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Paradise Kiss (18+)
I think that Paradise Kiss was one of the first pieces of media to really expose me to what the world of sex could be like. It is a short manga—only five volumes long—but its impact is pretty powerful. It was written by Ai Yazawa, author of the famous work Nana, back in 2000. It also has a 12 episode anime, but I have not gotten around to seeing it. One of Yazawa's greatest strengths is her art style, and so far I have hesitated to watch the watered down version on TV. I am curious to see how the humor is handled and it would be fun to read in full color, but Yazawa's art is really gorgeous in black and white.
How can I describe Paradise Kiss? The word that first comes to my mind is "bittersweet." That is not particularly unusual; most shōjo mangas have angsty characters, all of whom are going through one hardship or another and have difficult pasts. However, there is something about the story line and the art that really comes together to make you feel sad for the way things turn out for the characters, even if the outcome is one that they chose or that genuinely makes them happy. I would also say that Paradise Kiss reads like the story of the "other woman." Like any good shōjo piece, the pacing is really good and you learn all these things in due time. Before I go into a plot explanation, let me say there will be spoilers. Please note that my explanation of the story will not have the same great flow.
- Spoilers -
Yukari has had a rough time living under her mother's crushing expectations, especially when her younger brother is so much smarter than her. Somehow, however, she managed to crawl her way into a famous high school so she can at least say she wears the uniform, and she gets to see Tokumori everyday, the boy she has a crush on. One day her sour, determined outlook on life begins to change when she is stopped in the street by Arashi, a punk styled fashion student (who is translated into English as having an English accent for some reason), and his classmate Isabella, an extremely tall and flamboyant drag queen. They bring her back to their studio to meet Miwako, a pink-haired doll of a person (source of the odd nickname Caroline), and they ask her to be their model for their fashion school's big show at the end of the term. At first Yukari thinks they are all freaky people wasting their time with weird arts and crafts, but she begins to see that they are working hard to create their fashion brand Paradise Kiss so they can compete in a difficult industry. She really begins to understand this when she meets George, the flamboyant lead designer for the team with blue hair and blue contact lenses.
George is the son of a wealthy man and a model, and the combination has left him hungry for attention and very, very flashy in his tastes: nice cars, fur coats, fun hats... He is also very talented, which won him his friendship with drag queen Isabella back when they were children. Like the rest of the team, he thinks Yukari would be the perfect model for the dress they are making in the hopes of winning the grand prize at their school's fashion show. Despite all their differences, he and Yukari quickly come together as a couple, although their relationship is full of turmoil. Yukari lacks confidence in herself and wants to become the woman George most desires, while George most desires a woman who is amazing with or without him. As Yukari speculates, he wants "a woman who will submits to no one, yet you do everything you can to control me and mold me into your perfect woman."
So, what of Tokumori, the boy Yukari was in love with before being swept off her feet by all of George's eccentricities? It turns out that he is a childhood friend of Arashi and Miwako. They had a falling out some time ago, although Yukari never knows the full extent of the dark twists of the three way friendship. By the end of the series we learn that both boys were in love with Miwako, so Arashi raped her in a moment of jealous passion and he and Miwako ended up in a relationship. Being good to a fault, Miwako went along with everything, including Arashi's demands that she break off contact with Tokumori when he confessed his feelings for her. She admits to Yukari early on that she loves both boys equally, but Arashi is the one who forced the start of a relationship first. Now, Tokumori is in love with Yukari and, having an interest in psychology, he analyzes Arashi ruthlessly before forgiving him for breaking the threesome apart and telling him to appreciate Miwako more without being so jealous.
The five volumes mainly follow Yukari as she becomes determined to become a professional model, as it is the first thing she has ever been good at. She gets her start with Miwako's sister, a successful fashion school graduate, at her brand Happy Berry. She then goes on to join a modeling agency, although she has to go to her mother for permission. Her relationship with her mother continues to be very strained, but they come to a deal that Yukari can pursue modeling as long as she also graduates from her prestigious high school. Her peak moment is the fashion show when she wears the Paradise Kiss dress and proves herself to be the right choice, although the group does not win the grand prize. Time is also punctuated by her ups and downs with George, who pushes her to tears of joy, jealousy, anger, and despair all the time. It becomes apparent that he questions his feelings for her due to the similarities she has to his weepy, overly dependent mother, but more than that George does not share his secrets with Yukari. This all comes to a head when his friend Kaori, a headstrong girl he trusts more than almost anyone, returns home from Europe. While it is not the first time she has been back within the series, it is the first time Yukari has met her and Yukari is at first threatened by her presence, then shamed by it. To two confident designers, Yukari is mostly a doll to put clothes on; she can do nothing but keep her mouth shut after her initial ugly reaction to Kaori's appearance.
In the end, Yukari and George both admit that they want different things and they are not able to change enough for each other to fulfill those needs. Yukari knows she cannot live her life as George's doll, and George knows that in order for Yukari to become the strong person she has the potential to be he cannot be in her life. He decides not to go into designing, instead becoming a hair and makeup apprentice abroad, while Yukari pursues her new dream to become a model in Asia. He goes off to Europe with Isabella after graduation, where he will probably see Kaori again, and leaves Yukari the key to a storage locker containing all his previous designs and dresses for her to wear on her road to success. Ten years later, Yukari is a well known face in the modeling industry and is engaged to Tokumori, who has become a doctor. Yukari's narration explains that they will spend their honeymoon in America seeing a Broadway show featuring George's designs. "I hear it is a comedy, but I will probably cry."
Paradise Kiss is the story of a happy ending with a few pieces missing. Yukari explains that George opened her black and white world up to a more colorful one. Even if they are not together, he will always be her catalyst. What I think is most interesting about this whole bittersweet love story is that you can piece together a completely different manga from between the lines. Having read a lot of shōjo manga, I can say that while Yukari is a good heroine, she is also a whiny, whimpery one who takes a long time to find her footing. George's friend Kaori is a much more expected heroine in a manga about fashion design, what with her short hair, boyish figure, determination, and no nonsense attitude with George, but I think that is exactly why Yazawa chose to go a different direction. We all know Kaori's story. It is a lot like Skip Beat! or other books about a headstrong girl who sees that the confident guy really just needs a shoulder to lean on. Yukari rarely finds an opportunity to comfort George, instead needing more support, so it feels good in a way to know that she is strong enough by the end to walk away from him the way Kaori once did, although it is clear that for George and Yukari it really is the end.
Tokumori and Yukari's relationship brings to mind the words "life partnership." They are not shown to be madly in love, since their first loves chose to be with someone else for one reason or another, but they rely on each other and enjoy each other's company. Yukari is now the more outspoken of the two, as compared to back in high school when she could barely speak to Tokumori without running off in a panic. And this is all good because Yukari needs an analytical person like Tokumori to be patient and understand her needs.
So what is Kaori's story exactly? I can make a guess. She is a firecracker of a leading lady, not afraid of foul language or hand gestures, fitting in with the boys and playing with the big boys. After working hard to get into fashion school, she met George, who she probably did not get along with very well at first. He comes from a rich background, unlike her, and acts like the world is there for his enjoyment while she spends day and night working toward her dream. Rather than date him, Kaori "made him her rival." He was drawn to her powerful personality and her talent, and opened himself up to her as she saw more about his life trying to pretend he was not hurt by his father's expectations or his mother's regrets. What Yukari only sees glimpses of—George's insecurity—Kaori sees fully and understands.
When Kaori decides to go to London, she invites George along but he declines, wanting to stay with Paradise Kiss and finish up school in Japan. However, Kaori's strength breaks after an incident in London, bringing her back to George's apartment on Christmas day without realizing it. She knocks furiously, desperate to see him despite the way they have skipped around having a relationship for years, and reaches out to him when he opens the door. Seeing her in such a state brings down George's defenses for a moment, during which Yukari sees for the first time that much of George's flamboyance is not true confidence, but his shield. Yukari steps in, keeping Kaori and George from connecting, and they have an awkward evening having a few drinks. It is apparent that George and Kaori connect on a deep level that Yukari has not been able to discover yet. Had the perspective of the story been different, we probably would have felt a combination of hostility and pity for Yukari as the girlfriend preventing George and Kaori from coming together, but this way we fully understand Yukari's feelings and why she is so possessive of George. When your boyfriend is a flirt who desires a girl like Kaori, it is hard not to scowl or shout. Finally, the last part of Kaori's story we really see is that she decided to be proactive in George's life by going to his father's office and getting down on her knees to request that he release George from family expectations. Yukari, meanwhile, barely meets George's father, let alone understands the complex relationship between the two. However, she does stand up to George's mother, who carelessly talks about the better she life she would have had if she had not gotten pregnant. So, in a way, both girls were necessary to George's life in terms of fighting his parents.
So far we have discussed three points of interest about Paradise Kiss: a less than fairy tale ending, an ending with its happy moments, and a story from the perspective of the other woman. Is there something else that makes it really unique? I would argue that Yazawa's art style is another thing that really separates this manga from the rest. It is very recognizable, even iconic thanks to her work on Nana, and mixes a lot of things into it: some realism, sparkly eyes, bony fingers, dramatic expressions, sharp chins, big makeup, diverse appearances, skeletal frames... And this is a fashion manga, so the featured clothes are fittingly creative and look like fashion drawings on the thin, tall characters. Each character has a very defined style of dress. George is a movie star, Miwako embodies her sister's brand name Happy Berry, Arashi is a punk, Isabella is the perfect drag queen... Yukari's style is harder to define because she so often is in her school uniform or in the clothes made by Paradise Kiss, but she also dresses herself sometimes. Her personal style changes very quickly from high school sweet (e.g. a simple, flowery summer dress with sandals) to grown up and borderline provocative as she recreates herself to look good for potential employers. By the end, she has gone back to wearing overalls or whatever she likes because she has the reputation to get her places where a first impression used to.
What else about the art? It is not only expressive of the characters' personal styles or feelings; it also wraps you up in Yukari's experience with Paradise Kiss. Being invited into the club really is like a fairy tale for her, even though she did not marry the prince at the end. We see in the final volume that her most treasured moment with George was when he embraced her after she walked the runway in his dress, showing it off like no one else could. This was a proud moment for Yukari too, justifying her desire to become a model, allowing her to support George just once, and, although she did not know it, providing her with the opportunity to show off in front of Kaori, who attended the show. The art really speaks to her perspective as an ugly duckling suddenly being shown she is a swan, and then a princess. All of this is shown through the dramatic use of dreamy sequences and surprising clothes. Yukari's world is constantly interrupted by the outlandish appearances of her new friends, especially George with his fancy car, fluffy scarves, and blue hair. Although color in this manga would make it all even more overwhelming, I think it easier on the eyes when it is in black and white and lets your brain do the work. You do not get tired of pink or blue hair, or Isabella's strange makeup, or even the constant wardrobe changes because the black and white of a manga allows you to take it in slowly. It is a great manga to go back and read over and over, looking at the little details. My favorite page is probably Yukari's crowning moment when she walks the runway in George's dress, the moment she knows her hopes and dreams are validated, even if in the future she and George do not stay together. It is the story of being found by people who are willing to like you for you and of being completely overwhelmed by your feelings for another person.
Pictures from Mangakalot.com
