From: kishik@parkcity.ne.jp   
      
   Skip Beat!   
   by NAKAMURA Yoshiki   
   as a Hana to Yume Comics published by Hakusensha   
   20 volumes (on going)   
      
   This manga is hilarious. And touching at times. It has witty   
   dialogs, insighteful characterization and good story telling   
   as well. The artwork doesn't look unique or excellent most   
   of the time, but becomes rich and gorgeous especially at   
   some stage scenes. I like Nakamura-san's clean, sharp and   
   smooth line drawings.   
      
   Kyoko is devoting herself to Shou, whom she has been loving   
   since her childhood, to help him to become a rock star. When   
   he gets a great success, however, he leaves her saying "Kyoko   
   is merely a housekeeper to me". Shou has a reason. Because   
   Kyoko is a gentle and obedient person, and she is also well-   
   mannered and trained as a maid and cook by an old premium   
   traditional Japanese hotel that Shou's parents run, she must   
   be a perfect housekeeper.   
      
   In the depth of despair, she swears herself to take revenge on   
   him. Then she gets into the show business and works hard to   
   become a star whose fame shames Shotarou someday. As a   
   professional actress, she is persevering, courageous, smart   
   and capable. Ren who is the top star of the same production   
   company, is gradually getting interested in this young actress.   
      
   The manga starts like a typical shoujo one and doesn't look   
   especially promising. But once Kyoko gets a chance to show   
   her true personality and ability to be an actress in the later   
   chapters of the first book, the story begins to shine. The   
   manga doesn't look very popular even for target readers of   
   teenage girls. Some possible reasons that I can think of:   
      
   1. Not easy to read   
      
   Because the layout of panels and dialogs isn't familiar or   
   consistent, it isn't easy to follow them correctly. It's also too   
   verbose that multi layers of dialogs, monologs and comments   
   appeare at once.   
      
   2. Slow   
      
   It has too many elements and details. I like these details that   
   give readers underplots to the later episodes. Inevitably though,   
   the story of romantic relation that many female readers must   
   anticipate most develops slowly. After 20 books, nobody has even   
   kissed Kyoko yet.   
      
   3. Character design   
      
   I could never get used to the skinny pointed jaw of male characters.   
   Each time I see those mantis like faces, I can't help wanting to   
   redraw them. Every bishoujo looks similar. So does every bishounen.   
   This is a very shoujo series and you have to get used to the style.   
      
   OK. Nothing is perfect under the sky. If you can manage these   
   weakness, this manga is going to cheer you up and to leave you   
   some smiles in your face. Maybe some warm tears in your eyes   
   as well.   
      
   --   
       / Ishikawa Kazuo /   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)