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ファイト／ステイナイト 
October 13, 2005 | 
44 Comments
Opening theme: Lonely in Gorgeous by Tommy february6 (14.7MB, for PSP/Quicktime)
Ending theme: Do You Want To by Franz Ferdinand (12.1MB, for PSP/Quicktime)
As far as the story goes, this is essentially similar to the manga. Unfortunately, the character design features some deviation from the original. While the changes are not bad, they are definitely not as good as the original. Voice-acting wise, I like how Yukari sounds like one of those high school girls in Japanese drama. It's nice to hear the actress sounds like the character as opposed to just reading her script. I also think that the opening theme, which is titled Lonely in Gorgeous, is exceptionally good. The ending theme, however, looks quite weird. It features an SD/Super-deformed style which reminds me a lot of Popeye the sailor man series. In fact, this style actually extends to other SD moments within the series.
This episode itself begins with a montage of real-world scenes that for some reason have been infiltrated by anime characters. This is very weird and surreal for me because I've been to some of the places shown in the footage. Anyway, a girl's voice can be heard talking about a place behind a pink door. A place known as 'Atelier'. Cue in the stylish opening sequence. The song provided by Tommy february6 truly captures the glamour feel of the fashion design industry here. When the series resumes, we see a high school girl called Yukari walking across the city with an arrogant look. As she passes the street, a punk-looking guy decides to follow her. When he manages to catch up with her, he's amazed with how tall she is and guesses that Yukari is probably around 170cm in height.
Yukari freaks out when she realises that the punk got a pin stuck in between his lips and wears a dog collar around his neck. Viewers, however, will be more freaked out with the fact that the character design looks really bad here. Anyway, Yukari claims that she's busy right now. She then turns super-deformed and flees from the scene. Unfortunately, before Yukari can run far, she ends up bumping into a woman with a purple hair. Yukari passes out upon seeing her, thinking that the person is some kind of a Shinigami (God of Death). When Yukari regains her consciousness, she finds herself inside a strange-looking room surrounded by the punk guy, the purple-haired woman, and a girl with a pink hair. Yukari freaks out again upon seeing the three but tries to listen to what they have to say.
It turns out these people are a group of fashion design students from Yaza Art School. The reason they went after Yukari was because they want her to do some modelling for them. Much to their disappointment, however, Yukari refuses the offer flat-out. She claims that she's been trying to get into a college so she can't be bothered with their request. Upon hearing this, the punk-looking guy, Arashi, becomes angry with her. He tells her that if she can't shows some kind of respect to them, she should leave. Yukari angrily storms off the place but before she can go too far, the pink-haired girl called Miwako manages to stop Yukari by calling her 'Caroline'. Miwako then asks for Yukari's forgiveness for what happened before. She also adds that Yukari is free to come there again if she feels like it.
After Yukari left, however, Miwako notices that Yukari has left behind her student ID book. The book eventually falls into the hand of George, the lead designer of the group. Upon seeing her picture, George believes that Yukari is the perfect model for their design works. The next day, Yukari realises that she dropped her student ID book outside Atelier. She laments the situation because the book contains a picture of a classmate she has a crush on, Tokumori. Moreover, she almost killed herself in the process of taking that picture. Remember how I said that how the super-deformed/the chibi version reminds me of Popeye the Sailor man? Well, this particular goof also reminds me of many 60s animation where the character has gone off a cliff but not realising it until a few seconds later. It was quite amusing to see this in an anime.
Anyway, Yukari's imagination comes to a halt when Tokumori arrives and tells her that the teacher wants to talk to her. As it turns out, Yukari's score has been rather low lately. So the teacher called her to warn her about it. This causes Yukari to remember how the guys from Atelier don't care much about scores. Later on that day, Yukari finds herself being approached by George. Despite her attempt to get away from the guy, Yukari in the end has no choice but to follow him because he promises to return her notebook. After some wild car ride, George eventually takes Yukari to Yaza Art School. They are immediately greeted by a group of students who are surprised to see George coming with a girl because they always thought that George is gay. In response to this, George tells them that he's actually Bi.
Despite Yukari's protest and refusal, George somehow manages to persuade her to get a haircut from Kisanagi, one of the teachers at the school. After this, he takes her back to Atelier and reveals that he actually has her notebook all along. Yukari feels deceived by this but agrees to try on one of the clothes that the guys have designed. As Miwako drags her away from the others, Yukari finds out that the woman with the purple hair, Isabella, is actually a guy in drag. Once the two alone in the change room, Miwako tells Yukari that she's a perfect image for ParaKiss, which is the label of the clothes that the guys produce. Yukari is surprised to know that these guys actually create their own clothing but Miwako lets her know that this is nothing out of the ordinary for students from Yaza art school.
As the two converse, Yukari finds out that Miwako actually has a sister who works as professional designer for a label called 'Happy Berry'. Miwako, however, thinks that unlike her sister, she doesn't have any originality. Yukari is confused to hear this because she thinks Miwako was the one who created the dress she's wearing. Miwako, however, informs Yukari that in ParaKiss, George is the designer, while others just help him to realise his design. In fact, they've been doing this together for a while now. Anyway, Yukari eventually comes out of the dressing room wearing the dress. She also asks everyone to forgive what she said to them the day before. Upon hearing this, George returns Yukari's notebook and asks her if she'd be willing to become their show's model.
Impression:
Where should I start? Well, I guess I'll begin with the character design. I have to say that I don't really like the character design. They are quite different from Yazawa's Ai original design and now each of them spots a slightly elongated chin. I also think a few characters suffer during the manga to anime transition. Most notably are Arashi and Miwako. Arashi actually doesn't look this bad in the manga but in this version, his face looks screwy. On the other hand, Miwako has lost her youthfulness and the gothic image that she conveys in the manga version. I'm also not sure what to make of the super-deformed part of the series. On the one hand, they amuse me but at the same time, I feel that they are too different from the normal style that is used within the series.
In general, however, I like this first episode. This is definitely one of the most stylistic series to come out this fall. I like how the animators turn 'Atelier' to look more like a jazz-club interior. I always have the impression that the inside of the building has brighter color but I like the color that the animators have chosen here. Voice acting is also generally solid. As I've said before, I like Yukari's VA. She projects a real-life high school girl character into Yukari's voice. Storyline-wise, this seems to be quite loyal to the manga version as far as I can remember. Anyway, I'm quite pleased with the first episode and baring any unusual circumstance, will continue to follow this right through the end. Well, once you've seen the episode, please let me know what you think about it.
Thanks for the Para Kiss update, I cannot wait to see it myself, although I will admit I am still seriously missing Honey and Clover...but what can you do, I just hope this series can fill the void that H & C has left.....lol...I know I am getting weird now, anyway thanks for the heads up.
Thanks so much for having the first update, with pics, I've found--very excited for the OP and ED and more detailed thoughts
Thanks for the screen shots, I have been looking forward to the anime ever since it was announced that it will replace H & C for the Noitamina. I am hoping that this will become my weekly dose of shoujo (eh, josei) anime after H & C. The Chibis look pretty cute, I read the first few chapters of the manga and don't recall that there were any chibis. At least not as cute, it's quite a nice touch actually.
Will be waiting in anticipation for the full review. And then I will proceed to drive myself crazy waiting for the fansubs to come out.
thank you for your update... I've found you because of Hachikuro posts, but... I'm a big Yazawa sensei fan (look at my website for references ^_-) from Italy and I'm really interested into Parakiss anime...
I don't like this chara des (Arashi is horrible... Miwako isn't cute and sweet... and... what about George's hair color? This upsets me a lot) but I hope the work with the series will be good... I'm waiting for the fansub with love XD
Ya Ai Yazawa doesn't do chibis so much but she definetly has a sketchy style she uses for comic or brief little aside scenes.
E
Misato-san, don't worry George's hair colour IS blue--youc an see in the preview that is on the anime homepage.
I admit it's a bit funny to see the blue hair--the manga we always hear his hair is blue but I got used to just thinking it was dark from the B&W, but that's been something to happen to me before with anime when I was so used to the original manga.
I was just thinking, if you could add some updates to the 'Japan' section of your blog? That would be so nice, and thank you.
I agree too, the character design looks different, ESPECIALLY Arashi... miwako too a bit...
and I agree... hope you update Kongetsu as well~~
Thanks a lot for the little preview!
I am waiting for your full review too!
Also, thanks a lot for the downloadable openings and endings!!! It has been a very nice addittion! I really can't wait to see/hear the opening!! The little I've heard of Tommy February6's "Lonely in Gorgeous" (in the promos) seems really nice!!
To me, characters designs look good. Maybe I'll have to wait for a whole episode to have a more solid opinion, but they look good as far as I've seen.
...And I can't also wait for the subs! ^^
yeah, the character design is really kinda different. Arashi looks like trash in the anime. and Miwako is not as cute and gullible-looking as she was in the manga. oh wells.
Miwako definetly looks older in those designs but ummm didn't Arashi look like trash (on purpose) in the manga too? They're maybe not as amazingly faithful to the original designs as the Gokinjo Monogatari manga was (and I remember many fans mentioned how they had to work a bit to get into the pop art designs) but I think they're faithful enough that I can recognize everyone and feel "right" about it.
E
Whoa... they're using Franz Ferdinand's music in their ending theme? That is really impressive, I know Franz Ferdinand is one of the hottest bands in music showbiz now, but I didn't realise they had such a gastronomical effect i.e to have one of their songs used for an anime!
Unbelievable! =O
There's a bit of a Franz Ferdinand rant in the comments area of the Paradise Kiss Series Info part of this blog. (For the record I think anime fans being mad that they use a Western band for a show is inane). I believe FF are particularly huge in Japan (i know, EVERY band is "big in Japan"), as every pic I see of them seems to have them swarmed by Japanese teens and young women.
It fits the show though with its Velvet Goldmine style and also fits, I think, a Japanese sensibility quite well with the retro basis they use, the sexaul ambiguity and androgy in their songs and dress style etc.
Garten thanks for the great full review and the OP and EDs!
E
One addition--it's good that Atelier looks like a Jazz club--it was a Jazz Bar The Blue Parrot, owned by an older neighbour of Mikako (Miwako's older sister) in the Gokinjo Monogatari manga/anime. Apparantly it was based on a real Blue Parrot a friend of the manga-ka's owns.
About the real images at the start--I've not seen it yet, but Ai Yazawa's art is known to use distorted photographs of real places for many of the backgrounds--this could be based on that.
E
The ending animation is hilarious!!
The ending animation is awesome, looks just like good old Kobayashi. Similar to "End of the World" in animation style.
Well, probably I'm the only one who believes this, but I'm really glad it ended up feeling more like Beck than like Honey and Clover or other shoujo/jousei series.
but... I don't think the original George has chosen that type of blue... because is like light blue... and Brian Slade's one is a lot darker than this. T_T
Even Yukari's chara-des is different, but in the context of the anime, I think it works beautifully. Arashi is no problem for me at all. With his great accent, the chara-des seems perfect to me. Miwako is the only one that worries me, but after watching a couple of times, the strange young/mature contradiction comes through. And she's so great as a pink angel. The details in close-ups really make characters come alive. The chibis freaked me out at first, but they do work for conveying emotion in a way that isn't so intense as to darken the feeling. Yazawa-sensei used a slight cartoony version of people for the same purpose, but this works. I love the manga, but this is an anime. So far, after one episode, it's a great anime. For me, this and Noein are head-and-shoulders above all others this fall season...after one ep each. Thanks for the review.
I didn't think of that--you're right Brian Slade's (John Rhys-Meyers *sigh*) did have much darker blue hair... But in animes everything is usually more extreme colour wise I guess.
I just realized one of the lines in Do You Wanna was "well I blew him before ya"--I'm always a bit surprised about what gets by on the radio and what doesn't.
E
Now that I've seen the opening too, I must say that one's really nice. Not great, but I really like it. Well, I just prefer electronic music and I always digged distorted voices.
E, I think it's only the USA where they censor such ambiguous lines. In most countries people wouldn't notice or understand anyway because English is only their secondary language if they understand it at all. And in the UK, they're not such PC morons, as far as I know. That said, I'm not sure what language the OP is in. I recognize some English phrases and possibly some Japanese but I'm not sure about the latter.
Chris--ya it gets Canadian airplay but we're kinda between the US and Uk in terms of censorship.
TommyFebruary6 who sing the OP are Japanese. They have a lot of English in their songs but that's standard. Their basis though is in cheasy 80s Brit-pop--specifically the uber successful dancepop of Stock/Aitken/Waterman (who produced early kylie Minogue, Banarama, Rick Astley, Dead or Alive, so on and so on). Tomoko Kawase is the main singer/writer and she's a huge fan of that cheasy style--her main band is the guitar/pop group The Brilliant Green but Tommyfebruary6 as a spin off group, with her playign a different character has had 3 albusm so far and she has a new spin off group which is more rocky called TommyHeavenly 6
If you dig the OP for ParaKiss check out some past similar TommyFebruary songs liek je T'aime Je T'aime and Kiss One More time.
E
Thank you for the opening and ending! I really, really like the opening. It's so catchy! And the ending it's quite amusing(Franz Ferdinand is a great band). I can't wait to see this first episode! Even though I don't like Arashi's character design very much...
Do you like this type of anime?
Hmmm yeah Arashi's character design left alot to be desired, also I thought there was something amiss with Miwako too. They're both missing a certain "edge" to them. I was really happy with Carrie, Isabella, and George though.
Thanks so much for providing the opening theme, Garten. I really love this song - it could end up being my favourite of the new season.
Oh, what color did everyone to visualise the interior of Atelier as? For some reason I always envisoned bright reddish pink!
As for Georges hair - from the B&W in the manga I used to get the impression that perhaps his hair was a dark blue-ish black type color!
I agree with newt... because there is only a coloured illustration for Parakiss and George's hair is darker like Brian Slade's one ^^
don t forget
anime =/ manga
The fact that Franz Ferdinand does the ending song was the icing on the cake. Holy God, I'M SOOO HAPPY! ::cries tears of joy:: It was such a good frst episode too!
- Rachel
http://doujinshiadoptions.net
Overall, it's a unique anime. There is one thing I have to get used to. That would have to be George's Seiyuu. For those who have sharp ears would know that the seiyuu for George is no other than Hamada Kenji. In other words, this is the same seiyuu who voiced as NOMIYA from HONEY AND CLOVER. I mean, I just finished watching Honey and Clover (still re-watching it)...and it just feels weird seeing that seiyuu as George. I guess it's something I'm gonna have to get used to.
i read the manga and i have yet to watch the anime.
but from what i can see from your screenshots, i am a bit put off that the character designs aren't to faithful to yazawa-sensei's art. i absolutely love her artwork and now when i look at the screenshot of arashi's face, i want to punch him because he isn't as hot as he was in the manga.
i am quite saddened.
BUT...i haven't watched the anime yet, so i really shouldn't judge.
thanks for the screenshots. i love this manga and i hope the anime can achieve the same awesome-ness of the manga.
:D
Seems like opinion among Japanese fans is quite divided - a lot of them feel that the essence of the show wasn't captured, while some welcome the new take on the show. (Some suggest not calling it Paradise Kiss but just saying "Based on the manga Paradise Kiss" and giving it a different name since it's apparently so different.)
Personally I don't mind it like this - I think I wouldn't have liked it if it didn't have the odd bits here and there. I did like the still shots in the OP with the various things walking around. And the ED (though it'd have been more effective if animated a ltittle more smoothly like the very first part of the ED with the car and the running. I really liked that!!)
Like Honey and Clover they've gotten a lot of assistance from professionals about the clothes design and the setting...
Well, I just hope that it won't suffer from drastic drops in quality ala Beck.
Hrmm having watched it (but not understanding much Japanese probably missed a lot) I have no clue why people think it's so different from the manga--they seem fairly similar to me at least the way most anime adaptions are.
Yes, I have finished viewing the first eps. I was really extremely excited to see this as an anime.
My first feeling of the show is, i want to keep watching, but the turn off are the character designs. This is true for every new anime I view. I "HAVE" to adapt to the creators point of view and style, or I'm gonna be a very objective, stubborn viewer. WHICH I do not want to be. So i excepted it and moved on.
Other than story telling wise, it flowed smooth i guess. It seemed as if they tried to cram a lot in this episode, it it felt a little rushed. But that's what I got.
Other than that, i'm hooked. Cant wait til next week!
just saw the first episode, and i must admit, it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be.
yes, the character designs still bothered me. but, aside from arashi, the characters looked acceptable.
yukari is really pretty. looking forward to more fashion and drama next week!!
tannoshiimini shiteimasu!
i really like the opening song :D
Ok, I must admit that I've been expecting a lot from this anime. I'm a huge fan (maybe even a fanatic ^.~) of Yazawa's ParaKiss and I've been very keen on watching its animated version. After seeing the first ep, I'm not very disappointed. Oh well, I don't like the SDs much, they look kinda weird. What's more, I object of the almost entire lack of music in the background! The op and ed are just perfect, but I desire more!
I don't know HnC so George's seiyuu doesn't remind me of any character... but it's too deep for me, I'd expect more "boyish" voice... If you know what I mean... Miwako sound to childish and Isabella speaks like... a woman! I don't get it, couldn't they have found a seiyuu who has a voice between the man and woman? I'm sure one exists... But Yukari is just ideal. I couldn't have imagined a better VA.
The design is ok. Arashi isn't my favourite character so I don't mind he looks different than in manga. miwako is cute and George... If they had damaged him, I'd have gone to Japan and killed all the staff! Fortunetely, I don't have to^^ And the colors... are just as I like it, very stylish^^
Anyway, even if I'm not to enthusiastic, I'm definitely gonna watch the whole anime. Just wonder: will they manage to hold the story in only 12 eps? Hope there'll be more of them...
OMG I'm so hooked on the opening song! Thanks so much Garten! I should wait for the full version now ^_^ I liked the series a lot. It's light and interesting and I didn't mind the "Popeye characters". They blended fine. The ending video is really funny! I think I'll like this anime a lot! Oh Arashi's voice sounds awesome! I don't know about the manga Arashi, but I like how anime-Arashi looks too >_<''
Overall I agree with your impression. The opening theme is addictive as hell. The character design is off in my opinion. Many animes that i've watched that came from a manga really disappoint me for this reason. Arashi is the one that I notice the most. I've always imagined him with a more punker look then the blond hair one in the anime. The chibi look was weird for me too. I was a little confused at this style since I imagined something more....modern something less old 60 style. George hair color was a disappointment too. I expected something darker not powder blue. Ohh but how Yukari looked in that dress was perfect. I've always loved the clothes they had in the manga and this wasn't an exception. The ending was unexpected though. I've never heard of an song in english being used as a ending.
Just watched it, too tired to write about it. I personally didn't have a problem with the character designs, but I got a really weird vibe off this series; it feels like it's "underground".
I didn't like the SD, except in the ED, and the OP was ... great. Hearing that in the Honey & Clover stuff I was watching, then finding out about "Do You Want To?" got me onto this.
to be honest, it was truly a disappointment, the character design completely wasn't what i expected at all, miwako just looked.....cute in the anime, compared to the manga, where she was more gothic-like.
i don't know if i might continue watching it.
Alex--the manga has even more of an "underground" vibe--though it seems silly to call somethign so relatively mainstream underground. Still Ai's work always is a bit different than the others in the genre she works in--even in the prequel Gokinjo in Ribon mag for younger girls she wasn't afraid to deal with issues like school not always being the best option and other subjects frowned upon by most
Having never read the manga, I can say that I really dislike the characters from the get-go, especially Yukari. I found the opening sequence not at all to my liking ... some anime make real-world scenes work (think Otogizoushi) and some don't ... this one just freaked me out.
Seiji makes me go, "oooh, pikapika ..." And the scene with Seiji and Jouji ... *laughing* Oh, the yaoi bunnies will have a field day.
Really don't like their SD somehow ... weird SD charas don't always work. It was great in Hatchikuro, but somehow doesn't work as well here. Might it just been the character design? Who knows ... overall not a very exciting series just yet, but there may be potential. Heck, the sheer Seiji-Jouji thing intrigues me enough at this point to continue watching it for more pikapika-ness. *grin*
It's a bit of a let-down, but I'm giving it a chance since I've already downloaded it. After all, some anime in the past have disappointed with the first episode and redeemed themselves in the following ones (Gankutsuou being the one that most readily come to mind). I'll reserve comment for after I've seen Episode 2 for this one.
Wow, thank you for putting up the OP and ED for ParaKiss! I was wondering though if you could upload them again? Please? Thank you!
I have never read the Paradise Kiss so, I wasn't really expecting anything... I admit, the character designs weren't really to my liking, but it wasn't a major factor for me. The music-- my god, that opening! It's so... perfect for the series. It's very fashion-like.
And the fact they got a real current English song, "Do You Want To?", as the ending was awesome. The SD forms of them I liked very much, but just in the ending. I didn't realy like how they used them in the middle of the episode...
They have good music. 0_0 "Lonely in Gorgeous" in addicting. And "Do You Want To?" makes me wanna dance.
Does anyone know the name/band/lyrics of the song that plays in the first episode? When Yukari is talking about the basement, and how she hears music, and you hear that REALLY cool song with the guy singing? That it fades and the opening plays?
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