Yukari Hayasaka doesn’t know what she wants out of life. Dutifully trying to fulfill her mother’s expectations, she tries to overcome her apathy and pass the entrance exams that will get her into a properly prestigious college. Despite her doubts, Yukari can’t imagine any other path…until the day she finds herself being pursued across a public park by a punk and a drag queen. The bizarre (to Yukari’s eyes) characters who accost her in the park are Arashi and Isabella, two fashion students at the bohemian art school known as Yaza Arts. They want Yukari to model at Yaza’s end-of-semester show! Fascinated in spite of herself, Yukari is drawn into the world of Paradise Kiss. George and his friends are like no one Yukari has ever met; they’re driven by a passion missing from her life. Yukari can’t imagine herself on the runway, but she finds Paradise Kiss hard to resist. Also, she can’t seem to get George out of her mind. Does he want her as a model, or something more? The first volume of Paradise Kiss introduces a cast of appealing characters, each of whom is more complex than he or she may seem at first. Perhaps the most complex of all is our protagonist, whose imperfections make her an unusual but endearing heroine.
Paradise Kiss Volume 1
ISBN: 1931514607
by Ai Yazawa
Tokyopop, 2002
