Ai Yori Aoshi - My Dearest (Vol. 2)

Rating:
Summary: For Love Hina Type Fans
Review: This Series which had an excellent first few episodes degrades quickly to traditional lite anime plot devices. The pet, the clumsy person, the letchers, the ghost stories, etc. There are still occasional moments of a growing love relationship between the two principal characters, and that makes it fair. Unfortunately the original promise of the series does not reappear until near the of its 26 episode run. Fans of the romantic genre should wait for upcoming release of Maison Ikkoku.
If you have to buy everything romantic thats out there ok, but remember this is simply light fan fair for most of the remaining episodes. You get the obligatory crushes, beach episodes, and road trips. If you skip to the last DVD in the series after buying the first and just get those two you really won't miss much in between.

Rating:
Summary: Enter Taeko!
Review: Volume 2 covers episodes 6-10 of "Ai Yori Aoshi". First, Taeko-san, Kaoru's fellow photo club member, has been fired from her live-in housekeeper job and comes to the mansion in search of aid. Can the group convice Miyabi-san to hire her? Then Aoi-chan joins Kaoru's photo club for an outing to an onsen and an evening of fun. Next, Tina buys a ferret but can she convince Miyabi-san to let her keep it? Then when Aoi-chan and Miyabi-san have to leave for a day, Kaoru, Tina, and Taeko-chan are left at the mansion. However, when Taeko-chan ends up taking off for a photo shoot, will Tina and Kaoru survive the night alone? Finally, Aoi-chan wants to learn more about Kaoru, so she takes some taiyaki to his college for them to share.

The stories are fun, but still full of fanservice. Tina loves to grab women's breast and the animators show this frequently. The romance between Aoi and Kaoru isn't as much of a focus in this volume, but two of the episodes allow Aoi to get to know Kaoru better.

As for the DVD, "Ai Yori Aoshi" may be the best-done title in the Pioneer/Geneon stable. As before, the Japanese honorifics are left in the subtitles and some are even in the dub. The only odd thing was that Tina's use of "chii" or "chin" after a name (ie: Tae-chii) was dropped from the subtitles. The two other male members of the photo club usually refer to Taeko as "Minazuki-kun", but this was dropped everytime save one. Still, these are minor complaints though.

Bottom line: If you enjoyed volume 1 and can get passed the fanservice, you'll enjoy volume 2.

Rating:
Summary: More Indigo than Blue
Review: While the title leaves you guessing, this series can't go wrong with the adorable Aoi (that'd be the cute girl in the kimono, folks) and her undying devotion to her beloved. At times it digresses into slapstick relationship comedy, but overall it has a warm heart beneath it all. Pretty decent for a shounen anime title!