Week 5: Romance Manga

For this week I watched Paradise Kiss. This artist has been one of my favourite's, having seen NANA her other work. Most of Ai Yazawa's works are very heavily influenced by fashion which I enjoy very much. It creates a character with more dimension as we can see their different styles during the series. Especially since Paradise Kiss is about fashion, all the more so. To me Yukari represents a very common archetype seen in anime, where she goes on with her life doing what her parents tell her to but life seems one toned and doesn't hold much purpose for her. I think it is pretty relatable to many people as most of us might have felt this way at some point of time. At first she was very dismissive and closed up, but overtime we see her opening up and feeling a sense of admiration and passion for her new friends.

George is a really interesting character. He sees Yukari as his muse and is quite an extravagant stylish person at first sight. He scouts her out from the street because of her looks and introduces her to his world of fashion where he designs his final project around her. Ai Yazawa's works are usually character driven and Paradise Kiss is this way too. George with his cold initial personality pushes Yukari to open up and stand up for herself. Overtime we see him influencing her to make decisions and stick by them. Not to wander aimlessly through life but to really experience it. It is interesting to see them interact in their relationship because sometimes George is quite dismissive of her and doesn't let her indulge in her tantrums and tendencies, which can be seen as him also helping her to grow which is interesting because usually we would just cast him aside as treating her badly. 

In terms of romance, I think I am more drawn to these types of more complex feelings than fun and light hearted romances which I do also enjoy. But something about the darkness of these situations make it more entertaining for me. It feels more real and deals with other things too like temptation or reliance on other people. The two main characters definitely relied on each other alot for personal growth and didn't even end up together in the end which is very realistic as well. I hated the ending because they didn't end up together but loved it because that really is the reality. It is common today for most on screen couples to end up together because this is the idealized version of hat romance is. But sometimes really isn't because the person is not meant for you or just meant toe enter your life to teach you a hard lesson. I think that is one of the reasons this was so appealing to me because it dealt with these harder to come to terms with topics, feelings and situations that a romance manga or anime can bring about.