Aishiteruze Baby Anime Review

Written by: James Lin on 1/25/2005

Introduction

Abandoned by her mother, 5 year-old Sakashita Yuzuyu is forced to live with her relatives. Kippei Katakura, a popular, laid-back high school student is put in charge of taking care of Yuzuyu. Kippei is in charge of taking her to kindergarten, making her meals, and to basically function as a parent-figure. Kippei is also trying to get closer to Kokoro, a girl who doesn't pay attention to him. This simple premise of a story never ceases to entertain.

Review

The relationship between Yuzuyu and Kippei is enough reason to watch this entertaining shoujo series. The character development of Kippei turning into a responsible "big brother" type figure is executed perfectly. Add to the story a complex love relationship between Kokoro, a girl in Kippei's class, and you have one memorable series!

What I really enjoyed about this series is you, as the viewer, will want to zip through the series to see more of Yuzuyu's life unfold. Yuzuyu is in a delicate stage in her life, where it is especially difficult without a mother. Luckily she has Kippei, who isn't the brightest character out there, but he tries his hardest and it would be impossible not to root for him in his family life, and his social life with Kokoro. Kippei is transformed when he is forced to watch over Yuzuyu, and what I liked a lot about this series is the realistic characters. Kippei is only human, and any teenager looking over a 5-year-old kid would probably screw it up, and he isn't any different. He can't simply replace Yuzuyu's mother, so he has to understand Yuzuyu's feelings and live a more disciplined life in order to take care of her.

As you can imagine, Kippei's social life takes a big hit as he has to take care of Yuzuyu. To me, there are two story's that are occurring at the same time in this series, and either one would succeed on its own as a separate series, but luckily for us they are together. First there is Yuzuyu and Kippei's big-brother relationship, and then there is Kippei's struggle to understand Kokoro, and why she is always ignoring him. Kokoro is definitely a unique character, and not your typical shoujo girl character. There is an entire story behind why she is quiet and keeps to herself, and ignores Kippei, whom has an entirely different personality then her.

The story of these 3 characters are very interesting, and you will just want to watch the next episode as soon as you possibly can. The only problem I had with this series is that it's "motive" is completely different from what you would expect. After watching a handful of episodes, you begin to understand what the story is about, but then you are bombarded with what feels like filler episodes. These fillers are very loosely tied to the main plot. Each side plot involves some kind of sentimental family story, typically including a classmate of Yuzuyu. Now there is nothing wrong with these side stories, it's just that you really want to see more of Yuzuyu, Kippei, and Kokoro.

Conclusion

What really hit me hard was that this series ends prematurely. Many anime series do this, but this one leaves everything hanging. By the end of the series, assuming you enjoyed it like I did, you will want to just keep watching more and more of these characters. Heck, even a few more side-stories wouldn't hurt! Even the main "conflict" that was focused on throughout the story was given a quick temporary solution that was anything but satisfactory. But unfortunately all series must come to an end, and I must say I was really depressed that it ended the way it did. It definitely comes to a conclusion, albeit one I wasn't expecting or impressed with, and I can only warn those who watch this series to be prepared to be disappointed. Not with the series, but the fact that there may or may not be a second season. It really, positively, needs a second season!