Skip Beat!, Volume 1 Book

The attention to detail in this Japanese comic book is quite remarkable, both in the exceptional artwork and in the text itself, especially the asides that are thrown in that give the idea of a play, and yet the story is relatively simple in concept.

Briefly, Kyoko is interested in pop star Sho, who abandons her in Tokyo, and Kyoko wanting revenge and bearing a grudge (this is the theme in the book), is determined to join a talent agency and the LME Talent Agency is her target.

With sheer perseverance (I always admire that in an individual when they know what they want, be it for whatever reason, apart from wanting to kill someone, of course), she doggedly pursues and manages to persuade "L.M.E. Talent Agency, Talento Section Supervisor, Takenori Sawara, age 41, born March 10, Blood type AB…" to consider her for an audition and would you believe that Sho's rival Ren Tsuruga belongs to this agency. And what is the end result? Well that's for you to find out.

I'm not too sure of the exact meaning of Manga - does it mean comic books or cartoonish art? Either way, the book states that it is for thirteen year olds and upwards, and so that includes me.

I've always had a great admiration for the Japanese. Their history, their age-old customs and traditions, their stoicism in times of disaster (I still shudder when I think of that shameful episode in 1945 with such a tremendous loss of life), their inventiveness and advances in technology over the last few decades and now I see that Manga is now another string to their bow.

What I particularly liked were the comments made by the author on the left of the page, and studded from time to time throughout the book, as to how the book came to fruition. Her editor appears to be quite a demanding individual too, what with four different attempts at Kyoko's hairstyle, questioning the title of the book, etc. Also there are end notes at the beginning (I mean the end as you have to read the book Japanese style from the right to the left) giving short meanings of some of the terms used.

Here are a few of them:

"The big sneeze: In Japan sneezing is a sign that people are talking about you. Sneeze once and you are being praised, twice and you are being criticized, three times and you are being laughed at (or admired or scolded), and four times means you will catch a cold."

Also, "Straw doll: In Japan straw dolls can be used, much like voodoo dolls, to put a curse on someone",

And, "The hand coming from Kyoko's throat: In Japanese, there's an expression 'to want so much that a hand comes out of the throat.' This is a visual representation of that expression"

I came across this book by chance as a recent Goodreads' friend had this as his favourite book. And when there's one favourite book (not many) involved, I always like to check it out as it gives me more of a clue about the personality of the friend concerned.

All in all this is a super little gem of a book and highly recommended to arty farty types like myself.