I've taken up reading Skip Beat after having watched and immensly enjoyed the anime. I just had to know what happens next in Mogami-san's turbulent life. The manga is good, I'll give it that much, but it's not great. In my opinion there are too many chapters that are nothing more than fillers. To tell you the truth, I thought about giving it up altogether. However, I couldn't. It's all Mogami-san's fault!
Mogami Kyoko is one of the best female characters I've encountered in a shojo manga. She starts out as a passive, innocent-beyond-innocence-itself girl (read: anoying as hell). She looses that trait as she is betrayed and she strives to reinvent herself and to regain the trust in people and in love. She becomes a rising actress, working her way to the top.
It's a rather new experience for me to keep reading a shojo manga because I like the female character so much. Don't get me wrong, I do like the male characters, Tsuruga-san and Fuwa-san, but the motivation behind my sticking like glue to Skip Beat is Mogami. She is fun and smart, and she gets herself in all sort of impossible situations. Once a meek little lamb, she turns into a ferocious, unyielding girl. A worthy cause, which, unfortunately, gets a bit sidetracked as the manga continues on.
However, every once in a while, Mogami-san shines in all her ferocity and all is right with the world. It's actually somewhat easier to digest all the seemingly meaningless chapters, knowing that you'll get what you want.
Tsuruga Ren is, sort of, the main male character. I said sort of, because he gets fewer pages as the manga continues, which is rather irritating. I really like the fact that he is a nice guy, supportive, and ready to help when help is needed.
I believe Skip Beat is a manga worth reading. It's fun and witty, just like it's main character, and although it sometimes wanders off to a place I don't understand or like, I think it's still worth going through that place. I know that the overall grade seems to be rather harsh when taking the review into account, but I just can't forgive all those boring chapters.