Video Girl Ai, Vol. 4

Nobuko has decided it's time to raise their relationship to the next level. Even though the two lovebirds have never kissed, she wants to spend the night with Yota at his house. But at the most inopportune time, he gets a call from Ai and has to go to her emotional rescue. Ai, while still suffering from amnesia, is drawn inexplicably to Yota but she doesn't want to hurt Nobuko. And besides that, she has bigger problems when her creator arrives on Earth, his mission to erase Ai! Yota is at a loss since he still cares for Ai but feels he had to move on because of her lost memory. Even the girl that started all this mess, Moemi, is wanting more than just friendship from our once "Dateless" hero. This manga has evolved from a once comedic formula of boy meets tomboyish fantasy girl to a romance in the space of the last two volumes. It's hard to sympathize with Yota at times because of his embarrassment of riches. It seems like all the girls want him now but he's having a hard time doing what has to be done. Mainly, picking one! Katsura did a better job in this fourth volume of making Yota's decisions based on his unwillingness to hurt anyone instead of portraying him as a sort of caddish gigolo in the last volume. But most of the time, a failure to express your feelings in a relationship leads to trouble. If only Yota could learn this lesson. This is turning into a fine series.

I wasn't sure whether to give this a 3 or a 4, but I gave it a 4 because it really was interesting enough that I got through it quickly (if something takes me a while to read, it's either very long or not very interesting). Yota is still dealing with relationship problems, only now his problems don't involve the word "dateless". In fact, he's got way too many women in his life. There's Moemi, Nobuko, and Ai. Yota's dating Nobuko, but he still loves Ai, and he's still got feelings for Moemi. It makes his life pretty complicated. The reason I was wondering if I should give it a 3 was because I'm getting to the point in this series where I think every one of these characters just needs a break from each other - or maybe just from Yota. It's hard to believe that he could go from being the guy with the nickname "Dateless" to the guy that every girl wants to have. This book still was a pretty good read, but I don't think I'm going to be continuing with this series anytime soon.

Video Girl Ai Vol. 4: Off-Line continues Katsura's romantical triangle/square/pentagon saga with a hint of cyber sci-fi and a thoughtful, serious undertone concerning the fragility of human hearts and emotions. Certain mature themes about human sexuality briefly appear in this graphic novel, which is intended for a wide age range but not for very young children. The formerly "Dateless" protagonist Yota has met a flesh-and-blood young woman who is very interested in him - yet Ai Amano is still around, attending his school, with nearly all her memories of being a "video girl" seemingly erased. The unknowing Ai may have only another month of life left to her, but Yota's human girlfriend doesn't know that! A new rival in love appears, plus Moemi suddenly returns... but neither of these two are as dangerous as Ai's creator, who is most displeased about the "flaws" appearing in his work! Those followers of Katsura's humanistic saga who have watched the animated adaptation of Video Girl Ai should not pass up Video Girl Ai Vol. 4: Off-Line, because the original manga takes the story into a much different and deeper direction than the anime, which roughly corresponds to volumes 1-3 only. Video Girl Ai is enthusiastically recommended.

Video Girl Ai is by far the most tender love story I've read ... even outside of anime! The characters are so true to life and the story is excellent! I've read manga over and over, and each time it seems more poignant. I also own the DVD and I can never seem to get enough of that, either. I really can identify with Yota's pain. I would highly recommend this manga, especially if you are "dateless" and pure of heart.