Aishiteruze Baby★★

Kippei, an highschool goofy kid who spends most time slacking out and flirting with girls suddenly is entrusted with a 5 year old kid to take care of. This setup evolves into an incredibly heart warming story to cherish and rejoice, dealing with everyday problems of raising a child and struggling with his own carelessness and ineptitude Kippey becomes attached to yuzuyu quickly and tries his best to make her happy. Dealing with a child everyday brings many worries and consumes most of his time but also makes him grow into a mature responsible person. The innocence of a child and how they perceive thedaily events creates an amazing charisma towards this relation, dramatic scenes further enhances the feelings creating an intricate empathy towards the situation and drawing the viewer into it. Further along theres a touch of romance that fits perfectly as a symbiotic situation to the main plot. The main female characters (yuzuyu and Kokoro) are just overflowing with cuteness, their sad hearts makes you want to comfort them understanding perfectly how kippey matures for the sake of them. Technically the characters have a particular drawing style in which the drawings and animation are watchable but not on par with the latest animes. I enjoyed personally some still shots on key moments that portrays how a sweet memory is engraved into the mind in my opinion. The sound is rarely noticeable but the opening theme shines and will stick in your mind every episode soothing the mood. The voice acting is quite good, the kids were very well acted and I don't have any complaints on the rest. A beautiful story everyone should see. Heartwarming, and sad for moments, feels good to watch even by the second or third time and guaranteed to move your heart.

I am very glad that it’s not Aishiteruze BABY (and when I say baby, I mean underage people). I thought it was going to be an extreme, lolicon anime. Seeing how Kippei was so nervous about Yuzuyu sleeping in his bed at the first episode made me a bit nervous. Turns out it was a cutesy story about a reformed playboy (well, sort of) becoming the surrogate mother for his adorable, 5 year old cousin. It’s not as easy as it seems - Kippei had to deal with a psychotic secret admirer, Yuzuyu’s countless longings for her mother, a physically beaten child, etc.Plus there was alsoa love story in the forms, and thank God, it’s not one between Kippei and Yuzuyu. It’s with one of the popular girls in Kippei’s school, Kokoro. I got a feeling that this anime is very popular among Japanese high school girls, or teenage girls in general. They can immerse themselves in watching Kippei’s love story evolve, and if they’re not satisfied with just that, there’s always the adorable Yuzuyu. I’m a bit disappointed about the ending though, but I guess it’s a win-win situation for all of the characters. I only liked Kippei and Yuzuyu, because everyone else seemed so cold and mean. Kokoro barely showed any emotion, and even though she knows that herself she hasn’t really changed much. Reiko (Kippei’s older sister) was always so mean, Satsuki (Kippei’s younger brother) was almost unnoticed, along with the rest of the cast. Other than the two main characters, I also like Marika. I didn’t like Marika at first, since I thought that for a 5 year old, she sure was bitchy, but she’s actually a tsundere girl. I’m glad she was able to make friends with Yuzuyu. The character I liked the least would be Yuzuyu’s mom. Why would you leave your 5 year old daughter on her own? I know she’s trying her best to be strong and find a way to take care of Yuzuyu, but isn’t she just being selfish? If she really wanted to take care of Yuzuyu, she should’ve stayed by her side. I’m sure Yuzuyu’s also sad about her dad dying. While I’m not a huge fan of the art and animation, I got a feeling that teenage girls will think otherwise. The clothes Kippei, Yuzu, Kokoro and Miki would wear are really cute and I think this is what they wear in Japan right now too. Anyway, the reason why I didn’t like the art and animation too much is that it’s inconsistent. The characters’ appearances change almost every episode. Even Yuzuyu’s toys (the bunny and the bear) look different every time she plays with them – that is, unless she really has different bunny and bear stuff toys. The CG was also of low quality. Maybe they shouldn’t have used CG at all and went with hand drawn all throughout. Voice acting was a bit off. It didn’t sound like voice acting in other anime series before, and I was thinking if this is how they speak in Japan. Only Kippei and Yuzuyu spoke with emotion, while the rest (specially Kokoro) were bland. I love Yuzuyu’s seiyuu. Her voice is so adorable, and turns out her seiyuu (Miyu Tsuzurahara) is actually a child. I don’t think an adult seiyuu would be able to pull it off, even if she’s really good. There was nothing special about the music. It didn’t need my attention that much. The opening theme was OK, but I don’t get the part with the “macaroni”. The ending song on the other hand sounded a bit old, and it didn’t really fit the series at all, since as I’ve said, the plot is definitely for a younger audience. After watching the ending, I can’t help but ask for a second season. Even if I wasn’t really impressed, I still want to see more of the story.

No action... No blood... No ecchi or fanservice... No politics... No mystery... How could this anime expect to get anywhere? What could it possibly offer? Mark it as a huge failure and move on right? If anyone reading this were to do that you would be making a huge mistake. All this anime needs is the smile of a heartbroken child to wholly capture you and take you on an amazing journey. I don't care how bloody or epic you like your average anime to be, if you are honest to yourself, and at least partially human, you will be touched by Aishiteruze Baby. Give ita chance. Story - 10 From the first episode it is clear exactly how the story is meant to play out, and true to your hopes, it does. A sweet and touching story that grabs a hold of your heartstrings from the first time you see Yuzuyu, and doesn't let them go until long after you've finished the anime. It deals in some pretty mature themes, with stalkers, abusers, and the emotional traumas faced by an innocent and charming child abandoned by her mother. Don't expect anything to get your adrenaline pumping from sheer awesomeness. It isn't that kind of story. It's strength is subtle. Art - 8 Unsurprisingly, the art isn't the strong point of Aishiteruze Baby. The style of character art is great, Kokoro being one of the most attractive females I've ever seen in an anime. The fact that a lot of the characters look markedly similar, maybe even to the point of confusion, brings its grade down. Sound - 8 The OP is beautiful, and character voices are great. Little if any sound effects but this isn't really an anime that needs them. Yuzuyu's voice in particular is often extremely cute and not in an annoying fashion, but there are some rare instances where it sounds false. Character - 10 Aishiteruze Baby's strongest point are the characters in it. You will believe that each character is based off of someone in real life, there isn't one cookie cutter character in the entire lot. Yuzuyu is the cutest toddler ever, Kippei is the kind of guy that most men would want to be like. Kokoro is in a league of her own. I have seen well over a hundred animes by now and Kokoro is the only character i've fallen in love with. Of course this particular opinion is definately preference based. Some guys might find the silent, outwardly strong, but inwardly wanting protection characteristics of Kokoro to be unattractive. There are some weird people out there... Enjoyment - 10 Well the happy glow that comes with a good story and great characters is definately here. Smile, wipe away the few soft tears that sneak out, and imagine for a little while the way the rest of the story could have played out. Ah yes that was good. Overall - 10

Aishiteruze Baby was one bumpy ride just as the summary suggests. Kippei was a horrible playboy who doesn't show any signs of character change until he falls in love with Kokoro (The person not a heart..) Yuzuyu is a sad, cute kindergartener and it was pretty interesting to see how Kippei gets along with her. Overall, it took a lot of patience and time to finish this anime. If you like babies, throw up, playboys, kisses, and bentoes, then this anime is for you!

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