FAD Review: Skip Beat

2.5 out of 5

Hi,

This week I look at "Mangas that turn into Dramas" with the 2011 Taiwanese Drama called Skip Beat (AKA Extravagant Challenge). What is a manga you may ask? A Manga is Japanese-styled comic book. They are normally as thick as a novel and read backwards - right to left. The drawings in Manga are softer and less comical  than American comic books. Typically, there are more Animes created from a Manga than there are dramas based on a Mangas. Nowadays, dramas created from Mangas are becoming more and more common. For more information about mangas, click here.

 Initial Thoughts

Here is a poster and trailer to Skip Beat/Extravagant Challenge:

Other than having high hopes from reading the manga - which is one of the most popular mangas at the moment -this poster made me want to watch Skip Beat. It looks classy and well-produced. The trailer, on the other hand, seems light-hearted to me and could have been edited better. Skip Beat is rather lucky as not only has it got a manga but also an anime and drama series too. I have watched a few episodes of the animes to Skip Beat which made me rather disappointed because it was not that good. So I had high hopes for this drama.

The opening scene to this drama, in episode #1 (also known as the pilot episode for those that like American series) was cute, light and amusing because the dark introduction of the Pandora's Box. It introduces the main character, Gong Xi (also known as Kyoto in the anime and manga series) as a girl who works three jobs just to support her childhood (and romantic interest) friend, Bo Po Shang (known as Shō in the manga) who is a budding music superstar. Bo Po Shang, later then breaks it off with Gong Xi by saying he only invited her to help him was out of convenience as a housemaid. Gong Xi then swears to enter showbiz, just to get revenge.

The opening theme song was a lot like the poster - shining lights, billboards on tall buildings of the main characters smartly dressed and beautiful. This is what I expected this drama's atmosphere would be like. From the opening theme song and the posters, I imagined it would be like Boys Over Flowers in their flashy, nice, royalty/celebrity-like feel to it. But BOY, I WAS WRONG.

Storyline

Who collapses like that?

I was really disappointed with the execution of this drama. The spirit ghost and chicken figures clearly looked animated. At first, they seem cool but they quickly became downright annoying and tacky. The first few episodes dragged on a bit. It is by the end of episode #3, when Gong Xi finally gets into a Showbiz company known as LME. I did not feel it should take almost 2 and half hours (each episode goes for 70 minutes) for Gong Xi to get into Showbiz but at least that reflects on life right? Sometimes it takes a lot of time get to where you want to be. The best episodes was episode number #10 which was when Gong Xi films a music video for Bo Po Shang and the final episode, #15.

Episode #10

 Acting

Dun He Lian sits on that bike like a princess

I hate to say this but the acting was terrible. Ivy Chen, who plays the main character, makes the character rather comedic however she played the role of an "unattractive, boring female" quite well. Choi Si-won, the guy that plays Dun He Lian (known as Ren in the manga) - the another rising star, Shang's rival in reaching the top of Showbiz and Gong Xi's senior - acting skills were terrible. He pulls a lot of Kristen Stewart blank faces. In fact, I once found a meme about how bad his acting is. Lee Dong-hae who plays Shang, acting skills weren't as bad though. Choi Si-won and Lee Dong-hae are both from a boy KPOP band known as Super Junior. I believe they should just stick to their singing rather than acting.

Music

Here is the opening theme song:

I found the music catchy and fitted the series well. Of course, Lee Dong-hae and Choi Si-won used their "real" skills here to produce a good theme song. I loved how the opening theme song was bright and catchy while the ending theme was light. Here is the ending theme song:

Final Verdict

This series is good to watch for SkipBeat fans and just to kill time. I felt rather disappointed, particularly because there was absolutely no affection for Gong Xi – no holding hands or even kissing for her crushes.