Video Girl Ai - DVD

Yota Moteuchi has just discovered that the girl he's been quietly in love with is in love with his best friend Takashi. Heartbroken and wandering, he stumbles into a strange video rental store he's never noticed before, run by an old man who seems to know exactly what Yota needs. He rents a video. The girl on the tape — Ai Amano — reaches through the screen and climbs out of his television. She's a Video Girl: an artificial companion created to provide comfort and support to lonely boys. There's one problem. Yota's VCR is broken, and the malfunction has altered Ai in ways nobody intended — she's temperamental, she hits him, she argues constantly. She's also, gradually and against every rule governing what she is, falling in love with him. Ai is forbidden to love a human. What Rolex, the enforcer of the Video Girl system, will do when he finds out is not a romantic development.

Video Girl Ai is a six-episode OVA produced by I.G. Tatsunoko — the collaboration between Production I.G. and Tatsunoko that produced the studio's early work — directed by Mizuho Nishikubo, written by Mayori Sekijima and Satoru Akahori, and based on Masakazu Katsura's manga serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump — the same creator behind DNA² and I"s. The score was composed by Tōru Okada. Released in Japan between March and August 1992. The English dub was produced by Ocean Productions in Vancouver and features Megumi Hayashibara as Ai, Yuri Amano as Moemi, Kouji Tsujitani as Takashi, and Brad Swaile as Yota. Originally released in North America on VHS by Viz Video; the DVD collecting all six episodes was released by Viz Media and represents the series' first North American DVD release.

Notable Staff & Voice Talent

Director: Mizuho Nishikubo
Screenplay: Mayori Sekijima & Satoru Akahori (Magic Knight Rayearth, Knights of Ramune, Sorcerer Hunters, Teknoman)
Original Manga: Masakazu Katsura (Video Girl Ai, DNA², I"s; serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, Shueisha)
Studio: I.G. Tatsunoko (Production I.G. early work)
Music: Tōru Okada

Japanese Cast:
- Megumi Hayashibara as Ai Amano (Slayers, Evangelion, Gestalt, Tenchi in Love, Love Hina, Tekkaman Blade II, Paprika, Teknoman)
- Takeshi Kusao as Yota Moteuchi
- Kouji Tsujitani as Takashi Niimai (Rurouni Kenshin — Sanosuke, Fushigi Yugi — Miroku)
- Yuri Amano as Moemi Hayakawa (El-Hazard, Burn Up W, Magic User's Club, Moldiver, Sorcerer Hunters, Noir)

English Dub Cast (Ocean Productions — Vancouver):
- Maggie Blue O'Hara as Ai Amano
- Brad Swaile as Yota Moteuchi (Death Note, Dragon Ball Z, Gundam SEED)
- Ron Halder as Takashi Niimai
- Jennifer Copping as Moemi Hayakawa
- John Novak as Rolex (Gestalt, Spriggan, Desert Punk — Nishino)
- Richard Newman as the Gokuraku old man

DVD Features (Viz Media)

- All 6 Episodes — Complete OVA Series (first North American DVD release)
- Viz Media Previews

Spoken Languages: English & Japanese Audio, English Subtitles

Edition Details

Japanese Title: 電影少女 (Den'ei Shōjo / Video Girl Ai)
Runtime: ~180 Minutes (Complete OVA, 6 Episodes)
Director: Mizuho Nishikubo
DVD Release Year: 2000 (U.S. Release — Viz Media; first North American DVD release of the series); originally released on VHS by Viz Video 1999
Original Release Date (Japan): March 27 – August 28, 1992
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: 13+
Region: Region 1 (U.S. / Canada)
Genre: Romantic Comedy, Science Fiction
Themes: Video Girl Artificial Companion, Forbidden Love, Broken VCR Consequence, Masakazu Katsura Creator, Weekly Shonen Jump Romance OVA

Media assumed VG+ unless otherwise noted.