- Mangaka : Matsuki, Tatsuya (Story), Usazaki, Shiro (Art)
- Publisher : VIZ
- Genre : Drama, Shounen
- Published : July 2020 - Ongoing
act-age Introduction (No Spoilers)
Kei Yonagi is a high school student who always wanted to be an actress ever since she was a child. She had spent her childhood, watching old movies attentively, and learning how actions and emotions portrayed in all kinds of situations. With her mother gone, Yonagi has to take care of her two younger siblings and start auditioning for any role without success.
However, fortune smiles upon her when she was discovered by a renowned director, Sumiji Kuroyama. Yonagi is still new to the industry and if she continues to use Method Acting— a technique where one relives their memories and portrays the emotions of their choice— she will be damaging herself mentality. With that, Kuroyama decides to give his undivided attention to Yonagi and polish her skills.
Contains Spoilers
Discussion Time
Welcome to the entertainment industry! We know you might be new to this, but don’t worry, we will help you draw out your full potential in this career. So if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. Also, we have a commercial gig to do on Tuesday. Sounds good? Let’s go!
1. Responsibility
We really think Yonagi is admirable considering she works two different jobs to put food on the table for her and her siblings, paying school fees, and all while studying as a high school student. Although she usually got fired by her employers for unknown reasons or plot, she accepts them the way it is and moves forward which makes her mature fast because of the financial hardships they have.
In the entertainment industry, we get to acquire some insights on how the board of directors work and discuss which candidates that would work on the roles they advertised. Of course, some of us, and you, will begin to question whether their decisions can be considered ethical or not, but then you have to put yourself in their positions of why they should make this decision.
2. Acting Career
It was interesting to read a manga that shows how the entertainment industry operates in an acting career. Particularly the production team, camera crew, sound crew, actors and actresses, and extras. This manga gives us an intimate look at how Yonagi feels and acts toward the tasks that were given to her by Kuriyama as a beginner.
The development of a person through experience in this manga can be related to every other career in our lives. It goes to show how much effort the mangaka puts to make sure the details are extremely close to reality. A specific role indeed requires a specific candidate to act upon and fulfill the required conditions, but sometimes in life, that may not be the case and not many people see that.
The last scene in this volume has you feeling the competition between the contestants, the dreams they have, and the personalities they have to show themselves as a brand. Would this be the starting point where Yonagi will make friends who shared the same interest? Can’t wait to find out in the next volume.
3. Acting Scenes
In this volume, every acting scene done by Yonagi immediately drawn us into her world and relive the fantasy and imagination that she had in her mind. She fully utilizes the gestures and postures while making use of her surroundings and the props. But the fact that Yonagi uses Method Acting is concerning, we hope Kuruyama presents the right tasks for Yonagi to learn and improve other safe ways of acting without affecting her mental health in a bad way.
4. Artwork
The artist of this manga focuses on simplicity. The character designs felt simple but unique in their own right. The surroundings or closed room is a mixture of simple and detailed. The detailed components mainly found in the acting scenes to draw us into the theme of the tasks and pop-culture reference. We noticed that the potential reason for drawing clean spaces in their surroundings is for us to focus on the characters’ expression during their interactions and for us to avoid feeling overwhelming and enjoy them.
Final Thoughts
We enjoy the first volume of this manga. It is interesting to read a manga that focuses on how the acting and entertainment industry works. But more importantly, we can’t wait to see how Yonagi grows as an actor. The manga is fast-paced and didn’t have side-stories, which is suitable for readers who wanted to focus on the main story itself. The concept of the story shows how the actors see things as a reality or a fake, the connections between people, and learn how to be honest with your friends and yourself. Want to read a manga about acting? Well, you’re reading a review about it now, so go support the original creators through VIZ! That’s where you can get a digital or physical copy!
Author: Nobodies17
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