I read/bought the first two manga, and I love it. I'm so excited about this anime. I like the art in the pics that are shown, and I like the ending song. Even though the video is weird, the song fits Parakiss very will. I also like Nana, and can't wait to see the live action movie.

Haha yea I heard a lot of good things about this anime...and when the subs comes out I might blog it...if its captivating enough!

Uhh Garten or Mentar I was wondering if you would add me to your blogroll and if I could receive permission to add yours onto mine.

Problematic, I think ParaKiss is interesting. I'm just not sure if it's for everyone's taste.
As for links, sure I'll add yours ASAP. And you don't need permission to add mine to yours. ^^

I am really looking forward to see how this series is handled as an anime. I'm a fan of the manga... and OMG Franz Ferdinand's Do You Want To as the ending theme? I love that song. Genius, I say!

A western song (performed by an actual popular western band) as an ending theme...

wow.

If that doesn't score a peek at this show outta me, I don't know what will. Oh, and your entry didn't hurt either, Garten. ^^

I wasn't too interested in watching this show at first, but perhaps this may just be interesting.. Looking forward to the raw.

I've heard comments that the manga is petty, possibly shallow, and is somewhat like modern TV serials in that it's largely about pretty, upper-class people and their relatively silly problems. Is this justified in any way?

All the same I'm watching it to see how the visuals and direction turn out... the director seems to favour gritty depictions of things, how will he deal with such a stylised series?

Well....I don't think I would call it 'petty' or 'shallow'. There are actually some serious issues being dealt with within the series.....or not being dealt with....depending on how you look at it. Without spoiling it, let's just say that the series is about a bunch of people who brings out the best and the worst in each other. Unfortunately, the worst characteristics of each individual end up dominating their lives at a later stage in the story.

Actually, I just realised how appropriate Do You Want To as an ending song. The lyric perfectly captures the arrogance and obnoxious quality of one of the characters. This particular line immediately reminds me of him: I'm gonna make somebody love me and now I know that it's you, you lucky, lucky, you're so lucky!!. Plus there's that reference about arty friends. :)

Hi ! As Honey and Clover fans my girlfriend and myself feel this is the "main" anime to watch next. We live in Spain and we are lucky that the manga is readily available here; we bought the five tankaubons and so far we like the style and the story. It's wonderful that we can watch the anime now at the same time.

I have just seen wao's post and, of course, he may be right (we are just starting to read the manga now) but we also love Jane Austen novels which could somehow fit the worried description given above "largely about pretty, upper-class people and their relatively silly problems". I hope it will at least be a decent anime series.

We would like to thank you for this wonderful "series info" which we like very, very much. The scans are above all treasured by us, as they are somewhat hard to find!

Thanks!

Steven and Ana

I don't think using Western pop music increases sales/interest. I don't really dislike the Outro but that's far from the music I prefer and I actually expect that anime shows have some Japanese/Asian flavour. If I wanted to listen to 08/15 pop music I would simply turn on the radio. I remember that one show actually some song by BSB *barf*. So far, I cannot remember any English intro/outro song used by any anime show that I like more than some of the Japanese songs. I prefer instrumental music anyway, so the question of language might be moot but I really don't like pop songs for anime. It doesn't help the bad shows e.g., Speed Grapher had a nice intro in the end but the show itself got worse by the episode.

I just hope Madhouse doesn't screw up the animation for this series like they did for a number of episodes of Beck.

...since when was Franz Ferdinand considered pop? cuz they aren't...

If it smells like Britpop, if it sounds like Britpop, ... When you're on MTV you're pop, like it or not.

Interesting comparison to Hachikuro, I never thought to put them in any category together. Read about 3 volumes of Paradise Kiss a long time ago, and need to find the other volumes. ;_;

Sadly, I'm not familiar with the music groups in mention. Must investigate.

hahahaha...just because a group appears on MTV doesn't necessarily mean they're pop. Franz Ferdinand isn't Britpop by the way, they're indie Britrock.

In my book, Britrock is a sub-class of Britpop. Besides "rock" has lost any meaning with respect to music. Rappers rock, Britney rocks, Mommy rocks... And please what is "indie" about them? Are they from India or are they independent from Sony? I don't think so in either case.

...the term "indie" doesn't necessarily mean they're on an independent label. "indie" is more of a gnre now than a status, but that's a bit debateble. But in the case of Franz Ferdinand, they're part of the Neo-Wave movement along with other bands like Bloc Party and Death From Above 1979, which is a sub-genre of indie/independent rock. If you wanna debate this more with me get my email from my LJ and we'll debate, but I wanna end it here.

BTW, Franz Ferdinand isn't signed to Sony they're signed under Epic for releases here in North America. But their primary label is still Domino.

Sony, Epic, BMG - it's all the same now and that's most of the RIAA for what it's worth. You can run but not from a Hind.

Franz Ferdinand aren't indie or brit-pop. They are just plain new-wave.

By the way, since most anime end up having silly, generic, bad J-Pop as opening and ending songs, I have never really cared about intros or outros.

I always love your comments Garten and looked forward to every post about H&C... However, the info on here makes me think you've read very little Ai Yazawa manga and more to the point very little of Paradise Kiss. Granted ALL of my thoughts are based on my knowledge and love of the manga and not having seen any of the anime yet

It actually echoes H&C in *many* ways--not only was it aimed at a similar older female audience than most titles that get animated (and is still apparantly insanely popular, many were disappointed when it ended so relatively quickly in Zipper fashion magazine), but in terms of characters and how loyal they are ultimately to one another despite one major character being in many ways very self absorbed, the "artists dilemna" and what you have to sacrifice to do what you figure out you really want, the at first off putting but then endearing mixture of styles from deeply thoughtful and meaningful to self referential/cartoony/whacky at the flip of a switch, etc etc...

I see WAY more similarities than differences, the only real initially obvious difference would be ParaKiss with its emphasis on fashion and its inspiration in the (I say brilliant, many wouldn't agree) T Haines movie Velvet Goldmine (George is based on the main character down to the blue hair and it should be said is the only character who seems to have rather silly upper middle class problems--though we find out there's a heavier reason to these in his backstory)--ParaKiss plays up the style of the imagery and design of the art more than H&C ever did (especially in the manga).

I just have to say I think you have the show pegged pretty wrongly--but maybe the anime will be completely not what I'm expecting. It does seem that among anime fans who don't know the manga, they hear that it's about a "model" and crazy "Fashion design students" and think they're not interested, even though whacky art students was never seen as poff putting (and for the most part that's how design work is handled in ParaKiss). This gives the manga a more surreal air at first than H&C ever had, but for various reasons that serial air quickly changes into one of hyper realism (at least to me).

The series also has a lot more connections to Gokinjo M than just the one character (who is only a baby literally in the final few pages of the final volume and episodes of GM). It's in the same world and all the major characters are mentioned and have diallogue scenes, largely as mentors/teachers for the new students.

I didn't realize the Franz Ferdinand song would be their new single but it fits perfectly. (Again I don't like to disgaree with you so much but I find the video perfect--I don't see even one element of drag in it [though it's true ParaKiss has one major element of that] but ya it's campy--but this is a band that had a top 5 hit video/single last year with "Michael" the story of "a beautiful dancing whoreboy" who the lead singer's in love with--what was expected?) I'm even more excited that Paradise Kiss are doing the theme--that' s a perfect match on a superficial level as they're into the same stylization (and ok borderline camp). I had thought that with The Beautiful Green back with singles and the other new spin off group, the guitar pop TommyHeavenly 6 that the Tommy February 6 person had been retired.

I do wonder if it's a coincidence that all 50 episodes of Gokinjo monogatari ( a much sweeter and less complex story--fitting as it's from Ribon magazine in the mid 90s--but still better than other stories of its type) were just released for the first time on DVD in Japan a few weeks ago. I hope some digisubber gets interested in it.

Anyway in closing up my LONG (sorry) rant/defence of a show I feel is already being misunderstood based on some assumptions, the great graphic novel (and occasional manga) review site www.noflyingnotights.com describes it perfectly with no spoilers in the 2 paragraph intro to their review of the series (http://www.noflyingnotights.com/paradisekiss.html)

E

and BTW I think Franz Ferdinand can be called pop--the bands they emulate and draw inspiration from such as the Cars, Duran Duran, New Order were never shy about the pop title (New Wave is a form of pop IMHO) and neither are similar modern neo-wave groups like the Killers or the Bravery.

E

Erik, don't be hesitant to disagree with what I've said. What I've said about the series was basically my own impression after reading the manga. I just feel that in general, I can't connect with the characters as much as I can with H&C characters.

I don't want people to take what I say here as a gospel though. After all, this is just a recommendation. I want people to see this series themselves and make their own opinion about it. So I appreciate that you spent the time to post long argument for the series.

It's been a while since I completed the manga but it's one of my favourite manga. It's true that some of the characters can be unlikeable but I think that adds a degee of realism to the series. Right now I'm only worried about the number of episodes. I've read somewhere that the anime is only going to be 12 episodes long. I don't know see how the writers can condense 5 volumes of manga into a 12 episode series.

It takes about 26 eps. to fit about 8 vols. manga for storyline.
I feel your worry about 5 vols. for manga can't fit into 12/13eps. There might be an ova/oav.

"This particular line immediately reminds me of him: I'm gonna make somebody love me and now I know that it's you, you lucky, lucky, you're so lucky!!."

Yes doesn't that sound like a very particular character. I still don't know whether I liked him in the manga.

I prob shoulda put a bit more thought into my defence actually, but there it stands. At any rate, you're right Garten, it all is personal opinion, and it's true that ParaKiss deals with its characters and situations in a slightly more typical josei/shoujo manner than HC (although I think Yazawa still subverts the expectations brilliantly, especially when it comes to the ending). As that link I mentioned said in its review: "Paradise Kiss is the manga I imagine Francesca Lia Block might write; Ai Yazawa's beautiful, fairy tale visuals recall Block's dreamy prose. Yet Paradise Kiss keeps its feet firmly on the ground, following its believably flawed heroine on her journey of self-discovery. While Paradise Kiss is a romance (with more than its share of beautiful people), the series offers an unusually clear-eyed look at the good and the bad in relationships."

As for the length--I must be in the minority but, but I think 12/13 episodes is a good fit for this series. First, we're not certain it'll be such a short series, are we? I think HC was rumoured to be about that length originally as well. But second, even the individual manga volumes were slightly shorter than the usual 190-200 pages of a tankoubon. The manga was odd in that most chapters were VERY short, because it came from Zipper fashion magazine and not from a manga magazine, but I think most chapters would be too short for a 20 minute anime.

Yazzwa has only had two previous works animated, despite her huge popularity. I think this may be partly due to the biase of most shoujo titles that get animated are ones aimed at the Ribon/Nakayoshi age girls (I remember reading somewhere that part of the goal of the experiment of the Noitamina block created for HC was to see if they could create an audience for animated titles that were aimed at a primarily an older age group of women).

Even Yazawa's work for Ribon where she started have a much greater emotional honesty and richness, IMHO, to similar Ribon titles by other mangaka (just compare a few chapters of Gokinjo Monogatari, which has nearly all been scanlated, to a few chapters of Marmalade Boy which was appearing bascially at the same time in the same magazine and has some similar themes such as teens dealing with divorce).

But in the past anime has served her works so/so. I'm Not an Angel, her first hit, got a very short 30 minute OAV introduction to her 8 tankoubon series. Gokinjo Monogatari was actually, however, created with the intention that it would be an anime series to run at the same time as the manga (similar to how Marmalade Boy, Sailor Moon and tons of other series were done--with the mangaka sitting down with the animation staff to chart the basic story progress well in advance). Although Yazawa was very involved with the anime, as her notes throughout the manga volumes tell, the anime was so successful that it ran for 50 episodes, plus a 30 minute theatrical special, and WAY outpaced the 7 tankoubon volume.

*ahem* ummm in conclusion I think 12/13 episodes sounds like a good fit for Parakiss. I've not been able to see even a good part of Gokinjo--only having the first 4 episodes fansubed (some 14 eps have been subed but seem impossible to find, I hope that ParaKiss becomes a fan favorite and makes people interested in working on GM) but it does seem like it suffered from the usual filler comedy eps, etc.

E

Hi i was captivated by the opening song and i cant seem to find it anywhere?!?! is the cd not out yet? for the oepning because i got sent to a japanese website and i cant exactly read it..hehe but there was no album cover so i assumed the song isnt out?

= ( could someone hook me up with it?

The cd single comes out in Nov. If you like it though check out past Tommy February6 songs like je T'aime Je T'aime and Kiss One More Time

First and foremost, I haven't "seen" Paradise Kiss yet, however, I've read the manga.

To be blunt,I wasn't thrilled to see Honey and Clover's spot covered by this series. Maybe because it was such a contrast. I wasn't very happy with the "look" of the characters, the bold lines, and the crazy colors, and the eccentric characters themselves. It looked too gaudy. However, after hearing so many positive things about this title, I had to give it a chance and not pass judgement just yet. So I got over the initial shock and gaudiness.

I read all five volumes last night, and if the anime is anything like the manga, I think I will like it very much. True, it is not a subtle anime. It is very bold in every sense of the word. From the very sharp edges, sharp characters, bold colors, and extreme emotions depicted. It is very fast paced and no nonsense. It leaves almost no time for you to catch your breath and have everything sink in. I think people with short attention spans and those who are eager to see things move along quickly will be pleased with this anime. The story follows a tried and true formula for shoujo, but still it is nice.

Regarding the length of the series, I think 12/13 episodes can be done and is enough for the length of the manga to be followed through. This, however may propose a problem of the series being "too" fast for viewers to really connect with characters in the series.

The opening song, I like. It's catchy and seems to fit the personality of the series. The closing song by Franz Ferdinand just bugs the heck out of me. I really "dislike" it. It's jarring and noisy. Sorry. I think Franz Ferdinand is a good band, but this song... It's one of those ending themes that annoy me so much, I'll turn off the monitor once the rolling credits start.

All in all, the series looks promising. It's quite a stretch from Hachikuro. Fans of that series may find this one a bit hard to swallow at first, because it is quite the contrast from the soft pastel like serene quality, but I would give it a chance. It's a new season afterall. This might be a nice change.

I have never read the Parakiss manga, but I must say that I'm enjoying the anime immensely. the 'style' of the anime is very fun, the characters are well thought out, and the transitions fit the mood. they definately put some hard work into making this. i recommend it to you all and award it 5/5 stars ;-]

~eagerly awaiting the fansub of episode 5~

Hallo! I would just like to say that after seeing the first 11 episodes of this series and having read all the manga...that this series is every bit as good. I think the art is very well done, and the story is fairly consistent with the manga. I would recommend that any fans of the Parakiss manga watch this. :)

Gah. Yukari's anime adaptation looks horrible. The rest of them look great.

im soooo excited!!! love parakiss! anyone know when they will release it in the usa?

As fi preferat sa se termine altfel:George sa ramana impreuna cu Caroline

W LE SPILLE DA BALIA (ARASHI)
W I CAPELLI ROSA (MIWAKO)
W I CAPELLI LA FRANGETTA ALTA 2 METRI SOPRA LE SOPRACCIGLIA (YUKARI,KAROLINE)
MA SOPRATUTTO W I CAPELLI BLU (GEORGE) L'AMORE NOSTRO BY GIADY E SERY

After watching this wonderful anime, at first, i cried with Yukari. Really hurt.. it stucked in my throat..i don't know what.. and regret for them too...
2
Then, i agreed with the ending 'coz life is not a sweet dream. :)
GEORGE:
1/ I like George so much but Arashi's right, he's not the man can make his woman happy .
2/ And with Yukari, he doesn't seems to have predestination. So, they can't..
3/ Besides, he seems to be a bi... Isabella is also important to him and so does she...
YUKARI:
1/ She might be very sad and miss him much (so does he) but,may be just ..that's all.
Both of them, no one wants to devote their dream to their love.
2/ Hiro- if he has a forgiving nature, Yukari will be happy.

3
However, i love this so much! Great job!
I admire the artists making this anime so much! I wish VN could made st as good as this! ^ ^