Title: Skip Beat!

Author & Illustrator: Yoshiki Nakamura

Genre: Shoujo

Volumes: 19 and still running

Publisher: Hakusensha (Japanese)

Licensed by: Viz Media (English)

Year: 2006

Official Summary (Viz media):

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!

Note: The second (middle) picture above is just a costume that the boy (Sho) is wearing. This manga is completely normal and doesn’t have any demons or monsters in it.

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To be honest, this is so not my type of story, but I found it to be quite different and refreshing. When I first read the summary, I though it would be a classic Shoujo story, where -

girl loves boy

boy dumps girl

and then girl gets revenge on boy

boy loves girl again

and so on…

As I read through the volumes, I found myself more intrigued and impatient because I was dying to know what the next scene was going to be about. Know this, I read through nineteen volumes in only three days.

The story conquers love, revenge, friendship and determination to get to the goal that you want to reach. I found the heroine to be rather refreshing, for she was not your typical Shojo queen and could be naïve at times.

A favorite element of mine that I found in this story is that one of the love interests is an older man. So, girls out there who like to date older men, this one is definitely for you.

To be honest, I liked the older man factor in this story – it was different. It’s good to see a grown man confused about someone younger. However, I was a bit reluctant on why it was a big deal because she was only five years younger than him. Personally, I don’t find it a big deal.

So what do you all think? Is it a story worth your time? Would the age gap between the hero and heroine matter to you?

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Sources: Viz Media, Anime News Network, and Wikipedia