spotlight: Kyoko-sama's dark magic... or just a favorite pasttime.

In keeping with the broadcast of Skip Beat!'s anime adaptation as well as my love for the almighty Kyoko-sama and her wild, extraordinary, wonderful, demonic personality, this month I would like to make mention of a particular item that I'm sure all Skip Beat! fans want a piece of.

In Volume 2, Act 15 of the manga, we are introduced to the infamous Ren and Sho voodoo dolls -- handmade by Kyoko and all accessories come separately.


As a part of her grudge at its best, Kyoko is extremely focused on doing whatever it is she can to take down the two men she finds that she scorns the most in her life. While Ren eventually becomes a respected senpai as an actor and as a person to her, there is no doubt that Kyoko had harbored no good will towards him in the beginning. As for Sho, there is no need to emphasize the hatred seething beneath Kyoko's determination to beat the man at what he does best.

Not only are posters tacked up in her room of the two men (size according to her level of hatred) but Kyoko has presented to the fans her very own handmade voodoo dolls. In essence, these are merely a form of hobby she does to relieve stress when she's caught in a corner.

In Volume 1, Act 3, page 16 of the manga -- yes, I am down to the detail -- we first see Kyoko sewing her first voodoo doll after witnessing the beauty of all the other auditioners for the talent section of LME. (Also see above for anime adaptation scene.) Because of stress, she pulls her borrowed sewing kit out and begins to make a voodoo doll, muttering something to the extent of needing someone's strand of hair for the thing to work. It is because of this that Kanae mistakens her for the "lost" Maria's mother and throws the child mercilessly at her. And it is because of this that Kyoko gets to make her first impression on the equally morbid and twisted young child.


In Volume 3, Act 16, as a ploy to "lure" Maria, the problem child and Takarada Lory's granddaughter out in order to help with a slight issue in the acting section of LME, the Kyoko handmade voodoo dolls are employed. It is here that we are introduced to the "Ren scared stiff of Kyoko" doll, the "Ren surrendering to Kyoko" doll, and the "Sho crying to Kyoko to admit his crimes" doll. There are many others, but either I've missed them or they have not made their debut.


Nonetheless, it is quite a wonder that Kyoko could do so much with just pictures and cheap fabrics and materials -- since she has no money. On top of that, the way in which she so carefully details each outfit on the dolls is extremely amazing to anyone who sees them. To Kyoko, this is just a way to relieve her stress and present her superiority versus Ren and Sho. She has absolutely no idea how strange or incredible it is that she could even get the fabric and the design of the dolls' clothes so exact.


As the story progresses, Kyoko rarely pulls out the voodoo dolls for anything other than to talk to them or pretend that they are talking to her. Especially with the Ren doll, as she grows to respect him more and more, she often pulls out a submissive Ren doll just for the purpose of imagining what he would say to her during certain situations. Sadly, Kyoko is a very good judge of character during the present story line, because she is really good at knowing what it is that Ren would say to her and usually she's right.

The dolls are an essential part of the storyline, not only because I think they're kind of cool, but they bring to Kyoko a very good ally in her plight.


Takarada Maria is the granddaughter of the president of LME and until she met Kyoko she felt that she could never trust adults at all. Kyoko straight forwardly treated Maria like she would treat anyone else, not mattering that Maria is just a child and definitely not mattering that Maria is the granddaughter of the company president.

Sharing a love for the "dark arts" in the doll's items, Maria easily showed herself upon seeing all the Ren dolls, praising them for their attention to detail. She then gets into a deep discussion with Kyoko about the different types of dolls that can be used and reveals that she's been trying to make Ren fall in love with her with various types of dolls.

Kyoko, of course, uses her dolls for the sake of cursing Ren and Sho. On a side note, it mentions in one scene of the manga that Kyoko will work on her dolls whenever she is feeling particularly stressed.

Handcrafted wonderfully, I'm sure everyone would love to have a submussive Ren or Sho doll. I'm almost tempted to google such items to see if any company has decided to manufacture these dolls. I'm sure a lot of fans would do the same.

So why are the voodoo dolls created by Kyoko-sama the spotlight for October? There are a plethora of reasons.

Kyoko has too many traits about her that I want to talk about from her personality to all her little crazy, quirky actions. If I wanted to do a spotlight on her, it would take a long time to accumulate all of her qualities on paper. And also, I want to leave all of that for a feature piece in the future. Make no mistake, I would probably do a spotlight on Kyoko and there is a possibility that I would do it next month or the month after. I love this girl a lot just because of how strong and innocent she can be.

But I ran out of time because the end of the month is drawing near and I really couldn't think of a good spotlight for this month. And then I decided on writing one over a particular item in a manga or anime and the first thing I thought of that stood out were the dolls.

A wonderful idea if I may say so myself. And along the way, it is October and Halloween is coming up soon. While voodoo dolls cannot be counted as items for the holiday, they are nonetheless something associated with the dark arts, which in turn can be associated with Halloween. Good twist, no?

Anyway, of all the quirky Kyoko habits, I found this one to be one of interest. Just the amount of work and detail that go into making her dolls is a wonderful feat. I often tell myself that Mogami Kyoko is not as simple as she always seems. There is just so much to this girl and Moko-san is right to fear her.

As an afterthough, I look forward to seeing the actual dolls in animation soon.

*All photo's credited to Skip Beat! and its creator Nakamura Yoshiki.
*Anime screenshot taken from Skip Beat!'s second episode.

thoughts: Skip Beat! (anime) -- the audition and the significant failure

Hehe, I like this picture of her.

Episode 2: Banquet of Shivering
Episode 3: Missing Feelings; An Emotion She Lacks

I'm not fond of blogging anime by episode just because I'm a lazy person. I like reading others blog about anime by episode, but only after I've already seen that particular episode because blogs always give away a basic summary of the episode's direction. That, and I like to be able to have my own first hand impressions from watching the anime itself rather than reading a rough summary about it and then being ready for possible surprises, sad scenes, comedic scenes, and stuff like that.

Here right now, however, I wanted to mention my thoughts on these two episodes of Skip Beat!, though more notably episode 3 because of how symbolic it is for the rest of the storyline. In truth, episode 2 was nothing special because it felt more like a transition stage where Kyoko goes from ordinary girl to "some girl doing what she can to get into showbiz for the sake of revenge."

SA-WA-RA-san... don't look directly into her eyes...
Episode 2 was really just a place for dear Kyoko-sama to display her demonic side to the fullest. Yea, this is the one where she literally haunts poor Sawara-san and his family until he gives her a chance in the entertainment industry. It's an episode full of lolz and one must give props to Sawara-san for enduring as long as he did and for caving in and letting Kyoko do as she pleased rather than calling the cops and having her arrested for disturbing the peace-- in which case the girl would probably still find a way to come back and haunt him.

Ready for action!
Probably not the best impression to be giving... or demonic aura.
Episode 3 begins with the infamous newcomer auditions wherein Kyoko will try to hit it off in the entertainment world and where Kyoko gains a good impression towards the president of LME. As many of us who read the Skip Beat! manga already know, Kyoko's talent presentation is out of the ordinary and her shortcomings earn her no spot in the further audition as she is booted out almost too quickly.

It is because of this audition, however, that Kyoko finally finds herself realizing that she is pathetic for revolving so much around Shotaro, and yet even then she cannot help it. Kyoko had spent her entire life living for the sake of Shotaro to the point where no matter what she did, it was always for Shotaro and no one else, not even herself or for others who might care.

To make a long point shorter, Kyoko realizes that because of her past with Shotaro as well as her history with her mother, she has lost the will and the ability to love-- period. It isn't a romantic love that she has lost because of Shotaro, but it is the ability to care for or let other care for her at all.

Because of her mother leaving her when she was young, Kyoko has placed all of her time and energy in Shotaro because she whole-heartedly believed that Sho would be her prince for life and lover her forever. And then not long ago (refer to episode one) Shotaro broke her heart without remorse. And to this day, even though he is not around her, he still manages to taunt her in her reveries.

It's a sad, sad situation to realize something so depressing and so pathetic about oneself.

Kyoko failed the auditions because she lacked the ability to love. And because she lacked the ability to love, she feels as if she's lost the ability to do anything else anymore. And thus she's given up on her pursuit of the entertainment industry, which would mean that she's given up on her revenge for Sho, no matter how much she still resents the bastard.


I'm happy to learn that I'm not the only person who was moved by Kyoko's scene in which she realizes how pathetic she is, how she had lost her important human feeling of love, and how she'd wasted her entire life being Shotaro's slave girl. While in the manga I hadn't been too moved as I was this time seeing the scene in animation and hearing the devestating sobs coming from Kyoko, I still recognized it as a significant turning point in Kyoko's journey.

This was an extremely effecting scene and while not moved to cry right alongside Kyoko, I could almost feel her sadness even by simply watching her cry like that.
Because now that she's realized what is wrong with her, Kyoko, with enough willpower and determination, which she has, will be able to pinpoint it over and over again and learn how to overcome this hurdle.

In following episodes, assuming they continue to follow closely to the manga as they have done so far, we get to see this new and revived Kyoko breaking down all those walls one after another. Each time a situation presents itself to brutally assault her and her emotions, she will fall, but she will also rise back to the occasion and take on the challenge once again without fail.

This is what makes Mogami Kyoko such an idealistic girl and such a counter heroine for all those weepy romance shoujo manga heroine who's lives depend on whether or not their designated hero will fall in love with them too. Don't get me wrong; I like a good cheesy romance oneshot as well as the next shoujo manga fangirl. I just also like to read or view some stories with depth and substance sometimes as well.

Skip Beat! is definitely a unique manga in the class of shoujo demographic. While I too feel like the romance in the manga is devloping rather slowly like others, I also feel like I wouldn't change the pacing and the storyline for any reason.

Getting back on topic, episode 3 was a rather significant plot device which will later on be emphasized due to Kyoko's undying determination for the things that she does. What makes Kyoko such a unique person is her ability to continue standing right back up everytime she happens to fall, and no matter how hard and how far she falls. That and her innocent, yet tainted nature-- a unlikely combination in one person, but not impossible as seen by Kyoko's existence in the fictional world.

Anyway, as per usual, I look forward to seeing more of the anime adaptation. I look forward to continuing to read the manga. These first three episodes have so far covered the entirety of Volume One of the manga and so at this rate I hope that my favorite parts of the manga will be able to reach the animation.