The contents below contains
spoilers
to
this anime series! You may wish to skip those sections that have
been enclosed with the red asterisk "*".
 "Den'ei
Shoujo", or more commonly known in English as "Video Girl Ai", is originally
a 15 volume compliation of manga co-authored by Masakazu Katsura
and Sukehiro Tomita, and was first published by Shueisha
in 1990. In 1992, the anime version was released,
jointly produced by Masakazu
Katsura
and I.G. Tatsunoko. It consists of a 6
part OVA (Original Video Animation) and was
loosely based on the story-line of the manga version. Recently,
Viz Communications gained copyrights to the manga and anime version of
Video Girl Ai.
Video
Girl Ai is based on a romatic love story between a human and a virtual-entity.
The heart-broken boy, Youta Moteuchi, realised he had earlier caused hurt
to the girl (Moemi Hayakawa) he had all along been secretly in love with.
Wandering aimlessly in the busy city streets, Youta imagined himself as
the only being in the world.
Just
then, a lone video shop caught his eyes. Somehow, the appearance of the
shop brought on a sense of relief from his present predicament. Compelled
for some unknown reason, he entered the
 "Gokuraku"
video rental shop only to find himself in the idols' video section holding
on to a Video Girl's tape upon coming to his senses. Curiously, an old
man appeared from the back of the store to offer
him a video membership card,
and disappeared into the back of the shop.
*
Back
home, Youta tried to play the tape with his brand-new video player. However,
earlier that morning, he accidentally dropped it onto the floor damaging
it badly. Just as he was hoping that the VCR will work, some static noises
and a faint piano tune filled the room. A girl appeared from within the
TV screen and introduced herself as "Ai Amano", a Video Girl that will
obey Youta's wishes and comfort his heart-broken soul to the best of her
abilities.
 Before
Youta could comprehend her words, sparks shot through the screen, and a
flash of bright light engulfed the small room. When Youta realised what
had just happened, "Ai Amano", formerly on-screen, was now lying unconscious
on his bed... ...
*
To
find out more about Ai Amano and other Video Girls information, check out
the following websites:
The
Video Girl Ai Manga and Anime Resources
VGAi
Shrine
Noriko
Sakai sung the opening theme song for this anime, titled "Ureshi
Namida". Please click on the link to view the song lyrics and transliteration.
October 29, 1998
Revised on July 10, 1999 |
|
