Video Girl Ai Review

Video Girl Ai
distributed by Viz Video

Based on the original manga by Masakazu Katsura, Video Girl Ai to me is a more refined version of the more popular Tenchi Muyo! series, excluding the 6 alien girls and 1 krabbit (which I guess also has a strong liking for Tenchi, which can become very freakish). Video Girl Ai tells the tale of Yota Moteuchi, whose name literally means loser. While spending the day with the girl he is totally in love with (Moemi), he finds out that she is in love with his best friend (Niimai). This obviously crushes his heart, but it gets even worse for him. Moemi now depends on Yota to help her get hooked up with Niimai. Things seem bleak for our loser-hero, until he stumbles upon the Gokuraku Video Shop (which means heaven, or bliss). Being the "loser" he is, he immediately goes to the adult section, where he pulls out a tape titled Video Girl Ai. Playing it on his broken VCR (take note: IT'S A BROKEN VCR), the girl being played seems to be the only girl that ever cared for Yota. She finishes her comforting speech with "I'm here for you" and at that very moment Yota's life will change forever. Ai (which means love) jumps out of the tv screen and lands on Yota's bed. Yota, being the loser he is once again, thinks that she will have a very cute personality and cater to him (as well as mentioning her "hooters from heaven"). But ironically, playing a video girl's tape on a broken VCR messes up the video girl's personality as well. She is tomboyish and tosses Yota's life upside down. But there is one more sideffect that will mess up Ai's existence as well: due to the broken VCR, she can now fall in love and act more like a human girl, rather than following a video girl's strict code. And this is where the story rockets off. Sadly, the OAV video series is only 3 tapes long, but it still has the heart wrenching effect the manga delivers. I highly recommend this video for all anime fans. It's sweet story and charming characters will capture your heart and make you fall in love. Plus the bonus Omake sections at the end of every episode will have you chuckling for days on end.

Plot: Great delivery from the manga to video, but the first episode can get kinda confusing.

Voice Acting: I have only seen the subbed versions, so I can't really comment on the voice acting.

Music: The music really emphasizes the romantic feel of the story.

Animation: You can expect OAV quality animation in this series.

Overall, this anime receives a 5/5. You definitely want to add this to your collection.

Other side notes: If you want more of Video Girl Ai, I definitely recommend you check out the manga. You can find it at Animerica Extra or your local comic store (I think they released the first volume of the graphich novel, titled Reproduction I think. I'm not sure).
*this review was done by KEN