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bluer than blue - sticky sweet romance...
Feb. 18th, 2005 09:08 pmLast night I took a break from PoT and went over to my friend's house to watch the first disc of Ai Yori Aoshi ~ Enishi ~, the sequel to Ai Yori Aoshi...I have to say, this second series is...tiresome.
The first series, while having many elements of the genre that can be annoying (multiple females mooning over one guy, some fanservice flashing of well-endowed female bodies, etc) and not one I'd really recommend to anyone, for some reason I enjoyed it. I liked that the main female, Aoi, and the main male, Kaoru, were very much in love with each other from the very beginning. They couldn't be openly together due to convoluted family reasons (that aren't as far-fetched as some others I've seen). Aoi is disgustingly traditional--the demure, devoted, and domestic Japanese beauty...but I found her more charming than boring. The other females, for the most part, are harmless. Tina, the blonde American who speaks in Kansai-ben, is arguably the most annoying of the lot--mostly because she seems to take unholy delight in squeezing the breasts of all the other females...over and over. But even she doesn't end up doing the kind of hijinks that a show like this could easily degenerate into. One big positive is that Kaoru isn't a lech, and the females assume he is a gentleman rather than being suspicious of his motives and doling out some kind of extreme physical punishment in overreaction (a la *gag* Love Hina). They mostly have cute blushing girls-in-love reactions, which is--for me--refreshing for the genre. It is sweet (probably cloyingly so for many), but I ended up enjoying it to the end (for the most part--some parts were just too cliched or fanservice to not groan over).
Ai Yori Aoshi ~ Enishi, on the other hand, was as I said before, tiresome. At least, the first disc was. All the elements that would have been cliched and annoyed me to tears that had been sweet in the first series was...not, in this one. One entire episode was devoted to a character desperately trying to cover up something, when all she had to do was own up at the very beginning. It was an exercise in patience that I paid attention to most of it...mostly because I was watching with a friend (who really likes the series) and was trying to be polite. :P
In any case, in memory of how much I liked the first series, I uploaded the ending song (I can't find the CD with the opening...^_^;) from the Indigo's best album, Indigo suite. It is a pretty good collection, though I mostly listen to two songs...both slow and pretty.
Namo shiranu hana
[Lyrics and translation]
I also ripped the ending song from Mahoutsukai ni taisetsu na koto (known as Someday's Dreamers in English) since it was on the same CD. :D It is a lovely song as well. The CD has the music video for this song as a bonus. I really like the video, it fits the mood of the song perfectly.
Under the Blue Sky
[Lyrics and translation]
I thought Mahoutsukai ni taisetsu no koto was a pretty good show, if a bit slow. The main chara was a bit too...plodding for me. :P The one big shock was realizing that her teacher was voiced by Suwabe Junichi...he doesn't flame like when he plays Atobe so we all did a double take when one of my friends finally made the connection. :D Though...that head of the magic ministry is so amazingly flaming everyone else kind of fades into nothing...
The first series, while having many elements of the genre that can be annoying (multiple females mooning over one guy, some fanservice flashing of well-endowed female bodies, etc) and not one I'd really recommend to anyone, for some reason I enjoyed it. I liked that the main female, Aoi, and the main male, Kaoru, were very much in love with each other from the very beginning. They couldn't be openly together due to convoluted family reasons (that aren't as far-fetched as some others I've seen). Aoi is disgustingly traditional--the demure, devoted, and domestic Japanese beauty...but I found her more charming than boring. The other females, for the most part, are harmless. Tina, the blonde American who speaks in Kansai-ben, is arguably the most annoying of the lot--mostly because she seems to take unholy delight in squeezing the breasts of all the other females...over and over. But even she doesn't end up doing the kind of hijinks that a show like this could easily degenerate into. One big positive is that Kaoru isn't a lech, and the females assume he is a gentleman rather than being suspicious of his motives and doling out some kind of extreme physical punishment in overreaction (a la *gag* Love Hina). They mostly have cute blushing girls-in-love reactions, which is--for me--refreshing for the genre. It is sweet (probably cloyingly so for many), but I ended up enjoying it to the end (for the most part--some parts were just too cliched or fanservice to not groan over).
Ai Yori Aoshi ~ Enishi, on the other hand, was as I said before, tiresome. At least, the first disc was. All the elements that would have been cliched and annoyed me to tears that had been sweet in the first series was...not, in this one. One entire episode was devoted to a character desperately trying to cover up something, when all she had to do was own up at the very beginning. It was an exercise in patience that I paid attention to most of it...mostly because I was watching with a friend (who really likes the series) and was trying to be polite. :P
In any case, in memory of how much I liked the first series, I uploaded the ending song (I can't find the CD with the opening...^_^;) from the Indigo's best album, Indigo suite. It is a pretty good collection, though I mostly listen to two songs...both slow and pretty.
Namo shiranu hana
[Lyrics and translation]
I also ripped the ending song from Mahoutsukai ni taisetsu na koto (known as Someday's Dreamers in English) since it was on the same CD. :D It is a lovely song as well. The CD has the music video for this song as a bonus. I really like the video, it fits the mood of the song perfectly.
Under the Blue Sky
[Lyrics and translation]
I thought Mahoutsukai ni taisetsu no koto was a pretty good show, if a bit slow. The main chara was a bit too...plodding for me. :P The one big shock was realizing that her teacher was voiced by Suwabe Junichi...he doesn't flame like when he plays Atobe so we all did a double take when one of my friends finally made the connection. :D Though...that head of the magic ministry is so amazingly flaming everyone else kind of fades into nothing...