[80sanime]

1991-1995 Anime Primer
Video Girl Ai (1992)

Yota Moteuchi (which can also be read as Motenai—meaning “Dateless”) is a shy, socially awkward high school boy with a kind heart. So kind that, when his crush Moemi’s inadvertent love confession is casually rejected by his best friend Takashi, Yota sheds tears for her pain rather than his own. This selflessness allows him entry into the mysterious video rental shop Gokuraku, visible to only the purest of souls. He rents a VHS tape with a pretty young woman on the cover… not expecting her to physically emerge from the TV screen after pressing play! Her name is Ai and she’s a literal video girl who, despite Yota’s broken VCR rendering her a little screwy, is on a mission to better his life before her month’s worth of run time is up.

Video Girl Ai is a six-episode OVA based on Masakazu Katsura’s (DNA², Zetman) sci-fi rom-com manga, animated by Production I.G. and directed with a winsome touch by Mizuho Nishikubo (California Crisis, Radio City Fantasy). Alongside Tenchi Muyo! and Oh My Goddess!, it was an early popularizer of the magical girlfriend genre which would surge in popularity throughout the 90s. What makes Video Girl Ai unique is the vein of somberness that offsets the cheeky humor and fan service, depicting the acute pain of adolescence that even a dream babe can’t completely distract from; the anime’s original ending goes a step further, putting a poignant spin on the usual escapist elements of the formula.

I have all these sweet feels about Odo’s Bajoran security officer squad. They all look like him. They all wear their hair like him. They’re all beige like him. They must have been so lonely without him these last few days, while he’s been holed up in his quarters with She Who Must Not Be Named, and they’ve been stuck with Damar as a boss, and doesn’t that suck, and all of a sudden Odo rolls in full of piss and vinegar and shouts, “Let’s go shoot some Cardassians,” and they’re all like,

DADDY’S HOME

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Moth Gypsy: Wow, the Bajorans are super racist… Every time there’s a Cardassian or...

[moth-gypsy]

Wow, the Bajorans are super racist… Every time there’s a Cardassian or someone who aided the Cardassians back in the day, Kira and the other Bajorans are so quick to throw them under the bus. EVERY. FUCKING. TIME.

I understand that they have plenty of reasons to fear the Cardassians, but there...

[tinsnip]

In fairness, you can kind of see where Bajor’s coming from - and the Cardassians aren’t exactly shining examples of tolerance and loving kindness themselves. Garak is adorable, but he’s a big dick where Bajorans are concerned. He thinks the Cardassian occupation should be thought of as something that had positive effects on both societies, and that Bajorans are naturally more servile than Cardassians.

Everybody’s got to headcanon the Occupation/War so that they can sleep at night. It will take time.