Skip Beat!

is a Japanese shōjo manga by Yoshiki Nakamura. It is the story of a 16-year-old girl who discovers that her childhood friend and romantic goal, Sho Fuwa, only keeps her around to act as a maid and earn his living expenses, as he works his way to become the top pop idol in Japan. Furious and heart broken, she vows to get revenge by beating him in show business. In Japan, the manga was first published in Hakusensha's shōjo manga magazine Hana to Yume in February 2002, while in the United States, it began publishing under Viz Media's Shojo Beat label in 2006. As of June 2008, nineteen volumes have been released in Japan, and as of May 2009, eighteen volumes have been released in the United States. In 2002, a drama CD adaptation was made and released by Marine Entertainment, and covers the first volume (chapters one to five) of the manga. An anime adaptation is produced by Hal Film Maker, and began airing October 5, 2008. It ended airing with episode twenty-five on July 12, 2009.

Plot
Skip-Beat! is about Kyoko Mogami, a wistful yet cheery sixteen year-old girl who loves her childhood friend, Shotaro, but is cruelly betrayed and thus seeks revenge against him. She used to spend a lot of time at Shotaro's parents' inn and learned a lot about housekeeping, hostelry, and other jobs (sewing, cooking, serving tea traditionally, etc.). Shotaro, not wishing to take over his parents' inn, becomes bored of living in Kyoto and decides to move to Tokyo to pursue a career in music. Sho, as he is called by his fans, asks Kyoko to leave high school in Kyoto Prefecture and her life behind to help him. Upon arrival in Tokyo, Kyoko lives an unreasonably frugal life, spending nothing on herself and doing whatever she can for the freeloading Sho, who eventually becomes ranked seventh in the top twenty most popular entertainers of Japan. One day, however, as Kyoko brings Sho his lunch at a company building, she overhears Shotaro complaining about her to his manager, saying that she is a boring and plain girl with no sex appeal that he'd like to cast away. He then proceeds to sweet-talk and flirt with his manager, in stark contrast to the cold and demanding attitude he usually exhibits towards Kyoko. Unlike other heroines in the same situation, Kyoko doesn't shed many tears when she learns that Sho thinks she's only good for housekeeping. Instead, her "Pandora's box" opens and she vows vengeance on Sho. Enraged, Kyoko attempts to attack Sho, but is instantly carried off by security. Sho mockingly tells her that if she wants revenge, she had better become a bigger star than him. And so, Kyoko, vowing revenge, changes her appearance and enters the entertainment business, facing many challenges along the way. Skip Beat! follows Kyoko's journey to climb the showbiz ladder as she meets interesting people, in the hopes of getting revenge on Shotaro, but also in order to get back her sense of compassion that she had lost when her heart was broken by Sho. However, she later discovers that she is acting because she wants to, not on revenge for Sho.