Skip Beat: Volume 27

by Yoshiki Nakamura, 199 pages

Ren and Kyoko spend their first day as the black-clad, multi-pierced Heel siblings and are organically working out the details as they come up, but when some delinquent guys trying to pick up "Setsu" don't take the opportunity to back off, Ren and Kyoko find their adopted personas more difficult to maintain.

Ooh, we get to see a brief flash of old-school Ren surface from beneath both his role as "Cain" and his seemingly usual self.  And dude, is he a little scary.  Even Kyoko's not sure if he was in or out of character at the time.  I want to know more about Ren's dark days back in the States, before he remade himself and became an accomplished actor.  We've only gotten hints so far, and not too many of those, so it's exciting to get a more concrete chunk, even if it's still small.  This volume ends on a slightly ominous note, so I'm impatient for the next one.  I love these!

Skip Beat!: Volume 26

by Yoshiki Nakamura, 175 pages

The deviously scheming agency president gives the three Love Me division members comfort-zone-pushing assignments. But when Kyoko's gets adapted to coincide with Ren's latest homework, will the two be able to handle being in character, in close quarters, 24/7?

Hee!! Ooh, that president is a meddlesome genius. These two are serious about acting, but I've the feeling that the more they give themselves over to their characters in pursuit of their craft, the more they'll be discovering about their real selves, too. So awesome, this series. Smart and hilarious and creative and thoughtful. The acting business is not just a convenient device to bring these people together. Their coming together is a by-product of how seriously they take their work. Without the one, I don't know that they could ever achieve the other. Baby steps it may take, but the progress in both their professional and personal lives reads believably (despite all the utterly outrageous ridiculousness in-between) and I am happy to watch it all unfold in its hysterical, touching, fascinating little increments.

Skip Beat!: Volume 25

by Yoshiki Nakamura, 179 pages

Last volume's misunderstandings cause Sho to do something unexpected, but Kyoko's angry clarification of reality (she sits him down in front of a chalkboard and draws him a picture!) causes him to do something positively shocking, dropping a very calculated bomb on both her and his competition (i.e., Ren). And it works, too. But Ren's not a man you want to mess with....

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! I'm laughing out loud just trying to write this. I don't want to spoil the fun with details, but, oh, the games these fellas are playing. :D And poor, normally resourceful Kyoko is caught in the middle without understanding what's really going on. At least Ren's looking out for her as well as his own interests (actually, the reader's kind of excited to see him pursue his own, too, for once--progress!). The same can't be said of crazy Sho. I feel a little sorry for him, actually. He has yet to realize how his audaciously clever ploy has been countered and to what degree. In fact, because of him, perhaps a wee little something has at last been set in motion? Maybe? *squee*

Skip Beat!: Volume 24

by Yoshiki Nakamura, 187 pages

Kyoko has goofed and gotten Ren's birthday wrong (through no fault of her own), so his present will arrive a few days late...just in time for Valentine's Day. With chocolates to make for her friends and coworkers, she'd be busy enough, but she's also got a box of hate-chocolates (it's complicated) to give to one of her tormentors. The result? Misunderstandings, mayhem, and hilarity, of course.

I laughed out loud all the way through this volume. Nakamura's knack for snark and for pushing her characters' buttons continues to impress. No one is safe! Pointed asides--verbal and visual, both--keep the reader on her toes and in stitches from first page to last. Poor Kyoko! Poor Ren! (And I can't believe I'm saying this) poor Sho! The detested Beagle (he of the hate-chocolates) gleefully spawns chaos in his blackmailed crush's life; and the reader can't thank him enough, because it's so much fun. :D

Skip Beat!: Volume 23

by Yoshiki Nakamura, 185 pages

When Kyoko's costar, Chiori, lets her anger take over and bullies Kyoko offset, Kyoko decides to use her new character's persona to push Chiori into examining herself and playing right into Kyoko's (or, really, Kyoko's character Natsu's) hands.

Sheesh, I feel sorry for the poor actress playing the part of the girl getting bullied by Natsu and friends.... Chiori and Kyoko both are just a little too into their roles for the comfort of some. And the bit at the end, where Ren and Sho finally make brief appearances, cracks me up. Kyoko is so clueless.... (hee hee hee heeee)

Skip Beat!: Volume 22

by Yoshiki Nakamura, 187 pages

When Kyoko Mogami realizes Sho Fuwa, the love of her life for whom she's given up everything and whom she's followed to Tokyo to support, thinks of her as nothing but a free housekeeper on his path to celebrity stardom, she goes on the warpath, vowing to beat him in his own field. If anybody's going to be a show business idol, it'll be her!

In this volume, Kyoko is focused on finding the perfect motivation for her new character. She's afraid of being typecast as a bully, which was her breakout role in another ongoing TV drama, but she can't turn down a job if she wants to make it in the business. So she delves down deep and finds what makes Natsu, her current role, different from Mio, her first bully role, and surprises everyone with the dramatic contrast. But although Kyoko's figured out how to escape her past persona, not all of her cast members can say the same about themselves. What will Kyoko do when one of her colleagues takes her talent and self-confidence personally?

Skip Beat! is awesome! The romance (with Kyoko's mentor, the popular actor and model Ren Tsuruga) is just a quiet, parallel, sub-surface plot to Kyoko's development as an actor and a self-actualized adult. She may not always be aware of it, but her passion and pursuit of perfection have long ago left off being about revenge against that twerp Sho and have come to have everything to do with finding and growing into her true self. Nakamura's skill and creativity in coming up with Kyoko's insights and interpretations of her roles are impressive. You know it's good when you don't even notice that there's no blatant progress in the romance plot (which Kyoko hasn't even picked up on yet, although Ren definitely has) because you're too involved in how she's going to read her latest role and make it real and human and unforgettable. And while Nakamura's anatomical artwork is often less than attractive, her layouts are very good and her characters' expressions are so versatile and nuanced that you don't much care if their bodies are a little gangly. And really, the fact that the character's aren't always perfectly beautiful just adds to their believability and inner attractiveness.

Get a few volumes under your belt, and you'll see why this series is on my *squee* list.