Paradise Kiss: The List With Amber Audra
Back to anime but still in the lonely and gorgeous world of Ai Yazawa, this week we take a look at the look at Paradise Kiss.
Hey guys! Thanks for putting up with another multipart series! I'm glad you guys enjoyed last week's more personal essay. I have a few more prewritten substacks that sort of blur the line between personal essays and reviews, including one on Millennium Actress that I'm really excited for. From that, you can probably infer that a Satoshi Kon theme month is on the horizon but don't worry - It's not on the schedule for a while. Though this wasn't on the schedule at all so who knows what you can expect around here!
This week, we are going to get a little more traditional with it because I do like Paradise Kiss and think there's a lot to talk about even though it's a brief series.
ParaKiss is, as we mentioned last week, a sequel to Neighborhood Story. However, you'll notice a few things: One is that by the time Ai Yazawa wrote this, she had perfected her formula, which is to say, happiness is in short supply but dysfunction is plenty. And another is that main characters Yukari aka Caroline and Joji aka George are not connected in any way to Neighborhood Story.
Mikako's younger sister, Miwako, is one of George's classmates at Yazawa School of Design. She is dating their fellow classmate Arashi, Risa's son, who in the manga looks uncannily like Nana's Nobu but had a bit of a design overhaul in the anime. Together, they all design at an atelier called Paradise Kiss, along with the beautiful Isabelle, one of the best representations of trans women in anime (the manga is another story, sadly). They recruit Caroline as a semi-unwilling model for their school fashion show and despite her long time crush on Hiro, the son of another Neighborhood Story character, she is pursued by George and starts an incredibly toxic romance with him.
I don't love the story as much as I do Nana's but as a series, the animation is much better and as an adaptation, ParaKiss is almost shot for shot adapted from the manga: one scene is taken out an I'm glad it was. It's a scene we'll discuss next week. And the end is changed to not show who Caroline ends up with though you can guess while watching it. It's a truly great adaptation and since it's so short, it's a lot easier to watch the bad decisions play out since they're taking place over only ten episodes rather than fifty.
One of the things that endeared ParaKiss the most to me was Isabelle. Ai Yazawa's works have never shied from LGBTQ representation and she is the best trans woman representation I've seen in anime. No weird Gren in Cowboy Bebop "What Are You" stuff happening here. She is portrayed as elegant and beautiful from the opening and she has a great scene explaining how fashion and her friendship with George helped her embrace her true identity. Sadly, in the manga, Caroline's internal monologue is incredibly transphobic towards Isabelle which did bum me out as Isabelle's treatment was one of the things I loved the most about ParaKiss. George is bisexual, and something is going on with Neighborhood Story's Seiji who is a character here as well, though his sexuality is not defined. Neither of these characters are disparaged by Caroline so kind of seems like someone might be a TERF! Not cute! Is that why her bangs are so short? Just kidding, my bangs are short too and in case you couldn't tell, I am pro-trans rights! This is a TERF-free zone!
Like Nana, ParaKiss is incredibly dependent on music. We find out that Risa's now husband's band became incredibly successful and her son Arashi is in a band as well, called The Babys. We do hear them in the show, though the song we hear is a sad acoustic ballad and probably not indicative of their usual punk fare. Given our peek into Arashi's apartment, we can assume his number one influence, however: His walls are absolutely plastered with posters of Franz Ferdinand, who also provided the end theme for the show, and I have to say, I support this wholeheartedly. I absolutely love it. My second favorite music era of the last 50 years was the 2000's post punk scene fueled by bands like Bloc Party, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol and Franz Ferdinand. Something about the pulsing guitar riffs and thumping bass drums just really gets me going, not to mention the accompanying dirtbag men in super skinny jeans with sharply parted hair and perpetually half smoked cigarettes hanging off their lips. Take me back! I didn't know how good I had it! I was so young and thought it would always be that sexual!
As mentioned, Arashi was changed from a Nobu archetype in the manga to… a Lupin the Third inspired punk. Lupin! He's everywhere! One fantasy scene even shows Arashi donning the red jacket. The Lupin inspiration can particularly be seen in Arashi's gait, his slumping walk and wide kneed stance.
As for the romantic lead, George, he takes heavy inspiration from another sensual rock and roll classic from my youth, The Velvet Goldmine, which took inspiration from the debauchery of the early careers of David Bowie and Iggy Pop. George's fashion is flamboyant, his lust is uncontrollable and kinky and jealous and possessive. He flirts with much older men to make Caroline uncomfortable, he flirts with women because he doesn't care about Caroline or honor their plans. When she gets upset about this, he dismisses her as immature and hot headed. In short, he makes Nana's Takumi look alright. George v. Takumi: The Sophie's Choice of Ai Yazawa men. One will push you into a bdsm relationship with blurred lines of consent, one will rape you. It's lose lose! I will say that Takumi at least has a much better voice actor. George's faux posh what-is-this accent triggers my synesthesia for pain.
As for the women of ParaKiss's romantic pairings, Caroline is hotheaded and impulsive and uncertain about her future. But that doesn't mean she deserves to have her worse qualities constantly thrown in her face. I like her as a character. She's a caring friend and very headstrong, loyal and always willing to go the extra mile to help those around her, even if she barely knows them. Miwako is portrayed as at once cute and sexual, which I appreciate personally because you don't often see that duality portrayed in a nuanced way. It's something Ai Yazawa does well. Miwako also suffers from terrible anxiety. Due to her character being secondary, it's something that is only touched on briefly in one conversation with Caroline but it's very well done. Miwako has a lot of depth. She's immature, a people pleaser, cares deeply for her loved ones, and is too hard on herself. I like her romance a lot with Arashi, despite their red flags.
Next week? We're going to get more into those red flags specifically, as well as revisiting Mikako and Tsutomo's relationship, along with the toxic pairing of Body-Ko and Yuuskue. So strap in, it's gonna get sad! If you're lucky - or unlucky? - I might even revisit the shitty pairing of me and the guy I was talking to, as well! Oof baboof!