Anime Report: Ai Yori Aoshi 4: Truly Yours

When you're down and blue, it's girly anime to the rescue!

I was in a mood only shojo could fix. So I OD'ed on fluff and fan service.

The fourth volume of Ai Yori Aoshi has a lot of the typical shojo tropes -- the beach episodes and the school festival. It also introduces Chika ... the less said about Chika, the better.

Five episodes:

Shores -- The whole gang, including the ferret, head to the beach. Mayu and Tina compete to find the perfect swimsuit to catch Kaoru's eye, leaving the more modest Aoi feeling left out and lonely. A sweet romantic ending balances all the fan service and screaming.

Waves -- Is Taeko falling for Kaoru too? Chika schemes to get them together, with the predictable disastrous results. A big chunk of this episode is set at an outdoor bath, it that tells you anything.

Bedsharing -- A key point in the manga, this cover's Tina and Kaoru's trip to the zoo and spending a night in a love hotel. The bit with Tina dressing up as a bride is handled gracefully, and I like Tina's description of why she likes animals so much. "Because animals can't talk, people have to understand how animals feel. Of course, people can talk, but they don't really say how they really feel all that much."

Lap Pillow -- Chika visits the mansion to complete her summer homework, wear a maid's outfit and generally annoy me. A heavy dose of Aoi sweetness in a monologue about how everyone has a place in their special family kept me from hitting the fast forward button.

Cure -- Tina's fondness for creepy crawlies ruins the photo club's cosplay cafe, but Aoi's fabulous green tea saves the day! Aoi-centric episodes are my favorites, so I really enjoyed seeing her get a chance to shine here. When she bursts out laughing at Kaoru's ridiculous costume, you can see how much she's changed from the shy, melancholy shadow she was in the first episodes. And this episode spent so much time talking about how wonderful tea was that I went and made myself a cup (a nice Japanese green) before I popped in the next DVD.