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heartbeats) wrote2010-01-22 09:34 pm
heartbeats) wrote2010-01-22 09:34 pm
Entry tags:
but your lows will have their complement of highs.
Heyyy, so as I think I have mentioned a few times in the last couple of weeks, I have been super into shoujo manga for like, absolutely no reason whatsoever, so! Normally I hate shoujo with a burning passion - I don't really know how to explain it to you, but I just am not particularly interested in feelings and relationships and blah blah blah when these people could be punching each other instead!! So I guess consider this my list of shoujo series a shoujo-hater loves, I guess.
花ざかりの君たちへ
(HANAZAKARI NO KIMITACHI E, HANAKIMI, FOR YOU IN FULL BLOOM)
PLOT SUMMARY: Ashiya Mizuki, a Japanese girl living in the United States, watches a program on TV featuring a high jumper named Sano Izumi. She was amazed by his performance and begins following his athletic career. Years later, she does research on him and discovers that he is currently attending Osaka High School. The school is unfortunately an all-boys school and Mizuki convinces her parents to send her to Japan. Oblivious to the fact that their daughter is going to attend a boys school, her parents let her go. To enter the school, she cuts off her long hair, disguises herself as a male, and tries her best to give hope to Sano after hearing that he no longer does the high jump anymore. As she settles in, an accident reveals her identity to the school doctor and Sano. Sano hides his knowledge of Mizuki's gender and tries to help her keep her secret, though it sure isn't easy as many situations land Mizuki in compromising positions that will reveal her true gender.
IN TEN WORDS OR LESS: Wacky crossdressing hijinks and lots of cuddling.
WHY IT'S GOOD: Totally different from the probably more famous live action drama starring Oguri Shun, and in my opinion a thousand times better. This one is a classic, all right, it is consistently fabulous all the time. It's long, twenty-three volumes, but it never really seems to get stale or slow down; a lot of shoujo manga that runs for a long time seems to fall into a pattern of repeating itself, or the characters get frustrating - that isn't the case for Hanakimi. The series stays consistently wonderful right through the end, and although it is a really classic shoujo series with not a whole lot to differentiate it from other series, it is just so solid throughout that it is really worth a try.
WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: ONEMANGA (complete).
高校デビュー
(KOUKOU DEBUT, HIGH SCHOOL DEBUT)
PLOT SUMMARY: Nagashima Haruna gave her all to softball in middle school; now that she has made her high school debut, she has decided to give her all for a new goal: getting a boyfriend and falling in love. However, she has one small problem—since she never paid any attention to fashion or trends in middle school, she has no idea how to go about attracting her yet-to-be-found love. But a chance encounter with Komiyama Yoh, the school prince, provides her with the opportunity she needs. If he coaches her in how to become attractive, surely she can find herself a boyfriend. Yoh agrees to coach Haruna after seeing her persistence and heart, but he tells her she mustn't fall in love with him; of course, that is exactly what happens.
IN TEN WORDS OR LESS: Doing it right.
WHY IT'S GOOD: Everyone has read this, I think, but I necessarily have to include it in a rec list because it completely and totally rocked my socks off. The setup is the same as nearly every other shoujo out there, and many of the same tropes appear - the thing is that the main characters consistently shake off those tropes, cementing themselves as real, likable people. See:
Situation: Haruna and Yoh have started dating (SPOILER okay come on this is shoujo, of course they do). A new school year has started, resulting in a number of girls being unwilling to believe that Haruna is Yoh's girlfriend (because he is a sexy beast and she is ridiculous).
Ugh I can't even. Stop arguing, start reading.
WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: ONEMANGA (complete).
ふしぎ遊戯 玄武開伝
(FUSHIGI YUUGI GENBU KAIDEN)
PLOT SUMMARY: In Japan of 1923, a seventeen year-old girl named Okuda Takiko is living with her ill mother after recently moving to a small town. Her father comes home one day (he's never home, being a busy novelist), much to Takiko's chagrin. He apparently has been working on something called "The Universe of the Four Gods" and even after returning home, is obsessed with the book. Her mother soon dies and Takiko becomes angry at her father for ignoring the two of them. These feelings, paired with her feelings of loneliness and uselessness at being rejected both in love and by her father, lead her to attempt to tear the book apart. However, it instead whisks her away to the country of Hokkan where all of her adventures begin.
IN TEN WORDS OR LESS: Miaka got all the hot seishi.
WHY IT'S GOOD: You remember Fushigi Yuugi, right? It was that terrible, terrible series that was super popular under the name "The Mysterious Play" in the mid-to-late nineties! You know, about that girl who got whisked off to ancient China to summon a mystical god with the help of her seven warriors, all of who except for the ugly guy, the minor, and the monk fell madly in love with her (yeah, even the crossdresser)! Remember how in that story we had a plot where the Suzaku Shichiseishi fought the ghosts of two Genbu Warriors, and they told Miaka and co about how their priestess died horribly and no one was ever happy again?
Things were worse for the priestess of Genbu than we ever heard. First of all, she was a pretty modern girl living in Taisho-era Japan. Her Dad didn't love her and her Mom died of TB, and SPOILERS she totally has TB too. This series is fantastic just because Genbu totally got the short end of the stick on the seishi draw - she's got the two hot dudes from the original series, but only one of them is in love with her; her other seishi are like two evil guys, a fat kid in a basket, a rock, and a prostitute, and her love interest's seishi power is that he totally turns into a woman, no I am not kidding. So great.
WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: ONEMANGA (ongoing; on hiatus).
ゴールデン・デイズ
(GOLDEN DAYS)
PLOT SUMMARY: Feeling rebellious toward his overprotective mother, Soma Mitsuya, a first-year high school student, only cares about his violin and his hospitalized grandfather. On the night his grandfather’s condition suddenly worsens, an earthquake hits, sending Mitsuya to 1921 in the Taisho era.
IN TEN WORDS OR LESS: Oh my god, Grandpa was a homo!!
WHY IT'S GOOD: A series for those of you into shonen-ai; Mitsuya pretty quickly finds out that his grandfather had, among any number of other secrets, a male best friend who was exceptionally, exceptionally fond of him. Throughout the series Mitsuya is confronted with and attempts to fix and deal with the troubles faced by his new friends, and in doing so manages somehow to begin to heal himself from a terrible trauma in his past. This is a really wonderful, bittersweet series, more about the kind of friendship and love that can span lifetimes rather than it is about love confessions and Valentine's Day; it is massively underrated and I really can't recommend it enough.
WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: MANGAFOX (manga complete; scanlations ongoing).
風光る
(KAZE HIKARU, SHINING WIND)
PLOT SUMMARY: In the year 1863, a time fraught with violent social upheaval, samurai warriors of all walks of life flock to Kyoto in the hope of joining the Mibu-Roshi, a band of warriors united around their undying loyalty to the Shogunate system. In time, this group would eventually become one of the greatest (and most famous) movements in Japanese history...the Shinsengumi!
Into this fierce milieu steps Kamiya Seizaburo, a young, would-be warrior who, though lacking in combat experience, possesses a fiery enthusiasm to both aid the Mibu-Roshi in their mission and to avenge his wrongfully murdered family. One of the Mibu-Roshi's most gifted (and immature) swordsmen, the legendary Okita Soji, agrees to take Seizaburo under his wing. But what no one suspects, least of all Soji, is that Seizaburo is actually a girl named Tominaga Sei in disguise!
IN TEN WORDS OR LESS: Bushi over flowers.
WHY IT'S GOOD: Ugh will you look at the PLOT SUMMARY she JOINS THE SHINSENGUMI AND HER LOVE INTEREST IS OKITA SOUJI. The manga is only technically shoujo, classified that way because it runs in Shoujo Beat!; the mangaka is really hung up on making everything (besides the girl in the Shinsengumi) historically accurate, and I like this series a lot because a) everyone in it cares a whole lot more about bushido than they care about romance, b) Okita Souji is completely perfect in a really, really emotionally retarded way, and c) it is the only shoujo series ever with a heroine with a shaved head.
WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: MANGAFOX (manga ongoing; scanlations stopped. WORTH IT ANYWAY).
オトメン(乙男)
(OTOMEN)
PLOT SUMMARY: Asuka Masamune is the coolest, manliest guy in his whole school. He excels in judo and karate, and as captain of the kendo team he reached the national championship tournament. However, he has a secret: the things he really loves are sweets, cute things, cooking, shōjo manga and sewing. He hides this part of his life from everyone else: at least until he meets a girl named Miyakozuka Ryo, the daughter of a martial artist and heir to his dojo, and falls head over heels. Setting out to win Ryo's heart (and be true to himself), Asuka is aided by a classmate named Tachibana Juuta; little do Asuka and Ryo suspect that under the penname Jewel Sachihana, Tachibana is actually the author of Asuka's favorite manga, Love Chick, which he bases on Asuka and Ryo's relationship (but with their genders switched).
IN TEN WORDS OR LESS: Manly men; maiden's hearts.
WHY IT'S GOOD: Again, I really feel like the plot summary pretty much speaks for itself. I am ridiculously fond of Otomen, though it lacks much in the way of substance; it's fun and it's cute and it's pretty, and that's really all I want or expect out of it! It does some fun stuff with gender roles, and Ryo in particular is a great if occasionally ignored character; really, most "manly" girls in shoujo are just covering a secret weakness or fear, but Ryo genuinely isn't phased in the slightest, and as a result I think her easygoing and placid nature is an excellent complement to Asuka's insecurity and worries. I caught a few episodes of the live-action drama over the summer, and I intend to watch more, but the manga is just lksjdfk so good.
WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: ONEMANGA (ongoing).
君に届け
(KIMI NI TODOKE, REACHING YOU)
PLOT SUMMARY: Sawako Kuronuma, called Sadako by her classmates for her resemblance to the character from Ring, has always been feared and misunderstood because of her appearance. There are rumors that Sawako can see ghosts and curse people. But when her idol, popular boy Kazehaya, begins talking with her, everything changes. She finds herself in a new world, trying to make friends and talking to different people and she can't thank Kazehaya enough for giving her these opportunities. Slowly, but surely, a sweet love is blossoming between the two as they will overtake any circumstance or clear obstacles in their way.
IN TEN WORDS OR LESS: Rather than "like", I'd say "like a whole lot".
WHY IT'S GOOD: By all rights I feel like I should really hate Kimi ni Todoke, which is all of the things I don't like about shoujo manga - the focus is on romance (although in its defense it does a really great job of at least pretending to focus on Sawako's growth as person), there's a rival subplot, etc etc etc. But the characters are just so compelling in this one, I can't bring myself to dislike it. Kazehaya in particular is a breath of fresh air; he's a female fantasy, the kind of guy who probably doesn't really exist, but he's a compelling archetype and I've found I really love him a lot. Probably the best subplot so far has been revolving around a misunderstanding between Sawako and her two friends (incidentally my favorite characters), a kogal (Yano-chin) and a yankee (Chizu-chan); it's a really beautiful, kind of soothing series, and I really can't talk it up enough.
WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: ONEMANGA (ongoing).
スキップ・ビート!
(SKIP BEAT!)
PLOT SUMMARY: Skip-Beat! is about Kyoko Mogami, a wistful yet cheery sixteen year-old girl who loves her childhood friend, Shotaro, but is cruelly betrayed and thus seeks revenge against him. Shotaro, not wishing to take over his parents' inn, becomes bored of living in Kyoto and decides to move to Tokyo to pursue a career in music, asking Kyoko to leave high school and her life behind to help him. Upon arrival in Tokyo, Kyoko lives an unreasonably frugal life, spending nothing on herself and doing whatever she can for the freeloading Sho, who eventually becomes ranked seventh in the top twenty most popular entertainers of Japan. One day, however, as Kyoko brings Sho his lunch at a company building, she overhears Shotaro complaining about her to his manager, saying that she is a boring and plain girl with no sex appeal that he'd like to cast away. He then proceeds to sweet-talk and flirt with his manager, in stark contrast to the cold and demanding attitude he usually exhibits towards Kyoko. Unlike other heroines in the same situation, Kyoko doesn't shed many tears when she learns that Sho thinks she's only good for housekeeping. Instead, her "Pandora's box" opens and she vows vengeance on Sho. She changes her appearance and enters the entertainment business, facing many challenges along the way. Skip Beat! follows Kyoko's journey to climb the showbiz ladder as she meets interesting people, in the hopes of getting revenge on Shotaro, but also in order to get back her sense of compassion that she had lost when her heart was broken by Sho.
IN TEN WORDS OR LESS: Filled with child-touchers and hatred and killing intent.
WHY IT'S GOOD: Ugh I can't even. Look, even ignoring the romance (and you kind of really can), this series is all about Kyoko learning and growing and becoming her own person. Rather than love or sadness, Kyoko pretty much experiences mostly rage and killing intent, and her love interest isn't much different either. Pretty much everyone in the series has a completely warped and twisted personality, but rather than playing their craziness up for drama, it is mostly played up for laughs; this is most true of Kyoko, of course, who has tiny evil Kyoko-faced demons shoot out of her entire body whenever anyone mentions Shotaro or gets her angry, but it's equally true of her overly-tsundere best friend, or even her love interest, who terrifies her with his evil killing intent (and sparkles). There's a lot of stuff about acting and what it means to play a character, as well - I imagine working with an actor like Kyoko in the real world would be terrible, as she's definitely a method actor (with a specialty in cruel, evil characters), but in terms of pure entertainment, it does its job. In turns funny, touching, and ridiculous, this series is legit hilarious and genuinely fabulous, and you should absolutely be reading it.
WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: ONEMANGA (ongoing).
Whew!!! Hopefully you found something that looks interesting on this list. I have plans for another rec post (entitled "Jump Series You Should Read Instead Of Wasting Your Time On Reborn"), but as of now I'm gonna go eat some dinner
花ざかりの君たちへ
(HANAZAKARI NO KIMITACHI E, HANAKIMI, FOR YOU IN FULL BLOOM)
PLOT SUMMARY: Ashiya Mizuki, a Japanese girl living in the United States, watches a program on TV featuring a high jumper named Sano Izumi. She was amazed by his performance and begins following his athletic career. Years later, she does research on him and discovers that he is currently attending Osaka High School. The school is unfortunately an all-boys school and Mizuki convinces her parents to send her to Japan. Oblivious to the fact that their daughter is going to attend a boys school, her parents let her go. To enter the school, she cuts off her long hair, disguises herself as a male, and tries her best to give hope to Sano after hearing that he no longer does the high jump anymore. As she settles in, an accident reveals her identity to the school doctor and Sano. Sano hides his knowledge of Mizuki's gender and tries to help her keep her secret, though it sure isn't easy as many situations land Mizuki in compromising positions that will reveal her true gender.
IN TEN WORDS OR LESS: Wacky crossdressing hijinks and lots of cuddling.
WHY IT'S GOOD: Totally different from the probably more famous live action drama starring Oguri Shun, and in my opinion a thousand times better. This one is a classic, all right, it is consistently fabulous all the time. It's long, twenty-three volumes, but it never really seems to get stale or slow down; a lot of shoujo manga that runs for a long time seems to fall into a pattern of repeating itself, or the characters get frustrating - that isn't the case for Hanakimi. The series stays consistently wonderful right through the end, and although it is a really classic shoujo series with not a whole lot to differentiate it from other series, it is just so solid throughout that it is really worth a try.
WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: ONEMANGA (complete).
高校デビュー
(KOUKOU DEBUT, HIGH SCHOOL DEBUT)
PLOT SUMMARY: Nagashima Haruna gave her all to softball in middle school; now that she has made her high school debut, she has decided to give her all for a new goal: getting a boyfriend and falling in love. However, she has one small problem—since she never paid any attention to fashion or trends in middle school, she has no idea how to go about attracting her yet-to-be-found love. But a chance encounter with Komiyama Yoh, the school prince, provides her with the opportunity she needs. If he coaches her in how to become attractive, surely she can find herself a boyfriend. Yoh agrees to coach Haruna after seeing her persistence and heart, but he tells her she mustn't fall in love with him; of course, that is exactly what happens.
IN TEN WORDS OR LESS: Doing it right.
WHY IT'S GOOD: Everyone has read this, I think, but I necessarily have to include it in a rec list because it completely and totally rocked my socks off. The setup is the same as nearly every other shoujo out there, and many of the same tropes appear - the thing is that the main characters consistently shake off those tropes, cementing themselves as real, likable people. See:
Situation: Haruna and Yoh have started dating (SPOILER okay come on this is shoujo, of course they do). A new school year has started, resulting in a number of girls being unwilling to believe that Haruna is Yoh's girlfriend (because he is a sexy beast and she is ridiculous).
Ugh I can't even. Stop arguing, start reading.
WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: ONEMANGA (complete).
ふしぎ遊戯 玄武開伝
(FUSHIGI YUUGI GENBU KAIDEN)
PLOT SUMMARY: In Japan of 1923, a seventeen year-old girl named Okuda Takiko is living with her ill mother after recently moving to a small town. Her father comes home one day (he's never home, being a busy novelist), much to Takiko's chagrin. He apparently has been working on something called "The Universe of the Four Gods" and even after returning home, is obsessed with the book. Her mother soon dies and Takiko becomes angry at her father for ignoring the two of them. These feelings, paired with her feelings of loneliness and uselessness at being rejected both in love and by her father, lead her to attempt to tear the book apart. However, it instead whisks her away to the country of Hokkan where all of her adventures begin.
IN TEN WORDS OR LESS: Miaka got all the hot seishi.
WHY IT'S GOOD: You remember Fushigi Yuugi, right? It was that terrible, terrible series that was super popular under the name "The Mysterious Play" in the mid-to-late nineties! You know, about that girl who got whisked off to ancient China to summon a mystical god with the help of her seven warriors, all of who except for the ugly guy, the minor, and the monk fell madly in love with her (yeah, even the crossdresser)! Remember how in that story we had a plot where the Suzaku Shichiseishi fought the ghosts of two Genbu Warriors, and they told Miaka and co about how their priestess died horribly and no one was ever happy again?
Things were worse for the priestess of Genbu than we ever heard. First of all, she was a pretty modern girl living in Taisho-era Japan. Her Dad didn't love her and her Mom died of TB, and SPOILERS she totally has TB too. This series is fantastic just because Genbu totally got the short end of the stick on the seishi draw - she's got the two hot dudes from the original series, but only one of them is in love with her; her other seishi are like two evil guys, a fat kid in a basket, a rock, and a prostitute, and her love interest's seishi power is that he totally turns into a woman, no I am not kidding. So great.
WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: ONEMANGA (ongoing; on hiatus).
ゴールデン・デイズ
(GOLDEN DAYS)
PLOT SUMMARY: Feeling rebellious toward his overprotective mother, Soma Mitsuya, a first-year high school student, only cares about his violin and his hospitalized grandfather. On the night his grandfather’s condition suddenly worsens, an earthquake hits, sending Mitsuya to 1921 in the Taisho era.
IN TEN WORDS OR LESS: Oh my god, Grandpa was a homo!!
WHY IT'S GOOD: A series for those of you into shonen-ai; Mitsuya pretty quickly finds out that his grandfather had, among any number of other secrets, a male best friend who was exceptionally, exceptionally fond of him. Throughout the series Mitsuya is confronted with and attempts to fix and deal with the troubles faced by his new friends, and in doing so manages somehow to begin to heal himself from a terrible trauma in his past. This is a really wonderful, bittersweet series, more about the kind of friendship and love that can span lifetimes rather than it is about love confessions and Valentine's Day; it is massively underrated and I really can't recommend it enough.
WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: MANGAFOX (manga complete; scanlations ongoing).
風光る
(KAZE HIKARU, SHINING WIND)
PLOT SUMMARY: In the year 1863, a time fraught with violent social upheaval, samurai warriors of all walks of life flock to Kyoto in the hope of joining the Mibu-Roshi, a band of warriors united around their undying loyalty to the Shogunate system. In time, this group would eventually become one of the greatest (and most famous) movements in Japanese history...the Shinsengumi!
Into this fierce milieu steps Kamiya Seizaburo, a young, would-be warrior who, though lacking in combat experience, possesses a fiery enthusiasm to both aid the Mibu-Roshi in their mission and to avenge his wrongfully murdered family. One of the Mibu-Roshi's most gifted (and immature) swordsmen, the legendary Okita Soji, agrees to take Seizaburo under his wing. But what no one suspects, least of all Soji, is that Seizaburo is actually a girl named Tominaga Sei in disguise!
IN TEN WORDS OR LESS: Bushi over flowers.
WHY IT'S GOOD: Ugh will you look at the PLOT SUMMARY she JOINS THE SHINSENGUMI AND HER LOVE INTEREST IS OKITA SOUJI. The manga is only technically shoujo, classified that way because it runs in Shoujo Beat!; the mangaka is really hung up on making everything (besides the girl in the Shinsengumi) historically accurate, and I like this series a lot because a) everyone in it cares a whole lot more about bushido than they care about romance, b) Okita Souji is completely perfect in a really, really emotionally retarded way, and c) it is the only shoujo series ever with a heroine with a shaved head.
WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: MANGAFOX (manga ongoing; scanlations stopped. WORTH IT ANYWAY).
オトメン(乙男)
(OTOMEN)
PLOT SUMMARY: Asuka Masamune is the coolest, manliest guy in his whole school. He excels in judo and karate, and as captain of the kendo team he reached the national championship tournament. However, he has a secret: the things he really loves are sweets, cute things, cooking, shōjo manga and sewing. He hides this part of his life from everyone else: at least until he meets a girl named Miyakozuka Ryo, the daughter of a martial artist and heir to his dojo, and falls head over heels. Setting out to win Ryo's heart (and be true to himself), Asuka is aided by a classmate named Tachibana Juuta; little do Asuka and Ryo suspect that under the penname Jewel Sachihana, Tachibana is actually the author of Asuka's favorite manga, Love Chick, which he bases on Asuka and Ryo's relationship (but with their genders switched).
IN TEN WORDS OR LESS: Manly men; maiden's hearts.
WHY IT'S GOOD: Again, I really feel like the plot summary pretty much speaks for itself. I am ridiculously fond of Otomen, though it lacks much in the way of substance; it's fun and it's cute and it's pretty, and that's really all I want or expect out of it! It does some fun stuff with gender roles, and Ryo in particular is a great if occasionally ignored character; really, most "manly" girls in shoujo are just covering a secret weakness or fear, but Ryo genuinely isn't phased in the slightest, and as a result I think her easygoing and placid nature is an excellent complement to Asuka's insecurity and worries. I caught a few episodes of the live-action drama over the summer, and I intend to watch more, but the manga is just lksjdfk so good.
WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: ONEMANGA (ongoing).
君に届け
(KIMI NI TODOKE, REACHING YOU)
PLOT SUMMARY: Sawako Kuronuma, called Sadako by her classmates for her resemblance to the character from Ring, has always been feared and misunderstood because of her appearance. There are rumors that Sawako can see ghosts and curse people. But when her idol, popular boy Kazehaya, begins talking with her, everything changes. She finds herself in a new world, trying to make friends and talking to different people and she can't thank Kazehaya enough for giving her these opportunities. Slowly, but surely, a sweet love is blossoming between the two as they will overtake any circumstance or clear obstacles in their way.
IN TEN WORDS OR LESS: Rather than "like", I'd say "like a whole lot".
WHY IT'S GOOD: By all rights I feel like I should really hate Kimi ni Todoke, which is all of the things I don't like about shoujo manga - the focus is on romance (although in its defense it does a really great job of at least pretending to focus on Sawako's growth as person), there's a rival subplot, etc etc etc. But the characters are just so compelling in this one, I can't bring myself to dislike it. Kazehaya in particular is a breath of fresh air; he's a female fantasy, the kind of guy who probably doesn't really exist, but he's a compelling archetype and I've found I really love him a lot. Probably the best subplot so far has been revolving around a misunderstanding between Sawako and her two friends (incidentally my favorite characters), a kogal (Yano-chin) and a yankee (Chizu-chan); it's a really beautiful, kind of soothing series, and I really can't talk it up enough.
WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: ONEMANGA (ongoing).
スキップ・ビート!
(SKIP BEAT!)
PLOT SUMMARY: Skip-Beat! is about Kyoko Mogami, a wistful yet cheery sixteen year-old girl who loves her childhood friend, Shotaro, but is cruelly betrayed and thus seeks revenge against him. Shotaro, not wishing to take over his parents' inn, becomes bored of living in Kyoto and decides to move to Tokyo to pursue a career in music, asking Kyoko to leave high school and her life behind to help him. Upon arrival in Tokyo, Kyoko lives an unreasonably frugal life, spending nothing on herself and doing whatever she can for the freeloading Sho, who eventually becomes ranked seventh in the top twenty most popular entertainers of Japan. One day, however, as Kyoko brings Sho his lunch at a company building, she overhears Shotaro complaining about her to his manager, saying that she is a boring and plain girl with no sex appeal that he'd like to cast away. He then proceeds to sweet-talk and flirt with his manager, in stark contrast to the cold and demanding attitude he usually exhibits towards Kyoko. Unlike other heroines in the same situation, Kyoko doesn't shed many tears when she learns that Sho thinks she's only good for housekeeping. Instead, her "Pandora's box" opens and she vows vengeance on Sho. She changes her appearance and enters the entertainment business, facing many challenges along the way. Skip Beat! follows Kyoko's journey to climb the showbiz ladder as she meets interesting people, in the hopes of getting revenge on Shotaro, but also in order to get back her sense of compassion that she had lost when her heart was broken by Sho.
IN TEN WORDS OR LESS: Filled with child-touchers and hatred and killing intent.
WHY IT'S GOOD: Ugh I can't even. Look, even ignoring the romance (and you kind of really can), this series is all about Kyoko learning and growing and becoming her own person. Rather than love or sadness, Kyoko pretty much experiences mostly rage and killing intent, and her love interest isn't much different either. Pretty much everyone in the series has a completely warped and twisted personality, but rather than playing their craziness up for drama, it is mostly played up for laughs; this is most true of Kyoko, of course, who has tiny evil Kyoko-faced demons shoot out of her entire body whenever anyone mentions Shotaro or gets her angry, but it's equally true of her overly-tsundere best friend, or even her love interest, who terrifies her with his evil killing intent (and sparkles). There's a lot of stuff about acting and what it means to play a character, as well - I imagine working with an actor like Kyoko in the real world would be terrible, as she's definitely a method actor (with a specialty in cruel, evil characters), but in terms of pure entertainment, it does its job. In turns funny, touching, and ridiculous, this series is legit hilarious and genuinely fabulous, and you should absolutely be reading it.
WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: ONEMANGA (ongoing).
Whew!!! Hopefully you found something that looks interesting on this list. I have plans for another rec post (entitled "Jump Series You Should Read Instead Of Wasting Your Time On Reborn"), but as of now I'm gonna go eat some dinner
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