Paradise Kiss – 02

Short Summary:
Caroline is studying at the library when a familiar figure sits across from her. George claims the encounter is a coincidence, and the two study separately. When she finishes for the day, Yukari finds George sitting outside. The two chat about their goals in life and Yukari wishes that she had a dream like George does. When she gets home, Yukari learns that George had called her house looking for her, meaning that the meeting wasn’t a coincidence. The next day at school, Yukari’s mind is filled with the decision of becoming ParaKiss’s model. She visits the studio, and finds Arashi and Miwako embracing on the pool table. After the awkward situation, Yukari jumps at the chance to go buy some tea for Isabella with Miwako. She finds out that Miwako and Arashi are going out, and, after Miwako mentions Tokumori Hiroyuki, she learns that Miwako grew up with both Tokumori and Arashi. Feeling that she really wants to get to know these people, Yukari agrees to become their model. In celebration, the entire group throws a party and Yukari gets quite drunk and passes out. George takes her home, and Yukari is stunned when he leans in for a kiss…except that he’s actually trying to wipe her lipstick off so that her parents won’t know. He drives off, leaving Yukari quite embarrassed (and somewhat excited).

Despite how much I’m going to complain about this episode, I really like it. The ending is just downright awesome, and I love the way DO YOU WANT TO starts to play as George drives away. The two main themes are also developed quite nicely: Yukari’s dreams and her developing love for George. Both of those contribute to her decision to join the Paradise Kiss as their model. All in all, this episode is yet again quite faithful to the manga.
Now for the bad stuff (not really too bad, but I’m very picky about this type of thing). The animation has already started to bother me not for being poor, but because several of the scenes, including the one outside the library and the cafe one with Miwako and Yukari, seem to be dominated by distance shots. The rest of the episode looks great (and I emphasize great), but the fact that it feels like they’re already cutting corners bothers me greatly. I will, however, give them a lot of credit for good use of the comedic style (round heads) in the right places (the Tokumori scene and the party scene).
Next episode is called “KISS”. I talked about this a bit last week, but it again makes me wonder how many chapters they’re going to cover (they did three today) and how they’re going to get through all five volumes in only 12 episodes, given the current pace.