She Looks Dead

She looks dead

Like the sparrow

In my field

That day yonder

-Aashu for Vidhi

11/3/23

Quadrangle

The audacity of God to give me the capacity to feel in the first place , and then the nerve to amp up those feelings every now and then -_-

Part 2

I ran out of space but i need to talk about a couple more people

Ren- our angsty king of the night, this man is so stupid and needlessly complicated it baffles me, but also endears me to him, he is seen as this larger than life figure by everyone around him but he's just a petty, sulky moody little bitch, lory is the only one who sees through his act, i love whenever he has his gentelmanly smile on, scaring both yashiro and kyoko, my man has gaslit kyoko so many times, but he is also unfailingly kind, generous and hardworking and we love that for him. Side note, but i also love the dolls kyoko makes of him and would love if i could get one. Though I know his age gap with kyoko might be a bit of a problem for some people but since they have agreed to not be in a relationship i don't know if i mind it that much, what i cannot fathom is how tall and broad he is, referring to the setsu hickey scene again, she is sitting on him and it kind of feels like he is a raft, but i digress. Ren has a lot of emotional baggage and i do like how meeting kyoko has forced him to deal with that baggage instead of running away.

Kuon- so technically he is also ren but i find that the story makes it a point to distinguish the two, kuon slips out a lot of times when ren is not in a professional setting, we know he has a violent streak but is also insecure as a teenager. As a child he is much more cheerful and teasing, and a lot more lively and we see that especially in the guam arc, also later after he has confessed a bit of kuon starts slipping through ren in how he teases kyoko and acts around her

Sho- there he is, my favourite house cat. Jokes aside sho was the first character i fell in love with, largely because Lee dong hae played him, but also because of the eyeliner, I'm kidding, i just love how much of a drama queen he is. Yes, in the beginning he is a complete douche bag and yes he deserves to be punished for what he put kyoko through but simply as a character he is so much fun to watch, his rapid mood swings, his unwavering self confidence, how much he wants to succeed, i think it's easy to forget that he also left his home to prove his family wrong and the he has both ambition and drive like kyoko, in fact his relationship with kyoko is the most interesting thing about him: he hates her but he cares for her well being, he wants her to be miserable but he doesn't want her to fail, he considers her his mortal enemy but also his childhood companion. It is fascinating to watch him grapple with so many different emotions every time he interacts with kyoko especially during the saena arc. In the future, though I know that they won't become friends and i wouldn't want them to, I hope we still see glimpses of the special companionship they share with each other even if it's bickering and fighting.

Moko- I personally don't have anything massive to say about her except that she's a solid best friend character and it's hilarious to see her tsundere behaviour with kyoko, she is dependable, competent and strong willed, i love that scene where she straight up threatens the most popular actor in the country for the sake of her best friend, she gives solid advice and has some very well written character development throughout the series

Yashiro- another really well done support character who is the perfect balance of funny and serious, he has really cute interactions with kyoko and i love his banter with ren, i also love how unfailingly polite he is, just 10/10 husband material

Lory- So. Fucking. Over the top. I am completely baffled by him and yet i desperately want to be him. Solid writing, amazing dialogue and expressions and just a really good depiction of an older character.

These are the series 'regulars' as such that I feel deserve their own sections. The other characters usually come and go as the story demands so i won't be talking about them.

Overall skip beat is perhaps one of the few manga which has adapted to its aging audience while still retaining its core. It does not tire out tropes and manages to keep the story fresh. It is very funny to see the transition from flip phones to touch screens to smartphones taking place in the manga without any in-universe explanation being given for it, the fashion also changes as the manga progresses to reflect more current trends. Of course I will keep tuning back in for all the banter, the acting and the love, even if the love-me section's stringert soldier has fallen to the gorgeous star.

~~end

Skip beat: a hilarious mess full of love, friendship and human connections

(please do not expect cohesion or structure)

Skip beat will always always have a very special place in my heart solely due to the fact that it is the funniest show I have ever watched. The manga is written in an absurd, exaggerated style and both the anime and the drama manage to capture its unique sense of humour excellently. Ivy's over the top acting, siwon's cool but baffled expressions, dong hae's haughty side eyes (so much eyeliner) managed to capture the characters of kyoki, ren and sho so beautifully. It will always be a great pity that we never got a season two for either. (also props to the actors who played Mr yashiro and lory in the drama, they have my heart)

Coming to the characters themselves-

Kyoko: my beautiful bold courageous child, who dreams of fairytales even when she's going through hell. Her journey is amazing and inspiring and I adore how she rejects love but gravitates to cute things. Her friendship with moko is heartwarming and so is her big sister-ship with Maria. She makes so many connections throughout the story and each connection is so precious, i love it. My fav arc for her has to be the natsu arc but i will go into each character in detail.

Rich lady- yes I'm including this in her list of roles even though she didn't really play this part. The anime rendition of this is my favourite episode to watch solely because of how beautiful she looks and how much grit she has. It is also the first of many instances we see where kyoko draws from her own life consciously to act out a role, her past with sho is so shaded by her devotion and his indifference it was amazing to see how she took something positive from that.

Promo clip angel- legitimately gasped when I saw her outfit in the anime, so fucking gorgeous and it was so funny how she couldn't stop crying when thinking of moko (ahhhh kyoko is so adorable) also in the drama when she is bickering with sho (or shang ig?) in this outfit, have a hate-love relationship with the prisoner song tho.

Mio- ah mio, has there ever been a more iconic character, the last one we see in the anime and drama mio is iconic to kyoko in-universe as well as in the real world. The masterful way she crafts the character to be a little twisted but still striving to do the right thing, how she takes ren's advice and completely flips that perception that people have of mio, and how much heart she puts into learning about mio is awe-inspiring. Kyoko looks so good during her entire time as mio and i legitimately forgot how long she plays the role for- so many things happen while they are still shooting dark moon. Mio also allows kyoko to showcase a little bit of her darker side with the spirits of grudge

Natsu- the most delightful and horrifying character natsu's arc is the epitome of a showbiz drama. Her being so determined to shed mio but completely unable to, the entire sequence where the director and his assistant (?) discuss how she carries herself so different from other people her age, HER GOING TO REN'S PLACE AND DEMANDING HE TRAINS HER LIKE A FEMALE MODEL, chef's kiss. I like that she kept mio's wickedness but amplified it in a way that was more true to life. I feel like natsu somewhat resembles sho in certain ways tho I'm not sure if that was intentional. All in all it is the first step in kyoko's journey beyond dark moon and it is executed really well .

Kuon- lowkey forgot about it but when kuu asks kyoko to act as his son, it gave me goosebumps. Knowing that kuu is kuon's father and that kyoko has actually met him the past was already exciting, but when she showed up in that American boy outfit, i was stunned. Her meeting with ren was so cool, yashiro being confused af, ren being like wtf and her panicking internally, such a chaotic arc, her relationship with teacher/father is so adorable, she really thinks of kuu as a mentor and it warms my heart, i really want to see more kuu-juliena/ren-kyoko interactions simply because of how much ren's parents adore kyoko individually, but yes kuon is very special to kyoko and it helped her get over he funk with mio and natsu

Setsu- if natsu is my favourite arc then setsu has to be my favourite character. Made up for no legitimate purpose except for the ✨romantic spice ✨ setsu is such a cool character and her dynamic with ren as cain is absolutely revolting but also so cuuttteee. I love her fashion, love her confidence, there is a bit of natsu to her but definitely more outcast-y. My girl is totally a Vivienne Westwood grunge queen and i cannot ever get the hotel-hickey scene out of my head, kyoko's acting grows leaps and bounds here as she works with ren who even falls prey to her, it is beautiful. (Love that she kicks sho just for laughs) I hope we find some way to meet setsu again since we see murasame make a reappearance, would love to see her act as setsu in front of beagle boy,

Momiji- we haven't seen a lot of momiji the character but i do adore a tragic love, the momiji arc was probably the best in displaying how much kyoko has grown and how her connections with other people have shaped her, she's more sure of herself largely because she knows she has reliable people backing her up and their loyalty is a direct result of her kindness/positive behaviour with them. Her faith in her own abilities is very encouraging to see and i find momiji surprisingly similar to mio in that she has to hide her real feelings due to circumstances out of her control, her devotion to shizumasa and her grudging respect for chidori just as she bleeds out perfectly tie up her arc and though she is tragic she is splendid. I like that they took the time to establish kyoko's current position before moving into the route arc which I feel is going to be long and tedious, morizumi was a pain and director kuresaki is so pathetic i love him

No context maid sama, best maid sama <3

Normal people: i wonder what move the powerful nations are planning to make in the next few days

Me: *desperately hoping no one does anything major until my IR paper is over because I CANNOT deal with that rn*

Describing literally every single one of my het ships