Manga
The manga that were hits in Japan in the 1980s.
1980S HITS
About
High-school student Yota Moteuchi is so unpopular that his classmates have given him the nickname "Dateless." So it's no surprise when the love of his life, Moemi, is not interested in Yota but instead is in love with Yota's best friend, Takashi. Yota turns to a video rental shop for comfort, but little did he suspect that the shop was magical and that the cute girl on his rented tape would pop out of the television and try to fix his ruined love life!
Character analysis
Yota is nicknamed 'Dateless' by his classmates for how thoroughly he strikes out with the girl he likes, and renting a strange video to cope with that heartbreak is what unexpectedly brings a girl literally out of his television and into his life.
Ai is meant to be a simple, programmed video companion sent to cheer Yota up, but a malfunction in the tape leaves her increasingly human, developing real emotions and a real relationship with Yota that her original programming never accounted for.
Takashi is, without any real malice, the reason Yota's crush never had a chance, his own feelings and position in the story's central love triangle complicate what Yota initially frames as a simple unrequited crush.
Moemi treats Yota as a trusted confidant rather than a romantic interest, mostly using him as someone to talk to about her feelings for Takashi, a dynamic that gives the story's opening heartbreak real sting.
Status evaluation
Clean, expressive linework suits the series' blend of everyday romance and supernatural premise.
A video character gradually becoming human gives the romantic drama a distinctive, bittersweet supernatural hook.
Yota's awkward teenage romantic struggles provide some lighter moments against the story's more melancholy core.
Ai's growing humanity and the story's bittersweet ending give it real, lasting emotional weight.
This is a gentle supernatural romance with nothing frightening in it.
There is no violence in this series.
A small, focused cast keeps the romantic drama easy to follow.
This is a completed, fairly short series. This figure has not been verified against a current source and should be treated as approximate.
“A video rented to cheer up a heartbroken teenager instead climbs out of the television and starts developing real feelings of her own. It's a stranger, sadder premise than it sounds.”