Skip Beat!

Love can make people do crazy things, even if it’s skipping high school to follow your boyfriend to Tokyo to begin his career as a rockstar. Admittedly, the popular rom-com Skip Beat may give bad presumptions when it’s revealed that the main character’s (Kyouko) sole motivation for entering showbiz is to seek revenge on her ex-boyfriend (Shou) by outshining him. In actuality, Skip Beat is just as fun to watch as its name portrays it to be. The plot itself is actually what brings out the comedy in the anime because of the characters’ reactions. The anime is not reflected on a girl’s life thatrevolves around her ex, but it focuses on how she discovers herself. Apart from the steady pacing, Skip Beat is also a prime example of how creators advertise a manga by ending the anime with a cliffhanger. The pacing is steady and engaging, and there are no fillers. The dramatic and funny moments are perfectly balanced. Nothing is immediate, including Kyouko’s attempt at stardom. A romance story develops in the anime, and the steady pacing is fulfilled by showing no intimacy within the series. The story also reflects on other characters instead of solely Kyouko, so the viewer gets to learn of situations from those characters’ points of view. The only problem with Skip Beat is that the story is incomplete. The romance is still in development and has a while until it fully blooms. Kyouko has a past with another main character that was shown in brief clips in later episodes, but it is never fully revealed. Kyouko is clueless about it, while the other character still keeps it a secret. Additionally, a new subplot was introduced near the very end of the series, and a solution is never reached. Although the story itself is incomplete, the creators did a good job on giving a hopeful ending. All of the characters were given a reflection, and it gives the viewer enough for the imagination. Since there has been no talk of a second season for the past four years, the viewer is left with no choice but to read the manga in the meantime. (7) Instead of a weak-hearted female lead that is usually present in shoujo anime, Kyouko is an aggressive and driven individual. All characters have their own personality, and it’s cool that some actually address the stupidity behind Kyouko’s motivation for showbiz. The main characters and supporting characters all balance out the theme of the anime. There are some characters with huge egos, contributing to the comedy as Kyouko enters the entertainment world by taking one step at a time. The contribution of the other characters also helps Kyouko develop into an independent and strong woman. The “Character” category would have a perfect score of 10, but the interruption of the subplot placed a halt on some of the characters’ development. (8) The animation is unique from most other anime. Apart from the plot itself, the animation is to thank for the comedy. Demonic and depressing auras, along with emotions, are drawn hilariously with ghostly figures. Also, the characters’ designs as chibi are both funny and adorable. The colors are exceptionally vivid and bright in the character and background designs, giving off a refreshing and fun atmosphere to the anime. (10) The voice actors were superb. Marina Inoue (voice of Kyouko) did an excellent job separating her innocent vs. aggressive voices to fit Kyouko’s split personality. “Dream Star” by generous is upbeat and expresses Kyouko’s confidence within herself. The OP and ED changed at Episode 20 as there is more love affection shown between characters. The background music is played at the right moments and fits the moods of each episode. (10) Skip Beat was very entertaining. I was desperately looking for a rom-com, and Skip Beat was often recommended. I turned it down several times in the past because of the synopsis. I was disappointed with no immediate romance, but the steady pacing caused the anime to exceed my expectations. The comedy and Kyouko’s determination are what mostly kept me watching. After the first episode, I became anxious to watch the next episodes to watch Kyouko achieve her goal. I disliked how some characters’ pasts were not emphasized and how a new subplot was introduced near the end. Now I’m reading the manga to complete the story. (8) Skip Beat is unique from other Shoujo anime, and it’s all thanks to a strong female lead. The drama and comedy are balanced, and the plot is irresistible as you’ll become drawn to the story and feel the need to watch it ‘til the end. It is meant to advertise the manga by leaving the viewer with a cliffhanger. As someone who read the manga after completing the series (starting at Chapter 67), I say that jumping on the Skip Beat bandwagon is definitely worth the ride. (8)

I fell in love with the manga and ended up watching the anime afterwards because I just couldn't get enough of it. That being said, I was highly disappointed with the anime adaptation, and felt like the overall vibe was very different than the original manga (and no, I am not someone who automatically feels that the manga version of any story is superior). It's difficult for me to pinpoint exactly why I loved the manga and hated the adaptation, but I'll try. Plotwise, the anime more or less follows the story. Parts were shortened and some scenes eliminated, but nothing that really stoodout at me. However, the anime ENDS right about when the manga starts to get good and the characters start to develop. Skip Beat is a long a** manga (too long some might say - I love it but the mangaka does drag it on for quite a while), and the anime just barely scratches the surface, and leaves more loose ends that it resolves (honestly, if I only saw the anime without reading the manga at first, I would be confused and frustrated since there are so many things that are never explained or reseolved). One of my favorite aspects of the manga was how Kyoko and Ren's career in acting was incorporated in the story (especially seeing how Kyoko grew as an actor and changed for each role that she played), but that was not explored nearly as much in the anime. The anime also emphasized some of my least favorite aspects of the original story, in a way that made the story seem much more cliche and Kyoko much more annoying. Kyoko comes across as much more over-the-top in the anime, and bent on revenge with not as many characteristics to make her rounded out (a LOT of her character development is also left out since the anime ends so prematurely). The pacing of the how Kyoko's relationship with Ren develops was also a lot faster, which makes it somewhat boring to me since you don't see as much of a transition from hate to apathy to friends to romantic interest. The art was terrible. Very plain scenes that lacked in detail, angular and unattractive character designs, way too much chibi...maybe some of the worst art that i've come across in quite a while. Overall. I would say that this was a very dull and cliche adaptation with uninspiring artwork and annoying characters. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's not worth watching if you like the genre - it's alright, and maybe I might have liked it more if I hadn't read the manga beforehand and knew what I was missing out on. That being said, if watching this anime leaves you feeling unfulfilled, I highly recommend that you read the source material.

If you disregard animation and art, the gender of the main character (usually) and other minor differences; one major difference remains between shoujo/jousei and shounen animes that have romance and drama as the two main themes. This difference protrudes as one thing and that is character interaction, character interaction is a result of script/screenplay and to a certain extent storyboard. Character interaction is one of the key features in anime that needs to be executed well for it to be successful, if an anime has good character interaction then you can almost forgive everything else that's bad about that particular anime. This being said, therehas never been nor will there ever be (probably) a shounen romantic drama/comedy with as good character interaction as a shoujo anime equivalent in themes. Now why I have decided to start this review by talking about character interaction is because Skip Beat has good character interaction and this saves it from being a bad anime. Now ransack your hearts; this anime had fairly weak storyboard, the events happen rather haphazardly and the character development of some characters are below mediocre. In truth though, it's hard to have good character development for many characters but then you really have to make the characters undergoing bad character development either forgettable or really, really good in entertainment value. Skip Beat did not deliver this hence why some characters feel unfinished or even unnecessary to the story. All the same this anime is very good, it was a good concept and I particularly enjoyed the fact that the main protagonist wasn't some meek, weak pushover that so many other female main protagonists have been. There was some spunk in this girl that I appreciated even though she could be a bit too clueless at times regarding some things for my liking. Now my overall rating of this anime is based on the things I have pointed out in this review, but also on the fact that I am expecting a season two as it was not only hinted at the end of the last episode but also due to the storyboard and the overall worthless conclusion to the anime, you know it, I know it; we have seen that ending before. So many times... so many times. Atleast it wasn't as bad as KareKano though.

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