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Skip beat! is a manga that has been sitting on my top 10 for quite a long time, but just recently dropped off of it. Don't get me wrong, this manga is awesome and I have followed it since forever. It dropped for a minor reason, as in I've been reading other stuff waiting for it to update. Ok, lets get on with the review.

In my opinion, and it's very arguable, but to me the one thing that puts the whole manga on it's back is--- drum rolls --- the character Kyouko. She is the single most interesting, fun, and likable character I've encountered in ... any manga, and without her, I don't think this manga would of been nearly as good. Reason being, I just can't seem to care about other characters when she's around. She takes up all the panels and then some. She is the very definition of crazy, which is why I love her. BUT, this does have it's problems. It makes it where I just can't find myself caring about any of the other cast.... even when they do get a fair amount of development and screen time. They give you this display of a character - Kyouko, and show you just how many layers and complexes they can give a character, then they try to do it with the rest of the cast, but it just doesn't work. Of course, this is all opinion based, and others may have a different favorite, but that person is pretty rare, to be honest.

Now, the art... there's not much to say, it's a very distinct art style, which some may like, but I particularly find it somewhat annoying. BUT, over time I grew accustom to it, so no beef with it really. This is just me being nit picky about anatomical structure.

The manga as a whole is astounding, and the flaws of the manga are actually necessary to the story. These being (and these are all personal) --- I found the slumps that Kyouko would go into to be somewhat annoying, not that I minded her having slumps on how to get into character, just sometimes these dragged on for what seemed like forever --- The shounen-esk moments of the manga made me cringe a little, but I know they were using it to show that she has natural talent, so some might not mind. --- And, as mentioned, the flaw with the characters. Now, I know people are just going to be like "this is just you being biased to Kyouko", and I would probably agree with you, but to be honest if she wasn't in this manga, I would not be nearly as interested in it. WHY? Because the comedy and story are all revolved around her craziness, so lets be honest, she makes most of the manga, if not all. Don't get me wrong, though, the other characters are good, just fail to catch MY (emphasis on MY) interest, not saying for others they won't.

OK, so this manga is a definite read for any of those looking for a manga with good comedy, romance, and character building. There are many memorable moments to be had that you will not soon forget.

Later!

WARNING:
I am not a writer, in any form; so sentences may seem random and misplaced. I apologize ahead a time. ALSO - This review is fully biased, GET OVER IT. ALSO - I don't like writing either so this is most likely going to be extremely short.

I FUCKING LOVE THIS SERIES! Ok, I got that out of my system, but the point isn't to rant on about how much I love it. I'm suppose to convince you to read it. Before I get to what makes me "FUCKING LOVE THIS SERIES", I'm going to ask this - "Why haven't you read this already? WTF ... is wrong with you?"

Anyway, Blame is just one masterpiece after another from the gorgeous artwork to a unique story telling method. Let's start with the artwork.

The artwork is beyond that of a manga, in my opinion. Each panel seems like it could be standalone and make major profit. Just the fact that all of these beauties are all pieced together into a story is awesome (I can remember most of all of the panels, and I have favorites.). The artwork would be the key point in the series, because it is used more often than words to tell the story.

SO, from that you can tell - you are going to be confused to what the fuck is going on for a good amount a time. ACTUALLY, scratch that, if you don't come to your own assumptions and use your imagination - you'll never understand what's going on. AND, that to me, is the beauty of this series. It's something you can sit and chat with friends to form your own opinions of what is going on and form your own story. Except from the key points the series already gives you, which are; man named "Killy" is traveling upwards, in a strange world, searching for some kind of DNA. This is a form of story where you could re-read this multiple times and get a different story every time you read it and that is awesome to me, it's like an RPG.


I don't know if I already said this, but I FUCKING LOVE THIS SERIES. This is something that I am going to recommend time and time again. So to any of my buddies, if you ask for recommendations, be prepared to see Blame! on the list every time. One thing I do have to complain about is - WHY ISN'T THERE MORE, I WANT MORE. That is all.

Later.

Wow, what to say about this anime, it's just a total mess. It is so obviously based off an eroge game, it kills, it really does...

Story 2/10

The story is the most unoriginal pile of poo and while didn't sound too awful written, when watching it became overly obvious that it was just so the male protagonist would be placed in the most convenient place possible to form a harem. You could clearly tell the writers had no intention of making the story remotely good, only to make a quick buck from some popular eroge game.

Art 5/10

The art being the high point of the anime, ... the one and only. It wasn't bad looking and I did find the character designs to be "cute". That's about it... nothing more to really say, it wasn't great and it wasn't awful. Mediocre at best.

Sound 3/10

The voice acting was almost unbearable, they were clearly reading off a script to the point it just seemed like they were yelling out, "Hey, I'm reading my lines." OK, maybe I over exaggerated, but it was bad.

Character 3/10

The characters had potential to be good, but every time they develop their personality, it immediately changes in the next episode, leading to one of the most bipolar and unoriginal, cookie cutter character cast I've seen in a long while.

Enjoyment 3/10

I found this anime to be total garb and not worth the time of day for any one individual. This anime is better suited as a punishment or a challenge, god only knows how I was able to sit through all of it, because I haven't a clue.

Overall 3/10

This anime was clearly aimed for the fans of the visual novel/eroge game, and I don't see how the ratings are even somewhat decent. Please don't torture yourself, DON'T WATCH! Also, I would like to state that I did little to no back ground research, as in I really don't know if there's an eroge game for it, but watching it, it just seemed obvious.

DISCLAIMER:

IF YOU'RE A FAN OF THE SERIES, I APOLOGIZE IF I HURT YOUR FEELINGS. IT WASN'T INTENDED, THESE ARE JUST MY HONEST OPINIONS OF THE ANIME!

First, I would like to state, I love romance harem animes that are set up like dating sim games. Its one of the main reasons I liked this anime so much and others like The World God Only Knows.

Story 7/10

The story and character backgrounds are nothing too great, but they also aren't out of the realm of reality. I enjoyed the actions and events that took place between each girl and thought they were well written.

Art 8/10

I like the more mature looking approach to the art, instead of going to weird faces and a "moe" look (not sure if used right). Not much more ... to say about this, it was good none-the-less.

Sound 7/10

Nothing particularly stood out, but the soundtrack was in no way bad. The voice actors were all good and did their jobs accordingly, but, again, no one really stood out.

Character 8/10

First, I'll start with the main character, Junichi, he is a rare breed. A main male protagonist I actually didn't mind at all. Not saying he was anything special, which is often the case in these romance harems, but he didn't annoy me in the slightest. His personality did seem to change quite a bit depending on the arc, but that seemed unavoidable.

Now, the characters that truly shine and make this anime good. All the female leads were outstanding, all of them were very unique. None of them seemed to fall back on the typical anime female characters too hard, which was refreshing, and if they did, sorry, I didn't really notice.

Enjoyment 8/10

This earned its place in my top romance anime list for sure. It was very enjoyable, and I'll probably end up watching it again in the future. I recommend this to all that are fans to the romance genre, in particular, the harem romance genre.

Overall 8/10

I don't like to go into too much detail when reviewing anime (AKA spoiling), so I apologize if this seems short. Anyways, I hope this was helpful to at least one person.

Thank you, and have a great day!

- deagosane

This is one of those animes that I watched all the way through, just because of the amount of potential it had. I kept wanting it to dish out more, but sadly it never delivered.

Story 6/10

The story was decent but didn't seem like the main focus of the show, plus it was as predictable as it got. It seemed like the romances and relations between characters was the main focus, but even then the show didn't show any real progression until around the end of the anime, which left me wanting more.

Art 8/10

I found this anime to be beautiful, the art fit my ... tastes perfectly, with a wide range of color, and detailed shading on characters. It was truly eye candy and was the main attraction of the show for me.

Characters 7/10

All the characters were well made, just not well developed. You didn't see any real change from start to finish, other than some minor stuff. I felt myself wanting more background of each character, which is why I believe there should be some specials or even another season. It did dip into their pasts a little, but it really just left you wanting more.

The relations between the characters were very sweet, although setup in a ridiculous manner, the whole Spirit Affairs Division seemed like a matchmaking group.

Enjoyment 7/10

Although it seemed pretty messy, I found my self not able to stop watching. It was still enjoyable regardless of a large amount of flaws, and I do recommend watching it.

Overall 7/10

This was my first review, and at the start it was a lot longer, but it felt more like a rant than a review. So, I revised it quite a bit, to the point of rewriting, but I hope this is helpful.