Ai Yori Aoshi (藍より青し)

Ai Yori Aoshi

Alternative Names (異名):
Ai Yori Aoshi, 藍より青し

---

Ai Yori Aoshi (藍より青し) is a Japanese seinen manga written and illustrated by Kou Fumizuki, originally serialized in 1998 in Hakusensha's Young Animal. The anime is a love story between two characters who haven't seen each other in years and who once were childhood friends.

Ai Yori Aoshi was directed by Masami Shimoda and animated by J.C.Staff. The series was made into an anime in 2002, and was completed in 2003 when its second season Ai Yori Aoshi: Enishi (藍より青し ～縁～), ended. Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi takes place two years after episode one of Ai Yori Aoshi and has the characters older. In all there are 37 episodes, this includes a special Christmas episode found in Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi. The anime was released in North America by Geneon, and the manga was released in English by Tokyopop. Four visual novels were also released for the PlayStation 2, and for Windows 98.

---

Title

The title is taken from a quote from the Chinese philosopher Xun Zi: "Indigo comes from blue, and is yet greater than blue" (Kanji: 青は藍より出でて藍より青し, Rōmaji: Ao wa ai yori idete ai yori aoshi, simplified Chinese: 青出于蓝而胜于蓝; traditional Chinese: 青出於藍而勝於藍; pinyin: Qīng chū yú lán ér shèng yú lán). The phrase is used in both Chinese, Korean and Japanese to mean that, although people are molded by their teacher, they surpass that teacher through their own efforts. The name of the main character, Aoi (葵), is pronounced the same way as a ao(i), a version of ao "blue". Aoi states that Enishi are the bonds that tie people to one another.

The series is sometimes referred to as a halfway point between a harem anime and a magical girlfriend story. It is also referred to as "Japanese Love Hina" (和製 ラブ ひな, Wasei Rabu Hina) as the story is similar to Love Hina.

---

Japanese Manga | Japanese Animation | Ecchi | Harem |