Welcome back to Waifu Wednesday, Niche Gamer’s column where we talk about characters, their appeal, and a little on their history.
This week’s waifu is Ai Amano from Masakazu Katsura’s Video Girl Ai. A romcom manga/anime about a guy named Yota Moteuchi who just can’t seem to hit it off with the ladies until one fateful night when the mysterious Gokuraku Video Store appears before him. There he finds a tape, specifically a video girl tape, Ai Amano’s in fact.
To help cheer him up. Upon putting the tape into his faulty VCR, Ai actually comes out from his TV into the real world. (It’s every weeb’s dream come true). From there Ai herself vows to help Yota learn how to attract the girl of his dreams, Moemi Hayakawa..That is.. until Ai begins to notice a strange feeling in her chest.. could she actually be falling in love with the guy who she’s supposed to help?
Video Girl Ai began as a Manga series serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump (Shueisha‘s premiere shōnen magazine) from December 1989 to April 1992. It would then be followed up by a shorter sequel titled, Video Girl Len from April to July of 1992. Fifteen tankōbon volumes were published from Shueisha from July 1990 to March 1993.
1991 saw the release of a live action movie adaptation where Ai would be played by Kaori Sakagami. One year later we would receive a six episode anime OVA produced by IG Tatsunoko (now going by Production I.G.) where Ai would be voiced by Megumi Hayashibara (known for her roles such as Lina Inverse from Slayers and Female Ranma from Ranma 1/2) and Minami Takayama in the Japanese only CD Drama. This anime OVA covers the first three volumes of the manga.
It would be many years until we saw any new kind of media in the franchise.. that is until 2018 when we would receive a new Live-Action series called Den’ei Shōjo ~Video Girl Ai 2018~ which ran on TV Tokyo for 12 episodes, this being a live action drama.
Here Ai would be portrayed by Nanase Nishino. A sequel series called Den’ei Shōjo ~Video Girl Mai 2019~ would come that next year. For us Westerners, Viz Media was responsible for all English licensing of the manga and anime. It had previously appeared in Viz Media’s at that time published magazine, Animerica Extra.
Ai has all the qualities one would want in a woman: she’s funny, charming, likes to tease, and can express his feelings openly when the situation calls for it. What more could you ask for?
Well due to being played on Yota’s faulty VCR she came out of his TV “faulty”. By that I mean, her bust size slightly shrank, and she developed more tomboy tendencies. (Literally where’s the downside here?). Her job as a Video Girl is to cheer you up, and help you learn how to romance the one you fall in love with.. but what happens if that woman is Ai herself?
As of 2025, the manga has sold over 14 million copies. 2018 would currently mark Ai’s last appearance in any official media not counting artworks by Masakazu Katsura himself. Only time will tell if we have seen the last of Ai Amano.
If you would like to learn more about Masakazu Katsura‘s hit series, I recommend this video by Cinema Nippon that goes in depth over the various media that Ai has appeared in throughout the years here on Youtube.
Currently, the Manga has since been out of print but can be found secondhand. The anime OVAs and films can be watched on Youtube, while the live action drama’s can be found elsewhere online.
