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. 14 by Yoshiki Nakamura
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!
Vie Ghoul is the new band burning up the charts by stealing Sho's moves, and Kyoko's hopping mad on his behalf. Kyoko's confrontation with Sho about his lack of action doesn't go as well as she hoped--Sho gets violent, and the front man for Vie Ghoul gets a good look at Kyoko's demons. And both men seem a little more interested in Kyoko than Ren would like... (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.
Sho returns and so do the Kyoko grudges, with a (literal) vengeance! Kyoko is invited to appear on a popular interview show because of Tsukimori. It just happens that Sho is there too. And not just Sho. A new visual-kei band (visual-kei is the type of musical artist that Sho is) that is blatantly copying Sho's songs and style.
Kyoko is furious when she sees Vie Ghoul (the new band). Not so much that she wants to protect Sho, although I think she unconsciously does. She is upset that Sho just sits there and takes it. He's not a coward. Rather, he's so full of himself that he doesn't even realize that Vie Ghoul might be a threat. She and every one of her grudges confront him and accuse him of running away from the threat, of being blind. Sho does not take well to Kyoko's outburst. From the drawing, it looks like he turns into the Tasmanian Devil. He slaps her!
The next day, Kyoko comes to work with a bandage on her face. When Ren asks, she makes up an excuse that she had a little accident. She's embarrassed that she went in to attack Sho but ended up getting hurt herself instead. But Ren still finds out... Later on, Sho comes to apologize. I guess he's not 100% awful, but any guy who would slap a girl is 99.9% awful. Ren overhears their conversation when Sho admits to hitting her.
Until this point, Ren hasn't thought too much of Sho. He finds him irritating, because he is an arrogant newcomer to the celebrity scene. He doesn't like that Kyoko focuses so much of her negative energy on him. But now that Ren knows that Sho slapped the girl he loves, Sho becomes the devil. Persona non grata. Ren can't even think of his name without wanting to explode. Good for him for being the sweet, protective guy. It highlights the differences in Ren and Sho's personalities well.
This volume sets up the next stage in the series well. Ren and Sho will soon face off directly. Who has a bigger role in her life? The guy who loves Kyoko or the guy who loves to possess Kyoko? Or is it more complicated than that?
Great review! I like mangas too and always said i'd start reading Nana,Bleach & Basilisk
ReplyDeleteBoo, Sho! Even though she shouldn't have gone after him, guys shouldn't hit girls. Boo! Sounds like a lot of tension for the next book,
ReplyDeleteSho slaps her?! A-hole. And I think I love Ren a little bit more now, and I can't wait for the Ren/Sho showdown. I'm rooting for Ren all the way:)
ReplyDeleteGreat summary, Alison! this was the last volume I bought ^_^ Agreed on the 99.9% awfulness. Well, he did look incredibly shocked with what he did after. Definitely a LOT of tension between those three in this volume, but waaaaait for it! Sho's going to go through a development stage starting now and it's all going to get more interesting, triangle-wise... Great ending questions posed there! Not my favourite arc, but it was still pretty good
ReplyDeleteBwahahaha, I love the moments when Sho looks so terrible next to Ren and we get to see sort've a protective Ren.. The Vie Ghoul arc is definitely an... interesting one none the less.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm going to have to switch teams here. The whole slapping thing is what doesn't work for me in Library Wars no matter what the explanation is.
ReplyDeleteI don't do much manga, but I think turning it into a meme is a great idea! Hope you have lots of success! :D
ReplyDeleteI couldn't get to a Manga read this week, but having a Manga giveaway to celebrate, Manga Monday. Love the review as always you never disappoint:)
ReplyDeleteI remember when I first read that scene where Ren overhears Sho and Kyoko's conversation about him slapping her. He was so angry, it felt palpable. That was epic.
ReplyDeleteI keep meaning to pick up a manga one day. My blog partner loves them! I will have to tell her about your meme idea =D
ReplyDeleteI love Skip Beat! Though I think with the recent volumes, the story started dragging on... D: I do a similar thing on my blog, though I do it on Wednesdays! Hahaha.
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