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kokoronohanashiIt has been about 6-7 years since the first time I came across Skip Beat. At first, it didn't attract that much attention, the art was not so appealing to me, but the plot was interesting, so I decided to give it a try. And I don't regret it. It is one of the best shojo mangas I've ever read, and one of the only ones that are still ongoing from the series I followed for this amount of time. The story about a girl who decided to get revenge on her ex-boyfriend/childhood friend who used her to go to Tokyo to be a pop star by entering showbiz caught my attention mostly because I wanted her to overcome that betrayal and succeed on revenge. I didn't start the series with great expectations. So, my first impressions were that I didn't like Kyoko in the very beginning, it bothered me how submissive she was to Shotaro, thankfully at the end of the first chapter, she had changed her attitude. And about Sho, I hated him. He was such a jerk, not only did he used and cheated on her, he also made fun of her, but in the end I expected that he would beg for forgiveness and say that he loved her and that he regretted all his actions, I hoped for some kind of redemption. Plus, there is Tsuruga Ren. At first, I disliked him. I thought he was too cocky and that he would be some sort of bad guy who would bully Kyoko. Same as Moko-san, I thought she'd be some sort of villain there. And the president...May I confess that he was one of the first characters I liked, though I was still a bit suspicious of him?
Anyway, those were my first impressions, that I had when I was still a teenager.
But what really captivated me was when Ren found out that Kyoko is the same girl he met many years ago and to whom he gave a stone, plus knowing that Kyoko cherishes it a lot, to the point of naming it after the person who gave it - Corn (Kuon). And from then on, my impressions changed a lot. I didn't care about Kyoko's revenge anymore. Nor did I care about Shotaro. All I would care was Kyoko's character development, be it on acting skills, be it on personal side, such as making friends (Mouko, Maria-chan, the cast of Dark Moon, Box R' etc) and going back to school. She started loving herself more, discovering that acting was an activity she really enjoyed for the first time.
All I also would care about Tsuruga Ren, or better saying, Kuon Hizuri's character development, his true side showing off, his traumatic and yet mysterious past that remains to be fully shown. His inner fight between the currently self, a mild persona who gives a cool vibe, who is famous for being one of the top actors in Japan, and his true self, a man with a troubled past, impulsive and passionate.
All I would really care about was the love blossoming between these two characters, who have so many complications in their lives, so many personal obstacles -fears- to overcome, and yet, without them realising it, they are healing each other's wounds, they are helping each other. It goes beyond love, as there is trust, complicity and friendship between them.
The only problem in this manga, if I had to point one, is how slow the story progress. Because of this, I had abandoned the series multiple times, coming back after some time, after a good amount of chapter accumulated just so that I could read all at once and wouldn't get too anxious for the next one. Last time I did it was about 3 years ago, I had stopped when the Box R' arc had just ended and was too bored with the plot...And a few days ago, as a way to relax a bit from the exam stress, I decided to search for whereabouts of some manga series and then, I found out about the meeting between Kyoko and Kuon. I went all "WTF! Are they finally meeting? Will he eventually tell her? Will she realize it, that they're the same people? OMG, OMG, I need to read this!" And then, I went back on reading all the chapters I had missed. I forgot how awesome the series is and wow, the Heel siblings are impressive! I did not expect such development, not less the *cof"teethmark*cof.Let me confess that I envied Setsu a bit in that moment.
But now, I've read all the new chapters, re-read some old ones, and will have to wait another month till the new one. Meh. There we go again, not much progress. Anyway, it was good to read manga again, especially SB. It is also good to ship a couple so lovely as KyokoxKuon. It is nice to cheer for them because you see that there is mutual love, even if is fictional. I so hope someday I'll find some kind of love like this (yes, I'm still overcoming the rejection phase...).
Anyway, those were my first impressions, that I had when I was still a teenager.
But what really captivated me was when Ren found out that Kyoko is the same girl he met many years ago and to whom he gave a stone, plus knowing that Kyoko cherishes it a lot, to the point of naming it after the person who gave it - Corn (Kuon). And from then on, my impressions changed a lot. I didn't care about Kyoko's revenge anymore. Nor did I care about Shotaro. All I would care was Kyoko's character development, be it on acting skills, be it on personal side, such as making friends (Mouko, Maria-chan, the cast of Dark Moon, Box R' etc) and going back to school. She started loving herself more, discovering that acting was an activity she really enjoyed for the first time.
All I also would care about Tsuruga Ren, or better saying, Kuon Hizuri's character development, his true side showing off, his traumatic and yet mysterious past that remains to be fully shown. His inner fight between the currently self, a mild persona who gives a cool vibe, who is famous for being one of the top actors in Japan, and his true self, a man with a troubled past, impulsive and passionate.
All I would really care about was the love blossoming between these two characters, who have so many complications in their lives, so many personal obstacles -fears- to overcome, and yet, without them realising it, they are healing each other's wounds, they are helping each other. It goes beyond love, as there is trust, complicity and friendship between them.
The only problem in this manga, if I had to point one, is how slow the story progress. Because of this, I had abandoned the series multiple times, coming back after some time, after a good amount of chapter accumulated just so that I could read all at once and wouldn't get too anxious for the next one. Last time I did it was about 3 years ago, I had stopped when the Box R' arc had just ended and was too bored with the plot...And a few days ago, as a way to relax a bit from the exam stress, I decided to search for whereabouts of some manga series and then, I found out about the meeting between Kyoko and Kuon. I went all "WTF! Are they finally meeting? Will he eventually tell her? Will she realize it, that they're the same people? OMG, OMG, I need to read this!" And then, I went back on reading all the chapters I had missed. I forgot how awesome the series is and wow, the Heel siblings are impressive! I did not expect such development, not less the *cof"teethmark*cof.
But now, I've read all the new chapters, re-read some old ones, and will have to wait another month till the new one. Meh. There we go again, not much progress. Anyway, it was good to read manga again, especially SB. It is also good to ship a couple so lovely as KyokoxKuon. It is nice to cheer for them because you see that there is mutual love, even if is fictional. I so hope someday I'll find some kind of love like this (yes, I'm still overcoming the rejection phase...).
