Skip Beat 1
Posted: December 7, 2007 Filed under: Skip Beat 13 Comments »While I don’t really need to be starting new series, I find that my number of Viz series consumed is going to severely drop off at the beginning of next year. Somehow, I’ve stayed away from new stuff long enough to only be getting about 4 volumes a month from Viz, which doesn’t seem right. So I started Skip Beat. At 17 volumes and counting, it’ll be around for awhile, at least.
I’ve heard this series is fantastic, and so far, that seems to be the case. I love it when first volumes of series read like really good one-shots. Nana did it, and this volume would have made for a really strong standalone volume had the few hints that Kyoko was going to keep going not dropped at the end. I don’t think I’ve been this impressed with the first volume of a series for a long time.
The series manages to be mostly funny, and I wound up liking the main character a lot despite the fact there was a high chance she was going to come off as annoying. She is quite a strong character, and it’s nice to see a shoujo heroine who can stand up for herself. I liked the fact that she’s sorta in high school, except she’s not because she’s not going. When she finds out that her boyfriend doesn’t like her, it leaves her in an awkward place since she doesn’t have a high school degree and apparently can’t get one now. I’ve never seen that happen before.
The fact that the series is going to be driven by the main character’s tremendous rage and need for revenge bodes very well for things to come, because there’s a lot of rage, and the need for revenge is quite large. It’s a great gimmick.
I also really, really enjoyed the end of the volume. The heroine doesn’t quite get what she wants, and accepts the fact that she failed and there’s nothing she can do about it. She suddenly realizes that her asshole boyfriend broke her ability to love people, and there’s a really great scene where the strong character breaks down in a room by herself. I’m a big fan of that sort of thing when done well.
The only criticism I have is that I had sometimes had a hard time following the art. Nakamura is a fan of tiny asides and tons of random dialogue crammed in everywhere, and sometimes the flow is a bit choppy from panel to panel and it wasn’t entirely clear to me what was going on. I also didn’t like the fact so many different fonts were used, but I think that probably reflects how the original was, and seemed to fit in with the spirit of the series.
More hate! More revenge! Please! I need a vengeful shoujo tale!
I’m about 18 volumes into this series (although 10-18 are only available in Japanese right now), and I still think Volume 1 is one of the weakest volumes. So if you liked it that much, you have FANTASTIC things coming your way. ^_^ This series is brilliant.
Yeah, I’ve never heard a bad thing about it. I’m pretty excited about the rest of the series, and I’m thinking about picking up the rest of the English volumes after Christmas. I’ll probably be totally addicted. It’s also good to hear that it doesn’t start to slow down or stagnate further down the line.
I finally read volume 1 and I agree about the random dialogue. I ended up following the thoughts in boxes first to their conclusion (sometimes this spanned 2-3 pages) and then going back and actually reading the panels in detail.
That said, it /was/ pretty neat how some things dovetailed together, like Sho’s opinions of her with her Cinderalla-esque dreams.
I just read five volumes in a row, and the thoughts carried out between several panels really got on my nerves. I was flying through the volumes though, so I got pretty used to it.
It felt like volume 1 took me forever. Especially compared to the volume of Bleach I read yesterday. I already read fairly slow, though, so it could just be me. :)
I recently bought and read number 12. I rarely read books more then once but I have for this Manga. I really like it and rates among some of my top manga It stays strong throughout the serise as the main character grows up.
I’m completly addicted.
Skip Beat is some good shoujo crack. I never read it before because I didn’t…I wasn’t entranced by the storyline. But reading vol 1. I can’t stop laughing. It is definitely some good crack. *SNIFFFFF*
Uh… I’m impressed. Very good shojo title quite similar to Nana. I must buy more volumes!
It’s totally addictive. It’s one of the only series I’ve sat down and read all the way through at once. Nana is definitely the better series, but I have to say I probably like Skip Beat a little more.
Skip Beat is pretty awesome, though my mother didn’t like it as much as the author’s Tokyo Crazy Paradise. I have to admit, until volume 11 or so, Tokyo Crazy Paradise WAS better than Skip Beat. Though I think they’re about even now . . maybe by the time it ends Skip beat will be better?
Yoshiki Nakamura’s Dramatic Love Album was pretty good, especially since Arina Tanemura’s Nocturne had the exact same premise. It was fun to see how different they came out.
I haven’t read Tokyo Crazy Paradise, but I would be willing to read anything else Yoshiki Nakamura has written. To hear that it was better than Skip Beat is also encouraging. The premise is out there enough that I probably wouldn’t have been willing to try it had I not read Skip Beat first.
I have read the first chapter of Tokyo Crazy Paradise, and the one thing about it that I dislike (and I disliked a little bit about the beginning of Skip Beat too) is that her panel layouts and compositions are a little chaotic and a bit hard to follow. I’d probably get used to it after a few volumes, just like I did for Skip Beat, but it did put me off a little.
True, that was a little annoying, but i really liked the changes she made (to art and layout) over the course of 19 volumes. Tokyo Crazy Paradise is more mature (?). I can say without spoiling anything that there’s a lot to like about it (it made my long-term expectations for Skip Beat somewhat high). She had some really good character developments, some really awesome fight scenes, and i still giggle over certain jokes (i reread it every few years).
The thing about Skip Beat was at first I kept thinking it would be a YN version of Glass Mask. I’m pretty glad to be proven wrong.
I am sorely tempted by Tokyo Crazy Paradise, especially since I just read a new volume of Skip Beat the other day. I’ll probably see about sitting down and reading the whole thing through next time I get a little bit of a vacation. I’m sure I’ll be totally addicted once I get a couple volumes in.
I ought to try a little bit of Glass Mask, too. I’m less sure I’d like that, but it’s such a classic that I’d hate to miss out on it.