Ai yori Aoshi

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No spoiler.

Art:
The art itself is actually… very old fashioned, but in the good way. The manga starts from 1998 but the drawing style is more like the 80s, where the guys are short, but still powerful while the girls are realistically beautiful. You won’t find flying/gel-filled weird hairstyle here. Neither will you find unbalanced/unhealthy body shape in this manga. I like this kind of art.

Story:
For the story, I must say it is quite close to the real world. I know some of you may start saying, it is impossible to have two ultra wealthy women + many other women to love you at once. But ... remember, the protagonist himself is from a respectable wealthy family, nothing strange about women admiring a gentle prince. Besides that, there are close to none supernatural stuffs in the manga, with some exceptions telling the stories of the protagonist’s dreams, so you get a clean, college student’s realistic love story. Which I think is a big plus for this type of manga.

Characters:
I will not talk about the characters in this review, because there ain't any special about them. You get different kinds of girls loving the same guy, just like any other harem mangas. But it is also because they aren’t any special, and that is what makes this manga so special.

Enjoyment:
Smooth and good. You won’t find any bittersweet stuff here where the mangaka teases you with some random male or some random event to spice up the manga. The manga is plain, but not to the point of boring. While the flow of the manga is plain, the mangaka sometimes reward the reader with some really sweet moments and special side stories.

Overall:
10/10. Just pure love story.

This manga contains explicit sexual content from time to time so it might not be up your taste, but now now, the manga is not targeting at young students, the manga talks about college life, which I think may interest a lot of young adults, who I guess will be pretty comfortable on seeing some… not so safe for work content. In conclusion, I highly recommend the manga if you are wondering if you should read it or not, or if you are finding a clean and beautiful romance story.

P.S. Just want to correct the other reviewer and the whole English world. The title actually means green comes from blue, but is greener than blue. Source? Google search 青出于蓝而胜于蓝。Green is actually Dian Qing, a type of indigo which ancient Chinese people extract and refined from a type of plant call Lian Lan (Blue) polygonum tinctorium, although this Green stuff comes out from a plant that is famously used for Blue ink, this Green stuff, after being processed, is bluer than the original plant. :D

Dismiss this series at your own peril. The characters have depth. Lots of it. It is easy to dismiss as yet another harem, but the saying that is used to describe female lead Aoi Sakuruba is one that could be used for this entire series : There is steel beneath those long sleeves.

Her devotion to her betrothed, male lead Kaoru Hanabishi, can seem off-putting and the sign of a meek fantasy woman, but in fact her devotion is ferocious and awesome. In short, her devotion to him is so strong it short-circuits the perfect obedient Japanese wife - Yamato Nadeshiko - she has been raised ... to be. By pursuing him when his hellish family life causes him to flee, she is both spurning and yet obeying her family's wishes. In love with him since childhood, and also raised with the idea of devotion to him alone since she was small, she cannot simply shift gears when the arranged engagement hits the skids. Aoi perhaps is perfect, but it is perfection achieved and fought for, not merely granted.

Kaoru himself can seem a simplistic stereotype, but he is not that at all. Beaten by his strict wealthy grandfather regularly, his 'crime' in the old man's eyes is also the reason he truly leaves. While the abuse was by no means any less cruel than it seemed, what his grandfather truly wanted was for Kaoru to relinquish all ties to and memories of his vanished mother, and it was this continued demand that drove Kaoru to flee, refusing to dishonor his mother by spurning her memory. Alone, he is clearly miserable and struggling, and welcoming Aoi back into his life begins the long slow process of healing his scars on all levels. In a short time, he is not merely willing to die or kill for her, he is willing to die rather than ever see her hurt or sad. While this eventually sways Aoi's guardian Miyabi to his side, their deal is almost never a settled one.

A tenuous arrangement is made with Aoi's parents, one of whom fiercely wants her to accept a new fiance now that Kaoru is by choice heir to nothing. The two will live on a property with two houses, one a mansion, and one a small boarding house. Whether this would have eventually swayed Aoi's father is rendered moot when girls Kaoru knows from college make their way into the boarding house as tenants, with the rules of the premise deal keeping the couple quiet on who they are to each other.

The other girls could be annoying, but each are unique in their own way, and for the most part, end up just as devoted to Aoi as Kaoru. They commit plot-driving faux pas after faux pas, but its never the Gilligan syndrome, and one refreshing change comes as Kaoru is one of the few harem leads to have awkward encounters with the ladies around him and yet never get struck or labeled pervert for it (there is one moment, but it is a huge subversion). The one most people seem to remember is American Tina Foster, who while being very Texan, also manages to avoid nearly every stereotype of Texans and Americans. Some very beautiful but sad moments emanate from her character.

One moment that might be too much involves the young character Chika and her same-aged friends, but it is played well. This series excels in not only showing what happens to the characters, but why it does and where it all leads to. There is almost no filler or throwaway moments. Even two of the arguable villains of the piece are given depth.

Ai Yori Aoshi is a fairy tale, but its the raw version of the fairy tale you knew as a child, re-read as an adult in its original form. Fans of earn your happy ending, please apply here.

Ai Yori Aoshi is very cute, but not very substantial. In fact, if I were to be critical, it is arguably the most 'air-headed' manga I have read. The plot, scenes and characters are very simple. So much so that the manga borders on the line of being wishy-washy. Most chapters are cute and fluffy and the plot never really goes anywhere. Thus, I could easily finish one chapter in 3-4 minutes and the impact was, for the most part, minimal.

Still, there is no denying the fact that the manga is cute. The puppy love between Aoi and Kaoru can't help but bring a ... smile to the reader's face. Aoi, even though rather one-dimensional, is a "Yamato Nadeshiko" (the ideal girlfriend/woman), and is so earnest in her affection for her beloved Kaoru that it is impossible to not root for her as she fights through all hurdles laid in her path in order to be with him. Add to that, the author does know how to draw her (and the other female characters) sensually, so that's a plus if you are into that sort of thing.

Now, in case you are looking for anything deep, hard-hitting or substantive, may I suggest something like Kare Kano, Maison Ikkoku or Fruits Basket? Those are the real intense romance manga that command the reader's attention. If you want something funny with romance (like Ai Yori Aoshi) but with a much stronger plot, I'd recommend Karin. Ai Yori Aoshi is fluff. Good fluff for a weekend afternoon. Did I mention that Aoi is cute?