Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi

according to kaoru, it's been 2 years since they were first re-uinted. which means probably a year after the end of the first series. i've seen 13 year olds with better relationships than that. i mean damn, it's almost to the point of being nauseating.

i mean wtf, are they still hiding the fact that they're engaged from everyone in the house?

(oh yea, and the enishi thing was dumb)

i thought the whole damn point of the damn show was about the relationship between aoi and kaoru, instead the show ends with tina graduating. wtf is that? (and why didnt they even bother to attend her graduation ceremony?) man, i figured having to explain to everyone in the house that they're engaged, and people in the house fiding out woul be some big interesting deal, especially considering they've been hiding it for TWO FUCKING YEARS NOW. getting both families involved in the relationship, having all the girls who are in love with kaoru throw fits, that would have been interesting. instead it's jsut this "im so happy we can live together as friends" crap, wtf?

and then if they wanted to, they could have made a third season about their married life or whatever, instead of this entire season of filler bullshit that doesnt mean anything.

My impressions seem to be similar to yours. I expected them to keep to the same overall theme as the first series, but instead they just went off on a tangent virtually the whole time. The first season almost lost my attention many times throughout. Every time I almost lost interest, they would focus back on Karou and Aoi's relationship and I'd be hooked for a few more episodes. This second season, I found myself struggling to watch almost every episode. I never expected that this second season would focus so little on Karou/Aoi's relationship.

And I'd also agree with you, two friggin years later and Karou is still arguing with Miyabi to let them stay out for a night?! Uh, didn't she let them stay the night together in the end of the 1st season? So now why's it a big deal?

Sigh, so much potential, so much of a letdown.

Although it seems that some of you people like to watch people making stupid decisions, without first thinking about what the consequences of there actions will be. All the characters in this series think before they take a major decision and that is why they evade the typical bakka story lines of most dramas. I like tragedies but ow do I hate dramas, dramas seem to be filled with characters with no brains.

getting both families involved in the relationship, having all the girls who are in love with Kaoru throw fits, that would have been interesting. Instead it's just this "im so happy we can live together as friends" crap, wtf?

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You haven't thought about what this series is about have you. Let me state this again, Karou and Aoi's are bound together by the strings of faith and nothing in the world will tear them apart. Not their families, not their friends, not even god (if there is one). You ask "why don't they make it public that they are in love?". Let me first say that by not making it public, it does not mean that they don't truly love each other. They don't make it public because it's easier for them to stay together. They got a big house, money that's coming form somewhere (Aoi's family?), great friends. Keeping their love a secret is not a big price to pay. If they made it public Aoi would not stop loving Kaoru, she would probably give up her family name, marry Kaoru and live happily but in poverty. Kaoru knows this and will not let it happen, because he has seen what it did to his mother and his family. You might ask "if they love each other that much, why don't they just get married?" They don't because Aoi is leaving it up to Kaoru. Kaoru, one of the best and real characters in anime ever. He has some real qualities that make him a great person. One of which is that he is very responsible. He demonstrates this by not marrying Aoi just like that. He knows that love isn't everything and that the line "all you need is love" is bs. Before he marries Aio he wants to able to take care of her, be the provider, he wants to offer her the same quality of life that she has enjoyed all her life.

Jumping to the characters and rivalries. I don't see how people don't get this. Kaoru is a character that has lots of integrity, this resulting from his past experiences. Integrity is a quality that is not present in dramas, it is also a personal quality that most people lack. Because Kaoru has integrity he will not fall in love with anybody else, even if they confess there love, even if Tina where to dance naked in front of him and tempt him, he would not compromise because of his love for Aio. The makers of this show can't make the love of the girls for Kaoru turn into rivalries between girls, because this has only one outcome. Aio and Kaoru get married and the rest ends up bitter, alone and hating Aio, Kaoru and each other. The last relationship building between Tina and Aio may be a basis for quarrelling in the future. All of the characters are good and kind at heart, so they would accept the person that Kaoru takes as his bride, but i don't know if they would be able to live under the same roof. Material for a series number 3? I wonder.

ps: It's so heart warming to see Miyabi (my type of woman) open up her heart.

yes, i have thought of what the series was about. and the first season was about their relationship and then the ensuing problems of having to hide it.

the second season, enishi, was about absolutely nothing more than living happily together with their friends. this was explained in the first episode of the second season. however, at the time i did not think that would be the focus of the entire season and absolutely nothing more. i assumed that while it would be a general theme for the series, that the second season would still be about their relationship.

and except for a couple moments, and 1 episode, the season was NOT about their relationship at all. the relationship was what made the show interesting, if nothing going on has anything to do with the relationship, then whats the point?

If they made it public Aoi would not stop loving Kaoru, she would probably give up her family name, marry Kaoru and live happily but in poverty. Kaoru knows this and will not let it happen, because he has seen what it did to his mother and his family. You might ask "if they love each other that much, why don't they just get married?" They don't because Aoi is leaving it up to Kaoru. Kaoru, one of the best and real characters in anime ever. He has some real qualities that make him a great person. One of which is that he is very responsible. He demonstrates this by not marrying Aoi just like that. He knows that love isn't everything and that the line "all you need is love" is bs. Before he marries Aio he wants to able to take care of her, be the provider, he wants to offer her the same quality of life that she has enjoyed all her life.

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and THAT would have been a hell of a lot more interesting than just a bunch of friends living in a big house. if i had to compare AYA: Enishi to anything else, i'd have to say it would be similar to MTV"s The Real World, if the cast were all on mood elevators constantly. i dont find that entertaining, and it certainly isnt why i was watching the series to begin with.

a confrontation of at least tina with kaorus a and aois relationship was what i expected. i actually thought when both girls were talking on the roof, aoi would tell her, but nthing :(
aoi was just a 2nd class character in enishi, i dont think that was a good idea, and normally every story besides a short story should have some kind of progress, some characters change their attitude, outlook on life etc
but here they live happily together as they did in ep 1
and i what i hoped for was some more depth about miyabi, as far as i can see though shes a capable manager she spends her life raising and watching over aoi (though aoi is more than 20 years old!!!), but why??
i see no realistic motivation (like secretly loving her as the daughter she never had etc), she could have also fallen for kaoru or sth like that, that would be interesting maybe, maybe she actually did but its more like accepting him into her "familly" i think

exactly, if there wasnt going to be any more depth(something there could have been loads more of), it makes it pointless.

Prisoner1138 said:

and except for a couple moments, and 1 episode, the season was NOT about their relationship at all. the relationship was what made the show interesting, if nothing going on has anything to do with the relationship, then whats the point?

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A feel good anime? The relationship has already been cemented in series 1. I wasn't expecting any different. You really should ask for your time back, but then again did you expecting that the last episode would be any different from the rest.
Did you see the ending credits, what happens to the rest of the cast.
Aoi: she is still cleaning the house.
Tina: probably working at a zoo.
Teako: probably head of the camera club.
Chika: probably on her way to become a swimming champion.
Mayu: probably on her way to becoming a musical artist.
Kaoru: probably on his way to getting his post doctorate.
As for Miyabi she is getting into some kind of relationship with Mayu's guardian.
And guess what, the trend continues, there still living together, there no longer friends but family.

Arcardo said:

i think its a dissapointing ending as well
a confrontation of at least tina with kaorus a and aois relationship was what i expected.

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The confrontation was there, only Tina did not react the way you wanted.

we all know the relationship was cemented in the first season, that isnt the issue. the point is that afetr 2 years, their relationship has still only developed to the point of kaoru having to beg miyabi to let them spend the night at a hotel, when they're in their 20's.

pfft, and what confrontation with tina and aoi over the relationship with kaoru? all they did was talk about how they like being friends in the last episode, and what tina thought of kaoru in the bathhouse. "I like kaoru, i think he's a good guy" is not a confrontation.

and still, after 2 years, no one in the house has noticed that the two of them have some sort of relationship. are they all blind or what? that would bring conflict, drama, and whatever else that might make the show interesting.

kaoru and aoi could confront aois family about wanting to make it public. after having it made public that the son o the hanaishi family is marrying the daughter of the sakuraba family, they could step in and demand he take over the business or whatever. that would be conflict and drama.

just because the fact that they had a relationship was already established, doesnt mean that it shouldn't actually go anywhere. THAT would be interesting.

and no, cleaning a house, working at a zoo, swimming champ, etc etc is NOT interesting. because it doesnt resolve any of the relationships, or even bring to light the potential conflicts characters might have with eachother, except for mayu and tina, which as shown in the last episode wasn't their true feelings anyway.

if all they're gonna do is be happy and live together in a house, theres no reason to watch the show.

and actually, yes i was expecting that the last episode could be different, and maybe lead into an open ended cliffhanger for another season.

In my opinion Tina did notice it. She just kept it to herself.
Why did she ask Aoi all those questions? She is just confirming her suspicions. Tina is not a meek girl as Aoi points out, if she wants something she takes it.
The same can be said in the case of Kaoru. If she wanted him she could just take him, but she doesn't, she secretly suspects that Kaoru is already in love with someone else. She doesn't want to cause any trouble between Kaoru and the one he loves, so she keeps it to her self and watches everybody. She catches Aoi and Kaoru in the last episode, hand in hand, eye in eye, smiling at each other, in a romantic spot no less. Instead of storming to them or screaming or reacting in shock, she genteelly makes her presents know by whistling a song, not very Tina like. She does it on purpose, did you ever in series 1 and 2 hear Tina whistle.

This show is about avoiding confrontation, not getting yourself into trouble. I never thought of this show as a drama. I know what you are saying: "this show is not about the relationship between Aoi and Kaoru so why bother with the rest".

As for taking over the business, please, Aoi and Kaoru have no real power. They maybe the children of the owners but Kaoru was disowned and Aoi, well her father may be head of the organization but that's it, he only owns a small part. For if he owned everything why bother to keep your daughters relationship a secret. If someone objects, you just fire his/her ass.

aoi is a woman so shen cant have anything of this business anyway
the problem is just that aois father is the head of a big company (well we dont know how big his part in the companys shares is but he has a prestigous position there which is obviosuly passed over by familly --> the sacuraba group/familly (or isnt that aois family name?? i think it is) has owned this business for over 200 years
the problem is: aois husband is going to be aois fathers succerssor (seems like this is part of the tradition) and therefore they wanted kaoru to marry aoi in the first place, when he was planned as the future head of the hanabishi business this would become something like a huge merger so a normal guy like kaoru is now can never be accepted as a real husband of aoi-chan

when i think about it this could be the main reason for miyabi to be there --> she was talking about a scandal if it becomes public, but she also wants to make sure they never marry (not even secretly), so its not only about scandals but about money and power --> possible plot for next season, a new potential husband for aoi is found and this time aois father gets too muchg pressure from his main shareholders so he has to insist aoi to marry that guy (unlike seson 1)

and about tina: well i was wondering already why some of the chicks do not get suspicious when seeing aoi getting out of kaorus room for example, but i think there never has been a real hint that tina or any1 knows or at least suspects them being together

Arcardo said:

and about tina: well i was wondering already why some of the chicks do not get suspicious when seeing aoi getting out of kaorus room for example, but i think there never has been a real hint that tina or any1 knows or at least suspects them being together

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It's just my opinion, but somehow Tina suspects Kaoru to be in love with someone, she doesn't know who it is, but she suspects someone in his direct environment. I mean Tina is an assertive / aggressive girl so why keep the fact that she is in love with Kaoru a secret.

mmmm i really want the manga. :confused:

you're about as deep as a pothole puddle compared to the atlantic ocean. why don't you at least try to appreciate what the series truly means, or what your peers are trying to tell you about it. your close-mindedness sickens me. go watch DBZ or something if you want conflict and drama on your level. come back when you've learned to appreciate real art.

i'm not gonna appreciate what the series truly meant, because im capable of seeing past the extremely shallow nature of AYA Enishi. like i said, the entire season was nothing more than what would have been filler episodes in any other series. i dont see why it's so "beautiful" simply because there was no character, story, or any sort of development of the relationship between the characters at all besides being friends.

i mean hell, aydan kept talking about all sorts of assumptions of who MIGHT have noticed something, which never happened, or possible developments of the relationship between the characters in the series that never happened, which would have made this season worth watching.

are you guys even going to attempt to explain what was so "beautiful" about it, without saying anything that backs up my point?

Well it wasn't a horrible ending at all.. I am actually in the neutral area. I strongly do agree that i thought they'd have more than what they had happen at the end.. I would say the ending wasn't too bad. Tina did look nice though ^^ hehe.. But overall I did wish the relationship between Kaoru and Aoi would have developed more. However, if they would happen to make another series from Ai Yori Aoshi.. then by all means, the ending was perfectly fine in a way. I wouldn't get my hopes up though.

Mmm, I haven't been able to sleep, went to bed around 10 pm it's now 5:30 am, I think I got insomnia.

Anyway, I never said the series was beautiful, it thought the ending was beautiful. Reason for this, you see what happens to the characters after the series ends, yes its as simple as that. As for all the assumptions I'm making, you could be right. There is no real evidence as in: Tina says "I love you" to Kauro. Maybe it's just me, it probably is, but I usually know what people are thinking from the way they act and behave. The simple point I'm trying to make is that there is no chance of romantic conflict between characters. Simply because Kaoru will not betray his love for Aoi. So, any development in that region is dead. Unless Kaoru gets hit by a bus or something and gets a drastic personality change (and the series turns into your regular soup) there will be no development in the area of love relations. So what's this series to go on expect everyday live. You see it focusing on different problems of characters (not very interesting to some people), we see Aoi and Kauro's relationship getting stronger and stronger. I don't know what is keeping the manga alive, it seems that every path that can be taken already has a written outcome.

Let hypothesize for a second: what if someone confesses his/her love to Kauro. What do you think would happen? The person would get a, "I'm sorry, but I already love someone else." Everything out in the open, end of story. How do you develop their relationship more? They are already so much in love, they have already decided to spend the rest of their lives together. What more can there be?

What more is there to say? O yes, the golden rule and the real point of this anime, which is avoid conflict as much as possible, thinking first before acting. This is demonstrated all through series 1 and series 2. This makes the development through conflict impossible. So I don't understand why some people watch this series expecting conflict, which is obviously not going to happen.

You want an example of the conflict avoiding? Take series 1 where we see Aoi's father confronting Kauro and Aoi's relationship. If this show was so set on conflict and drama, Aoi's father would not have accepted Kauro, then we would have got the missing, the thinking, the crying, the hating, the longing, the plotting, the open ending to series 2, the inevitable good or bad conclusion, basically the drama. But what does the Aio's father do, he thinks, he knows he must except Kauro or have his daughter hate him for the rest of his live. But then again, we never explicitly see this happened so this isn't credible evidence is it. Even went that Chika declares to everyone what we all know, the characters react defensively instead of the admitted it to open up conflict. Again, thinking before acting. Why does Kaoru call to ask if he can spend the night with Aoi? Again, thinking. Not about him or Aoi but about Miyabi. She the one that has to keep an eye on them, she's the one who will be hit the most if someone finds out. For those who can't think about the logical consequences. She'll be fired, discredited and won't be able to find a good job because of that. Get the picture. Ever hear about responsibility. Aoi and Kaoru can do what they want, when they want. But they are responsible individuals and won't let there happiness lead to someone else's misfortune. Responsibility = anti conflict/anti drama.

Where all just vegetables that watch shows and don't think why people do stuff, we never question there motives. We just watch and don't think, most shows are like that aren't they. One of my many attractions to this show is the fact that by thinking a little you can fill in parts of the puzzle and get the whole picture.

But hell I think I'm the weird one here, I'm just over analyzing stuff again. Yes, yes, the series would have been a lot better with more conflict, but then again if that happened it wouldn't be Ai Yori Aoshi anymore. I'll leave it at this, I said my peace.

EDIT: Spelling (i know i suck at it)

that kind of responsibility is unrealistic imho, ok i dont know how japanese are thinking, but can it be that different?

lets start with kaoru: to him aoi should be the dearest person on earth, he actually has noone else, and he is extremely happy about how his life has changed since she entered his life
but even though his main concern should be miyabis position? even when aoi is alone because of this??
and aoi: her reactions are mostly predictable, she spent her life being an obedient girl and she easily accepted the duty of marrying a hanabishi guy, she even made this her future life perspective and main motivation for doing everything, but still although she ran away from home in s01ep01 already after that she made a step backwards and accepted miyabis rules --> the alternative running away with kaoru (not in the beginning but at some later point) would mean financial difficulties maybe, butfinancial security is not what aoi is troubled about
miyabi: if aois happiness is her main concern, isnt she realising she is just a nuissance for her?, in the end of s01 she already was ready to accept them running away, but suddenly shes back and the old rules are back as well? and for what? just to live in that fancy big house with all of them? that is the point obiously, but why cant kaoru and aoi simply confess to the others, wouldnt that be more like fair towards their friends?? theyre actually lying all the time.... and kaoru definitely knows myuki-chan and tina have hopes concerning him, and maybe he knows about taeko-chan as well, lets take chika out of this..... or its gets perverted :)

they are adults but i dont think they they act like adults, responsibilitys should be kategorised by priority....

well.... kaoru is a bad bad bad guy, so he should be slapped !!!!!!!

---> again i didnt say i didnt like watching this, just said the ending was dissapointing, season 1 was different: there was a major conflict and it got resolved, and about tina going away and returning... well ok you could call this a conflict, ok

and though it was said before: i dont like to be flamed for no obvious reason, i just plainly stated my opinion and hopefully didnt attack any1 (if u dont agree u could state that in a different, more qualified way), thats what a discussion is about ....
there is a word for such behaviour: unmannered