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SUMMARY

Two years after Aoi returns to Kaoru’s life, the couple are living together with their makeshift family at the Sakuraba estate essentially freed from the ties of their biological families. Kaoru is in graduate school. Taeko, Tina, and Mayu are still undergraduates and Chika is in high school. Miyabi still oversees the daily operations at the estate and orchestrates Aoi’s life with Kaoru.   Amazingly, the others stay obliviously unaware their Landlady-sama might have more than detached affection for Kaoru, who is the center of all their desires.

Summer is on its way and Kaoru must finish his thesis paper if he is to have any vacation, but the girls at the Sakuraba estate selfishly want his attention.  At the same time, a road trip shows off Taeko’s driving ability while providing Aoi and Kaoru a bit of face time. Chika and her friends need Tina’s coaching abilities to conquer a swimming competition, but things don't quite go as planned.

Will Kaoru ever finish in time with all the distractions? 

DVD VISION TEST

Video: The video is excellent. No defects, artifacts, color bleeds or pixels to destroy the smooth motion and sharp images. The color palette of soft pastels adds to the dreamlike, romantic quality of the show.

Audio: Audio tracks include English 2.0 and Japanese 2.0. Both offer quality sound. Other options include English subtitles and a separate option for Screen Text only.

Edits: The only obvious edit is that English credits replace the Japanese opening and closing credits.

Extras: Creditless opening and closing, a mini-poster of Aoi with episode guide and snapshot of Tina. There is also a reversible cover.

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

Story: Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi “Bond” continues to focus on the secondary characters with a thin veil of the love story between Kaoru and Aoi. The young couple is definitely the mother and father of this rag-tag family and the overseers of the happiness of all who reside at the Sakuraba estate. It captures the spirit of Kou Fumizuki’s original manga.

Acting: The English voice cast performs admirably, but just can’t capture the sweetness of these characters. The translation is fairly accurate, but there are no equivalents to some of the traditional language used by Aoi and Miyabi. We simply do not have the formalized language when talking to superiors in the same way and the honorifics (-chan, -sama, -senpai, -dono) do not mean Miss or Sir in quite the same way.

Soichiro Hoshi gives Kaoru a quiet respectability while Dave Lelyveld comes across as a goofy, insecure guy. In this series, Dave seems to be trying to mature Kaoru, but only succeeds in sounding bored. Michelle Ruff tries to capture Aoi’s demure lilt, but makes her sound young, instead of a grown lady, and when Aoi is upset Michelle’s voice becomes too shrill. Ayako Kawasumi just does a better job at capturing Aoi’s shy, yet confident, cadence.

The secondary characters are even further off base. Wendee Lee’s Southern accent comes and goes as the American Tina Foster. Kay Jensen as Chika produces a caricature, rather than a true teenager.

The voices of Taeko and Mayu, Sue Beth Arden and Kirsty Pape, are the only ones in the English cast that actually sound like you imagine these characters.

CONCLUSION:

How long can a secret romance stay secret when surrounded by four gossips? Well, apparently for as long as need be. Of course, this might be because said gossips – Tina, Mayu, Tae, and Chika – are mostly self-absorbed and definitely selfish. They seem to believe their landlady, Aoi, too pure to have that kind of feeling for Kaoru.

Kaoru is maddeningly lacking spine in this set of episodes as he finds himself unable to defend against Tina and Mayu’s attentions, Chika begging for help on homework, and even Uzume’s (the ferret) invitation to play instead of concentrate on school work. He agrees to a date with Mayu despite loving Aoi. The date itself is innocent and shows more of Kaoru’s concern for others than himself. In the end, it gives us another reason to like Kaoru.

In these episodes, Aoi is exasperatingly nonplussed by the girls’ attentions to Kaoru. She barely reacts to Mayu plopping on Kaoru’s lap during their year-end celebration party and does not want to join the girls in feeding Kaoru at a cookout. She even shocks Kaoru by telling him to have fun on his date with Mayu. Aoi ends the conversation by asking him to take her on a date next time. Kaoru’s reaction shows his sense of guilt over being so weak when it comes to the other girls in the house.

The constant bickering among the other girls can be grating as well as they fight over Kaoru.

On the other hand, it is impossible not to like all these characters. Even Mayu, whose voice alone - in Japanese or English - makes one cringe, becomes steadily more likable. In episode 5, “Piano,” Mayu invites Kaoru on a date to show off the one-of-a-kind dress her mother designed for her. She spends the entire day trying to please Kaoru, only to have him turn the tables on her. It shows us a depth and lack of selfishness we haven’t seen before in Mayu.

Plus, these characters try so hard to do everything to the best of their ability and, through the support of those around them, usually achieve their goals. It is heart-warming and encouraging.

The secret love becomes less important as the relationships between all the characters develop. Mayu and Tina will stay rivals on the surface, but clearly are friends beneath. Chika is everyone’s little sister and her friends become part of the group.

As the story’s focus moves away from Kaoru and Aoi to the entire family, the comparison this series has drawn with “Love Hina” becomes even less obvious. While both series are harem comedies, “Love Hina” was a constant barrage of comedic action and Keitaro, the central male figure, was hapless and clueless. Kaoru’s downfall is simply that he cares about others too much and Aoi would never dream of hitting Kaoru, unlike Naru, who sends Keitaro to the moon.

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