I'll first do recommendation for those who are too busy to read all of a review. I recommend this anime for everyone who wants to watch something touching. Not really a romance, its more of a slice of life anime that should be able to find itself on everybody's list. Its an anime without grand events or drastic plot turns, its just goodness that keeps on going.
Story:10/10!
The story starts right away and right away and right away you get caught by the cuteness of the plot(and the cuteness of yuzuyu chan). Like many other anime's, every episode of this anime will feature a story that will throw the main character, Kippie, into a situation where he will have to expand himself. These situations are things that could/would occur in real life and really reaches out to the watcher. What makes the story line great, however, is that unlike many "good story line" anime's, each episode illustrates masterfully the development of the characters and their relationships. Nothing is gone to waste in the story and you never get the feeling that some episodes are stand alone. The episode don't feel like they are just reusing the formula for previous episodes. Personally, I really got drawn into the story line and just couldn't stop watching and seeing how things would unravel, how the characters will develope and eventually how the story would end.
Animation: 8/10
I would say that the animation is not the strong suit of this anime, but by no means is it shabby. There is very little "action" in terms of fight scenes(0), magical transformations(0), special character abilities(0) etc so I guess you could say that the animation is a little flimsy on special effects. Everything is drawn very clean in this anime. The characters have a lot of visual appeal, with the style being similar to "Bokura ga ita" if you have seen that anime. In the end, the animation will never make you say "wow" but thats just right because the focus is on the story line and character development.
Sound: 9/10
Like the animation, the in anime sound track is very simple. I hardly noticed it while watching it. Music is used very liberally but enhances certain scenes. The voice actresses/actors? for Yuzuyu and Kokoro were perfect in my opinion and made the anime that much better. The main reason I gave sound a 9 is because of the opening intro song. Titled "Sunny Side Up" it is one of the best opening songs I have heard. I never, ever, fast fowarded past it and listening to it gave me feelings akin to the opening song of Fruits Baskets.
Character:10/10!
Another strong suit of Aishiteruze Baby, the three main characters involved are all characters that you can root for and most importantly beleivable. There are many anime's that try to oversell certain characteristics of characters just to make them "defining", sometimes almost to the point of overkill but there is nothing like that in Aishiteruze. The characters were just great! I don't want to spoil anything for anybody but I just wanted to add that Kokoro is, I think, the only main female character that I haven't found annoying in some aspect. Her character plays her personality very well and everything is fitting. Definently not some simple female character with some haunted past or one dimensional issue that in a big turn of events get solved and falls head over heels for the main male character.
Enjoyment:10/10 =)
I really, really enjoyed this anime. Its a type of anime that you can just watch at anytime and in any mood. It should cheer you up! Its a pity that more people haven't watched this anime so hopefully this review can change that.
Overall: 10/10
Not much else to say, go watch it!
