Title: Paradise Kiss Release date: 6/4/11 Genre: Romantic Drama Cast: Kitagawa Keiko, Mukai Osamu, Yamamoto Yusuke, Igarashi Shunji, Kaku Kento, Omasa Aya Plot: Despite studying as hard as she can, Hayasaka Yukari (Kitagawa) doesn't so as well at school as her mother would like. One day, she is asked to model for a group of student fashion designers. Torn between what she is supposed to do and what she wants to do, the "Paradise Kiss" designers somehow manage to help her find her way in life. What is good: Mukai did an awfully good job as Koizumi. What is bad: Yamamoto's Tokumori role seemed unnecessary. Letter rating: B

I've never read the Paradise Kiss manga. Nor have I watched the anime. However, I heard good things about the series and, since I like Kitagawa Keiko, I decided to give it a try.

Hayasaka (nicknamed "Caroline") is an interesting character. She goes from a life where she is forced into doing things her mother wants to a life where she does the things she wants. Watching her grow as she is pushed into maturity by Koizumi (nicknamed "George") is a lot like watching a butterfly emerge from its cocoon. Of course, this isn't overlooked. There are butterflies everywhere.

Luckily, both Kitagawa and Mukai do an amazing job as the lead characters. My only peeve is that Yamamoto's character is listed as a main character, yet little is done with him. He is there in the beginning as Hayasaka's love interest but then it disappointingly goes nowhere. His character could have been cut from the film with no real consequence.

As a whole, I enjoyed the movie. It was a nice story and it does make me want to watch the anime. (Sorry, I don't read a lot of manga.) I just wish there was a little more meat to the story.

Title: Honey & Clover Broadcast dates: 1/8/08 - 3/18/08 Genre: Romance, Slice of Life Cast: Narumi Riko, Ikuta Toma, Harada Natsuki, Mukai Osamu, Narimiya Hiroki Plot: A group of art students try to make sense of life and love. What is good: The characters seem a bit more human this time around. What is bad: The first half of the show is still pretty boring plot-wise. Letter rating: B - Overall: I've now watched the anime version, the movie version and the TV version of this franchise. Of those three, the television series is definitely the best version. I believe that is because the writers gave a little more humanity and depth to the characters. Ikuta Toma, who played Takemoto Yuta, is a great comedic actor. As such, he was able to make all the crappy things that happen to his character seem a bit less apocalyptic but the big changes still had a big impact. Also, Narumi Riko's Hagu has a lot less creepy than any of the other versions. I'm not sure how she did it but she took a very creepy, little-girl-looking character and transformed her into a shy woman who is plopped into a strange new world. So, while I'm still not a huge Honey and Clover fan, I'd definitely watch this version more than once.