Recap / Skip Beat Volume 29

Has Ren caught Kyoko in his grasp?

On the way to the Dark Moon wrap party Kyoko bumps into her cast mate Kijima. He’s never paid any attention to her before, but when she visited Ren in her Natsu costume he heard the rest of the cast comment on how mature and beautiful she looked. Kijima can’t contain his curiosity about this other side of Kyoko, and Kyoko inadvertently ends up agreeing to a makeover for the party. Kijima is completely shocked by her transformation, and ends up seeing her in a whole new light — as a potential romantic interest!

Meanwhile at the wrap party, Ren is on the lookout for Kyoko. When he sees her arrive on Kijima's arm, he disguises his displeasure with an impressive fake smile (not that Kyoko or Yashiro are fooled). As Kijima gets pushy with Kyoko about a "second date," Ren swoops in to rescue her — only to start berating her for letting Kijima take advantage of her like that. Kyoko apologizes, and the two trade playful jibes (and some innuendo) as the party wears on.

Now that Dark Moon is finished, it's finally time for the Heel siblings to debut! "Cain Heel" begins work on Tragic Marker with "Setsuka Heel" at his side, but will rising tensions with a co-star blow Ren and Kyoko's cover?

This volume contains the chapters:

• Act 171. "Psychedelic Caution" ^note Kyoko is afraid of her growing feelings for Ren, and considers skipping the Dark Moon wrap party. Ren, who is already at the party, searches for Kyoko. Kyoko runs into fellow actor Kijima and accidentally agrees to a makeover. When she arrives at the party, it's looking glamorous on Kijima's arm -— much to Ren's displeasure.
• Act 172. "Psychedelic Caution" ^note Tensions mount when Kijima asks the transformed Kyoko on a date. Ren hides his feelings behind a gentlemanly smile that has alarm bells ringing for both Kyoko and Yashiro. After helping Kyoko escape from Kijima's advances, Ren has Kyoko all to himself as their wait for their interview slot. He berates her "shameless" behavior with Kijima and threatens to tattle on her to the LME President. Kyoko falls for his ruse, but she's glad that they're arguing because at least she can act normally around Ren. In order to keep tensions high, she launches a verbal counter-attack.
• Act 173. "Wonder Emotion" ^note The next morning, Shoko sees Kyoko and Ren's interview on TV and vows to keep Sho from seeing it. Kyoko reminisces on last night's events: Ren had countered her counter-attack successfully, leaving her flustered. In the present, Kyoko tries to distance herself from her affections for Ren. Lory calls to let her know that the tomorrow she'll be living as Setsuka Heel full-time.
• Act 174. "Diamond Emotion" ^note Separately, Ren and Kyoko stoke themselves up to play the Heel Siblings. Ren gets a pep talk from Lory, while Kyoko wonders if Princess Rosa's magic has rubbed off on her.
• Act 175. "Heel Chic" ^note The Heel Siblings arrive on the set of Tragic Marker and most cast and crew don't know what to think of them yet. Costar Taira Murasame appears to be a potential source of tension.
• Act 176. "Hero's High" ^note Taira shows an interest in Setsuka. Tension mounts between Cain Heel and Taira. Director Konoe, who had no idea "Setsuka" had been added to the Heel farce, is pleasantly surprised.

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Chapters in this volume provide examples of:

• Big Brother Attraction: Taira tells "Setsuka" that he mistook her and Cain for lovers at first - a fact which delights and embarrasses Kyoko, as it means she's getting the part right.
• Bishie Sparkle: Ren's fake "gentlemanly" smiles usually elicit a handful of sparkles, but when he sees Kyoko on Kijima's arm he unleashes a truly terrifying megawatt smile.
• Embarrassing Animal Suit: The return of Kyoko's Bo the Chicken costume, which hasn't been seen since Volume 22.
• Fairytale Motifs: Aside from the whole "getting a total makeover to go to a party with a handsome prince" theme, the title page for chapter 173 makes an Alice Allusion with Kyoko dressed up as Alice and surrounded by card soldiers.
• Fanservice: As Setsuka, Kyoko wears some very short shorts.
• Flower Motifs: It's a shoujo managa after all:
  • When Kyoko emerges from her makeover at the salon, flowers erupt in the background as Kijima stares at her in shock.
  • Most chapters have a few instances of panel backgrounds filling with unexplained flowers.
• Hostility on the Set: The start of "Cain Heel" and Taira Murasame's violent clashes on set.
• Long Hair Is Feminine: After Kijima tells the beauty salon technicians to make Kyoko look "twice as mature and beautiful," they give her a long, straight wig that makes her look like a total stranger.
• The Makeover:
  • Kijima wrangles Kyoko into a salon prior to the Dark Moon cast party and tells them to make her look "twice as mature and beautiful." This includes a long wig and high heels to accompany her glamorous rental dress.
  • Jelly Woods reappears to transform Ren into Cain Heel by dying his hair — and then presents him with the custom "Ren Tsuruga" wig she had made just for the occasion to turn him back into Ren. She reasons that if he had to dye his hair every time he needed to switch between "Ren" and "Cain", he'd ruin his scalp.
• Nobody Here but Us Statues: Lory disguises himself as a sarcophagus/ statue during the party, in order the eavesdrop on Ren and Kyko. He's disappointed by the fact that nobody was suspicious of the moving statue.
• Oblivious to Love: Although Kyoko is worried about falling for Ren, she's completely oblivious to Kijima's advances towards her. Ren has to point out how Kijima's actions could be construed as "courtship" behavior, or perhaps something a bit more crass...
• Pimped-Out Dress: : Kyoko's rental dress for the party is a flowing gown with long, fluttery embellishments.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Kijima's opinion of Kyoko. He's only ever seen her in her civilian attire or as Mio, so once he sees her with professionally done hair & makeup and in a nice dress, he suddenly decides that she's his type. Not that Kyoko isn't cute normally — it's just that Kijima deemed her to be beneath his attention until she's gotten a makeover.
• Show Within a Show: Dark Moon, Yappa Kimagure Rock, and Tragic Marker are type 1 examples, with "characters involved in the production of the show."
• Sparkling Stream of Tears: Ogata's tears during his thank-you speech to the cast and crew of Dark Moon are rendered as a waterfall of little sparkles under his eyes.

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