Skip-Beat Vol 13

[meganbmoore]

At long last, the Dark Moon arc is over. I know I’ve said it before, but while this arc was good when it was focusing on Kyoko and her figuring out her voice for her first big role, it was pretty good, but when it switched to Ren having Issues playing romantic roles, it kinda got dull. Yes, the whole “oh hai! Ren and Kyoko horizontal on the kitchen floor and Kyoko has no idea what’s going on because it’s practice for the drama!” thing helped, but it had a limited lifespan. Those flashbacks during the test proved that.

BUT!

It seems we are past that now (I’m sure there will be “how the show went” bits, but that’s ok) and back to Ren being repressed and standoffish and Kyoko being her perky, hyper, near rabid self, obsessed with grudges and pleasing people. And, of course, Ren’s manager is back to being a fulltime Ren/Kyoko shipper. (Is it just me, or do their hairstyles sometimes make it hard to tell him and Ogata apart?)

I’m curious about Ren’s issues with who I believe is the person who played Katsuki in the original drama. I’m curious, but fearful of it overtaking the book. (Look, I signed up for the hijinks of a revenge driven girl finding what she wants to do with herself by accident and her best friend and the slightly older guy who isn’t quite adjusted to liking a girl 5~ years younger, not romantic wangst[some romantic wangsting ok] and Ren’s issues with Kyoko being cute and supportive.)

And…uhm…I have yet to figure out why we need the subplot of Ren and Kyoko having known each other when she was little. It has yet to contribute anything.

(And despite my seeming to complain a lot lately, I still love this thing.)

I maintain that Dark Moon sounds like a terribly melodramatic and overly wangsty drama that, were it real, would be insanely popular. And that I’d flee from.

Now, let’s bring Kanae back, shall we? 

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The elements of Ren's arc were good, it was just too long as a whole. I really hope we don't maintain the switch. It's one of those things that tends to make me drop series, no matter how much I may enjoy them otherwise (see: Ouran[though that was more "male friendship rules because it's stronger than silly things like liking the same girl"], Hana Kimi.) I mean, I read these things for stories about girls with cute accessories(living and otherwise) not for girls who stand by and adoringly support a cute accessory as he angsts. Though I seem to be in the minority with that.

I haven't read Kare Kano, but it's on my list. So far, Skip-Beat doesn't seem to be doing the complete switch, so I'll hold out hope.

*wanders off, hugging her W Juliet and Basara for never letting her down that way*

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

There are a few segments of Basara that are Shuri's POV, but they certainly never reduce Sarasa to adoringly supporting him. Yet another reason it is the best manga ever.

I finished Hana-Kimi, but promptly sold it all. Mizuki just got stupider and stupider and so did the plots. I didn't cite Sano's angst as a particular cause for annoyance; it was more... everything.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Even at her most emotional moments, Sarasa never let her feelings for Shuri affect her judgement. Even though learning the truth almost destroyed them both emotionally, she's the one who was able to come to grips with it. If anyone was swayed or ruled by romantic emotions and reduced to supporting on the sidelines, it was Shuri, but even that is overstating the case.

The thing that makes Basara my favorite shoujo ever and second favorite manga ever is that, from beginning to end, no matter what Shuri went through or what turns the plot took, it remained Sarasa's story. (Though, I still need to read the last 2 volumes of short stories...)

I don't think it's really that Sano's angst was the cause, but rather that all the problems started cropping up when that arc started.

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

Even at her most emotional moments, Sarasa never let her feelings for Shuri affect her judgement.

Yeah, and at one point she even said, if she had to, she'd choose her friends over him.

What's the favorite manga ever? Claymore? :)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

In a lot of ways, while Shuri is the one who walks the harder line, Sarasa makes the harder decisions. Shuri's decisions tend to be easier to make in a lot of ways, though it's kind of hard to articulate why. While he often makes bad decisions, and is an excellent strategist, it sames that there's usually only a limited number of decisions he could make, while Sarasa's paths often feel like more of a blank slate where she could make dozens of decisions, but only a few would really be good ones, and she has to go through the options, and in the long run, she's much better at looking at the bigger picture than he is. (On the flipside, there's been more love and acceptance in her life, and I think that makes it easier for her to look at the bigger picture, because Shuri's had so few people he can trust and rely on that I think his decisions often reflect that, despite his commitment to his goals.)

Blade of the Immortal is the favorite, and largely the reason I read manga.

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

I get what you're saying about Basara. Maybe Shuri, too, sees things more in absolutes where Sarasa, like you say, can see the bigger picture but also is more tolerant and sees the worth of varying points of view.

I have never read Blade of the Immortal, but I did just order Ohikkoshi, which is, I think, by the same artist.

ETA: Since we seem to like a goodly amount of similar things, I poked around with my new favorite tool (http://www.worldcat.org) and found a copy of this. Hopefully my library will be able to get it via ILL.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think Shuri sees the world very much in black and white, and in terms of stregnth and weakness. It's why he was overthrown and why he couldn't accept his people's help at the time in Suo, and why it took him so long to be able to admit he still loved Sarasa.

Ohikkoshi is good, but nothing at all like BOTI.

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

I didn't figure it would be. It's interesting how these creators of gritty seinen (Eden and BotI) also have slice-of-life compilations like Tanpenshu and Ohikkoshi.