Skip Beat!

Skip Beat!
File:Skip Beat logo.png Skip Beat! Anime Logo
スキップ・ビート! (Sukippu Bīto!)
Genre	Romantic comedy
Manga
Written by	Yoshiki Nakamura
Published by	Hakusensha
English publisher	Viz Media
Magazine	Hana to Yume Daisuki Shōjo Stars
Demographic	Shōjo
Original run	February 15, 2002 – present
Volumes	21
Anime
Directed by	Kiyoko Sayama
Written by	Mayori Sekijima
Studio	Hal Film Maker
Released	October 5, 2008 – present

Skip-Beat! (スキップ・ビート!, Sukippu Bīto!) is a Japanese shōjo manga by Yoshiki Nakamura. It is the story of Kyoko Mogami (最上 キョーコ, Mogami Kyōko) a 16-year-old girl who discovers that her childhood friend and romantic goal, Sho Fuwa, only keeps her around to act as a maid and earn his living expenses, as he works his way to become the top pop idol in Japan. Furious and heart broken, she vows to get revenge by beating him in show business. In Japan, the manga was first published in Hakusensha's shōjo manga magazine Hana To Yume in February 2002, while in the United States, it began publishing under Viz Media's Shojo Beat label in 2006. As of June 2008, nineteen volumes have been released in Japan, and as of March 2009, seventeen volumes have been released in the United States. In 2002, a drama CD adaptation was made and released by Marine Entertainment, and covers the first volume (chapters one to five) of the manga. An anime adaptation is produced by Hal Film Maker, and began airing October 5, 2008. It is also aired in Singapore on Okto with English subtitles every Friday at 11pm.

Plot

Skip-Beat! is about Kyoko Mogami, a wistful yet cheery sixteen year-old girl who loves her childhood friend, Shotaro, but is cruelly betrayed and thus seeks revenge against him. She used to spend a lot of time at Shotaro's parents' inn and learned a lot about housekeeping, hostelry, and other feminine jobs (sewing, cooking, serving tea traditionally, etc.). Shotaro, not wishing to take over his parents' inn, becomes bored of living in Kyoto and decides to move to Tokyo to pursue a career in music. Sho, as he is called by his fans, asks Kyoko to leave high school in Kyoto Prefecture and her life behind to help him. Upon arrival in Tokyo, Kyoko lives an unreasonably frugal life, spending nothing on herself and doing whatever she can for the freeloading Sho, who eventually becomes ranked seventh in the top twenty most popular entertainers of Japan. One day, however, as Kyoko brings Sho his lunch at a company building, she overhears Shotaro complaining about her to his manager, saying that she is a boring and plain girl with no sex appeal that he'd like to cast away. He then proceeds to sweet-talk and flirt with his manager, in stark contrast to the cold and demanding attitude he usually exhibits towards Kyoko. Unlike other heroines in the same situation, Kyoko doesn't shed many tears when she learns that Sho thinks she's only good for housekeeping. Instead, her "Pandora's box" opens and she vows vengeance on Sho. Enraged, Kyoko attempts to attack Sho, but is instantly carried off by security. Sho mockingly tells her that if she wants revenge, she had better become a bigger star than him. And so, Kyoko, vowing revenge, changes her appearance and enters the entertainment business, facing many challenges along the way. Skip Beat! follows Kyoko's journey to climb the showbiz ladder as she meets interesting people, in the hopes of getting revenge on Shotaro, but also in order to get back her sense of compassion that she had lost when her heart was broken by Sho.

Characters

Main article: List of Skip Beat! characters

Kyoko Mogami (最上 キョーコ, Mogami Kyōko)

Voiced by: Miki Nagasawa (drama CD), Marina Inoue (anime)

Instead of staying home and attending High School in Kyoto, Kyoko travels with her childhood friend Shō Fuwa to Tokyo to help him while he makes it big as an idol. When she finds out he only invited her so she could be his maid, her heart and innocence are shattered. More vengeful than depressed, she swears to avenge herself. Shō comments the only way to do this would be to beat him in show business, so that's what she decides to do. She changes her hair style and begins the task of applying to Shō's rival company (Akatoki Agency), L.M.E. While her audition stood out, the president of the company realized that she lacked the key point needed to become an idol: love, as without genuine love for this profession and for the audience, she cannot make it far in this world. However, despite her failure, she had such an interesting and impressionable audition (she did katsura-muki as her talent portion) that Kyoko is given a second chance. The L.M.E. "Love Me" section is thus founded. Lory makes a deal with Kyoko that if she whole-heartedly completes all the jobs given to her as a Love-Me employee to the client's satisfaction (which is determined by how many points they stamp onto her record book), by the end of certain period of time, when she has accumulated enough points, she will be given a grand debut. Thus begins her journey into the show business world.

As an actress, Kyoko is unrefined but creative and spontaneous, able to impress talent scouts with her unique talents and improvisations. In her earlier jobs, she utilizes the skills she learned from working in an inn in Kyoto Prefecture (like cooking, walking "properly," and performing a traditional tea ceremony) to act the part of a wealthy, cultured lady. Though passionate and hot-tempered, Kyoko is able to show impressive professionalism and discipline when it comes to acting, even to the point of putting the job before her health. When forced to perform a tea ceremony in a movie scene with Ren, she is able to keep a serene face and act her part while kneeling on a badly fractured ankle. Yet despite the pain, she refuses to get up or stop until she the scene is completed. Because of this, the director and everyone else was incredibly awed by her determination and strength. Later on, Shuhei (Kuu), Ren's father, says she was a "scary kind of actress," much like Ren. Her debut is for a soft drink commercial and her first major role was Mio, the antagonist in the television drama Dark Moon.

When she is in her room in "Darumaya" she is often 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, the picture becomes much larger as the story progresses (the size of the picture reflects her level of hatred towards the person on it). She also carries with her many curse dolls of Ren and Sho, which she uses to vent her anger and perform curses. The dolls, incredible in the attention to detail, are handmade by Kyoko. They feature Sho and Ren in various state of fear, distress and submission. After her relationship with Ren improves, she often 'consults' her Ren doll during times of stress.

She becomes a regular in a show wearing a chicken suit for the character "Bo". She assumes this character on several occasions to talk to Ren, because he won't open up about his problems to anyone he knows. She likes to cling to Kanae and calls her "Moko" (it is seen in volume four that every girl hated Kyoko for her familiarity with Shou). Kyoko never liked to drink soda (even as a child) but she made herself drink it for an important commercial audition. Kyoko seems to have a bad relationship with her parents. Her mother, Saena, was a strict and emotionally distant parent who eventually left her with the Fuwa family when Kyoko was still six. The effects of Kyoko's difficult childhood can be seen throughout the series, particularly in her acting. For example, when Kyoko was acting with Maria, she stated that parents that despise their children really do exist. Kyoko's father has been absent throughout the series. Ever since Kyoko was a little girl,she's never had anyone to depend on. Since her mother wasn't really around that much,she had to learn how to take care of herself ,so she could survive on her own.

Kyoko has a noticeable crush on Ren, but she mistakes it for respect sometimes and even denies it since she "couldn't possibly let herself fall in love again". After seeing the certain scene where "Katsuki" (played by Ren) is looking at the girl he loves in the play, Kyoko remembers the smile (he has shown it for her a couple of times before) and comes to the conclusion that Ren might not hate her or dislike her, as she thought before. It is shown that Kyoko does not know that Ren is "Corn" her "fairy-prince". Recently, she was the caretaker for Kuu (aka Shuhei), an actor who played in the previous version of the drama "Dark Moon". He is also Ren's father, although Kyoko does not know this.

Kyoko has a fondness for cosmetics, fairy tales and anything magical. However being betrayed by Shō has left her cynical, especially about love. It seems that Kyoko's birthday is on December 25 as Ren gave Kyoko a rose saying "Happy Birthday" as the clock struck 12:00 midnight at Maria's birthday party (whose birthday is the 24th), and the rose is also very special, as the rose is very large and contains a gemstone (purposely put there by Ren, which Kyoko later uses as part of her necklace in Act 128).

After Dark Moon started airing, Kyoko was cast in a high school drama as Natsu, which is a "Bully Role"; however Kyoko runs into the problem of being type-cast, as the director asks her to do her "Natsu" role based on "Mio". This is in spite of the fact that two roles should be different, as Mio is an extremely embittered rich young heiress, while Natsu is a relatively normal girl from a normal family who merely likes to pick on her classmates. But after some training from Ren on "how to act like a model" she stuns the cast with her new appearance and attitude for the role of Natsu, easily impressing the director with this new representation of Natsu.

However, later on a cast member, jealous that Kyoko was able to bounce to another role so easily where she never could, pushed her down a flight of stairs. Though she fractured her hand and knows who did it Kyoko doesn't tell, but instead has that cast member be her "right hand" with her bullying.

Ren Tsuruga (敦賀 蓮, Tsuruga Ren)

Voiced by: Ken Narita (drama CD), Katsuyuki Konishi (anime)

Ren is, in outward appearances, an extremely nice and polite star. However, he shows his true self whenever he deals with Kyoko. He was originally unhappy with Kyoko, because she joined show business for revenge. However, he gradually warms up towards her. Realizing that she isn't just trying to become an actress for revenge, and supports her growth as a budding idol. Although at times teasing, he is in love with Kyoko. For example, he does not allow himself to be near her alone sometimes, because the urge to hold her is increasing. (In volume twelve, when Kyoko falls, after trying to get a pot from the cabinet and, instead of crashing into the chair she was standing on and then the ground, Ren catches her and hugs her despite himself). He quickly recovered so that Kyoko would not discover his mistake. He has also hugged her in Act 98-99 after Reino, Kyoko's stalker, tells her that "Corn" might be dead; not wanting to see Kyoko cry and, as a result of another one of his urges, he holds her tight and tells her that Corn, her childhood friend, is fine. He also hates Sho Fuwa, because of his ties to Kyoko. Some of the people closest to him have begun to notice his feelings for Kyoko, namely, Ren's manager, Yashiro and the agency's president, Takarada.

Although he has frequently dated and has had a lot of girlfriends, he actually had zero experience with love. This fact caused him to struggle a great deal while defining his character's role in Dark Moon.

Interestingly, at the age of twenty, Ren has lived a large portion of his life in America. In fact, he began his acting career in the United States, albeit disastrously. Although he gained experience, he was fired so often that he has lost count, an experience which is in sharp contrast to the staunch and disciplined actor he is today. Fortunately, his past in America is unknown to the public as Ren Tsuruga is only a stage name. He is the son of a famous actor named Kuu and his mother's name is Julie. Although there are hints of a dark past, his earlier years are shrouded in mystery (though it is noted that when he was in his teens, he felt a lot of pressure from his parents and therefore escaped from America to Japan). Recent chapters show that his real name is Kuon Hizuri. Back when he was a kid,he became friends with Kyoko. But to this day, Kyoko still pronounces his name wrong, calling him "Corn".

Shō Fuwa (不破 尚, Fuwa Shō)

Voiced by: Nobutoshi Kanna (drama CD), Mamoru Miyano (anime)

His real name is Shōtarō (松太郎). He keeps it a secret because he finds it a very old-fashioned and traditional name. He is a typical stuck-up star, and is also very ruthless. Shō had no qualms about tricking Kyoko 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 Kyoko 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, such as in Act. 82 when he personally brought some medical cream for the cut in Kyoko's face (caused by him), and apologised sincerely. Most notably during the Dark Moon shoot over a resort, Kyoko's stalker Reino announced in front of Sho, that he plans to steal her away from him. Reino from the band Vie Ghoul had stolen one of Sho's music sheets/songs previously planning to use it for their own success. When Reino chased Kyoko through the forest, Sho followed pursuit and was the one who protected Kyoko even calling Kyoko "his woman". However this moment was not witnessed by Kyoko. Despite his ruthless and cold personality, Sho has a sense of humor that he keeps buried deep down, nearly busting a gut laughing in private to Kyoko's misprouncing Vie Ghoul as Beagle. As Kyoko once commented, Sho has loved comedy shows on TV since they were both kids.

Though most of these lean toward a general possessiveness for Kyoko, who had been his constant companion and servant since childhood. Further on in the series though, Shō begins to show a kinder side to her and hints that he has real feelings as opposed to just possessive feelings. Once he finds out that Ren Tsuruga is in love with Kyoko too, he gets really mad. Shō thinks of Ren as his rival and is extremely petty at times when they meet, even going as far as to pick a fight with him. Shō is also a big flirt and can be very shallow. He tends to like older women, but he is fine with women with big breasts and oozing pheromones. Shō has disliked Ren because he is the coolest guy in Show Biz. Shō says he's going to steal all of Ren's fans and the title of "The Coolest Male Celebrity" from him.

Kanae Kotonami (琴南 奏江, Kotonami Kanae)

Voiced by: Yukiko Tagami (drama CD), Risa Hayamizu (anime)

Kotonami's character, at first glance, looks like she was being set up to be the villain to Kyoko's heroine, but as with all of the female characters in this series, Kanae is much more sympathetic than she appears. While there was fur flying about at the beginning, both girls have a need for a true friend, and ultimately find that in each other (albeit reluctantly on Kanae's part and too willingly on Kyoko's part. After their tag-team effort in winning an audition for a commercial, the two become best friends. Kyoko likes to call her "Moko"). Despite some differences in their personality, both girls recognize that they are in fact very similar, most notably their desperate determination to reach the top of the show-biz pyramid. Both coming from a poor family, they both strive endlessly to achieve their dreams. This, they recognize in each other, thus leading them to become friends. They are both incredible actresses with a great deal of respect for each other's talents. Kanae desperately wanted to be a star and was at the same audition as Kyoko, but although she did better than Kyoko, 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 younger nieces, nephews, and siblings. Although her attitude towards Kyoko may seem aloof at times, it is clear that she values their friendship, as she reluctantly shares her secret with Kyoko when she fears her unwillingness to share her troubles might drive Kyoko away.

Yukihito Yashiro (社 倖一, Yashiro Yukihito)

Voiced by: Masahito Kawanago (anime)

He is Ren's manager. When first seen he is a serious character, later on he is used largely for comic relief. We get a better understanding of Ren’s subtle emotional shifts from Yashiro’s not-so-subtle reactions to Ren’s interactions with Kyoko. He fully supports a romantic relationship between the two and often needles Ren about his lack of progress in that area. To that goal, he sets up various situations where the two can be alone. (Act. 66 He tells Kyoko to go to Ren's place to make dinner for him.) And tells Kyoko of Ren’s feelings for her (Act.57, during the acting test when Kyoko got stuck. Kyoko was lost in thought and didn't hear him.)

He must use latex gloves when handling any electronics because any electronic device that he touches directly will soon be rendered broken and useless. In particular, he has mentioned that a cell phone will die after about 10 seconds of direct exposure to his skin. (On at least one occasion, Yashiro attempted to coerce Ren into telling him Kyoko's secrets by holding Ren's own cell phone captive with his bare hand.) Kyoko has theorized that Yashiro naturally transmits strong electric waves. He seems to be an extremely dedicated manager, as he has much, if not all, of Ren's schedule planned out about one year in advance (Kyoko learns this when she briefly took over for him as Ren's manager when he was too ill to work). In an extra strip in volume 11, it is revealed that the main reason Ren has never been late to a job, despite the crowds of fans that appear nearly everywhere he goes and clearly wish to mob him, is that Yashiro can stop even the most fervid fans in their tracks with a mere cold glance. He doesn't know how to drive, which is why Ren is always seen doing the driving.

Lory Takarada (ローリィ宝田, Rōri Takarada)

Voiced by: Banjo Ginga (drama CD), Kouji Ishii (anime)

Lory is the extravagantly flamboyant president of L.M.E. He is one of the first people to recognize Kyoko's potential of being a great star, and created the "Love Me" section because of this. He seems genuinely concerned for Kyoko and wonders what could have happened in her past to cause her to lose the ability to love. He learns in Vol. 4 that Kyoko has never known her father and has a bad relationship with her mother but does not know the details. Later, when he learned that she dropped out of school he arranges for her to attend a high school that is specializes in accommodating students working in show business and their hectic schedules.

Lory has a very deep voice, and often has a huge entourage with him to create the world's most striking and sometimes strangest entrances. He also has a granddaughter, Maria, who idolizes Kyoko. He also knows that Ren is really Kuon Hizuri, a secret everyone else doesn't know about except for himself,Ren, and Ren's family. In Act:77 Access to the Blue, it is shown that President Takarada realizes that Ren is in love with Kyoko.

Takenori Sawara (椹 武憲, Sawara Takenori)

Voiced by: Tomoyuki Kōno (drama CD), Kenji Hamada (anime)

He is a manager in L.M.E. and was tormented by Kyoko into getting her into an audition. Despite the initial meeting, he is actually very supportive of Kyoko, even through her penchant for tripping her own idol career up.

Maria Takarada (宝田 マリア, Takarada Maria)

Voiced by: Hiromi Konno (anime)

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 Kyoko's audition; however Kyoko recognized this, and called her out on it. While some people would be angry at Kyoko, 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. (When she was five years old she called her mom to come see her because she wanted to celebrate her birthday with her mother, since she (and the father) rarely bothered to before. Unfortunately, the plane that her mother took to return crashed, killing her). As a result, Maria was unable to talk or even be around her father, since she thought that he hated her. It didn't help that her father worked far away and never came to see her and that he voiced out loud to Lory at the funeral how he wished that Maria didn't call her mother. He tried reaching out to her in his own way, but it wasn't enough. Kyoko managed to make Maria understand that her father didn't hate her now, or think that Maria caused her mother's death. Maria also loves to dabble with black magic (along with Kyoko's side) and has a large crush on Ren Tsuruga. Comically in the Christmas Special chapter, Kyoko's present for Maria was a 1/2 scale doll of Ren with different expressions (this shocking everyone else on how detailed she was).

Kyoko Apparitions (怨霊キョーコ, Onryō Kyōko)

Also known as Kyoko's demons. These vengeful ghosts 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 this apparitions. The demons often scare everyone around her, which Kyoko uses to her benefit. They also help keep Kyoko's drive going, as she sometimes questions her motives for stardom. Most of the time, the demons are held back by Kyoko's remaining pure feelings whenever the "pure Kyoko" feels that the anger is getting out of line. The demons give Kyoko a dark aura that is frightening to passersby. She has also used them as kanashibari to trap Kanae Kotonami.

Shoko Aki (安芸 祥子, Aki Shōko)

Voiced by: Rio Natsuki (anime)

Shoko Aki is Sho Fuwa's manager. Since he and Kyoko spilt he's been living at her place. Actually he was already living at her place most of the time even when he was still living with Kyoko. Though Shoko and Kyoko actually get along okay. He also constantly flirts with her. Shoko Aki herself wanted to become an actress (Act.85), but decided she didn't have the talent for it. But she still wanted work that was connected with Show business, and got a good job as a manager. She also notices that Sho has fallen for Kyoko.

Chiori Amamiya (天宮 千織, Amamiya Chiori)

Chiori Amamiya (stage name) was first introduced when Kyoko started on her 2nd Drama role as Natsu. She is also casted in the same drama as "Yumika", one of Natsu's friend and part of her clique. She appeared docile at first, recognized as being cute by other staffs and cast members, however her personality actually contrasts her external appearance as she is often shown to be thinking completely different to the sweet words she actually uttered. She seems to be holding a particular dislikes toward Kyoko, deliberately misguide her acting so as to create friction between Kyoko and the director, at one point, while in desperation she even pushed Kyoko down a staircase in a failed attempt to injure her so she could get her role.

Her background was later revealed to be somewhat similar to Kyoko. Before, she was a dedicated actress with a big aspiration and love towards acting. As a child she was casted in a drama, she acted as "Akari" where she leave a strong impression and impact as a dark character. However, as is the case with Kyoko's and her role as "Mio", Akari leave such a strong impression that it hinders her career as an actress, and she is shown to be dealing with hard circumstances like Kyoko as she can't even land a job after her role. The fact that Kyoko is able to break free from the shadow of Mio and perform well as Natsu made Chiori envious and malicious toward Kyoko.

After a rehearsal session where she was provoked by Kyoko who is under Natsu persona to do the bullying scene and was unconsciously forced to act her role as Yumika with intensity, the one thing she tried to avoid and in the end her own acting left her shaken and lost. After the incident and later a conversation with Kyoko, she finally regain her love toward acting and found a new respect toward Kyoko.

At the end of chapter 137, she is shown to be wearing a Love Me uniform, making it highly possible for her to be the 3rd member of Love Me section.

Media

Manga

Skip-Beat! began as a manga series written and illustrated by Yoshiki Nakamura which started serialized in Hakusensha's shōjo manga magazine Hana to Yume on February 15, 2002. The first bound volume was released in Japan on July 19, 2002, and as of November 17th, 2008, 20 volumes have been released in Japan. The manga was licensed by Viz Media for release in English in North America on Viz Media's Shojo Beat imprint. The first volume was released in English on July 5, 2006, and as of January 6, 2009, sixteen volumes have been released. The seventeenth will follow on March 3, 2009, the eighteenth will be sold on May 5, 2009, and the nineteenth will be available on July 7, 2009.

Drama CD

A single drama CD entitled Skip-Beat! Drama CD was released by Marine Entertainment bearing the catalog number "MMCC-7029" on September 26, 2002. The drama CD covers the first volume (chapters one to five) of the manga.

Anime

Main article: List of Skip Beat! episodes

The anime adaptation was directed by Kiyoko Sayama and animated by Hal Film Maker, it began airing in Japan on October 5, 2008. The first opening theme is "Dream Star" by the generous. The first ending theme is "Namida" by 2BACKKA.The second opening theme is "Renaissance" by the generous, and the second ending theme is "Eien" by Yūsaku Kiyama. Popular anime streaming website Crunchyroll has also begun to officially stream the anime online with English subtitles due to a recent agreement with TV Tokyo.

Live-action Drama

Main article: Extravagant Challenge

A live-action television drama version has been announced in a press conference in Japan.

Two idol stars of previous Taiwanese drama versions of shōjo manga will headline this new production. Ariel Lin, the actress who starred in the live-action It Started With a Kiss (TV series) adaptation of Kaoru Tada's Itazura na Kiss manga, will play Kyōko. Jerry Yan rose to international stardom in the Meteor Garden drama retelling of Yoko Kamio's Hana Yori Dango manga, and he will now take on the Skip Beat! role of Kyōko's acting mentor Ren Tsuruga. Production has been halted as the Japanese production group is rejudging the script.

External links

• Skip Beat! at Viz Media
• Skip Beat! ({{{type}}}) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Skip Beat! ({{{type}}}) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-11-17/skip-beat-shojo-manga-to-get-taiwanese-tv-drama