80sanime:1991-1995 Anime PrimerVideo Girl Ai (1992)Yota Moteuchi (which can also be read as Motenai—
80sanime:1991-1995 Anime PrimerVideo 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. -- source link
#90s primer