Skip Beat! Book 1
- Posted by Johanna on June 25, 2006 at 7:13 am
- Category: Manga Reviews
- CREDITS: by Yoshiki Nakamura; adaptation by Tomo Kimura
- PUBLISHER: Viz, $8.99 US
An interesting premise is undermined by a thoroughly unlikeable lead character and what I saw as the creator’s superiority complex over the genre she’s working in.
Throughout the book appear author’s notes, which is normally a great feature, letting the reader know more about the creator behind the work (or at least, the image they want to project). In this case, though… it’s the first thing the reader sees, and the first note goes something like “if you liked my previous series, you might not like this so much.” Then the creator starts writing about how she doesn’t care for the usual shojo manga heroines, that they’re “ordinary” and how she wants to create someone “a little like a wild beast”.
If that’s what she wants to do, I fear she’s working in the wrong genre. I get the impression (and maybe I’m reading too much into it) that the author was making concessions she didn’t really believe in in order to get her work into a particular magazine. She talks about how what she really wants to do won’t appeal to the general public, showing how she’s thinking about becoming popular first. Starting off this way left a bad taste in my mouth.
Then I met Kyoko, the lead. First, she’s a doormat, dropping out of school to support a spoiled rich boy who wants to be famous. Then, when she finds out that he despises her (an opinion I was beginning to share), she turns into an idiot, determined to become a celebrity herself for revenge, even though she has no talent beyond whining and guilt-tripping people.
In the right hands, I’d be sympathetic for the girl, rooting for her to discover herself and win out over the jerk, but here, I just thought “eh, she deserves it if she’s going to act like that.” I suspect part of that is because the author goes on to say in her notes that she doesn’t have much interest in showbiz (choosing that setting only because she was told she couldn’t do the one she wanted first) and has never been the kind of passionate fan she’s writing about. That disinterest came through the story for me.
Kyoko’s reactions are cartooned as extreme, which I found pathetic instead of funny. The storytelling can be near-incoherent, with rapid changes in mood, setting, or action shoved together on the same page, sometimes in different styles that don’t mesh. I feel as though I’ve seen some of the key images before elsewhere in a more appropriate setting.
This material could be great if the psychological ramifications were explored, which would mean a different audience and approach, but it’s all used for more direct, slam-bang attempts at comedy. Come to think of it, Kyoko has some of the same problems that I see demonstrated in the author’s notes.
About halfway through the book, sleep became more interesting to me, so I quit. If there’s a radical improvement after chapter two, all the better for the readers who could continue. I did notice that the were cultural notes included in the back, a welcome addition that I hope Viz includes in more of their titles.
June 26, 2006 at 1:52 pm
Actually, this author does problematic starts to her manga not just this once, the upside to her work is that when you read the manga back to back there’s a real storyline and character development and resolution, which guilty pleasure shoujo mangas often can’t show off. This particular series did start too slow for me, it becomes more interesting after volume 4 (the author is not afraid to introduce major characters in volumes 10 and following, heh).
If you can get scanlation (since it hasn’t been licensed in English OR in German, which would help me personally, yet) of Tokyo Crazy Paradise (which is 17 volumes long), you might look forward to what she’s doing with Skip Beat there.
Skip Beat runs in the German (yes, Germany did the first non-Japanese shoujo-only monthly anthology with articles on Japan and manga-related things) prototype for ShojoBeat called Daisuki, with quite good results (the chapters eventually being collected in tankubons).
June 26, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Wow, thanks for the history. I don’t think I’m going to make it until the fourth book…
June 27, 2006 at 12:16 am
Fair enough ^^. If Tokyo Crazy Paradise ever gets licensed, do give her another try. That series is superior, I think.
August 23, 2006 at 11:53 pm
I read Skip Beat Volume 1 and it is really funny!
October 5, 2006 at 8:42 pm
this was a awsome book i loved it!!!!!!!!! it was totally dramtic!
October 22, 2006 at 9:31 pm
Wow, I totally agree with you on just about everything you wrote here. This series is pretty popular and a lot of my friends find it funny, but I don’t see how. What they find “funny” I find “annoying”. I had higher expectations because I usually love all ShojoBeat titles, but this series isn’t that great. =/
November 21, 2006 at 9:21 pm
well im waiting 4 book 3 2 come out now… i got impatient and ended up searching “Skip Beat Scanlations” and had no luck… TT___TT
but i like it alot so far!
and ill try 2 find “tokyo crazy paradise” if i can!
onemore thing if u like anime, go 2
Youtube.com and type in an anime in the search bar!
March 10, 2007 at 11:22 am
in my own opinion…i love the manga despite its imperfection and it just happens to be that we are all different people. that’s why though i’m bit hurt due to your review, i still respect you. =)
March 13, 2007 at 3:42 pm
I’ve survived volumes 1-5. (Oh my, the horror)
I thought the story was pretty decent, and it being boring, I kind of disagree. Well, Kyoko, in the first place, was already imaged as a “boring girl”, and things fell into a place where you could tell he wasn’t into her.
But the story gets a little better, since her consistant cries to get what she wantson the verge for revenge seem to work for her up to a point, where her want of ‘revenge’ would not get her anywhere. At least it wasn’t, “She was GREAT!” kind of thing, and let her go through all the way.
Maybe the thing that bored you was that you read the author’s comments, hich I have no tolerance for, unless it discusses a character.
I think you were more annoyed by the author’s choice of words than the actual story, so that basicly ruined your good thought towards the story.
I may be wrong. =D
Have a great day.
March 16, 2007 at 9:29 am
Ich liebe Skip beat.Kein andere Manga ist so toll und so geil wie Sb
March 16, 2007 at 9:33 am
Skip beat is co cool,I love it.
March 26, 2007 at 3:16 am
I’m afraid that I really can’t agree. When I first picked up Skip Beat! by recommendation I loved it.
Sure, she thinks that revenge can get her through anything. Sure, she was used as the typical girl-gets-tossed-out-and-goes-after-guy thing. However, she does so not out of love but out of hatred (and I’m serious, she hates the guy but not without the occasional, oh right, I used to like him, things).
While she thought that revenge could get her through anything she changes her mind (but not until a few volumes later) and realizes that somewhere along the way she fell in love with what she was doing.
Kyouko isn’t exactly normal with those demons but more so that she refuses to love and promptly freaks out whenever the word is mentioned. Shou left a deep mark on her in all the wrong ways and she’s determined to fix it.
Though I agree about the author’s notes, I never read them until several times through the book. Ah, the author isn’t exactly self-confident to begin with.
Her love for show-biz (or rather, lack there of) is remidied later in the series as she obviously puts more effort into what she does.
I don’t really think that she thought the series was going to go as far as it did.
All in all I hope that you pick the book up again one day and try to get through it once more.
Though I might be just a little (sarcasm doesn’t reach online very well) biased all things considered. Skip Beat is, and will remain for quite some time, one of my favorite shojo series.
May 17, 2007 at 4:17 am
I completely agree with what you have to say about this series and I’m glad I’m not the only person in the world who thinks this series kinda reeks.
January 10, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I actually love this manga! I’ve read up to volume 10 so… it’s really interesting so those who have little faith, keep at it. I think you all will end up liking it.
January 10, 2008 at 1:00 pm
The problem with that approach is that there are so many other titles out there! If one doesn’t work for me, I’d rather try another one instead of sticking around hoping things improve.
January 29, 2008 at 4:30 am
I really love this manga. Well, actually I didn’t interested in it when I saw it for the first time. But I fell in love when I read it. The story is very interesting and funny. I’ve bought and read it up to volume 10. You have to read this manga and I guarantee that you won’t regret if you read this manga..
April 27, 2008 at 2:05 pm
This is one of the best books that I have ever read. And that’s saying a lot because I only read this series and Vampire Knights. I love reading manags period. But if I had to reacommend any series, I would reacommend this series to a beginner.