Nodame88′s musings

Skipbeat-スキップ・ビート manga

So I have not been manga lately. But now I started a new one called Skipbeat スキップ・ビート  華麗的挑戰  written by Yoshiki Nakamura which started in 2002 and is still on-going . (I did get caught up on the others too–with recent english translations-Bleach, Ouran, Wallflower…). This manga has been made into an anime and was supposedly going to be a live action drama made in Taiwan, but recently it was pulled indefinitely.

I am hooked and I just finishe the first 7 volumes. So far there about 18 volumes available in the USA translated but about 22 volumes in Japan.

Basically this manga chronicles 17 year old Kyoko Mogami 最上 キョーコ. She runs away from home and does not attend high school on a whim with her childhood friend/cruch Sho Fue 不破 尚 . He goes to Tokyo in dreams of becoming rich and famous. He does not want to inherit and live a stuffy life owning a Japanese inn. Kyoko was trained at a young age while living with Sho’s family all there is to know about working in a Japanese inn.

One day, Kyoko learns that Sho does not love her and was only using her as a “maid” while she was selflessly working 3 jobs to support Sho who did not have to lift a finger doing anything at home-housework, laundry, cooking etc. Then she swears she will get revenge by becoming a bigger star than Sho. Problem is she has not special talents, she is plain and not curvy. This breaks Kyoko’s heart and shatters any last vestiges of humanity, compassion in her heart.

Sho’s goal is to take away the most popular guy in Japan from 敦賀 蓮 Ren Tsuruga. Later on, Kyoko joins Ren’s company LME but on an interesting trial basis. But the  President of the company saw that Kyoko had potential but was leery of her attitude of only wanting revenge.

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