After Garasu no Kamen, I didn't think there would be any manga that could give me the same level of excitement for show biz, but Skip Beat! really is something!!. This manga deserves high praise although it takes longer than necessary as if it will never end, especially in the romantic aspect. Oh, the characters are still young (forever), aren't they? But the readers aren't. LoL

However, I personally love Skip Beat! even more knowing that the male lead is of Caucasian descendant. ♡ The plot is so fantastic concerning the love triangle, the jealousy, the friendship, and the career goal. The artwork is not that bad, except anatomical oddity. Also, it's hard sometimes to distinguish the characters' faces since they look very similar. As a whole, Skip Beat! is a nice shoujo anyone who loves a long read won't be disappointed!

This is the First Manga. To tell the truth I wasn‘t interessted in Manga, I was an Anime Fan since elementary School. After watching skip Beat i was curious what happens after the Open end of the Anime. I started reading the Manga in 2009 and fell in Love with it. Since then I have read more then 500 Manga. I‘ m glad that skip Beat showed me a world that I didn‘t know before.

I've been reading Skip Beat since 2009, and it remains one of my very favorite manga of all time. I love Kyoko as a main character, I love Ren as the love interest - I love every character to be honest. I love how they grow. I love the way we get backstories, with hints of things dropped early on that build slowly to a big reveal. I (desperately) want answers, but I don't mind waiting because I know eventually I will get them - and, whenever it happens, it will be at the right time and it will be worth it because it'll be done so well.

I love the plot; I love how a job Kyoko starts for pretty terrible reasons slowly morphs into something she loves for herself, something that defines her. I love how Kyoko's progression in the field seems believable, how she has to slowly work her way up from a talent where she is literally just a character in a costume with no lines, to a real actress with important roles that she learns to understand. So often showbiz manga end up being completely about the characters and them being famous and not really about the industry at all, and that is definitely not the case here.

My only real complaint is how hard it is to read as an ongoing series. It only releases one chapter a month, and while at least it is 30 pages instead of, say, 15, if you aren't at a point where the plot is moving quickly, it's easy to forget exactly what is going on. (Or if a big event is in progress, each chapter inevitably ends on a cliffhanger that makes waiting a month for the continuation feel impossible.) If I had any strength of will, I would hold off for several months and try to read whole arcs at a time. I HAVE gone back and re-read the whole series five or six times, and every time I love it more - it's so much more enjoyable in binge form, when you can really see the whole story.

tl;dr: Great character development, awesome plot, agonizing updates. Read it. Then watch the anime. Then read it again. 😀

I've been reading patiently for every chapter. Watched the series and live action. I absolutely look forward to mogami-san's growth but, I feel that there should be more revelations about tsuruga-san and their families. I mean, where the hell is Shotaro nowadays?

Its honestly crazy how long I've been sticking to this manga! With every other one I've read, if they take THIS long to update, then I would've dropped it already - but the story of Skip Beat is just too good to let be.




I also agree on that point about the potential ending. I hope it doesn't get "axed" despite the fact that its slightly starting to drag its feet, and that the confessions and reactions aren't rushed. Here's what I'm hoping for:

- Kyoko gathers the guts to confess and learns the truth about Tsuruga, and reveals maybe after the fact that she was Bo too
- Sho and Kyoko end up agreeing that rather than being complete enemies, they just remain rivals and Sho gives up on Kyoko. (that second bit might be difficult though - so maybe some kind of realization that he actually had a crush on her (?) would need to go first)
- There could be a flash forward to Kyoko as a successful actress at the pinnacle, and sharing her happiness with everyone (past enemies as well as friends)

Anyways - I hope this all works out in the end :/

... Last updated on January 10th, 2018, 9:48am

I stopped reading at chapter 155 many years ago. Checking back now, it's at 240+? There's no good justification why a shoujo should be this long. And I really dislike harem/reverse-harem.

But still pretty reverse-haremy. Like a lot of slow romances, male chars be falling for her and getting infinitely closer to her romantically than her established love interest.
At least in TCP you had this sense of security accompanying the obvious fact that the 2 leads were destined to be together, from a narrative sense, and within the plot itself.

This is one of the first manga I read. I always loved the humor in it and also the theme about a girl, which choose her own way and fight for her goal.
Recently I remembered it and I started reading it again. Also I watched the anime, really lovely.

    From what I can tell, Skip Beat! seems to be a manga that is either hated or loved with nothing in between. As with many slow romances, quite a few individuals love it at first and then begin to hate its pacing. Rather than general shoujo, I'd say that Skip Beat! is a Bildungsroman -- i.e. a work (especially a long one) which is centred around character growth. One of the manga's best features is that this growth may be spurred on by love but is not done by means of love. The character growth seen in both leads is honestly wonderful and heartwarming, The romantic aspect is too central to be a subplot yet is not the only factor around which the plot revolves. It is probably for this reason that the manga avoids the "oh no, life isn't ideal, I must make mountains of molehills" with only a few brief exceptions (remember, the lead characters are sixteen and twenty when the manga starts). Please also keep in mind that by chapter two-hundred-thirty only a little over a year has passed in the characters' lives, as such the pace makes tons of sense with this type of story.
    As for the story's foundation: "Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd," (William Congreve, The Mourning Bride). It's hard to summarize the ball that gets the story rolling any better than that, and this element does not disappear, rather it becomes more complex and gains unexpected nuances. Skip Beat! has also been addressing such issues as self-hatred, handling one's past, and identity in an interesting manner using acting and taking on various personae. This is done seamlessly, without disturbing the overall integrity of the work.
    Another excellent aspect of this manga is the characters themselves. The character interactions range from charming to hilarious, and the characters themselves, even the side characters, are likewise. It is also great to see main characters who are primarily motived by their own personal goals (e.g. revenge, a career, a dream, etc.) and protagonists who are achievement-oriented. Kyouko is an especially wonderful character: she's not some complex-filled mass of female stereotypes, but an interesting and engaging character whom one can genuinely route for, and Tsuruga-shi is equally interesting and unusual. Skip Beat! is NOT a manga where you're left wondering why character A falls for character B nor where the protagonists are completely obnoxious. Rather than characters who take being dense to professional levels (despite often being love-oriented), the main characters have actual sources of love-avoidance or lack of interest or recognition thereof. The resulting character relationships are far from frivolous. Several individuals have complained about there being a reverse harem, which I find bizarre. Yes, Kyouko is considered attractive when she dresses up -- she is an actress -- however, there is a difference between finding someone attractive and loving someone.
    The only persistent issue I found was the artwork. It isn't exactly bad and it definitely improves over the course of the manga, but the anatomical oddities often feel slightly more than stylized, especially in the beginning. Although the faces are overly similar, it doesn't feel like the characters are only differentiated by their hair styles, and there are some discernible family resemblances for many of the related characters (mostly in manner and mentality). The mangaka's humour, expressions, phrasing, use of chibi, and so on are perfect. Overall, I'd recommend this manga to anyone (even general shoujo-haters) who's willing to read a long story about character growth and is not opposed to a slow pace as far as romance is concerned.

... Last updated on April 25th, 2021, 4:15pm