An interesting premise is undermined by a thoroughly unlikeable lead character and what I saw as the creator’s superiority complex over the genre she’s working in.

Skip Beat! has many qualities that I love in manga, particularly its warmth, humor, and fiercely independent heroine. I’m torn between declaring that I’ll never let so much time lapse between volumes of again and advising others to stockpile volumes to read as I have done, since the accumulation of awesome is greater the longer one is privileged to inhabit this special world. In either case, this series is highly recommended.

Volume 20 of Skip Beat! is remarkably tidy: it covers precisely one storyline, from start to (apparent) finish, with only a nod here and there to the series' ongoing subplots. Early in the volume, Kyoko discovers that Lory's granddaughter, Maria, is not only resistant to celebrating Christmas (and other Western holidays), but refuses to celebrate her own birthday, which falls on December 24--and is also the anniversary of her mother's death. True to form, Kyoko responds by persuading Maria to help her throw a party that "coincidentally" falls on that very day, in order to thank everyone they've met who's helped them throughout the year.