Skip Beat Episode 1

Yes, it is time for SKIP BEAT!

My friend has been talking about Skip Beat for a while now and was excited that they were going to make an anime adaption about the manga. With such a glowing review, what choice did I have but to watch this new show?

Keep your eyes glued to the t.v set!

More Skip Beat inside

The episode begins explaining how every human being is born with a locked box inside of them. After that heartfelt heaven like scene is over, we are then introduced to Kyoko working at a fast food joint. She seems energetic and upbeat, despite the ugly uniform she has to wear. In the locker room, some of her co-workers are talking about how they love this new idol Sho and how they got a free poster with a purchase of his C.D. Kyoko did not receive this free poster and nearly kills herself on her bike trying to get to the C.D. shop and her next job on time. After working long hours at two jobs, she arrives home and Sho is in the living room. Despite him being a jerk, she is happy to see him and goes about taking care of him, bribing him with pudding so he will stay longer. The audience is then given a little back story on how Kyoko and Sho grew up together in his parent's inn. His parents wanted him to take over the family's business and marry a regular girl. Sho asks Kyoko to move with him to Tokyo so he can reach his own dreams of being a singer. Kyoko does this and that is the reason she is working two jobs: to pay for a place to Sho to live while he is an up and coming star. While watching TV, the mood turns sour when the current favorite star Ren is being interviewed. Sho becomes upset and storms out, Kyoko cursing Ren's name. Kyoko goes to work the next day, thinking about how much she loves Sho and how she will do anything for him. She takes an order of food to him at his studio when she interrupts a conversation. Sho is talking to his manager how he essentially took Kyoko with him so she could be his servant while he became a star. He muses that Kyoko was the one his parents wanted him to marry, but he claims she is too plain and ordinary for him. Now that he is famous, he plans to drop her and focus on his career. Kyoko's box inside her then EXPLODES open with revengeful demons. She hurls the food at him and basically calls him out on his behavior. Instead of being embarrassed, Sho simply tells her yeah, I used you and if you want revenge enter the pop industry too and beat me. Kyoko, with her new demonic personality, leaves the apartment and gets a brand new makeover, declaring she will have revenge on him.

Kyoko was just caught up in his lies!

A good demon girl has to practice her laugh.

I can see why my friend likes Skip Beat. Kyoko starts off the typical devoted girl to the jerky guy. However, instead of trying to win him back and work at making him love her, she goes insane and completely morphs into Demon Kyoko. It is refreshing to see a girl standing up for herself and not letting a cute guy walks all over her. Blindly devoted girls get annoying after a while: they are unrealistic and give young girls a bad impression on what it is to be your own person. Demon Kyoko will make up for regular Kyoko's misguided ways.

Goodbye angels....

and HELLO demons!

Sho is a pretty big jerk. I am trying to remember the last time someone came off that jerky and none are coming to mind. In episode 1, there is nothing redeeming about him. You can't fault someone for wanting to reach their dreams and not wanting to marry or run a business they don't want. But he is cold and calculating, taking Kyoko with him on purpose knowing she would work like DOG to support him. I wonder what kind of man could live with himself, pushing a young girl to do that. Sure he wants to reach his dream, but wouldn't it feel better if HE reached it with his own two hands? So yeah, if that means doing your songs and press during the day, then working part time somewhere at night and eating ramen noodles for a whole year, that is what you do! You don't pretend that you are above working for your dream! You don't stomp on a girl’s heart while playing big shot. And instead of feeling bad because she overheard the conversation, he decided to keep being a jerk?! He puts her down for not wearing makeup or having nice clothes, yet the reason she does not have those things is because of his greedy ways. He truly is self absorbed, feeling jealous of an established star. He doesn’t know how to work for his fame, he just expects it. I look forward to Kyoko and the established Ren taking Sho down a few pegs.

What a big cry baby!

Caught in the act!

The art style is not fresh and new to me, it is more the late 90’s early 2000’s. Where the art was lacking, it was more than made up with the comedy. Kyoko is very dramatic with her reactions to situations. The scene in the locker room was amusing as Kyoko acted out how many of us feel on the inside. The angel Kyoko’s being thrown at Sho’s head and the demon ones trying to strangle him were hilarious. The over the top antics of this show will keep me laughing at Kyoko’s situation instead of just feeling sad for her.

Wtf is up with that nose?!

Not dramatic at all!

Some parts of the show had me feeling 0_o. Like….what kind of parents let their son and young friend leave home and go live alone in Tokyo? It sounds like Kyoko has been staying in Sho’s household for a while, one would think his parents actually cared about her. I know there is a cultural rules about hiring younger teenagers are different in Japan, but I would think most businesses would have rules about how many hours minors could work. It is just sad that someone in real life could actually be in Kyoko’s situation. Teenagers can’t handle that kind of pressure. And I wonder whose name is on the lease? 0_0 Probably the managers, whom should be helping Sho out more than she really is.

Maybe this adult will watch out for Kyoko.

I hope I am not the only one who thinks that Kyoko was cute before her make over. None of us look our best when we are running around from job to job. And certainly NO ONE would look cute in that outfit at the fast food joint. Kyoko looks adorable in the flashback scenes with her cute uniform. There was no reason for Sho to think she is plain and ordinary. I would take a girl who looks cute without the aid of hair dye and make up than someone who is gorgeous and fake.

LOOK HOW CUTE SHE WAS!

I will be watching this series every week because I want to see Kyoko crush Sho and Sho suffer her wrath. According to my friend Ren plays a big part in this show. I just hope that Kyoko can make it on her own and not depend on this guy to help her; she needs to stay away from guys for a while. I wouldn’t mind seeing sweet Kyoko once in a while; I don’t want her to become a totally hard person. A nice balance of sweet and demon will be okay in my book. Kyoko knows what hard work is, so I do not doubt she will reach her dreams. So I will add Skip Beat to my weekly anime calendar. Check back every week to see what i think of the current episodes.

WATCH OR ELSE!

They know where you live!

Thanks for reading!