Skip Beat! Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Yoshiki Nakamura (Author)

Book Description

Series: Skip Beat | Publication Date: July 5, 2006

Kyoko always thought that Sho, whose family took her in when she was small, was her prince charming. However, when Sho heads for Tokyo to make it big as a musician, Kyoko goes with him and has to quit high school to support his dream. But soon, being in the big city makes Kyoko realize that she has show business ambitions of her own!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Yoshiko Nakamura is originally from Tokushima prefecture. Her birthday is June 17 and she has type B blood. She started drawing manga in elementary school, which eventually led to her 1993 debut of Yume de Au yori Seteki - Better than Seeing in a Dream - in Hana to Yume magazine. Her other works include the basketball series Saint Love, MVP wa Yuzurenai - Can't Give Up MVP and Blue Wars, Tokyo Crazy Paradise, a series about a female bodyguard in 2020 Tokyo.

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: VIZ Media LLC; 1 edition (July 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1421505851
• ISBN-13: 978-1421505855
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #262,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic., July 25, 2006

By 

Kylara "Kylara" (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skip Beat! Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Skip Beat! is a wonderful, hilarious manga about fifteen-year old Mogami Kyoko, who is initially a sweet, devoted young girl who, upon his request, comes to Tokyo with her childhood friend, Fuwa Shou, to support him as he pursues his musical career. Kyoko has dreamed since she was a little girl that Shou was her prince, and that one day, he would marry her and she would be like a princess...

Until the day that Kyoko overhears him complaining about her - how boring, naive, and ugly she is, and a complete drag on his time. Rather than breaking into tears, Kyoko is disgusted and enraged, and declares that she'll have her revenge - and since by now, Shou really is a very popular star, she'll enact this vengeance by becoming a bigger star than *him*.

Kyoko is the reason this manga is so great: she's determined (she gives new meaning to the word), a hard worker, ambitious, and constantly trying to find out who she really is and who she wants to be. Plus, she makes and utilizes voodoo dolls - how can you not love her?

This volume covers Kyoko's very beginnings into the world of showbiz, and introduces Kyoko's likely love interest, the very popular (and wonderfully evil and yet so perfect) actor, Tsuruga Ren.

Nakamura Yoshiki (NOT Yoshiko, Amazon) is a great manga artist who won my heart with Tokyo Crazy Paradise, the series with which she really refined her drawing style. In any case, Skip Beat! is fully of great drawings, fantastic paneling, and the most hilarious dialogue. It's fresh, unique, and given to few of the typical shoujo cliches; I'd agree with another reviewer and state that Nakamura really raises the bar for shoujo.

As to how Viz did: they included some cultural notes that clarify what might be confusing for non-Japanese readers, which I was pleased with... but there's a WHOPPING BIG GRAMMATICAL ERROR in this book that I pitched a fit over. That said, it was only one (albeit a big one - it was even in bold), so the rest of the translation is done very well, and the packaging, in line with the rest of their Shoujo Beat line, is tidy with a regular gloss, if not as great as, say, Del Rey's XXXHolic packaging.

Highly recommended for anyone who loves great characters, humor, potential love triangles, and a flat-out wonderful series.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best !!, June 14, 2006

By 

Emma (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skip Beat! Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Kyoko Mogami is a modest and diligent girl. After graduating from middle school, she followed her childhood friend Sho Fuwa to Tokyo to help him with his pop star career in the hope that they have a joint future. She is working hard to support Sho's super star dream. But by accident she learns that Sho only brought her along because he didn't want to do any strenuous work and therefore needed a "servant". Kyoko decided to start her revenge project by joining the Show Biz. Hoping one day she will beat him in his own field.
I have read manga for so many years (over 10 years...), this is my favorite now. I have read the Chinese edition to Vol 12, and it's getting better and better. I wasn't that interested in the "super star love story" at the beginning. But, I was very curious why Skip Beat is so popular in Asia. So, I give it a try. It turned out to be a warm, loving story. Oh, and it's very funny. This manga has great story, and each character is well designed. Skip Beat trully raised my expectation for Shojo manga.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!, July 26, 2006

By 

Squishy Penguin (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skip Beat! Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Where to even start? How about with THIS MANGA IS AWESOME! Skip Beat! Volume 1 kicks off a great start to what promises to be an addictive series.

At first, I wasn't sure on buying this manga because of the whole "girl followed childhood friend turned star--childhood friend turned star just using girl--girl finds out and wants to now make it into show biz just to extract her revenge on him." It sounded like a typical and predictable manga plot of revenge that I really had to toy with the idea of buying it on a whim.

But boy, am I glad that I did! It may have the used and reused revenge plot line, but Yoskihi Nakamura makes this plot idea completly atypical!

This manga grabs you with its off beat style and humor, the only complaint I have about it is the way the two lead males are drawn. It's either their faces are too narrow, or that their necks are just too thick. It takes a little getting used to, but Skip Beat! is worth it!