Paradise Kiss

Yukari is a spirited high school senior in the process of studying for her college entrance exams. Sadly the prospect of subjecting herself to a meaningless dull life leaves her feeling depressed about the future. In a bout of frustration and losing motivation, Yukari begins to ignore her courses as she begins to hang out with a group of fashion design students. Due to her attitude and her body type, her new friends feel she would be an ideal model for their designs, and eventually convince her to join their group.

In this final volume of Paradise Kiss, Yukari has only days before she has to take to the catwalk as the teen-aged members of ParaKiss head towards graduation. George is now making a name for himself by winning awards in the real world of high fashion. So there is a real threat of London or Paris calling to poach him from Tokyo, essentially taking him away from Yukari.

So what will be the future of this circle of friends? Yukari has hopes of continuing her education while still dabbling in modelling. She would hope to have George by her side, but with him spending more time designing on his own than with the group it appears as if he will be choosing work over love...for once.

From 1999 to 2009 no shojo manga (girls comics) author in Japan sold more books than Ai Yazawa. Raised in Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture, Yazawa grew up with ambitions to become a fashion designer. As a youth enrolled in the Osaka Mode Academy, one of Japan’s most competitive fashion schools.

In 1985 Yazawa made her debut in the pages of the monthly girl’s anthology RIBON with the title 15th Year. While her tales focused on young love, but what captivated readers was her stunning sense of design. Since then she has gone to pen eleven more titles and has sold more than 100,000,000 books in Japan alone. Her title NANA was an international sensation, spinning off multiple movies, animated TV series, fashion lines and even inspiring international talents of music and film.

Paradise Kiss has been translated into 10 languages and is considered her defining work.