All these rants

You call a shoujo manga that started in 2002 that still hasn’t shown the main couple’s love story decent pacing? They might as well recategorize this as shounen.
We’re ranting because we’re excited to see how these two end up. We’re stressed about how their love story seems to be in a constant loop of misunderstandings. We love the manga as much as you do and we’ve been here since the very beginning. You might express your love in a different way from us but that does not mean that we hate this manga and that because we view it differently from you, we should stop reading this manga. Smh.

And this is what i meant. Again, youre using our time (2002-2019) as a standard for "slow pacing". From my point of view, the story flow is smooth and the events are decently paced. But thats just my opinion so ╮(￣▽￣)╭ we are free to have differing opinions about a lot of things anyway

I agree with your point of view, and as you've told before, I did stop reading because I couldn't take the pace in the manga, but then, I'd like to point out two things in this aspect:
I hardly think an author should not be concerned about their readers, since they're mainly writing the story for the reader. Of course, it's not a matter of following their every wish, but knowing how to balance this. I understand that the pace is slow and it should be, considering the setting, but having a slow pace and having a day to day /hour to hour scene are two different things.
And since lately all I do is roll over the entire chapter to see if something really happens aside from Kyoko's rampaging endless thoughts, I've come to realize that the last chapters look really tired, in drawing aspects. You hardly see scenarios, or even the characters themselves in the middle of all the thoughts an conversations

This was one of the first manga I started reading when I got interested 10 years ago. I start, I give up. I start. I give up . I mean, it's 17 years and 42 volumes and the main couple are...well.....

There is such a thing as being frustrated. Readers of romance want a happy ending. We don't want to retire and need the nurse's aid to read it to us when it finallhy arrives.

But I understand what it is: You're a mangaka. You have a big success. You milk the hell outtta the moneymaker. Stretch out that story! Cha-ching. We probably won't see an ending until it the editors and mangaka figure they can't run profitably with the misunderstandings anymore.

Thankfully, it's still funny as heck.

The only thing that got me concerned over here is if, after 50 volumes of moneymaking, the manga stops being profitable and then, BANG. Last chapter with the first Kiss and four pages of an epilogue showing only the shadow of their grown-up silhouettes with two kids in a beautiful garden ╮(￣▽￣)╭

They're going to milk it to the last drop and will only give us a one page conclusion to everything.. that thought just pisses me off more than the dragging pace this has ended up to be

yes.this.

That's exactly why people complaining about, We are well aware that it was only 2 years in the manga, but it was worth 17 years for people who read this manga from the very beginning. And if you reread this then you should notice how the recent chapter, this manga became short (not just in a sense of the page, what I mean is, there is not much happening in one chapter, comparing it with the early chapter where so much story and interaction with many character going on in one just chapter , it wasn't wrong for the reader to think that the mangaka milking out the stories)

^^^^^^^^^^^this this this

You’re absolutely right about how a Mangaka should worry about her readers, but in this case, her readers don’t mind. In Japan a mangaka has to have enough readers and pisitive reviews to even publish. The magazine/publisher will always update the mangaka on the readers reception and depending on how positive, negative, or how a large percentage of readers may feel about something, the publishers will advise the mangaka to meet the wants of the readers to a certain degree. I’m Japanese, and maybe it’s because I grew up watching and reading Japanese books, manga, TV shows and movies that I’ve grown a liking to very detailed and realistic works. But this manga and the way it has progressed IS VERY popular in Japan. I hardly ever see Japanese readers complain about the pace the way that international readers -especially those who don’t even pay for the content, complain. The mangaka’s main audience is the Japanese audience, and since the story has met with favorable reception by the readers that she’s targeting and actually getting patronage from, there isn’t really any reason for her to change the pace. Moreover, Shoujo manga itself does not encompass Romance. It is more often than not the focal point of stories that are Shoujo, but Shoujo does not equate to romance.

It truly is a good pacing. <3
And people seem to forget that the romance is NOT the main plot/focus of the story anyway (which I find strange since that was pretty obvious from chapter 1 onward).

The romance is likely 3rd or 4th place in priority.
This is how I suspect the author prioritizes the plot parts (or how I would, as a writer):

1.) Her emotional trauma needs to be overcome (aka she needs to overcome being hurt by Fuwa and learn to trust and love again, the latter being important as no romance can even begin without it)
2.) Her career (since she wants to get back at Fuwa by being top actress + she seemingly enjoys the job)
3.) Ren's background and relationship with Kyoko needs to be revealed (Ren seems to have a dark past he wishes to hide and I doubt he will want to be with Kyoko without her knowing the truth)
4.) The romance (based on how the characters are portrayed (aka, being realistic) the romance cannot start without the previous points being dealt with. Unless, of course, the author gives in to the whining and rushes the story, makes a quick happy end, and ultimately make this manga another badly written bs story like most other romance shoujos or like Bleach ended up to be)


I suggest people re-read the first few chapters to understand that the romance is really not the focus in this manga. It never was and likely never will be.
Besides...who ever said they would end up together anyway? For all we know the author might have other plans entirely. X'D

That's not how romance works. Because from the beginning it was supposed to be a betrayal from a promised fiance (she was training to become his wife), and because Ren came in as the new better suitor, it most definitely is a romance. Romances have career and personal traumas and conflicts--they are part of the plot.

And in any case, you're being a little blinkered not to notice the NUMBER of people here who read this who are complaining about the pacing. SEVENTEEN YEARS and FORTY-TWO VOLUMES. Please.

I entirely agree with you on all of this.
The japanese audience is likely recieving this pacing differently from westerners. And even I as awesterner appreciate a realistic pacing without the romance being in focus for once.

The last part of what you wrote is incredibly important and I really think most people on this website forget that: Shoujo genre does not equate to being about a romance.
Just like Shounen is not always about fighting and Yuri/Yaoi is not necessarily portraying smut content.

I for one love how the pacing stays like this and let's the characters be as they are instead of changing them to something that feels rushed, out of place or dislikable.
I enjoy this manga more than any other from my usual genres, simply because the romance is not the focus and the story focuses on dealing with problems arising in a realistic manner instead of throwing a quick conclusion into my face.

And while I am indeed one of those that sadly cannot buy the manga (due to multiple reasons), I've already started preparing money to buy each volume slowly one after another. Just so this manga has a chance to survive and thrive until the end. <3
(Then again I am not sure how much it'll help to have people from another country buy the manga, need to check on that sometime soon.)

Excuse me, did you just conclude the whole discussion with majority's opinion=truth? There's nothing wrong with having an opinion that is not the same as a number of people here. Because there's also a fact that most of the reader here are shoujo readers who generally enjoy simple and short romance plot in shoujos (in general, not all). Here's a tips for enjoying and accepting this story as it is: just read it as a shonen with one piece or conan's pace, it's that simple. (๑•ㅂ•)و✧

Nope. I'm saying that when a lot of people have the SAME complaint, it should not be dismissed as unworthy. For some, the pace is legitimately frustrating. For some, the pace is perfect. That's how it is. Let them rant. :)

And I don't think anyone has to just accept a story as it is. When a story raises expectations IN SOME and they aren't met, they will complain. And when a story goes on for seventeen years without any resolution, I think it's justified to say , "Poop or get off the pot, already." Doesn't mean the ones who want to still be reading it 20 years from now aren't okay, too.

Idk if others bypassed this comment or not but this made the most sense. Ya'll should read this.

There you go. The reason it has this pace is the Japanese audience. I'm not Japanese. I find it frustrating. But then, most dramas in Japan don't last that long (the ones I see uploaded and subbed). I like that about Japanese dramas. They are over in a reasonable amount of time (not go on for years and years and years.)

When I mentioned Dramas, I wasn’t applying the length of said story, but the amount of detail and realism (unless you watch the types that revolve solely around romance, those tend to be more for teens.) Japanese people don’t have a problem following something for years if it fits their taste, and incredibly detailed character developement IS TOTALLY up our ally. We have Taiga dramas every year, one drama has 46~50 episodes, each about 45min~1hr long. Then there are 15min episode Asadora dramas that air Monday~Saturday for a total of 156 episodes. So commitments to longer dramas are quite common in Japan. But again, I was not talking about the length when I mentioned dramas and movies, but the genre and the way the story is approached and progresses. You have to keep in mind that one manga chapter has actually VERY little dialogue in comparison to, lets say, a 15 minute drama episode.

Well, I don't disregard the japanese readers, and that is one of the reasons I believe this manga is still going on, as you said, it is a very different audience from the westerns and what we look for is completely different. Sometimes, though, I have a sense that people are so blinded by the fact that they love one story or the author or whatever and they end up not seeing the flaws in it.

I, for once, did not read Skip Beat at the begining because of the romance, on the contrary, what got me completely hooked up was the development of Kyoko as the main character, as a person that is overcoming her hardships and that is finding a new way after her lworld just fell apart. I don't even need to re-read the manga to remember the first scene where she should answer the phone call and have a romantic response, but she actually breaks the phone in anger. Or the first important roles she played as young Ren, or the scared girl (guess the character's name was Mio).

I didn't read it for the romance in itself, but there came a time in which her relationship with Ren started to develop and I started to miss the Kyoko that could amaze me with her unpolished acting skills. So, in my mind it was like "alright, no news on the acting part, but maybe some news on personal development?"... and that hardly came. She still believed Ren was a fairy (great, she's still an innocent country girl, but, really?), she still can't deal with Sho (always getting angry and carried away by his mere presence), she still hardly ever relies on others and the most we can say about her personal development was with her mom's appearance. About Ren's past, we know very little as well. I don't read it in general anymore, I usually skip the pages to see if anything different happens, so I'm not so firm when I say in those huge blocks of conversation there wasn't much of important and misterious and surprising information... but the feeling that I get is that I'm looking all over the manga pages and I'm missing: Kyoko's development as a person becoming an adult; Kyoko's development as an actress (someone might probably say that there was recent development in her recent role as a ninja but, come on, we all knew that role was way too easy for her, considering her background); Resolution regarding Sho; And I cannot and won't ask for her development with Ren, cause we all know that will only happen when Kyoko is of legal age in Japan, so, can't complain about it.

To sum up, the manga just ceased to surprise me with any kind of development and lately, I only see pages with 70% of ballons and mayne 2 or 3 close-ups and no scenario. I'll keep skiping the pages hoping that there'll come a role in acting that'll have Kyoko strugling with her own skills to become better (and that should be a character that is all about love, since she's been so much against it. Not characters that can fight or be gloomy, she's still in her safe place). That kind of surprise in her acting, or maybe a scene with Sho in which she looked serious and composed, well, that would make me want to read it again.