Video Girl Ai

After a crushing rejection, the heartbroken Youta Moteuchi trudges home. On his way, a dimly lit video store catches his eye, and he ends up purchasing a "video girl" tape meant to ease the hearts of lonely men. However, when he tries to play it in his broken VCR, a beautiful girl leaps out of his TV and lands on his bed. Calling herself Ai Amano, she looks like a golden opportunity for Youta to finally experience true love—that is, until her personality, now troubling thanks to the broken VCR, shows through. Despite her flaws, however, Ai wholeheartedly promises she will ensure Youta finds happiness and true love in his life.

Video Girl Ai follows the daily life of a teenage boy and his pursuit of a fulfilling romance. With the help of his virtual guardian angel, Youta sets forth to find the girl of his dreams.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Amano, Ai Main

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Moteuchi, Youta Main

Kusao, Takeshi Japanese

Hayakawa, Moemi Supporting

Amano, Yuri Japanese

Niimai, Takashi Supporting

Tsujitani, Kouji Japanese

Rolex Supporting

Suzuoki, Hirotaka Japanese

Manager of Gokuraku Supporting

Ogata, Kenichi Japanese

Ishikawa, Mitsuhisa Producer

Nishikubo, Mizuho Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Akahori, Satoru Script

Mochizuki, Tomomi Storyboard

Reviews

Dec 27, 2018

Ming_HUANG

Recommended

THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST BEST ANIMES EVER MADE, not to mention EXTREMELY UNDERRATED. It shocks me to see such a masterpiece be given a mere rating of a low 7, really proves you cant trust the mal rating nor some of the reviews. This is amazing, and I'll tell you why

Story:
I won't go into detail about the plot since you can just read the synopsis. But what it does so fucking well is that the story progresses very naturally and fluently considering the bizarre nature of the story itself. There is SOOOOO much character development in this the entire story basically evolves around ... its characters developing and becoming better, growing and becoming different to what they once were. It's so heartwarming as well as story dives into what it means to be loved, love and the basis of emotional attachment. It's also fucking hilarious and the humour is handled nicely as it knows when to get serious and when to lighten up, really powerful stuff to be honest. The humour is also really smart and not cliched at all, does not great job at making you laugh. Also it has excellent directing and pacing feels really good. When this anime gets serious you really feel the intensity and ssuspense. The melodrama of the love triangle is also handled really well and isn't cringy at all, you feel the real emotions of these characters and their motives. The added spin of Amanos time limit also makes it so much more intense and hectic till the end. In general, this anime does a great job making you laugh, smile, heartwarmed, cry, think and also contemplate all in the tiny span of 6 episodes, which also leads to a satisfactory ending, thus guarantees it the highest 10/10 possible.

Art:
Absolutely stunning animation and overall aesthetic. It's strange how an anime made in 1992 can look better and have more expression and emotion than most anime nowadays. The insane effort put into the hand drawn animation is apparent as you watch the 6 episodes and never does it deteriorate. Characters are fluid, everything flows really well and really lively and exciting. It's got incredible production quality. The color palette is also great. There is also those nostalgic 90s vibes and aesthetics which you just don't find anymore. The shot direction is also amazing as frame by frame everything feels really good and there's a sense of verticality and movement with the animation and characters. It's sometimes very artistic as well which is really nice. Everyone looks really good the girls look cute, the men look rigid and handsome, just overall an amazing experience aesthetically. 10/10

Sound:
Soundtrack is great and very groovy at times. Even at times suspenseful, it helps improve every scene and moment to new heights. Voice acting is also done incredibly well, clear, full of expression and emotion. Also has those 90s music beats you just dont find anymore, another key nostalgic factor. 10/10

Character:
OHH boy here is the REAL GOLD. Never have I seen anime characters with more personality, character, and invigorating expression. Amano Ai for example, is a character that basically was disadvantaged from the beginning as she was born out of a shitty broken vhs player. So her personality is sometimes rude, intimidating and careless. She goes against everything that video girls are supposed to be, like being great at cooking? whilst amano is fucking terrible . DESPITE all these flaws, she is aware of it and she is determined to improve herself for the main protagonist, she even teaches herself how to cook good food. This whole story is a metaphor for a simple person trying to overcome and persevere on with life despite all their initial flaws. It's actually fucking beautiful and really heartwarming. The characters are amazing, and really makes this anime cream of the crop. The characters all become well loved and you feel for them through the harsh and happy times as they act sensibly and aren't idiots. 100/10

CONCLUSION
This is a hidden gem among the sea of trashy rom coms out there. It's one of the best anime ever made and it sure is one of the best romances ever made. Somehow the hated love triangle concept is actually really fun and endearing in this, making it a key propeller of the enjoyment. The plot is great and the relationship bonds that strengthen over time are just really nice and heartwarming to see as they are so realistic as well and believable. IF anything needs more recognition it's this, if anything needs to be rebooted it's this. This is truly a classic and one of the best. The manga is outstanding aswell so be sure to check it out and pay respect to the og creator of the series. It's got a surprisingly deep and serious tone when it wants to get serious and the drawings are all so beautiful and detailed. It's got a type of hyper-realistic art style where characters have life like shading and surprisingly some nudity as well, as it's for mature people, which is better since it doesn't shy away. EASILY ONE OF THE BEST ROMANCES, and definitely a hidden gem that many don't even know exist, we need more anime like this seriously. There are also these animated short skits at the end of each video and they add a lighthearted touch on the story with really funny skits, a really nice cherry on top by the production crew. SPEAKING OF THE PRODUCTION CREW, HUUUUGE PROPS for their amazing effort in making this anime. Not only did they work hard but they also included personal interviews of the director and theme song singer in the end of the last episodes, both are wonderful people and director is so charming and humble, really shows you that production IG reapects these people who worked hard to make this so great. Go and watch it, it'll change the way you view romance animes forever, but remember to support the creators as well for their amazing product, like buying the manga and a few dvds so they are rewarded for their hard work.

Amazing stuff like this just doesn't come around much anymore, this is now my favorite ova of all time and second favorite romance of all time, right after Maison Ikkoku, just because that one is undefeatable. I will be buying the DVD and watching it over and over, what absolute wualitu entertainment

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Sep 13, 2018

cici_

Recommended

(these comments were made by someone who has NOT read the manga so they are totally and completely just based on the anime)
as it is about some OVAs I decided to venture into this work for being fast. I did not regret it, I like anime with those old traits of the 90's, I love the truth.
The story is somewhat cliche, girl who will help the boy to conquer the girl he likes but end up falling in love. I was left with some doubts at the end of the type "takashi and moemi he saw in that world were real or was just to ... confuse the head of the youta" "this end means they stayed together or the world followed normal without the video girl" and as a video girl who has no relatives or home in the real world would live with the youta? " are some things that I was wondering.
In the matter of the secondary couple, those two did not please me in either the story, the false relationship they had, or the personality, unlike AI and youta, their relationship is cute, the way the two are not ashamed one with the other, they fight but they know how to take care of each other.

((esses comentarios foram feitos por alguem que NÃO leu o mangá por isso são total e completamente apenas baseado no anime)
como se trata de alguns OVAs decidi me aventurar nessa obra por ser rapido. Não me arrependi, gosto de animes com esses traços antigos dos anos 90, amo na verdade.
A história é um tanto quanto cliché, menina que vai ajudar o menino a conquistar a garota que ele gosta mas acabam se apaixonando. Fiquei com certas dúvidas no final do tipo "o takashi e a moemi que ele viu naquele mundo eram reais ou era só pra confundir a cabeça do kouta" "esse final quer dizer que eles ficaram juntos ou mundo seguiu normal sem a video girl" "takashi gostava mesmo da moemi e eles ficaram juntos no final ou o amigo dele só aceitou os sentimentos fa garota por pena?" "e como uma video girl que nao tem parentes nem casa no mundo real iria viver com o youta?" são algumas coisas que fiquei me perguntando.
Na questão do casal secundário, aqueles dois não me agradaram em nada nem na história, nem na relação falsa que eles tiveram, nem na personalidade, diferente da AI e do youta, a relação deles é fofa, o jeito que os dois não tem vergonha um com o outro, brigam mas sabem como cuidar um do outro.)

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jul 21, 2024

AeroGunz

Mixed Feelings

“Video Girl Ai” is what happens when “Weird Science” meets anime.

This is mainly a rom-com in a light urban fantasy setting. Unfortunately it suffers from the same affliction as 99% of rom coms: characters with the conversation skills of an ameba. At least half of this OVA (yeah I know it only has 6 episodes) could be cut if at least one of the characters knew how to hold a conversation and was honest with everyone, themselves most of all. No such luck, oh well c'est la vie.

The plot is pretty interesting (and Weird Sciency). A broken hearted boy is “gifted” (I think this word ... is the most appropriate) with a VHS. After playing it he’s visited by a girl that starts living with him with a goal to comfort him, get Your mind out of the gutter, it’s not a hentai, and help him gain the affection of his love interest.. Still, this being a rom-com and having a boy and a girl living together, yeah we all know how this will end. In this case it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey and oh boy… the last two episodes take You to some really wild lands.

We mainly spend time with two characters:
Youta - our main protagonist. After having heart broken (temporarily of course, it wouldn't be a rom-com if he just gave up) he finds himself in a strange VHS rental store. After playing the cassette he is “gifted” with a video girl. A creature with the sole mission to help and mend his mental state. Despite being a total moron in almost everything, he does have some redeeming qualities, at least according to Ai. Those qualities are just the basic starter set of most anime protagonists: being kind, nice, helpful, all that plain white bread crap. As a bonus he does have a flaw (apart from playing with Intelligence on 1… ok I’ll be nice, 2). He’s a bit of an opportunist. It’s shown in one of the later episodes when he decides that there is no point in pursuing his main love interest. After that revelation (that was obvious from the beginning and at least once in every episode) he says that at least he has Ai. I guess You could interpret it a few ways but the one that resonates with me is that he treated Ai as plan B for most of the time. Something (or someone, depends on how You interpret her existence) to fall back on when plan A inevitably fails. It shows him as a bit of a dick but it also makes him not flat as a character. Shame that this flaw isn’t something he would actively work on but we only have 6 episodes so let’s not be greedy.

Ai - from what the show tells us she is an artificial lifeform created solely for the purpose of helping distressed people and soothing their minds. She declares she’s 16 years old but that’s just her perception. For all we know she might have been created last week. She has two main ways of interacting with Youta: a sweet housewife / steady girlfriend mode and aggressive mode when she uses violence to make her feelings known, so yeah… pretty much marriage. She also likes to tease him, especially in the beginning. It’s suggested that Ai isn’t acting like she should. Probably because the VCR used by Youta was malfunctioning. According to her, that's also the reason why her body and skills changed. Her breast became smaller right before Youta’s eyes and her food, which was supposed to be amazing, turned out awful the first time she made it. She regained her skills in cooking and from the looks of it she did it organically aka practising and not in some data recovery bullshit way. Of course having a teen girl living with You, cooking and even washing Your back has a catch. That is… she’s just a 30 day rental, as she puts it. There is a little bit of sadness in her story. Despite being treated as plan B she actually cares and cherishes moments she spends with him, to the point of covering her own pain just to prolong their date.

Now… this show has a little bit of a problem with conveying the passage of time.
Unfortunately the show is really bad at organically showing us how much time has passed. From the framing, the colours and cuts You might actually think that between episode 1 and 2 just one day has passed but in reality it has been 6 days since Ai started living with Youta.
To make up for it the timer on the VCR has a close up once in a while. At the end of episode one we see how much time Ai has, which is 716 hours, 24 minutes and 19 seconds (displayed on the VCR), which amounts to about 29 days. This counter has two main functions. On one hand it acts as a deadline, the moment when Ai will depart from Youta’s life. It creates a sense of urgency and adds drama to their relationship. On the other hand it works to inform us how much time has passed. Without it we might think that Ai tought herself cooking skills in just a few hours and in even less time fell in love with Youta.

I would say that the first 4 episodes are pretty solid, not really groundbreaking examples of a standard rom-com plot. We see how Youta and Ai’s relationship develops and even how Youta develops (not much but I’ll take what I can get in this case) as a character. Then the last two episodes appear.

Episodes 5 and 6 give off a lot of “Serial Experiments Lain” vibe with maybe just a little touch of “Evangelion”, which was released a few years later but is, from my experience, better known. We even get an antagonist. A tall red haired man who declares himself Ai’s creator. He’s a 100% asshole and his existence creates far more questions than the show has time or willingness to answer.

Let’s start with the obvious. Why the hell did he want to “retire” his own creation just because it developed feelings for her client? Seriously. I’m having “Bicentennial Man” and “A.I.” flashbacks from this. He created her, she deviated from the design. You don’t just destroy something like that. You study it, maybe just observe how the deviation is going. You don’t just pull the plug because something went sideways. I know he’s a redhead but he’s taking the “redheads have no soul” to the extreme here.
Second thing. He’s an asshole. No way around it. The way he acts, the way he treats Ai and later Youta, everything screams “I’m evel because I’m evil” crap. Why would someone like that create an artificial, sentient creature whose mission is to give comfort to those in need of it? He doesn't seem to get paid for that so it’s not a Steve Jobs thing. He has some sort of supernatural powers so maybe he was just bored but then why even interact with Ai after her creation? Is there someone who supervises him? Is it some sort of punishment for him, to create and maintain this twisted therapy system? Why the hell Ai needed to be naked and tied to a cross (now You understand why I got “Evangelion” vibes… which also came out later, interesting)? What exactly is the rental store? Who is the old man working there? Who is the redhead man? What are they? Those are obvious questions that will appear in anyone's mind while watching this. The show doesn’t even attempt to answer them.

I know this is an urban fantasy, some would even call it science fantasy so it can have some unanswered questions. SOME! Not a whole pile of them that are important to the main plot and individual stories of the main characters. As it stands it’s a “Shit happens for no reason” kind of thing. Yes, I know Kafka did something similar but in his case the focus was on the internal struggles of his characters and their outlook on life. You had the main event and that’s it. It happened. It didn’t breed any more new information and questions about it. Event A, done deal, now we’re 100% in the protagonist's head. In the case of this OVA the initial event (the whole rental store thing and Ai herself) breed more and more questions as time progresses and especially in episodes 5 and 6.

At the end of the day I actually enjoyed myself watching this OVA. Apart from the bullshit from episode 6 it’s a solid rom-com with some twists and turns that, even if predictable, are executed properly. it leaves too many things without answers and that's the reason why I can't really recommend it full heartedly.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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