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PARADISE KISS (VOL. 2) [ADVANCE REVIEW] |
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Sunday, 25 February 2007 |
 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | GENEON ENTERTAINMENT | | | ▪ | ASPECT RATIO: | | 16:9 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN | | | ▪ | AUDIO: | | ENGLISH AND JAPANESE DD 2.0 | | | ▪ | RUNNING TIME: | | 100 MIN | | | ▪ | RATING: | | 16UP | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 02/27/2007 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 02/26/2007 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | HOLLY ELLINGWOOD |
Yukari confronts her mother and tells her what she wants. The result is disaster as Yukari leaves home and drops out of school! Still seeking to find herself well being a part of Paradise Kiss studio, she seeks employment and winds up on the road to becoming a professional model. However, things are hardly going smoothly. Doubts grow inside Yukari and when push comes to shove in her relationship with mercurial George, she may find herself making a sacrifice she could never have anticipated…
Paradise Kiss is an anime with scintillating animation and a more mature story than the usual shojo series. The deft story and layered character relationships make for a compelling view and engrossing dramatic series. It is more adult themed than the usual style anime would be about a girl struggling to find her dreams in the world of fashion, but Paradise Kiss does an outstanding job of tackling Yukari’s dive into the world of adults, while still firmly grounding her point of view to that of a believable 18 year old young woman. Her reactions to her passionate relationship with George are the best example of it. She is very single-minded, a more common trait of youth, but she starts to make more responsible decisions as the series progresses. It’s difficult to gauge George’s feelings. Is he trying to help her with his moody cold shoulder? Or is he simply the cad others say he may very well be? The complex characters and relationships are what make this anime so compelling.
EXTRAS:
Bonus features on this volume has some interesting additions. There are the usual extras such as Geneon previews, promotional video and character conceptual art gallery. There’s reverse cover art. This second volume also has a video round table discussion with the Japanese voice cast and The Baby’s live concert at their “Star Lustre” release party. This last feature shows the live concert footage and runs just over twenty minutes long.
IN SUMMARY:
Paradise Kiss harbors adult story telling about one girl growing up in the harsh world of fashion. This is a sophisticated coming of age story with incredible animation and unpredictable characters. |
