All about Video Girl Ai by: Katsura Masakazu

You can say that every artist, whether they be illustrators, writers, muscians, etc... has at least one "masterpiece" that will get them remembered. J.D. Salinger for example has, The Catcher in the Rye, Led Zeppelin has Stairway to Heaven, and Francis Ford Coppola has The Godfather series. Then there are manga-ka like Toriyama Akira who will always be known for the Dragon Ball series and Adachi Mitsuru who will always be known for Touch. And for Katsura Masakazu, his masterpiece is Video Girl Ai written more than ten years ago in 1990 and was first featured in Weekly Shonen Jump, 7 years before I"s.

Bare with me, this might be a long one

Video Girl Ai, is a story, that aside from the science fiction part of it all, takes the whole concept of realism to the heart. This is the first story for me, that I thought truly understood what real emotions of love lost and broken hearts are all about. Katsura portrays these emotions in such a manner that I, the one that usually rolls her eyes and giggles in sappy love stories because they are so corny and unrealistic... started to cry when I read it and when I saw this story played out in the OAV series. And I'm sure, if you give Video Girl Ai a chance, you will understand what I mean. Especially when you have experienced how much it hurts to have a broken heart. To have someone that you love right there and then they are gone. To have someone that you love and have to witness and realize that they love someone else. Where that lost love was so great that you keep thinking about the past... the memories that you shared instead of the present and letting yourself get on with you life.

The main character of VGA is Moteuchi Youta, who, if you read and pronounce the characters of his name wrong, would end up being Motenai Youda... which means "Unpopular with Girls". And Youta, of course is very unpopular with girls and was always made fun of being that he is rather awkward and shy. Youta is in love with a pretty, kind, and soft spoken girl named Moemi. Taking parts from the VGA novel, Moemi was a girl that radiated youthfulness, who looked cute when she wore a ribbon and had cheeks that were usually almost always rosy. She had eyes that mirrored sadness and uncertainty and lips that turned pointy when she was angry... and Youta, loved everything about her. Unfortunately for him, when he and Moemi were talking, they decided to tell each other who they loved. Moemi went first and she confessed to him that she is in love with Niimai Takashi, a charming popular guy that plays bass in a band and is Youta's best friend. Takashi however knows that Youta loves Moemi, so he rejects her. Youta, seeing that Moemi was saddened about the rejection, tries to do everything to comfort her and to help her with Takashi even though it is him, that just had his heart broken. Realising now that he has no chance of having Moemi falling in love with him. But he sacrificed his own broken heart to make someone else happy.

As he was walking down a busy street feeling lost and all alone, he encounters a strange video shop called "Gorukaru" which means heaven... There was a video there that he picked out right away. A video of a 16 year old girl, named "Ai Amano". The old man that was there said that Youta had picked out a nice video and that he was only the third customer the shop had since they opened. The old man told him that the shop can only be seen by those with "Pure Hearts". "For people who would think of another and cry for her although he's the one who is hurting"... the old man told him...

When Youta went home and played the tape, Ai appears on the video telling him that she will comfort him. That she knows how he feels about being lonely and heartbroken... and suddenly, to Youta's surprise she gets out of the TV screen to be his "dream girl" for awhile. But there's a slight defect. Since Youta broke his VCR earlier that day and was playing the video with that broken VCR... Ai became slightly not what he wanted and became more masculine. So Ai, instead of being feminine and submissive and a good "house wife" like Belldandy from Ah! My Goddess is... became the opposite. She's robust, loud, and can kick Youta's ass. Even her breasts became smaller because of her more "Masculine" self. This is quite funny because she blamed it on Youta and she dropped kicked him.

Ai told him that her running time was three months. So in that three months time, she had to help him win Moemi's heart. She comforted him when he cried, she cheered him on when he was about to give up and she cooked for him and though the cooking was horrible, so horrible to the point that even Ai threw up, Youta ate it anyway because the cooking was for him. Ai was touched and the longer she lived with him, the more she found good things about him. How selfless he is, how kind, how understanding. If only Moemi can see those qualities and everyone else that ever made fun of him then everything would be OK. But because of Youta's personality and the qualities that he pocesses, Ai begins to fall in love with him. And Love is a quality that Video Girls can never have because their playing time is short. They have to disappear.

Because Youta's been rejected by various girls in his past and Moemi as well, Ai appearing before him was like his fresh air. He was always happy to go home because Ai will always be there to greet him... however, because Ai began to have feelings that normal girls have that is forbidden for Video Girls, she is "recalled" by her maker named Rolex. She is defective and is taken away. With Youta being all alone again, he tries to save her from Rolex and tries to bring her back into the real world. But will Youta succeed? How can you not feel for someone that says things like "Everytime I begin to like someone, I have a difficult time smiling because each time I was rejected."

The OAV of Video Girl Ai sticks very close to the manga volumes #1-3. Though they made some slight changes to it, it was one of the most realistic portrays of love and its many different sides that I've ever seen. It's heartfelt and sad, that it just made me cry. And like I said, I don't cry in movies but it was really touching and the seiyuu got the emotions so right. The OAV is liscenced by VIZ but I do have to warn you NOT to get/rent the DUBBED version of it because it is horrible and is changed so much that the emotional affect is totally gone. Get the DVD with the subs instead and I promise you, you won't be disappointed. Ahhh... Maybe you'll even cry too. Did I just sound corny right now?

I do have to warn you though about the fan service, well actually I"S our past featured layout had more fan service but Video Girl has just full out nudity everywhere. A lot of people are touchy about that so I'm warning you right now. There's so much of it that Shueisha/Jump Comics (not VIZ mind you, who liscenced it for English) edited the images when they did later re-prints of the manga. But don't get put off by it (Katsura is known for this style anyway) because the story is amazing. The character developement is real and especially when it goes through the relationships of the characters. Realism aside, another great thing about VGA is that it's also very funny, has plenty of inside jokes and there's this really big monster like gargoyle that's located on top of the high school . I mean, I wouldn't mind having a big old monster gargoyle that stands atop my high school too. Youta explained that the Principal put it up there to protect the school, so bad things won't happen. He also said that, though the gargoyle may protect the school, it doesn't really protect the people inside from the bad things that happen to them. Awww...

You can find Video Girl Ai in your local bookstore, but VIZ is an ass and it's so expensive so you can get the real manga here at Sasuga Books. And for some who can't read Japanese the translations are here at Video Girl Ai Manga And Anime Rescources. And truly amazing site that explains VGA much better than I can ever do. And this is definately in Eternal Dreams category if I do say so.

And rent the OAV or buy it. It's good. The ending song "Ano Ni Hi" fits in so well. Awww... So sad and bittersweet and it's written by Katsura. Kimura Maki sings it so well, that it seems she put up all emotions felt in the song in her voice. So because I love this manga, the anime, and the song so much... I'll put up an MP3 of the song here. It's in a .zip file. So download Ano Ni Hi... here are the song lyrics to it at Anime Lyrics... There! I gave you all the links I can think of for you to try VGA out. I love it so much. Now I need to update my Faves list to add VGA to it shouldn't I? Ahh VGA is great. The song is sad, and well the story is bittersweet. Just the way I like it. So try it too ok?

<--- Back