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Ai Yori Aoshi
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is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Kou Fumizuki, originally serialized in 1998 in Hakusensha's Young Animal, a magazine for young men. The original manga series ended its run in 2005.
The title is taken from a quote from the Chinese philosopher Xun Zi: . The phrase is used in both Chinese and Japanese to mean that, although people are molded by their teacher, they surpass that teacher through their own efforts. The name of the main character, , is pronounced the same way as a ao(i), a version of ao "blue".
Ai Yori Aoshi was made into an anime in 2002 and video games were released for the PlayStation 2 and Windows 98.
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Encyclopedia
is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Kou Fumizuki, originally serialized in 1998 in Hakusensha's Young Animal, a magazine for young men. The original manga series ended its run in 2005.
The title is taken from a quote from the Chinese philosopher Xun Zi: . The phrase is used in both Chinese and Japanese to mean that, although people are molded by their teacher, they surpass that teacher through their own efforts. The name of the main character, , is pronounced the same way as a ao(i), a version of ao "blue".
Ai Yori Aoshi was made into an anime in 2002 and video games were released for the PlayStation 2 and Windows 98. The anime series, directed by Masami Shimoda and animated by J.C.Staff, was completed when its second season, under the title , was completed in 2003. The anime was released in North America by Geneon and in Singapore by Odex. The manga was released in English by Tokyopop. Also, a drama CD series was produced, with slight differences in the voicing cast as compared to the anime.
The series is sometimes referred to as a halfway point between a harem anime and a magical girlfriend story. It is also referred to as as the story is similar to Love Hina, but in a more traditional Japanese style.
Story
Kaoru Hanabishi appears to be an average university student, but in actuality, he's the eldest son of Yuji Hanabishi, the head of the Hanabishi Zaibatsu, and was set to take over the zaibatsu after his father retired. His mother, Kumi Honjo, and his father never married, making life difficult for both him and his mother. Kaoru's father died when he was five years old. Since then, Yuji's grandfather, Gen'ichiro Hanabishi, took Kaoru under his wing and began educating him for the eventual succession. Yet Kaoru never felt at home in the Hanabishi family and left to live by himself after his mother died. Day by day he felt alone, thinking that he was living life with no reason pushing him on.
There was, however, someone who loved Kaoru so much that she'd do whatever was necessary to be with him.
Her name is Aoi Sakuraba. Aoi is the only daughter of the owner of the Sakuraba Kimono (Dry Goods in the manga) Store (later renamed to Sakuraba Department Store). Kaoru's family and Aoi's family had agreed for Kaoru to wed Aoi, but after Kaoru walked out, the marriage was canceled. Both families had a friendly relationship and Aoi had been in love with Kaoru from the start, which Kaoru was unaware of. The Sakuraba family had already been searching for someone suitable, but Aoi was unwilling to marry someone else and walked out, chasing Kaoru.
Both were freed from their families' affairs, but didn't know how to make their living. Miyabi Kagurazaki, who had been looking out for Aoi, offered the two a way. Aoi and Miyabi would live together in a grand western style summer house owned by the Sakuraba family and Kaoru would live in a house for servants next to it. This would prevent a scandal, much like the one that had made Kaoru's life difficult, as the two would be living separately. But soon, Kaoru's friends, who just happen to be attractive females, took residence in the house, and it quickly became a dormitory. Very soon, Aoi became a landlady of the dormitory.
The first season of the anime ends when Aoi's father decides to arrange her marriage with another man, but she refuses, and is locked up. She manages to escape with the help of Miyabi and Aoi spends a day together with Kaoru. Rather than doing what Miyabi expects and eloping, they confront her father the next day and manage to get her father to agree to their relationship. Kaoru's best point in his argument with Aoi's father is the fact that, after having lost his family and enduring the pain of that loss, he doesn't wish to see the same thing happen to Aoi. Her father grudgingly accepts Aoi's choice in order to maintain his relationship with his daughter. In contrast, the manga does not have Kaoru going to meet Aoi's father until the final storyline. Instead it goes into the plot of Kaoru coming to terms with his painful past by confronting his family. The Final Storyline of the manga involves Karou's half brother attempting to gain control of the Hanabishi Zaibatsu by marrying Aoi.
A best effort to map the story elements of the anime to the manga shows that the anime covers between one and two years in the lives of the characters, while the manga covers 4 years of their life.
Enishi
is the second season of an animated television series based on the manga Ai Yori Aoshi. The anime is distributed in DVD format by Geneon in North America. It was originally aired in Japan in 2003. Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi takes place two years after episode one of Ai Yori Aoshi. Enishi, as stated by Aoi, are the bonds that tie people to one another. Kaoru is now a graduate student, and Chika is now a high school student. The other characters are a year further along in the same positions that they were in Ai Yori Aoshi; it has been two years since the first episode of Ai Yori Aoshi. The series is somewhat devoted to slice-of-life episodes for all the characters, whilst the relationship of the two leads, Kaoru and Aoi, is still further developed. Many of the later episodes are used to develop Tina Foster's character. The end of the final episode includes brief glimpses at the near-term futures of the show's characters following the series' end. There is a total of twelve episodes in this season.
Enishi Special
A sixteen minute short was made as somewhat of a prelude to the series, whilst most likely being it's official ending and summary at the same time. (having needed to have seen the entire series to understand).
It also shows the full cast of main characters, but as a never having met basis, and a very fantasy-based episode. The episode is set at Christmas time, a year or two before the very first episode of Ai Yori Aoshi began.
Characters
Main Characters:
Kaoru Hanabishi - male lead,
Aoi Sakuraba - female lead,
Tina Foster - adventurous blonde,
Miyabi Kagurazaki - boss lady,
Taeko Minazuki - klutz maid,
Mayu Miyuki - elegant youngster,
Chika Minazuki - energetic youngster,
Uzume - delinquent ferret.
Minor characters:
Chizuru Aizawa - shy youngster,
Natsuki Komiya - athletic youngster,
Ruka Saionji - Mayu's minder,
Suzuki - photo club guy into trains,
Sato - photo club guy into idols
Media
Episodes
Manga
Besides sharing many similarities in the storyline with the two anime series, the manga also expands on parts not covered in the anime, such as Kaoru's younger brother, and Miyabi's past.
- Volume 1 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13371-4; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-645-4) From about February of Kaoru's 2nd year in college to three months later.
- Volume 2 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13372-2; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-646-2) From the end of Volume 1 to fall.
- Volume 3 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13373-0; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-647-0) From early Christmas season to Cherry blossom time in the second year.
- Volume 4 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13374-9; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-648-9) From April to early May.
- Volume 5 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13375-7; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-649-7)
- Volume 6 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13376-5; English Edition: ISBN 1-59182-650-0)
- Volume 7 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13377-3; English Edition: ISBN 1-59532-370-8) Mostly during summer break in the second year.
- Volume 8 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13378-1; English Edition: ISBN 1-59532-371-6) From late in the second year to celebrating Kaoru's admission to graduate school early in the third year.
- Volume 9 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13379-X; English Edition: ISBN 1-59532-372-4)
- Volume 10 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13440-0; English Edition: ISBN 1-59532-373-2)About one week in the spring of the third year
- Volume 11 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13441-9; English Edition: ISBN 1-59532-374-0)About one week in the spring of the third year
- Volume 12 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13442-7; English Edition: ISBN 1-59532-375-9)
- Volume 13 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13443-5; English Edition: ISBN 1-59532-376-7)Three days in the summer of the third year
- Volume 14 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13444-3; English Edition: ISBN 1-59816-201-2)Three days in the summer of the third year
- Volume 15 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13445-1; English Edition: ISBN 1-59816-202-0)
- Volume 16 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13446-X; English Edition: ISBN 1-59816-838-9)
- Volume 17 (Japanese Edition: ISBN 4-592-13447-8; English Edition: ISBN 1-59816-839-8) From autumn of the third year and the epilogue four years later
Video games
KID Corp. published a Playstation 2 video game based on the series in 2003, and was released in English for Windows PCs by Hirameki International. That game was re-released in 2005 by SUCCESS Corporation with bonus footage and mini-games.
J.C.Staff published 2 games on Windows 98, which were separated into 2 titles based on seasons. Each title comes with voice and screen saver collection.
Theme songs
Ai Yori Aoshi
Opening theme:
Ending theme:
Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi
Opening theme:
Ending themes:
External links
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