Anime Review: Paradise Kiss

Review Paradise KissWritten by WarpshadowRating good/ very good

While anime can be considered an art it is important to remember that it is also entertainment. While Paradise Kiss certainly succeeds on a technical level it fails to engage those outside it’s target audience of those who enjoy watching bishonen.

Far as long as she could remember Yukari could only think of doing school work. All that changed when a man chased her down asking a favor. He was a member of a design group named paradise kiss and thought that Yukari would be the perfect model for dressing they are designing for school. After some reluctance she gives in and finds two things, one that she may have a talent for modeling and that it may be her calling and two a mysterious and enthralling man named George.

Paradise Kiss is a show about modeling and I feel that modeling is also the perfect metaphor for the show. The show’s best points are it’s aesthetics. The animation, the character designs and the music are all superb. On the other hand the characters fail to be engaging the way that characters in really good shojo anime are. It isn’t that the characters are lacking personality it is just they are often a bit too subdued for their own good. Perhaps it is something that would resonate better with it’s target audience. This isn’t a bad show by any means it is just a show that can be a bit too slow for the tastes of some people.