Product Details

• Actors: Tony Pope, Karen Strassman, Soichiro Hoshi, Ayako Kawasumi, Akiko Hiramatsu
• Directors: Masami Shimoda
• Writers: Katsuhiko Takayama, Kenichi Kanemaki, Kou Fumizuki, Masashi Kubota
• Format: Animated, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Geneon [Pioneer]
• DVD Release Date: April 22, 2003
• Run Time: 125 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00008DDG1
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #74,027 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The cast expands as Taeko, a girl from Kaoru's university, joins the odd ménage at the Sakuraba family mansion and Tina, the loudmouth American, buys a pet ferret. Although Taeko is supposed to become the housekeeper, she breaks, spills, burns, and otherwise destroys everything she touches. Aoi--the heiress to zillions--cheerfully cooks for everyone and cleans the enormous mansion by herself. The relationship between Kaoru and Aoi slowly blossoms, but the scenes of them shyly holding hands and exchanging confidences don't jibe with the often gross humor that includes fan service shots of lingerie and jiggling breasts. Another romantic comedy involving mismatched (mostly female) roommates, Ai Yori Aoshi is clearly aimed at Love Hina fans. But Kaoru is so bland, he makes Keitaro look dynamic, and Aoi lacks Naru's rambunctious appeal. (Rated 13 and older: nudity, risqué humor, alcohol use, comic violence) --Charles Solomon

Product Description
Miyabi, Tina, and now Taeko. These are the girls living in the Sakuraba Mansion with Kaoru and Aoi that are not Kaoru’s girlfriends! While Kaoru succeeds in remaining faithful, the misunderstandings and challenges from these girls and the crazy situations they experience may still lead to bodily injury for our hero. Between ferrets and wild bathhouse parties, clumsy housekeepers and romantic evenings alone with women you are trying not to date, Kaoru can’t stay out of trouble! Then again, his pain is our entertainment…

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For Love Hina Type Fans, May 12, 2003

By	Courtland J. Carpenter (Fort Wayne, Indiana United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This Series which had an excellent first few episodes degrades quickly to traditional lite anime plot devices. The pet, the clumsy person, the letchers, the ghost stories, etc. There are still occasional moments of a growing love relationship between the two principal characters, and that makes it fair. Unfortunately the original promise of the series does not reappear until near the of its 26 episode run. Fans of the romantic genre should wait for upcoming release of Maison Ikkoku.
If you have to buy everything romantic thats out there ok, but remember this is simply light fan fair for most of the remaining episodes. You get the obligatory crushes, beach episodes, and road trips. If you skip to the last DVD in the series after buying the first and just get those two you really won't miss much in between.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Series!, April 24, 2003

By	GAIL BRANDT (Baton Rouge,LA United States) - See all my reviews

At first many people who look at it may say it looks like another Love Hina,which I also collect,but let me tell you it isn't really.The characters are great.The stories are more original.In some ways it is much better than Love Hina.I fully recommend this series to any anime fans who love romance animes.Believe me you won't be sorry.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The vote is still out..., October 4, 2004

By	J. Fink "hodgemo2" (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

I keep flipping back and forth on this anime. It came highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a good romantic comedy anime, and can stomach a fair amount of fan service. I know that the amazon.com review says "for Love Hina fans" but it's not quite in the same ballpark. Love Hina (IMHO) was much more lighthearted, with a fair amount of slapstick humor. Ai Yori Aoshi seems to take itself a little more seriously. (Although the 2nd disc is WAY more lighthearted than the 1st) There seems to be a message out there, although I haven't quite figured out what that is.


In the interest of time saving, and in an attempt to not repeat (too much) what other reviewers have said, here is a brief diatribe on the pros and cons of Ai Yori Aoshi thus far:
1. The fact that it is more serious at heart is appealing at first, but I find it hard to reconcile this sweet love story with Tina's chest grabbing, and panty shots galore.
2. While it is interesting to see a "traditional Japanese beauty" in Aoi, and to get a look in the more traditional Japanese culture (most animes portray Japan in such a way that you could almost imagine it taking place in the US), in this day and age, it may seem a little outdated. In one of the episodes on disc 2, Aoi goes to the university and doesn't know how to act, or speak, in the slightest. Personally, while I wasn't able to empathize with her character much because of the culture gap, it was her voice that I found most annoying. (I think it is acually the VA who did Chi in Chobits)

3. Also in the cast of characters is an American, and a Japanese girl from England. While it is cool to hear Mayu actually speaking English in the sub version for a minute, and to have a broad background in the characters to get a bigger perspective, I feel this show falls victim to promoting sterotypes.

4. The music is pretty, but doesn't draw you in the way that Steel Angel Kurumi or Love Hina do during the theme songs.

5. The show, thanks to Pioneer is released on 5 discs, which at 26 episodes, is 5-6 episodes a disc! However, there isn't really much in the way of extras, though the inserts have some small amount of information in the way of japanese culture, architecture, etc.


All in all, I would say this is worth a watch. There are some funny moments, though I don't think I've done more than chuckle or snicker. There are some touching moments as well (I'm in love with that ferret! That was the most moved I've been the entire show!). I would recommend it over Please Teacher and His And Her Circumstances (which is a great series for the 1st 2 of 5 discs...then it falls apart and there is absolutely no satisfaction in watching it). But if you can only but a couple of series, buy Love Hina and Steel Angel Kurumi before you give this a shot.