Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Paradise Kiss – episode 8

December 18, 2005 on 2:40 pm | In Paradise Kiss | 3 Comments

“Tokumori”

I won’t bother saying George is a bastard. I will say, however, that this episode rocked. Yukari starts making sense, Arashi gets over himself, Miwako sings naked … much to like.

Kozue wants to meet Yukari’s parents before she will consent to Yukari becoming a model. Yukari wants to talk to George about it, but he seems to be more interested in sex. Arashi and Miwako make up, Yukari has a fight with Hiro, and then she meets George’s mother.
It’s down, then up, from there.

The most sickening part of this episode is that George uses sex to trap Yukari. That he tested her by attempting “intimacy” when she wanted to tell her about her problems was simply wrong. George does terrible things to Yukari, then throws them back in her face. People criticise George over the course of this episode, and Yukari realises that she has to justify him to them. This is a position that she should never find herself in, and she’s finally realising that maybe she doesn’t need George.
And, with that change in direction, I like Yukari again.

Sex is slightly different for Arashi and Miwako. When they’re not angry at each other, it’s a reconciliatory act. Both of them have to be amicable to the idea, so that it’s not just an empty offering. Arashi still has issues – he kills his own buzz with jealousy – but at least he and Miwako can probably sort themselves out.

This episode is called “Tokumori”, but I’m not quite sure I can see why. Hiro does indeed feature in “Tokumori”, but his presence is not strong enough to warrant having the episode named after him. His words to Yukari seem harsh, but he is going above and beyond the call of duty to put Yukari back on track. The thing that makes this less than meddling is that he gives her the options and forces her into nothing; Hiro’s actions are more like gentle nudges although one has to wonder why, after many years of minimal contact, Tokumori has taken such an interest in Yukari.

As far as the rest of the episode goes, George’s mother is an odd creature. Yukari has an initially and understandably harsh response to her, but comes to recognise a “mothering instinct”. This leads into the episode’s conclusion, which was so danged good that I got pretty emotional about it.

Paradise Kiss is back on track. Yukari’s gravitation away from George will likely do her nothing but good: maybe things can work out after all.