Cameo Appearances
Ai Yazawa inserts many characters from previous works, and even herself into the manga. Ai Yazawa herself is the flashy principal of Yazagaku. One of the most prominent cameos is Ken Nakagawa, a character from her previous manga Tenshi Nanka Ja Nai. He looks almost exactly like Tsutomu, Ken's lyrics are often found in the chapters and many times Tsutomu has to run from crowds who think that he is Ken.
Midori and Akira (also from Ten Nai) are the first to buy Mikako's creations at the flea market – further proving both series apparently take place in the same universe, but approximately 4 years apart (Akira reveals Midori's age to be 20 during their cameo). Takigawa appears as a tutor in the junior high flashback section and Mamirin appears in the background when Mikako is in London. Tonko and Kayo also appear in the background in the Blue Parrot in the first volume.
Because in the United States, her later series Paradise Kiss is far more popular than Gokinjo Monogatari (primarily because both the manga and anime remain unlicensed) many people only think of Gokinjo as a prequel to ParaKiss, especially since many of the characters are the same. Miwako, Mikako's younger sister is one of the main characters, as is Arashi, Risa's son and Hiroyuki, Tokumori's son. Seiji-san works at Yazagaku by the time ParaKiss takes place, and Hamada-sensei is still a teacher there.
Mikako still plays a role in the manga and anime, giving Yukari the big break in modelling by having her model for Happy Berry; Tsutomu is the photographer. Shimamoto-san becomes a famous model and eventually founds the modelling agency that Yukari works with.
Read more about this topic: Neighborhood Story
Famous quotes containing the word appearances:
“It is doubtless wise, when a reform is introduced, to try to persuade the British public that it is not a reform at all; but appearances must be kept up to some extent at least.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)