Paradise Kiss, also abbreviated to ParaKiss, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa. It appeared as a serial in Shodensha's fashion magazine , with its chapters collected in five volumes. The series has also been adapted into a 12-episode anime series, produced by Aniplex and Studio Madhouse, and aired in Japan on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block.
The comic and the anime have become popular both domestically and internationally. The English version was published by Vertical, Inc.
Paradise Kiss occurs in the same universe as Yazawa's previous work, Neighborhood Story. However, Paradise Kiss is a stand-alone story, as only three supporting characters from Neighborhood Story have major roles.
Characters
Portrayed by: Keiko Kitagawa, Sea Kumada (childhood) Yukari is a beautiful but arrogant high school senior that studies dutifully for her university entrance exams. She cannot find meaning in her straight-laced life of exams and feels that she has not actually lived at all. As a student at a prestigious high school, she begins with a snobbish attitude towards the fashion design students, looking down on them for being so radically different from her own path. After she witnesses the hard work that the ParaKiss members pour into their clothing line, her attitude towards them begins to change to one of admiration for their passion and courage to pursue their dreams. Her intense relationship with George also pushes her to pursue her own identity, encouraging her to assert herself despite the fact that she feels he is a cold and manipulative man. Yukari tries her best to be the kind of woman that she thinks George wants. The members of ParaKiss support her as she discovers new depths to her own ambitions by embarking on a professional modelling career, including the experience of being represented by an agency. She is often inexplicably referred to as "Caroline" or "Carrie" by the members of Paradise Kiss. In the manga, she eventually marries Hiroyuki after George leaves to pursue fashion design in Paris. In the anime, she marries an unnamed boyfriend assumed to be Hiroyuki. In the live-action film, she rejects Hiroyuki and finds George again while on a modelling job in New York.
Portrayed by: Osamu Mukai
George is a senior at Yazagaku fashion school 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.