Skip beat Anime review

Type: TV

Episodes: 25

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Oct 6, 2008 to Mar 29, 2009

Producers: Hal Film Maker

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Shoujo

Duration: 24 min. per episode

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Check out Manga review HERE

I want to start of by saying, I love this anime. And now here is why…

This is a shoujo anime, but more than that this is an anime about showbiz. There is romance and there is comedy in this anime, but this is more of a (in order of strongest elements first) comedy, drama and then romance anime. We have a love triangle in this show, we have revenge against a childhood friend who dumped the main character, we have the secretly-in-love element with the bishounens and adorable female lead in this anime. But this is more about the development of Kyouko as a person after being spurned by love. The Anime is unfinished so you have to read manga to know what happens. yeah Manga is really good.

Kyoko followed her true love and childhood friend Sho to Tokyo so she could help him reach his dream of becoming an idol. She cleans, cooks, works three jobs and does nothing for herself because she loves him so much, but gets nothing in return. Still, she remains by his side. But then one day she goes unannounced to his agency with a delivery, and overhears him talking about her; he reveals to his manager that he only took her with him as a maid, and that he doesn’t care for her at all. Upon hearing this, Kyoko doesn’t just sit around and cry. She cuts and dyes her hair, changes her clothes and attitude and thus begins her journey to join showbiz and have her revenge against Sho

With Kyoko, for once, we have a female lead that is independent and isn't waiting for a prince in shining armor to save her. It's pretty much the opposite, since she is already disappointed of her prince, that took her out into the big town so she could do his chores... actually that's not quite right... she came to hate the prince and wants revenge for using and playing her.

Having that said, Kyoko is a rather fresh and surprising character. With her hate and her own spirits fighting each other we see a lot of her inner conflict of trying to become loved by the public and at the same time being full of hate for Shotaro. We can expect a lot more character developement.

The other two male characters influencing Kyoko's new life certainly seem interesting as well. 

Shotaro is pretty much the guy who thinks too highly of himself and is for now the perfect guy for Kyoko's hate manifestation, but then there are times where it seems like all that Kyoko want is to be acknowledged by him.

Ren on the other hand is a perfectionist, who takes his job seriously and expects others to do so as well. Since Kyoko is want to be an idol only out of revenge he certainly has a little problem with her. But judging him now wouldn't be right, since there wasn't much screentime focused on him up till now.

The love triangle between these three is just not normal... you will not know whats gonnna happen.

The background music/sound often go by unnoticed, which actually might be a good thing. That is not because the music is bad, but rather because this way the watcher can focus a lot more on the story. Which in turn means it's simply not necessary to pep up the story with catchy music, because it can stand on it's own. But you gotta admit the music isn't too impressive either.

The art quality certainly is a very good one. Definetly above todays average. The characters are overall very well drawn, and the backgrounds are always fitting the context perfectly. 

Sadly animation quality is at very few points not at it's peak, but even then still a good one. Also sometimes the background seems a bit empty, but that's not to big of a deal since it's usually enough to carry the athmosphere.

Anime opening titles:

The story just makes me want to cheer Kyoko on. Damn, this girls deserves her revenge. *waves a Kyoko flag with waterfall eyes and starts shouting "KYOKO! KYOKO!"*

It's not only the really interesting story, but also all the little bits which make laugh that make this anime such a great show.

This anime goes even with a perfectly balanced pace, blended out of story advancement and humour.

I for myself find me really enchanted to Kyoko and this anime. So give it a try as well. ;)