Customer Reviews

Ai Yori Aoshi, Vol. 1

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Kou Fumizuki's manga series Ai Yori Aoshi has so far published nine of the (I believe) fifteen volumes here in the US. Each manga is divided into ten or so chapters of roughly twenty pages each. It has also spawned 25 half hour anime episodes and a second season of 12, the Enishi series. AYA is a romantic drama/comedy based on the reunion of Aoi Sakuraba and Kaoru Hanabishi, who were betrothed to each other eighteen years ago, when they were both little tykes. They played with each other and Kaoru was very kind to Aoi.

However, Aoi, now in her twenties, goes out in search of Kaoru when she discovers their engagement is off, and to find out why. Aoi, dressed in a traditional kimono amid the Western-clothed populace, She is quite bewildered at the Tokyo train station system, as it is her first time out alone and the lack of kindness in the busy metropolis. A young man helps her find the right direction train platform and even mends her hanao, the strap on her sandal. Guess who it happens to be?

To Aoi, Kaoru is the best thing that has happened to her. "When I think of him, I am truly grateful that I was born in this world," she tells him before she realizes who he is. But with her reappearance, Aoi is the best thing that has happened to Kaoru, as she cooks the best meal he's had in ages, and her habit of clutching things when she sleeps includes Kaoru, who gets flustered. She is also overly polite, cute, kind, and later, as it turns out, overly trusting, but quite a worrier. In fact she initially thought Kaoru left the Hanabishis because he hated her.

As for Kaoru, a college student, he had a rough time with the Hanabishis, his adopted family, who owns one of Japan's keiretsus (conglomerates) and after suffering years of abuse from the patriarch of the Hanabishi, severed ties with them to live alone. He even initially distrusts Aoi, thinking the Hanabishi sent her over as a lure to bring him back,

A brief separation occurs when Miyabi Kagurazaki, the tall stern businesswoman in charge of Aoi's education, comes to take her back, but in the end, Aoi and Kaoru are left to start their new life together, but under Miyabi's care. The series will introduce Kaoru's fellow student, the American Tina Foster, Taeko Minazuki, another student who becomes housekeeper to them, the spoiled rich kid Mayu, whom Kaoru befriended a few years back and who now has an insufferable crush on him, and the adorable Chika, Taeko's spunky and energetic cousin. All of them become like a great family together.

There are a few racy shots of Aoi, while she's showering or in the bath, part of the fan service, to be sure, but overall, she is one ideal woman. The literal translation for the title, Ai Yori Aoshi, means "bluer than indigo," but with "ai" also meaning "love" in Japanese, the title can also mean "true blue love."

At the end, Aoi says to Kaoru, "I am an inexperienced person, but please regard me kindly." As a reader who considers Ai Yori Aoshi my favourite manga AND anime series, I all but regard this series kindly, especially its sweet and lovable heroine.

Kaoru Hanabishi was a lonely college stundent, who had willingly left his father's family, even after they had adopted him. Now, into his life, came a pretty young girl. A girl named Aoi Sakuraba who had come to marry him. A girl he hadn't seen since leaving home.
The problem is, in order for her family to approve of this marriage, he would have to go back to the family he hates. Will he go back to his family? Will she leave her's? What will the families do?
The first volume has the first ten chapters and seem to be the foundation for the first four (of five) anime episodes of the First DVD. The manga is for age 16 and up, higher than the DVDS, because mangas can get away with just a TOUCH more in mature scenes and adult humor. I would suggest you only buy it if you are a REAL fan of the anime OR don't have the anime.

Basically this is a very normal story, in that it doesn't have any sci-fi/fantasy twists. It is very sweet and romantic how Aoi is a young and wealthy heiress who decided to seek out her betrothed Kaoru after finding out without explaination that their bethrothal had been ended. I like how very traditional she is, it teaches me a lot about Japanese culture and tradititions that I didn't know. The storylines are cute and sweet as well as dramatic. So far Kaoru is still in school and he and Aoi are engaged and growing more and more deeply in love, but their relationship is still a secret and all of the women in his life except Aoi's protector still don't have a clue about it and they all also have the hots for him, setting up that typical and annoying 'harem' situation. For some reason just about every girl in his life decided to move into the boarding house Kaoru lives in which is next to the mansion Aoi lives in posing as their landlady. So he and Aoi have to steal kisses and such for the few seconds in the day when he isn't being harassed by all of these girls. I've read up to volume eight so far and overall find it amusing, heart warming and captivating. I would appreciate a little closure between Kaoru and Aoi but another good feature, and somewhat rare in most of the manga I've read, is that the characters actually age along with the series. For example, by the end of volume 8 it's been two years since Aoi and Kaoru reunited. No matter how annoyed that I get however, by the fact that Kaoru and Aoi have been engaged for over two years and are still keeping it a secret I keep buying the books, that's how much I like it.

The first volume of "Ai Yori Aoshi" reads like a minor revalation to anyone who is experienced with the shonen romance genre. Sweet and emotional, this is a far cry from the typical mind-numbing comedy of the genre. In a single volume it manages to establish a pair of characters who, despite lacking depth, you care about thanks to the well crafted plot of traditional social constraints conflicting with individual passions.

Unfortunatally, after this the series falls into the traditonal "harem" formula, with a wild troupe of babes living under the same roof as our love-struck young couple, Aoi and Karou. From this point, many of the volumes become tedious; alternating between corny and tedious attempts at slice-of-life stories and idiotic, fanservice-laden comedy chapters (the author has one of the most generic senses of humor I've even encountered in manga). Still, the emotionaly tender and heartfelt story of this volumes manages to shine through even in those later volumes, making them worthwhile reads. I'm a dozen-or-so volumes into the series, and while it never replicates the charm of this opening volume, I've stuck with it, and considering the contempt I have for the shonen romance/harem genre, that's saying something.

"Ai Yori Aoshi" (in English, "Bluer than Blue") is shaping up to be one of the best romance mangas, up there with "Maison Ikkoku" and "Love Hina." Japanese comics tend to fall firmly into "boy's comics" and "girl's comics," and this story is intended to be for boys, but I think it crosses gender pretty easily. The story is quite sweet, but with some wacky humor thrown in for good measure, and a few curveball characters.

Aside from the usual screwball antics, there is some real tenderness between the two main characters, Kaoru Hanabishi and Aoi Sakuraba, that sets this series apart from other romance-comics. Also, unlike most in the genre, the two characters are happily in love with each other and they both know it from the very beginning. This beginning volume sets the stage for the story, introducing the characters and such. When the full cast is assembled, the fun begins.

The inside art is really nice, much better than the covers lead you to believe. The style is pretty usual, but it is very nicely done. A great comic, one that you really can't go wrong with. Pick up this first volume and find yourself hooked!

Kaoru Hanabishi, a lonely good-hearted college boy, who has cut ties with his father's family had a "normal" college life living by himself. Now all of that quiet life shattered when he meet a pretty young girl, Aoi Sakuraba, lost in a train station. She is on her way to meet somebody in his town and much to his surprise, Aoi is actually looking for him!

After much flirtations and right out confession of being engaged when they were kids, Kaoru grown attraction to his new found fiancee, along with it, some mature urgings. Then he finds out Aoi ran away from her current arranged marriage and the only way for him to be with her is to either go back to his estranged family, or Aoi to leave hers.

To answer your question, YES! As the front cover shows, this graphic novel IS for 18-SX mature readers, due to the available mature scenes and adult humor only 18+ could actually understand. The artwork is beautiful and dialogs are engaging as well as funny. Plots are simple. I had an awesome time reading this one.

I won't recap the story or anything, but I picked up the manga in the store and found it to be a fantastic read. It's an extremely adorable and heart-warming love story, with plenty of plot and suspense and so forth. No action, or super-human magic/technology or anything like that, which makes it that much more sincere and close to home.

Kaoru Hanabishi has moved to the big city to live his own life away from the family that disowned him and is currently attending college. Yeah, he has freedom, but freedom is lonely. That's when he helps an 18 year old girl, Aoi Sakuraba, who is lost and in distress at the train station. She tells him all a sob story that when she was growing up she had fallen in love with a young boy friend and that she always felt it was her destiny to marry him. She hasn't seen him in years and all she has is an address. When Kaoru asks to see a picture of the guy he is shocked to learn that the person she was looking for is HIMSELF! The rest of the volume is about the budding relationship that starts up even though parts of Kaoru's past will make it very difficult, if not impossible, for them to marry.

This manga was very well done. The art is glowing and the sexual tension, romance, and characterization are all masterfully balanced. Sometimes I believe this artform is at its best when it involves relationships and subtlety instead of confused kung fu fights where you can't even tell what's going on. There is a tenderness between these two characters that is so often missing between couples in the real world where romance is seen as a pathological disease. There is no struggle for dominance between Kaoru and Aoi. We could all probably learn a lot from their unconditional love.

Its a romance manga where the main charicter make the book i have to say it is very good it kept me on the edge of me seat but it made oly four stars in my opinion because they kept the suspence running longer then i would like and its laking in one way or another but its still a great manga and a wonderful tale of devotion and love i recomend reaing this one if you love romance stories.

The funny thing is that this manga follows closely along with my own story as well as my boyfriend's! We were both separated as children and he has scars from a childhood illness. I am a girl, but I agree that it could easily be for girls as well as boys if you don't mind all the tasteless guyish jokes and nudity. The storyline is what keeps me reading along! :)