Skip Beat used to be one of the funniest mangas around while still managing to have serious moments, and interesting perspective on acting, mastering a craft and so on. At one point, I would have easily rated it a 9 or a 10.
This is all in the past, though, and pretty much a LONG time in the past, at this point. I firmly believe the worst part in the manga is actually the romance, no joke. The manga opened with our overly naive protagonist (Kyoko) realizing the betrayal she is going through, and swearing off romantic feelings... So obviously the main arc becomes her falling in love, eventually. Now, if only this was a tender love story, with a partner gently getting her to open up after what left her traumatized by love, it would be one thing, but instead the entire relationship is built upon coincidences, misunderstandings and ultimately feels no better than a mediocre high-school romance story, when you get down to it. What happens should in no way help her get over her mental blocks, but it does by author fiat (and maybe by the power of the ML's handsomeness).
The comedy, which used to be the highlight of the manga (in my opinion) gets less time and is less brilliant as the story goes on. The background stories of the characters have become "trash soap-opera" tier (I still can't get over the reveals surrounding the protagonist's mother and the protagonist's childhood that directly derives from it), and the drama is an all-consuming poison that seeps from most pages, instead of something used with balance to steer the story when necessary.
This is all the more disappointing, because the start of the story IS silly (why would becoming a star allow you to have your revenge on the moron who betrayed you? He even brought it up himself, so that should be the exact thing to NOT do), and there are various other silly moments in it, so you would expect the plot to embrace it more, rather than run from it as time goes on.
The story also becomes very wishy-washy. If someone ever states a principle or ideal, you can expect them to eventually go back on what they said at least 50% of the time. The protagonist being so dumbly in love is also a bit disappointing (given how it all started) and turns into one of the main sources of comedy.
I eventually stopped reading, so I am not up to the date with the most recent developments, but it doesn't sound like the story is doing anything interesting anyway.
(-21)
