Remembering Video Girl Ai

[@delbroox]

Still in love with the manga all these years later. It meant so much to me as a kid. And the art was just so good. He's definitely one of the best of that generation. Still unbeaten.

[@Kane429]

Both the manga and anime were fantastic.

[@ComicKelsey]

This manga was a bit of a gateway because of how well it was drawn. I was not about to buy a relationship comic when I was 15, I wanted action. I was an Appleseed, Akira, and Silent Mobius nut at the time. HAHA! But the backgrounds, the character designs... just everything about this was so well done, I couldn't help but get into it.

[@sjpiach4432]

The author Masakazu Katsura also designed the characters for Astral Chain. Buy Astral Chain!

[@KalleVilenius]

Wanting your waifu to be real is such an old idea they did a successful series of it 30+ years ago. Neat.

[@Billb0418]

You're black?

[@kunedog]

The effort and detail put into underwear crease.

[@tmtportfolio]

Anytime someone mentions VGA, I instantly teleport to their side of the room. Definitely my favorite romcom manga of all time, and I'd recommend reading it while listening to the soundtrack (like experiencing the anime but better).

[@Revolurt]

Ah yes, the series that exposes your age when people ask you "which series is the iconic romcom from Shounene Jump?" (I am more from the Ichigo 100% era)

[@ProgressivePatriot]

I have kept this collection for many many years. I took the entire series to rehab to help get me through. I still have the same collection that I had in my twenties near the age of 40. This story makes me believe in love when I need such a lesson.

[@rumorcontrol7873]

I still remember one day in the early 2000s my dad saying "you like Anime right?" as he rented "End of Evangelion pt2" at Blockbuster. Quite the intro to the series for a young teen boy....

[@annedrieck7316]

Ah, the master of mystic farts manga

[@jerr0.]

I think there's a portion of your audience that would hate this lmao. I read the scanlation back in the 90's. It's pretty good. I used to describe it as Japanese "Weird Science"

[@storiedworlds6261]

Video Girl Ai, I haven’t heard that name in a long time.

[@kukuhpringgo]

Video girl ai, love hina, ichigo 100, etc. Another men of culture 😁😁😅

[@forrfuun8470]

Great manga. More mature compared to other manga targeting this demographic (15-20 years).

[@jeffshelton9699]

This was unexpected and much welcome; its great to see Masakazu Katsura get some love! Any idea why we've gotten domestic releases of all of his work except Zetman? The art is incredible; some of his best, and I've had to buy it in volumes I can't read to own it! lol

[@annedrieck7316]

Batman?

[@gtetrakai]

While this wasn't my first exposure to anime and manga, it was the first to completely hook me. I've lost count the number of times I reread this and to this day, I still feel it is the best piece of work that I had the pleasure of reading. So many romance anime/manga try and struggle to achieve what Video Girl AI does so effortlessly. Its still the first romance manga I will recommend if someone wants an example of the genre and one that I will recommend to anyone who wants to know what good manga is in general and all it encompasses.

[@Master_of_Merol81]

I remember read this and DNA² in the late 90's, it was good, a different animal animal to what western comics offered me at the time.

[@Diiros]

Thanks Perch for this review it deserves it. The 2018 dorama/soup opera is a nice sequel i highly recomen it for Video girl Ai hardcore fans

[@ReallyCoolSite]

Comixology has all 15 volumes for $6.99 each or $6.49 each with your Comixology Unlimited Discount. Viz has 13 search pages worth of stuff over on Comixology if you need anything else to go with it. Again, as an alternative if you can't find a physical copy.

[@AL-ws5yi]

Oh my gosh, I haven’t heard that name in so long. Haha, brings back memories.

[@AL-ws5yi]

Ah my Goddess! reminded me of this show.

[@ComicsPerch]

Yes! That was the one I was trying to remember.

[@pandachips8849]

I's and DNA^2 were also pretty good

[@delbroox]

loved those too

[@phaeded0ut]

Great examples in this posting. “Video Girl Ai” was not my cup of tea,”Key the Metal Idol” (anime), “Riding Bean,” “Gunsmith Cats,” and “Oh, My Goddess!” from that period were my own preference. “Dark side Blues” is another manga I enjoyed from the early 1990’s, too, but this was a very different and much darker and serious story. For something a bit more tongue-in-cheek, “Patlabor,” and “You’re Under Arrest!” are well worth the read.

[@jorge23483]

I remember, yeah, it was the first manga I collected on highschool. One of the most interesting creations of Masakazu Katsura (great fan of Batman by the way). Katsura sensei really created an interesting Romantic drama. I remember it dearly. And yeah, that was the good old times, when almost always the anime was just a separate thing from the Manga just like his other works like DNA2 and Shadow Lady 😂.

[@theskyrax670]

I saw the anime of this years ago, like 6 years ago

[@theskyrax670]

7 years, but close enough

[@pickypoison9501]

Back from the 80s...lets leave the beginnen stuff behind us. Manga as well as the anime of nazo no kanojo X (mysterious girlfriend x) , kokoro connect; komi-san can't communicat, tomo-chan is a girl; saotome senshu, hitakakusu; mob 100. These are concepts that make you craving for more. Bring the medium to there limit. Maybe one of these next time ;)

[@faustmeth]

The live action TV drama from 2018 was pretty good and faithful, though it is set in modern day and Youta’s nephew is the main character.

[@dicenster]

I only have read his first manga series Wingman.

[@EFC429]

I got into this Anime thanks to Mason Fowlkes "Too Little, Too Late" Then I later bought the manga. Honestly the 6 OVA episodes wasn't enough (it was good!) and the Live Action Drama lacked depth even though it brought it to modern day. I hope one day it gets redone with much more effort put either in Anime or Live Action.

[@TevyaSmolka]

I never even heard of this manga but it sounds really interesting

[@jorge23483]

Recommended 💯. It's one of those rare Romantic Shonen Mangas, and the art and the character designs is one of the best from Katsura sensei. Gosh, I'm really old 😂.

[@RobertChisholm]

The one I remember like this was Buttobi CPU. Which was terrible.

[@sayfsayf4484]

Also Ai non-stop from Love Hina's mangaka

[@d19xx]

I remember reading the manga for a while but dropped it because I got more interested in Katsura's latest manga(at the time) I"s. The drama feels really heavy on that manga and I stayed away from anything romance related after that, so I never got back to Video Girl Ai.

[@MerrimanDevonshire]

Okay, count me as one that did not see it... manga was not a heavy presence in Detroit until mid/late 1990s. Nice vintage vignette on this.

[@jthompson1327]

Fond memories

[@davidgantenbein9362]

Ranma is dated? I must confess that it was decades ago that I read it, but I would have thought that it’s kind of timeless.

[@ComicsPerch]

I think it is... but the style is considered dated, and some of the plots are now more dated. But I enjoy the hell out of it.

[@renvent123]

If you're doing manga reviews would you mind doing some of Mizukami Satoshi's works? He needs a lot more appreciation. Also Houshin Engi if you've ever read it. I'm curious what you think of it.

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

Yea I’ve never heard of it, like nearly everything haha.

[@roygbiv9038]

Just recently bought the last two volumes and vol. 10 after over a decade because I accidentally skipped over it bought vol. 11. Was there a fire that burned the rest of vol. 10? Why is it so expensive compared to the other volumes?

[@rolandkatsuragi]

Isn't that sort of the case with Vtubers now?

[@ur-ray5679]

Gave you read ghost in the shell?

[@ComicsPerch]

Absolutely.

[@ur-ray5679]

@@ComicsPerch so far I've only read the 1st big hardcover,have you done a vod on it?

[@annedrieck7316]

I knew that one, its about a group of space faring bounty hunter that consist of a man who knew water style fist, a former police that lost his arm now with new prostetic metalic arm, a mysterious feme fatale and androginous child with hacking talent that put smart dog to shame.

[@ur-ray5679]

@@annedrieck7316 that's cowboy bebop

[@drewkre]

Even the j-drama Video Girl Ai is pretty faithful to the source material. Sure they changed the protagonist to the protagonist's nephew and changed the era from early 90's to 2018 but it feels the same. Check it out. You can find it eng subbed online. Why can't American comic adaptions feel same to the source material? I get trying to modernize old source material to 2021; but that doesn't mean you throw out the feel of the source material? I think this is the biggest difference b/w American Comics vs Manga. The media adaptions of manga are VERY close to their origins or comic roots. American Comic adaptions are NOT. So if I was a potential comic buyer and I I liked a VGA j-drama or the anime to Tokyo Ghoul and tried out the manga it would have the same feel. On contrast if I liked the Avengers movies and tried out the comics I'd be discouraged and never buy another Avengers comic again. Because the story isn't close to being the same.

[@annedrieck7316]

Japanese life action manga/anime adaption are generally terrible to watch. Especially the recent one.

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

God, this sounds painfully boring Perch.

[@ComicsPerch]

Very much the opposite.

[@jorge23483]

You may think so, but is not. Its great success on its time was well deserved.

[@abloshow91]

Cheesy and pervy. Japan? What?