- Opening Theme
- “Ureshii Namida” by Noriko Sakai
- Ending Theme
- “Ano Hi Ni” by Maki Kimura
First review up, and it’s one of those 90’s anime I mentioned earlier (it was made in 1992).
For those of you who haven’t seen (or heard about) this show, well here’s your chance to catch a glimpse of this rare gem, courtesy of yours truly.
We have Yota Moteuchi1, (a play on his name Motenai) the main character and all-around nice guy. So nice, in fact, that he even lets his childhood friend and longtime crush Moemi Hayakawa get along with his fellow classmate and best friend Takashi Niimai.
Dejected that his love was left unrequited, he goes to a video shop and purchase a VHS tape (very popular back then) of “video girls”, one of those novelties of a loveless man where you pop the tape in your VHS player (again, very popular at that time) and watch as a girl pops up on your TV screen and tries to interact with you, to console with you, and to mend your broken heart.
Later on, this concept of girls popping up on TV screen becomes a magical reality, as suddenly, this video girl Yota’s seeing, Video Girl Ai Amano, comes out of his screen and into his room. He was almost gushing for joy at the sight of this goddess coming into his life. And here is where their story begins.
This is a tale of a touching yet endearing romance that almost jerked a tear out of my eye. Watch as Yota and Ai struggle as their love gets tested throughout the show. “For brokenhearted people only”, as the intro screen of the tape shows. Yes, this OVA delivers that magnificently.
The animation shows its date pretty well, as we get to see watercolored backgrounds, shots of static screens, and of real places in real-life Japan.
Even the voices are appropriate for their respective characters. Ai’s feisty voice instantly reminded me of her role as the female Ranma Saotome of Ranma 1/22, with Megumi Hayashibara also voicing her. Yota’s seiyuu, Takeshi Kusao, delivers his heart wrenching role as the dejected, hopeless and too-nice guy Yota Moteuchi. Hearing Yuri Amano voice the cute Moemi Hayakawa lets you draw in and feel as if you want to comfort her for her unsuccessful, yet trying, attempts at catching Takashi’s attention. Ever the uninterested cool guy, Takashi’s seiyuu, Kouji Tsujitani, makes you want to knock some sense into his head and take notice of Moemi.
Based on the original manga of the same name, by Masakazu Katsura, directors Hiroshi Watanabe and Mizuho Nishikubo have certainly outdone themselves to bring together this classic to life.
1In Japan, a person’s surname is pronounced/written first before the given name. In this case, I’m using the Western format, given name first, then the surname. 2Don’t believe me? Listen to how female Ranma talks and you will clearly hear that distinctive tone here on Video Girl Ai.