Paradise Kiss

    (Tokyopop, 2002-2003)
™ and ©2002 Tokyopop

Paradise Kiss is a different kind of shoujo, Japanese manga for girls, one that places an emphasis on fashion. Although comics for young Japanese females are normally clothes-conscious, Paradise Kiss uses its highly stylized fashion to help create the setting and shape the mood. Originally published in a Japanese fashion magazine (how appropriate), Paradise Kiss is about a high-school girl named Yukari Hayasaka, a teen outcast who develops a crush on her classmate Hiroyuki. In the true spirit of manga, Hayasaka is unable to confess her romantic feelings. But the troubled teen finds comfort when she becomes a fashion model for “Paradise Kiss,” developing close ties with her new peers and falling for its charismatic leader, Johji.

— Michael Sutton
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