AI YORI AOSHI
One guy, more chicks than you can count on one hand. Seems familiar...
Review by: Craig "Needs badly to get laid" Norris
Length: 24 episodes
Genre: Romance, drama, comedy
Watched: 1-24, subbed
I don't know why I torture myself like this. I always watch the exploits of the anime guy with a heart of gold who attracts chicks to him just by waking up in the morning. Meanwhile, on Saturday night there I am, alone in my room eating potato chips and watching SportsCenter. These types of anime remind me of just how miserable and pathetic my life really is. But still, I watch. So, why did I watch Ai Yori Aoshi when I knew that it would leave me broken and depressed once more? Simple: the chicks are to die for. And in the end, isn't that what makes all the difference?
Plot synopsis: One afternoon, college student Kaoru Hanabishi notices a girl in the subway who seems to be lost. Being the helpful sort, he decides to accompany her to her destination. The girl reveals she is on her way to meet someone, but when they arrive at the address, they find only a vacant lot. Seeing the girl beside herself with disappointment, Kaoru brings her back to his apartment until she figures out what to do next. Kaoru asks about the person she is meeting, and the girl shows him a picture of him and her as children. To his astonishment, Kaoru recognizes himself in the picture, and is astounded to find out that the girl is actually his childhood friend Aoi Sakuraba. He is even more astonished when Aoi reveals that she wishes to be his fiancee!
Artwork: The cel animation is decent. The character designs vary very little, but they are well rendered and pleasing to watch. The backgrounds are a bit lackluster, though. Some of them are decent, but others look like grade-school watercolor projects. These occurrences of horrible backgrounds sometimes detract from the overarching quality, which isn't really fair to the cel animators. Overall the animation isn't at the forefront of anything, but it is decent enough.
Music: Eh, it's there. The soundtrack is composed of typical romantic, syrupy fluff. However, I found that the opening song grew on me. Kind of like a foot fungus, it followed me around for a long while and didn't go away until I took pains to eradicate it. As a whole, though, I guarantee that the soundtrack CD will not find its way into the top of the charts in Japan, the U.S., or any other country.
Characters: Easily the most dynamic part of the anime is the characters. Kaoru is the soft-spoken, generous, understanding, and just plain enviable guy that all anime girls seem to blindly follow, like mice on the heels of the Pied Piper. I don't hate him one bit; I just hate his situation. Despite Kaoru having decided on Aoi early on in the series, the chicks just keep popping out of the woodwork in the hopes of living out their most secret fantasies with him. (Okay, maybe that is a bit of an overstatement, but you get my point.) Aoi has dedicated her whole life to becoming the perfect housewife to Kaoru, so her cooking, cleaning, and laundry skills are impressive. She is also very sensitive and emotional, especially with Kaoru. Miyabi, Aoi's guardian and teacher appointed by the Sakuraba family, is rigid and businesslike, and very protective of Aoi and her interests. So, when her welfare is in question, she is very uncompromising. Tina is an American-born friend of Kaoru�s from his university's photo club. She is outgoing and mischievous, with an affinity for alcoholic beverages. Her typical greeting to female acquaintances is a good squeeze of their breasts. Yeah, I like her, too. Taeko is also a member of the photo club. She loves to cosplay, and eventually signs on as the maid of Aoi's household where everybody winds up living. Mayu is another friend of Kaoru's from years ago, and has carried a very deep attachment to him ever since. She is normally very snobbish and confrontational, but Kaoru seems to bring out her childlike innocence. Chika is the well-tanned younger cousin of Taeko and is brimming with youthful energy and enthusiasm. She also admires Kaoru, and adopts him and the rest of the girls as a surrogate family.
Plot: Not much of one. The series follows the relationship between Aoi and Kaoru, and all the subsequent obstacles that fall in their path. Otherwise, it's a lot of the same old stuff that is inherent in romantic animes with lots of girls, including the obligatory beach and hot springs episodes. I suppose the plot is understandably weak; after all, how many different ways can there possibly be to fall in love? (Don't answer that; you might ruin my bitterness.) The series failed to show me anything new, and relies solely on the same old formula. It's not a bad formula, but it has been used liberally before.
CHICKS!: Delicious. The single factor most responsible for my continued viewing was the quality of the chicks. Aoi can only be described as perfect; she's adorable, attentive, dedicated, dignified, and she loves to cuddle. Girls like that are impossible in real life. That makes me so very sad. I will cry now. But the chick parade doesn't stop with her. Taeko is a sweet slice of eye candy as well, with her maid outfit, glasses, and amazing rack, which Tina greets quite often. Taeko is hard-working, and a bit clumsy in that winsome way, which is a winning combination in anybody's book. At least it is in my book, and my book is the only one that matters to me, dammit! Tina is much more outgoing and boisterous, but has her moments of quiet tenderness as well. All she wants is to have a good time, and is prone to teasing those she likes. I usually shy away from the fun-loving party girls, but I am always willing to make exceptions. Miyabi is orderly, conservative, decisive, and dead sexy! She is the ideal match for anyone who wants his life flawlessly organized. Mayu can be a bit stuck up at times, but underneath that demeanor there is a nice girl who only wants a nice friend. Or, in Kaoru's case, a life partner. You'll have to be patient, though; she's only sixteen. But hey, I've gone 21 years with no action, so I can wait a little longer.
Overall: Okay, the chicks mesmerized me and kept me coming back for more. I am certainly not ashamed to admit that. Aside from that, I was not as enthralled as I really wanted to be. Even though the series is quite charming, the fairly generic nature of it kept me from getting all that emotional about anything (unless you consider raging lust to be an emotion). If you're willing to sit through all the mushy romance and watch the fanservice, you should be entertained. If you're willing to sit through all the fanservice and watch the mushy romance, you should be entertained, as well. But, there are many other titles that fit this description, so you'd be just as well off watching those. In the end, Ai Yori Aoshi is little more than a fluffy romance anime.
IN A NUTSHELL
+ Entertaining characters
+ Very charming
- Lackluster soundtrack
- Inconsistent artwork
+/- Typical romance anime
Rating: 7.5/10
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