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Paradise Kiss (パラダイス・キス, Paradaisu Kisu?), abbreviated to "ParaKiss" by fans, is a 5 volume 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, as 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 ten different languages, Vietnamese, Chinese (Taiwan and Hong Kong), Korean, French, Italian, Polish, Thai, German, Spanish, Portuguese and English. The English version is published by TOKYOPOP.

Characters

Yukari "Caroline" Hayasaka (早坂紫, Hayasaka Yukari?)
Yukari is the heroine of the story, a high school student who is tired of the meaningless and repetitive life that has been forced upon her by her uptight mother. She eventually models for Paradise Kiss after being "kidnapped" by Isabella and whisked away to Paradise Kiss' "atelier". She is often referred to, inexplicably, as "Caroline" by Miwako.
Yukari begins the series as a pretty faced, yet rather unattractive in personality, high school senior that studies dutifully for university entrance exams. When she meets the ParaKiss crew, she begins to discover new depth to her personality and life. Her passionate and sometimes destructive relationship with George is key to this self-discovery. Yukari is competitive, quick to blame others, and desperately wants to experience more; George often points out the flaws in her personality, but admits that he finds them alluring, claiming that she was "born into this world to drive [him] crazy." At the end of the series Yukari ends up marrying her former classmate, Hiroyuki. (Although this is revealed during the last volume of the manga, the last episode of the series only hints at their marriage.)
Voiced by: Yu Yamada (Japanese), Julie Ann Taylor (English)

Jōji "George" Koizumi (小泉譲二, Koizumi Jōji?)
George is an eccentric, handsome, and extremely charismatic student of Yazagaku who has extraordinary talent with a gift for fashion design, haute couture in particular. Despite his cold demeanor, he has extravagant ideas on everything, most of which are not accepted by the general public. He wants Yukari to become an independent woman, as well as a girl that will take responsibility for her own mistakes. He considers himself bisexual, or as he says, "an equal opportunity lover"; he also makes constant reference to how good he is with knots, and offers to tie people up repeatedly. His appearance is loosely based on Brian Slade of Velvet Goldmine, and several references to the film are made by him in the manga. He has distinctive blue hair and eyes, making Yukari humorously question if he is an alien. George can come off as cold and manipulative--Arashi warns Yukari that he is "not a man that will make a woman happy"--but he deeply cares for Yukari. George is the one to steal Yukari's virginity[vague], even mocking her for it during sex. The lifestyle that he lives is top-notch; he lives in a loft apartment and drives a vintage Jaguar, but because his mother was merely a mistress, he rarely sees his father. Regardless, his mother dryly complains that he looks and acts just like him. At the end of the series, it is shown that he has designed the costumes for a Broadway show. He is 18 years old.
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 Happy Berry brand's creator/president, Mikako Kouda, who is the protagonist in Ai Yazawa's Gokinjo Monogatari work. She is exceptionally sweet and cute. Miwako tends to act in a rather childlike manner, both in her Lolita style dress and unique vocabulary. Because of Miwako's endearing personality she is adored by many of the characters and is considered Yukari's bestfriend. She was the center of a long lasting love triangle involving her two childhood friends Arashi Nagase and Hiroyuki Tokumori but eventually chose Arashi in the end. It's revealed that she loved both of them equally the same but was dating Arashi at the time and because Arashi threatened to break up with her if she didn't break off her connections with Hiroyuki he would dump her. Ever since Miwako has always guilted over the fact that she had hurt Hiroyuki but loves Arashi dearly. In the last volume it is mentioned that Miwako and Arashi married and had a daughter who looks like Arashi appearance wise.
Voiced by: Marika Matsumoto (Japanese), Jolie Jackson (English)

Arashi Nagase (永瀬嵐, Nagase Arashi?)
Arashi is a student of Yazagaku with a taste for punk style, piercings, and alternative music. He is Miwako's boyfriend, they have both known each other--along with Hiroyuki Tokumori--from childhood. Miwako later reveals that she "chose" Arashi over Hiroyuki when the three of them began high school. It is revealed that Arashi can get very jealous whenever it involves Miwako and Hiroyuki. In order to make her more 'his' Arashi foribly made Miwako have sex with him but deeply regretted it later and was relieved that Miwako had forgiven him, however, he has always been hesitant and careful around her from that point on. During a talk with Hiroyuki, he (Arashi) is very aware that Miwako had feelings for Hiroyuki and is insecure about his (Arashi) own relatinship with Miwako, believing he wasn't making her as happy if she were to be with Hiroyuki. He is then by Hiroyuki to not underestimate Miwako's deep love for Arashi and to trust her more. Even though Arashi has a generally cynical, sometimes abrasive personality, he does care deeply about those around him. When the members of ParaKiss engage in outrageous behavior, Arashi is usually the voice of reason. He is the son of a musician, Kanzaki Risa, who is a good friend of Mikako Kouda. (Both characters appear in Gokinjo Monogatari.)Arashi and Miwako eventually marry and have a daughter who looks much like Arashi (to which Hiroyuki believes would look cuter if she had looked like Miwako instead).
Voiced by: Shunsuke Mizutani (Japanese), Derek Stephen Prince (English)

Daisuke "Isabella" Yamamoto (山本大助, Yamamoto Daisuke?)
Isabella is the mother figure to the members of ParaKiss. This tall Yazagaku student is the epitome of high class and femininity. Isabella inspired George's very first dress during childhood, and often had the habit of taking every piece of clothing that he finished. Isabella encourages Yukari when she needs it the most, whether it be regarding George or her abandoned studies. Notably, Isabella is a transgender woman, and she is mortified when anyone refers to her as 'Daisuke', her birth name.
Voiced by: Chiharu Suzuka (Japanese), Mari Devon (English)

Hiroyuki Tokumori (徳森浩行, Tokumori Hiroyuki?)
Yukari's classmate, an intelligent and handsome young man who happens to be the object of Yukari's affections at the beginning of the story. Hiroyuki was once in love with Miwako, but Arashi forbade her from seeing him. He gives advice to Arashi on how to come to terms with his feelings for Miwako and his past actions and soon after the three of them are seen as friends once more just like when they were children. He eventually falls for Yukari, who foolishly assumed that he'd never date a girl like her. The two later marry. Son of Gokinjo Monogatari character, Hiroaki Tokumori ("Toku-chan"). : Voiced by: Noriyuki Uchino (Japanese), Johnny Yong Bosch (English)

Kaori Asō (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 (Japanese), Dorothy Elias-Fahn (English)

Alice Yamaguchi (山口アリス, 'Yamaguchi Arisu?)
Miwako's niece. She is in third grade, and just as perky as Miwako. In the anime, she only makes a brief appearance. Alice has the same eyes as Tsutomu.
Voiced by: no listing

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 was licensed for release in North America by Geneon Entertainment. On July 3, 2008, Geneon Entertainment and Funimation Entertainment announced an agreement to distribute select titles in North America. While Geneon Entertainment will still retain the license, Funimation Entertainment will assume exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of select titles. Paradise Kiss was one of several titles involved in the deal.[1]

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.

Episodes

1. "Atelier"
2. "Illumination"
3. "KISS"
4. "George"
5. "Mother"
6. "New World"
7. "Butterfly"
8. "Tokumori"
9. "Designer"
10. "Rose"
11. "Stage"
12. "Future"

Music

The opening is "Lonely in Gorgeous" by Tomoko Kawase (as alter ego 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.