Ai yori aoshi 

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.

Stars:

Tony Pope, Karen Strassman, Sôichirô Hoshi

Cast

Series cast summary:
Tony Pope	...	Fish Vendor / ... 24 episodes, 2002
Karen Strassman	...	Bus Intercom / ... 24 episodes, 2002

Storyline

Kaoru Hanabishi is a college student with a mysterious and painful past, involving his wealthy family whom he walked out on years ago. He encounters a young girl, newly arrived from the countryside, and takes her in to assist her in adjusting to urban life. He discovers to his shock that the girl is his childhood fiancée Aoi Sakuraba, whom he was engaged to before he left his family... and who has left her home and come a great distance to be with her betrothed. Can this couple manage to live and survive together in the cruel and harsh world?

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Plot Keywords:

love | surrealism | true love | kindness | innocence | 

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Taglines:

Do you remember your first love?

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Genres:

Animation | Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

TV-14

Did You Know?

Trivia

The characters' names contain meanings that reflect their history:

• Kaoru Hanabishi: "kaoru" means "fragrant", and "hanabishi" is a flower-shaped crest.
• Aoi Sakuraba: "aoi" means "blue" (and also translates to "hollyhock"), and "sakuraba" means "cherry blossom".
• Miyabi Kagurazaki: "miyabi" means "refinement", hinting at her being Aoi's guardian
• Taeko Minazuki: "taeko" means "delicate child", referring to her clumsy personality.
• Mayu Miyuki: "mayu" means "cocoon", referring to her family owning a silk company (silk is made from cocoons)
• Chika Minazuki: "chika" means "near".
• Uzume: Uzume is named after Ame-no-Uzume, the goddess of Japanese Mythology who was responsible for luring Amaterasu out of the Heavenly Cave.

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Crazy Credits

The ending credits for each episode shows a sepia-colored image from that episode.

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Alternate Versions

In the Japanese language version, Tina Foster practices the well known song "Happy Birthday to You" while walking with her groceries. Later at Aoi's birthday party, everyone sings "Happy Birthday to You" to Aoi. In the English dub the song "Happy Birthday to You" has been replaced with another tune with some other lyrics. The song was changed so Pioneer did not need to license the song for the English dub.

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Connections

Followed by Ai yori aoshi 'enishi' (2003)

User Reviews

A great harem anime!

This is a great harem anime and I loved how the characters were drawn and the animation but this has some wonderful characters.

I liked Kaoru he is still a nice guy despite a very troubled and abused past then there's Aoi a very kind, polite young woman who actually loves him and there is doubt the feelings between them are all too real.

They move in together with Aoi's guardian Miyabi watching over them who can be strict but she does have a good heart, really does care about Aoi and does warm up to Kaoru.

Then other girls come in and I think making this a harem actually made it all the more interesting because all of the girls of Ai Yori Aoshi are nothing short of likable. While Kaoru loves Aoi he does care about the rest of the girls and treats them as friends.

I loved this anime though I also read the manga which is better and tells a more complete story.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

2002 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Bluer Than Indigo: Fate

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aoao Kikaku

Technical Specs

Color:

Color