Paradise Kiss ep.11

December 23, 2005 | 6 Comments

Another fine episode for the series from animation perspective. The part where Yukari gets to model the dress to the audience was definitely a highlight of the episode. The scene looks as if it sucked whatever budget needed to properly animate the first few episodes. Music-wise, this episode is also quite impressive. For some reason the song that was used to accompany Yukari's fashion show sounds familiar. But unfortunately I can't seem to identify that song. Oh well, next week will be the last episode and with 9 chapters left to animate and a couple of minor subplot yet to reveal, I have to wonder how the animators are going to do this. To me as long as they keep the end, I would't mind if they cut down some of the minor subplots. Others, however, probably beg to differ about this.

The episode begins with Hamada-sensei scolding a visitor for parking his car in the teacher-only area. She, however, is surprised when she realises that 'visitor' is Nikaido-san aka George's old man. I guess 'apple doesn't fall far from its tree' or one might say, 'like father like son'. Okay, I think that's enough euphemism for one day. George's old man, however, ignores her and instead asks if his son has a chance to win the Grand Prize. Hamada-sensei in returns tell the old guy that there's no student whose last name is Nikaido and moreover, winning the prize is based on talent and not the amount of donation that came from the parents. Much to Hamada-sensei's surprise, however, Nikaido-san tells her that he's relieved to hear this and promises to continue his donation even after his son has graduate. Unfortunately the horny old man ruined whatever good impressions he's made on Hamada-sensei by trying to make a pass at her a few seconds later.

Meanwhile, George's mother, whose lips seem to have been injected with collagen, is seen complaining to Shimamoto about the fact that George's old man hasn't contacted her for 2 months. She tells her friend that she's going to break up with the old bastard but immediately loses all backbone the minute she sees the old man. Shimamoto feels that she's in the way of the two love birds so she decides to flee and talk to Mikako instead. The two friends immediately reminisce about the past and how even though their time at Yaza art was hard, they really had their best time at this school. Meanwhile, George and Yukari are seen clutching each other's hand in nervousness as Yukari is about to strut her stuff. As the time gets closer, Yukari realises that George's clutch becomes tighter on her hand, suggesting his nervousness. This make Yukari realises that for the first time ever, she wants to be strong for someone else.

With this thought in her mind, Yukari releases her hand from George's and walks into the show with the confidence that she can bring the audience to Paradise. Her effort does not end up in vain because every single people in the audience is bedazzled by her beauty and George's dress. Yukari then slowly returns to the backstage without any hiccup, raising the confidence of everyone's involved. George is especially happy to see Yukari back that he immediately gives her a bear hug. After the show is over, everyone in the gang decides to celebrate inside Atelier. Well, almost everyone because Yukari decides to spoil the mood by asking the others what exactly are they celebrating because they didn't actually win the Grand Prize. Upon hearing this Miwako wonders why they didn't win the prize because she thinks their dress was the best. George tells Miwako that is because the audience is dumb.

Isabella tries to cheer Yukari up by saying that they get second position and moreoever, they are only beaten by five points. But Yukari complains that this very point actually makes her even more frustrated to the point that she claims she won't be able to sleep tonight. Upon hearing this George tells her that either way, she won't be able to sleep tonight in that nudge nudge, wink, wink kind of way. So they begin partying while Yukari still sulking about the fact that she doesn't get the Grand Prize. Eventually she begins to lose consciousness due to drinking too much alcohol and when she wakes up, she finds herself on top of George's bed. Yukari is shocked to see the time pointing at 11 at night because she's afraid that she'll have another fight with her mother. George tries to stop her from leaving but Yukari tells him that if they had won, she would have been able to flaunt their victory to her mother. She also wonders why George is not upset that they lost the prize.

Upon hearing this, George decides to tell Yukari that even if they had won, he will be the only one who got the fame and the glory. Despite this, everyone worked so hard on it and Miwako even told everyone that it was their dress. He thinks that the reason that they didn't win the award was because of his own lack of talent so he asks Yukari to stop complaining to the others since he's the one who's at fault about this. Yukari immediately apologises and tells George that in a way she and her mother are similar because they are both concerned with being number one. In order to repent for this, Yukari offers to stay with George so she can give him a pity/sorry sex. Before they can do this, however, George gets a call from his old 'friend', Kaori. Yukari immediately becomes jealous and 'accidentally' mouth off "wait" so Kaori can overhears her. Oops. Kaori immediately gets the clue and tells George that they can 'talk' later.

Yukari becomes even more jealous that George goes out of his way to ensure that he gets the chance to talk to Kaori. After all, tonight is Kaori's last night so George wants to treat her to some hot cocoa...or maybe some more. Yukari, of course, is not going to take this lying down and like any self-respecting girl decides to bolt out of the door. George immediately apologises and offer to take her home at the very least. But because George feels that the car ride is not enough to calm Yukari, he decides to offer an explanation that he and Kaori are just 'friends' and that Kaori is more interested in making clothes than being in a relationship. George then drops Yukari in front of her house so she can get a slap from her mother. Meanwhile, George gets to have some hot coffee with Kaori and talk about London. The episode then ends with Yukari realising that her mother has framed the photo that she purposedly left in the coffe table, suggesting her approval of her daughter's career choice.

Impression:

It looks like the writers decide to compress the storyline by reducing some of George's obnoxious behaviour/sentences. I am not sure how I feel about this because on the one hand, it makes him more tolerable in this adaptation. On the other hand, I think viewers who never read the manga will be confused and unhappy with the conclusion of the series. I think that Paradise Kiss is essentially about two people who brought good change in each other at first but then later on realises that they are quite incompatible with one another. Therefore, every single hurtful words that come out of their mouth need to be shown so that the viewers/readers can see that this relationship is heading towards trainwreckville and therefore is not healthy any longer. IMO, this doesn't mean that they never loved each other. It's simply that their love is not big enough to give the other enough attention or conversely, trust, when these elements are needed in the relationship.

© memento 2003