"Ai yori aoshi" (2002) TV series

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Masami Shimoda

Writers:

Kou Fumizuki (comic)
Kenichi Kanemaki (series written by)

Seasons:

1

Genre:

Animation | Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Do you remember your first love?

Plot:

A naive, traditional girl from the country goes to the city to find the boy she was engaged to as a young girl, and the two childhood friends fall in love.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Hope | Childhood Sweetheart | Anime | Surrealism

Cast

Tony Pope	...	Fish Vendor / ... (24 episodes, 2002)
Karen Strassman	...	Bus Intercom / ... (24 episodes, 2002)

Also Known As:

"Bluer Than Indigo" (USA)
"Bluer Than Indigo: Fate" (USA)

Runtime:

USA:120 min (24 episodes)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Company:

Aoao Kikaku

Trivia:

The title, Ai Yori Aoshi ("Bluer Than Indigo") is based on an old Chinese proverb: blue dye is made from indigo colored grass, yet the blue dye's color is much deeper than the color of its origin. In another words, the pupil has exceeds the master.

Movie Connections:

Followed by "Ai yori aoshi 'enishi'" (2003)

Sweet and addicting series, but...

To sum it up quickly, Ai Yori Aoshi is about a college student named Kaoru who meets a sweet, kimono-wearing girl named Aoi. Aoi is looking for a boy from her past whom she has been in love with all her life. Kaoru helps the lost Aoi in her search, and they both eventually realize that he is the boy from her past. There is MUCH more to it than that, but let's get down to brass tacks: the first four episodes of this show rule. They are sweet and touching, and the relationship between Kaoru and Aoi becomes solid in merely these four episodes. If they kept the series with just them as characters, I would be thrilled.

But they don't.

Eventually, Kaoru and Aoi are moved to a big mansion, and this great romance series becomes another typical "harem" anime. Don't get me wrong - the series still rocks, but it GREATLY loses its punch when this happens. More beautiful females with their own personalities move in, and the relationship between Kaoru and Aoi is mentioned less. Normally, the harem motif is awesome, but it slowed down this series. That proves how good this show is. If only the relationship between just two fictional anime characters can draw you in, that means that Ai Yori Aoshi is a winner.