I own the Ai Yori Aoshi PC games.

In addition to playing Tsukihime again, I've also been playing the Ai Yori Aoshi PC game. And when I say "game," I'm using the term in its most generous sense, because the entire thing is basically two stand-alone episodes of the anime with very little variation in game play. Even for a visual novel, there are very few choices to make and not a whole lot of variation or different outcomes.

Oh God, what have I done?

Still, the game is voiced by the original Japanese cast and reasonably-well subtitled. There are occasional errors in the text, but not enough to detract from whatever enjoyment one might get from playing an Ai Yori Aoshi game. However, the characters only speak one at a time, so there's little chemistry among them, if at all. I have to wonder if the seiyuu recorded their lines "American style" with each reading lines alone in a recording booth. I hesitate to call the acting bad, but it certainly sounds artificial; it's far below their work during the anime series.

To Tina's chagrin, Aoi invites Mayu along.

To be honest, I'm rather amazed by the amount of Ai Yori Aoshi merchandise I own. Let's see, full first-print runs of both seasons' R1 DVDs (including their collector's boxes), a second (unopened) copy of the first DVD from the first season (look, don't ask, okay), the God damned PC game (a two-disc set, frequently discounted by Right Stuf), and all 17 volumes of the manga. That's kind of a lot of Ai Yori Aoshi stuff for someone who claims to dislike the majority of its anime episodes.

To Tina's chagrin, Kaoru pokes Mayu's backside.

However, I do like the manga—particularly the later volumes. Tokyopop did a damn fine job with this title, and it's a good thing because the Ai Yori Aoshi manga turned out to be really good. Okay, not Monster good, and arguably not even Love Hina good, but way better than the anime, which makes it a must-read if you enjoyed the television series at all, or even if you merely wanted to like it—more on that later.

I've confessed on multiple occasions that I really enjoy the Ai Yori Aoshi manga despite having a rather low opinion of its banal, freakishly-nipple-free anime adaptation—Kawasumi Ayako's soothing cooing as Aoi notwithstanding. It's not easy for me to explain exactly why I enjoy the manga so much. I think perhaps part of the reason is that it is so transparent with its ambitions.

Ai Yori Aoshi volumes 17 and 16.

Compare the Ai Yori Aoshi promise with the central promise in Love Hina, a manga that is arguably as much about promises as it is about onsens and accidentlly seeing other people's butts. In Love Hina, the identity of the Promised Girl remains ambiguous for nearly the entire run, and even the terms of the promise itself come into question at times. Ai Yori Aoshi establishes an unambiguous promise in its opening chapters that never faces a serious challenge in the eyes of the reader.

Compare Ai Yori Aoshi with Ah! My Goddess. The committment between Keiichi and Belldandy never faces a credible challenge. The promise inherent in the wish has a large catalog of exceptions and loop-holes, but the underlying bond keeping Keiichi and Belldandy together will go on as long as it has to—this is a manga that never ends. Thankfully, the title focuses more now on the slice-of-life whacky-type adventures mostly driven by its extensive supporting cast, so it's still wildly entertaining. But I digress. Unlike Aa! Megami-sama, Ai Yori Aoshi ENDS.

Why is an Aa! Megami-sama picture in an Ai Yori Aoshi entry?
I'm not sure, but it's probably Peorth's fault.

I am very pleased with how the Ai Yori Aoshi manga wrapped up the story in its final volumes. I did have some reservations at first when New Character appeared out of thin air, but it worked out well. Be content to think of the matter as a catalyst and be glad it wasn't a deus ex machina. (Ultimately, what happens to our main characters doesn't really require New Character's presence at all.)

Speaking of which, what does happen to Aoi and Kaoru? Well, I'm not going to outright spoil the climax or lay out the story, but the events in volume 17 should come as no surprise to anybody who has been paying even bare attention. Fans of the series should find the ending satisfying. A consumate professional, mangaka Fumizuki Kou nails it.

Eika is the best sky girl.

Is it too late to talk about Sky Girls? I enjoy the Sky Girls OAV and want to like the Sky Girls television series on principle, but to tell you the truth, it's sort of dull. As I've lamented before, J.C. Staff's weak point seems to be its unremarkable fight scenes. That's the kind of shortcoming that can really drag down a concept like Sky Girls.

Karen is mortified by her new uniform. Otoha not so much.

For better or for worse, J.C. Staff also takes the high road as far as fan service is concerned. On its face, Sky Girls appears to be an excuse to parade teenage girls vacuum-sealed into skin-tight outfits every week. While it is true that these Sky Girls pilots wear flight suits offering little to the imagination, they also modestly cover themselves up with double-breasted overcoats most of the time unless they're actually piloting. In fact, they wear overcoats even when the episodes take place in tropical locations. So while there is some fan service in Sky Girls, there's not nearly as much as one might imagine. In fact, the most daring samples appear during the show's OP: (1) Eika shoots a smoldering glare over her shoulder. Ooh la la. (2) Eika takes a running leap into her seat—A.K.A. Ass Shot of the Year 2007 (unofficially).

Eika simply keeps her goodies under wraps.

Instead of being a boobs and butts extravaganza or a post-apocalyptic distopia with savage mecha fights, Sky Girls devotes itself to character-driven stories. Those aspects aren't bad, but probably aren't the reasons why most viewers watched Sky Girls TV in the first place. Those with prurient interests will find the series quite tame, and those looking for full-on mecha battles will find the show dull. Viewers curious about how an eclectic cast of pilots interact will enjoy the series more.

This is about as racy as Sky Girls gets.

This is a nice group of characters. All the girls are charismatic. Ayako Kawasumi plays Otoha with the chipper feistiness she's so good at. I'm a sucker for the ol' Yui Horie sweetness; there plenty of that, too, with her Nanae. Eika is the best girl, easily, mostly for glaring all the time. The male characters are mostly dullards, but Otoha's grandfather kind of looks like Neko-sensei from Princess Tutu. It frightens me a little.

Otoha's grandfather.

Ahiru's ballet instructor. Separated at birth?

Sky Girls TV is mostly harmless. It takes no risks and offers little to offend or titillate. The series plays it safe, so viewers are treated to a show that's neither especially good nor especially bad. Perhaps its reception would have been better had Sky Girls been a Gonzo travesty or a controversial, avant garde Gainax vehicle. Really, J.C. Staff should have approached Sky Girls the way it did with Oku-sama wa Mahou Shoujo and The Melody of Oblivion. Or would that have been too dirty? Barring a second season of Sky Girls TV, the world will never know.

Nobu and Koizumi.

I wasn't kidding when I said Lovely Complex has no bad episodes. The significance is one can pick any episode at random and be assured a pleasant viewing experience. This is a lot rarer than you'd think. How often have you queued up an episode of something to watch on a whim only to decide a few minutes into it, "Nah, not this one"?

Sakaki.

Trust me, it's pretty rare. There aren't a lot of no-bad-episodes shows out there. Azumanga Daioh is one notable example—and perhaps a good indication as to how good a show Lovely Complex really is. Even the Seiko episodes are good; and I ususally hate...those kinds of characters. But Seiko is even too vapid to annoy.

Shouko.

I marathoned Asatte no Houkou as part of the Great Catching Up Initiative. It is as good as everyone says, which is lucky because I only really cared for one character: Shouko. I didn't dislike Karada or Hiro, but I also didn't care too much about them, either.

Anybody with hair like this is probably a sex offender.

Well, I didn't care for the fact that Hiro's character design mirrors the template found in just about every eroge you'll ever see. Every time Hiro was on-screen with that sheepdog hair of his, I half expected him to start boning a mosaic with his pants on.

I have a hard time believing you're 12, kid.

Karada is okay, but I don't see why a 12-year-old girl should look like a four-year-old, especially when her classmate Tetsumasa is more than twice her size.

Tetsumasa is so big because he's full of rage.

Tetsumasa was the one character I actually disliked, mostly because he was always bitching about something. Tetsumasa is the Shinn Asuka of Asatte no Houkou. I would have been more willing to accept him had there been people punching him in the mouth every episode.

You look a little lost, kid.

I fully agree that Asatte no Houkou is a very good show—presumably doubly so if you like Karada, Tetsumasa, and Hiro more than I did. That I still found Asatte no Houkou so enjoyable despite liking only Shouko is a testament to J.C. Staff's storytelling abilities. I'm pleased the plot did not dissolve into Freaky Friday antics and misunderstandings. Rather, Asatte no Houkou focused on the trouble with preconceptions. To that end, I encourage you to approach Asatte no Houkou without preconceptions of your own—even ones that I may have germinated.

I like the original Toradora! character designs.

Against my better judgment, I'm looking forward to Toradora! There's a good deal of hype surrounding this show, mostly involving the tiny hyper-tsundere lead girl, Aisaka Taiga.

The presumptive anime character designs, not so much.

Surprising nobody, I'm sure, Kugimiya Rie will voice Taiga. I mentioned how Noto Mamiko suffers from frequent typecasting. Well, Kugimiya Rie is so typecast as the stereotypical tsundere dervish that she banks on it.

Kugimiya Rie GPS demo. (No audio first 13 seconds.)
Don't you dare make any wrong turns.

Looking for a backseat harpy driver who sounds too young to drive? We've got just the thing.

Taiga, tsun-tsun mode.

In the weeks leading up to the start of the current autumn season, the corner of the Internet I frequent was positively abuzz in anticipation of Toradora!, mostly due to its tsundere Kugimiya Rie content. I like tsundere well enough, but I was looking forward to Hyakko quite a bit more, mostly for its slice-of-life wackiness.

Taiga, not quite dere-dere yet.

Through the first three episodes of Toradora!, I like the show well enough. I'm glad Kugimiya Rie exercises some restraint in voicing Taiga; that was one of my reservations. I'm also pleased J.C. Staff leans heavily on two of its strengths: characters and tone. The character development is far more rapid than I expected. After three episodes, the Toradora! anime has already churned through several chapters of the manga. (I haven't read any of the original light novels, so I can't comment on their pacing.) This is not to say that the Toradora! characters are particularly complex, but their development is moving along quickly—getting them to where they need to be in a short series yet without seeming rushed.

Minori, Top Fuel Genki.

The big surprise for me is Minori. Reading the Toradora! manga, I didn't think much of Minori; she was just there as Ryuuji's temporary love interest before he and Taiga inevitably get together. Anime Minori, on the other hand, is TOP FUEL GENKI. Horie Yui cranks up her trademark sweetness voicing Minori about as high as I can stand. You could bake a cake. This is a very anime-type voice, but it works here and gives Minori the kind of charisma she really needs to be a credible love interest. It's no wonder Ryuuji has a crush on her. There's even potential here for Minori to usurp Best Girl status from Female Protagonist if she continues to one-up Taiga, much as Kotori overshadowed Nemu in Da Capo.

Gotta love a girl who likes baseball enough to bat left-handed.

So how is the Hyakko and Toradora! war shaping up? Well, I've only seen two episodes of Hyakko, but I do like it better than Toradora! so far. I know a lot of people had concerns about Hirano Aya as Ayumi. As far as I'm concerned, this is Torako's show. I.e., it's all Orikasa Fumiko all the time, as Torako and her freakishly-strong sidekick steal scene after scene. (Seriously. Fumiko? She's out of control.) Neya Michiko plays a nice straight man to Orikasa's neo-Miu. I'm confident Hyakko will continue to entertain in a teenage Ichigo Mashimaro sort of way.

Iizuka also bats left, but she's a natural southpaw.

But the war is over. Both the Hyakko Army and the Toradora! Army got outflanked by Kannagi and Nodame Cantabile: Paris (which had a GREAT first episode—especially all the parts with Nodame trying to learn French—sacrebleu). More on that later.

Minori and Ryuuji.

After four episodes, I'm finding little reason to continue watching Toradora! besides copious amounts of Yui Horie Sweetness. It's not a bad show—just not one I find too interesting right now. Oh, I'll probably still finish out the first season, but in all likelihood I'll wait until all the episodes are out and then marathon the remaining batch.

"Half-right, face!"

Unless there are sudden advances by Ami, the recently-introduced somewhat-militant new character, I think Minori has got Best Girl status locked up. Fully expect Minori to boat race the remainder of this show. [Update: That's not Ami. It's Sumire.]

Taiga's blood sugar is probably low.

Taiga is pretty much out of contention altogether, despite enjoying Girl Next Door status. I'm glad that she's a basket case when she's anywhere near that boy she likes, but her constant need to have Ryuuji take care of her is tiresome.