Beauty Pop


Beauty Pop is a shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Kiyoko Arai. It originally ran in the Japanese manga magazine Ciao. Beauty Pop is published in English by VIZ Media under the Shojo Beat label and in French by Soleil Manga. The manga focuses on 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 it came back under the title Beauty Pop Stage 2. The series has also been adapted into a Drama CD, which was released on 25 November 2004.

Plot

Kiri Koshiba uses her hairstyling talents to help brighten up the lives of girls, but she does so anonymously. On the other hand, the Scissors Project, a group 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
;Shogo Narumi
;Kazuhiko Ochiai
;Kei Minami
;Kanako Aoyama
;Taro Komatsu
;"Shampoo"
;Iori Minamoto
;Seiji Koshiba
;Emi Koshiba
;Kenichiro Seki
;Chisami Narumi
;Billy Iketani
; Genn

Media

Manga

Beauty Pop ran in Ciao magazine for a total of 51 chapters, later bound into 10 volumes by publisher Shogakukan. Viz Media licensed the manga for an English release under their Shojo Beat line.
The series underwent a short hiatus from Ciao, but came back in the October 2006 under the new title Beauty Pop Stage 2, though the volumes themselves stayed under the name Beauty Pop. The manga was also published in Vietnam by TVM Comics and France by Soleil Productions.

Volume listing

Drama CD

The series has also been adapted into a drama CD, which was released on November 25, 2004. The drama features Junko Minagawa as Kiri Koshiba, Tomokazu Seki as Shogo Narumi, Aoki Makoto as Kazuhiko Ochiai, Hiro Shimono as Kei Minami, Masayo Kurata as Kanako Aoyama, Hiroshi Shimozaki as Taro Komatsu, and Mitsuaki Hoshino as Seiji Koshiba.