Back in the Day - Video Girl Ai 03/06/2010.

If only there was some way to bring the girl in the TV into reality.

Well, rent your videos from a little video store named Gokuraku (Paradise) and your wish may come true. Just make sure you play them on a quality player, otherwise the results may not be as advertised. Other than that, Video Girl Ai is a normal romantic comedy floating around unrequited love. Created by Masakazu Katsura in 1990, “Video Girl Ai” the manga ran until 1993 totaling 15 volumes. In 1991 a live action movie was made and, finally, in 1992 we got Video Girl Ai the anime in OVA form produced by I.G. Tatsunoko. Even though the OVA only spanned 6 episodes, enough to cover the first arc of the manga, it’s a faithful interpretation of the manga with it’s own definite ending. It covers the bases just fine. Boy loves girl, girl loves other boy, boy gets video girl to help him get girl, video girl ends up falling for boy. It has all the twists and turns anyone could ever want from a story of romance with comedy tossed in the mix, along with a pinch of sci-fi.

Our main man is Yota Moteuchi and he has a serious crush on his classmate, the beautiful Moemi Hayakawa. The bad news for him is that she loves his best friend, Takashi Niimai. What’s a guy to do? Well, in Yota’s case he ends up renting a video from Gokuraku, a video store that only the pure of heart can find. Once he plays the tape on his VCR he gets much more than he bargained for. Seeing that he is in real need of someone to cheer him up and help his situation, the lovely Ai Amano decides to step right out of his TV and into his life. Unfortunately for her, Yota’s VCR has, as he put it, “been a little flaky since this morning”, so her personality (and chest) isn’t everything it’s meant to be. Whether Ai was meant to be as spunky and energetic as she is or if that’s another way Yota’s faulty VCR affected her is unclear, either way Ai is cute, adorable and quite the rambunctious little trickster. Our protagonist is quite the normal, but very kindhearted, kind of guy who’s also honest and says what’s on his mind. So as the story progresses it’s understandable why Ai could fall for him. From the moment Yota first played Ai’s tape in his VCR she has 30 days to help him win the love of Moemi. As the story unfolds, with flashbacks that come and go, drama and heartache play out side by side of one another. Yota is such a nice guy that he gives advice to Moemi about what she should do to gain the affection of Takashi who, by the way, has no interest in Moemi at all. This infuriates Yota to no end and you can’t help feeling for the poor guy. He honestly has a thing for Moemi but she has no idea of his true feelings for her.

Ah, but what about Ai’s feelings? She basically ends up in the same boat Yota’s in. It’s a triple whammy of unrequited love once Ai starts to fall for Yota, which may have been from the very first “saving grace” Ai noted of Yota. All of this is new for Ai as well. She’s a video girl and, as she tells Yota while holding him from behind, “Video girls aren’t able to fall in love.” But then follows it up thinking to herself with tears in her eyes “But… but… why does my heart hurt so much?” It’s one of the stronger scenes in Video Girl Ai and it’s likely the first time you’ll start to feel for Ai as well. Another very strong scene in the anime, if not the absolute strongest, is the glass staircase scene which takes place in the video world. Yota forces his way into the video world in pursuit of Ai after realizing he cares for her more than he realized once she confesses her love for him. There he ends up on a glass staircase that leads to Ai, and if he really loves her, he’ll make his way to her. It’s step by painful bloody step as the glass cracks and breaks away, cutting him each and every time. It’s a real testament to how painful love can be and the lengths one is willing to go for it. As for why Ai is back in the video world and Yota has followed her in, that comes down to the ominous being that claims to have created Ai and has recalled her, saying she no longer serves her purpose and is also faulty.

All the seriousness aside there’s also plenty of comedy in Video Girl Ai; it is a romantic comedy after all. From little play on words jokes that make you smile to the gut busting wrestling moves to the nose bleed inducing ecchi, you are sure to laugh. Much of the humor stems from Ai picking on Yota and playing tricks on him. Much of it is also typical of any romantic comedy and some of it is classic anime cliché. You will likely have seen some of the jokes and gags elsewhere, but that doesn’t make them any less funny in Video Girl Ai. It’s such a lighthearted and endearing series it will likely soften you up a bit to get you to laugh when you might not otherwise. It is more romantic than it is comedy and that is easy to see as the series progresses. It’s quick with the comedy at the start with Yota’s nose gushing blood from Ai‘s teasing, but by the end it’s become very serious with Yota‘s blood coming from everywhere else as he climbs those stairs.

Whether you watch Video Girl Ai subtitled or English dubbed, you’ll enjoy it and feel for the characters as they go through the process of sorting their feelings out. There are some discrepancies between the two that have an affect on the mood of the series. The English dub feels a bit less serious being a bit more comical with it’s dialogue than the more faithful subtitled version. It still comes across as serious when it must, but the extra bit of joking does feel less natural. I suggest you watch Video Girl Ai both ways and judge for yourself which you prefer. The music is all soft, lighthearted songs of love that fit just perfectly with the soft colors and animation of the anime. The animation itself is a treat to look at, from the flow to the style, it’s all very easy on the eyes. The opening song is “Happy Tears“ aka “Ureshii Namida” performed by Noriko Sakai and sets the tone as uplifting and joyful with the video being full of visual effects of the early 90’s. The ending theme is “To That Day” aka “Ano Hi Ni” performed by Maki Kimura and is a song of remembrance and longing of a moment of love once felt. The backdrop of the ending theme is a view of a desk with a picture of the 4 main characters, a VHS tape (Ai’s?) and the silhouette of a window with leaves blowing by. It comes off as much sadder than the opening, which works as a good balance to the opening’s happier tone. Also, many of the songs in the anime were wrote by Masakazu Katsura himself. It seems the man is pretty multitalented.

As for watching Video Girl Ai, you my have to take less than legal means to do so. Viz Video’s 2000 DVD release which contained all 6 episodes on one disc has gone out of print and is now hard to come by. Amazon has it, but the cheapest copy is sitting at $30. Somebody will get lucky and snag it up, everyone else will either have to pay even more or look to the internet to watch Video Girl Ai. This is another title that could be found in a dealer’s bargain bin at an anime con as well. The DVD also has the omakes, which include short interviews with Masakazu Katsura and Noriko Sakai, and also has a written interview with the director, Mizuho Nishikubo, that was done for Animerica (some of you may remember the days when it was more than just a quarterly hand out at Waldens, Borders and Best Buy). I really hope those interested in Video Girl Ai can pick up a copy of the DVD, but if you can’t get your hands on it, there is still the manga. Or if you want more after watching the anime, there’s the manga. One or the other, what ever reason you have to be more interested in the manga is fine, it’s still easily found at many anime retailers and other fine book stores. If you found the anime pulling on your heart strings then the manga is going to play them like well tuned instrument. The soundtracks are also available if you can find them. There were two, and you can typically find them online for about $15 or much, much cheaper. However you decided to experience Video Girl Ai, I highly suggest you do.