Paradise Kiss ep.4

November 5, 2005 | 16 Comments

Wow, even after using Winny, the raw for this series was as hard to find as a needle in a haystack. I hope this is not an indication of the popularity of the series. But it sure is annoying to find many copies of other series and none whatsoever for this one on the Japanese P2P programs. Anyway, I realised now why I don't like the SD characters so much and that is because they take away whatever emotional moment a scene is supposed to convey. For example, there is a scene in this episode where Yukari is angry at George. In the original manga, her anger and frustration are quite palpable. However, because the animators choose to use the SD, the emotion is no longer as strong as the original intention. It sure is funny but I didn't get the impression that Yukari is actually quite upset about the incident.

This episode itself begins with George and the others looking for the fabrics that they need to make Yukari's dress. However, because George is a high maintanence type of guy, he's not happy with off-the-shelf fabrics sold at fabric stores. Upon hearing this, Yukari asks why they don't just design the fabric themselves. George is enthusiastic about the idea but the others think it's impossible to do. It seems that not only they have other committments, they also only have a month left to design the dress. George, however, can't be convinced otherwise. In fact, he tells Isabella that they're going to use her bead collection to decorate the dress. After a while, Arashi, Miwako, and Isabella eventually give up and agree to go through with George's idea. Yukari feels guilty for directly suggesting the idea so she offers to help out with the fabric design.

The next day Yukari lies to her mom, pretending that she's going to the library even though she is actually going to Atelier again. When George arrives to bring in his new design idea, however, Yukari becomes angry because he acts as if he doesn't care or remember his promise to her. While conversing with Isabella, Yukari reveals that the truth is she simply wants George to pay a bit more attention to her but she's not the kind of person who would ask another person to pay attention to her. Because of this, Yukari ends up having to resort to changing her appearance in the hope that George will pay more attention to her. Yukari also adds that all of these times she only studies and this is why she wants to expand her world by experiencing different kind of things. Upon hearing this Isabella tells Yukari that she's glad to hear this because before she always thought Yukari only uses this as a mean of escaping from her studies.

After the conversation, Miwako and Arashi returns from the combini with the photocopy of George's design as well as some burgers. Yukari looks happy to see the hamburger but immediately cancels her intention to eat it when George tells her that she looks good this way (read: thin). In other words, Yukari is so whipped to the point that she won't eat just because George tells her that she looks better thin. Fast forward a few days later, Arashi sees a girl who looks a lot like Miwako so he decides to grope her breast. Unfortunately for the pervert, the girl turns out to be none other than Miwako's older sister, Mikako. It turns out Mikako is in Yazawa school to give a lecture to the fashion design student. Later on at the Atelier, Yukari decides to go home earlier because she doesn't want her parents to suspect her whereabouts. Miwako wonders if it's okay for Yukari to lie like that but Yukari assures her it's okay.

That night George offers to take Yukari back home but instead he takes her to an expensive restaurant, forcing Yukari to ask if George is a rich boy. George claims that his father is indeed a businessman at a large company but unfortunately, his mother is not the legal wife of his father. In other words, he's an illegitimate child. This reminds Yukari that she needs to let her mother know that she'll be late going back home so once again she lies her way through about the identity of the person she's having dinner with. After dinner, George asks her where they should go to do 'it'. Yukari doesn't like George's first to third ideas so he thinks they should just go to his fourth choice, his swanky room. Inside the room, Yukari once again lies to her mom about her whereabouts, claiming that she's trying to help a sick friend. However, when her mom is more concerned about her study instead of her non-existent sick friend, Yukari loses her patience.

George tells Yukari that she has no right to be angry at her mother because she's lying to her to begin with. George also points out the fact that Yukari is torned between her responsibility to study and her unability to fulfill that responsibility because of him. But in between those two, he thinks she lacks her own determination. Because of this he orders her to go home because he doesn't want to be the one who's responsible if Yukari is disowned by her parents or failed her exams. Moreover, he doesn't want Yukari to tell him that she wants her virginity back later on. Yukari is of course, angry to hear all of this and tells George that she's the one who's making her own decision. So George pushes her down to the floor and tells her that if that's the case, she could look a bit happier about this. Yukari is finally fed up with him and slaps the guy. In the end, George orders her to go home because he dislike girls without initiative.

Meanwhile, Miwako and Arashi are in the middle of sewing the beads, while taking care of Miwako's niece, Alice. They, however, get a phone call from Yukari who said that she's deserted in front of a train station. Miwako decides to pick up Yukari and assure her friend that she hates George as well. Yukari, however, tells her that this is not George's fault. They simply are not that compatible with each other in love. Plus, she thinks they shouldn't break up the group before the show begins. Anyway, due to the incident, Yukari plans to stay at Miwako's house for the night. However, she then gets a phone call from her mother telling her to go back home soon. Yukari agrees to go back home but before she can do this, George gives her a call. So the two end up having a discussion in the car. Both of them agree that even though they are different, they still like each other. So they decide to give the relationship another chance.

Impression:

I'm sorry if I seem abrupt in the end but George just reminds me too much of another person which I don't exactly loathe but I don't like either because they share similar attitude. One thing that I dislike tremendously about George is the fact that he chooses to leave people the minute he finds something he dislike about them instead of confronting the person or find a way around it. There's no diplomacy or middle way with him. It feels to me that he thinks he's a god's gift to humanity. Yukari's problem on the other hand is that she is too enchanted with what George has shown to her. But this is understandable because she has lived such a sheltered life before. So her being torned apart by responsibility versus what she wants to do in life makes her less annoying to me. In general, however, I'm glad that there are some nice characters like Miwako and Isabella in this series to balance out the other characters' unpleasant personality.

© memento 2003