Paradise Kiss

Warning: The title concerns anime. Just so you know.

A new anime series that came out this fall, for which a sub* was released today. After initial doubts, I downloaded it (it's free, so why not?) and viewed it. It was totally different, compared to other series I have watched so far. The animation is different, and it has a more mellow feel to it. I'll quote from AniDB.net, a bit of the show description:

"Yukari is a typical high-school student 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..."

I browsed an anime forum to check out the general comments on the series and there was a submission that had particular interst:

"The show is running a contest for fans' fashion designs, with the prizes being to have your design appear in later episodes of the show, in a magazine and on the Web, to take part in a ParaKiss fashion show, and to have your design in a ParaKiss shop. The website says: "ParaKiss will help you take the first step toward your dreams (of becoming a fashion designer)."

It's open only to amateurs. The judges will be Japanese fashion designers. The deadline is very soon: received by October 20."

Kind of cool, neh?

Also, the ending song is not a typical J-pop song, it's from a British pop band Franz Ferdinand. It's rather catchy.



*sub (n.) - An anime episode, that was translated by a group of individuals who added a translation on the bottom of the episode, so that the rest of us need not learn Japanese to understand the show.