Customer Reviews

Video Girl Ai, Vol. 14

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The fifth volume of Video Girl Ai starts of with a cautionary tale as Ai's creator makes her witness the birth of "Mai", a non-defective version of Ai who will do his bidding and not fall in love with the person she's supposed to help. But in a sadistic moment of experimentation, he gives Mai to someone unpure of heart, Naoto, who supposedly is in love with Nobuko. Besides bringing happiness to her master, Mai has another mission....to kill Ai! As Noboku and Yota continue to drift apart, Ai's memories begin to return and along with them, her love for Yota. But with Mai roaming around, will they have time to renew their relationship?

When Yota isn't busy stringing along 3 girls at a time, he can be quite likeable. At times though, his failure to commit to any of the girls in his life make him very annoying. Ai's creator is especially intriguing because we still haven't really got an explanation of who he is or what his purpose in creating video girls really is. Masakazu Katsura's art is beautiful and realistic and painstakingly drawn. His fondness for accentuating adolescent angst can get tiring sometimes but when you have 14 volumes you can drag things out as much as you want, for good or bad. The lack of Yota's decisiveness does create an element of suspense though for future volumes. A good read.

I would also recommend the anime series Ah My Goddess.

I live for this book and now its all over. If you think I'm a perv for reading this book, well that your fault for not realizing how wonderful this manga is. GO buy the whole seriers. You won't go wrong.

Yota has broken up with Moemi and has decided that it's Ai he loves, or needs, or something. But Ai thinks he just feels sorry for her and doubts his resolve and his motivation and rejects his overtures of love. Meanwhile, her tape is running out and she has yet to "join in the bonds of love" with a human man, whatever these bonds may be. The old Gokaraku clerk has decided to help with the process of making Ai human but he has to have the consent of Yota to proceed with his plans. The reason being that if the plan is carried out, Ai's mysterious creator will most likely want to kill all of them. Is Yota prepared to risk his life for Ai? Is he willing to put his so called love on the line, with death being a possibility?

I have to say I was hugely disappointed by this last volume of the main story arc of Video Girl Ai. I cannot believe that after all these volumes of manga, Yota is still clueless when it comes to his feelings. I could see wavering between Ai and Moemi in Volume 6 or 7, but in the concluding chapter of the series? In the end, Yota and Ai's relationship was one that always bordered on being like the love between two middle school students with no depth or tenderness. It was mostly about selfishness and greed. And a huge lack of communication. Even in the most perfect of worlds I just don't see this couple working out. Yota is too indecisive, too self-analyzing, while Ai is immature, secretly submissive, and weak. Flawed children do not make good lifemates. Another thing that bothered me was the complete lack of explanation regarding the identity of Ai's creator and the other dimension he comes from. Was he a demon, and angel, something else? And what is the purpose of making video girls? None of this is gone into anywhere in the series which is kinda cheap. Video Girl Ai is a series that never lived up to its potential but instead made its own realm of mediocrity. What a shame.