Paradise Kiss ep.10

December 16, 2005 | 6 Comments

This episode continues to be as good as last week. In fact, there are several scenes, which I think look a bit better than the manga counterpart. The one that comes at the top of my head is the one where Yukari comes out to show her dress to the others in the group. I always think that she looks a bit strange in the manga but in this version, I think she looks good. I think the addition of colors really improve the character design in this instance. Having said that, I always think that Yukari's normal look is still her best look. Anyway, with 2 more episodes to go, I hope the animators can do the series a justice because I think one of the main strengths of this series is actually tne ending itself.

The episode begins with Isabella waking up in her mansion-like house. She eventually makes her way down stairs and is immediately greeted by the butler, Sebastian. Isabella tries to persuade Sebastian not to refer her as 'Young Master' and wonders if he can called her 'Young Lady' instead. Sebastian tells Isabella that he will call her 'Young Lady' if she will call him 'Ueda' but since both party are already accustomed to using the name they used on each other, they can't reach an agreement. Despite this, Isabella thanks Sebastian for always taking care of her in place of her parents. Sebastian, on the other hand, is surprised that Isabella's parents haven't fired him because he thinks he hasn't been giving Isabella the right kind of education. Isabella thinks that is because her parents are ashamed of her so they'd prefer to keep Sebastian than hiring a new person who can expose their secret.

Isabella apologises to Sebastian for causing him such problem but much to her surprise, Sebastian claims that he's actually proud of Isabella's transformation from a timid boy into an elegant lady. Isabella immediately thanks Sebastian's kind words before heading out to a garden full of White Roses. While in the middle of admiring the roses, however, a 'psycho' appears with a scissor and proceeds to cut down some white roses. That 'psycho' turns out to be George, who claims that he hates white because it looks pure but can become any colour easily. George then asks Isabella if she has ever seen a Blue Rose. Isabella answers that she has not because Blue Rose is one elusive flower. Because of this, she looks surprised when George produces a Blue Rose out of the blue. It turns out George simply dyed the White Roses he bought with a blue colour because he thinks that the flower will go well with the blue dress.

Later on that day, Yukari gets to meet Miwako at Yaza's art school and the two decide to visit the food stalls together. While doing this, however, Yukari notices that Miwako's hands have blue-coloured marks on them. Meanwhile, George, Arashi, and Isabella are now seen busy trying to color the White Roses into blue ones. Arashi clearly doesn't like having to do the job and questions George's decision to paint the roses. The three are then joined by Yukari and Miwako who have come to admire the roses. Upon seeing George, Yukari can't help herself from making fun of his magician-like attire. George, however, responds appropriately by releasing a group of doves as if he's a true magician. Once George and Yukari leaves the others, George manages to plant a kiss on Yukari. Yukari is annoyed about this because she promised George that she won't give him one until he wins the awared. Nevertheless, Yukari informs George that she will console him even if he loses.

Meanwhile, somewhere inside the Yaza art school, Hamada-sensei introduces a girl called Aso Kaori to Shimamoto. Apparently Kaori was the winner of last year's Grand Prize and is now studying in London. At the same time, Yukari finds out that walking on the catwalk is more difficult than she originally imagined. In a way, she thinks it's like an analogy for life itself. Everyone seems to sympathise with her plight except George, who suddenly turns icy again. Because Yukari doesn't want to disappoint George and the others, she decides to practice walking using the remaining time she has left. She even goes out of her way to ask advice from Shimamoto on how to walk like a professional. Unfortunately for her, Shimamoto simply tells her to think that she's the most beautiful woman in the world. It doesn't help that George tells her that if she fails this, he won't blame her. It simply means that they made a mistake in choosing Yukari.

Elsewhere inside the Yaza's art school, Hiro is seen visiting the food stalls along with an old man called Sunami Noriji. It appears that Sunami is the landlord of the building where Hiro and Miwako grew up back in Gokinjo Monogatari. The two start discussing about Arashi and Miwako but it doesn't take long before the conversation turns into Hiro's love life. Sunami is especially concerned when Hiro reveals that the reason he is in Yaza arts today is because the girl that he likes is modelling today. Unfortunately, she already has a boyfriend. Upon finding out about this, the old man can't help but giving Hiro's an advice to stop crushing after unavailable girls. Meanwhile, Yukari is seen being dressed up by Isabella in the change room. When she sees Yukari's nervousness, Isabella decides to tell Yukari how her life was transformed by George's clothes to the point that she's now confortable with her own sexuality.

Apparently back when she was a child, George came to her house to bring her a dress that he just designed. Isabella was reluctant to try it at first because shew as a afraid that George will laugh at her. But after a few nudges from George, she finally had the courage to try the dress and found herself to be the one who ended up laughing. Ever since then, Isabella believes that wearing a beautiful clothes can give people confidence and courage. She's been helping George making his clothes because she believes this. She wonders if Yukari also feels the magic by now. Isabella then takes Yukari out of the change room to show the stylished Yukari to a shell-shocked Miwako, Arashi, and George. As George puts the butterfly ring on her finger, Yukari tells herself that she won't let George regrets choosing her. In fact, she promises to walk proudly so that everyone will envy her confidence.

Impression:

I find that with each passing episode, George manages to turn more and more obnoxious and unbearable somehow. When he tells Yukari that he won't blame her if she fails the exhibition but will blame their decision for choosing her, I thought he went over the line. It was slightly amusing to know that his ego was already this big even when he was a just little kid. Moving on to other topic, I always find the part where Hiro admits that he's visiting Yaza art to see the girl that he has a crush on to be an eye-opener. Prior to this particular story, the series never made it clear if Hiro really is interested in Yukari or if he simply considers her as best friend. It doesn't help that he and Miwako had a history so it was hard to tell if his feelings for Yukari is romantic or platonic. I also like the way Yukari's confidence grows slowly to the point that she now refuses to feel down even when George tries to make her feel bad about something.

© memento 2003