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. 15 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!
Sho decides to take the high road rather than confront Vie Ghoul about their theft of his song. But VG frontman Reino doesn't take kindly to being ignored and devises a devious plan to get Sho's attention--he's going after Kyoko! Normally, Kyoko's not the type of girl that needs rescuing. But for some reason, Reino's presence petrifies her. Will Reino's evil scheme work better than anyone imagined? (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.
Volume 15 stars a brief story arc that I don't like that much. Reino, the lead singer for Reino stalks Kyoko and attacks her. He gets to the point where he's unzipping the back of Kyoko's dress while she just stands there terrified. He would have gone further, but the two of them start arguing and then Sho arrives. The scene manages to be both disturbing and ridiculous. I realize that Skip Beat is silly to begin with, but this goes a little too far for me.
My favorite part of the volume, though, is Reino and Kyoko's argument while he's attacking her. She realizes that he's only doing this to get at Sho. Reino wants to destroy Sho. This statement releases all of Kyoko's demons. The only person who gets to destroy Sho is Kyoko. "He is my prey!"
Ren is mostly absent from this volume, but there is a sweet scene between him and Kyoko. The night before the attack occurs, Kyoko is scared. Reino is stalking her and she doesn't know what to do. She calls Ren up for comfort. A part of her wants to tell Ren how scared she is, but she can't do it. Still, Ren knows something is wrong and gets quite worried. I love how devoted he is towards her. He hurries from his set to get to Kyoko. Once Ren arrives, even the reader feels safer. The two of them are just great.
I really need to read this! I love the anime, I just haven't gotten round to reading the manga & it sounds like it has so much more storyline to it!
ReplyDeleteThis whole arc was really confusing to me when I originally read it, which actually makes me want to read it again. It's not really my favorite either though. :(
ReplyDeleteNice review! I actually don't read manga too often but it does sound like a really great story and maybe one day I'll try and find it at my library :)
ReplyDeleteI'm with Mary, Kyoko needs to use her knee on some very sensitive areas of Reino's body. A-hole. Too bad Ren is mostly missing from this one, I think he might be my favorite character based on all your reviews! Hopefully he's a bigger presence in the next book.
ReplyDeleteI can see what you mean by going too far, that's a bit of an uncomfortable situation to try and pull off as light and silly. I've seen this done in other manga as well where a heavy situation is tried to be made light by adding humour but it's such bad timing the humour just comes across as uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteSandy
Scribing Shadows
I've always loved this anime, it's one of my favs, so I decided to start the manga several months ago. I'm on volume, um 31 I believe. Anyway...Volume 15 to me was kinda ridiculous and confusing. Reino was, in my opinion, creepy. And Sho...well he's just Sho. He can't help but to be a jerk; it's ingrained into him by default. I can't wait to hear what you think about the volumes after this!
ReplyDeleteAhhh I love the Skip Beat anime and I need to read the manga soon!! Ren is the best!
ReplyDeleteI would be uncomfortable in reading that. The humor definitely has bad timing. I'm a bit confused as to how this volume starts a new story arc. It seems kinda out of left field.
ReplyDeleteOMG, I remember that arc...to be honest, I didn't enjoy that one as much as the Dark Moon or any other arc either, but I definitely agree! Sho is only Kyoko's prey was an epic moment, and I was SO proud of her XD Ren's getting sweet >_< Can't wait until you get to the Cain Heel parts!!!
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