Helter Skelter

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Des alternatives: English: Helter Skelter: Fashion Unfriendly
Japanese: ヘルタースケルター
Auteur: Okazaki, Kyoko
Taper: Manga
Volumes: 1
Chapitres: 9
Statut: Finished
Publier: 1995-06-08 to 1996-03-08
Sérialisation: Feel Young

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4.2
(12 Votes)
58.33%
16.67%
8.33%
16.67%
0.00%
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Des alternatives: English: Helter Skelter: Fashion Unfriendly
Japanese: ヘルタースケルター
Auteur: Okazaki, Kyoko
Taper: Manga
Volumes: 1
Chapitres: 9
Statut: Finished
Publier: 1995-06-08 to 1996-03-08
Sérialisation: Feel Young
But
4.2
12 Votes
58.33%
16.67%
8.33%
16.67%
0.00%
0 En train de lire
0 Veux lire
0 Lis
Sommaire
Japanese supermodel and fashion icon Liliko leads a posh life, wearing and promoting the biggest brands in the country. She stands at the top of the modeling industry with the beauty she has attained through full-body plastic surgery.

However, Liliko's body soon begins to break down due to the extensive surgery she has been through and the medication she has taken. Worse still, her fear of growing old and being rendered useless begins to drive her insane. Helter Skelter is the story of Liliko's struggles to remain in the limelight in a world where people are so easily replaced.

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Helter Skelter review
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TheFutureIsAni18
Apr 04, 2021
What do we get when we add Fashion, unrealistic airbrushed bodies, and capitalism? We get Liliko and her story in Helter Skelter. This manga is a repulsive commentary of how people go to such lengths to fit themselves into a box that is expected from the unattainable beauty standards imposed by the media. From make-up, clothes, behaviours, life-style; young women were pressured to conform into this idealised, youthful beauty.

Liliko is Japan’s most loved model. She appears in billboards and magazine covers and tv ads and has her own make up line. She has the smallest waist line, smoothest skin, perfect breast size, striking yet gorgeous face and a wonderful career life ahead of her. Are we really sure that this image of hers are in fact a reality? This manga unfolds as we are told behind this impossibly perfect woman lies an assortments of devious acts committed in order to preserve this less arbitrary and materialistic definition of beauty.

Quoted from the manga, ‘youth is beautiful, but beauty is not youth’, was a wise word by a police who was investigating cases of deaths and violence among celebrities. Liliko became incredibly obsessed with this idea of beauty to the point of risking her life and harming others. Young and upcoming models were her biggest threat, she had to get rid of them before they get rid of her. This manga does not only portray Liliko as the bad one, since we see other models and celebrities stomp each other off to gain popularity.

In short, Helter Skelter is a culmination of the vile business that goes behind every magazine shots, beauty product ads, and the extremely attractive individuals shown in media. A vicious cycle that ruins models and consumers too.
Helter Skelter review
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vhOtaku14
Apr 04, 2021
We begin in the first chapter by meeting Ririko at the height of her career. She is idolized by millions, promotes the latest lines of beauty products and stars in popular dramas. But then we are treated to what happens after the cameras are shut and the stage crew leaves. As we might suspect in regards to the common trope of the too perfect model, Ririko is actually manipulative, abusive and otherwise the polar opposite of her public personality. She sells her body to the heir of a line of supermarkets for expensive gifts and to the producers and directors of her shows for more screen time. She makes unreasonable demands of her assistants ranging from finding exotic fruits to masturbating in front of her. However, the mangaka Okazaki Kyoko adds a twist – the surgery that has left her stunning has side effects that eat away at her beauty.

It is the complexity of Ririko and her way of struggling against the inevitable end that makes Helter Skelter so compelling as we see the ugliness inside of her reveal itself on her face and body. We are made to slowly care for Ririko as the story includes mention of how she frequently sends money back to her family and moments of tenderness she shows to those closest to her. But the way she shows her love hurt them more than anything. She thinks her assistant spends too much time with her boyfriend so Ririko sleeps with him to hurt their relationship. An arranged marriage between the aforementioned heir and another woman threatens Ririko’s relationship so she calls upon her assistant to splash acid on her rival.

Yet despite a cast filled with unlikeable characters, it becomes clear who the real target of Helter Skelter’s scorn is – the fans. Ririko’s fans gorge themselves on every tidbit by or about her – believing wholeheartedly whatever their goddess decrees to be true. However given any rumor that she is indeed not perfection embodied, the fans are all too ready to pounce, tear apart and stand poised for the next fad. On the surface, Helter Skelter is a story about struggle but underneath there is a commentary about the relationship between the media and us. It is all too easy to identify at least partially with the fans.

With only nine chapters, Helter Skelter feels like double or triple that, perhaps due to the compulsion to read it one or two more times. An essay that would take more time to read than the actual manga could still not do it justice with the number of plot twists and nuances being employed and certainly my brief overview is dismally inept. If you’re feeling too carefree and happy these days, treat yourself to this concentrated shot of the cerebral and the disheartening.
Helter Skelter review
par
pikachu349
Apr 04, 2021
"A word before we start: laughter and screams sound very much alike." Okazaki Kyoko "Helter Skelter"

When I finished chapter 9 of this manga, I felt a intense need to listen Beatles song "Helter Skelter" to complete the feeling that "Helter Skelter", the manga, started in me. Do you know all the definitions of this title? Originally, Helter Skelter is a amusement park ride with a slide built in a spiral around a high tower. On Paul McCartney's explanation to the song we got: "Using the symbol of a helter skelter as a ride from the top to the bottom; the rise and fall of the Roman Empire—and this was the fall, the demise". Charles Manson, a serial killer who believed Beatles songs contained a coded prophecy of an apocalyptic war, defined it as: “Helter Skelter is confusion. Confusion is coming down fast. If you don’t see the confusion coming down fast around you, you can call it what you wish”. It's pure chaos and that's what we slowly see in this manga, we got confusion and chaos, a ride from the top to the bottom with Riroko.

Story: Our main character is the anti-heroine Riroko/Ririko. We enter her celebrity life following her twisted mind since the beginning when her perfect body starts to crumble. When your work is based on using your body image, you start to do everything to achieve the world's beauty concept and to maintain it as time pass by. But, unfortunately, isn't enough. Even with more and more surgeries, the time will come. "It's a rat race".
Helter Skelter introduces us a lot of subjects, be it in dialogues, little panels showing high-school girls talking, quick and smart quotes, small jokes or in one of the character's thoughts. Talks about the media and how it controls the news, about how a person can be loved by millions and still be lonely, makes you question if the person became that way because of the world, the pressure or because of her own choices... and it doesn't give the answer. Tells us about relationships and how weak they can be... Makes you thinks in your principles. Are they right? Aren't you filled with conformity?
This manga has background stories too. The characters are connect somehow, a police detective doing a investigation can be "a feather of the same wing" with Riroko. Her manager Hada, one of those who suffer with Riroko imposing herself, can choose a path that she never imagined.

Life is full of decisions. Are your decisions based on your principles? On the world's ideals? On the others orders? Which one?

Development: I like the development. Some details in the story you can consider overdone a little, but still amazing how everything happens. Like Riroko bruises, surgery after surgery... Can we consider Riroko a Josei creature from "Frankenstein"? She's compared with a chimera, built with every fashion sense of that time, "a unnatural face, it doesn't match". Riroko's story is compared with Norma's from "Sunset Boulevard" too. The way the fashion industry influences womans everywhere, "I want to become her, I want to be like her!". Easily hearing a "I just sleep and eat what I want" from the ideal successful model makes you yearn even more for it. Where did her fall began? People stopped liking Riroko a bit, she became even more twisted and bothered, people stopped liking her even more... It's a vicious circle. For the background stories, the way Okazaki Kyoko connects it is just great. A detail here and there in chapter 1 to 6, one page for the mama, the manager, the clinic... And in chapter 7 to 9 everything collides.

Art: I must say, I wasn't happy with the art style. Since we were dealing with the concept of beauty, I was expecting a detailed art with a perfectionist touch. I was expecting more beauty. Then, I stopped to think: "What was I expecting...? Was MY concept of beauty. What I find pretty." and a quote from the previous chapter snapped in my mind: "Her beauty is a manifestation of our own desires"... Oh, you got me there, Okazaki Kyoko. So, giving a second thought, you realize the art style is just... necessary. Specially for the quickly transformation of beauty to freaky, which is just so easily and well done with a alternative art like this (Nakamura Asumiko is a great example too of how quickly a calm face can change to a face full with anger). How I can't give a 10 to a manga who answered my question with its own character's dialogues?

Overall: You have to read it slowly to enjoy everything. Or read it fast to have a quick ride from the top to the bottom. I don't know. I'm pretty sure this manga is not for everyone and that some won't appreciate it. I was thinking in a 8 when I started it, a 9 in chapter 6, but I could only give a 10 when I finished and started thinking about the quotes and the way she connects everything in the end.

Remember: "Youth and beauty are not synonymous. Youth is beautiful, but beauty isn't youth". What is beautiful for you?
Helter Skelter review
par
aish_y14
Apr 04, 2021
Ok, I can appreciate what this manga tried to be and the questions it tried to raise. There are some really important subjects in play here: suicide, rape, what the beauty industry can do to one's mind, to name a few.

That's the only reason why I don't give this a lower rating. Because everything else is just... terrible. Part of me thinks that it's terrible on purpose, but even so, I couldn't bring myself to enjoy this story.

Helter Skelter follows Ririko's story (more closely than any of the other characters), she's an actress/model/celebrity and also a reeeeeal bitch. You can't feel sympathy for her, not even when the mangaka throws in some sad moments. Like we're supposed to go "oh, poor rich and privileged white girl :( She's a bitch because of the circumstances! That totally justifies the shitty way she treats other people!"

Uhm... no. I could feel a bit of sympathy for her if she wasn't a bitch ALL THE TIME. If it was just a few moments but most of the time (or at least half of the time) she was a decent person. But that's not the case, Ririko makes sure to constantly be rude and a pain in the ass of everyone she meets (most importantly, her employees).

[MILD SPOILER WARNING] She even goes far as to RAPE her P.A, TWICE. Actually, it's implied to happen more than twice, but it is explicitly shown to us two times. [/END OF SPOILER]

She's abusive physically and mentally/emotionally, and just... such a toxic person. There is no way you could root for her happiness.

When the story isn't focusing on her being a horrible person, it focuses on this half-assed mystery involving a beauty clinic. This had the potential to be the best and most interesting part of the manga, but I can't decide which is worse: this or Ririko's pov.

And while I wasn't expecting a happy ending (Ririko certainly doesn't deserve one), instead we got an open ending that does nothing for us. It doesn't explain anything, it just leaves us confused. For me specifically, it just made me feel relieved that it was finally over, I didn't even question it lol

Last but not least: the art. I realize that this part of the review is subjective, but really, google a page from this manga. Do it, I dare you. Preferably one that shows Ririko or any other character. See what I mean?

I guess the irony is that Ririko is supposed to be the most beautiful human being on Earth, but the mangaka's art style is ugly. But to be completely honest, the art didn't help me like this not one bit. I could overlook this point and still give it a good rating if I liked the story despite that, but sadly, this was just another one of the reasons why I didn't.

Recently the live action movie based on this manga came out. I haven't watched it yet, but maybe that is more enjoyable than this? They got a beautiful woman to play Ririko and I won't have to endure this ugly art style, so that's already a plus lol
Helter Skelter review
par
ModusOperandi9
Apr 04, 2021
Fame, fortune, and beauty are the lusts of modern world. Pop culture has turned celebrities into shining icons to be idolized and strive to become. There is a social pressure for women in particular to maintain a standard of physical beauty, especially when they are in the limelight. And this can lead them to take drastic measures. So is the case of Liliko, the central character in Kyoko Okazaki's Helter Skelter, a horror story about beauty.

Liliko is the hottest model in Japan. Her career is booming, and she's everywhere, from movie appearances to talk shows and gossip tabloids. She's on the tip of everyone's tongue and treated like Japan's sweetheart. Her beauty seems too good to be real, and that's because it is. Liliko has gone through countless operations; her eye-balls, skeleton, and internal organs are all that remain from her original body. Regular operations are required to maintain her body, as well as copious amounts of drugs. In all respects, Liliko is a "plastic girl" manufactured to be a superstar. However, Liliko is painfully aware that her time in the limelight won't last forever, and has become resentful and self-destructive as her career begins to fade.

Helter Skelter examines celebrity culture with scathing cynicism, exposing the harsh reality and often grotesque nature of the pursuit of fame. Liliko's beauty is only skin-deep, behind her sweet public persona is highly volatile, unstable woman, who has almost no genuine personal relationships. Her "boyfriend" is a spoiled heir she plans on using as a meal ticket once her career fades, she treats her assistant with a twisted mixture of abuse and affection, and lets her boss (whom she calls Mama) run her life. Because of her profession, Liliko is obsessed with her appearances, having meltdowns whenever she notices the littlest imperfections. She's spiteful to anyone she feels might threaten her position, and resorts to sabotage and violence to eliminate competition. All this adds up to compelling portrait of a woman driven to madness and moral decay by her own thirst for fame, and society's fixation on celebrity.

It's tempting to simply to paint Helter Skelter as feminist tirade against celebrity culture, but this would not be doing the manga justice. Okazaki pens the story from a much more nuanced perspective; diving into the darker parts of femininity. Society's unrealistic standards of beauty puts monstrous pressure on Liliko, but she's a willing participant in this corrosive shallowness, making her just as monstrous. While is is implied that Liliko came from an unglamorous background, the story doesn't at all lionize her behavior or even attempt to milk the reader's sympathy. Instead, the focus is on the terrible person Liliko has become. The vitriolic hateful mess she allowed herself to become, implicating her just as much as the societal pressures that come with fame. It's this unflinchingly harsh honestly which Helter Skelter its unique power.

The manga is illustrated with Okazaki's idiosyncratic minimalism, and is a testament to its versatility. In Pink, an earlier Okazaki work, her art captured the flippant carelessness of the characters. Here, the art style is creates an inescapable artificiality which fits the story like a glove. A lot of emphasis is put on Liliko's manufactured beauty, and the loose detail of the art makes any standard of beauty feel fake. Yet, despite being minimal in detail, there are some truly haunting images in the manga, most notably Liliko's drug induced hallucinations late in the story. The only real drawback to the style is some designs look very similar, making it difficult to tell some side characters apart from one another. Also noteworthy is the accompanying illustrations of miserable looking nude women, which put society's obsession with sexualization in a darker context.

Helter Skelter is an relentlessly harsh examination of the shallowness of celebrity culture. It's an unflattering character piece of a woman so driven by wealth and beauty that she becomes nothing more than a decadent facade hiding a rotten core. It certainly isn't a comfortable read, but it's a visceral experience, and one which is well worth the read.
Helter Skelter review
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Ashed_1314
Apr 04, 2021
It’s not a surprise that Inio Asano (the acclaimed creator of works like "Oyasumi Punpun") cited Okazaki Kyoko as a heavy influence. For those unfamiliar with either Okazaki or Asano, both are revolutionaries within the medium. Their hard-hitting realism driven by “a need for truth” regardless of how bitter, and laced with explorative psychological power has shook and captivated the world with every frame. Both are truly masters of portraying various facets of the human condition and the world that shapes it. From that familiar cut comes Okazaki’s short but powerfully evocative piece titled ”Helter Skelter”.

The manga follows a high-fashion model named Liliko who is something of a Frankensteinian creation; the “final” product of repeated surgical transplants, stitched together by artificial fluff. Nothing about her is real. The world she lives in is artificial so why shouldn’t she be? What could possibly be wrong with being a legitimate product demanded by one’s environment? Okazaki answers these questions in the most literal, grotesque way possible while revealing something essential. Through Liliko’s descent into a sure form of madness, where she is mentally and physically falling apart, Okazaki speaks certain realities about her condition (and *perhaps* ours). Being at the rise of Japan’s fashion/modeling scene, Liliko flourishes as a top candidate but in order to please her position and her fans, she must struggle voraciously. She must eradicate herself on the inside and outside, and in the process, lose the little bit of identity she so dearly tries to hold on to. In effect, the story is one about inevitable self-destruction; it’s so heavily apparent, it seems almost fatalistic.

“Helter Skelter” isn’t really about showing a demanding and spiritually-exhausting industry, but about the horrors of losing face (literally) at superficial whim, while emphasizing the need to retain individualistic spirit, especially of one’s true self. Identity is eternally important and key here. Japanese creators and artists of all kind have struggled with this topic as a product of their ever-changing collective society and are constantly attempting to resign to individualism and self-expression, and this is the primary undercurrent of ”Helter Skelter”. Liliko is both a visual and physical lie, and her face isn’t hers, but of the many that find themselves faced with the kind of internal erosion Liliko does. It is a huge understatement and a disservice to this manga to reduce it to some generic commentary about how horrible the fashion industry is or whatever. It is so much more. It’s one of the most brutally honest pieces I’ve read within the medium that is able to combine so many intense themes into one heart-wrenching narrative. And this shines brilliantly through the story’s main character Liliko.

It seems that Okazaki must be some sort of human-istic genius that she’s able to create such a contrasting, and unfounded character like Liliko who is both a woman of shame (and artifice) and a symbol of empowerment, as diluted and wrong as the latter may seem – she is, undoubtedly. Her perpetual acts of self-destruction are probably the only things real about her and the only times she experiences real joy (even if they seem illusive to us). The graphic, cold sexual acts, the remarkable lust for attention, the revolting deeds brought on by jealousy all make her seem incredibly villainous from the eyes of society, and for moments, to the reader. Yet, something real continues to beat under all that vindictiveness that keeps Liliko in the heart of the reader’s sympathy. Perhaps, it is the sharp fatalism, or perhaps something more. A woman like her can never be destined for happiness; it is impossible, but through her decadence, her vile nature, and her trapped personality that everyone around her tries so hard to destroy, a woman exists that fights viciously - even if subconsciously and in vain - to live for herself; the way she wants.

And nothing accentuates the impact of this narrative more than the art.

Okazaki’s art in “Helter Skelter” is spot-on. It’s sketched with little regard for beauty – each line portraying the inner distress of the work’s essence. It’s messy at points, overtly simplistic, and wildly raw – and that’s precisely why it works. That which is beautiful is often deceptive, and there is no deception in Okazaki’s art. Those wishing to revel in decorous, sparkling art will not find it here, and it’s actually a little silly to read criticisms demanding that. The entire point of this work is to avoid that. Okazaki aimed to focus on the ugly side of “beautiful”, to present the concept as an insanely real phenomenon that is destructive, revolting, and evocative. Her art achieves just that. There is absolutely no merit in beautifying that which is not and was never supposed to be. Her art remained true to the intentions and ambitions of her work and I found it absolutely fitting considering the subject matter and tone of this work.

A last point of interest that must be addressed relates to one of the genres that this manga falls under: Horror. Think back on what the horror genre entails. As a general rule, it must invoke some degree of fear. Now most horror works focus on monsters, the supernatural, or various external entities that gridlock the characters of the story, and by extension, the consumer into an impasse blocked by some scary or fear-inducing phenomenon. Most successful horror is able to do that because it forces the viewer to speculate the possibility of it translating into reality or at least by producing a shock-value effect that just genuinely disturbs the mind. Now, “Helter Skelter” isn’t standard horror, but it is very appropriately placed into horror for the very fact that it induces a kind of visceral fear that may be guising itself as discomfort or disgust, but it is fear nonetheless. Imagine: when the monster moves inside your head, into the very cranium of your being, and unleashes its destruction from within, the psychological toll and weight it brings can be nothing but devastating. Consider it a possession of sorts, but not by a supernatural entity or some biblical demon, but one that has long existed within you. That is why Liliko is terrifying. That is why “Helter Skelter” is terrifying. It is real and you can feel it in your bones.

This is truly a fantastic work. I stumbled upon it on whim and was introduced to a world of chaos, which was morbid and real. Okazaki deserves all the acclaim she gets, and really leaves no room for surprise that one of the greatest mangaka of our generation has cited her as a sole point of influence. For being a short in length, only nine-chapters, what this narrative manages to bring forth is nothing short of amazing. Overall, “Helter Skelter” is a disturbingly eclectic manga suited for those who yearn for mature works not just geared towards “women-issues”, but ones that paint grander sentiments about society, identity, and the duality that exists between both.
Helter Skelter review
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ChaosSaviour14
Apr 04, 2021
Maintaining the top position in anything is a hard task, be it sports or intellect; this is no different for the modelling world. Where beauty is top priority, people will try to use all types of methods to maintain it, be it by the use of makeup, drugs or even plastic surgery. Meet Ririko, Japan's top model who abuses of these methods to the extreme.

Helter Skelter shows the life of Ririko, a japanese top model who thrives to maintain her position, as the concept of beauty changes and new models come in. As stated earlier, Ririko uses plastic surgery to adapt herself to the changes of the concepts of beauty. This doesn't come without any consequences: frequent maintenance is necessary and if done in excess, even that won't help over time.

As the story goes on, we observe how aftereffects of the plastic surgery begins to show up: bruises, skin problems, psychological problems related to the ingestion of different drugs, you name it. This has effects on herself as well as  the interactions Ririko has with her staff. Being emotionally unstable is one of the side effects.

The storytelling is done well using meaningful dialogues that gives the reader a good insight in the emotional states of all the different characters, and the actions they do. One thing I missed in the story were the reasons why Ririko became such model. Personally I'd have liked to see her gradual "transformation" into the current Ririko, as well the emotional state she was in.

Several characters are introduced in Helter Skelter: Hada, Ririko's assistant; 'Mom', her manager; the detective that is investigating a case related with Ririko, her sister... Most characters lack a bit in development, however in exchange we see their interactions with the lead character, though it has an issue: these characters have near to no influence in Ririko's development. It must be said that some secondary characters have interesting backgrounds or motives, making the story for the reader more enjoyable. Ririko's development is mainly influenced by the media and her own view of beauty; this shows how big her ego is and gives the reader an insight on how she possibly decided to do plastic surgery.

The art of Helter Skelter is rather lackluster. It is very simplistic with little detail, which I personally think is a big minus to the manga. The main focus lies on the beauty theme, so you would expect very well drawn characters as well as a big variety in the physical appearance of the characters. Because of this art style, the physical changes Ririko undergoes are barely noticeable. This goes for the other characters as well, as little difference is observed. Some may think otherwise, that it fits the manga as beauty is a subjective concept. I personally think this is not the case as it fails to transmit well the concept of beauty and the changes Ririko undergoes.

Helter Skelter was an enjoyable read with a great story, giving a good insight into the modelling a world, as well as the problems extensive plastic surgery gives.The art style didn't quite fit with the story, though the story made up for it. I would recommend this manga to anyone with an interest to the modelling world, or wants to read something different, as it is relative short with a good story.

Thanks for reading, any feedback is appreciated.
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