Posted by OP Sequence:
 |
 |
 |
OP: “Dream Star” by the generous
Watch the OP!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Show Streaming ▼
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
ED Sequence:
 |
 |
 |
ED: “Namida” 「ナミダ」 by 2BACKKA
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Show Streaming ▼
「そして箱は開けられた」 (Soshite Hako wa Akerareta)
“And then, The Box was Opened”
First Glance:
Based on the popular 2002 shoujo manga of the same title, Skip Beat! brings us a love story about a girl’s dedication to her childhood friend in his pursuit to become a star, who turns out to be a huge egotistical jerk that’s been using her as a free servant. Having given up all personal aspirations of her own, our heroine Mogami Kyouko moves from Kyoto to Tokyo with Fuwa Shou as he aims to be the number one performer in Japan. There, Kyouko lives an extremely frugal life while working multiple jobs, just so she can cover food, necessities, and living expenses for her and Shou, none of which he helps with out of his own pocket. Despite this, Kyouko is more than willing to support Shou in his aspirations, until she stops by his company one day to bring him food and overhears how he’s only been using her to cook and clean, due to the skills she acquired from working at his parents’ inn back in Kyoto. To add insult to injury, Shou also starts flirting with his manager on the spot, when he hasn’t once shown any sign of affection towards Kyouko. Rather than being disheartened and breaking down in tears though, Kyouko’s “Pandora’s box” opens inside her and she lashes out at Shou in an enraged fury while vowing revenge. However, she’s soon dragged off by security and taunted by Shou to become a bigger star than he is if she wants revenge. Taking his words to heart, Kyouko immediately cuts and dyes her hair, sells off all her possessions to rid herself of her past, and begins making her way into showbiz to top Shou.
Produced by Hal Film Maker that’s best known for their work on the ARIA series, Skip Beat! looks really sharp, and maintains that 1990’s look and feel (for better or worse, depending on your take on it). With this art style and an arrogant male lead in Shou (played by Miyano Mamoru of Gundam 00, SOUL EATER, and Vampire Knight fame), I couldn’t help but see the similarities between this shoujo story and Itazura na Kiss. Despite the current angst between the two main characters, this series is a romance comedy first and foremost, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise that Kyouko and Shou’s paths will intertwine in a more positive light down the stretch, much like Kotoko and Naoki’s did (albeit probably not THAT far along). Starring as Kyouko is none other than Inoue Marina (Yoko in Gurren Lagann), who uses her girly, light-sounding voice for a change. I haven’t seen Marina portray any characters with this voice in a while (especially with all the male roles she gets), so it comes as quite a pleasant surprise. Supporting (interferring with?) these two quarreling love birds is Konishi Katsuyuki (Kamina in Gurren Lagann, Ozma Lee in Macross Frontier) as Shou’s main rival in show business (and later for Kyouko), Tsuruga Ren. Music-wise, I haven’t heard anything from “the generous” or 2BACKKA before, but find that their songs are a really nice fit for a shoujo series, just like AZU‘s was. Out of the two songs, I like the sound of the ending theme “Namida” more, because it reminds me a lot of Sunset Swish‘s music. The opening “Dream Star” on the other hand gets catchier the more I listen to it and seems befitting given the lyrics and all.
For most female fans out there (and the guys with diverse tastes!), Skip Beat! looks like a good series to fill in that shoujo void this season. The length of the series is still unconfirmed, but given how there are 19 volumes out already, I’d imagine that they’ll need at least two seasons if they hope to cover most of the material. Whether or not they have two seasons though is another thing, but the story is looking pretty interesting so far.
Notable Cast:
– Mogami Kyouko (最上 キョーコ) : Inoue Marina (井上 麻里奈)
– Fuwa Shou (不破 尚) : Miyano Mamoru (宮野 真守)
– Tsuruga Ren (敦賀 蓮) : Konishi Katsuyuki (小西 克幸)
– Kotonami Kanae (琴南 奏江) : Hayamizu Risa (早水 リサ)
– Yashiro Yukihito (社 倖一) : Kawanago Masahito (川中子 雅人)
– Lory Takarada (ローリィ 宝田) : Ishii Kouji (石井 康嗣)
– Takarada Maria (宝田 マリア) : Konno Hiromi (今野 宏美)
– Sawara Takenori (椹 武憲) : Hamada Kenji (浜田 賢二)
– Aki Shouko (安芸 祥子) : Natsuki Rio (夏樹 リオ)
ok then
2nd i hate u blue master !!
Yea.. first.
Been looking forward to this for quite some time..
Now if only there’s plans to animate the other work by the same author as well.(TCP)
ITS NOT JUST FOR GIRLS ):P… i love this manga hahaha and when it became an anime all the girls typed their fangirl screams which were overpowered by my fanboy roar ):O… so ha take that!
anyways lol… can’t wait to see more… already watched the raw 3 times ):P, read and reread the entire manga 3 times (on the fourth) not including the chapters/sections I reread… so ya I’m pretty damn excited right now ):3….. and I’m desperately waiting for the OP/ED to come out soon…
I read several volumes of this when I was staying with a friend a year or so ago. I thought it wasn’t bad, and I’m looking forward to watching the anime.
im never a fan of such series where a girl wants to be a Star or muusic star, or something like that, so was never exited about this.
So just asking is this anything like Peach Girls or Bokura ga Ita , u know that kinda of Drama stuff? so far im assume it is, from the looks of it, but is it really something a guy can get in to. idk it’ll take yes form 3 dudes to make me watch this. lol maybe i should do say more lol
Wouuaahh!!! XD XD
I’ve been a huge fan of the manga for years and one of the anime titles I’ve been waiting most for this fall ^^
I hope there will be *at least* 51 episodes!! I just can’t get enough of the manga and I have a feeling it will be the same for the anime 😀
But you’re really completely wrong about Shou and Yuuko getting together, and we are at light years from Itazura Na Kiss, since while there is some romance (but nothing explicit, only one sided stuffs which appears after maaaany volumes, no kissing, no boyfriend/girlfriend even after 19+ volumes, not even one single confession!), they emphasis a lot more her roles and her striving to become the best actress:
Show Spoiler ▼
@Chimasternmay
So just asking is this anything like Peach Girls or Bokura ga Ita , u know that kinda of Drama stuff?
ABSOLUTELY NOT!! Just like Putang said above, it’s really an unfair judgment to classify it as ‘a girl thing’, my older brother likes it, and believes me, he is NO fan of shoujo AT ALL.
Skip Beat is just in a totally another dimension!
You might try to read the manga too 🙂
ya after reading ur first comment it makes me want to watch it, so i might check it out after about a couple of weeks or so, so i get a good feel of what it actually is… so ya nice comment up there
“So just asking is this anything like Peach Girls or Bokura ga Ita , u know that kinda of Drama stuff?”
I have no idea. Shoujo series are like 3% of the series I watch, and I’ve never seen either of those 😛
“so far im assume it is, from the looks of it, but is it really something a guy can get in to. idk it’ll take yes form 3 dudes to make me watch this. lol maybe i should do say more lol”
Well, so far there are at least 3 guys before your post saying either that they’re gonna watch it or it looks like something they’ll end up watching 😛
wow…..pass
Exia:
With a name like “Exia”, I’d imagine you’d pass on this one. =P
Sherry:
Err, I didn’t expect anyone to read into my Kotoko/Naoki comparison that much, so I’ve clarified what I meant.
Chimasternmay:
Same as above, but for the comment about female fans.
Everyone else:
This is one of my rare triple posts, so feel free to check out the other two on “Kyou on 5 no 2” and “Macademi Wasshoi!”, while I work on ef. Omni’s leaving a lot of extra shows for me to Snapshot it seems. He’s told me I could just leave them, but meh, what’s blogging 19 shows in a single week right? -__-;
*dies*
The manga is really good, and Inoue Marina is one of my favorite Seiyuus. So long as there aren’t long pointless filler arcs, I think I’ll enjoy watching it. It doesn’t bother me as much when they toss filler in when the manga long enough to support a show, but there’s more than enough written to sustain a full 26 episodes without using filler…
I agree with the other people though, this isn’t just limited to women as its audience. It’s a really good story, with a lot of humor. Of course, it wouldn’t appeal to any guys watching say, Naruto, but for people that watch harem shows, or love-sim game based shows, the story is way better and Kyouko, while not exactly a buxom beauty, is an extremely endearing character.
thx People Up There… ya also already checked out the other three lol… i get access to internet everywhere lol…
I really love the manga, I even went on a reading marathon reading 100 chapters in one night. It seems that the anime has a good start, it has a great cast too. Inoue Marina really fit in her role, it’s nice to hear her voice change like snap immediately. As for Miyano Mamoru, well he did say he was having trouble with his role, though it seem he used his ‘Death the Kid’ voice more (I’ll go debate with my head if its good or not, I had half expected some kind of mesh between setsuna and raito, oh well it does fit the jerk attitude though). Poor Konishi he only got one line…but he did deliver the voice of Tsuruga Ren quite well. If they ever do stick with the manga, we’ll see more of him and less of Fuwa Sho.
My brother totally digs it and so is one of my male friends. I also usually don’t like Shojo manga that much but Skip Beat is among one of my most favorite. Therefore, I can guarantee that it is something a guy can enjoy as well.
Since the story is quite long and I can’t imagine how they can shorten it down properly, I hope there would be more than one season.
I pretty sure Skip Beat! was intentionally made to avoid most shoujo cliches. Even the mangaka said she wanted to make the main character an unusual choice for a lead heroine.
I don’t know about the story, but the character designs are horribly ugly.
@dokun dokun
lol though I love this series to death… ok I partially agree with you :P… mainly on the guy’s faces… thats 1 thing that bugged me a wee bit when I started reading this manga, but you get used to it o_o….
IGNORE THAT THOUGH, like everyone else said including me this is an awesome show that both girls and guys can come to enjoy… BOTH O_O!! (hopefully will be as good as manga) and for me was the show I was most looking forward to when I found out about it being an anime and the choice of VA’s = pretty awesome, Inoue Marina’s voice is the perfect fit for Kyouko and all her awesome different personalities…
with that said, time to go back to reading the manga for a 4th time… (yes I am an addict to this, 1 of the few mangas, for me atleast, that is rereadable OVER AND OVER AND OVER)
If you cant guess from my screen name, gender = male
Yo, if this series sticks to the manga this is going to be a hella funny. Watch it. Kyouko is awsome and so is Lory. If you need to laugh (who doesnt) watch this series. Though if you hate love stupid main characters then you may wish to stay away from this… Though she is not stupid like the many others but rather her sense of love is ‘warped’ thx to Shou.
If you dont wana read the above paragraph then heres the short version, watch Skip Beat! Just do it dont ask why.
I’ve really been looking forward to Skip Beat being animated and I’m glad it’s here. I really like the manga and I’m hoping the anime will turn out just as enjoyable. And the main character is a nice change from the usual shoujo-girls I come across =3
They really stick the characters design and jokes to the manga version. I was wondering how many episodes this will be? I hope someone going to sub this. Too many subbing on Gundam00.
Umm… I think the main characters should be Ren and Kyouko, Shou will only seldom appear and only started to show up latter….
Btw… I hate Shou, Ren x Kyouko forever ^_^
This isnt your typical shoujo which makes the manga brilliant. Typical shoujo has that fall for the guy etc etc but this one goes out for revenge and the plot twist of making it to the two whatever means makes it great 🙂
i’ve been waiting for this! i hope this will be as good as the manga!
And the silly series just keep on comin’
I’ve never read the manga before but this does sound interesting. From everything I have read about htis series, Kyouko will end up with Ren romantically and a popular Idol couple while Shou will end up regretting he ever took her for granted. Since the Manga is still ongoing, the question will be will the animators take their time witht he series or rush to an Anime original conclusion. IF she ever seriously consiters taking Shou back, I’ll stop watching.
Everything in the manga is geared towards setting up Kyouko and Ren, with Shou as an obstacle, that childhood friend who’s connection with Kyouko just won’t break. So don’t go calling Shou and Kyouko lovebirds!
I can’t stomach shoujou (*coughVampireKnightcough*) but Skip Beat is really something else. I actually stumbled on it at my female friend’s place, and ended up really liking it – mostly because it was HILARIOUS!
I’m glad to see this being animated. Definitely a must watch for anyone who loves a good laugh. 😀
I’m guessing that is she ever figures out who Ren really is, Shou is history!
heh divine guess u already know what im mainly watching this season ;p
The character designs are kind of…off, but I had always thought that Yoshiki Nakamura’s art style was impossible to animate, since she goes *way* beyond most shoujo authors in terms of detail in the character designs. She even has backgrounds! The only author I can think of that even compares to her level of detail is Ai Yazawa (ParaKiss, NANA).
Given that, I can’t really expect her art style to be perfectly represented here.
The series still looks great, a lot of the styling seems to be intact (lots of labels and signs). This one will be a pain in the ass to sub, but it is well worth it.
For those looking for a little more detail on the plot, at points it is very similar to Glass Mask, but with of Kyouko’s evil and malice to make it a lot more funny.
I LOVE THIS SERIES!!!!
BTW it is not like izutara na kiss, much better. Although, I did not like Kotoko’s animation values in the majority of this episode, after she gets her hair cut she looks like the manga, just like Ren and Sho.
Something to fill up the void that Itazura na Kiss left. I hope Skip Beat will be just as good.
OMG YES finally somebody who likes shouxkyoko!! GO AWAY REN >.<
HAHA but renxkyoko will probably be more likely as EVERYTHING’S pointing towards that. OH WELL
lol Divine, do you sleep AT ALL?
alliecatt:
I do, although I can’t say it’s much these past two weeks…
The anime looks alright. Maybe I’ll watch this. 😀
wow I heard alot about the manga, I hope the anime is good.
I think they should do a Matsuri Special though.
Been reading the manga, almost uptodate. If they get anywhere close to the manga, this is going to be great. I do hope that they do not try to squeeze everything into one season, especially since the manga is still being published. I hate anime original endings (such as DN Angel). I’d say more about the manga but I’ve never been able to get the spoiler tag to work right here.
Yay!I’ve been waiting for the anime to the come out~
It looks great..They managed to pull off Yoshiki Nakamura’s style.
One of the things that stands out in her art is the eyes and they managed to do it pretty good. Skip Beat! is a shoujo with a unique heroine.It’s enjoyable and entertaining.
I do agree that those not used to the art will most likely be turned off by it.
I was the same way when I first saw the manga.The way the faces were done and things almost had me drop it if it weren’t for the story. I couldn’t stop reading because I wanted to see what will happen next. Afterward,I became to really like the art as well. <3
I want Sho to come crawling back to Kyouko and lick her boots and cry tears of blood for abusing her pure untainted heart and letting her go. I want him to regret! But that’s probably going to take an awful lot of time before that happens. I want to see it happen next episode already ahahah
Sweet! I love the manga, will have to check this out ♥
this will be a good series. i enjoyed the manga a lot. not a girl here.
Supporting (interferring with?) these two quarreling love birds is Konishi Katsuyuki (Kamina in Gurren Lagann, Ozma Lee in Macross Frontier) as Shou’s main rival in show business (and later for Kyouko), Tsuruga Ren.
I guess if you haven’t read the manga, then the true “love story” won’t be clear, just judging by the first episode of the anime, but the love birds here ARE NOT Kyouko and Shou. They’re Kyouko and Ren. I would have thought the ED makes that clear in its own way, though. But I guess, given episode 1, and how Kyouko starts to dislike Ren for her own reasons, that confusion is normal.
In any case, it’s more of a “love triangle” romantic dramedy. Girl loves boy, boy betrays her, girl starts to hate boy. Girl vows to get revenge by topping him in show biz. Girl worms her way into show biz as a surprising breed of actor -definitely a newbie who doesn’t know the ropes or many social skills, but a fast learner and a dedicated girl. She learns to love the art without considering it for revenge. Meantime, girl meets guy, who dislikes her reasons for wanting to become an actor. But her determination and emotion worms into HIS heart, when he has his own reasons for not having emotions anymore. Girl and boy keep running into each other, both as co-workers and as rivals, and despite her professed hatred for him, she doesn’t want anyone else to beat him, and is protective of him in that way, especially when others show up on the scene to upstage either one of them. Guy finds out about what boy did to girl and becomes protective of her himself, to the point where guy’s manager thinks guy is falling for girl, to which guy can’t admit to anyone but himself and would spell big trouble for him and her and everyone else… and thus: the crux of the plot! Mixed in with funny and “oh no!” and their ilk.
Thanks for posting, I’ll definitely be subscribing to your blog.
Phenomenal blog, numerous amusing information. I believe 4 of days ago, I have viewed a similar blog. Does anyone know how to track future posts?
i also think you should get more pictures of ski beat to