They killed it, those fools!
Note: This review is an excerpt from an essay I am writing on the effect of popularization upon anime. I have edited it to fit the context.
Some anime is hopelessly bad. Ai Yori Aoshi wasn?t. It could have been so much better, if J.C. had just cared, but they didn't, so it wasn't. I?ll run the plot over for you: All her life, Sakuraba Aoi is told that she will marry Hanabishi Kaoru when she is old enough. The marriage was arranged because of the economic and social status of the two clans. One day, Aoi is told that the marriage is off, and she is rather upset. She finds out his address, goes to visit Kaoru in Tokyo, where he attends College, and finds out why the marriage is off. That part was good. I liked the parts where we learned about why Kaoru ran away from the Hanabishi mansion, and how his father disgraced the clan by marrying a woman of a lower class, and how Aoi is basically brainwashed to believe that she must be a dutiful housewife to Kaoru, who she loves, etcetera. (Or believes she loves; after all, father told her that she loves Kaoru-sama, so it must be true, right?) We are shown the dirty underbelly of traditional Japanese culture, if you will. It was drama, it was interesting, and it might?ve taught certain otakus that Japan isn?t perfect, not every part of Japanese culture is good, so stop watching Hello Kitty, dammit!
It was good, but then J.C. remembered that they needed 26 episodes, and decided, screw that, it'll be to much effort to write, let's give Aoi bigger boobs, and throw in a few more hot chicks. Oh yeah, and don?t forget the American girl, who for no apparent reason is incredibly rude, stupid, drinks to much sake, is ignorant of Japanese customs, (even though she?s lived their since she was a toddler,) and dresses sluttily. Ha ha! No matter that we just destroyed what could?ve been a classic, it?ll make more money this way. Why show viewers an irreverent look at the Japanese culture, when you could just show Tina running around in short shorts?
Speaking of Tina, she was useless, as were most of the characters. Only about four of the main characters where interesting, or even neccesary to the show. The only purpose they served was annoying filler and subplots that we don't care about. In many similar anime, we don't know who the protagonist is going to end up with, but in this we do, so they serve no purpose.
Of course, that just covers the plot aspect, and the lack thereof. There are other aspects to consider. For instance, the animation, which was beautiful. The colours were full, the shapes were consice, and the movement was smooth. The cinematography was pretty average. Nothing special there.
The voice dubbers where nice, though nothing special, (note: I watched the Japanese subtitled version,) and the music was nice too, though it was really, really, theme music. It's difficult to listen to it outside of the anime, and say that it's good, though while your watching the show, it's wonderful.
All in all, I would say it's worth watching if you know somebody who has it already, but I wouldn't bother buying it, or even renting it. There are some good parts, but not enough to make it a worthwhile addition to your anime collection.
