Skip Beat!

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Skip Beat!

スキップ・ビート！ (Skip Beat!)
Genre	Shōjo, comedy, romance
Manga
Authored by	Yoshiki Nakamura
Publisher	Hakusensha VIZ Media Carlsen Comics Siam Inter Comics
Serialized in	Hana to Yume Daisuki
Original run	2002 –
No. of volumes	14

Skip Beat! (スキップ・ビート！, Skip Beat!^?)is a shōjo manga by Yoshiki Nakamura about a girl's revenge on a boy who viciously betrays and uses her to gain his way into stardom. Changing herself and through perseverance she has to overcome the obstacles in her path of vengeance. In Japan, it was first published in Hana To Yume, while in the United States, it is published under the Viz Media's Shojo Beat label.

1 Story
2 Characters
3 Manga
4 Drama CD
5 Trivia
6 External links

[edit] Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story is about Kyouko Mogami, who was a really nice and quiet girl who fell in love with her childhood friend, Shoutarou. She used to spend a lot of time at Shoutarou's parents' inn and learned a lot about housekeeping and hostelry. Shoutarou (Shou) soon gets bored of living in Kyoto and decided to move to Tokyo, and he invited Kyouko. Kyouko happily agreed, but unknown to her, Shou only brought her to Tokyo to do his house-work until he became famous. Unknown that is, until Kyouko overhears him talking to his manager while delivering him a lunch.

Unlike other heroines in the same situation, Kyouko doesn't shed many tears when she discovers that her adored Shou thinks that she's just good for housekeeping. Instead, her "Pandora's box" opens and she vows vengeance on Shoutaro. Selling her possessions, Kyouko moves out of her apartment into "Darumaya", a place where she works in the evenings. She figures that the only way she can beat Shoutaro is to change her appearance and becoming more famous than him. Through persistence and partially stalking Mr. Sawara, head of the talento division at L.M.E., she manages to get an audition.

While she bombed her audition, Kyouko still managed to make an impression on the judges, especially the L.M.E. President, Lory Takarada. He decided that since she lacked the key ingredient to making a star (love) he will make a new branch especially for people like her so they can get back those feelings of love. The Love Me branch was then established, but unfortunately for Kyouko the branch is a jack of all trades, so she can find herself doing anything from starring in a commercial to cleaning gum off the floor! With some initial flubs, Kyouko actually starts to excel and gain back some of her feelings of love, as well as memories of a young boy (not Shou) whom she had a special bond with when she was a child.

[edit] Characters

Kyōko Mogami ( 最上キョーコ, Mogami Kyōko^?, もがみキョーコ): She's not your typical shojo heroine. When the boy she thought she'd be with forever dumped her cruelly, Kyōko didn't weep or wail. Instead she made it her life's goal to get her revenge--and is sticking with it! Kyōko tried to get into the showbiz world by applying to Shō's rival company, L.M.E, but while her audition stood out, the president of the company realized that she lacked the key point needed to become an idol: love. Since she had such an interesting audition (she did katsura-muki as her talent portion) he decided to make a new branch for people like her. When she is in her room in "Darumaya" she is most of the time seen explaining how she would exact revenge on the two men that make her life miserable to a large poster of Shōtaro and a small photo of Ren (that becomes larger as the story progresses). She becomes a regular in a show... wearing a chicken suit for the character "Bo". She likes to cling to Kanae and calls her "Moko" (it is seen in vol. 4 that every girl hated Kyōko for her familiarity with Shou). It's a sad one-sided friendship; Kyōko follows Moko like a puppy, Moko promptly ignores Kyōko. Kyōko never liked to drink soda (even as a child) but she made herself drink it for an important commercial audition.

In the release of chapter 100, Kyoko came in at #1 on the favorite characters poll, followed closely by Ren.

Shōtaro Fuwa (不破尚太郎, Fuwa Shōtaro^?, ふわしょう): He is a typical stuck up star, and is also very ruthless. Shō had no qualms about tricking Kyōko into going with him to Tokyo so she could be a free servant for him. He also had even less qualms about being extremely cruel to her when she discovered this. Shō eventually figured out that Kyōko was in L.M.E., and was surprised to see her transformation. It is also revealed that he has more feelings for her than he originally thought. Shō thinks of Ren as his rival and is extremely petty at times when they meet.

Ren Tsuruga (敦賀蓮, Tsuruga Ren^?, つるがれん): Ren is, on outward appearances, an extremely nice and polite star, however, he shows his true self whenever he deals with Kyōko. He can be very tricky, but is also very sweet towards her (unconciously at most times). It is revealed that he had known Kyōko when she was smaller, however, Kyōko is so far unaware of this. In the past, he gave Kyōko the blue stone that she rubs whenever she is at her lowest (corn). Later, Ren explains that he lived twenty years in Japan and that he was fired from so many jobs that he even lost count. The rest of his past is a mystery though.

Kanae Kotonami (琴南奏江, Kotonami Kanae^?, ことなみかなえ): Kotonami's character, at first glance, looks like she was being set up to be the villain to Kyōko's angel, but as with all of the female characters in this series, Kanae is much nicer than she appears. While there was fur flying about at the beginning, both girls had a need for a true friend, and are finding that in each other (albeit reluctantly on Kanae's part and too willingly on Kyōko's part. Kyōko likes to call her "Moko"). Kanae desperately wanted to be a star and was at the same audition as Kyōko, but while she did better than Kyōko, she also failed. She became the second member of Love Me, and has used that to her advantage. Kanae puts up a strong front, but is very self-conscious and is prone to self doubt. It is later revealed that Kotonami has problem dealing with kids, stemming from the fact that she comes from a large family with an obscenely large amount of nieces, nephews, and siblings.

Lory Takarada (ローリィ宝田, Lory Takarada^? ローリィたからだ): He's the President of L.M.E, and is very showy. He is one of the first people to recognize Kyōko's promise of being a great star, and created the Love Me section because of this. Lory has a very deep voice, and often has a huge entourage with him to create the world's greatest entrances. He also has a granddaughter, Maria, who idolizes Kyōko.

Takenori Sawara (椹武憲, Sawara Takenori^?, さわらたけのり): He's a part of L.M.E. and was tormented by Kyōko into getting her into an audition. He's actually very supportive, despite Kyōko's penchant for tripping her own idol career up.

Maria Takarada: Maria is the granddaughter of the President of L.M.E. and used to use her cute appearance to get people's sympathy. She did so before Kyōko's audition, however Kyouko recognized this, and called her out on it. While some people would be angry at Kyōko, Maria began to idolize her, and views her as an ultimate big sister. Maria also suffered from a huge guilt complex from her believing that she is the cause of her mother's death. As a result, Maria was unable to talk or even be around her father, since she thought that he hated her. Kyōko managed to make Maria understand that her father didn't hate her, or think that Maria caused her mother's death. Maria also loves to dabble with black magic (along with Kyouko's side) and also has a large crush on Ren Tsuruga.

Kyouko's Demons: They deserve an entry of their own. Kyōko's demons were always with her, however they were kept at bay by her extreme love and devotion to Shō. When Shō's true impression of her comes to light, so do her demons. The demons often scare everyone around her, which Kyōko uses to her benefit. They also help keep Kyōko's drive going, as she sometimes questions her motives for stardom. Most of the time, the demons are held back by Kyouko's remaining pure feelings whenever the "pure Kyouko" feels that the anger is getting out of line.

[edit] Manga

Volume 1: Kyoko grew up her whole life living with Shou, her beloved childhood friend. Shou asks her to leave high school and Kyoto to help him pursue a musical career in Tokyo. At the start of the story, Kyoko lives an unreasonably frugal life, spending nothing on herself and doing whatever she can for Shou, who is by now in the top twenty of most popular entertainers in Japan. However, she overhears Shou complaining about her to his manager, saying that she is a boring and plain girl that he'd like to be rid of. Enraged, Kyoko attempts to attack Shou, but is instantly carried off by security, Shou mockingly telling her that if she wants revenge, she'd better become a bigger star than him.

Kyoko immediately cuts and bleaches her hair, and then goes to the largest production company that isn't Shou's, L.M.E.: the same company that manages Ren Tsuruga, Japan's most popular actor and Kyoko's main love interest in the story. She meets Ren and he instantly takes a dislike to her for her superficial motive for entering entertainment, inspiring a similar hatred. Her motivation, always honestly stated, fails to impress everyone she tells (a minor theme in the series), and Sawara, the head of L.M.E.'s talent department, tells her to leave. Kyoko thus stalks him for several days until he gives up and gets her into an audition.

At the audition, Kyoko, whose life had been spent in one form of service or another, performs as her talent the art of katsuramuki, a special type of vegetable peeling. She impresses the judges with her originality (she peels a daikon into an enormous flower) and uniqueness of her skill. She also meets Kanae Kotonami at the audition, who proceeds with Kyoko to the next round.

However, the next round is where Kyoko meets her failure: it is a reaction test where she must listen to a cellphone and spontaneously act out a response. The cellphone conversation is a man telling her that he's sorry, didn't love the other girls, and wants to get back together with her - resulting in Kyoko trashing the phone and screaming in rage. She fails the audition.

At home, Kyoko cries, but not because she's failed the audition, but because she was told that the reaction revealed a lack of love for one's self, and that in order to be an entertainer and be loved by her fans, she has to love herself. This is something she doesn't think possible: basically, Kyoko has lost the feeling of self-worth that one needs in order to be a human being. Nevertheless, Kyoko impressed the President so much that he says privately to Sawara that if she returns of her own initiative, he'll have a special program waiting for her.

Volume 2: Kyouko has failed the audition, however she has impressed the L.M.E President enough for him to hire her for a new branch, the Love Me branch! While the jobs are at first unimpressive, Kyouko eventually finds herself as an assistant on the set of the hot new movie of the season. However, the starlet she is to assist is a spoiled brat, and refuses to work! Can Kyouko and her inner demons get her to work?

Volume 3: Kyouko finishes her current job and is heading toward her new assignment when she finds out that Kotonami Kanae, another girl from the audition, failed in the final screening process and is also in the Love Me branch. Their next task comes in the form of the President's granddaughter, Maria. Maria blames herself for the death of her mother, and refuses to forgive herself. Maria disrupts her acting class because she sees a play with a similar plotline unbelievable due to the character's actions. She doesn't see how the characters could not feel anger or hatred towards the main character. When Kyouko echoes Maria's sentiments, the angry classmates call her on it. Kyouko must use the same script, but portray it from her and Maria's point of view successfully. Will they be able to accomplish this new task?

Volume 4
Volume 5

[edit] Drama CD

In 2002, a drama CD adaptation was made and released by Marine Entertainment (MMCC-7029). The drama CD covers the first volume (acts 1 to 5) of the manga.

Cast

Kyōko Mogami - Miki Nagasawa

Shō Fuwa - Nobutoshi Kanna

Ren Tsuruga - Ken Narita

Lory Takarada - Banjo Ginga

Takenori Sawara - Tomoyuki Kōno

Kanae Kotonami - Yukiko Tagami

Darumaya landlord - Masami Iwasaki

Darumaya landlady - Mariko Nagahama

[edit] Trivia

Katsura-Muki is the art of vegetable peeling, and is extremely hard to do. Often only the best top chefs are able to do this, which is why Kyoko's ability to do so impressed the judges.
In Japan, by law students only have to go to school up until the 9th grade, so this is why Kyouko is able to drop out of school. Just like most places, Japan does not have very many openings for high school drop outs, so most students are encouraged to at least finish high school.
In Japanese, キョーコ, if translated directly is Kyouko, but is correctly romanized in the Hepburn style as Kyōko. Viz uses the romanization of Kyoko for its easier readability to their customers. See also: Japanese Long Vowels