Skip Beat Ep. 01 - YAYAYAYAYAY

Well, this series is my pick of the season, so I'm quite excited that it's finally out. Quick summary: All kids hold an egg in their soul. The egg of their hearts... I mean...all people have a box in their hearts. A box that can only be unlocked by someone else. Kyoko is an average sweet girl in Tokyo who juggles multiple jobs to support her personal prince and childhood friend, Shou Fuwa. Sho is a rising star and a popular idol singer, but he still relies on her to pay the rent for his apartment. He verbally abuses her during the rare moments that he actually spends time with her, and the rest of the time he's busy basking in the glory of his idol status. Kyoko is content to bear all of it for his sake, dreaming of one day being a princess for Sho. Unfortunately, he doesn't share the same dream. She overhears him telling his manager that he has no interest in plain girls like Kyoko and that he only uses her. These words unlock Kyoko's "box of the heart" releasing a thousand vengeful demons. But with all of Sho's security guards, Kyoko can't even touch him. He tells her the only way to get revenge is to outdo him in show business. She sells all her worldly possessions and gets a new haircut, color, and wardrobe, ready to make herself a new person who will overtake Sho someday.

I am so excited. Skip Beat! is one of my favorite shoujo series, and I was very excited to find it was going to get the anime treatment. This episode was a bit frustrating, but the first chapter of the manga was equally frustrating, so I'll deal with it. Next episode looks to have Kyoko's first audition, which is a riot, so I'm excited for that. The adaptation of the manga's storyline is happily quite faithful to the original. The only change was an extra cameo appearance of Ren, but it was a nice touch and I'm really happy with how it's kept to the original.

The animation is clean, and pretty, although not very shoujo. I'm not really a fan of Sho's really bright yellow hair, but since I'm not a Sho fan anyway, I guess it doesn't matter. XD The music is above average, which is pleasing. I especially liked the track when Kyoko went to visit Sho and found that he wasn't interested in her. The OP was average in terms of animation and music, but it's fine. I really liked the ED, but I like that sort of sound so there's no surprise there. XD More than anything, I loved the voice acting. Love love love. I really had no doubts that Marina Inoue and Mamoru Miyano would knock it out of the park, and Katsuyuki Konishi's two lines as Ren sounded great. I'm really excited for more, and as much as I dislike Ren, I'm really hoping he gets a concert or something so I can hear Mamoru Miyano sing. >.> The animation in the OP only covers Kyoko's first two jobs. Hopefully we'll get at least as far as Dark Moon.

Overall, I'm pleased with this episode in that it conveyed the story well. I can't wait for next week with Kyoko's first audition when the story gets ridiculous and wonderful all at once.

Parody of Mos Burger.

--Ou-bento