Ai Yazawa's flowing art style must have been a nightmare to adapt for anime, since it's just not possible to leave any gaps. The characters look very detailed, reflecting the manga well. The use of live action is at first interesting but then overdone; more time on traditional painted backdrops would have added to the mood.

Despite it's stylish execution, the plot of Paradise Kiss is hardly new; there are reams of Hollywood movies about teens getting plucked out of obscurity and offered a chance at stardom. Where the anime really shines, is its cast of well-rounded characters – several of whom make a reappearance from Yazawa's previous work Neighborhood Story.

The cast gives solid performances, but no one member really grabs that much attention on their own. Paradise Kiss is all about relationships, and the characters really come alive when they spark against each other. Perhaps it's because of the detail of lip movement in the animation, but the voices don't always convincingly sound like they are coming from the character.

The ending theme by Franz Ferdinand fits in surprisingly well in what is an exceptionally Japanese soundtrack. Since Paradise Kiss is so centered on the world of fashion, the music is important and does its job well.

Studio Madhouse does a fine job of bringing Ai Yazawa's manga to life in this anime adaptation. Character designs true to the original, and a unique use of colored photography for backdrops gives this show an interesting look. The use of flowers as random screen swipes give it a definite shoujo feel, and the occasional use of deformed characters lightens the mood.

It’s a pretty solid adaptation of the manga source material. The early episodes are largely used for character introductions and setup of the general story. There are definitely some solid moments; such as when Yukari learns of Miwako’s past with Arashi and Hiroyuki. As well as, the early stages of the relationship between George and Yukari, but ultimately I feel the best is yet to come.

A clean English adaptation with solid performances turned in by all. I was definitely impressed by Patrick Seitz as George; this is not quite the type of role I am used to hearing him in. Jolie Jackson gives Miwako the right child-like feel, and Julie Ann Taylor doesn't disappoint with her portrayal of Yukari. Some may question the choice of Jane Alan as Isabella, but considering the Seiyuu (Japanese VA) was also female, I don't have a problem with it.

Fortunately, Geneon was able to get the rights for the opening and closing songs. The opening theme, "♥Lonely in Gorgeous♥" by Tommy february6 does a nice job of setting the mood for the series, and the close, "Do You Want To" by FRANZ FERDINAND really fits the mood and tempo of the show.

For fans of the manga, shoujo genre, or the world of fashion design, this show has a lot to offer, but it’s about more than that. It delves deeper into conformity to societal norms (or not doing so as is mostly the case here), about making your own choices in life instead of following the path laid out by others, and of course, the complexity of relationships. While not the type of show to appeal to everyone, the first four episodes left me definitely looking forward to more.

Paradise Kiss is bursting with amazing colors, sweet graphics, and certainly has a new look. What’s really cool is how real photos are used to bring out the background and setting. The story is interesting and not all that boring; however, for the majority of us that aren’t really into fashion or romance it may not reach our favorites list. The acting is pretty good; it’s what you’d expect to complement such an awesome looking show. The music sounds really cool, and on top of sounding great it goes with the show like spaghetti and meatballs. Paradise kiss looks tremendously sweet, the music sounds really cool, but you may find that this anime isn’t your cup of tea. However, if you enjoy romance and fashion you might just fall in love with this one.

The style of Paradise Kiss’ openings and endings (specifically the endings), are filled with a unique animated style mixed well with the songs. Although, the characters are minified into cute little forms of themselves, it wouldn’t look as “funky” to see them dancing to Franz Ferdinand in their original animated style. As for the original animated form; it’s unique. Each character is detailed in their own certain way to emphasize their personality. We have Arashi’s metal clippings and chains, Miwako’s Lolita style and pink bubblegum hair, Isabella’s “feminine” looks, George’s dangerous eyes, and then finally we have Yukari; who couldn’t be any more basic to fit the role of a normal high school girl. Paradise Kiss definitely delivers a unique animated style.

Paradise Kiss doesn’t rely on the plot, but what revolves around it. The main character, Yukari is confused with what she will make of herself when she stumbles upon people who seem a little too eager to accept her as a model. But not everything follows the footsteps of a cliché. Thank goodness they have George; his personality fits a sophisticated man whose passion is for style, grace and beauty. And when it clashes with the other characters… George’s persona shines even more. As the story progresses, the drama intensifies, and the real life situations for Yukari start to kick in harder. This is when her character gets more depth, but sadly, it happened about half way towards the end of the show.

When an anime has dialogue that matches the lip flaps perfectly, it doesn’t force you to think harder to focus on the show. To me, I feel that is the most important part of a dubbed anime. It might sound bias, but most lines from the English dub far exceeded the ones from the original anime dialogue in my own opinion. The only thing that bothered me in terms of performance was Arashi’s voice. It sounded a bit too old for him in some instances, and only seemed to work really well when he was angry or annoyed. (Which, fortunately, happens quite a lot in Paradise Kiss.)

At the beginning of “Lonely and Gorgeous” I felt that I wasn’t going to like the show. I was proven wrong when I heard the music of the show change beats to scenes in ways that fit the atmosphere well. The ending song “Do You Want To” by Franz Ferdinand always begins softly in the background, towards the end of each episode. The timing is excellent and serves as a great theme for the anime to close off to.

The Paradise Kiss anime has a completely different feel to it than its original manga form. For one thing, the anime uses totally different character designs than Ai Yazawa’s signature style of tall, skinny, and glamorous. Despite this, the top-notch animation and vivid splashes of color (not to mention insanely attractive male characters) make Paradise Kiss thirteen episodes of eye-candy. Even with the beautiful, raw quality of the animation, I can’t stand the random transformation of the characters into chibi form. Not only does it look very poorly done, but it also takes away from the overall serious feel of the anime.

The story falls a bit short in this anime adaptation for two reasons. The ending is slightly different from the manga, and even though the difference is small, it completely alters the feel of the entire plot. The tweaked writing also robs the anime of some of the most memorable lines in ParaKiss, such as “I’ll make you so in love with me, that every time our lips touch, you’ll die a little death”. Epic shoujo line!

The characters are fantastic as ever. George appears even more elegant in the anime, what with Kenji Hamada’s incredible voice. Miwako is adorable and fashionable, with a sweet girlish voice. Arashi is visually perfect, yet the anime translation neglects the British accent he “used” in the manga; therefore, weakening the stereotype he’s supposed to represent. I can’t stand Yukari’s voice actor, even though it fits her personality very well.

The music throughout the show is sparse, but the opening song is catchy and fresh, offering a hipper tune amongst the thousands of cliché pop anime openings. I found it especially interesting that the ending song is “Do You Want To” by Franz Ferdinand; it caught me completely off-guard to hear an English language song as an anime ending! This only heightens Paradise Kiss’s uniqueness.

The animation in this show is excellent and very beautiful. The characters’ designs are equally impressive. With new clothes, styles, and having unique personalities and physical traits, this show stands above a lot of anime out there in terms of animation and character designs.

A story of beauty and glamour surrounds the ugly side of this anime. It was a little slow to start, as it needed time to develop the characters (who still felt underdeveloped) and their situations. I enjoyed that all the characters (except Yukari) aren't completely transparent and you actually begin to understand them much better by what is going on around them, rather than through the characters’ own actions. It was sometimes very frustrating to watch them break down or act so casual all the time, but that's what also made it enjoyable.

The performances seemed a little timid and didn't actually add much to the feeling of what was going on. The dialogue sometimes seemed to promptly cut off for all the characters. It was hard to tell at times if someone was sad or angry; their attitudes and reactions felt somewhat inappropriate.

The music they did have was well selected and appropriate, especially the opening song.

In the first minute or so of this show, the viewer is thrown completely off by the animation; still live shots with weird creatures crawling across them. I’m unsure as to why this was done—possibly to show the main character, Yukari’s feelings of being out of place in the real world—but it hardly matters, for soon the viewers are thrown into the true animation of the show.

The colors are bright and crisp, and the movements of the characters and objects are smooth. The character designs are distinct and well detailed; we get a clear look at every one of Arashi’s piercings and belt buckles. There is also a frequent use of super-deformed characters, used mainly to accentuate or exaggerate the emotions of the characters. Normally this would be odd in a more serious show like Paradise Kiss, but this show does it almost seamlessly. There is not much action in this show, but the overall quality of the animation makes it so you do not want to look away for a second.

The story itself is easy to relate to once one looks past the obvious exterior and takes a look at the deeper meaning. The story is about a girl who does not know what she is doing with her life; she feels inferior next to a group of people who know what they want to do, but also inspired by their conviction and drive. Just about everyone knows what it’s like to be unsure about his or her future, and to feel inadequate beside someone else. That is why this show is so inspiring; it gives people a hope that maybe they can discover what it is they most want to do. The story is well written and well executed, making it that much more powerful.

The voices for the English dub were relatively well done, with the majority of the actors almost perfectly placed with the characters. Miwako’s bubble gum cute voice matches her sweet and adorable personality. George’s voice isn’t necessarily the most fitting sound for him, but it is still well acted as he manages to be suave and then a jack @$$, all within minutes. To add to this, a script that remains exceptionally faithful to the original Japanese.

The soundtrack in this series is not as permeating as in other shows. Rather than playing music throughout every scene, it is instead used as a way to accentuate a moment. A single strum of a guitar plays as George and Yukari meet for the first time, keying the importance of the moment. Music is also used as a part of the scenery. There is almost constant music playing when the characters are in the studio, but it is a far off sound, coming from a radio. Paradise Kiss doesn’t necessarily have a breathtaking soundtrack, but it is still a part of the world and life of the characters.

The animation was kind of different than what I’m used to; however, I liked Parakiss for its different-ness. There was an effort to make it seem more lifelike, until the comedy parts. That’s when the animation quality would purposefully drop, which really added to the comedy. All the characters had something distinctive about them that made an impact on me. Arashi’s safety pin lip ring made my day when I first saw it. However, I didn’t really like their use of colors at times, because it seemed a bit drab and colorless. I loved how they used real photos at the very beginning, and had strange animals wandering around. It was a good transition, and brought my interest level up.

When I read the description for the show a while back it seemed very shoujo, so I didn’t initially watch it. When I finally did, I was amazed. When I first met Yukari, I practically fell over laughing; she was reading ‘Catcher of the Rye’ on the way to cram school. She really made my day, and kept me wanting to watch more. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good drama story about rebellion and finding one’s true self, or anyone who likes bittersweet endings. A good storyline overall, engaging until the last. I couldn’t get enough of it!

Paradise Kiss really used some pretty good voice actors, but that’s all they were. I would imagine Yukari to have a little bit more of a conceited voice. Miwako’s voice didn’t really convey the extent of the emotions, and she really sounded like a tiny child in the whole series. That may be her character, but she’s 18 and should sound a little older. They could have picked better voices, but voices were passable and over time I came to like them.

I loved the opening and ending songs for Parakiss; they were very modern and fitted the show very well. The background music was cool, and it went with the show. However, the background music didn’t always fit the mood of the show, and sometimes was a bit overwhelming. The sound effects used in the show were relatively realistic, and were well timed.

Parakiss’ original art was nothing short of stunning, and the anime is no different. Colorful and very characteristic of Yazawa’s work (who also wrote Nana); it’s a great way of displaying Japan’s very unique style of fashion and the culture surrounding it (even though the safety pin in Arashi’s lip made me wince). Enhanced animation shows mouths moving much more with the voices, which is a double-edged sword in terms of this show. While the improved movement is refreshing and really helps character expression, it also seems a little excessive and awkward at times.

If you’re looking for a mainstream “boy-meets-girl, they fall in love, the end” type of show, it’s time to look elsewhere, because this isn’t the anime for you. I’m not going to sugarcoat it: Paradise Kiss is weird, complex, and very unconventional. It’s not a bad thing (at all), but don’t expect a perfect, cliché, happy ending to this show, it’s obvious from the start that you’re not going to get one. While this does give shoujo fans (like myself) a very nice change of pace from the typical, it’s hard to take some episodes seriously (ahem, episode six), due to some awkward conversations that can be hard to follow or understand their implications.

By far the most addictive opening and ending theme songs I have ever heard in anime (hey, the ending is by Franz Ferdinand!). Don’t find it unusual to be singing these songs to yourself long after the show is over. Overall, the soundtrack for ParaKiss is good, but the voices are what make the show stand out audio-wise, not the music. Very distinctive for each person (Miwako’s pronunciation of ‘Caroline’ is… interesting, to say the least), the overall acting is good, but occasionally a line or two comes out as monotone (George stood out a lot in this way, but it may partially be his personality).

Undoubtedly worth seeing, but could have been polished a bit more in animation and script-writing. A great title for bored shoujo fans ready for something new and different.