Ai-Ren

Ai-Ren is a sci-fi elegy for humanity's last days. In the far future, humans have generally lost the ability to reproduce normally, and use technology to patch up the holes left by nature, with quietly mounting desperation. Meanwhile, nuclear war and poverty scourge the global south, until a mysterious stranger arrives to deliver us from total oblivion. This is all takes in place in the background of the main story, where the terminally-ill Ikuru acquires an artificially-made "end-of-life companion" named Ai whose own lifespan is intentionally made short. Their relationship is doomed to end soon, but, like the other characters, they continue to find joyin small things, children continue to be born into this cursed world, and life stubbornly lurches forward, determined to run out the clock. Ai-Ren is a succint and potent reminder that, in a very real way, love is the only thing that defies death.

If there are two genres of anime/manga/any form of media that I absolutely REFUSE to watch/read under any circumstances, its ecchi and porn. Or both in the same package. I don't like porn. I really don't. Seeing people be naked and have sex and do stupid stuff just doesn't appeal to me. It never had, and it never will. Over the top nudity or sexual situations are always a turn-off for me. However, by accident, I discovered the works of Yutaka Tanaka, a mangaka who actually writes very good manga with genuinely interesting storylines, sex and all, and any nudity it has is never playedfor fanservice or ecchiness, and it doesn't completely take over the story in any way. But so far, I've only read two of his works: Mimia Hime (which I seriously wish would come to the US or at the very least be fully scanlated, too bad neither of those happened) and Ai-Ren. I've finished the latter, and...despite all the praise I've seen heaped on it, I don't find myself loving it. Far into the future, a grave cataclysm wiped out most of humanity, and there is little hope for the future. One such person, Ikuru, lost his parents in the apocalypse and almost died, had life saving technology not gave him a new body. However, as it turns out, the new limbs that were supposed to save him are killing him instead. In order to live the rest of his life in peace, he requests that he have a special companion to keep him comfortable for his last days. An Ai-Ren, or AGH-RMS, is an artificially generated human created to give comfort to terminally ill patients like Ikuru. His comes in the form of a girl, whom he names Ai. Ai is basically a girly girl: happy, energetic, childish, naive, yet still mature when she wants to be. She helps him rediscover the beauty of life and shows him how everyday things he once took for granted gain new meaning when shared with someone else. However, outside their little world, humanity is on the edge of a potentially unavoidable apocalypse, and there's hardly anything the current generation of people can do to stop it. If there's one thing the manga definitely has going for it, its the art. The character designs are deceptively simple, but the backgrounds are lavish, detailed, and painstakingly drawn, giving the setting life in this otherwise rather grim world the characters live in. Ai is obviously drawn just like a cute magical girlfriend and Ikuru looks like a regular Japanese man. Other characters have distinct designs as well, and they're simple but recognizeable enough to be differentiated from others, that way readers can easily tell who is who, so nobody looks the same. The setting is very interesting, as it shows humanity trapped on the path of an apocalypse, and we see how people are forced to deal with it, from seeing a strange being called HITO floating in the sky to ruins of what was once a grand, lively civilization. Something like this is definitely reminiscent of most giant robot anime like Gundam or Mazinger Z, but it's rare to see them put in what looks to be a cute slice-of-life/romance/fantasy manga, giving Ikuru and Ai's relationship more meaning in their current circumstances. I'll admit, while I appreciate that the characters are three-dimensional and different from most anime character archetypes that plague most modern anime, I didn't really find them to be very memorable. They're definitely not bad, no. Ai proves that she's more than just a bouncy genki girl, Ikuru doesn't always sit around angsting about his upcoming death, and his teacher Haruka has a very large role to play in the story's advancement. But I couldn't really relate to them or their struggles. I liked seeing them try to find beauty in a broken world, and I did feel for them when things got bad, but I didn't find myself attached to any of them, especially one woman whose name is Camelo I think, who witnesses the cataclysm and meets with the strange being called HITO in person. I honestly don't see what Camelo adds to the story, and I didn't find her plight to be very interesting. But I do find Ikuru and Ai to be very sweet and even believable as a couple, and none of their romantic progress or actions felt forced, and they do have chemistry, so I can praise Yutaka Tanaka for that. Unfortunately, as much as I want to love Ai-Ren, as it has a lot of things that really appeal to me, I just can't bring myself to love it. It has a lot of problems. First and foremost are the cryptic, apocalyptic chapters that focus on how humanity got to where it is now. I feel those segments felt slapped on, and it didn't really mix well with Ai and Ikuru's story, and what explanations they do provide make absolutely no sense and are extremely hard to follow, so in a way, it didn't hold my attention, but felt very jarring and distracting. The lack of proper transitions between chapters only exacerbated the problem. While I do appreciate the manga attempting to take on two genres to tell one story, I don't think he did a good job in trying to tie them together in a cohesive, concise manner. But I do appreciate his attempts at doing so. Hey, I'd rather read this than watch Breadwinners or Kanokon or Seikon no Qwaser or anything of the like. Also...the nudity. There's a lot of people getting naked and having sex in this. It's not placed for fanservice or ecchiness, as the main couple having sex is portrayed as being romantic and intimate, and both characters actually want to have sex and Ai is the one who makes the most moves on Ikuru, who doesn't mind being intimate with her, which is a nice change of pace. But again, if you're not a fan of nudity or people getting into sexual situations, then this isn't the manga for you. I appreciate what the manga is trying to do, but the nudity and cryptic storyline about the apocalypse didn't really hold my attention, even though the manga has a lot that really appeals to me, even philosophical questions about what makes us human and whether we're really human. I love media that has substance. I love how anime and manga are bold and ask questions about life and humanity that makes us think. I love that no matter what, they always want to be mature about their presentation of serious issues, create three-dimensional characters, and show that life isn't always peachy keen. That's what drew me to anime and manga in the first place, even as a kid. You'd think that I'd praise Ai-Ren up the wazoo because it has all of these things that I love in media art forms. Unfortunately, Ai-Ren just kind of fell flat for me. Now don't think I hate it. I actually don't. But I just don't love it. I like it, but not nearly as much as other titles I've seen/read/played. I do think other titles have handled Ai-Ren's concept and ideas better. It's no masterpiece, but Ai-Ren has a lot to like if you're able to move past the nudity and sexual situations. It may not be for me, but I'm sure others will like it.

This manga is a masterpiece ! I am not a native English speaker so I cannot fully describe all the feeling I have when I read every words, page and chapters. My heart tremble. The sadness, the happiness and the philosophy about them combine, do not think, just feel it. The more you read, the more you cannot explain but feel. I love this manga to the end of my life. I began to learn Japanese in order to read Ai-Ren the purest way. Please feel it. The beginning of Life,war and peace, Thank you so much. p/s: I m still follow the author twitter, look like he's now an ecchi illustrator. I hope he will back to create more manga.