Paradise Kiss

On her way home from school, Yukari Hayasaka is approached by a weird-looking guy who starts looking at her body intently. He's got blond spiky hair, a spiked choker, and multiple piercings on his ears and face. She wants nothing to do with him, and runs away, only to bump into a very tall and beautiful purple-haired woman with a flower pattern around her eye. Yukari faints from shock and wakes up later in a strange place called the Atelier. It turns out that these strangers are fashion designers who attend the most famous art school around, Yazawa Art Academy, and their group wants Yukari to model for their brand in Yazawa Academy's upcoming show.

Yukari turns down their offer and escapes the Atelier, but unknowingly leaves her school ID behind. George Koizumi, the head designer, later sees it and immediately knows she would be the perfect model for them and will not stop until he gets what he wants—and he wants her. Yukari had never considered something as frivolous as modeling before, but could life among these eccentric designers actually prove to be fun? Or will Yukari lose herself in this world of art and passion?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Sakurada, Miwako Main

Matsumoto, Marika Japanese

Koizumi, George Main

Hamada, Kenji Japanese

Hayasaka, Yukari Main

Yamada, Yu Japanese

Yamamoto, Isabella Main

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Nagase, Arashi Main

Mizutani, Shunsuke Japanese

Kouda, Mikako Supporting

Shishido, Rumi Japanese

Kanzaki, Risa Supporting

Takano, Urara Japanese

Yamaguchi, Tsutomu Supporting

Yamaguchi, Kappei Japanese

Kisaragi, Seiji Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Tokumori, Hiroyuki Supporting

Uchino, Noriyuki Japanese

Maruyama, Masao Producer

Yamamoto, Kouji Producer

Katsumata, Hideo Producer

Fujio, Tsutomu Producer

Reviews

Jan 4, 2025

LuxuriousHeart

Recommended

Paradise Kiss is a coming of age story about a sheltered girl. Yukari starts as a girl who does everything her mother asks, and she's rather sheltered. At 18, she hasn't had a boyfriend or even kissed a guy. Introduce Paradise Kiss, a group of fashion designers. There's George, Isabella, Miwako, and Arashi. They want Yukari to model for them. They introduce Yukari into the world of fashion, and lead her to question if her mom is really right about what she should do.

Compared to the prequel, My Neighborhood Story, the characters are more fun. ... That isn't to say, there's no drama. Trust me, there's a lot of drama in the show. They're just more fun and easy to watch, even if some of them are worse people. Yeah, the main cast is very manipulative and sneaky. Everyone has lied, snuck around, and/or manipulated their loved ones. That's what makes them realistic. Yukari follows the path of a sheltered girl. When you watch this show, Yukari will remind you of those sheltered girls that go crazy when they're let out of a cage. And you can't tell them anything, because they think they know everything.

I'd definitely recommend Paradise Kiss. The drama is there, the fashion is there, and the characters are complex.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jan 26, 2025

RyanSpring

Mixed Feelings

As a straight male in my mid 30s with no interest whatsoever in fashion design or modeling or anything to do with that world, I really doubt I'm the target audience this show was aiming for. And yet, despite this pretty clear mismatch, I enjoyed Paradise Kiss. I can see why others in my demographic might not, however.

As a whole the show oozes style. It's not quite at gold standard Cowboy Bebop level, but it definitely has flair. Characters have unique hair colors and overall looks, the color palette on display really pops despite the show being two decades old as of the time of ... this writing and the opening and ending themes are both super catchy bops. I never once skipped through the intro sequence, which is something I almost ALWAYS do when watching other programs.

I enjoyed this show's approach to drama. It felt more mature and grounded in reality than most other anime featuring a high school aged main character and its conflicts felt more believable and less contrived. The interpersonal relationships between the main character and the rest of the cast, the ups and downs that inevitably come with this period of life and the intricacy and nuance of romantic relationships are what drives everything forward. As a tradeoff, because the drama is more subtle and grounded in reality, there are fewer true highlight moments, if any at all, and certainly the ending of this anime, while easily believable and acceptable, is not memorable and does not hit you with an emotional gut punch. I'm not sure if ANY part of this anime is memorable three months after the fact, which one could argue is a strike against it, but that doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable in the moment all the same.

COMPLETELY devoid of action or combat or any kind of mind-blowing twist, I can see how certain anime watchers might find this boring. I don't know that it's ever RIVETING, but I found there was enough meat on the bone, even if there aren't leftovers afterwards, to keep me engaged.

Ultimately, would I RECOMMEND Paradise Kiss? To the anime audience at large, no. To those who already know they enjoy drama and romance anime and aren't turned off by the lack of action, yes. With that, use your discretion.

OBJECTIVE RATING- 7-7.5
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 7

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 5, 2023

svale

Not Recommended

Funny

This was a massive let-down, particularly after watching Nana, which is honestly one of the more entertaining anime series I've ever watched.
I was prepared for this not to be a masterpiece, but that is an understatement.
Our protagonist is possibly the least relatable character in the history of fiction - and yes, I've read Catcher in the Rye, I have seen the Twilight movies, but nothing compares to this bland piece of flour whose only personality trait is being pretty and hopelessly in love with George. And oh, did you know that she can eat absolutely anything without gaining weight? So relatable, right..?
And oh ... boy, where do I start with George, our own prince charming. He could honestly be interesting, I love myself a character who is absolutely horrible to everyone around them and acts like a spoiled brat, because usually it's entertaining and they get what's coming to them. Or at least SOMEONE is critical towards their awful behaviour at some point. But not George, oh no. Our boy is treated better than a king in the feudal era, nothing our dear George can do is wrong and apparently he is genius along the lines of DaVinci. Who cares if everything he says is no better than a 14-year-old boy whose biggest idol is Andrew Tate, who cares if he is verbally abusive and openly sexist even to his own mother, because he is just SO good at what he's doing. In this universe, dress-making is as essential as curing cancer or solving global warming, apparently, so surely we can put up with his negging and hostility?
The rest of the cast is slightly more promising, but they easily become stock characters and get zero room for development. I have seen more character development for minor characters in South Park, so this is honestly disappointing.
In the end, none of this leads anywhere and you are left just thinking how this was an awful waste of electricity, wasting these hours watching this show.
The only promising parts here is the early LGBT-representation (which was a miracle back in 2005), as well as an interesting outro, but I'd definitely recommend skipping this one. The characters are not awful enough for this to be a complete drama trainwreck, but not likable enough for you to actually care about them.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Plans for Live Action "Paradise Kiss"

Fox International is currently negotiating in making the hit manga "Paradise Kiss" into a Live Action movie. Although the production company haven't s...read more

May 20, 2009 3:45 AM by Zirgo | Discuss (47 comments)

	Poll: Paradise Kiss Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Ranivus - Jun 28, 2008	50 replies	by astroreload »» Feb 18, 1:19 AM
	Poll: Paradise Kiss Episode 10 Discussion Ranivus - Jun 28, 2008	38 replies	by LunaLov »» Feb 10, 2:44 PM
	Poll: Paradise Kiss Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Firemonkey5 - Mar 26, 2008	148 replies	by Ikkun_ »» Jan 5, 9:12 AM
	Poll: Paradise Kiss Episode 11 Discussion Ranivus - Jun 28, 2008	22 replies	by LuxuriousHeart »» Jan 4, 9:25 AM
	Poll: Paradise Kiss Episode 9 Discussion Ranivus - Jun 28, 2008	26 replies	by LuxuriousHeart »» Jan 4, 8:26 AM

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