Skip Beat

~ 少女　Shoujo (Stardom story) ~

If you like manga in which the main character is a cute heroine who has a quest to become an idol/singer/dancer/famous celebrity (a.k.a. Full Moon wo Sagashite)--get ready to be disappointed! Don't get me wrong, I also liked Full Moon, but I also like Skip Beat and the twist it provides on the small subsection of manga--the Stardom subsection, in which the main character is set on stardom (also Gravitation). The fact that the animator and author shares the same surname with yours truly has nothing to do with this critique, 約億です! (yakusoku desu = I promise)

Summary: Kyoko Mogami is a young high school dropout who follows her childhood friend and crush, Shotaro (a.k.a. Sho Fuwa), to live in Tokyo. She wants to support him in his endeavor to become an famous singer, but one day she finds him having an affair with his agent, making rude comments about using Kyoko as a slave. Well, like most mangas, Kyoko finds out and swears revenge on Shotaro by becoming the most famous idol in Japan and, therefore, ruining Shotaro's chances at being #1. However, there's also a mystery about another childhood friend, Corn (コルン), which might be Ren Tsuruga, the already #1 in Japan, and Shotaro's enemy?! What a weird love triangle!

Skip Beat PS2 Opening
"Blow Wind" by SMILY☆SPIKY
...video error...sorry...I'll put it up ASAP

BAD

Artwork--I am sorry, but I have never been one to like pointy chins that could puncture a lung and super-elongated bodies. Nakamura-san, you have a wonderful plot, but why the spider-like bodies? Everyone wears really cute clothes, and have such dynamic personalities, but the artwork doesn't match up. I love the way the hair is colored, and the designs of the clothes, but the body shapes are just too angular. At first, I didn't want to read it because it just looked so awkward. The girls are drawn better, in my opinion, it's the guys with the small face and protruding chin that get me. Like I said, it looks like their chins can puncture someone's chest.

Predictable--Since most of the characters have a single purpose (Ren is the foil to Shotaro, Shotaro is the bosy master, Kanae is the reluctant best friend of Kyoko, the heroine, who never gives up), the manga seems to be very straight-forward and repetitive after the first one hundred chapters. Though Nakamura-san also pleasantly distracts the reader by going off on personal stories, like Shotaro and Kyoko's childhood, Kanae's past, Maria's birthday tragedy, and the stalker guy from V-Ghoul, the manga seems to slow down towards the end of the current chapters (154). The surprises that Kyoko always stirs up have almost ceased completely.

However, as with any dramatic manga that is followed closely, this happens a lot. It is the reason why Inuyasha got tiring after the first one hundred episodes, and the Tenchi franchise could not get back it's initial fandom after Tenchi Muyo. If a series has been going for a long time, and 154 chapters is pretty long for a manga, especially one as romantic (?) as Skip Beat.

~Love Me uniform~

GOOD

Lovable Characters--Except for the "beagle" stalker guy, who's just creepy, every other character is zany and lovable in their own way. The heroine thirsts for revenge against a chauvinistic bastard--WAY TO GO! Shotaro, even if he's really annoying, gets some sympathy when V-Ghoul is stealing all of his songs before he can debut them. Ren has this bad history that he doesn't want to divulge, which makes you want to love him even more. Kanae comes froma very big, poor family, so she is the role model for a lot of "normal" people, and a very talented actress. Lory-san, the president of LME, is eccentric and funny, while his granddaughter, Maria, is so cute, but so grown-up.

Personally, I love the way Nakamura-san develops each character, providing a back story to why they act the way they act, and what they are thinking and feeling. Yeah, the characters become predictable, but I find myself laughing and yelling at Kyoko, mostly saying "No, don't do it, Shotaro's just being a jerk!" But, she nice when I would be more like Kanae and not forgive. This strong connection between the reader and the characters provides a relationship that makes one follow the plot even though it might be repetitive and predictable.

Cute, but not too Cute--Since the main characters are all around high school/college age, the somewhat cute plot is tainted by Kyoko's thirst for revenge, and the allusions to mature themes like stalking, beauty, and sex (which are somewhat connected to each other...I guess). Shotaro is a womanizer, let's face it, and the fact that he likes to "hang out" with chesty woman says something more than he likes them for their looks.

This gives the story a more realistic setting, though the dress of the characters are just too cute to exist in the real world (or too scary, in the latest chapter's case where Cain Heel is wearing a complete Yakuza get-up). With a nice helping of demonis revenge spirits, a singer from V-Ghoul who can sense spirits and read people's pasts, and a womanizer like Shotaro, it gets a little crazy and interesting.

Nice Role Models--I'm sick and tired of mangas who always make the woman subversive and ditsy. In Skip Beat, Kyoko has the gung-ho no nonsense attitude, and she rarely is portrayed at "girly." The Love Me uniform is a pair of overalls! Albeit hot pink ones...but still! Kanae is very mature and responsible, though can get very angry and anti-social, and Maria, though so young, is a model lady who enjoys seeing other people happy (but has this weird voodoo doll hobby?) You gotta give a thumb's up to the girls in this manga, Kyoko deserves to kick Shotaro in the balls.

Thank you for reading!
どうもありがとうございました！

~Stay tuned for more fun~

Love Hina

~ 少年Shounen (Harem) ~

If you don't know what a harem manga is, it's pretty self-explanatory. You have one male character shoved into an all-girl setting. "Negima! Master Negi Magi" is another one, as well as "Tenchi Muyo!" There are also reverse harems where one girl is shoved into an all-guy scenario, like "Ouran High School Host Club," and "Hana-Kimi." Personally, I don't like harem manga that much, even when it's reverse harem. The main reason is that it gets a little ridiculous sometimes, as well as fan service oriented. Case and point: Love Hina.

Summary: Keitaro is a downtrodden twenty-year-old guy who hasn't had a girlfriend and has failed the entrance exams into Tokyo University twice. Why is he so intent on getting into Japan's #1 university? He made a promise fifteen years ago, and cannot give up on his childhood crush. But, unfortunately it looks grim for our hero. His family has kicked him out of his home, and he desperately seeks housing with his grandma, whom owns a boarding house--an all-girls dorm. Now, Keitaro has to try and study while being stuck in a house full of beautiful, spunky girls!

~Love Hina Opening~
"Sakura Saku" by Megumi Hayashibara

BAD

Ridiculousness--Yeah, Love Hina can get pretty ridiculous. The characters get stranded in a desert, clothes rip off ever other scene, and Keitaro's character is border-line psychotic (it's surprising he hasn't been sent to the hospital due to high blood pressure). Put it all together and you get one mound of random, albeit sexy, manga.

I suppose under ridiculousness would go "lack of plot." Besides Keitaro wanting to get into Tokyo University because of a childhood crush, nothing really develops plot-wise. SPOILER!!-- Eventually, Keitaro does get into Tokyo University, but his childish, perverted character still stays the same, which is a disappointment-- END SPOILER!! He's a sweet guy, which is great, but the usual reader will want him to grow some balls somewhere down the line. He doesn't. Ever.

Slow Read--Other than the ridiculous stuff, there's also the problem that nothing really develops until around volume six or seven, where Keitaro takes the entrance test for the fourth time. Up until then it's all about this childhood crush, fan service, and displays of Keitaro's lack of balls. Eventually, around chapter seventy-something, I had mentally headdesked enough that I was feeling slightly light-headed and peeved. If you like seeing half-naked girls, but nothing really other than that, then this is the perfect manga for you!

Stereotypical Characters--The problems with harem manga is that they're rarely original, and that usually means that many of their characters are also bland. Keitaro reminds me of Takeya from "DearS" and Hideki from "Chobits." He acts modest and innocent, clueless most of the time, but there's that underlying perverted nature associated with just being a twenty-year-old guy. A majority of harem guys follow this outline; in fact, I haven't read about one who hasn't. If you have any exceptions, please message me.

Not just the male main character, but the girls also aren't very original, nor do they develop much except for Naru and some would say Shinobu. Naru is the violent one, reminding me of Chidori from "Full Metal Panic," who ultimately falls in love with the main character. Shinobu is the quiet one with a crush, like Hinata from "Naruto." Kitsune is the seductive mistress, and Motoko is the samurai trainee from various mangas (I'm sure you're aware of them). Mutsumi has bad health and is clumsy (thinking of Hyatt from "Excel Saga"?). In other words, stop following generic character outlines! I do give props to Kaolla, though. She's very spunky and interesting.

GOOD

Cute--Love Hina is romantic, even though cliché. The main character, against common sense, has this childhood crush he hasn't forgotten about yet, and tries his best for this girl (who might not even remember him). Coming from a girl in a relationship, that's sweet. The awkward parts with Keitaro sometimes do happen, especially at the beginning of a relationship where two people are feeling each out. So, even though it's ridiculous and unoriginal, Ken has written a cute story.

Sexy--There is a great deal of clothes ripping, falling, being pulled, disappearing all together. So, this is a very sexy manga; I would not recommend this manga for teens under the age of thirteen. There's a lot of fan service (and if you don't know what that is then you're too young to read this manga) and sometimes it gets...distracting and repetitive... But it's sexy, and I'm sure Ken-san was aiming for that.

In short,
~Read this for the partial nudity and cute plot~