Recap / Skip Beat Volume 23

Kyoko channels her dark side into Natsu - can Chiori learn to do the same?

Drama on the set of Box "R" aside, love is in the air: Valentines day is just around the corner, and LME president Lory wants the girls in the Love-Me Section to live up to their name. Lory asks the girls to give chocolates to someone they love, but everyone's got their own reason to hate that particular holiday. If that weren't enough, it turns out Ren's 21st birthday is coming up. Kyoko wants to repay him for the beautiful rose he gave her on her birthday, but what do you give the man who has it all?

This volume contains the chapters:

• Act 133. "The 'Right Hand' That Is Unable To Resist" ^note Kyoko's wrist is injured when Chiori pushes her down the stairs, and she even finds a ripped-out page of Chiori's poisonous notebook directed at her. But Kyoko would rather keep Chiori's violent outburst a secret so she'll have something to hang over Chiori's head. At filming the next day, she decides that Natsu will make Chiori's character "Yumika" do her dirty work.
• Act 134. "Midblast!" ^note Kyoko double-talks to Chiori through their roles as Natsu and Yumika in order to coach her into improving herself. She even taunts Chiori with the folded up page from her poisonous notebook. Chiori's Yumika becomes a lot scarier than the rest of the cast and crew anticipated.
• Act 135. "Continuous Palpitations" ^note Natsu's clique improvises a scene, and "Yumika" ends up torturing the actress playing their victim with a terrifying degree of ferocity. The rest of the cast and crew are unsettled.
• Act 136. "Kiss and Cry" ^note Kyoko's co-workers on Box "R" find her "Natsu" scary — and compelling. Chiori discusses her past with the director. Kyoko tries to apologize to Chiori for forcing her to do the scene, then thanks Chiori for helping her to create such a convincing Natsu.
• Act 137. "Vivid Walker" ^note Kyoko explains how she's now a better actress because of Chiori, and returns the page of the poisonous notebook to her. Chiori begins to heal from the scars of her past. As filming progresses on Box "R" and her injured wrist heals, Kyoko makes a startling discovery — Chiori has voluntarily joined the Love-Me Section!
• Act 138. "Trouble Rush" ^note Lory wants everyone in LME to give chocolates for Valentines to someone they "love." Moko objects on the ground of money & calories, while Kyoko is angry at the whole concept. Kyoko bumps into Reino who says she needs to give HIM chocolates. Meanwhile, Ren is inundated with presents and Kyoko is horrified to discover that February 10th is Ren's birthday, not the 19th like she thought.

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Chapters in this volume provide examples of:

• Defeat Means Friendship: Kyoko's "defeat" of Chiori is more emotional than anything else, but she proves to Chiori that it's possible to move beyond the traumas of one's past and outgrow the role that defined her. Chiori ends up so impressed by Kyoko that she joins the Love-Me Section! Made all the more impressive by the fact that Chiori works for a different agency - she forced the head of Soft Hat to broker a deal with Lory so she could join LME's special project.
• Easily Forgiven: Kyoko totally forgives Chiori for pushing her down a flight of stairs. Despite the fact that she could have been gravely injured or lost her job on the set of Box "R", Kyoko understands what Chiori is going through and what drove her to act the way she did — and she considers the transgression more than made up for after she blackmailed Chiori into truly acting out the role of Yumika.
• Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: The cover shows Kyoko in her role as Natsu putting on some serious bling - the style is restrained and classically elegant, but the size of the stones in her earrings and necklace would make them worth thousands of dollars if they were real gems.
• Flower Motifs: It's a shoujo managa after all:
  • The cover depicts Kyoko in the role of Natsu against a background of silhouetted lilies.
  • Most chapters have a few instances of panel backgrounds filling with unexplained flowers.
• Oblivious to Love: Kyoko in general, but particularly when Reino demands that she give him chocolate and tells her "Valentine's Day is a day when a man receives chocolates from the woman he likes." She completely misses his declaration of affection, instead correcting him with "no, it's a day when a girl gives a man she likes chocolate."
• Show Within a Show: Box "R" and Dark Moon are type 1 examples, with "characters involved in the production of the show."
• Stalker with a Crush: Reino has a crush on Kyoko... at least on her dark side. He shows up to demand that she give him handmade chocolates for Valentines day, or else...
• Valentine's Day Episodes: Chapter 138 marks the beginning of the Valentines arc.

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