jlucpitard

Rea is the key to why Rakin loses his immortality, although he's still amazing and long lived as the king of Speria. Her death (not a spoiler as it's in the original series) was probably the trigger for him and Kainen's loss of immortality seems to hit him harder than Rakin's but that may also be due to him being older than Rakin. Rakin has her body preserved and hidden away deep in a series of enchantments. As to their origin- the mother- it's not clear and they may all have the same mother (or not) but I think Kainen and a few of the others indicate that she's dead, possibly killed by the mascans. None of the belial have boundary issues with each other and seem to visit for periods of time, so I wouldn't read too much into Rakin and Kainen living together. This is apparently a side effect of living thousands of years. They've all got history, as it were.

Sorry it's been since March, but I just checked back on this thread. Do you have a picture of you all dressed out? There's an active Japan-America Society near where I live and I wonder if they've thought of doing this. There are a lot of vendors that sell kimono and yukata, but I don't know of anyone who dresses folks out for $$. Otakon and Katsucon usually have a seminar in how to wear traditional clothes. Really cool couple did it last year at Otakon, anyway. Many layers, but they also showed us the falsies and shortcuts that folks use to get the traditional look. Didn't take notes, but I enjoyed the transition they went through onstage.

I've been dragging my kids to them off and on for a few years now. The first year I took them, my (then) five or six year old daughter's eyes bulged out at the sight of all the people in costumes (some quite grand) and I told her "You don't have to stop playing dress up when you grow up." A woman in costume turned to me and said that she wished someone had told her that when she was a kid. I think they get a lot out of planning their costumes and being around so many excited and interesting people. ArtFight's a big hit with them as well. It's crazy, free form and the jokes can get quite... adult, but it's the concept that art can be fun and social which seems to get through. We take in panels now and then, but they mainly like to people watch and shop the dealer's rooms and artist alley.

If you could jump in the wayback machine you'd see me waving from my first con. It was a Trekkie thing and I was dressed in some goofy medieval thing, only all messed up. Yeah. I think I still have some of the odd badges from that... I usually enjoy stories and comics that poke fun of cons, so I'll check this one out. Thanks for the tip! (I swear- that old, crossdressing school girl's at EVERY con! And, while my legs are also unshaved, it's not me!)

Depends. Doraemon's over 40, What's Michael is somewhere around 25... (Yeah, they aren't plot driven, but I also hope we don't have to wait decades to see more progression in either her career or their romance!)

Yep, she's figuring out her feelings, but it's probably going to be a while before they mutually figure things out. He's got his past to deal with and she's got a career to get going. Until things come to light, they can't really progress. In Tokyo Crazy Paradise, I felt like things got rushed once the girl realized she loved the gangster. Here I'm glad she's taking her time. I'm glad Mechgouki works so hard for the SkipBeat! fans and cranks out a version soon after the Japanese release. A few weeks later, a better quality one may come out, but I like the immediate gratification.

Well, your wish was sort of fulfilled, but it looks like Kyouko's not ready to accept anything between she and Ren, so... sort of a change is coming. I think this will be fun to read when it's collected in volumes rather than waiting for each chapter as we do. Certain things are dragging on (Seriously, what did she give him for his birthday? How many chapters has it been?) but if read together, I think it would be paced rather nicely. In fact, before the latest twist, i was beginning to worry that it was going to tie up too quickly since we still have the professional side of the story that I'd like to see before the romance is resolved.

Comicon is one I'd like to go to someday. It's a haul for me, but someday... I've been clean of WOW for a few years now, so going to Blizzcon would be tantamount to falling off the wagon for me. Still, I love the pictures from both cons and would love to see some of the costumes. Comicon generates actual news (like the release of the Avatar trailer a few years ago) and it would be a lot of fun to go to panels with the heavyweights in the comic industry. Their artist alley must be... whoa!

Katsucon is happening this weekend near Washington DC (East Coast, United States of America...) Are any folks attending? I don't cosplay, but the kids enjoy dressing up and I enjoy seeing the work that others put into their costumes, especially for the mass photo shoots. So, if you attend, which ones and where? Do you cosplay of enter AMV or other competitions? What do you enjoy about cons?

I can see that. I think she's taking pains to try and lighten the backstory slightly and I think there will be plenty of humor in the future. The main problem, as I see it, is that Kyouko still has a long way to go and there's no particular catalyst in sight to get her there. That makes it drag a bit. Still, I think her story as an actress will keep my interest for a while. [edited to hide potential spoilers-jlp]

Heh! So far we're at 165. I doubt it will get to One Piece proportions, but Tokyo Crazy Paradise, her previous long form manga, wrapped up around 112, so we're past there, but I doubt she'd go past 300. As long as the story keeps moving, I'm happy.

Looks like it. It may be worth letting the chapters pile up a bit and then reading them in one go. Not sure I have the patience for that, though. There's usually something developing or pushing the story ahead, even if it's not the romantic storyline moving.

Turtle for teh win!!

Eep! That's one thing this is free of, although she has quite a collection of beautiful men she can choose from should she ever realize her own worth. The evil me would love it if she finally grows as a fully rounded person- able to love again- and she announces to the world that she's dating some random guy she met while riding her bike or something. Ren, Shou, Reino and Hikaru would all shake their heads and go after other starlets... Kidding!! The romantic me is cheering Ren and Kyouko along. Whether as mentor/trainee, fairy prince/child or fake brother/sister, they have chemistry together. Now they just need to help each other heal their hearts and move along. Anyone know if there's a way to see the latest scanlations for Skip Beat!? Onemanga's gone, Mangafox and MangaToshokan have pulled it, so...

Please be more careful!! Giant turtle bites can really dangerous!! No, really. My sister was once bitten by a gigantic humanoid turtle and needed to be put down for fear she'd become a wereturtle. They don't move fast, but once that giant beak snaps onto you...

Sometimes it's nice to be a tiny cog in a big machine instead of being in charge of things. I'm also manga obsessed and looking for ways to help without taking on the thankless leader type jobs like Tessa does. (And Megumi, Hira, Deus and ToxicStream among others.) (Oh, and thank you all!) Good to meet you, Hats.

Got to admit the Swede angle amuses me too.

Probably not for you, but you might like it in the anime form better. The benefit to this character ignoring/repressing the romantic aspect of the story is that we watch her career develop as well as the side stories. I agree with the dumb main character making me lose interest, but in this series there is an attempt to balance that out with a well developed story. Not that we're 160+ chapters in, we're starting to understand the male hero's reasons for the slow pace of their relationship. It's been hinted at, of course.

Good Lord! Fanservice anyone? Heh. I liked the way they slipped in and out of character with one another. Proportions still not a big strength, but sexy looks and... that shower scene. *Fans self*

W00T! So, okay, we expected I don't know how long this arc will be, but it's fun to have the focus be on the two of them!

It could be argued either way, but the basic foundation tropes are similar: naive girl enters the business, experienced and somewhat cold man is her inspiration/ideal in the industry, their relationship is impossible as she is too young but he loves her secretly, she has natural ability that needs polishing and interesting support characters help her to achieve her goals. We readers get the dual stories of her progress in the entertainment/commercial world and her romantic relationship with the insanely handsome male lead. Both storytellers are talented and their stories are different and influenced by the different cultures they spring from. It would be boring if they were too similar, but I think if you like one, you'd like the other (unless you hold a specific beef?) Honey Hunt is another, but that one doesn't grab me due to the artist's muppet-like style and my inability to sympathize or understand the "cold" male who is supposed to be guiding her in the industry. The triangle (or quadrangle) in that one's too lame. There are plenty of other good stories with the same basic premise (Glass Mask?) but the really good ones transcend the basic tropes- another similarity between The One and Skip Beat!

Not really me, but he shares 1/2 my genes...

The story of Kyouko Mogami's slow progress toward the twin goals of succeeding in the entertainment industry and crushing her one time crush (while others hope for her to find her will to love again and harness her natural acting ability for her own sake...) is amusing to follow. The people around her are all at least as eccentric as she is, in one way or another. The love story is exceedingly slow to develop. Her romantic counterpart, Ren Tsuruga, has his own reasons for accepting how dense she is as he doesn't seem ready to be loved either. In the current storyline the two of them are thrown closer than ever, so we'll have to wait and see how long his lies and her aversion to love can keep them apart. It's actually quite nice that the story is unfolding so slowly as we get to watch her career, and that of her best friend Kanae Kotonami (and her ex- Shou Fuwa) develop. Some story arcs aren't as gripping as others, but the overall growth of the characters is the main thing. This is the work of Yoshiki Nakamura, who also did Tokyo Crazy Paradise. Her art is pretty good with interesting angles and reaction shots, although the perspectives and relative body sizes leave something to be desired. There are times when I have to laugh at the inconsistencies of Ren's body in particular. But- the woman can draw some mighty sexy eyes! Okay, some mighty expressive faces, of which the sexy eyes are my favorite. Her conceit of demons (and rarely angels) inside Kyouko and the way some characters can see them or are sensitive to them is terrific. It takes some getting used to, but once Reino (the Beagle) comes on the scene, her demons even get to become plot points. They rarely come out unless it's something to do with her "rival" Shou Fuwa, although early on they play a larger role as representations of her anger or her strong will. If you like the manga, you will also enjoy the anime which ran for 25 episodes. It followed the manga pretty exactly (*cheers*) and ends far too soon. I haven't heard if they'll do any more episodes, but I don't see why they wouldn't as it was pretty popular in Asia. I hear it will be released in the US shortly (was told that at Katsukon in February of 2010) but wasn't told when that would be. There are several people (groups?) working on this manga and it's worth checking around for different releases as the translations vary and the cleaning of the scans vary. Some focus on speed- feeding our addiction- and others on the accuracy/quality of the work. I applaud them all, since I'm a junkie first and then a connoisseur. Heh. Your thoughts?

I'm enjoying it with my daughter. (It's all fresh to her, I've read the manga to the current chapter.) I can see what you might not like, for example, Usui comes off even more 2D in the anime than the manga unfortunately, but it keeps so close to the manga that it pleases me. My daughter's enchanted by the clothes and the cosplay, but she's young enough that the perfect man type of stories don't ring false for her. In the manga, we've learned more about Usui and he becomes more interesting to me as the series continues. Misa rocks, in both forms! We're also watching The Book of Friends (Natsume Yuujinchou and the next season of it) which is a slow paced, but so lovely story of a young man growing up and learning to open himself to others. No romance as of yet and it skirts close to shonen ai at times, but it's a really sweet series in both forms. JLP