TV Anime of Nonsense Comedy Manga 'Ai Mai Mi' Announced

by dtshyk
Nov 2, 2012 8:12 AM | 45 Comments

According to Takeshobo, four-panel manga "Ai Mai Mi" was announced to get a TV anime adaptation. It will be aired from January 2013.

Ai Mai Mi anime official website
One of the chapters of Ai Mai Mi manga

Nonsense violent comedy. It's about a radical & extreme slice of life of four high school girls.

Ai Mai Mi on MAL

20 of 45 Comments Recent Comments

3 min? I'm in.

Jan 3, 2013 11:09 AM by MFK

o wow, what a debate i made lol
i do agree about how they make the MC is bland as possible to easily self-insert yourself into it, but that just makes the girls less appealing and maybe even stupid for liking this almost literal nobody.

the MC will be there the whole anime, so why can't i ask for him to be more interesting? the MC is the reason why these girls are here in the 1st place, and he's the one that brings out the qualities that we see on the characters that we wouldnt see 1st hand.

having a more unique MC brings out other unique qualities from the other characters and make the girls much more dynamic. since their the "focus" of the show, atleast lets try to make them more appealing than just their looks

Nov 7, 2012 11:33 AM by supermegasonic

This sounds good!

Nov 4, 2012 11:34 AM by MonokuroKinema

If anything, I think the blander they are, the more any time spend on them is wasted. Makes the girls less interesting too, because they lack a decent foil.

A MC that caused accident for good fan service situation like Rito does in ToLoveRu is foil decent enough in my opinion. Definitely makes the girls more interesting. ;-D

Nov 4, 2012 9:46 AM by symbv

When I say bland as possible, I mean your average harem show with an assemble of different female character archetypes for the viewer to choose from. The main character in those types of shows shouldn't have the show focuses on his character development or give him a very unique character design since he isn't what the show is about. He's only there as a plot device to fuel the harem. So to experience those shows best, you want to have a character without much of a personality or unique design so the viewer can easily self insert themselves onto this character.

Focusing time on the main character takes away time from the point of the show: The girls.

Nov 4, 2012 8:32 AM by RyanSaotome

rederoin said:
The male lead of the -monogatari was one of the best things about it, so I don't see why they have to be bland. I don't see the point of self-inserting yourself in an anime.

I thikn RyanSaotome is talking about the standard harem shows. -Monogatari is a very unique kind of harem show -- in fact I would not say harem is its main attraction (the same cannot be said of the more standard harem show). And in a standard harem show a watcher may be more tempted to self-insert himself as the MC. That said, personally I think even in a standard harem show the MC does not need to be "as bland as possible" - he may be blander than, say, a hero in an adventure show but he does not need to "as bland as possible".

Nov 4, 2012 8:13 AM by symbv

Sounds interesting, i'll give it a try when it airs.

RyanSaotome said:
One thing I don't get are the people who complain about harem shows not having a good male character... why would you be watching those shows for the male character? He's just supposed to be bland as possible so you can self-insert easily. If you want some "alpha male" as the MC, go read an eroge or watch a hentai.

The male lead of the -monogatari was one of the best things about it, so I don't see why they have to be bland. I don't see the point of self-inserting yourself in an anime.

Nov 4, 2012 6:58 AM by rederoin

I'd say the broader your taste the less detailed the research needs to be. For me it is enough to get a vague impression of the genres and style of the show as well as checking if it includes some of my few 'to avoid' things before I know what shows to start. The more detailed adjustments happen during the first episodes, as you said earlier. If you're looking for something more specific though I can see how more reaearch is needed for maximum enjoyment.
But then again I tend to try to know as little as possible and as much as needed about a series. Which for me amounts to only very basic things like genres, origin (Manga, Novel, VN, Game, etc) and maybe basic premise (and for some types of shows character designs). There have been many shows where I knew basically nothing about them except their genres and maybe a picture, but still was 99% sure I'd like them. And often it turned out that I'd love them, partly because I knew so little about them and could let them pleasantly surprise me.

Nov 4, 2012 4:43 AM by Alcoholicide

jmal said:
I still think the issues I'm talking about are more subtle than what you'd get from pre-airing promo material anyway.

I just have a feeling that we are talking a bit different thing (or should I say different focus and concern) about how much information is considered beneficial to our anime watching experience and how much is truly 'spoiling the fun'. My point about the "introductory interview and pre-airing promo" is that I consider information disclosed in those material helps me set expectation and enhance the watching experience, and this is the kind of information that one does not need to avoid (for foreigners, the whole interview may not get translated, but information from those material may get spread anyway), even though it may "spoil" some of the details like the worldview and the story. That's all I want to stress.

Nov 4, 2012 2:55 AM by symbv

jmal said:
What would I do with the knowledge? Either 1) what I hear is so bad (extreme gore or sexual violence perhaps) that I don't even give the show a chance or 2) what I hear sounds mixed or good, and I need to watch and form my own opinion anyway.

For 2) it is good to know (for me) to set my expectation; for 1) it may indeed help as I can allocate my time better.

jmal said:
I've found some hidden gems that way, that I might have skipped if I only stuck to the stuff that sounds the most to my tastes.

Agree. On the other hand, I have often found myself enjoying an anime a lot more than some people because I come to the show more prepared. It is not really have to do with what my tastes are (my tastes are pretty broad anyway so perhaps this does not bother me as much) but what the anime is generally about and where is its main appeal. Introductory interviews before an anime airs often cover this and fans are encouraged to read them. So I do not see why this should be avoided (perhaps not you but I am talking about many fans who do not want to know anything about what the anime is about except some very brief synopsis).

Nov 4, 2012 1:15 AM by symbv

I do agree with not liking reading manga or light novel source materials myself. Manga in general doesn't really entertain me, since I love animation, colors, music, etc... so I'd always go for the anime version instead of reading the manga. Having everything as new and fresh makes the anime even better too. It seems like many manga or novel fans of something just watch the anime just so they can complain about the differences (though I guess I am kinda guilty with this for Little Busters... but that was a VN I couldn't just pass on since I gave up hope it would ever get an anime adaption).

Nov 3, 2012 2:17 PM by RyanSaotome

I'm okay with 3-minute anime :) As long as it has a good storyline... Especially comedy

Nov 3, 2012 6:40 AM by KarmaPunkRocker

I guess it is the level of aversion for spoiler compared with the ability to accept disappointment. I am inclined towards the latter. I'd rather not be disappointed with the shows I watch.

Besides my experience is that those information that helps me set expectation is usually not the type that would spoil big surprises or twists. Introductions released before an anime is aired usually sets the tone well (so I always make sure to check them) and it usually gives a preview of scenes to be shown anyway.

If we say that not even one single of a show should get spoiled, then we are talking about not going to check the official website or look at the PV before the show, as any show can just happen to be a "great show" so as to have "as little information as possible" coming to the show. Of course this is fine as it is -- it is just that I would say that it may be a bit too thorough (avoid any information that may spoil things) to my taste.

Nov 3, 2012 5:07 AM by symbv

jmal said:

"Setting expectations" is only useful for getting a very general sense of the anime. It will not tell you about execution, about precise balance of story elements, etc.

True, but this can still help a lot in terms of tuning how you can enjoy an anime.

jmal said:

Unless you actually read/play the original source material (or seek out very detailed summaries and reviews), which I do not do because this would completely spoil the anime and many times it's not translated anyway. Personally, I have little interest in manga or light novels or games so I wouldn't be interested in doing so anyway.

Admittedly I do not have that much aversion when it comes to spoiler, as long as I think it can significantly help me set the expectation - for example, SAO is not a serious death game but episodic accounts of Kirito interacting with people and gets his girl. Or Bake is not about solving mystery or action or romcom but the dialogues and aesthetics. I do not have that much time to go for all the source material or dig into all the spoilers, but a feeling of how a work is like usually helps set the expectation a lot.

That said, I always welcome the potential of being pleasantly surprised, and here the thrill provided by an original anime is incomparable -- the shock that Madoka gave me is just something that I will not be able to enjoy in an adaptation. Of course this also means the potential to underwhelm is there too, and disappointment can only be all too great if you realize you invested a lot of time to be disappointed (Guilty Crown came to mind). On balance personally I would prefer to set the right expectation and if needed I am prepared to be spoiled (not too much but sufficiently enough).

Nov 3, 2012 2:28 AM by symbv

jmal said:

I think where I start to feel a little put out is when shows I think have the potential to be more on → side of the spectrum rely more heavily than I would have liked on the ← side of the spectrum, and detract from the → elements that, sometimes, they actually do rather well. In almost all cases, whether or not I feel a sense of cognitive dissonance between →ness and the show's presentation comes down to how the male protagonist behaves.

(Disclaimer: Arrows are not meant to imply quality or legitimacy or whatever, rather just a general direction of tone and style.)

Just goes to show (again) how important setting and adjusting expectation is for decent enjoyment of an anime. ;-)

Nov 2, 2012 10:41 PM by symbv

definitely will pass

Nov 2, 2012 7:13 PM by Mr_Gutts

sounds nice but hope it really not one of those 3 min shows

Nov 2, 2012 7:13 PM by LoveMyAnime4Life

RyanSaotome said:
Its one of those 3 minute shows I'm guessing.

If it really is, I'm out~

Nov 2, 2012 2:40 PM by HauntingShock

supermegasonic said:

dtshyk said:

Nonsense violent comedy. It's about a radical & extreme slice of life of four high school girls.

it seems like japan doesnt even care about male MC's anymore

Yeah, I agree. Either way, this might interesting.

Nov 2, 2012 1:51 PM by SilentTruth

^ People need to understand that having sex is actually not to be expected from the beginning anyway (anybody who wants it should go for the doujin). And the important thing in a harem show is how it provides the background and context for the fantasizing -- as a saying I heard in a Japanese forum goes, the power of imagination can often be more erotic than outright display of sex in action.

Higashi_no_Kaze said:
Maybe it's just me making BS differentiations, but it works almost every time for me to know what I should/should not avoid and when to adjust expectations.

Setting an accurate expectation can go really far in terms of how much I enjoy a show, so it is a very important thing for me to set it right, if not before the anime starts (when it is an adaptation) than at the early stage of the show (say ep.3 in 1 cour and ep.5-6 in 2 cour show)

Nov 2, 2012 1:15 PM by symbv

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