When I was first contemplating reading Skip Beat!, I was hesitating a lot. I'm not the type who likes really long stories, nor did the synopsis caught my attention that much. However, once I got into it, due to an intense persuasion by a friend, I couldn't stop.

Story:

Skip Beat! is not your standard, very cliché shoujo-romance manga where the plot revolves around the female and male lead falling in love and eventually getting together. The manga, of course, has romance as well, but it's also a lot more than that. It's a story about a young girl with a mentally abusive past finding her own path and happiness in life and learning to love herself (and eventually others) in the process.

The story itself is very grounded, since the mangaka had it all planned out at the beginning, so there is lots of foreshadowing as well. It's full of funny, hilarious, heart-wrenching and also angsty moments, so you can't help but in one minute laugh and then in the next one cry your eyes out. The story-telling is incredibly detailed and also quite slow-paced (while still keeping the enjoyment), the mangaka puts loads of attention on every little detail, which makes the story very unique and you can truly feel the slowburn. Every chapter ends with a cliff-hanger so you can't help but be dragged into it more and more.

Art:

The art is the only downside of Skip Beat!, in my opinion. At the beginning of the story the art style is definitely not too appealing, the chins are too narrow and long, the arms and legs are too dis-proportioned compared to the body and the overall impression of the art is not the best. However, you can definitely see it all improving, the more recent chapters can even be called beautifully drawn.

In a strange way, the art also one of the manga's strong points. Nakamura Yoshiki is incredibly talented in drawing the emotions displayed on the character's faces and in the eyes. It's incredible how strongly she can convey the feelings to the readers, it's truly outstanding.

Character:

Probably one of the strongest points of the manga. Every character is incredibly unique, and all of them are very human with notable flaws. The supporting characters also get their precious "screen time" and all of them under-go character growth as well.

The main female lead is unlike any of the shoujo heroines I've ever encountered. She is vengeful, she has a heart full of hate, and lost the ability to love others. She, on the other hand is also incredibly strong-willed, strong and very naive. Her mentally abusive past makes her very relatable, and in a way, controls her actions and thoughts. She shapes the main story and message of Skip Beat!, since it's all about her growth and about her finding herself and learning to love again.

The main male lead, just like the female lead, is an incredibly complex character, and his story, background and character growth is just as important and relevant to the story line, as hers. Coming from a physically abusive, painful and guilt-ridden past, he too, has to go through a lot in order to finally let it all go and allow himself the happiness and love he ultimately deserves.

The story, among everything else, is also a story of these two people finding and - unbeknownst to them - healing each other along the way.

Enjoyment:

To sum it up, I believe that the "shoujo" label is misleading, since I'm certain that not just girls can enjoy the story that this manga offers. It has everything a good story needs. Outstanding storyline, complex characters, totally torturous, slow-building romance, good humor, angsy moments.

I would suggest everyone not to judge the book by it's cover, aka do not judge by the un-appealing art-style at the beginning, because the story is more than worth the amount of time it requires to read.