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cyanide_latte 's review for:
Paradise Kiss: 20th Anniversary Edition
by Ai Yazawa
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Paradise Kiss is one of the few manga series I remember seeing many of my peers reading back when I was in high school and I never had much interest in it. I knew the series had a lot of focus on clothing design and fashion and at the time, as a teenager, those things just weren't something I necessarily cared about. I never bothered to try reading the series despite others offering to lend it to me to read, despite knowing it was fairly popular. It was only last year when I was perusing the sales going on one day on the RightStuf Anime website that I saw the entire series had been bundled into a single omnibus for its anniversary and was marked down a little for quick sale. I decided to take a chance on it, especially given how foundational and important I knew Paradise Kiss had been for many people. I bought it, got it in, and then waited for the right moment to be in the mood to give it a try.
To say that I've been surprised would be an understatement of the facts, honestly. Had I tried to read this as a teenager, I can easily say I would have been too unwilling to appreciate the themes it tackles because I would have been hung up on the fact its set dressing (ha-ha) was something I didn't care for. Additionally, there's a fair amount of focus on romantic relationships (mostly the one the main character becomes involved in, but there are others) that turn toxic, and I wouldn't have been able to handle that at a younger age the way I can now.
But the honest truth is that Paradise Kiss deals with a lot of themes that strike right at the heart that I think many people can appreciate, and I think that's why this series was so formative and important to so many people and became something of a cult classic here in the States. I don't want to say more than that; there are plenty of things I could tell anyone to look for, but I went into this pretty much entirely blind, and I think that's the way this story deserves to be approached, and I think there's much better impact for the reader if you go in as blind as possible. Trust me, it's worth it. This series deserves to be read and appreciated from a completely raw perspective, and it's best devoured that way.
To say that I've been surprised would be an understatement of the facts, honestly. Had I tried to read this as a teenager, I can easily say I would have been too unwilling to appreciate the themes it tackles because I would have been hung up on the fact its set dressing (ha-ha) was something I didn't care for. Additionally, there's a fair amount of focus on romantic relationships (mostly the one the main character becomes involved in, but there are others) that turn toxic, and I wouldn't have been able to handle that at a younger age the way I can now.
But the honest truth is that Paradise Kiss deals with a lot of themes that strike right at the heart that I think many people can appreciate, and I think that's why this series was so formative and important to so many people and became something of a cult classic here in the States. I don't want to say more than that; there are plenty of things I could tell anyone to look for, but I went into this pretty much entirely blind, and I think that's the way this story deserves to be approached, and I think there's much better impact for the reader if you go in as blind as possible. Trust me, it's worth it. This series deserves to be read and appreciated from a completely raw perspective, and it's best devoured that way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship
Moderate: Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Sexual content, Transphobia
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault