Shonen Jump adds has added a new title by the creators who are not well-known, writer Tatsuya Matsuki and illustrator Shiro Usazaki. The series has some flaws but still I found it quite intriguing. It had been listed in nominations for awards and will be receiving adaptation for play in 2022.
It is about a 16 years old girl Kei Yonagi. She dreams of becoming an actress and has been faced by some hardships in life. Her father left her and her family while her mother has passed away. She has two siblings who are younger than her and so she has to take care of them. Even with so many hardships, she has faith that her dream will come true and she asires to become a great actress.
She try her luck in an agency named, Stars and give an audition, impressing, Sumiji Kuroyama, who is a well-known director. But the CEO of the company Arisa Hoshi thinks that the acting career is not suitable for her and she will be destroyed. Kei is selected at the last moment by the same agency as Sumiji replaces her with someone who was finalized. But despite of giving her best, she is rejected by the Stars.
After this rejection, Sumiji suddenly visits her and tells her about the new studio, Daikokuten that he owns and wants to cast her in his next movie but she doesn’t accept the offer as she and her siblings seem to feel something dubious with him. She accepts the offer after he drags her into his car while she was on street and that proves her right. But later Sumiji offers her to make appearance in advert that leaves her in shock. Kei’s finally starts her acting career with the guidance of Sumiji and the help of a tensed producer, Yuki Hiragi
There are some disturbing things in this series like Sumiji forcefully pulling Kei off the street into his car. It seems disturbing not just because it feels non-consensual but because of a large age gap as Kei is 16 and Sumiji is in his mid 30s. Even Kei asks Sumiji as some point if he has Lolita complex but he responds in negative. But that might not be the only problem that people have noticed in this series as some people don’t like the fact she like the movie Gone With The Wind the most as the movie has been a target of criticism lately for promoting racism and slavery.
Although there are some also good things about this series especially about the protagonist. She has shown to be a very capable character as she is not just good in something she like to do but also as a sister with no parents to take care of them or provide for them. But obviously her acting skills is the main focus of the first volume. She performs well in the audition in chapter 1 where she is asked to create a scene in which she runs into a feral dog along with three other other women. She impresses everyone by acting to fight the dog rather than act scared. But the narrowmindedness of Arisa comes in her way and she loses the opportunity. Her acting skills become even better later in this volume. Initially she acts on the basis of her own experiences in her life but later she learns to play the roles of characters who has different personality from her own in real life. There is a moment when she describe it in words with a smile on her face nad says “ Until today, I never realized what a terrible person I could be. There are unknown versions of myself slumbering within me.”
The translation of the English version has been done by Camellia Nieh which seems fine and with no issues. Although there is some pointed lettering while Kei is speaking that are hard to understand but apart of that there is nothing that seems hard to read or understand.
The manga has attracted many viewers and admired by many fans due to which it has also been nominated for various awards, Kodansha Manga Award being one of them. The first volume ends with Kei auditioning for a Battle Royale-style movie where we also see a new character Chiyoko Momoshiro, who has come from Stars, being cast for the same movie. SO he next volume is going t get a little more intense as there is some tension between Arisa and Sumiji along with a new rivalry between Kei and Chiyoko. It is getting more interesting so there a lot to look forward to.
