# Paradise Kiss

Paradise Kiss is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa. It appeared as a serial in Shodensha's fashion magazine Zipper [ja] from March 1999 to March 2003, with its chapters collected in five volumes. A 12-episode anime television series adaptation, produced by Aniplex and studio Madhouse, aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block from October to December 2005. A live-action film adaptation was released in Japan in 2011.

## Plot

Yukari Hayasaka, a third-year student at an elite college preparatory high school, is under pressure from her mother to study for her exams and enter college. On her way to school, she catches the attention of Paradise Kiss, a fashion collective of four senior students from Yazawa School of Arts: Miwako, Arashi, Isabella, and their leader, George. The students attempt to recruit Yukari as a model for their senior project at the school's upcoming fashion showcase, but she initially rejects them. Yukari later comes to understand the students' passion for fashion, admiring how they are able to live freely, and agrees to become their model.
As Yukari spends more time at Paradise Kiss' studio, she begins skipping cram school to help with sewing beads onto their dress. At the same time, she becomes drawn to George, and the two immediately fall into a whirlwind romance. Despite their mutual attraction, Yukari finds herself frustrated at George's unpredictable and twisted behavior, as well as him prioritizing career and independence over love. Inspired to be true to herself, Yukari tells her mother the truth but runs away from home and drops out of school after she opposes her decision. Yukari gets a job modeling for Miwako's sister's brand, Happy Berry, which connects her to a modeling agency, but they are unable to sign her without her parents' permission. After an encounter with George's negligent mother, Yukari begins to understand him more and returns home, convincing her mother to allow her to become a model and attending school once again.
Once Paradise Kiss completes their dress, Yukari models it at the senior project showcase. Despite the praise, they win only second place. As graduation draws near, Paradise Kiss sees little outside success and sells only one dress at a co-signment shop. Meanwhile, George is undecided about his career path, but his friend and senior, Kaori, visits him to convince him to continue studying design, which causes Yukari to become jealous. By graduation, Paradise Kiss disbands. George decides to study design in Paris and invites Yukari to come with him, but Yukari declines due to her budding modeling career. Realizing that their lifestyles are incompatible and their relationship will progress no further, the two become distant and quietly move on with their lives. Yukari hopes to become a model in Paris to be with him once again.
10 years later, Yukari is unable to become a model in Paris but pursues other career paths in entertainment in Japan. She is also married to her classmate, Hiroyuki, and they are invited to watch a Broadway show with costumes designed by George.

## Characters
### Yukari Hayasaka (早坂 紫, Hayasaka Yukari)

    Voiced by: Yu Yamada (Japanese); Julie Ann Taylor (English)
    Portrayed by: Keiko Kitagawa, Sea Kumada (childhood)
    Yukari is a third-year high school student at a prestigious school under pressure from her strict mother to study for her university entrance exams. Her routinely, mundane life changes when she meets the members of Paradise Kiss, and while she initially is condescending towards them, she comes to admire their dedication towards their dreams. Through Paradise Kiss, Yukari slowly begins to realize her own identity and independence, eventually deciding to pursue modelling. At the same time, Yukari falls into an intense romance with Paradise Kiss' leader, George, and throughout their time together, she struggles between expressing her true feelings for him and trying to match his ideals. She is nicknamed "Caroline" by Miwako and "Carrie" by Isabella. In the end, after George goes to Paris to study fashion design, Yukari moves on with her life as a model and marries Hiroyuki. In the live-action film, she rejects Hiroyuki and finds George again while on a modelling job in New York.

### Johji Koizumi (小泉 譲二, Koizumi Jōji)

    Voiced by: Kenji Hamada (Japanese); Patrick Seitz (English)
    Portrayed by: Osamu Mukai
    Nicknamed George (ジョージ, Jōji), he is a senior at Yazawa School of Arts with a gift for fashion design, particularly in haute couture. Although his personality can appear cold, he lives like a hedonist and has extravagant ideas on everything, most of which are not accepted by the mainstream. George is bisexual, describing himself as an "equal opportunity lover". He refers to Yukari as both his muse and a tease. He explains his manipulative behavior as his desire for her to become an independent woman that makes her own decisions and takes responsibility for them. George's appearance is loosely based on Brian Slade of Velvet Goldmine. Yukari humorously questions if he is actually an alien because of his distinctive blue hair and eyes. George is alternately cold and warm to Yukari, confusing her and causing intense fights between the two of them. The lifestyle that he lives is that of a wealthy young bachelor with a high-end loft apartment and a vintage Jaguar. George's wealthy father pays for his living arrangements and tuition at Yazagaku, though he rarely sees him because his mother was only a mistress. His mother, a former fashion model, often complains that he looks and acts just like his father despite his intense disdain for him. In the end, after Paradise Kiss fails to sell a single dress, he goes with Isabella to Paris to pursue fashion design. He mails Yukari a key to the storage unit that stores all of the clothing that he's designed, including the fashion show dress. In the anime and manga, George sends Yukari and her husband a ticket to a broadway show where he served as costume designer. In the live action movie, it's revealed that he's kept the magazines that Yukari has modelled in, and they kiss when she finds his studio again.

### Miwako Sakurada (櫻田実和子, Sakurada Miwako)

    Voiced by: Marika Matsumoto (Japanese); Melissa Fahn (English)
    Portrayed by: Aya Omasa
    Miwako is a third-year student at Yazawa School of Arts who first appeared in Neighborhood Story. A member of Paradise Kiss, Miwako is the younger sister of Mikako Kouda, the protagonist of Neighborhood Story and the founder of the fashion brand Happy Berry. She carries around a jar of konpeitō candy that makes her feel better by reminding her of how she is loved.

### Arashi Nagase (永瀬嵐, Nagase Arashi)

    Voiced by: Shunsuke Mizutani (Japanese); Derek Stephen Prince (English)
    Portrayed by: Kento Kaku
    Arashi is a third-year student at Yazawa School of Arts who first appeared in a side story of Neighborhood Story. He is the son of Risa Kanzaki, a character from Neighborhood Story, who has a punk rock aesthetic and plays in a band. Arashi is the most level-headed memeber of Paradise Kiss who offers a practical and realistic perspective towards Yukari and the others. While Arashi is childhood friends with Miwako and Hiroyuki, he is in love with Miwako and initially forced himself on her to keep her from entering a romantic relationship with Hiroyuki, to whom he feels inferior towards. Because of his jealousy and fear of losing Miwako, he forbids her from contacting Hiroyuki. At the end of the series, Arashi has reconciled his friendship with Hiroyuki and married Miwako, having a daughter together.

### Isabella (イサベラ, Isabera)

    Voiced by: Chiharu Suzuka (Japanese); Mari Devon (English)
    Portrayed by: Shunji Igarashi
    Isabella is the mother figure to the members of ParaKiss. Isabella was born into a wealthy family and was the inspiration for George's very first dress during childhood, becoming his first client. She often had the habit of taking every piece of clothing that he finished. As a child, she had always wanted gorgeous dresses, and George was the one that fulfilled her wish. Isabella provides a source of support to Yukari when she needs it the most, whether it be regarding her relationship with George or choice to abandon her studies. Isabella is a transgender woman and she is mortified when anyone refers to her as her birth name.

### Hiroyuki Tokumori (徳森浩行, Tokumori Hiroyuki)

    Voiced by: Noriyuki Uchino (Japanese); Johnny Yong Bosch (English)
    Portrayed by: Yusuke Yamamoto
    Hiroyuki is a third-year student who first appeared in a side story of Neighborhood Story. Yukari's classmate, an intelligent and handsome prodigy who is 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 mend their friendship. Hiroyuki is at the top of his class and aspires to become a physician. He eventually falls for Yukari, and foolishly assumed that a girl like her would never show interest in him. In the manga, Hiroyuki expresses his frustration at always being second-best in anything but academics, referring to Miwako choosing Arashi and to Yukari being in love with George, stating that he loves studying just because he can control the outcome. Son of Gokinjo Monogatari character, Hiroaki Tokumori ("Toku-chan").

### Kaori Asō (麻生香, Asō Kaori)

    Voiced by: Miho Saiki (Japanese); Dorothy Elias-Fahn (English)
    Portrayed by: Natsuki Kato
    A former Yazagaku student who is now studying abroad on a scholarship received as the previous winner of the junior Grand Prize. She is noted for her talent and incredible determination. She has romantic feelings for her old friend George, but knows that he is not the type to make a woman happy. According to George's conversation with Yukari, Kaori is the only woman George cannot court and it is hinted that he harbors unique feelings toward her, whether merely those of admiration or romance.

### Alice Yamaguchi (山口アリス, Yamaguchi Arisu)

    Voiced by: Rumi Shishido (Japanese); Stephanie Sheh (English)
    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.

## Media
### Manga

Written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa, Paradise Kiss was serialized in Shodensha's fashion magazine Zipper [ja] from March 23, 1999, to March 22, 2003. Shodensha collected its chapters in five wideban volumes, released from March 31, 2000, to August 23, 2003.
Paradise Kiss features several cameos from Neighborhood Story, one of Yazawa's previous works.
Tokyopop licensed Paradise Kiss for an English-language release in North America and serialized it in its manga magazine Smile. The five volumes were released from May 21, 2002, to March 9, 2004. After Tokyopop's dissolving in 2011, New York based publishers Vertical acquired the rights to the property with plans on releasing the series in a three-volume A5 sized set with new covers, color plates and newly commissioned translation from September 2012 to March 2013. They re-released the series in a single omnibus volume as the "20th Anniversary Edition" on December 3, 2019. Madman Entertainment distributed the series in Australia and New Zealand.
The series has also been licensed in Italy, Germany and Mexico by Panini Comics; Argentina, Spain, and Finland by Editorial Ivrea; in France by Kana; in Poland by Waneko; in Russia by Comics Factory; and in Taiwan by Sharp Point Press. In Brazil, it was first licensed by Conrad Editora, but was later re-licensed by Panini Comics.

#### Volumes
##### Tankōbon release

| No. | Original release date | Original ISBN | English release date | English ISBN |
| 1 | March 31, 2000 | 4-396-76219-4 | May 21, 2002 | 1-931514-60-7 |
| 2 | January 23, 2001 | 4-396-76240-2 | August 13, 2002 | 1-931514-61-5 |
| 3 | October 31, 2001 | 4-396-76259-3 | October 15, 2002 | 1-59182-053-7 |
| 4 | June 27, 2002 | 4-396-76276-3 | January 14, 2003 | 1-59182-108-8 |
| 5 | August 23, 2003 | 4-396-76308-5 | March 9, 2004 | 1-59182-242-4 |

##### Second English release

| No. | English release date | English ISBN |
| 1 | September 25, 2012 | 978-1935654711 |
| 2 | December 11, 2012 | 978-1935654728 |
| 3 | March 5, 2013 | 978-1935654735 |

### Anime

Produced by Fuji TV, Aniplex, Dentsu, Shodensha and Madhouse, the Paradise Kiss anime series was broadcast on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block from October 14 to December 30, 2005. It was directed by Osamu Kobayashi, who also wrote the series scripts. Nobuteru Yūki served as character designer and chief animation director, while noted fashion creator Atsurō Tayama designed the outfits and THE BABYS and Narasaki (of Coaltar of the Deepers) composed the music. The anime was licensed for release in North America by Geneon Entertainment. On July 3, 2008, Geneon and Funimation Entertainment announced an agreement to distribute select titles in North America. While Geneon retained the license, Funimation Entertainment assumed exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of select titles. Paradise Kiss was one of several titles involved in the deal. Funimation let the license expire in 2011.
The opening theme song 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". Both songs appear on the Paradise Kiss Original Soundtrack released on December 21, 2005.

#### Production

In an interview in the January, 2007 issue of Newtype USA, director 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 Tayama's involvement 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 and stylist Asami Kiyokawa. After the rough designs were completed, texture artist Yoshikazu 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

| No. | Title | Directed by | Original release date |
| 01 | "Studio" Transliteration: "Atorie" (Japanese: アトリエ) | Osamu Kobayashi | October 14, 2005 (2005-10-14) |
| 02 | "Illumination" Transliteration: "Iruminēshon" (Japanese: イルミネーション) | Motonobu Hori | October 21, 2005 (2005-10-21) |
| 03 | "kiss" | Osamu Kobayashi | October 28, 2005 (2005-10-28) |
| 04 | "George" Transliteration: "Jōji" (Japanese: ジョージ) | Mitsuyuki Masuhara | November 4, 2005 (2005-11-04) |
| 05 | "MOTHER" | Kenichi Ishikura | November 11, 2005 (2005-11-11) |
| 06 | "NEW WORLD" | Shigetaka Ikeda | November 18, 2005 (2005-11-18) |
| 07 | "Butterfly" Transliteration: "Chō" (Japanese: 蝶) | Norihiko Nagahama | November 25, 2005 (2005-11-25) |
| 08 | "Tokumori" (Japanese: 徳森) | Motonobu Hori | December 2, 2005 (2005-12-02) |
| 09 | "Designer" Transliteration: "Dezainā" (Japanese: デザイナー) | Yūichi Tanaka | December 9, 2005 (2005-12-09) |
| 10 | "Rose" Transliteration: "Bara" (Japanese: 薔薇) | Mitsuyuki Masuhara | December 16, 2005 (2005-12-16) |
| 11 | "Stage" Transliteration: "Sutēji" (Japanese: ステージ) | Osamu Kobayashi | December 23, 2005 (2005-12-23) |
| 12 | "Future" Transliteration: "Mirai" (Japanese: 未来) | Osamu Kobayashi | December 30, 2005 (2005-12-30) |

### Live-action film

Together with the Japanese production company IMJ, Fox International produced a live-action, Japanese-language film based on Paradise Kiss; the film had an estimated budget of US$3–4 million.
The live-action film features Keiko Kitagawa as Yukari Hayasaka and Osamu Mukai as George. Other cast members are Natsuki Katō as Kaori Aso, Aya Ōmasa as Miwako Sakurada, Kento Kaku as Arashi Nagase, Shunji Igarashi as Isabella Yamamoto, and Yūsuke Yamamoto as Tokumori Hiroyuki.
The film was released in Japan in June 2011. It featured the songs "Hello (Paradise Kiss)" and "You" by Yui.

## Reception

Melissa Sternenberg of THEM Anime Reviews called the character designs and animation "fresh and appealing" with the closing and opening sequences "some of the best of the Fall 2005 season," and praised the animation and artwork, especially the fashion designs. However, she felt the series went wrong in cramming the story into 12 episodes, saying 26 episodes would have been better, and said that she disliked the main characters. However, she said that the sentimentality of ParaKiss seems to "accurately reflect the real fashion world".
Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network had a more positive view, saying that apart from the established characters, the show's true star is the "costume design" which is shown in much detail, with a "delicate balancing of realism with drama." He said that the treatment of the series is "unusually thoughtful", and that the series is "about being young...having dreams...[and] romance." He called the series a "refreshingly mature story", but said it is not for "those in search of reassuring escapism."
In 2024, through a survey of 100 people by TV Maga (a web magazine operated by TV Log [ja]), Paradise Kiss was voted second for most fashionable manga, along with Neighborhood Story, another series by Yazawa.