Skip Beat!

Mogami Kyouko works hard to support her childhood friend and romantic interest Fuwa Shoutarou, Fuwa Sho to his fans, and has forsaken her education and personal needs. Sho had earlier asked Kyouko to run away with him to Tokyo so he could pursue a music career instead of inheriting the family business. Kyouko was more than willing to support Sho in his dreams, but one day she overhears Sho complaining about her to his manager. He claims she's a boring and gullible woman; someone he had only used as a willing housekeeper.

Instead of crying, Kyouko vowed to make Sho regret using her and playing with her feelings. Sho responds by telling her the only way he could be defeated is for Kyouko to become a bigger star than him. Thus began Kyouko's entry into the show business. But it seems her path to vengeance won't be easy. Sho's star rival Tsuruga Ren despises Kyouko's reasons for entering showbiz. His treatment on Kyouko will change however when he sees her potential and her hard work. Will Kyouko's determination be enough to make her stint in showbiz successful? And will she regain her self-confidence and find a new hope for love?

Fuwa Sho

Tsuruga Ren carrying an injured Mogami Kyouko

Kotonami Kanae and Kyouko of Love Me section

Skip Beat! is perhaps one of the best 25-episode romance series I've watched. It does not have the usual formula of a shoujo romance. Firstly, the setting is not in a school and the romance angle has unique circumstances. The lead female character has an old love interest she has not fully forgotten and a new love interest that was not developed overnight. That romance was developed over time. Kyouko and one of the male protagonists were not forced in a situation where they have to be constantly in contact with each other like most romance series. Also present is one of the things I have been looking for for a long time is the element of jealousy and rivalry between two males, instead of the usual female rivalry over one guy.

Kyouko herself is an interesting character to follow. She  is neither too smart or too talented or too feisty. Neither is she the typically cute and sweet heroine, but she's resourceful, cunning, and a fighter. Her story is about getting back up and finding her self-respect and worth she had lost because of her devotion to her first love. A few of the supporting cast get their own stories highlighted too, but it's mostly about Kyouko and how she has affected those characters. 

Because of how she solves her problems, there are a lot of funny scenes and surprises in how she handles them. You'd come to like her not because she's pretty, cute or smart, sexy and destined to be great, but because she's a well developed character who's easy to relate to. She can be as depressed or as happy as a real person. Kyouko is intriguing and not typical. In Skip Beat! you follow the story not only because you want to see how Kyouko's love life will develop but how she overcomes her trials.

The ending might not be satisfactory (the manga is ongoing as of this writing), but that only adds to the appeal of the series. If you're tired of usual and predictable story formula and cliche characters of shoujo romances, Skip Beat! is a welcome change even if the anime series was released 6 years ago.

Rating: 10 out of 10