Reviews

I decided to watch Paradise Kiss due to its similarity with Nana- one of my personal favorites for a long time. The story follows the main lead Yukari Hayasaka who’s your typical: type A, devout, hardworking high school student. She’s approached by group of students to model for their high school fashion competition. The story follows her internal, family, and friendship struggle in choosing her own future rather than following what her parents laid out for her. Ai Yazawa, as always, outstands with her beautiful artwork and exceptionally wonderful characters. Each character’s life struggle is reflected in our own, which allows us to deeply bond with the characters. What I love even more about Ai Yazawa is the fact she shed light on the lgbtq community through her beautiful characters. I was really disappointed with the animation—there were many parts where the animation seemed out of focus or too slow, which is a shame since the artwork was extremely well done. Overall, it was a lovely anime with realistic view on life decisions and relationships.