Nakamura Yoshiki - Skip Beat, vol. 14-20 (Chi. trans.)
Mon, Jan. 26th, 2009 12:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterYou may all mock me now!
I know, I said I wasn't going to read any more of this. And I really wasn't! I wasn't having fun. And then I read![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
iwrotethat's The Work of Chemists, and it was awesome and nearly made me fall off the bed laughing, and I thought, "Well.... maybe just one more try."
Let me say, now that I have that fic's narrative voice in my head, everything is so much funnier!
Also, on a side note, the worst part about reading series I already know in Chinese is that I have to figure out everyone's names all over again! So frustrating...
Spoilers
I am not sure if it is just me, or of Nakamura's chibis got better and/or more frequent, but they crack me up every time! Especially the ones of Ren (it is so odd calling him that: it sounds too much like I am calling my rat), who is normally so composed!
Thanks to the chibis, I no longer even hate Sho that much! Instead, I derive great pleasure from his utter confusion and his desire to be first in Kyoko's heart, even if that means her hating him with everything in her. The beagle/stalker plot was pretty boring, especially because Kyoko being threatened is not much fun at all. On the other hand, I totally cracked up when she tried to confront her stalker with the magical powers she didn't actually have.
I thought I was going to hate the Kuu arc—right on time to dedicate the rest of the series to the hero's angst and overshadow the heroine—but I actually really enjoyed it. I love the way Nakamura parallels Kyoko's relationship with Kuu with Ren's, and I especially love that the chapter title about Kuon is in fact about both of them as Kuon, not just Ren. I am of course skeptical of how much it helped Kyoko's acting or the oh-so-convenient memory of Corn, but whatever! I do not care when I get Kyoko having character development with other people!
I also love how the series has been turning the usual shoujo set-up inside-out; here, the mean guy is still the mean guy and can't get the girl precisely because he was mean, whereas the nice guy is set up to be the winner. I especially like that the manga takes a fairly realistic look at how the politeness between Ren and Kyoko is a deterrent; most shoujo does with the nice guy to point out that he's the wrong guy, but I love that Ren does get Kyoko, even though it's still very hard to get her to be comfortable around him. His increasingly desperate attempts to do so make me laugh and laugh.
And volume 20! I have so much love for volume 20, which is just fuzzy and happy and CONTAINS MOKO! Moko! Picturing Kyoko going into gleeful fits over a make-up kit! Then stalking off to save her pride! Then stalking back again! Then declaring she's won the present contest! I love it so much!
And I love love love that Kyoko does love Moko's present better, even though I also love her shy, puzzled smile at Ren's rose, and his rather resigned smile when he sees her reaction to Moko, and how he's man enough to be happy that it makes her birthday even better. I also loved him dropping hints ("Is Maria the only one who will be happy if I go?" "How about you then?" and Yashiro standing there doing baseball commentary). But mostly I love the birthdays and the warm fuzzies and everyone getting together to celebrate Kyoko, who is insane and easily plummets from the heights of joy to the depths of despair and prone to living in a world far removed from ours, and yet is totally awesome all the same.
Also, you are all fired for not telling me Skip Beat is going to be a twdrama!
I know, I said I wasn't going to read any more of this. And I really wasn't! I wasn't having fun. And then I read
iwrotethat's The Work of Chemists, and it was awesome and nearly made me fall off the bed laughing, and I thought, "Well.... maybe just one more try."Let me say, now that I have that fic's narrative voice in my head, everything is so much funnier!
Also, on a side note, the worst part about reading series I already know in Chinese is that I have to figure out everyone's names all over again! So frustrating...
Spoilers
I am not sure if it is just me, or of Nakamura's chibis got better and/or more frequent, but they crack me up every time! Especially the ones of Ren (it is so odd calling him that: it sounds too much like I am calling my rat), who is normally so composed!
Thanks to the chibis, I no longer even hate Sho that much! Instead, I derive great pleasure from his utter confusion and his desire to be first in Kyoko's heart, even if that means her hating him with everything in her. The beagle/stalker plot was pretty boring, especially because Kyoko being threatened is not much fun at all. On the other hand, I totally cracked up when she tried to confront her stalker with the magical powers she didn't actually have.
I thought I was going to hate the Kuu arc—right on time to dedicate the rest of the series to the hero's angst and overshadow the heroine—but I actually really enjoyed it. I love the way Nakamura parallels Kyoko's relationship with Kuu with Ren's, and I especially love that the chapter title about Kuon is in fact about both of them as Kuon, not just Ren. I am of course skeptical of how much it helped Kyoko's acting or the oh-so-convenient memory of Corn, but whatever! I do not care when I get Kyoko having character development with other people!
I also love how the series has been turning the usual shoujo set-up inside-out; here, the mean guy is still the mean guy and can't get the girl precisely because he was mean, whereas the nice guy is set up to be the winner. I especially like that the manga takes a fairly realistic look at how the politeness between Ren and Kyoko is a deterrent; most shoujo does with the nice guy to point out that he's the wrong guy, but I love that Ren does get Kyoko, even though it's still very hard to get her to be comfortable around him. His increasingly desperate attempts to do so make me laugh and laugh.
And volume 20! I have so much love for volume 20, which is just fuzzy and happy and CONTAINS MOKO! Moko! Picturing Kyoko going into gleeful fits over a make-up kit! Then stalking off to save her pride! Then stalking back again! Then declaring she's won the present contest! I love it so much!
And I love love love that Kyoko does love Moko's present better, even though I also love her shy, puzzled smile at Ren's rose, and his rather resigned smile when he sees her reaction to Moko, and how he's man enough to be happy that it makes her birthday even better. I also loved him dropping hints ("Is Maria the only one who will be happy if I go?" "How about you then?" and Yashiro standing there doing baseball commentary). But mostly I love the birthdays and the warm fuzzies and everyone getting together to celebrate Kyoko, who is insane and easily plummets from the heights of joy to the depths of despair and prone to living in a world far removed from ours, and yet is totally awesome all the same.
Also, you are all fired for not telling me Skip Beat is going to be a twdrama!
(no subject)
Mon, Jan. 26th, 2009 08:15 am (UTC)I am uncertain about the casting for the twdrama. Mostly because, while I like Ariel Lin, Jerry Yan couldn't act to save his life in Meteor Garden, which is the only thing I've seen him in. The second half of that drama also made me very uncomfortable.
(no subject)
Mon, Jan. 26th, 2009 08:20 am (UTC)I am uncertain as well! And I am worried they will not make Kyoko grudge-ful enough or weird enough or just make her too cute and girly instead of extremely odd and not always living within this world (but that is why we love her), but I just know I am going to end up watching anyway!
(no subject)
Mon, Jan. 26th, 2009 08:23 am (UTC)And yeah, I adore Ariel Lin, but they tend to mostly focus on her being cute. Not nearly as bad as with Rainie Yang, but still a lot.
(no subject)
Fri, Jan. 30th, 2009 05:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, Jan. 30th, 2009 05:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Jan. 26th, 2009 02:53 pm (UTC)---L.
(no subject)
Fri, Jan. 30th, 2009 05:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, Jan. 30th, 2009 02:40 pm (UTC)---L.
(no subject)
Sun, Feb. 1st, 2009 08:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Jan. 26th, 2009 04:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Jan. 26th, 2009 05:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, Jan. 30th, 2009 05:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Jan. 26th, 2009 05:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, Jan. 30th, 2009 05:15 am (UTC)