Ranked #34

Skip Beat!

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Dowdy Kyoko gives up school, gives up her life in quieter Kyoto to move to Tokyo in pursuit of Fusa Sho, a boy from her past, her raison d'etre, and the apple of her eye. A rotten apple.

Skip Beat! is a very good comedy with a splash of romance about the tough world of the entertainment industry. It gives us a rather different perspective of a girl in love. What happens when that girl doesn't become heart-broken and pines when she's dumped? In Kyoko's case, she goes berserk and swears to take revenge on Fusa Sho no matter what.

And how does one get revenge on a self-absorbed narcissist in show biz? Why, you beat them at their own game, of course! Kyoko's enlistment in a rival company and her plan to rise in its ranks to outshine Sho provides the anime with some of its best comedic moments as Kyoko is thrown into gruelling, embarrassing and competitive world of show biz.

And what's a shoujo anime without romance? There's Ren, an actor who works alongside Kyoko who makes her ambitions a lot harder to be assuaged; this provides the anime with its romantic element, though this is mostly and actually rather refreshingly downplayed for the most part.

While elements of Skip Beat!'s storyline are quite simple or predictable at times, the strengths of this anime lie in the characters and its comedy. Each episode is formulaic, problem and solution based. However, the plotting of the situations is rather unusual, having the story twist or turn in ways that will certainly peak interest from a viewer. The world of a talent (term used for aspiring members in the entertainment sector) is hyperbolised, but the result is a deeply engaging, funny character piece of an anime. Its driving force is not a brilliant story, but a brilliant protagonist who manages to outshine and capture an audience more than the deepest or most complicated of plots.

Unfortunately, the artwork for this rather captivating story is not the best. It looks as though it was made in the 1990s, not in the late 2000s. The character design bears a very traditional look; girls have big eyes, guys have shiny hair and elongated facial features. The background art was rather flat and the colours were rather simple (very little intricacy or details). Animation too was particularly limited.

The sound for Skip Beat! however deserves more merit than the visual aspect. The series has some of the best comedic seiyuu work heard recently in shoujo anime, and possibly one of the best performances done for Kyoko's voice. The emotions that are expressed by Kyoko's character are a spectrum, especially considering that her voice changes from when she's normal Kyoko to when she's ambitious (and scary) Kyoko. Some of the best gags and laughs from the anime comes from the rapid, perfect transitions between Kyoko's multiple voices. It helps make the character, and it also helps make the anime severely entertaining to hear the girl speak calmly then change completely, adopting the voice of someone who should be committed.

However, the background music is rather underwhelming at times which is probably the sound's largest weakness. Mostly just energised, poppy synths and goofy sound effects (crashes, sparkles, spaghetti Western music and other things like that). The OP and ED themes are nothing more than your average J Pop offerings.

What will keep you coming back for more of this anime are its characters. While some are merely superficial, the main cast is rather developed in this anime's blatant though charming way. We don't get subtle characterisations, but there is a lot of loud soul-searching in which the cast act and react to one another interestingly, and learn things about others and themselves.

Kyoko is the anime's hapless protagonist who actually gets those lucky breaks, though you can't truly call it luck since the girl works so hard to get where she's going. A haircut and dye hasn't made her any spectacular beauty--it has however given her the right boost of confidence to unleash all the bottled up negative emotions inside her. And boy... she sure has a lot of those. Skip Beat! follows Kyoko as her bipolar nature kicks in and she hilariously tries to keep her real side, her bitter and aggressive personality, at bay. She is a nice girl, a sweet girl too, but there is also a part of her that reacts almost atomically when provoked. We get to watch her try not to be such a people-pleaser and learn that she has to do things for the betterment of herself.

Sho, an up-and-coming musician, popular among the girls for his modern looks and music, is a vile opportunist and uses people to pamper him. He remains the anime's biggest villain; his arrogance, cheap shots and vanity makes him one of the most unlikeable but also most interesting contenders of Kyoko.

Then there's Ren, an older, extremely talented actor who becomes something akin to a friendly bully of Kyoko, constantly and subtly driving her to become a better actress while keeping his distance from her. Despite his seeming perfection to the outside world, his flaws are quite apparent to those around him. Ren and Kyoko's animosity turn to gradual acceptance and growing respect for one another as actors, co-workers, and most importantly, as human beings. Their relationship provides the anime with some meatier emotional content.

Skip Beat! is also an anime with specific and encouraging themes for its characters. A major one is that of change. Each must change and change for the better. Most of them are riddled with cynicism, narcissism or both, and throughout the course of the series, they learn, or rather, they're forced to learn, that being a person isn't just about being jaded. That's what the whole ridiculous (though, funnily effective) 'Love Me' programme is about anyway.

While the anime plays out rather predictably at points, Skip Beat! is more than just your average helping of shoujo anime. It manages to be severely entertaining, though much due is given to the anime's protagonist Kyoko.

It is evident that Kyoko will overcome most anything thrown her way--there isn't another sort of result in anime much like this one. But the wondrous thing about Skip Beat!, what makes it a lot better than your typical shoujo anime, is that we WANT to see Kyoko triumph.

We want to see her learn and endure, and though her victories are expected, they are still (if not all the more) satisfactory in the end. An anime with such a charismatic, entertaining, lovable lead should not be missed. read more

Story:
Based around a character that wants to become an idol I really didn't expect much from this series. Starting out with that prejudice I was surprised to see new approaches in this business and was instantly drawn by this anime. Unlike other storys full of clichéd stuff, our protagonist (Kyoko) isn't driven by the wish of fame, money or power as it is common. No, all she wants is revenge on her former ... well ... "boyfriend"... kind of... not.

With this the anime's story thrives very much from character developement and I mean REAL character developement. Additionally it is well rounded up with a lot of good comedic events.
But in the end it turns into an all to common basic plot: the protagonist has to overcome obstacles with hard work, just with a nice twist. Don't get me wrong, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's a solid story, just not an all to originally one. Still the added surprising elements are what makes this very good.

9 points for a story with a relly nice change


Character:
With Kyoko, for once, we have a female lead that is independent and isn't waiting for a prince in shining armor to save her. It's pretty much the opposite, since she is already disappointed of her prince, that took her out into the big town so she could do his chores... actually that's not quite right... she came to hate the prince and wants revenge for using and playing her.

Having that said, Kyoko is a rather fresh and surprising character. With her hate and her own spirits fighting each other we see a lot of her inner conflict of trying to become loved by the public and at the same time being full of hate for Shotaro. We can expect a lot more character developement.

The other two male characters influencing Kyoko's new life certainly seem interesting as well.
Shotaro is pretty much the guy who thinks too highly of himself and is for now the perfect guy for Kyoko's hate manifestation, but then there are times where it seems like all that Kyoko want is to be acknowledged by him.
Ren on the other hand is a perfectionist, who takes his job seriously and expects others to do so as well. Since Kyoko is want to be an idol only out of revenge he certainly has a little problem with her. But judging him now wouldn't be right, since there wasn't much screentime focused on him up till now.

9 points for Characters Development to look forward too


Sound:
The background music/sound often go by unnoticed, which actually might be a good thing. That is not because the music is bad, but rather because this way the watcher can focus a lot more on the story. Which in turn means it's simply not necessary to pep up the story with catchy music, because it can stand on it's own. But you gotta admit the music isn't too impressive either.

I won't rate the opening and ending, since that often depends on personal flavor. (okay... I do prefer the ending song ^_^)

7 points for a well used and solid music


Art:
The art quality certainly is a very good one. Definetly above todays average. The characters are overall very well drawn, and the backgrounds are always fitting the context perfectly.
Sadly animation quality is at very few points not at it's peak, but even then still a good one. Also sometimes the background seems a bit empty, but that's not to big of a deal since it's usually enough to carry the athmosphere.

8 points for nice work from the graphics department


Enjoyment:
The story just makes me want to cheer Kyoko on. Damn, this girls deserves her revenge. *waves a Kyoko flag with waterfall eyes and starts shouting "KYOKO! KYOKO!"*
It's not only the really interesting story, but also all the little bits which make laugh that make this anime such a great show.
This anime goes even with a perfectly balanced pace, blended out of story advancement and humour.

10 points for Kyoko and all the hilarious moments


I for myself find me really enchanted to Kyoko and this anime. So give it a try as well. ;)

9 points overall
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