Skip Beat!

[Busaiku]

ANN states there's finally an anime coming! (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-06-19/skip-beat-shojo-manga-confirmed-for-tv-anime-in-fall)

Here's a baisc summary of the manga (from ANN):
Kyoko has devoted her life to Shotaro. When Shotaro came to Tokyo to debut as a singer, she followed him and worked to provide for him. But one day, Kyoko overhears Shota telling his manager that Kyoko means nothing to him. She's just convenient, a housekeeper. This makes Kyoko furious, and she vows revenge on Shotaro. But Shotaro just laughs at her, saying she won't be able to touch him because he's now a popular singer and she's a nobody. So Kyoko decides to get into showbiz and become even more popular than Shotaro to humiliate him. Unfortunately, Shotaro has destroyed Kyoko's ability to love, and she discovers that it is a prerequisite for her to debut from her chosen company, LME. The president of LME puts her into a new section made for those who caught his eye but have something missing. It's name... Section Love Me.

Some info on the staff (from the first link, but makes it easier to read here):
Kiyoko Sayama (Angel Sanctuary, Pretear, Princess Tutu, Vampire Knight) will direct the animators at Hal Film Maker (Angel Sanctuary, Pretear, Princess Tutu), while Mayori Sekijima (Angel Sanctuary, Clamp School, Petite Cossette) will oversee the scripts.

I really love the manga, and the studio/brief staff listing has got me even more hyped for this.

Starting this Fall too. With Nodame Cantabile and now this, I'm eagerly awaiting that time.

[Chibeh]

Ooh, yay, I just got into this manga, and the anime (hopefully) will be just as awesome. This and Hana-Kimi were two of the main manga that I enjoyed (that weren't anime already) that I was hoping would be made into an anime.

[Kismet]

best news this year. Skip Beat is my favourite manga. can't wait to see kyoko and her demons in action. :bigsmile: hope they choose a decent cast.
Just a little worried about how they'd end it considering it's still publishing.

[Yukino Miyazawa]

Hell yes!!! I can't wait to see this. I hope they do a good job animating Kyoko's inner demons of revenge. The manga is so hilarious! :)

[Fencedude]

*reads the synopsis*

...how very Shoujo...

[BigPants]

My sister is freaking out over the news (as is another friend).

Awesome. :o

[Aiia]

*reads the synopsis*

...how very Shoujo...

You need to actually read or watch it. Skip Beat is the antidote to 99% of all romantic shoujo manga ever released. Great stuff, and hopefully it'll be made justice in the anime as well.

[HitokiriShadow]

This made my day. The manga is one of my three current favorites and I've been waiting for this announcement, wondering when or if it would ever come. I figured it was only a matter of time given how the manga tends to rank pretty high in the top selling manga lists but I began to wonder if I'd ever see it. Well, that's one fall show I'm pretty much guaranteed to watch unless they botch it horribly.

*reads the synopsis*

...how very Shoujo...

The plot synopsis sounds very cliche, but the series is anything but. A plot synopsis can't possibly describe how great this series is because the 'plot' isn't the point and Kyoko's career moves at snails pace. That guy she swears revenge on? As of volume 12, he's only appeared more than a panel or two in maybe 10 chapters and only been remotely important in about five of them. It takes Kyoko 10 volumes before she gets a remotely important role and her only steady gig involves a giant chicken costume.

Really, its Kyoko that makes the series such a blast. As Aiia said, this series is the antidote to the typical shoujo and Kyoko is the primary reason for that. She's just... awesome. Let's just say that she can make people tremble in terror without even looking at them. In addition, the way the series deals with acting is quite interesting. It's watching Kyoko (and the other characters) tackling how to handle different roles and watching the characters grow (Kyoko is rather broken as a person in the beginning) that is the real point of the series and it excels at it.

HAL Film Maker did Aria and Princess Tutu and the director worked on both, so while a quality adaptation is far from assured, I'm not exactly worried about it. I'm looking forward to seeing Kyoko's fury animated. Hopefully I won't be disappointed.

[wingednike]

Yay! I still think Skip Beat would be great as a live action but an anime would be better for the grudge and super-deformed moments.

[Westlo]

I read the first chapter of this ages ago and just never got around to continuing, saw the announcement of the anime a few days back and decided to start this up again. I'm glad I did since it's been a pretty enjoying read for the first 3 volumes anyway. Kyoko is an entertaining character, I will rage hard if Sho ends up with Kyoko, Ren is interesting so far, I'll much prefer him to be Kyoko's love interest in the series. Kanae is an amusing character, love her interaction with Kyoko and with them being a "team" I'm sure I'll love it for a long time.

Really looking forward to the anime, I wonder who will voice Kyoko since I can see that being a very challenging role since she's all over the place at times.

[Yukino Miyazawa]

*reads the synopsis*

...how very Shoujo...
Here are some panels from the manga (http://shaenon.livejournal.com/35331.html). So funny! :)

[Helschadenfreude]

YES! Finally! Almost makes up for the awful Tawainese drama casting for the live version(i.e Jerry Yan).

[Westlo]

Volume 5 was awesome and 6-11 were pretty damn good as well. Along with Nodame this is the most impressive shoujo manga I've read. (though Nodame is Josei isn't it?)

[Busaiku]

Yeah, it's Josei.
Skip Beat's one of my top 10 Shoujo series, definitely.

[Westlo]

Va's got announced for the 3 main characters.

Rina Satou as Mogami Kyouko
Takehito Koyasu as Tsuruga Ren
Takahiro Sakurai as Fuwa Shoutaro

Kyouko is definately going to be Rina's biggest and challening role to date, I think she's up to it.. I hope. Takehito Koyasu as Ren is win, I was expecting Mamoru to be honest, Sakurai will do Fuwa easily.

[untoldsorrow]

I was into the series. It started off real good but then by the time it hit chapters 80+ it got stale. I would watch this of course since it starts in the beginning, can't wait.

[HitokiriShadow]

I was curious who would play Kyoko. Rina Satou hasn't had that many big roles and I'm only vaguely familiar with her but she seems like a good choice. Now I'm curious who will play some of the other girls.

Takehito Koyasu... recent(ly heard by me) roles I'm familiar with are Jyouganki (The Third), Luke Valentine (Hellsing Ultimate), Le Blanc (Divergence Eve), Luck Gandor (Baccano)... and Excalibur (Soul Eater)!? He seems like a good fit for Ren.

Takahiro Sakurai has played.... Suzaku (Code Geass) and Guiche (Zero no Tsukaima). Not exactly voices I imagine Ren with, though I imagine he'll use a deeper voice here.

I was into the series. It started off real good but then by the time it hit chapters 80+ it got stale. I would watch this of course since it starts in the beginning, can't wait.

I just read volume 13 yesterday and I'm still absolutely loving it. I've never been so excited and apprehensive about an anime adaptation. The source material is great, but will the anime give it the budget, talent (on the director's and writers' part), and episode count it deserves? That last part worries me considering how slow paced the story is. There are plenty of places they could stop, but none would really make a good ending. I'd be fine with a non-ending, I'm more worried they'll try to create a rushed, half-assed one.

The director has been around for a while but has directed very little. She seems to have done mostly storyboards at this point and the only series she's recently directed was Vampire Knight, which I only saw about 30 seconds of. So while she could be fine, there is nothing that she's done that tells me "yep, this is in good hands."

[Westlo]

Takahiro Sakurai has played.... Suzaku (Code Geass) and Guiche (Zero no Tsukaima). Not exactly voices I imagine Ren with, though I imagine he'll use a deeper voice here.

Heard Ray Langlen from GUNxSWORD? Sakurai can go deep, those two roles you listed aren't really a real indication of what he's mostly done.

[HitokiriShadow]

I only saw one episode of GUNxSWORD and it was a long time ago. I'm sure he can do a deep voice, I just haven't seen any roles that he's done it for.

[Kismet]

Sakurai does a high versus a deeper voice with the character Yuuri/Maou in 'Kyo Kara Maou'.

The casting looks good, but i wonder who will be Yashiro, Lory and Moko :)
So excited for this show, hope it's not ruined somehow.

[Westlo]

I thought I posted it here but it looks like I didn't, the VA listing that ANN put up went down a few weeks ago since they got it wrong. The real vocal cast for Skip Beat is...

Kyouko - Inoue Marina
Ren - Katsuyuki Konishi
Shou - Miyano Mamoru
Kanae - Hayamizu Risa
Yashiro - Kawanago Masahito

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/8026/skbanimebq2.jpg

Cast is looking very good!