Manga Mondays (105): Skip Beat! vol. 7 by Yoshiki Nakamura

New Manga Mondays Meme!

I've been doing Manga Mondays every week since I started my blog 2 years ago. It's always been a personal feature, but now I'm going to try turning it into a meme. There are quite a few people who do Manga Mondays. I don't claim by any means that I owned or created the idea of Manga Mondays - it's an obvious choice given the alliteration. I think a meme would be a good way for everyone to publicize their own Manga Mondays and get a little more publicity.

The linky will be below my review.

Skip Beat! vol. 7 by Yoshiki Nakamura

Summary

Kyoko Mogami followed her true love Sho to Tokyo to support him while he made it big as an idol. But he's casting her out now that he's famous! Kyoko won't suffer in silence--she's going to get her sweet revenge by beating Sho in show biz!

All Kyoko's dreams are coming true She's got a best friend (okay, so Moko still needs to come to terms with their bosom-buddyhood, but she's learning). She's finally going to high school (so what if a mean girl is picking on her--Kyoko knows how to deal with bullies). And she's landed a spot in Sho's new video (Yes Revenge Bwa ha ha ha ). Life doesn't get any better than this. (courtesy of the back cover and Goodreads)

Review

*Warning: Potential spoilers. My manga reviews tend to be more of a summary than a review. I find it hard to review manga in the same way I do regular books.

Kyoko never fails to amuse me. She is your stereotypical girly girl - selfless, modest, endlessly optimistic. She practically floats to school every day. She's so happy to be there. She skirts right by bullies' insults and goes along her happy way. Until...someone brings up Sho or insults Kyoko in a certain way (saying she "doesn't have a celebrity's aura") and a switch is flipped. Sweet little Kyoko becomes evil, raging, angry Kyoko.

Everything comes back to Sho. Kyoko hates the idea that she is beneath anyone. And in her head, any insinuation that she is "less than" comes back to Sho. Too bad for her, because Sho manages to worm his way into her life over and over. Kyoko is starring in Sho's music video. She tries to hide her true identity from him, but he figures out. In his eyes, Kyoko is nothing. That she could even conceive to become an actress is laughable. That's what he thinks on the surface. However, his manager quickly notices that Sho is - unconsciously at least - attracted to Kyoko. He can't keep his eyes off her. I'm curious how this chemistry will evolve.

There's a cute conversation between Ren and his manager. It's very clear that Ren is fascinated by Kyoko. I don't know if he "like" likes her yet, but she is foremost in his mind. He is particularly worried that she is so motivated by revenge towards Sho. Not because it's unbecoming, but because he thinks she's above it. That to be moved by a negative power will hurt her in the long run. And you can tell that he already wants what's best for Kyoko.

Another good edition to this series. It's not the most memorable volume, but sets the stage for more Sho/Kyoko and Ren/Kyoko interaction.

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