Don’t be fooled by the title. This romantic comedy is no shallow hormone fest but, because I made that mistake, it took me over a year to get around to reading it. Sure, it’s a shonen manga with a lot of fanservice, but the characters and events are quite good.
Among other things, I find it very rare to see a female character who is as realistically assertive as Nobuko Nizaki. (as opposed to comically assertive like the girls in Ranma 1/2 and the Tenchi Muyo OAVs) It also helps that the manga’s namesake, Ai the Video Girl is “defective”. As one review described her, trash-talking, assertive, and determined to help the main character find love even if she has to drag him all the way.
As for events, when was the last time you saw a manga where a boy and a girl are watching a movie, they both simultaneously prepare to “make the next move”, and it’s the movie that ruins the chance?
It also happens to be the first series I can think of where I can actually see that the characters are Japanese just from their body proportions. (they look their height, whereas many authors do that too subtly for me to really notice)
Finally, the last two volumes provide a refreshingly uncommon epilogue which deserved special mention. Enjoy. 🙂
