Ai Yori Aoshi #2: My Dearest (DVD)
APPROX. 120 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 0 - MPA RATING: MA13
" The single most frustrating thing about “Ai Yori Aoshi” is that it can’t seem to really decide what it wants to be.
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According to Geneon´s own website, "Ai Yori Aoshi" translates to "True Blue Love," which is pretty much what this show is all about. There are a five episodes on this disc, titled "Family Tradition", "Spiritual Illusion", "Cherished Treasure", "One Night", and "Place of Learning".
In my review of the previous volume, I mentioned the possibility that this show was going to bog down a´ la "Ranma 1/2": too many romantic rivals and goofy situations, not enough forward progress in the plot. I suppose that "Ai Yori Aoshi" has mostly avoided these traps, but not entirely.
A crutch that this show leans on far too often is Aoi catching Kaoru in a compromising, but nevertheless totally innocent, situation. Most of the time, those situations involve Tina. I wouldn´t mind so much if this only happened once in the series, but it seems to keep happening. Even worse, it´s never, ever a surprise. They just as well have added a warning to the start of any episode this happens in, it´s not like I would have been less surprised. The only thing I will say for "Ai Yori Aoshi" on this one point is, at least Aoi just believes Kaoru and the story goes on.
Besides the first episode, which only served to introduce a new girl, Taeko, to the group, the episodes on this disc have considerably more humor than the previous volume. In one episode, Tina brings home a ferret. By its actions and facial expressions, the ferret proves to be just too darn cute to get rid of. In another episode, Aoi and Miyabi rush to the television to catch the latest episode of a truly awful looking soap opera.
Of course, no romantic comedy anime is complete without a trip to the hot springs, and far be it from "Ai Yori Aoshi" to buck the trend. At least there´s relatively little hijinks at the hot spring. This episode actually combines two romantic comedy staples, the hot springs trip and the ghost story episode.
The single most frustrating thing about "Ai Yori Aoshi" is that it can´t seem to really decide what it wants to be. It isn´t bad enough to be pure cheesecake, but neither is it good enough to be a genuine love story. Alongside every scene with character development or plot forwarding is a scene that doesn´t really serve any purpose. There are times when the romantic parts seem flat. I´m not sure I can believe that Aoi would be so hopelessly in love with Kaoru. Also, besides being a nice guy, Kaoru received no development this disc. His history with his family was only touched on once. Oh well, perhaps next volume.
