoko to come along.
The Kyoko of this time period and the start of the manga is someone who is charming and innocent. Everything she does is for Sho. She's the most in love with him that a person could be and sees something good in all that he does. Rather than it being annoying it's freakishly cute, made even more so after later events. Sho turns out to be something of a talented singer and rather ruthless in getting his way and quickly becomes a star and Kyoko is his biggest fan. Sho considers only one person to be in the way of his rise to ultimate fame and stardom and that's the actor, Ren Tsuruga, and just the sight of Ren ruins his cool guy facade.
One day Kyoko goes to deliver Sho lunch and overhears him talking to his manager about Kyoko being a plain and boring girl who he just sees as a servant. Now, I've mentioned Kyoko being the coolest female protagonist and the best heroine ever and here's the reason why. Instead of reacting in the typical shoujo lead manner and bursting into tears and running to eventual other love interest Kyoko throws the boxed lunch at Sho and proceeds to attack him, vowing revenge for all the years he's taken advantage of and used her. Kyoko has this awesome and hilarious ability where she can summon supernatural powers, using these miniature demonic versions of herself, dark spirits I guess, and they come out like snakes when she's really upset over something. This happens here but Kyoko is stopped in mid attack and dragged away by security.
As she's pulled away Sho, being a mocking asshole, says the only way for her to get revenge on him is to be a bigger star than he's going to become. He says this while thinking that Kyoko, being so plain and boring, could never achieve this. Little does Sho know that he's setting his own undoing and Kyoko's path to a more happy and fulfilling life into motion.
Kyoko decides to do just that. She cuts her hair, gets it dyed, and proceeds to stalk L.M.E., which is Sho's biggest rival agency trying to get signed on. When she goes to an open audition she fought her way into she falls under the attention of the agency president, Lory, who sees potential in Kyoko but also a massive lack of love. He proclaims love is the most important thing for an idol and decides to take Kyoko on but she needs to learn to love. Lory is a quirky individual to say the least but very sharp and it's pretty evident at this point how vengeance driven against Sho that Kyoko is. He creates a special section of the company for Kyoko called The Love Me section.
The dress of Love Me members are gaudishly pink overalls which is constantly ridiculed and as a member Kyoko basically is given a series of assignments, being a manager for a day, personal assistant to a star, whatever, and at the end of the day whoever she serves gives her a stamp from 1-5 stars, 5 being the best and 1 the worst, on her performance. Through her work at the Love Me section she becomes friends with another girl, Moko, who is forced to join. Moko is a brilliant actress but due to family stress has a rather chilly attitude at first. After some time she becomes Kyoko's precious friend, the first real one she's ever had.
Ultimately everyone Kyoko meets at L.M.E. in her quest to become an idol is important to the manga but the most important is Ren Tsugara. He's the famous actor and model whom Sho considers his rival. Ren is the opposite of Sho in every way. While Sho is arrogant and only acts nice on camera when it will get him more fans Ren is a genuinely kind person but he does have moments when he can be very scary. They all involve Kyoko.
When he's first introduced to Kyoko he doesn't take a liking to her and that's because he discovers she only wants to be an actress to get revenge on Sho. He's someone who truly loves and takes acting seriously and takes offense to this. The great thing about this series is the development of Kyoko's character. In the start she's innocent and naive but after she's betrayed by Sho she becomes quickly disillusioned and cynical. The more time she is in the Love Me section and spends acting she starts to discover how much she enjoys it. She begins doing it for herself and confesses to Ren that through acting she's finding out who she is for the first time because before this everything she did was always to make her mother proud or Sho happy.
I'm mainly focusing on Kyoko in this because she is the main character but I should go a bit into Ren's personality. He's someone that is very kind but there's a darker side to him. All the same, he's a very generous person and he does a lot to help Kyoko in her acting career. He grows closer and closer to Kyoko as time goes on and his manager soon starts to tease Ren about his feelings for her. I don't think I'm giving a lot away in stating that Ren becomes Kyoko's love interest which really peeves Sho. The love that Ren feels for Kyoko is really sweet and he's almost too gentlemanly with her, to the point where he's afraid of confessing or trying to kiss her for fear of freaking her out and making her hate him forever. Which makes a reader feel for the poor guy.
Later in the series it's revealed Ren and Kyoko have a connection in their past that the readers know about but Kyoko is unaware of it, even in the most recent issues of the manga. At one point Sho is able to see first hand through a work project they do together how much Kyoko has changed and has grown as an actress and can no longer view her as just his childhood friend. As a reader the character development of Kyoko is the best thing for me but I also adore watching her career taking flight and get a lot of pleasure in her work triumphs.
Kyoko's personality is really complex and utterly enjoyable. There are so many sides to Kyoko. She has moments of immense rage where she summons her demons, then she'll be sharp and sardonic, able to see through anyone's facade. But there are times when she's like a little girl and is adorably cute and skipping through a forest talking about seeing faeries. Kyoko can even turn into the average shoujo heroine, acting just like any other teenage girl who is confused about love. It's seeing all these different aspects to her that makes her such an extraordinary protagonist and makes her quite a rare find for a shoujo manga.
So if you're looking for a different kind of shoujo manga I would recommend Skip Beat highly. Kyoko is my favorite manga heroine, hands down, and if you're looking for romance don't be afraid, it does arrive eventually. It goes slowly as the series develops but it's there and you'll be rooting for Kyoko every step of the way. Actually, you'll be rooting more for Ren who is utterly in love with Kyoko but she doesn't seem to see it although everyone else can.
Skip Beat is the tale of Kyoko Mogami whose life is shattered when she finds out her childhood friend and longtime love interest, Shotaro Fuwa, sees her as nothing more than a maid. He confesses to his manager that he only brought her to Tokyo, where he launches his singing career, so he wouldn't have to clean up after himself and cook his meals. You can read Skip Beat for free at Manga Traders and One Manga.
Due to Skip Beat's immense popularity I'm sure Viz will be releasing the entire series but is only up to Volume 18 thus far. The manga is still being released in Japan and Manga Traders and One Manga provide the most up to date scanlations so if you get addicted (and I surely did) you can go there to keep reading. Since the series is made of awesome please purchase the volumes from Viz though.
Now onto the plot! Skip Beat is a long manga with a complex plot that's ever changing and is still being produced so I can't go into a lot of it but I'll at least give the premise and explain why Kyoko is the best heroine ever. As said before, she arrives with Shotaro aka Sho in Toyko. They both grew up in Kyoto where Sho's parents own a hotel and Kyoko lived and worked there with her mother who was a cold and emotionally abusive woman. Kyoko has always loved Sho ardently, something he assumed would never change. Sho refuses to take over the family business, wanting instead to go to Tokyo to start a singing career, and asks Kyoko to come along.
The Kyoko of this time period and the start of the manga is someone who is charming and innocent. Everything she does is for Sho. She's the most in love with him that a person could be and sees something good in all that he does. Rather than it being annoying it's freakishly cute, made even more so after later events. Sho turns out to be something of a talented singer and rather ruthless in getting his way and quickly becomes a star and Kyoko is his biggest fan. Sho considers only one person to be in the way of his rise to ultimate fame and stardom and that's the actor, Ren Tsuruga, and just the sight of Ren ruins his cool guy facade.
One day Kyoko goes to deliver Sho lunch and overhears him talking to his manager about Kyoko being a plain and boring girl who he just sees as a servant. Now, I've mentioned Kyoko being the coolest female protagonist and the best heroine ever and here's the reason why. Instead of reacting in the typical shoujo lead manner and bursting into tears and running to eventual other love interest Kyoko throws the boxed lunch at Sho and proceeds to attack him, vowing revenge for all the years he's taken advantage of and used her. Kyoko has this awesome and hilarious ability where she can summon supernatural powers, using these miniature demonic versions of herself, dark spirits I guess, and they come out like snakes when she's really upset over something. This happens here but Kyoko is stopped in mid attack and dragged away by security.
As she's pulled away Sho, being a mocking asshole, says the only way for her to get revenge on him is to be a bigger star than he's going to become. He says this while thinking that Kyoko, being so plain and boring, could never achieve this. Little does Sho know that he's setting his own undoing and Kyoko's path to a more happy and fulfilling life into motion.
Kyoko decides to do just that. She cuts her hair, gets it dyed, and proceeds to stalk L.M.E., which is Sho's biggest rival agency trying to get signed on. When she goes to an open audition she fought her way into she falls under the attention of the agency president, Lory, who sees potential in Kyoko but also a massive lack of love. He proclaims love is the most important thing for an idol and decides to take Kyoko on but she needs to learn to love. Lory is a quirky individual to say the least but very sharp and it's pretty evident at this point how vengeance driven against Sho that Kyoko is. He creates a special section of the company for Kyoko called The Love Me section.
The dress of Love Me members are gaudishly pink overalls which is constantly ridiculed and as a member Kyoko basically is given a series of assignments, being a manager for a day, personal assistant to a star, whatever, and at the end of the day whoever she serves gives her a stamp from 1-5 stars, 5 being the best and 1 the worst, on her performance. Through her work at the Love Me section she becomes friends with another girl, Moko, who is forced to join. Moko is a brilliant actress but due to family stress has a rather chilly attitude at first. After some time she becomes Kyoko's precious friend, the first real one she's ever had.
Ultimately everyone Kyoko meets at L.M.E. in her quest to become an idol is important to the manga but the most important is Ren Tsugara. He's the famous actor and model whom Sho considers his rival. Ren is the opposite of Sho in every way. While Sho is arrogant and only acts nice on camera when it will get him more fans Ren is a genuinely kind person but he does have moments when he can be very scary. They all involve Kyoko.
When he's first introduced to Kyoko he doesn't take a liking to her and that's because he discovers she only wants to be an actress to get revenge on Sho. He's someone who truly loves and takes acting seriously and takes offense to this. The great thing about this series is the development of Kyoko's character. In the start she's innocent and naive but after she's betrayed by Sho she becomes quickly disillusioned and cynical. The more time she is in the Love Me section and spends acting she starts to discover how much she enjoys it. She begins doing it for herself and confesses to Ren that through acting she's finding out who she is for the first time because before this everything she did was always to make her mother proud or Sho happy.
I'm mainly focusing on Kyoko in this because she is the main character but I should go a bit into Ren's personality. He's someone that is very kind but there's a darker side to him. All the same, he's a very generous person and he does a lot to help Kyoko in her acting career. He grows closer and closer to Kyoko as time goes on and his manager soon starts to tease Ren about his feelings for her. I don't think I'm giving a lot away in stating that Ren becomes Kyoko's love interest which really peeves Sho. The love that Ren feels for Kyoko is really sweet and he's almost too gentlemanly with her, to the point where he's afraid of confessing or trying to kiss her for fear of freaking her out and making her hate him forever. Which makes a reader feel for the poor guy.
Later in the series it's revealed Ren and Kyoko have a connection in their past that the readers know about but Kyoko is unaware of it, even in the most recent issues of the manga. At one point Sho is able to see first hand through a work project they do together how much Kyoko has changed and has grown as an actress and can no longer view her as just his childhood friend. As a reader the character development of Kyoko is the best thing for me but I also adore watching her career taking flight and get a lot of pleasure in her work triumphs.
Kyoko's personality is really complex and utterly enjoyable. There are so many sides to Kyoko. She has moments of immense rage where she summons her demons, then she'll be sharp and sardonic, able to see through anyone's facade. But there are times when she's like a little girl and is adorably cute and skipping through a forest talking about seeing faeries. Kyoko can even turn into the average shoujo heroine, acting just like any other teenage girl who is confused about love. It's seeing all these different aspects to her that makes her such an extraordinary protagonist and makes her quite a rare find for a shoujo manga.
So if you're looking for a different kind of shoujo manga I would recommend Skip Beat highly. Kyoko is my favorite manga heroine, hands down, and if you're looking for romance don't be afraid, it does arrive eventually. It goes slowly as the series develops but it's there and you'll be rooting for Kyoko every step of the way. Actually, you'll be rooting more for Ren who is utterly in love with Kyoko but she doesn't seem to see it although everyone else can.
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