藍より青し　第一話：縁～えにし～
Ai yori Aoshi - Ep.1: Fate

-- Cast

花菱　薫		保志　総一朗
Hanabishi Kaoru		Hoshi Souichirou

Hitoshi's page has his name as 保志総一郎 but the above is how he is
listed in the credits.

桜庭　葵		川澄　綾子
Sakuraniwa Aoi		Kawasumi Ayako
幼少の薫		日高　奈留美
Young Kaoru		Hidaka Narumi
西田			肥後　誠
Nishida			Higo Makoto
田中			坂口　候一
Tanaka			Sakaguchi Kouichi

-- Synopsis

Kaoru is a university student living alone in Tokyo.  One day he sees a
girl in Kimono at Ikebukuro station getting lost trying to change trains.
She has just arrived in Tokyo and is looking for her fiance, whom she
has not met for 18 years.  He offeres to help her, things happen, but it
takes him awhile to realize who the girl and her fiance are.

-- Review (sort of)

Vol.1 first press came with a box for vol.1 to 4, and disc 1 is a
beautiful picture DVD.

The story got off a good start.  We were given some background to work
with (e.g. Kaoru left home for some reason other than just to attend
university).  And an interesting, though not original, situation is
already set up to make you want to see what happens next.

The manga is run in Young Animal <http://www.younganimal.com/> along
with series such as Berserk and Futari H.  So it is for young men and
the typical plot reflects that ^_^

What is good about this episode is that the plot wasn't forced (the
premise seems a bit unlikely, I'd admit).  There is a reason Kaoru
choose to help Aoi, and their relationship builds during the episode.
And of course Aoi-chan being very kawaii (I like her reaction when she
was trying to remember Kaoru's directions) and likable helps...

The title, Enishi, is a buddist concept (I think) that I believe most
Japanese and Chinese people are familiar with.  It means fate but is
used mostly for relationship between people, rather than one persons'
destiny or future.  Two people gets to meet each other if fate means
them to.  Kaoru and Aoi were such two people, and I would like to watch
more of this series to see what develops between them.

--- 
Stephen Lee