To find the imaginary world, it appears at the end of the staircase leading to the basement. The aroma of Chinese-style snacks, behind that door in shocking pink, there is the sound of an hysterical singing voice. In this place shielded from the outside world, they call it their atorie...On the streets of Tokyo, a 3rd year senior high school student, Hayasaka Yukari is on her way to the tuition class when she is stopped by a guy in punk rock attire by the name of Arashi. Yukari gets irritated at his gesture as she thinks that he is just trying to pick up girls. Arashi remarks that she's a beauty and gets absorbed in his own thoughts while Yukari tries to run away from him. She bumps into a lady by the name of Isabella who is actually Arashi's friend. Yukari gets a shock and suddenly faints into Isabella's arms...
Yukari reflects on her life for the past 18 years and feels that she has lived seriously all this while. However, she's not satisfied with her current situation and regrets not spending the time doing things she likes. However, she doesn't have any idea on what she likes or what she wants to do since the thought has never crossed her mind. She laments that she has lived her life in vain and the boring world is not making it any better...
Yukari regains consciousness and sees a girl with pink hair, Miwako staring at her. She finally realises that she had fainted on the streets but gets a fright when she sees Arashi and Isabella whom she had thought of as bad people. They explain to Yukari that they have the intention of getting her to be their model for the fashion show held during their school festival in Nov. However, Yukari remains unconvinced about her looks and doesn't think that she's up to the task. Miwako reveals that they are 3rd year students from Yazawa Geijutsu Gakuin's fashion faculty so as to persuade her. Just as the trio think that Yukari will accept this invitation, she rejects them flatly with the reason that she has to prepare for the university entrance exams. Miwako gets excited upon knowing that they are all of the same age while Arashi remarks that Yukari must be very clever to study in Seiei Gakuen, a famous senior high school for students aiming for university entry and asks which university she is going to. Yukari replies that her affairs are none of their business and she has no time to fool around with them. This makes Arashi angry as Yukari's words feel as if she's looking down on them. He flares up at Yukari for being a snob and Miwako chases after Yukari when she runs away.
As Yukari is climbing the staircase, she gets startled and trips when Miwako calls her "Caroline". Miwako apologises for what happened and tells Yukari to come here if she changes her mind later. However, Yukari does not commit to anything and leaves hurriedly. Miwako then realises that Yukari has left her student handbook behind on the staircase...
George, the leader of the group, returns to the basement studio later and he remarks that Yukari is quite appealing because of her arrogant eyes after seeing her student handbook. Arashi is offended by Yukari and tells George that they can't get Yukari as their model. George finds out about what happened and puts the blame on Arashi for scolding Yukari who got scared of them. Miwako is wondering how to return the handbook to Yukari but Arashi says that she will return to get it if she wants to. While flipping through the handbook, Miwako sees a picture of a guy inside...
Meanwhile, Yukari is getting uptight over the loss of her student handbook and gets frightened at the prospect of anyone seeing the photo of her classmate, Tokumori inside. She has been secretly in love with him but never told him about this. Unknown to Yukari, Tokumori also seems rather interested in her.
Actually, Yukari feels that studying anything in any university would be fine to her since she doesn't have an aim in life. However, she hates being ridiculed for going to a lousy university thus this drives her to study hard. She recalls how Arashi scolded her for being a snob and realises that everyone has different values and perspectives in life.
After class, Yukari sees George waiting for her outside the school and finds out that he is here to return the student handbook to her. However, George tells Yukari that she would have to follow him somewhere before she can get it back. Yukari remarks that George is driving recklessly where he replies plainly that he only got his license 3 days ago. She sees that they are not headed for the atorie and gets a shock when George says that he's bringing her to Paradise.
In actual fact, George has brought Yukari to Yazawa Gakuin where Miwako comes to greet her with a hug. He then brings Yukari to a famous hair stylist, Seiji as he feels that there's something not quite right with her image. Yukari refuses to cut her long hair so Seiji offers to cut her fringe instead.
Even though Yukari had thought that she will never come to the atorie again, she breaks this promise and wonders what she is trying to do. After cutting her fringe, everyone says that Yukari looks better than before but she's not comfortable with this new look. She also tries to correct them when they keep calling her Caroline instead of her real name, Yukari. Arashi remarks sarcastically that Yukari is back here to be a model even though she looked down on them yesterday. She retorts that she has no intention of taking up the job and just wants to get her student handbook back. Miwako says that the handbook is with George and Yukari finds out that she was tricked to come to the atorie. George tells Miwako to get Yukari to wear their product and the girls head off to the restroom.
Miwako tells Yukari about their backgrounds. The atorie was previously a bar operated by George's uncle which closed down 6 months ago so the group converted this place for their use. The 4 of them (George, Isabella, Arashi and Miwako) have created a brand, Paradise Kiss (Parakiss for short) and Miwako tries to get Yukari to change into one of their creations. However, Yukari doesn't feel that she's good enough to wear such beautiful clothes but Miwako assures her that she's suitable.
Miwako reveals that she's wearing the clothes from Happy Berry which is a brand created by her elder sister. She says that she's not as good as her sister because she may be able to sew clothes, she lacks originality. As such, in Parakiss, George is the designer, Isabella creates the model pattern while Miwako and Arashi are responsible for the sewing of clothes. Being one of the top students in Yazawa Gakuin, the rest of the members take up supporting roles to assist George under the school system. Yukari marvels at George's talent as she wears his creation.
The group marvels at how good Yukari looks in a Parakiss creation where even Arashi comments that she's very suitable as a model for them. Yukari apologises for offending them with her belittling remarks so Arashi also says sorry for scolding her. George then makes a formal invitation to Yukari and asks her to be their model for the fashion show where she has 3 days to consider...
Finally, I get to see this long-awaited anime which takes over Hachikuro's slot on FujiTV. Frankly speaking, the first episode took a while to get things heated up as compared to its predecessor but when George appeared, the momentum got going from there. I really like this picture of George and Yukari so that's why I'm putting it in this post.The opening theme, "Lonely in Gorgeous" by Tommy february6 is very catchy and enjoyable to listen to. The overall feel is so hip and matches the theme of the anime. The single will only be released in Nov so there's some waiting to do before I can hear it in full. The ending theme has a strong disco feel but it's too short to get me as interested as the OP.
Well, first impressions of the characters and the seiyuus. Yamada Yu, being a newbie seiyuu has done reasonably well. Actually, Yukari is quite plain where she doesn't know what she wants to do and yet she knows that it's a waste to live aimlessly. As such, without a goal, Yukari doesn't stand out from the crowd and looks like an ordinary student. That is why Yamada Yu's voice tend to be flat and shows no signs of emotion because the character herself feels nothing for her life. I guess Yamada will start to show the traces of emotional changes in Yukari as the character gets more involved in Parakiss.
I don't know the rest of the seiyuus or it could be that I may have seen other works from them and couldn't remember. Anyway, I can see myself getting attracted by George just from this episode. He's so captivating that you can't take your eyes off him BUT his dress sense seems kind of extravagant for a senior high school student. It's for certain that sparks will fly between George and Yukari but what will she do about Tokumori, the guy she likes and happens to like her too? George represents adventure and unknown possibilities while Tokumori represents stability and a constant enviroment which Yukari has been accustomed to. Personally, I think George and Yukari are very suitable so it's obvious where my loyalty lies. As for Arashi, he seems like someone who looks fierce but is a kind soul within. Miwako seems to feel inferior to almost everyone especially her elder sister and George while Isabella is so mysterious that I know practically nothing about him. Yes, I know that Isabella is a he because when Miwako brought Yukari to change, she mentioned that it's not appropriate to change in front of the guys. Thus, if Isabella is a she, why wouldn't he join Miwako too? He was winking when Miwako made that remark so Yukari must be oblivious to this fact. It might take ages for her to realise this since Isabella sounds like a girl.
On the whole, this anime is interesting enough to sustain my interest but as to whether it can surpass its predecessor, only time will tell.
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