I’ve been taking a trip down memory lane these past few weeks, trawling through my DVD collection, title by title, revisiting old favorites. After finishing Onegai Twins last week, I moved on to I My Me! Strawberry Eggs, an always easy show to rewatch due to its short length and light subject matter (if you think cross-dressing teachers falling in love with their adolescent students is light, that is). Now, however, I’m digesting something a bit meatier (and with less cross-dressing), that being both seasons of Ai Yori Aoshi.

Now, Ai Yori Aoshi isn’t exactly high art, I’ll admit, but I’ve always been a big fan of the show and have long considered it to be one of the better entries in the harem genre to come out of Japan in recent years. And, yes, unlike some Ai Yori Aoshi fans, I’m willing to label the show as “harem”, even it does turn a lot of the standard conventions of the genre on their head. In my opinion, there are two camps of Ai Yori Aoshi fans: those who love the harem and those who hate it. Of course, there are those who fall squarely in the middle as well, but discussions about the show amongst fans inevitably dissolve to this particular point of contention. It’s kind of funny how the same argument plays out again and again…

And, of course, who am I to resist putting my two cents in?

Without a doubt, you can count me among those fans who love the harem. However, I’ll admit to being sympathetic to those who feel otherwise. Aoi and Kaoru make a fine couple, indeed, and I can definitely understand why a hardcore shipper would find the presence of Kaoru’s harem an annoyance. I’ve heard the, “If only the entire show was like the first four episodes [in which Aoi and Kaoru play house],” lament time and time again. It’s a legitimate complaint. After all, those first four episodes are quite lovely. They’d make for a great OAV series. Unfortunately, Ai Yori Aoshi is a 36 episode TV series, adapted from a long running manga. I don’t think I’d be able to put up with Aoi and Kaoru gazing passionately into each other’s eyes for that long.

Thus, enter the harem. Without it, there’d be no show. For that reason alone, I think it deserves some level of acceptance. And, thankfully, it’s a fairly passive harem as far as harems go. The girls don’t jump Kaoru’s bones at every opportunity. In fact, they almost seem to implicitly recognize that he’s off-limits (a woman’s intuition?), and instead keep watch from a safe distance. What’s more, it’s a friendly harem. Pissing matches between Tina and Mayu notwithstanding, the girls get on well with each other. There’s little competition for Kaoru’s attention, and Kaoru responds by treating each girl equally. He’s nice, they’re nice, everyone’s nice. They’re one big, happy family.

Which is, ultimately, the point of the entire show. Unfortunately, it’s a point that’s lost on a lot of fans, who can only see a harem for a harem, and not much else. And that’s odd, seeing as the theme of “family” is such a constant in the show. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it is the show’s primary theme… and, without the harem, it’s a theme that couldn’t have been explored.

Ai Yori Aoshi without the harem wouldn’t be Ai Yori Aoshi at all.