Skip Beat!, vol 1

Today's post is on Skip Beat!, vol 1 by Yoshiki Nakamura. It is the first in her long running series. It is 184 pages long and is published by Shojo Beat. The cover is pink with yellow flowers on the bottom and Kyoko in the center looking cute and confident. There is no foul language, no sex, and no violence in this book. The intended reader is someone who likes shojo manga, strong heroines, and funny revenge stories. The story is told from third person close of Kyoko the main character. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Kyoko Mogami followed her true love Sho to Tokyo to support him while he made it big as an idol. But he's casting her out now that he's famous! Kyoko won't suffer in silence- she's going to get her sweet revenge by beating Sho in show biz!
Kyoko knows she's not plain and uninteresting, mno matter what Sho says. With the help of a little makeover, Kyoko's ready to exact her revenge. But first she needs to land an audition, and she sets her sights on the agency where Sho's lead rival works. Her persistence pays off, but her broken heart turns out to be a disadvantage. Kyoko has lost the will to love anybody, let alone fans she's never met. Can the agency see past this problem to Kyoko's true star potential?

Review- In this series opening we get quite a ride! Kyoko has basically run away with her childhood first love, Sho, to Tokyo because he wants to break into show business. Kyoko is working to support him as Sho works to get famous. Kyoko is sweet and loves Sho so much that when she discovers that he was just using her, she loses it. Swearing revenge Kyoko decides to become more famous than Sho but where does she start? This volume was a wild ride from thinking that Sho was hard working and okay to learning that he is a real jerk and seeing Kyoko retake her life and go in a different direction from where she ever thought she would go. I loved it and I love Kyoko, I want to see her own Sho at his own game and then some! Most of this volume is plot and character set-up with the reader learning about Kyoko, Sho, and some about Sho's rival the actor Ren Tsuruga. I am curious about where Kyoko is going to go from here and how she is going to get revenge but maybe she will get something more important, like find herself and what she wants from life.

I give this volume a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money.