Studio - TOKYOPOPAge - Older Teen (16+)
By Kou Fumizuki
Editor - Shouichi Nakazawa
TOKYOPOP credits
Translation by Alethea and Athena Nibley w/ Jamie S. Rich
Editor - Jake Forbes
Before I Begin
Ah. I have to add this to the Animes I have to watch so I know how it measures up to the manga.
I'm going to play it safe and start slow on this. Again just in case there's some spoiler info here I'd rather just be a little extra cautious than ruin the experience for someone.
Oh-kay. Now with that said let's get into it.
Graphic Novel 1
Ah, the beauty of love and ... arranged marriage?
Sheesh. For the main guy of this book it all started when he met her, dressed in a kimono wandering aimlessly at the train station. He helped her a lot, and became a bit attracted to her, to the point that he wants to help her find this person she's looking for... oh, wait, she's looking for HIM!
Who is the him and her? Him being one Kaoru Hanabishi, the her being childhood sweetheart Aoi Sakuraba.
Seems she has come to become his ... his wife?
Ah. Yeah. The... ahem... "beauty" of arranged marriages.
This time out if there's evil to be found here it doesn't come from some dark corner of existence, or the depth of necromancy slash dark science.
Instead it seems to come from -- the parents? Yeah. The parents.
And you thought dysfunctional adults like this were restricted to soap operas.
Apparently the plot is to marry her, and then move back to said parents and live with them.
Yeah. Some grand master plan, eh? And yet -- somehow that seems off, and in a few pages his "fears" is quickly proven to be disproven as a much deeper and more complex situation soon becomes apparent.
Sure, yes, he doesn't like the people in question (his own family of which she wants to bring him back to), and after seeing what they did to him I can't say I blame him... and as the events of this book unfold and they try to stop them from marrying maybe they instead give them good reason to be married after all!
Think it could possibly be any easier though? WRONG! Apparently the people in question are... hmm... ahh... imagine the worst rich as hell evil family from the soap opera you can't stand watching and you have a pretty good notion of the kind of people back home that our man here ran away from.
Seems that at least one of the two factions are NOT in fact in on this marriage plan (from what I could see) and want to STOP the marriage. Too bad though because she will do anything to be with him, and that how all the complexities begin. So is this true love? And can true love conquer all?
Ah if it was only so easy but it'd be better if you got your hands on this yourself and read it.
Talk about intensity. It's a very deep, very good read. It's a good book, and I recommend this as a nice (intense) read. And of course this is only the beginning. So far four Graphic Novels have released with more soon to come (suppose to be a 12 Graphic Novel series). In anycase from that point forward we're in for some deep and entrancing reading.
If the anime is anything like the manga I'm sure to be quite entranced with it once I see it.
It's a hard road to love, but somehow hopefully it all works out in the end.
Ai Yori Aoshi Breakdown the 1st
What's Hot?
It's a deep title. Quite abit going on here and quite abit of content. Reading it was quite interesting, and made me wonder if the anime is going to be this good or better. I liked it, as a read it had abit of bite.
I wouldn't read it perse for what the back of the book said (for it's "humor"), I'd read it for it's depth and because it's a downright interesting read.
What's Not?
Yeah. Give me another reason to dislike the rich. Thanks. (Okay, just kidding... maybe.)
Moments to Remember?
Ah, the interaction between our two "lovebirds" to be... or should be... or something... are tops of my list on the memory thing. In short the interactions between Kaoru and Aoi, and the struggles they face, are most memorable to me.
What to Ignore?
Yeah. Please no terrible rotten horrible endings please when this series wraps. I already think that's how Mahoromatic is going to end so how about not another potentially bad ending. Thanks.
Overall?
I liked it. It was quite a different read than what I usually read, so it was very good. Makes me want to check out the anime and see if it's like the manga... or better.
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