Nakamura Yoshiki - Skip Beat, ch. 189-198

[oyceter]

I know I said I wasn't going to read chapters, but I couldn't resist... /o\

Spoilers have already reread certain chapters three times

awsfkla;owifja;owigj *flails*

Wow. Just... wow. *fans self*

I gotta say, this is definitely one of the series I really didn't think was going to go there, but holy crap Nakamura does gothic punk bad wrong sexytimes well. Who knew!! Also, Kyoko totally pwned your ass, Ren. Also also, WHO KNEW?!

(And has Nakamura's art and/or toning gotten a lot better? Or is it just because I haven't read it for a while? But seriously, I just keep stopping to stare at her close ups on Ren and Kyoko.)

Also, now I totally want dirty wrong bad Cain/Setsuka with deeply buried Ren/Kyoko ~feelings~ fic. O_O was not expecting this!

Mostly: aioedfja;oijnm;oaisdjf;oaiw and I think the heat level there topped a lot of actual sex scenes I've read.

Comments

[sqbr]

Haha yeah I actually gave up on the series for a while because I was so sick of Ren's manly man pain, but then I saw a bit of this chapter and went "I MUST SEE THE CONTEXT FOR THIS" and do not regret reading it one bit :D

(...and if you find a fic like that post a link...)

[oyceter]

I am so glad I got to speed through several volumes of the current manpain arc, because I would have so much less tolerance for it reading a volume at a time.

Alas! I have trawled all of AO3's Skip Beat fanworks but so far nothing! I may be desperate enough to hit up ff.net.

[sqbr]

I remember reading a bunch of fic on ff.net way back when I first got into the manga, some of them were nice enough but...yeah.

[oyceter]

Yeah, I went through most of them later and didn't really find anything I liked =(.

[skygiants]

Ahhhhh my feelings about these chapters are so conflicted! On the one hand, controlling angsty Ren really annoys me (I liked polite Ren who took a backseat to Kyoko and was considerate of her feelings!) but ON THE OTHER HAND, DAMN, Nakamura. DAMN.

[oyceter]

I am shallowly okay with controlling angsty Ren as long as it ends up this way! (Also half of me kind of disassociates it from Ren and Kyoko, but with enough Ren/Kyoko shipping overtones to work.) OTOH, I'd be pretty annoyed if Ren kept doing this outside of the Cain Heel persona because I really like polite, restrained Ren.

[jinian]

Oh yes. I am also annoyed with the Ren personality shift, but wow, and Kyoko WINS, and hotter than All The Things.

Maybe I will go read that again right now.

[oyceter]

I KNOW SO HOT.

I'm really annoyed with the whole Dark Angsty Kuon showing through thing except for that scene. Because holy crap wow.

[vi]

AHH YES. When I read these latest chapters, I almost thought I had the wrong manga on my browser. XD

I'm appreciating seeing more of Kyoko's perspective. And that last page of 198 - I was so taken by the image of her standing on the cliff's edge.

[oyceter]

I also really love that Setsu taking initiative is based off Kyoko's memory of a sexy movie scene! Also how the latest chapter has Cain/Ren hugging Setsu/Kyoko and her slow move to hug him back.

[jinian]

Yes! And then she finishes with the scene and is like "shit, better improvise" and fails. That is a LOT like my early sexual experiences. :)

[oyceter]

I also kinda liked the explanation of how to make a hickey. I dunno, trying to think of how the scene is similar or different to other shoujo manga high sexual tension scenes. I kind of lean toward Kyoko flipping the scenario over and taking charge as being something I don't see often (or at all?). Also really love Ren being all "holy crap she totally out-acted me! I must power up on acting!" Yes Ren. You keep telling yourself it's about the acting.

[jinian]

I admire your valiant efforts to analyze this thing! I feel that I am doing well just not falling out of my chair dead over the "practice-level men" bit even now.

My favorite shoujo manga rarely has any sexual tension. Love Com has some sexual panic, but nothing like power games; Kimi ni Todoke is absurdly innocent; no major characters are getting laid in 7 Seeds; and in Nana they'd just do it. Thus, I am having trouble thinking of comparable scenes. Definitely a fan of the literal flipping, though!

Uh, Ren, she pwned you, but that's not why. Yet another amazing moment: the director trying to figure out who had made the hickey, failing to ask Kyoko, and considering... Yashiro. OMG.

[oyceter]

... the valiant efforts at analyzing are mostly because I can't reread it right now ;).

The stuff I can think of re: shoujo UST on comparable levels are series like Vampire Knight (Yuki sadly doesn't get to top, at least as far as I read) or Angel Sanctuary (Alexiel tops everyone ever!)! Gothic crack for the win!

SO want to see how Ren and Kyoko deal with this once they stop being in character.

(Also, srsly, why is there not a bajillion fics out there?)