Paradise Kiss

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Paradise Kiss

パラダイス・キス
(Paradaisu Kisu)

Genre

Josei, Drama, Romance

Manga

Authored by

Ai Yazawa

Publisher

Shodensha

Other publishers:
Ivrea TOKYOPOP Kana Panini Comics

Serialized in

Zipper

Original run

April, 2000 – March, 2004

No. of volumes

TV anime

Directed by

Osamu Kobayashi

Studio

Madhouse

Network

Animax, Fuji TV

Animax

Original run

October 13, 2005 – December 29, 2005

No. of episodes

Paradise Kiss (パラダイス・キス, Paradaisu Kisu^?), abbreviated to "ParaKiss" by fans, is a manga series, originally published in Shodensha's Zipper magazine, which has been adapted into a 12-episode anime series, produced by Aniplex and Studio Madhouse, and which was aired in Japan on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block and on the anime television network, Animax, who have broadcast the series across its respective networks worldwide, including Japan, Southeast Asia and East Asia.

Written by popular mangaka Ai Yazawa, Paradise Kiss is the semi-sequel to her previous work, Gokinjo Monogatari, and several characters from that series are given cameos. This comic is widely read not only in Japan, but in many countries around the world. The Paradise Kiss manga has been translated from Japanese to at least nine different languages, Chinese (Taiwan and Hong Kong), Korean, French, Italian, Polish, Thai, German, Spanish and English. The English version is published by TOKYOPOP.

1 Story
2 Characters
3 Anime
- 3.1 Production
- 3.2 Music
4 External links
- 4.1 Official sites
- 4.2 Fan sites

[edit] Story

Yukari Hayasaka lives the typical life of a Japanese high school senior. She is constantly under the stress of her mother, Tomoko, who desperately wants her to succeed as a student. Walking the streets, Yukari is accosted by Arashi Nagase who tells her she has the perfect look. Shocked by his bizarre appearance and uncomprehending of his intentions, Yukari tries to escape, but bumps into Isabella, is "captured" by her, faints, and is brought to the Paradise Kiss atelier.

She regains consciousness in the studio and meets the kind and childlike Miwako, Arashi's girlfriend. The trio explains that they are students at the unique art school Yazawa Gakuen, and they ask her to be their model for the school's annual fashion show. At first she angrily declines and leaves in a huff, dropping her student handbook.

Soon after, she meets their eccentric leader/designer, George, who under the guise of returning the ID book, introduces Yukari to the world of fashion, to the world of Paradise Kiss. Drawn by the allure of Paradise Kiss members' determination and George's charisma, Yukari is quickly swept off her feet and into the cut-throat world of fashion and romance.

[edit] Characters

From left to right: Isabella, George, Yukari, Arashi and Miwako

Yukari "Caroline" Hayasaka (早坂紫, Yukari "Caroline" Hayasaka^?): A high school student who is tired of her meaningless and repetitive life moulded by her up-tight mother, she ends up modelling for Paradise Kiss after being kidnapped. She is often referred to as "Caroline" by Miwako.; Yukari begins the series as a pretty, yet rather unpleasant, high school senior studying dutifully for her exams in order to get into a good university. Yet when she meets the ParaKiss crew, she begins a slow change from stuck up school girl to an aspiring model.; Voiced by: Yu Yamada (Japanese), Julie Ann Taylor (English)

George Koizumi (小泉譲二, Koizumi Jōji^?): An eccentric but handsome student of Yazagaku who has an extraordinary talent as a fashion designer. He has a lot of extravagant ideas, which are not always accepted by the general public. He wants Yukari to become a real and independent woman.; Voiced by: Kenji Hamada (Japanese), Patrick Seitz (English)

Miwako Sakurada (櫻田実和子, Sakurada Miwako^?): A student of Yazagaku who works with George to run their own brand, Paradise Kiss. She is the younger sister of the creator of the Happy Berry brand, Mikako Kouda, who was the protagonist of Gokinjo Monogatari. She is very sweet and cute, and tends to act in a rather childlike manner.; Voiced by: Marika Matsumoto (Japanese), Jolie Jackson (English)

Arashi Nagase (永瀬嵐, Nagase Arashi^?): Miwako's boyfriend and a student of Yazagaku who also works with George to run Paradise Kiss. He is the son of a musician and a guitarist in a punk band. He tends to act rough, but can be very caring. He also has quite an assortment of facial piercings. Son of Kanzaki Risa, who is a good friend of Mikako Kouda, also from Gokinjo Monogatari.; Voiced by: Shunsuke Mizutani (Japanese), Derek Stephen Prince (English)

Daisuke "Isabella" Yamamoto (山本大助, Yamamoto Daisuke^?): A very tall, mysterious, transgendered Yazagaku student, who has been a good friend of George's since childhood. Isabella prefers to be thought of as a woman, and is mortified when referred to as her birth name 'Daisuke'.; Voiced by: Chiharu Suzuka (Japanese), Mari Devon (English)

Hiroyuki Tokumori (徳森浩行, Tokumori Hiroyuki^?): Yukari's classmate, as well as the object of her affections at the beginning of the story. Hiroyuki was once in love with Miwako, but Arashi forbid her from seeing him. He is very intelligent and handsome. He eventually falls for Yukari. Son of Gokinjo Monogatari character, Hiroaki Tokumori a.k.a "Toku-chan".; Voiced by: Noriyuki Uchino (Japanese), Johnny Yong Bosch (English)

Kaori Aso (麻生香, Asō Kaori^?): A former Yazagaku student who is now studying abroad. She has romantic feelings for her old friend George, but knows that he is not the type to make a woman happy.; Voiced by: Miho Saiki

[edit] Anime

Produced by Madhouse Studios, the Paradise Kiss anime series began airing on October 10, 2005. Some well-known personages are staffed on the production of the Paradise Kiss series including director Osamu Kobayashi and Nobuteru Yūki, character designer and animation director for the opening sequence. It has been aired by the anime television network, Animax across its respective networks worldwide, including Japan, as well as Southeast Asia and East Asia, where the series received its first ever international broadcasts. The anime has been licensed for release in North America by Geneon Entertainment.

[edit] Production

In an interview in the January, 2007 issue of Newtype USA, director Osamu Kobayashi revealed many of the personal decisions which went into restructuring the manga into a television series. Wanting to avoid straying too far from the source material without approval, Kobayashi worked closely with Ai Yazawa on the new interpretations of the characters. In many instances, Yazawa was concerned that taking the original material straight would distract casual viewers or worse drive them away. Chief among these concerns was the handling of George's bisexual nature and interest in sadomasochism. Yazawa agreed that the dialogue should reflect this, but that actual onscreen depictions (as can be found in the original manga) were to be avoided. However, Kobayashi felt this was not being entirely true to the character, so he included a few hints of this side of George in the final episode. In another instance of modification, this time brought by Kobayashi, the character design of Arashi was modified to suit a scruffier, less slick appearance. "I wanted to make him look like Lupin the 3rd... sort of slouching and walking around with his hands in his pockets," Kobayashi explained. In agreement with the director, Yazawa went for the change.

One area Yazawa and Kobayashi did not agree on was the casting of Shunsuke Mizutani as Arashi. The fact that he was not a professional voice actor, but rather a musician, was the cause of this debate. Kobayashi had wanted a more natural performance that did not sound like the typical voice acting found in anime. "Yazawa and I even had a few rows because of that," Kobayashi explains. "But after she'd seen about three episodes, she finally admitted that Mizutani's voice is a great match, and I was able to relax."

In relation to the clothing design, despite the involvement of noted fashion creator Atsuro Tayama with all of George's outfits, most of the clothing was left largely as originally depicted in the manga. Director Kobayashi had specifically requested a real designer to work on the project, and Tayama's role on the production had originally been conceived as reworking the designs to fit better with the real world, but much to everyone's surprise, the original manga designs by Ai Yazawa were already quite good. So, Tayama mostly was involved in updating the clothes to suit the very latest hot trends, and touching up the designs to make them look and behave realistically when animated. He also provided cloth samples and photographs with all of his illustrations to aid the animators with getting the textures right. Besides George's outfits, the majority of clothing for the other characters was designed by art director Asami Kiyokawa. After the rough designs were completed, fellow artist Yuichi Suehiro drew all of the textures and lace by hand, and then scanned them into the computer and digitally applied them as textures during the animation coloring process.

[edit] Music

The opening is "Lonely in Gorgeous" by Tommy February⁶. The ending theme features Franz Ferdinand's hit song "Do You Want To" over animation by the experimental animator Hiroyuki Imaishi. Both songs have been licensed for the American release.