Beauty Pop
 |
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (November 2007) |
| Beauty Pop | |
 Cover of volume 1 with covergirl Kiri | |
| ビューティー ポップ (Byūtī Poppu) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy, Romance |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Kiyoko Arai |
| Published by |  Shogakukan |
| English publisher |   Viz Media |
| Magazine | Ciao |
| Demographic | Shōjo |
| Original run | 2003 – 2008 |
| Volumes | 10 |
Beauty Pop (ビューティーポップ, Byūtī Poppu) is a Shōjo manga series by mangaka Kiyoko Arai. It recently completed its run in Ciao magazine. Beauty Pop is published in English by VIZ Media under the Shojo Beat label and in French by Soleil Manga. The manga is about the life of a naturally talented hairstylist named Kiri Koshiba, and her problems with the "Scissors Project," a group of boys determined to become the best makeover team in Japan. Beauty Pop went on a short hiatus from Ciao, but came back under the title Beauty Pop Stage 2. The series has also been adapted to a Drama CD which was released on 25 November 2004.[1]
Plot
Kiri Koshiba uses her hairstyling talents to help brighten up the lives of girls, but she does so anonymously. On the other hand, Scissors Project, "SP", a group made up of three boys at school, gives grand makeovers to already-beautiful handpicked girls. Shougo Narumi, the head of the group and a hairstyling genius in his own right, finds himself butting heads with Kiri. To make matters worse, Ochiai, another member of SP, plots to expose Kiri's talents. As much as Kiri tries to shy away from the spotlight, she finds herself drawn into the world of hairstyling.
Characters
- Kiri Koshiba (小柴 綺里, Koshiba Kiri)
- Voiced by: Junko Minagawa[1] (Drama CD)
- A naturally gifted hair stylist with a strong sense of justice, leading her to give makeovers to girls with certain problems and giving them, as she puts it, "a little magic." Her family owns a beauty salon. She cut her own hair in a layered bob as a result of accidentally cutting her mother's ear while styling her hair when she was younger, causing it to bleed. The accident left Kiri with a mental scar which continues to haunt her, at the time going as far as to quit hairdressing, although she appears to have mostly recovered. She is nicknamed "Mussy Head" by Narumi due to her hairstyle. Kiri tends to be extremely laid back and absent minded, a trait which is a constant irritation to Narumi whose personality is a complete opposite. Their relationship is rocky at first but Kiri seems to have warmed to him after he saved Shampoo from getting run over by a bicycle in volume 3, consequently damaging his wrist. Kiri is the young girl to whom Narumi lost in 4th grade, which is revealed in volume 5. Because she is terrible at drawing, Kiri does not compete again the next year due to a rule that required participants to draw a sketch of their hairstyle. Though she is initially confused about what she wants to do with her future, she seems to have decided to become a beautician but has no interest in pursuing fame with her talent like the three original members of the Scissor Project are. In Beauty Pop Stage 2, she joins the Scissor Project as Narumi's assistant hairdresser. Volume 9 reveals that Kiri has a fear of cockroaches and the dark. In volume 10, Kiri decides to moves to the U.S. to be reunited with her mother and right before she boards the plane, Narumi gives her a hug, saying that he will sharpen his skills and visit her in L.A. Kiri gives him her hat for a reminder. The ending shows that ten years later, she does come back to Japan and inside "Koshiba's Beauty Salon" lies photos of her friends and many awards. She gets married to Narumi and has twins in kindergarten.
- Shogo Narumi (鳴海 彰伍, Narumi Shogō)
- Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki[1] (Drama CD)
- The vain, handsome, and temperamental main hair stylist of the Scissor Project. Although he is fiercely competitive in comparison to the majority of the other characters, he is the most amenable member of his own family. He is extremely hot-tempered, especially towards Kiri, but does have a sweet side which he rarely shows. He aims to be the top hair-stylist in Japan and has won every national hairstyling competition for seven years. The only time he has ever lost a competition is ten years ago, when he was defeated by a mysterious little girl 'Number 17'. It is later revealed that the girl was in fact Kiri. Though this initially damages their already unstable relationship, Narumi develops feelings for her, having romantic dreams about her and even accidentally kissing her at the end of volume 8, much to annoyance of Ochiai and Chisami. He even stays with Kiri to comfort her and watch over the house in volume 9. He is extremely popular with girls and they constantly clamor for his attention but he does not appear interested partly due to a slight fear of girls. Since Narumi was young, girls treated him like a toy and suffocated him with too much attention. According to Chisami, Narumi breaks out in hives when he touches women. However, he is able to touch Kiri without any detrimental effects. In chapter 39, when Narumi's father thinks that his son is on a date with Kiri, he yells, "Shou-chan associating with that person...! Liking that person...! How can this beeeee?!" to which Narumi replies, "Sh-Shut up! That's irrelevant!" Billy notes that Narumi does not deny it. A small omake from the end of volume 10 displays Narumi and Kiri in married life, with their children, fraternal twins. Ultimately, Narumi and the crew from Scissors Project officially open up a renown and popular salon known as Scissors Project.
- Kazuhiko Ochiai (落合 計彦, Ochiai Kazuhiko)
- Voiced by: Aoki Makoto[1] (Drama CD)
- The overall beauty consultant of the group. He is the brains behind the operation and acts like a human computer, with "data" on every girl in the school. He is also responsible for make-up on the team, and is aided with the products from his parents' company. He is also at the top of his class. He also formerly wore his hair in an "old-man" hairstyle until he meets Narumi, who then gives Ochiai his current cut. Ochiai loves to tease Narumi and is often scheming. Later in the story, he develops a crush on Kiri. He chases after her and even has Kiri's picture as his cell phone's wallpaper. When he was in middle school, his parents owned a company called Alix Cosmetic Corporation that was, in his opinion, "doing well, even though it was not a well-known enterprise." He has an older sister and younger brother, and all his family members wear glasses, even his bird. In the end, although Narumi and Kiri have married, he still refuses to give up on her, even teaching Kiri and Narumi's kids to call him "daddy". He also often schedules appointments after hours for Narumi to prevent him from going home to Kiri so that Ochiai can gladly go in his place.
- Kei Minami (南 啓, Minami Kei)
- Voiced by: Hiro Shimono[1] (Drama CD)
- The member of the Scissors Project that does nail art. Kei is playful and is often seen eating junk food and candy. Kei likes to come up with nicknames for his friends like 'Naru-Naru' and 'Narurin' for Narumi while he calls Ochiai 'Occhi'. He also serves as emcee for any Scissors Project event, announcing the model and occasionally commenting while Narumi cuts. He hardly ever wears his school uniform and wears a visor sideways on his head. It is later shown that Kei is not good at spelling, he got a "5%" on his spelling test. Because of this, a Scissor Project's project and love scheme on one girl failed, because he incorrectly spelled the model's name. In actuality, Kei is very mysterious, revealing little about himself, and is more observant that Narumi and Ochiai expect him to be. In a small omake when Kiri and the gang are all eating together at Narumi's house, Ochiai thinks that Kiri is technically attending an SP meeting, which is his secret goal. Kei suddenly comes up to Ochiai and says, "Now that Kiri is here, our goals have been realized!" prompting Ochiai to wonder whether Kei is just acting stupid, or unaware of what is going on. Somehow Kei has the ability to know what and when things happen, even if he is not present (including Narumi's dreams about Kiri). His snooping sense is even better than Ochiai's. The ending shows Kei escorting Narumi's and Kiri's kids back to "Koshiba's Beauty Salon" for lunch.
- Kanako Aoyama (青山 加奈子, Aoyama Kanako)
- Voiced by: Masayo Kurata[1] (Drama CD)
- A friend of Kiri's who admires her talents. Kanako tends to be quite shy and bookish. When she was rejected by Kazuhiko Ochiai, Kiri gave her a makeover to teach the Scissor Project a lesson. Kanako still likes Ochiai, but is uncertain with how to act when she discovers that Ochiai likes Kiri after seeing that he has a picture of Kiri on his cell phone. After SP's initial model in the final competition backs out, she ends up filling in. Kiri correctly states that, although she looks plain, Kanako has perfect hair, skin and nails, and therefore is the perfect model. Her "Ordinary girl in love" look wins in the end, over the more glamourous models of the other teams. She ends up with Kenichiro ten years later, and they're expecting their first baby in one month.
- Taro Komatsu (小松 太郎, Komatsu Tarō)
- Voiced by: Hiroshi Shimozaki[1] (Drama CD)
- Kiri's childhood friend and neighbor. Kiri calls him "Shimatarou" or "Taro-Tard", which annoys him very much. Taro is a big fan of the Scissor Project and wants to be a beautician because of them, even though he lacks the skill. He works part-time at his family's store, "The Komatsu 88 yen store." He is very nosy and knows everything that goes on around the school. Most other people find him to be annoying.
- "Shampoo" (シャンプー, Shanpū)
- Kiri's fat pet cat. Shampoo was first a stray who would not trust anyone, having a bad past. When she met Kiri, Shampoo scratched her hand. However, she realizes that Kiri was not like the other people that she had seen, who had been mean and heartless. Shampoo shed tears and was taken home by Kiri.
- Iori Minamoto (源 伊織, Minamoto Iori)
- Kiri's childhood friend who recently moved back to Japan from New York. His father specializes in making aromatherapy oils and perfumes. He is apparently in love with Kiri's mom and is very affectionate of Kiri. Iori first appears in volume 2. He seems to sometimes speak broken Japanese, talking sometimes in English. In which cases, he will use 'me' or 'you', in such statements as 'me will do it for the ladies!' or 'you is safe with me, Kirity!' He ends up with Chisami at the end, and they are getting married, despite their constant bickering.
- Seiji Koshiba (小柴 政司, Koshiba Seiji)
- Voiced by: Mitsuaki Hoshino[1] (Drama CD)
- Kiri's father owns "Koshiba Beauty Salon" and was the one to train Kiri in the art of hairstyling. Seiji used to be an idol among hairstylists in his generation and he always defeated Shogo Narumi's father in competitions, but had left the spotlight once he had gotten married. Kiri looked up to her father when she was younger and she wanted to cut hair like him, so Kiri gained the speed cutting skills from her dad. He also wishes for Kiri to become a beautician like him.
Emi Koshiba (小柴 恵実, Koshiba Emi)
- Kiri's mother is a famous special effects make-up artist in Hollywood. Even after years of being so far apart, Emi and Seiji's marriage has never been strained and the two keep in touch through email. Despite being a kind person, she turns very fierce once someone threatens Kiri, as well as somewhat unreasonable. In volume 4, Kiri finds herself haunted by a memory where she accidentally cut her mother's ear with scissors. Iori usually calls her by the name "Emily."
- Kenichiro Seki (関 謙一郎, Seki Ken'ichirō)
- Kiri's childhood friend. He is highly regarded as part of the "Seki Clinic" which specialises in invigorating massage. He helps Kiri regain her composure in a tight spot (vol.4) and is like an older brother to her. He tends to apologize often. Kenichiro ends up with Kiri's good friend Kanako, and ten years later, they are expecting their first child.
- Chisami Narumi (鳴海 千佐美, Narumi Chisami)
- Shogo's cute little sister, who Kiri indifferently "saves" one day when her hair was tangled in a bush. Because of this, Chisami seems to think that Kiri is her "Prince Charming" (as she had thought Kiri was a boy). She later finds out that Kiri is a girl, but she still admires her and refers to her as "Prince-sama". In the end, she ends up with Iori, though they still argue quite alot.
- Billy Iketani (ビリー 池谷, Birī Iketani)
- A famous hairstylist from LA who is always shown with headphones around his neck. He has "annoying" bangs that Kiri wants so badly to cut. He framed Kiri for ruining the Scissor Project's club room, but eventually gets found out. Billy takes a liking to her, as she didn't blame him for the things he did. He works for Narumi's dad and is extremely clingy towards Kiri, which makes Narumi even more hot tempered than usual. Billy also wants to take the legendary Golden Scissors away from Kiri, but later on, he returns them to her.