Ai Yori Aoshi

11 reviews - 37.5 total score (Explanation of the rating system)
avg. score: (3.4)

11. Ganoen

Ai Yori Aoshi is easy to compare to another harem/romantic comedy, Love Hina, and in some ways this is not without merit. The heroine, Aoi, is unquestionably similar to Love Hina's Shinobu right down to hair style and temperament. However, Ai Yori Aoshi doesn't have the same manic craziness that Love Hina does and is much sweeter to the point of being saccharine.

The primary failing of Ai Yori Aoshi is its main characters. The hero, Kaoru, is a nice guy, and that's about all you can say about him. He's just really nice, which means he's boring to watch since he has no real flaws.

His bride-to-be, Aoi, is nice and obsessed. She's essentially lived her entire life dreaming about Kaoru, fantasizing about doing all sorts of mundane domestic chores for him, despite the fact that he's totally forgotten about her since their first meeting. While the story never clarifies exactly how well they knew each other as children, it seems as though it might have been as limited as one visit.

In either case, the young Aoi is somehow impressed enough to devote her life to him while he moves on to live life. This obsession makes Aoi a relatively boring character as she's defined by Kaoru; happy when he is, sad when he is, and always talking about how she dreamed about doing his laundry or hugging him, etc., usually accompanied by a fountain of tears. The couple never really has any problems. There's usually a minor misunderstanding or expressed desire by Aoi which is quickly worked out. Unfortunately, in doing this, the series usually sways from romantic to overbearing.

Despite this, Ai Yori Aoshi has strong points. Its art and character designs are well done and are high quality throughout. There are some genuinely funny moments, mostly stemming from Taeko and Tina (as a side note, if you like girls with classes, Taeko is just about the best there is). One of the characters, Mayu, is given a valid reason why she fawns over Kaoru beyond 'he's so nice', which is actually rather touching. It's also got some good fanservice if that's what you're looking for. Overall, the series is worth a watch but not a keep.

In a side note, the series is the current holder of my 'Worst Pronounced English' award, as one character who has spent the past several years in England lashes out at another soon after her return to Japan. My soul wept at hearing my mother tongue mangled so.

10. bluemist

Welcome to your wet dream. A beautiful girl would suddenly say 'I was destined for you' and then would pose to be your girlfriend/lover/maid/wife. Dream on guys. The story centers on young couple Kaoru and Aoi, as they run from their rich and influential families to live together in happiness and love. Sweet eh? At first it was, until a Love Hina-like cast of girls was put into the mix. Then the show became a harem anime. It's not bad if you like those types, where all girls like the boy in certain levels, where a hot spring/beach/cultural festival episode is required, and where ecchi is highly, highly rampant. This series smells like Love Hina without the extreme wackiness, and that makes it surprisingly rather better than the former. The show also sports vivid art and animation, a wide variety of soothing BGM, and nice OP/ED songs. Other than my sudden disappointment of this romance-turned-harem anime, nothing else is wrong with this title. It is a recommended watch, but not so much of a keeper.

9. Tyrenol

All things considered, AIC/Pioneer has the uncanny ability of taking a theme and making it less nauseating. They did it with Evangelion (through Dual), they did it with magical girls (Pretty Sammy) and android maids (Mahoromatic). And now they've done it with Love Hina through this series.

Ai Yori Aoshi is an example of the "romantic comedy" theme done right; although for me it's a bit too dramatic in some cases. Kaoru Hanabishi is your typical male lead who lacks personality; however he's a college student, a photo club member, and hides a brutal past. Enter, from said past, Aoi Sakuraba. Aoi practiced long and hard to become Kaoru's doormat, and thinks of nothing else but him. Kaoru's life changes slowly but surely as everybody else enters the scene: Miyabi (Aoi's irate caretaker), Tina (representing "Fondle 'Em Records"), Taeko (fanservice provider), Suzuki and Sato (train and cosplay perverts respectively), Mayu (brat who hates the Japanese but loves Kaoru), and Chika (Taeko's sister with a suntan).

A more romantic, less violent, Naru-free Love Hina? Does the "Kaoru - Aoi - Miyabi - Tina - Taeki - Mayu - Chika" team make a good replacement for the team of "Keitaro - Shinobu - Motoko - Mitsune - Mutsumi - Sarah - Kaolla?" Is it true that whatever any other company does, Pioneer does it better? I don't know. But I am enjoying this series.

8. h8er13

Here's another series with a bunch of random girls that love the male protagonist. The story is bland, the characters are incredibly boring and uninteresting (also, very typecast), and the scenes are incredibly predictable. The main male character, Hanabishi Kaoru, is comparable to many other male leads in all series, kindhearted and also a little ecchi. In this series, Kaoru is perfect. Everyone loves him. He's never clumsy or inconsiderate. The female lead, Sakuraba Aoi, is the "perfect" vision of a girl for a guy. She is quiet, subservient, an excellent cook, self-sacrificing, faithful, and kind. Set in contemporary Japan, Aoi is still just too sensitive and submissive. A story between the perfect man and the "perfect for men" woman results in a much too uninteresting series. Also, throughout this series, there were frequent ecchi scenes. Perhaps there were a little too many panty-shots and "accidents" that led to perverted scenes, but not nearly funny or interesting enough to make them enjoyable, and mainly just plain stupid. Finally, this was supposed to be somewhat of a drama/romance type anime. The scenes, which were supposed to be dramatic, fall far short from anything even mildly heart-wrenching. In addition, there practically was no romance at all.

As for the high points, the animation is fairly nicely done. Love Hina was ten times better than this.

7. SAGO

At first this feels like Love Hina with it's characters and the childhood thing. Almost all the major Love Hina clones are present. There's Aoi, which would be unmistakable as a Shinobu. Aoi's Guardian, Miyabi: the Motoko clone. There's Tina the molester, which is obviously Mitsune. Clutzy and big-boobed Taeko, which is Mutsumi of course. There's also rich-girl Maya, which definately falls to the not-so creepy Kanako category. Finally, there's Chika, the Kaolla. Before I forget, a sort-of Haitani and Shirai also comes into action as a Train-maniac and a Cosplay-pervert like their predecessors, their names are easilly forgotten. The main character, Kaoru is a replacement of the loser-perv Keitaro. He's someone that girls would actually fall in love with.

I never liked the manga of Ai Yori Aoshi, probably because of its poorly drawn characters but I heard that it's a lot like Love Hina so I thought I'll give it a shot. When I saw Ai Yori Aoshi, the character designs are very good and likable. it was a tad slow and dramatic at the first few episodes as expected. But lo and behold, when Taeko and Tina comes into place, there's chaos and R-rating-ish fun that comes about.

All in all, I would recommend this anime series. It gets serious sometimes with Kaoru's bitter past and all. Except for a few parts, it isn't half as good as Love Hina. As conclusion, it's a serious, more "mature", slower paced, not LMFAO, and Naru-free Love Hina.

6. ND

After seeing the manga series first, the anime version of Ai Yori Aoshi is improved in story and drawings (in my opinion, that is ^^). It's just one of those romance series with a little bit of ecchi mixed in it. The story is Aoi (very cute Anime character) search for his childhood crush, Kaoru. After their fated encounter, Karou start living with Aoi, along with other sexy, big booby girls. -_-; Anyways the story is very predictable and obvious. At first Karou and Aoi's love had few obstacles and they eventually overcame their problems. Also most female characters in the series seem to have crush on Karou. This series tries to be funny by adding perversity and clumsiness of each character. Aoi is very cute, very very cute (sorry, I get off the subject easily whenever I see cute characters), but that's not the reason why I rate this series. The story is not original and feels like Love Hina, except it's less violent. But the animation is very high quality, and that's what makes this series worth watching. The character designs are much cuter than the manga drawings (it is totally my opinion, so don't hate me for all those people who like manga series better). It won't be surprising if there's a sequel, because there are more stories to go based on its manga series.

5. Yogi

It’s a guy being perused by a devoted girl. Of course, he find himself surrounded by other women as well. However, there is no real question from the beginning of the show as to which girl he would be with. Of course, that doesn’t prevent them from having subplots with the other girls falling for him. However, these subplots never seriously start any real romantic conflict. Of course, that is a GOOD thing since the Main Girl is a complete doormat. Damn dying gasp of the extremely misogynistic aspect Japanese culture! No one really breaks out of the mode for a rather normal romantic comedy.

4. Himiko

Ai Yori Aoshi is a wonderful new anime that has opened the spring anime line-up with a BANG :D The only way I can describe it is Love Hina for adults. Aoi Sakuraba is a young lady that has wanted to be with Kaoru Hanabishi ever since she was little. She travels to where Kaoru currently is living and tells him that she is his fiancé?. Kaoru soon remembers Aoi from his childhood and slowly starts to fall in love with her. They decide to live together and Aoi finds out the horrible secret of why Kaoru left the Hanabishi family. Since Aoi comes from a very wealthy and prestigious family such as Kaoru they soon become apposed by both sides of their families. Of course, no actual anime can ALWAYS be a fairy tale. There are always people who oppose such things as that. This anime is a great break from the weird and somewhat cheesy anime romances. The character interaction is the whole reason you need to watch this anime. Even a person that doesn't like romance will love Ai Yori Aoshi. With beautiful background music and a wonderful storyline it's a major must see!

3. Eso

Hanabishi Kaoru is a 20 year old college student that lives by himself in a rugged, yet humble, apartment. A petal from a sakura tree drops as Kaoru walks to class. He looks back for a moment. Later in the day, he meets a strange girl wearing a wafuku (a type of kimono) struggling with the ways of Tokyo's train system. He offers to help her, and well, to make a synopsis short, Kaoru finds out that the girl is Sakuraba Aoi, a girl from his past, and that she wants to marry him.

Ai Yori Aoshi is yet another romance/comedy series to grace the love-sick otakus of the world, however, stereotypical as it may sound, this one really goes for the heart. From the first few episodes, Aoi's love for Kaoru is made clear and his returning of her love develops. What prevents this series from receiving a full 5 stars is the "supporting" cast of characters. All the girls are after Kaoru, and frankly, half of them are created in such a way that you would just want to stop the furrowing in your brow and just smack some random object. And since all the girls are after Kaoru, this seperates Kaoru from Aoi-chan, but do not lose all hope for Aoi and Kaoru always find time for themselves near the end of each episode (amazingly enough). Character development is stretched nicely and helps the viewer understand the behavior of Kaoru and Aoi. Ai Yori Aoshi almost takes on an episodic feel, and I felt there almost no threads connecting the episodes together, except the growth of Kaoru and Aoi's relationship. The opening theme and ending theme are performed by Ishida Yoko and The Indigo, and these musical pieces are gems. The animation quality and art style are good and do not leave you with a feeling of cheapness and reused cels. The sentimental mush is kept to the level where you don't gag, instead, you grow fonder of the relationship; it's a beautiful thing.

2. Cross Scars

Comparisons to other series are inevitable with Ai Yori Aoshi. In several ways it's similar to the likes of Love Hina and the multitude of other series where one lucky guy finds himself surrounded by lots of cute girls.

Yet while Love Hina focused primarily on the comic side of events Ai Yori Aoshi is much more concerned with the main relationship in the series between Kaoru and Aoi. Although the relationship does slowly develop over the course of the series one can't help but feel that there's perhaps too much filler in the middle. The series starts out very promising but bar a few episodes in between it doesn't really regain its interest until near the end. Most of this is down to the fact that Aoi and Kaoru are together from the start and so that doesn't sow the kind of doubt that series like Kimagure Orange Road or Escaflowne did with their love triangles and which kept you hooked on the series. Nor does the series through up the same kind problems as Kare Kano did which made the series so interesting and fun to watch even if the main couple were together from very early on in the series.

If the series half been half the number of episodes it is it might have been more enjoyable as we would have been spared numerous episodes which aren't that amusing and which don't add much to the feelings behind the characters. Ai Yori Aoshi is a very cute series but unfortunately it just doesn't really do anything new to make it overly exciting to watch. There are numerous relationship animes out there which do things much better and that are worth the effort seeking out even if they're older and harder to find.

1. Olmanek

You weren't expecting an epic story were you? Good, you won't be getting one, this is the quiet story of two formerly betrothed people meeting again and capturing for themselves a small place of happiness in the world after hardships on both parts, some tragic, some showing amazing determination and some keeping intact the good nature of the person which could easily have disappeared. I know it's all terribly soppy, and isn't the best story out there, it's a little unrealistic, but it presumes nothing, it doesn't force itself onto you, just a relaxed story of love and romance and finding happiness. I couldn't think of anything more enjoyable when you're in a nice complacent/sombre mood, or almost any mood, it is quite good at converting you.

Our characters are a little transparent, Aoi (our female lead) being far too giving and polite, Kaoru (male lead) once again having that inexplicable quality that makes countless females fall for him, anyone actually know what that quality is? It'd sure be great to have it. Our other characters are all nice, again, transparent, but serving their purpose, making the series light hearted and happy, no great insights into the human psyche, no mecha battles, our male lead is even a little decisive, it's really very enjoyable. The colour designs were good, and I was pleased with a lot of the background animation, it suited the atmosphere of the series well. Really there is nothing to complain about, and even if there was you still feel so good after watching it you'd forget.