Skip Beat!

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Alternative Titles

English: Skip Beat!

Japanese: スキップ・ビート！

Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 25

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Oct 6, 2008 to Mar 30, 2009

Premiered: Fall 2008

Broadcast: Mondays at 02:00 (JST)

Producers: Sotsu, Pony Canyon, Hakusensha, TV Tokyo Music

Licensors: Pied Piper

Studios: Hal Film Maker

Source: Manga

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Shoujo

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.13¹ (scored by 116,068 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #382²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #673

Members: 220,336

Favorites: 5,326

8.13

Ranked #382Popularity #673Members 220,336

Fall 2008TVHal Film Maker

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Episodes: /25

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Synopsis

Bright, diligent, and yet naïve 16-year-old Kyouko Mogami works hard to support the career and dreams of her childhood friend, crush, and rising pop icon, Shoutarou Fuwa. Toiling endlessly at burger joints and tea ceremonies, the innocent Kyouko remains unaware that day in day out, all her tireless efforts have been taken for granted, until, one day, she finds out that her beloved Shou sees her as nothing but a free servant. Shocked, heartbroken and enraged, she vows to take revenge on the rookie star by entering the ruthless world of entertainment herself. As she steps into this new life, Kyouko will face new challenges as well as people who will push her out of her comfort zone.

Based on the best-selling shoujo manga by Yoshiki Nakamura, Skip Beat showcases the growth of a young woman who slowly unlearns how to work herself to the bone for the satisfaction of others and takes her future into her own hands instead.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Crunchyroll officially streamed the anime with English subtitles.

Aside from the manga and anime there are a series of novels written by Ayuna Fujisaki. There is also a Taiwanese drama named "Hua Li De Tiao Zhan" (Extravagant Challenge) inspired by the series, and a total of three drama CDs that cover different parts of the story.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:

Skip Beat!

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Mogami, Kyouko

Main

Inoue, Marina
Japanese

Tsuruga, Ren

Main

Konishi, Katsuyuki
Japanese

Fuwa, Shoutarou

Main

Miyano, Mamoru
Japanese

Yashiro, Yukihito

Supporting

Kawanago, Masahito
Japanese

Kotonami, Kanae

Supporting

Hayamizu, Risa
Japanese

Takarada, Lory

Supporting

Ishii, Kouji
Japanese

Reino

Supporting

Takarada, Maria

Supporting

Konno, Hiromi
Japanese

Ogata, Hiroaki

Supporting

Fujita, Yoshinori
Japanese

Darumaya Owner

Supporting

Satou, Haruo
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Sayama, Kiyoko

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Animation Director

Motoyama, Satoshi

Sound Director

Furukawa, Tomohiro

Episode Director, Key Animation

Andou, Ken

Episode Director

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Opening Theme

#1: "Dream Star" by the generous (ep 1-19)
#2: "Renaissance" by the generous (ep 20-25)

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Ending Theme

#1: "Namida (ナミダ)" by 2BACKKA (ep 1-19)
#2: "Eien （永遠）" by Yuusaku Kiyama (ep 20-24)
#3: "Dream Star" by the generous (ep. 25)

More reviews

Reviews

Jul 16, 2013

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

hinahinaxxchoco (All reviews)

91 people found this review helpful

Lovers of comedy, dynamic characters, and stories with the realistic backdrop of a dog-eat-dog show biz world, rejoice! There is a perfectly enjoyable and ultimately very satisfying anime in store for you called Skip Beat!.

Skip Beat! follows the endearing young Kyoko Mogami as she travels 200-something miles across Japan to support her childhood friend Sho in his debut as a pop singer. She continues to bail him out until she finds out he's only been using her for her delicious cooking and wife-like, hardworking traits. And he's allowed to because he is THE Fuwa Sho? Kyoko doesn't think so.

Here's where the anime read more

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Nov 2, 2010

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

zarusoba (All reviews)

70 people found this review helpful

We know the story of the plucky girl making it big in the glitzy world of showbiz. It's the story of Bridget Jones, Josie, the Pussycats, and even Hanna Montana. Skip Beat! puts a welcome spin on it, and it's not just the (fascinating) insight into the Japanese entertainment industry. The story is consistently compelling throughout, and the surreal imagery is inventive and keeps the tone light and humorous, even as its emotions are scathingly deep.

While it's not beneath the show to humiliate the characters or make them look foolish, they are complex and principled, and the show has enough compassion to read more

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Nov 1, 2014

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

ggultra2764 (All reviews)

35 people found this review helpful

Been quite a while since I last found a shoujo title that I genuinely enjoyed. Skip Beat focuses on the challenges faced by our lead Kyoko in trying to become a successful actress as she learns that she wants to get more out of it besides being a tool to get revenge on her jerk of an ex-boyfriend and popular musician, Sho Fuwa. Some have called the series as something of a Cinderella story and the description seems mostly accurate as we learn of Kyoko's tragic and impoverished back story and dealing with the ramifications of being abandoned by those close to her. The emotional scars do affect her at the start of the series as she lacks the passion for wanting to enjoy acting at first as she only seen the profession as a means of seeking revenge on Sho. But as episodes progress, she does develop a genuine love for acting, sees it as something she feels motivated to excel in beyond her original goal of revenge and a number of episodes revolve around how Kyoko approaches a role she would be performing in.

Beyond Kyoko, some other characters get focused on within the world of stardom as they come to connect with Kyoko and we learn of their own personal challenges they struggled through to get to the point where they were at within their careers. Tsuruga's character is given the more prominent focus in his interactions with Kyoko as he seemingly hates Kyoko's motivations for persuing an acting career at first, before the changes in her motivations lead him to start supporting her and developing feelings for her. The series does drop hints that Tsuruga may have a more tragic past than Kyoko and he may have known her for far longer than she thinks, but the series abruptly ends before more of these aspects to the storyline could be explored. This weakness appears to be due to the title's manga source material still being ongoing as of this review.

Another issue I did find with the series at points came with its comedy. Scenes with it tend to pop up throughout a good part of the series, serving to either exaggerate on a conflict or emotional state affecting one of the characters or to lighten the mood following a rather serious development in the show's storyline. The title's comedic style was hit-or-miss for me as I had some moments where the humor focused on the former got me laughing, but others left me indifferent and usually had me feeling that they got in the way of the mood of serious scenes for the latter mentioned moments. Fortunately, the comedy does tone itself down as Kyoko's emotional state improves from adjusting positively to her new life as an actress and doesn't intrude too heavily upon later developments with her character and others.

The visuals to the series are rather standard for a late 2000s anime in terms of detail and design for characters and scenery. Details are clean and bright color is used to go along with the show's upbeat mood, but this and the animation for Skip Beat don't particularly stick out. The same thing applies to the show's soundtrack as it does its part to complement scenes in the series that fit for their intended purpose, but have nothing too memorable with them.

Gripes aside, Skip Beat is still one of the better shoujo titles I've seen recently as there hasn't been anything from the demographic that has seriously hooked me beyond a number of titles that came out during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The focus on Kyoko's growth as an actress is a compelling and enjoyable story worth seeing throughout Skip Beat's 25-episode run, alongside other characters in stardom who interact with her. If you're a shoujo anime fan, this is worth a definite look.

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Jan 6, 2014

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

Demi_V (All reviews)

30 people found this review helpful

Love can make people do crazy things, even if it’s skipping high school to follow your boyfriend to Tokyo to begin his career as a rockstar. Admittedly, the popular rom-com Skip Beat may give bad presumptions when it’s revealed that the main character’s (Kyouko) sole motivation for entering showbiz is to seek revenge on her ex-boyfriend (Shou) by outshining him. In actuality, Skip Beat is just as fun to watch as its name portrays it to be. The plot itself is actually what brings out the comedy in the anime because of the characters’ reactions. The anime is not reflected on a girl’s life that revolves around her ex, but it focuses on how she discovers herself. Apart from the steady pacing, Skip Beat is also a prime example of how creators advertise a manga by ending the anime with a cliffhanger.

The pacing is steady and engaging, and there are no fillers. The dramatic and funny moments are perfectly balanced. Nothing is immediate, including Kyouko’s attempt at stardom. A romance story develops in the anime, and the steady pacing is fulfilled by showing no intimacy within the series. The story also reflects on other characters instead of solely Kyouko, so the viewer gets to learn of situations from those characters’ points of view.

The only problem with Skip Beat is that the story is incomplete. The romance is still in development and has a while until it fully blooms. Kyouko has a past with another main character that was shown in brief clips in later episodes, but it is never fully revealed. Kyouko is clueless about it, while the other character still keeps it a secret. Additionally, a new subplot was introduced near the very end of the series, and a solution is never reached. Although the story itself is incomplete, the creators did a good job on giving a hopeful ending. All of the characters were given a reflection, and it gives the viewer enough for the imagination. Since there has been no talk of a second season for the past four years, the viewer is left with no choice but to read the manga in the meantime. (7)

Instead of a weak-hearted female lead that is usually present in shoujo anime, Kyouko is an aggressive and driven individual. All characters have their own personality, and it’s cool that some actually address the stupidity behind Kyouko’s motivation for showbiz. The main characters and supporting characters all balance out the theme of the anime. There are some characters with huge egos, contributing to the comedy as Kyouko enters the entertainment world by taking one step at a time. The contribution of the other characters also helps Kyouko develop into an independent and strong woman. The “Character” category would have a perfect score of 10, but the interruption of the subplot placed a halt on some of the characters’ development. (8)

The animation is unique from most other anime. Apart from the plot itself, the animation is to thank for the comedy. Demonic and depressing auras, along with emotions, are drawn hilariously with ghostly figures. Also, the characters’ designs as chibi are both funny and adorable. The colors are exceptionally vivid and bright in the character and background designs, giving off a refreshing and fun atmosphere to the anime. (10)

The voice actors were superb. Marina Inoue (voice of Kyouko) did an excellent job separating her innocent vs. aggressive voices to fit Kyouko’s split personality. “Dream Star” by generous is upbeat and expresses Kyouko’s confidence within herself. The OP and ED changed at Episode 20 as there is more love affection shown between characters. The background music is played at the right moments and fits the moods of each episode. (10)

Skip Beat was very entertaining. I was desperately looking for a rom-com, and Skip Beat was often recommended. I turned it down several times in the past because of the synopsis. I was disappointed with no immediate romance, but the steady pacing caused the anime to exceed my expectations. The comedy and Kyouko’s determination are what mostly kept me watching. After the first episode, I became anxious to watch the next episodes to watch Kyouko achieve her goal. I disliked how some characters’ pasts were not emphasized and how a new subplot was introduced near the end. Now I’m reading the manga to complete the story. (8)

Skip Beat is unique from other Shoujo anime, and it’s all thanks to a strong female lead. The drama and comedy are balanced, and the plot is irresistible as you’ll become drawn to the story and feel the need to watch it ‘til the end. It is meant to advertise the manga by leaving the viewer with a cliffhanger. As someone who read the manga after completing the series (starting at Chapter 67), I say that jumping on the Skip Beat bandwagon is definitely worth the ride. (8)

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