Skip Beat!: Opening the Locks to Kyoko's Heart

It's all coming back to it- that one moment; that first scene of both the Skip Beat manga and anime: The box that God gave everyone in the world. One that brings both joy and sorrow. 

A box that Kyoko vowed to lock up and never look back...

Till now. 

It all began with this box, and though many of us forgot about it completely (including me), the whole story is practically about this mysterious box. Kyoko keeps pushing her way into show-biz, but this locked piece of her heart is what's holding her back. The deep wounds that Sho left on her heart haven't been erased, but as the story progressed we noticed that it became less and less about her vengeance on Sho, and more about Kyoko. But that healing has brought on events in Kyoko's heart that makes her greatest promise come closer and closer to breaking. Since this is such a HUGE turning point in the story, I'm putting my best effort into making this post good. 

Enjoy ~

As her heart forgets about Sho, it begins to trust another man. The one and only Tsuruga Ren. The man who came off as cocky, cold, and almost indifferent about Kyoko's presence is now the main man in Kyoko's life. The whole plot shift happened because of Ren. While suffering with an acting block, he was forced to learn how to love, and Kyoko was the one who opened his heart to something he had been avoiding for a long time. After that, the story opened up into a whole new realm of romance and mutual support between Ren and Kyoko.





But what really seemed strange about the this whole romance was Kyoko's inability to even notice Ren's feelings. It was almost like she was forcing herself to not feel anything for him. And for the longest time I couldn't understand why. The man with a bad background, devotion to (and only to) acting, and no time for personal affairs such as "love" was able let down his guard and accept his feelings. If he can do it, how could Kyoko, a beginner actress, not be able to? But then I remembered....Shou!

Hate so strong, it creates adorable hate spirits

SHOU! Of course! How could I have forgotten about Shoutaro? The whole reason Kyoko entered the show-biz world! Oh how I feel for that girl...imagine giving your heart- no, you life, to a man. Only to realize that he was using you as a maid (huh, sounds like marriage to me)!

Anyway, in a fit of (entitled) rage, Kyoko vowed to out do Shou and win in the show-biz industry. Which is where she met Ren. So technically, if it weren't for Shou, she would never had met Ren. Which makes Shou her primary reason for being there, and Shou the primary person in her heart.

"And from the deepest depths of my heart...
that was not supposed to be opened a
second time. Was the sound of the
last lock

It wasn't until Ren kissed her to get her mind off of Shou that Kyoko really let her guard down. It's almost like that fog of ignorance was lifted by the shock of what Ren did. Although Shou isn't fully out of Kyoko's heart, it looks like she's made some space for Ren and began unlocking the chains God's box.

Which makes me SO happy. I'd have to deem Skip Beat's romance as one of the best romances I've ever witnessed. It almost lives up to Fruits Basket and Sword Art Online. It's not that they kiss, and devote themselves to each other, and openly threaten each other with weird, sexual weirdness like most shoujo/romance animes. It's because they truly care for each other...In a healthy way. 

"Just have the girl you love give
you a magical charm"

Kyoko may be the only person in the world, other than Yashiro, who can pick up on all of Ren's moods and feelings. And she's definitely the only person who can help Ren overcome his dark side. But Ren overcame so much just for Kyoko's sake, and at the moment he's putting all of his faith into Kyoko while he tries to forget his violent past.



All of it is just so....real. Nothing seems fake about how they treat each other. There's actual reason behind the bond these two share. Whether it's Kyoko's respect for Ren as an actor, or Ren's respect for Kyoko as a person, there's no shallowness involved with anything they do for each other. It's like both of them are perfectly in sync with each other's needs and desires, and in turn, their deepest worries and scars begin to heal. It's almost the perfect relationship....


At the moment, Kyoko's desperately trying to fight the feelings she's having while still protecting Ren from whatever darkness he's fighting off. I'm just so excited to see whether Kyoko will finally allow herself to love Ren, and if Ren will learn how to love himself. I feel like Skip Beat! has really made a turn that will bring the story into a new realm from what it was before...

Signing out from my Skip Beat dream world,

~ Alice