Paradise Residence Chapter 21 Manga
パラダイス レジデンス Chapter 21

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

The temporary school directory ITAMI Matsuri leads the demolition folks up the hill, where she’s stunned to see two dorms. They are met by Komatsu to their dorm festival. When asked, Komatsu explains that because of the legacy passed from senpai to senpai over the years, Komatsu says they have to express their feelings on the end of an era. Komatsu explains that the duplicate dorm was created by Ai over the past two plus years as a detailed painting.

Having failed to reach Matsuri on an emotional front, Suzuka reveals how it would actually be cheaper to remodel Dorm #1 if the girls there temporarily stayed at Dorm #2. Suzuka also reveals that the construction company contracted to do the rebuild work is Itami construction, which is Matsuri’s husband’s company. Matsuri counters by saying this isn’t illegal and everything was approved by the school’s board of directors.

Matsuri then asks who will pay the cancellation fee. Thinking she’s won, she says the demolition will continue as scheduled. Ominato-sensei shows up, stating that the dorm cannot be torn down for any reason. When Matsuri asks why, Ominato-sensei produces a certificate, citing Kikka Academy Dorm #1 Building 1 to be a designated cultural landmark. Matsuri is stunned by this, so Ominato-sensei explains that the paperwork was filed some time back. Further, the director is soon to be returning to her post.

Ominato-sensei tells Komatsu that this is why she kept telling them they were wasting their time. She wants to know how they were going to cover the cancellation fees, so Komatsu says they will start the main show. The girls cause the faux dorm to be “torn down” by having Ai’s paintings scatter in the wind. Inside the structure, the other residents of Dorm #1 and their mothers are there, the parents having decided to chip in to cover the cancellation fee expenses.

The next year, two new 1st year students climb the hill to the top where Dorm #1 resides, where they are greeted by their new senpai Hatsune and Suzuka, and welcomed to the dorm.

Thoughts/Review:

And thus, the manga is brought to an end.

This final story required a lot of suspension of disbelief. Last chapter, I talked about the convenience of Ominato-sensei having a license and qualification to drive/operate a crane. For Paradise Residence chapter 21, we learn that most of Ai’s time here has been spent working on a sectional painting that is a 1:1 recreation of Dorm #1. Yeah, I believe that.

(As an aside, this was the first time I remember seeing Ai without a bandana on her head.)

The other item is more believable, that being Suzuka’s research on how it would actually be cheaper to remodel the dorm than it would be to scrap it and replace it. I recall working at an insurance company who got bought up by a new company. The new company’s first decision was to outsource all of the computer work to a 3rd party vendor they’d been using all along. We showed them how if they kept the IT work locally, it would actually save a lot of money, but the response we got was, “We are in the insurance business, not the IT business, so we don’t care about the costs.” *_*

That aside, Matsuri’s reasoning to demolish the dorm and build a new one no matter what are made clear here, since her husband’s construction company would do all the work. I should have figured it was something like that driving everything.

Also made clear was the reason Ominato-sensei kept telling the girls this was a waste of time. She had to have already had that cultural landmark certificate, otherwise she couldn’t have told the girls they were wasting their time. Also, she had to have it in advance, otherwise she might not have had it in time to stop the demolition of Dorm #1. It is one of those things where it works OK when you initially read the story, then afterward you think, “Wait. Realistically, Ominato-sensei would have brought the demolition stuff to a halt the second she got the certificate. Heck, even beyond that, once Matsuri came up with the demolition plan, Ominato-sensei’s responsibility would have been to tell Matsuri, “Yeah, that’s not going to work since the building is going to be designated a cultural landmark.”

Looking back on Paradise Residence, although I could have done without the naked high school babes showing the goods (for cheap popularity), I am going to miss this series. I liked this slice of life series and would have loved seeing Suzuka and Hatsune spend life through graduation doing things along with their dorm mates.We didn’t get to explore the characters that much (and some of the dorm characters never got a chance to shine) and there was so much missed opportunity, in my opinion.

I don’t know why Fujishima-sensei (or Kodansha) decided to cancel Paradise Residence. Maybe it wasn’t that well received in Japan. (That would explain the sudden need for nudity as a cheap, but failed ratings boost.) Maybe Fujishima-sensei decided, “You know what? I’m bored with this series and ready to move on.” At this point in his career, I don’t think Fujishima-sensei will allow himself to be forced to do something he doesn’t want to do. (Reportedly, he wanted to end Ah! My Goddess many, many years before it actually ended, but Kodansha wouldn’t let him stop.)

In the end, Paradise Residence is a decent enough manga that’s fun and interesting, but nothing ultra special. Sadly, it was ended before it could achieve its full potential.