Paradise Kiss - Ai Yazawa

Paradise Kiss is a manga written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa, who is also the creator of Nana, a really popular manga series in Japan. Paradise Kiss is about a typical high-school student named Yukari who listens to her parents and attends school everyday. As she starts to question her way of life, she encounters a group of fashion design students who has a clothing label known as "Paradise Kiss". The group needs to find a model to showcase their designs in an up-coming fashion show and decides to pick Yukari instead. Initially, she was reluctant to be associated with this seemingly eccentric group, but eventually, she realises that they are really nice people. Furthermore, their passion and enthusiasm to follow their ideals and dreams make Yukari realise that she has not been enjoying her life and this motivated her to pursue her own dreams.



This manga was popular enough to get an anime but now it is getting a live action movie which is coming out in July, 2011.

A few years ago, I watched the first episode of the anime, but it didn't interest me at all. But recently, I read the manga, and I really liked it. I found Paradise Kiss inspiring and motivational, but I was not satisfied with the ending. Maybe because I prefer happy endings in manga and felt like it was too short. The ending was also too sudden.