Skip Beat!, Vol. 38

スキップ・ビート! [Skip Beat!] #38

by Yoshiki Nakamura

After years of no contact, Kyoko finally has the chance to confront the mother who abandoned her. Her friends are worried that the meeting will break her, but Kyoko’s time with Ren and the Love Me section has toned down her rage and given her an impressive inner strength. Kyoko may be ready to face her past, but is she strong enough to face her mother’s too?!

Chapters: 225-230

Genres: Manga, Romance, Shojo, Graphic Novels, Contemporary, Humor, Young Adult

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 18, 2016

About the author

Yoshiki Nakamura (仲村佳樹) is a Japanese mangaka. She was born June 17. Nakamura made her manga debut with "Yume de Auyori Suteki" in the manga magazine Hana to Yume in 1993.

Reviews

[Brendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Reminder:* The pics are just a cut-outs collage not an actual page from the manga.XD

Wanna know what? I love to draw, I draw a lot and as I've said some other time before I don't like to wait As if anyone loves to wait, right? ha! so that's how since I was a little kid, I discovered animes, then I bought the whole series, no matter if I had to wait a bit to watch it completed as long as it IS completed, and then I discovered mangas and how they were the real source of animes, and it happens that mangas are not only rainbows, stars and happy wishes, f*ck no!
I think my love for dark gender in books came since that point on, XD.

Anyway this story has walk along with me since...what? 5 years I think and I seriously starting to lose my head if the male protagonist doesn't make a freaking move NOW, but the treaky thing is that he also has a few secret that are not quite clear at all. I think he killed someone or was involved in the murder of someone or something.

Now this is 10 chapter in one and a half volume, where we get to see what REALLY happened between her & her mother. 'Cause u see, the mother raised her until she was 5 years old and then gave her to the family of a friend of her in order to raise her, and this family wanted this little child as their future daughter in law so they accepted. But you wanna know the crappy part? the 5 years the mother raised her biologycal daughter she treated her as shit, sorry the language, but she did and now, 10 years later, she has the nerve to go on national Tv, 'cause she's now a famous lawyer, and say quite loud that she has no children at all.

So the daughter: Kyoko now that she's old enough and has more balls than her damn sweet mom, decides to go and ask for the answers she always has craved.



and the real mom's true story comes to the surface.


so yeah I was still seeing RED at this point and with a killing desire as you can imagine, 'cause shit! that was her DAUGHTER, she wanted to KILL her own daughter , and she had the f*cking decence to told her that straight on HER face, welll kind of appreciated that, but even so...!!!


that goes to her mom!XD

But then this woman start to say her story of how her pregnancy came as a result of a romance that was part of a spionage for a case she was working at that time; and how she had so bad fortune of got herself pregnant of the guy that lied to her, and stole from her. well trial's documents nothing else, though and never saw him again. And how that make her lose her head and almost her work.
So at that point I was considering her a bit more, but still NO IN MY GOOD LIST.


And you wanna know the daughter's reaction?


yeahhhhh! apparently this girl has gone through a lot of f*cking things and back, so she has become stronger and better in every sense of the word... or as it says up here, she's just tired of hating her and waiting a generous reaction of her mom.
So yeah, that's how she felt.

So that was her MOM story
You wanna know a bit about how it goes HER ROMANTIC LIFE?
well, it's pratically nonexistant.
She loves a guy that is her superior in her work and treats him just like that in order to not damage the raltionship , 'cause she thinks he would never see her like anything more than his junior or student.
He?, he took like a year to realise he was actully in love with her, but he won't make a move until she matures, they only has 4 year difference hello????.
Anyway, besides this guy has his own dark issues, so much that he has a dark side that comes time into time to play rough around her, and also she is also calming him as wellkind of Badger and Adrian there, ha!



So Kyoko, met a guy that was her real and only friend since she was a child, that kid told her he was a fairy in order for her to never find out her true identity and now almost 10 years later that kid is now this guy , that doesn't have a clue of how approach to her beyond their work relationship, until due to some circunstances he has, once again, to act like the grown up version of the fairy-kid she met as a little girl.

So when he realised that she's heard the news about her mom..he ran staright to her.



And I'm like...




XD.
But at the same time I just DON'T WANT to get to the end.

-----------------------------------------------------

Who said that manga & anime was for kids?!

With desire of killing and also conforting this female character.
Goshhhhhh! That person was her mother, but f*ck I never imagined something like that coming, not at all!

TOO MUCH DRAMA!

I'm writting riddles here, full review on its way, but of course you won't undertand much without the background of the previous chapters, though
Rev on its way.

[Wawa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is amazing because it examines a big relationship in Kyoko's life that I think came at a good time. Yay!

[Penny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devour this manga in 2 freaking days and...oh shit i need more, internet you need to hurry up and translate the rest NOW!!

[Kurage · Rating 3 out of 5]

225-230

Kyouko vs Mom. Also Mom background story. I'm impressed that we get solid plot again. YAY :D

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread July 4th, 2025

It's not an excuse on her part, but it's nice to see Kyoko's mom's past.

Reread June 24th, 2021

Very tense volume...

[Anisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saena seems like such a cold woman. Even though we haven't heard her whole story yet, I have a feeling I know where it's headed. Regardless of what happened between her and Kyoko's dad, she has been a terrible mother to Kyoko. From everything we've seen so far, she's been nothing but cold and emotionless to her. Actually, the only emotions she's ever shown to her daughter were rage and anger, which were totally unjustifiable considering none of the things that happened to her was Kyoko's fault.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far not caring for this story arc. Saena is so cold. WHat hse says.. OUch! I love how both Ren and Sho are worried about her. Sho is still annoying but nice to see he does actually care. And Ren's reaction--loved it! I wish I had a better idea what went through the Presidents' head when her mother made her infamous statement.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This whole volume was about Kyoko and her mother and the later's past.
I enjoyed knowing more about her mother's background, at least it made her human in my opinion. The comedy was less concerning the topic of course and more drama!
I can't wait to read the next volume and discover more -hopefully- about the circumstances of Mogami's birth.

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her mom's past though :'(

[Maria Kramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this volume, we get to see more about Kyoko's estranged mom! I am really interested in her storyline and how her relationship with Kyoko is going to work out.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need more now! I can't believe I'm caught up. I have to know what's going to happen. Will Kyoko realize who Ren is? Will he EVER admit it? And who the heck is Kyoko's father?!

[Marguerite · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars.

Whoaaaaaaa! That character development! Mind. Blown.

[Pflanzis · Rating 5 out of 5]

In diesem Band gab es eine große Konfrontation und lange Rückblicke in die Vergangenhseit. Ich hätte eigentlich nicht gedacht, dass ich überhaupt mit dieser Person mitfühlen könnte, aber sie war mir in diesen Rückblenden tatsächlich sehr sympathisch. Ich bin gespannt, wie diese Erzählung endet, wobei ich schon eine Ahnung habe.

[Dasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐ 1, 2 de 10 suspenso, lo odio
⭐⭐ 3, 4 de 10 justito, meh
⭐⭐⭐ 5, 6 de 10 bien, no está mal
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 7, 8 de 10 notable, me gusta bastante
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 9, 10 de 10 me obsesiona, me encanta.

Mis puntuaciones son para toda la saga, en general. No por tomos.

[Leonor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kyoko se encuentra con su mamá, y comienza la historia del pasado de Moema Mogami, y cómo fue concebida Kyoko... ¡Qué emoción!

[Jade✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

È stata una rilettura! Continuo ad amare questo manga, kyoko una delle mie protagoniste preferite in assoluto

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 / 5

Bit of a step down from the last volume (which got an easy 5-stars from me), but I'm just not sure how I feel about this... we're just starting to learn about Kyouko's mother's (or "mother's") past, but although it seems all the pieces are being laid, we're not really seeing how they fit together...

We got Kyouko and Saena face-to-face and having a rather awkward conversation, in which Saena learned that Kyouko has finally gone back to school (even if only part time) while Saena's assistant/co-worker (...one of the two) got to be awkwardly in the middle (poor guy), before Kyouko and Saena went to have a more private conversation... and then we started getting flashbacks of Saena's life as a lawyer prior to having Kyouko and just... lots of pieces, but no true information at this stage. Is the guy in the flashbacks truly a corporate spy using Saena to get information on the lawsuit so that his side can win?

Hopefully the next volume will TELL ME :|

[Z Mythos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gonna bust this one out quick 'cause I'm about to be out of the country (well, almost) in a few hours so.

This volume got into the backstory of Kyoko's mother (and Kyoko's implied conception). Honestly, this manga has spanned years and years publication-wise, so I think for the longest time the perception of Kyoko's mother Saena tended to be portrayed on the negative side, what with the limited info we had on her. I once read a fanfic where she was straight up manipulative and basically shows up to uproot and fuck up Kyoko's life once she starts gaining success as an actress. I'm not surprised tho, that the story Nakamura is telling casts her in a much more sympathetic light. She doesn't tend to really cast anyone among her characters as a real sort of monstrous villain (even if Shotaro's is still a massive dickhead and I will never be sorry about feeling that way).

There's the obvious parallels to how Kyoko is in love with how her parents met. It's cute but also kinda sad because you already know something unfortunate is impending. And I'mma be real for a minute, I was very concerned about the part where it's implied Misonoi basically drugged Saena. I know he did it to steal case-related info from her legal documents, but until that was made clear, it looked hella sketch and kinda like some sexual assault-y shit could have happened. I was...uncomfortable to say the least. And obviously it's still kinda smarts of him violating her trust anyway.

I kinda gotta quibble with the fact that her mother was ready to disown her because she thought Kyoko had a sexual relationship with Shotaro... Like, woman, you know what it's like, clearly, and you would've been willing to sever all ties with her as a result? I was not okay with the implication that the only reason she relented was because Kyoko didn't actually end up pregnant.

*sigh* But whatever the case, this was still a solid issue overall. My favorite part being Kyoko deriving strength from having all her good luck charms (all of which were bequeathed to her by Ren btw) on hand before going to confront her mother.

EDIT: Wait! One last thing! I was hella mad that the whole Kyoko-mistaking-Ren-for-"Corn" thing did not in fact result in her learning the goddamn truth. Here I'd thought after the previous volume that all my time waiting was over when in fact, I just got clowned hard by Nakamura once again. *shakes fist*

[Rach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I know I said at the end of the last volume that I was ready to see Kyoko's mom go away for good, but I'm actually really happy they got to spend some time together. With Ren's help (just by him appearing, actually), Kyoko was able to push back her panic and gather the courage she needed to make contact with her mom. And finally, both we readers and Kyoko are getting the answers we've always wanted about her mother's complicated issues with her and who exactly her father is.

I can't say hearing the trauma Kyoko's mother Saena went through makes me happy, but I do appreciate the glimpse we are getting into her previous life, and how badly she was hurt. I'm really looking forward to the next volume so we can hear how this story ends. I have an inkling already, but I'm hoping I'm maybe wrong about it.

Also, how cute is it that Tashio, Kyoko's boss and host, tests people's character by seeing how they eat his fish? And how funny that SHO passes scrutiny but Ren doesn't? Haha.

NOTES ON A SECOND READING:
This isn’t my favorite volume because it makes me so sad, but we do get to see Kyoko and Ren bonding as he tries to comfort her and her spirits are lifted just by being with him. We also get to know more about Kyoko’s mom’s past, which makes her more sympathetic (even though I still think she was wrong for how she treated Kyoko as a child).

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really, really worried Ren was going to have witnessed Sho kissing Kyoko and get all weird about it, so I was SO glad that either he didn't see it (likely) or he decided to be reasonable about it. That said, I don't think that story thread is over, and I'm not looking forward to it's revival. The subplot with Kyoko's mom was surprisingly gratifying, if quite sad.
However, it almost felt like a different book, seeing as most of this volume was about Saena, not Kyoko.

[María Belén · Rating 4 out of 5]

Al fin al menos se como se ve el padre MILAGRO jajaj xD pense que moriria antes de enterarme y desde ya lo digo no me da buena espina hasta q no se aclare exactamente la historia de los padres de kyoko no estare tranquila y por el momento odio al padre ajajja xD (Siempre buscando a quien odiar :3)

[Mariam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can see where Saena's story is going, but honestly I don't care much about what she's been through. Nothing excuses child abuse and neglect. I just hope Kyoko will get some closure.

[Miss Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

i can see where the storyline of the biological mother to my child, kyoko mogami, is headed and i do not accept it is an excuse for her treatment of my beautiful daughter

3.5 stars

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite series! I gobble these up, lament that the next volume won't be out in English for a few months, and reread it from start to finish every few years.

[Luana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kyoko Mogami è una tosta. Dopo il momento di estrema sofferenza legato a quell'uscita inqualificabile della madre, la ragazza è pronta ad affrontare di petto la donna. Più o meno. Pur avendo tutto il diritto di essere ferita, arrabbiata e delusa, Kyoko non ha alcuna intenzione di fare del male a Saena, di umiliarla, di portare alla luce cose sgradevoli. Tuttavia, è giunto il tempo di fare tutte le domande necessarie per arrivare al fondo della questione.
Saena non è completamente un caso perso: sa benissimo che Kyoko è innocente, ma le sue difficoltà nel relazionarsi con la figlia penso siano legate alla figura del padre della ragazza e delle circostanze che hanno portato alla sua nascita. La Saena che vediamo nel flashback è una giovane donna che ha qualche problema ad interagire con gli altri. Dà sempre l'impressione di essere arrabbiata o scocciata, anche quando non è così. L'unico che sembra in grado di comprenderla è questo Misonoi, l'uomo che sta frequentando, un avvocato che ha qualche problema a passare l'esame di abilitazione. Quello è il momento in cui alla donna viene assegnato un ruolo in un caso molto importante per lo studio in cui lavora, le vengono affidate delle prove cruciali per la vittoria...prove che si porta a casa per poterle studiare meglio, prove che sembrano essere state manomesse in un paio di occasioni e il colpevole sembra essere uno solo...temo di aver capito come andrà a finire questa storia. Il risentimento di Saena non ha niente a che vedere con Kyoko, ma con il fatto che quella gravidanza è stata una delle conseguenze del raggiro che ha subito. Lei non odia la figlia. Anzi, anche se a modo suo, si preoccupa per lei, segue la sua carriera, ma probabilmente non sarà mai in grado di provare del vero affetto materno. È stata ingannata e raggirata, e si è pure ritrovata una neonata tra le mani. Come fa notare il suo collega, è una donna dal carattere complicato e Kyoko ne ha fatto le spese. Chissà se il padre farà mai una comparsata, sarebbe interessante assistere a un incontro tra Misonoi e la figlia che non sapeva nemmeno di avere. Diciamo che Saena non è mai stata una persona socievole, ma, dopo il tradimento subito, la situazione deve essere peggiorata. Probabilmente si sarà maledetta per la sua mancanza di freddezza che l'ha portata a farsi prendere in giro...comunque sia, questo non giustifica la sofferenza che ha inferto a Kyoko nel corso degli anni, una bambina con zero colpe e zero responsabilità per quanto accaduto e che voleva solo un gesto affettuoso da parte di sua madre. E invece niente. Una bambina che ha ricevuto più affetto dai genitori di Sho e da un ragazzino sconosciuto che per lei era il principe delle fate. Insomma, Saena non è di certo un mostro, però certi atteggiamenti sono difficilmente giustificabili. Detto questo, non vedo l'ora che esca il volume 39 per poter leggere la fine di questo arco narrativo.

[Briana C. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like this series even with its apparent flaws, but the biggest problem with this series is how it has abusive people and then makes it “okay.” Beagle attempted to rape her but it’s ok bc he was drawn in a cute way. And everything Sho does is either assault or annoying. And in this volume we here why Kyouko’s mom hates her and it’s because her mother mom messed up one law case in her entire career!!! AND THATS IT AMD THEN KYOUKO INVITES HER BACK INTO HER LIFE AND IT ANGERS ME! Like no she was better off without her either incredibly stupid mother or her incredibly evil mom and there is no in between and I hate this narrative about undermining abuse and assault constantly and it really shows in this volume.

[Reader17 Der · Rating 5 out of 5]

I say this every time but I truly still love this series. It just draws me further and further into the story. In this volume Kyoko decides to meet her mother. She wants t ask her Mom questions but I think she is getting confused while she is talking to her mother. Also we see more of her Mother's past. It ends on a cliff hanger for find out what Kyoko wants to ask her. The silly part is Sho has someone that comes up to him and wants to distract him so he is asking all sorts of personal questions of where he lives, his height, his weight etc. The scene had me smiling at the guy and the way Sho reacted to this strange guy..

[Alicia Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Addicted reader

I've read this manga over and over, I've also reread my favorite chapter over and over again. Waiting for the 40th chapter to come out but it looks like a long wait since it in March of next year. Why is the author stretching out these chapters so far apart? I can take once a week but every two to three months or once a year is torcher. I'm waiting for kyouko and Ren to learn about each others feelings.

[FER · Rating 4 out of 5]

No but really, I hate Kyoko's mom. Where does she get off being upset that Kyoko might not be in school? Bish you didn't want her as a daughter from the start, what gives you the right to an opinion. GFY! And even if her backstory is compelling, I'm not forgiving her for being horrible to Kyoko. Will I come to understand her? Possibly. But never forgive. Oh and Ren recharges her battery in the first chapter. That was sweet.

[L. J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Repeated review.

I am so uninterested in this series, but I want to see it through. I won’t be making proper reviews for it anymore since my thoughts are just generally the same all the time anyway (lots of annoyance/anger for some volumes now); my rating will tell you if I liked or disliked it. You can safely assume, however, that I still despise Sho and Ren, and everyone else, but Kyo and her bestie (who sometimes isn’t around and sometimes is, much like Sho).