Category: Drama

Manga of the Month: Paradise Kiss

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Paradise Kiss (パラダイス・キス) by Ai Yazawa

With the first volume of Vertical’s beautiful new edition having gone on sale in September, it was an easy choice on what to highlight this time around.

Paradise Kiss combines high fashion, mature romance, and a bittersweet coming-of-age tale. Central to this is a cast that has more flaws than perfections; people who readily get swept up in their ideas, their passions, and their emotions. Paradise Kiss is all about relationships. Friends. Co-workers. Families. Lovers. And even yourself. How those relationships start is also something that at times is quite out of control as are the long-term effects you might not even be aware of.

Yukari starts the story at a very different place than she ends it. She has great grades, looks, and a bright future ahead of her but she has no passion. When she literally runs into Arashi on the street, she has no idea she is about to meet a group of people who will profoundly change her path in life. She is swept away by these fashion students’ dreams so much so that she wants to make it her dream, too.

As Yukari begins this journey for what she wants in life, she also begins her first real romance with the mysterious leader of the group George. His much more worldly point of view is irresistible, but the complexities at his core are very hard for Yukari to truly know.

Ai Yazawa’s elongated stylization is never more relevant than in a world of models, runways, and clothing. The work put into the fashions that everyone wears in the day-to-day as well as those they are create for Yukari to model are full of details. As always, Ms. Yazawa is a master of faces and expression throughout the ups and downs, the laughs and the tears.

I love that Paradise Kiss highlights a piece of Yukari’s life with all the thoughtfulness of how we are both powerful and powerless when it comes to our future and the paths of others. Paradise Kiss is brilliant in how it it shows what it is to step out in the world on your own.

Manga of the Month: Solanin

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Solanin (ソラニン) by Inio Asano

Solanin is the type of story that sticks with you long after you’ve read it. It has a personal feeling to it and grounds itself quickly as true to life.

I would call Solanin a coming-of-age, the kind that comes when you are in your 20’s and transition from college student to working adult. “Real life” hasn’t quite kicked in yet for our characters; they aren’t sure where exactly to go next creating a sort of holding pattern. The journey that occurs, that journey that you can no longer avoid, doesn’t happen at the same time for everyone. Solanin is about that road that you follow without knowing where it will lead.

The story follows Meiko in her early 20’s who up and quits her boring job, then instead of finding a new one spends the next couple of months deciding just what she wants out of life. A part of this journey is her long-term musician boyfriend Taneda and her collection of college friends all at various stages in the same road. It touches quite poignantly on Japanese youth culture and a difficult economy, which also makes it quite relevant to today’s American 20-somethings, too. Music and friendship dovetail wonderfully to create a hopeful story spurred on by tragedy.

I recognized these people, the relationships, and their questions; it will certainly resonate for anyone out of college. The emotions, reactions, and thoughts seen through the characters of Solanin are utterly genuine and honest. Plus, the ending felt right without grasping for a concrete conclusion to lives that have only just begun.

Manga of the Month: The Story of Saiunkoku

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The Story of Saiunkoku (彩雲国物語) by Kairi Yura

Saiunkoku is about a kingdom and a romance, sounds simple enough, but it is anything but. The story while focusing on Shuurei is really about telling us the tale of an entire country’s nobles, peasants, conspiracies, politics, triumphs, woes, romances and even some supernatural forces.

Shuurei is a smart, hard-working, but poor noble princess who is brought to court in the hopes of helping the new emperor. She not only forms a close relationship with Ryuki the emperor, but also many others in his circle. Shuurei at first glance seems to be a too-perfect-nice-girl type but that quickly dissolves as you get into the meat of the story. She is extremely intelligent, on par with her male peers, and shows little intimidation in the many political situations.

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