From the back cover:
Ren’s manager Yashiro comes down with a nasty cold in the middle of an important shoot, and dares Kyoko to take over his job! Of course Kyoko accepts, but she’s in way over her head with a pack of new responsibilities and the scorn of everyone who thinks she’s doing a bad job. But the more time Ren spends with Kyoko the more he sees her kind and gentle side. Will all her hassles be worth his change of heart?

Review:
Though there’ll always be a fond place in my heart for volume 4 and its chicken-suited hijinks, this volume has usurped its place as my most favorite thus far.

The rich girl from the last volume made one last appearance, trying to injure Moko so she could not appear in the commercial. She was unsuccessful, however, and I was happy to see the girls actually complete filming without something happening to mess it up. Playing the part of a high school student made Kyoko wistful for what she didn’t have, and it didn’t go unnoticed by the president of her agency. To top it all off, Moko ended up writing Kyoko something really sweet in the stamp book in which she collects points for her Love Me Section jobs.

And in addition to all of that goodness, there was lots and lots of great interaction between Kyoko and Ren. I pretty much loved every scene they were in together, from talking about Sho Fuwa in the car, to Kyoko helping nurse Ren’s cold, to them rehearsing lines together at the end. Along the way, more of Ren’s memories of meeting Kyoko as a child were revealed, and they each made some realizations about the other, though each still believes the other hates them.

I can’t remember another manga that made me genuinely happy that two characters had finally become friends or another heroine whom I cheered on so whole-heartedly. Skip Beat! really is something special.

From the back cover:
Kyoko lands a regular role on a TV show… as a giant chicken. Not content to settle for poultry recognition, Kyoko tries out for a big commercial. At the audition she runs into her Love Me-rival Moko, who’s having rival woes of her own. With a jealous rich girl out to bring them down, can Kyoko and Moko overcome their differences and act as a team to trounce the competition?

Review:
… Poultry recognition? I think that joke might be so bad it’s good.

This volume centered on an audition for a commercial and though I didn’t like the jealous rich girl at all—I’m kind of tired of seeing imperious rich girls randomly show up in manga (there was one recently in Ouran)—it turned out to be really cool.

The best bits were the last few chapters where, after performing one audition segment by reacting to Moko’s lead, Kyoko had to conceive of a routine herself and be the one to steer the scene, something she’d never done before. She ended up thinking of something clever (of course) that not only fulfilled the requirements of the routine but also seemed to expose a trust the girls had in each other’s abilities.

I really liked seeing these two begin to become friends. In any other series, these characters would probably be cast as the villains, but here they’re sympathetic. I was also happy at the result of the audition—I love that Kyoko’s path to stardom is slow, because it really allows one to rejoice when a good break finally happens.

From the back cover:
A new student starts out as Risa’s rival for love, but ends up proving how important it is to be honest with yourself!

Review:
Okay, it’s official—I love Love*Com. Of all the series I’ve started recently, this is the one I’ve been most eager to continue.

I adore the two lead characters, especially when they’re being honest and/or sweet with one another. We don’t really get events from Ôtani’s perspective, so I tend to like Risa a bit more, but he has his moments. I like that Risa wasn’t swayed by Haruka’s love confession, thus saving us a long and annoying trip down a relationship road we all know will ultimately lead nowhere.

I also like the realism in the series—there aren’t any perfect bishounen here falling for clumsy girls. There’s only a girl with a mad crush on a guy friend who sees no reason to suspect that he could ever return her feelings. I think most adolescent girls have experienced that at one time or another!

The art also continues to be both cute and strange simultaneously. I still love the facial expressions, but have now noticed a new body part that’s occasionally too big—earlobes! Some of these characters have great big fat earlobes! And then, sometimes on the next panel, they don’t anymore. Or sometimes the left one will be fine and the right one will be elephantine. It’s kind of distracting.

Wacky earlobes aside, this manga is great. Go read it!