Ai Yori Aoshi(Apr 11, 2002 – Sept 26, 2002), Bluer than Indigo 
Director: Masami Shimoda
Romantic-Comedy, Drama, 
Key Words: Slice of Life, Harem, Nudity, 
Studio: J.C.Staff Licensed American Publisher: Funimation

Episodes: 12

My Thoughts: The story line is a rather interesting version of Romeo and Juliet almost. A boy who isn’t liked because he denounced his name and a girl who wishes nothing more then to be with him even against her parents wishes. It’s a rather romantic story, and then they have to add everyone else into the mix and well, we get this. Not to say this show is bad, its just… it gets dull after a while with pretty much every trick in the book being done to keep the two apart from roommates that get in a way to time they have separated from each other and even the family problems. I’m happy it’s not a slice of life in a school (and it’s not… technically…) but it sure feels like one. I most of the time wanted to bash a couple heads together and yell ‘GET TO THE POINT!’ but yet, I have to sit through some of the slowest moving pieces until someone finally gets to a punchline and then I feel myself sitting there sometimes asking ‘how the heck did that happen and where was the fun?’ I do have to mention now that this is one of my favorites of the genre, its just does have a lot of flaws though the good points.

Ai is so adorable though her personality is a little two innocent. She seems way to matter of fact and logical. She also sounds like a broken record in that she keeps going on about becoming his wife. She feels much like a Mary Sue character in that with almost everything she does, she does well and the stuff she isn’t good at is done in a way that makes her more Moe (and now I’m thinking about Konata’s saying from Lucky Star ‘Clumsy is sexy…’) to the point where I just want to smack her. Luckily, she doesn’t go into the realm that I would want her to be attacked by one of the girls from When They Cry, but she sometimes gets close to it. 

Kaoru though seems well put together or else it’s because he is around crazy people. Sometimes I even wonder if they put him in the middle of all these crazies just to show how bland he really was. There are times though that I wish he wasn’t so easily pushed into doing things he didn’t want to do or would hurt Ai if she took it the wrong way. Unfortunately, both main characters are actually less interesting then the characters around them and the story just seemed to become dull just because I wanted to learn more about the characters and it wouldn’t let me. The arrange marriage thing is hard for me to think of in the modem day sense and makes me wonder if it actually happens still. There is a lot of fan service in this and it makes me feel really sad because it really didn’t need it! 

Now we go into the extras and the reason why I call them extras and not supporting characters is this… they do not support anything. They are there to tear the two main characters apart and bring comedy into what could be even more boring story plot. I think without them, I would never have been able to get into the story. Their fun antics, although annoying at times, made me smile and laugh to break up the tension of a hard core sad areas. I do believe without them, the ending would not be as heart retching as it was because it seemed to have more meaning. 

The artwork is so beautiful and shows a lot of detail throughout the show. The backgrounds are rich in detail for the most part but there are times that it looks rather low in contrast. The comical points are really odd looking, where most of the artwork during that time pretty much lacks. The opening is rather nice in following the sweet music for that. But seems almost like Ranma’s opening in how they made it. 

The Voices are interesting, and Ai’s seems way too breathy. The English is a little off, almost like it’s a exact translation and I wish they would change it a bit. Some characters were a little creepy in voice and I was a little disappointed in that. The Japanese is alright even if it’s pretty standard for this type of show. The Japanese and English Ai sound very close to each other. It’s a little nice that way but also somewhat bothersome. 

The music is so pretty for the opening and closing that I actually looked for the opening music on its own. The other background music is a little to sappy even for the happy moments and sometimes breaks the mood.

Rating:
Pretty wonderful artwork and the story line is pretty well but the voices are where it loses a bit of stars.

Other Reviews:

Also Recommended: His and Her Circumstances, Oh My Goddess!, Maison Ikkoku, Please Teacher,