Ai Yori Aoshi ~Enishi~

Title:Ai Yori Aoshi ~Enishi~
Bluer than Indigo: Destiny
藍より青し~縁~
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Notables: HIRAMATSU Akiko
HOSHI Souichiro
KAWASUMI Ayako
MIZUHASHI Kaori
MOMOI Haruko
NARITA Sayaka
R1 License - Pioneer (Defunct)
YUKINO Satsuki
This is the sequel to Ai Yori Aoshi based on the manga of the same name ("Enishi" means "Destiny"). It has been two years since Aoi met Kaoru at the train station. Since he and the other girls moved into Aoi's family's summer home, not much has changed. Kaoru has finished university and is now writing his thesis for a doctor's degree and even part-time working at the university institute. Kaoru and Aoi are still secretly seeing each other while the other girls (minus Miyabi) all have crushes on Kaoru.

[TV series, 12 episodes, 23 min, based on the manga. This was on air in Japan in October-December 2003.]
Musical note: The song Mayu plays on the piano in episode 5 is entitled "Watashi no Suki na Koto" (track 21 of the Enishi soundtrack album "Matsu"). It is a beautiful, but short piece that had several people asking about it.
1:30min Series Opening - YouTube Video
[edit] The ↗Ai Yori Aoshi franchise:
Episode Details 
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 8 8 8 7 8 8 Dreamer [series:577#2279]
This wasn't too bad. I had expected a bit more from this second installment, but, we can't always get our way.

Art, Animation & Character Designs
The art this time around seemed to have improved. The colors are richer, and art more refined.... but not by alot. Animation seemed to have improved slightly as well. As for character designs, they too got a slight improvement.... barely noticeable but there.

Music
The OP wasn't that great. It wasn't bad, but it was boring slow piece with female vocals. As for the rest of the music, it was more or less like that from the first series.

Series and Episode Story
Although I enjoyed the first series, here, I didn't get the same amount of enjoyment. This isn't to say that it was bad, just simply not as good. I will have to agree with Ggultra2764 below about this series being devoted to fillers and fan service. There wasn't a whole lot of new developement between Aoi and Kaoru... or at least, not at the level that would make a plot more interesting. Nearing the end, their relationship is put in doubt... which pretty much is the apex of this series.

Overall, it's fun anime if you're a fan of the first series. I enjoyed it myself but had hoped for more of a plot. Nevertheless, it's good to fill any spare time you have.

Last updated Wednesday, April 15 2009. Created Wednesday, April 15 2009.
Buy Xenoknight [series:577#2967]
review coming after I rewatch the anime...

Check out my award list to see some of the best anime titles in the world!

Never forget Xenosaga.

Last updated Friday, December 05 2008. Created Friday, December 05 2008.
Watch 9 6 9 8 6 6 Ggultra2764 [series:577#1552]
Much of Ai Yori Aoshi's sequel is devoted to filler which mixed focus between scenes featuring Kaoru and Aoi to fan service-laden moments with the other girls at the Western style house. This made for two-thirds of the series which provided little depth and development with the characters.

If it weren't for the final third of the series, I would have given Enishi an Avoid rating. Episode 9 features some depth into the thoughts stirring with Aoi and Kaoru about the future of their relationship. The final three episodes are devoted to Tina Foster as they provide further depth and development into her character which will finally make her seem more than a breast-fondling nuisance.

The opening sequence to this series misled me to a large extent as I thought some big event would be happening in the series that would either get in the way of Aoi and Kaoru's relationship or change how the other female residents would think of Aoi and Kaoru (i.e: finding out about their relationship). While Tina's storyline was foreshadowed in the opening, no other drama was found in the series. I was expecting more from Enishi with what the intro provided when I first seen it.

In any event, the art and character designs are as vivid, colorful, and detailed as they were from the first series. One glaring thing about the artwork though was the animation. Several particular scenes, especially in episode 5, made me wonder if the animators got a bit lazy.

This is worth a single watch just to see how things were with the characters after the first series, unless you are a big fan of Ai Yori Aoshi. If you want a harem comedy that executes comedy better with minimum use of fan service, go see Love Hina. If you want a harem comedy that provides greater character depth, go see the first and second OAV sets of Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki.

Last updated Tuesday, January 29 2008. Created Tuesday, January 29 2008.
Rent Forbin [series:577#1573]
After watching the Entire Ai Yori Aoshi series, I moved onto this set. (Though I'm missing 6-9).
I was a bit disappointed as they rewound the relationship of Aoi / Karou and then started it forward. Miss Miyabi is again protective of Lady Aoi (Though less). In AYA she basically gave Lady Aoi to Karou. Here she is again the governess but a less strict one. This seemed to focus more on each of the side characters (Especially Tina) than the original couple and I miss that part.
Still overall it was a beautiful watch and while I wouldn't buy it, I would rent it. Too bad I didn't get to see the fan sub so I can compare what Geneon (Aka Pioneer) subs and the fan subs.
The Bonus episode was the Snow one, and it was lovely. Too bad it looks like it was Episode 0 of AYA.
Note : I did like how they gave a nice ending for Miss Miyabi. :)

Last updated Monday, December 13 2004. Created Monday, December 13 2004.
Rent 9 5 8 9 6 9 Devil Doll [series:577#752]
[Score: 77% = Rent; episode reviews. Recommended Romantic Comedy animes: Love Hina, Ai Yori Aoshi, Aa! Megami-sama! TV, REC]
  • Drama: Med (the first and last episodes stand out in this aspect)
  • Comedy: Med (including certain harem situations)
  • Action: Low (some suspense elements but no violence)
  • SciFi: None (plain old earth, normal people)
  • Ecchi: Med (featuring breast-grabber Tina Foster)
As this is the sequel to the romantic story Ai Yori Aoshi that had such a dramatic ending I surely expected to learn how the relation between the main Characters Aoi and Kaoru would proceed and whether the wedding bells will ring for them. This is exactly what Enishi (the "destiny" holding together all the inhabitants of the Western style house) is not about.

During the first half of the series "Enishi" is more of a 'harem' Story, even a soap opera, focusing more on "slice of life" than on our couple, similar to the middle section of the original series, as Aoi and Kaoru still aren't allowed to show the world how much they care for each other.
Episodes 1-3 contain not much more than slapstick and fan-service (like Love Hina or even Hanaukyo Maid Tai); both episode 4 and 5 then show a turnaround towards more content and less ecchi scenes. And from episode 6 on the main storyline is being revived: Things can't go on like this forever, there are still some decisions to be made... slowly but inevitably the storyline becomes more important in each further episode from this point on (episodes 9-11 are the best IMHO, episode 12 is just what it had to be - I moved the episode related parts of my review into the "Episode Details" section).
Yet, the ending took me by surprise. But if that's the story they wanted to tell for now and keep the real show (including certain elements from the manga) for another sequel (which you get more than just clues about in the episode 12 trailer!), so be it.
In the end, Enishi had a slow start but didn't really fail, unless you expect it to be something that it isn't. Enishi is more like a side story, well done but not the real deal - a nice appetizer that kept me hungry for more: A must-see for fans (hence my high Episode Story rating), but not for those who haven't seen the original series. Three great episodes (9-11) out of 12 is less than I expected, and less than what the "first season" provided. So this one gets only a "Rent" while the original series got a "Buy" from me.

Art and Music are beautiful (Takaramono (OP)), like in the original series, but several severe Animation flaws (most notably in episode 5) made me downgrade this attribute.
But I can't praise the work of the fansubbers enough. Not only did they use all honorifics and translate the spoken words without any errors in the English language, they translated each and every Kanji/Kana displayed in the images (in a way that it boundlessly embeds into the image art), sometimes even labels on fast moving targets, and added footnotes about Japanese cultural elements now and then (most notably in episode 10 about the spa resort). This is the best fansub quality I have ever seen - both the ani-kraze and AonE version. (I prefer the AonE version, as the language is easier to understand for a non-native speaker, it feels less domesticated and contains more translation of visible text within the scenes; ani-kraze made me use my dictionary more often and took away a little of the "Japanese feeling" now and then.) Geneon Entertainment (ex-Pioneer Entertainment) who now licensed this series will have a hard time to beat this.

Last updated Friday, June 06 2008. Created Sunday, October 19 2003.
Rent 9 9 8 7 MasterYoshidino [series:577#598]
So far from the intro episode, it is very crisp and definately looks like the anime was kept in the digital domain. Not much to say about the anime yet, other than it is season 2 of Ai Yori Aoshi and carries the same ecchi level and mood.
Oh boy, this is gonna be a very ecchi series, from the first two episodes, even more than its original Ai Yori Aoshi.

Last updated Wednesday, October 22 2003. Created Friday, October 03 2003.
Buy 9 8 9 9 7 8 AstroNerdBoy [series:577#436]

At only twelve episodes, one might think that this sequel to the very popular Ai Yori Aoshi wouldn't waste a lot of time on so-called "filler". If you thought this, you would be sooo wrong because the first eight episodes are nothing but fun filler.

Had the entire series been like the first eight episodes, I would have just given this a "Rent". However, with episode nine, Kaoru and Aoi get to spend a day together that is so romantic and touching. I loved that episode. Then we get a surprising amount of development on Tina's character. While I've liked Tina, I've always had a problem with her constant breast-fondling that she inflicts upon the other charaters. It's done sheerly for fanservice and I don't find it funny nor required. Yet there was still something likeable about Tina. Now with the added character development, her stock rises considerably. Hat's off to the writers on this one. The final episode is very predictable, but any other ending would have been unsatisfactory I suppose.

Besides the vast amount of filler in the beginning, fans of the original series will be a bit disappointed that aside from one episode, not a whole lot is done with the romance between Aoi and Kaoru. We know they are in love throughout, and that's nice. But I think many fans are going to wish that there'd been something dealing with both of their families. I've only read the first volume of the manga, so I don't know if this is something that might be addressed in a future series or not.

At this point, I'd like to echo Devil Doll's statement on the fansubs. I scored the Anime-Kraze version and they did a great job. While Geneon did a pretty good job on the series, they didn't take the time to explain certain cultural items that come up during the series. There's really no reason that a large company couldn't do this for the subtitled version at the very least. Geneon did leave full honorifics in the subtitles. I still don't understand why the honorifics '-neechan' (or its variations) is OK but the stand-alone 'oneechan' (variations) isn't. And Tina's '-chin' and '-rin' were still absent too. But at least Geneon got it mostly right.

Bottom line: fans of Ai Yori Aoshi should be mostly pleased with this sequel. Episodes 9, 10, and 11 make this series a "buy".

Last updated Monday, December 13 2004. Created Monday, May 26 2003.


Other Sites
NameURL
Ai Yori Aoshi Site http://www.aiyoriaoshi.com/index2.html
Looks like the original publisher's site (Japanese only)

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