Manga Mondays #118: Skip Beat! vol. 19 by Yoshiki Nakamura

*I'm in the middle of my big European trip - today I'm on the second day of my cruise, Genoa, I think - so I won't be able to comment back right now. I'll try to get back to everyone when I'm done with my traveling in mid September!

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. 19 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!

Koo and Lory can't stop meddling in Kyoko's and Ren's lives. Because while Koo is impressed with Kyoko's talent, he knows that she will never be a great actress unless she can overcome her biggest weakness. (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.

We get a big revelation in Volume 19. Ren confronts Hizuri about how he required Kyoko to impersonate his son Kuon. Ren is furious that Hizuri would use Kyoko in such a way. Understandably. It is a little creepy.


But Ren calms down when he understands Hizuri's motivation. Hizuri, as well as the president, was concerned that Kyoko can only act when she likes her characters. She's unable to get into roles she's not familiar with - to look beyond her own personality. Hizuri wanted her to be someone completely foreign. And he discovered that when Kyoko stretches, she's an incredible actress. She has great potential if she can just forget herself.

The big revelation? Ren is actually Kuon - Hizuri's son! Ren uses a stage name so he won't suffer the pressure of living up to his father's reputation. Plus, it sounds like there was a lot of family drama from Ren's teenage years. Ren resents how much his parents worked and felt like he wasn't being well treated. Not that different from many teenagers, but Ren had the opportunity to invent a new self in Japan.

I loved seeing Ren stick up for Kyoko. I also loved the relationship that built up between Hizuri and Kyoko. He is now the father that she never knew. Plus, Hizuri gets the opportunity to do things right with the substitute Kuon that he wasn't able to do with Ren. And Kyoko is nothing if not grateful. It's nice to see all the characters have a positive result in a volume.

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