Denei Shoujo
Video Girl Ai

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Video Girl Ai was written by the mangaka that did I"S. This threw up all sorts of red flags, because I"S was really, really, really bad. This made me all the more surprised when VGA turned out to be great.

For starters, it's probably the only shonen romance I've ever read where I got the impression who the main character was going to end up with was really, truly up in the air. Hell, for a couple of short blinks, the "Main Character X Nobody" pairing was up for grabs.

The plot in itself is kind of generic, but that can be forgiven because the plot actually ... moves. Things happen. Relationships change. And they stay changed. "I want to go back" is the exception, rather than the rule. This is the most important thing that makes VGA good and almost all other shonen romance bad. There is nothing worse than a romance story that just spins its wheels, and thankfully that never happens with this series.

The characters are great. I bought all of them as human beings (except Takashi. I don't know what the hell was up with him) and once their personalities were drawn out, they acted in character. It makes some of the fairly generic events that happen have real impact, since you can actually thing of them as people.

There was only two characters where I was truly unsatisfied with how that character was dealt with. Considering the genre, that's actually kind of amazing.

In closing, VGA is shonen romance done correctly. You're doing yourself a disservice if you're a fan of the genre and haven't read this.

Reviewing this one is going to be really difficult for me. It used to be my favourite when I was in high school and just started reading manga. I re-read it recently after more than 10 years, and in hindsight I understand it's not the masterpiece I thought it was, but there are still chapters and scenes that deeply moved me, so from an emotional perspective I think I wasn't completely wrong. It's the main reason why it's still on my favourites list despite having a relatively low rating compared to other titles I have read.

THE GOOD:
The art is amazing. The first few chapters might ... still have a slightly "cartoonish" feel, but already from volume 2-3 it becomes incredibly realistic and detailed, almost photography-like. All the panels are simply gorgeous.
From a writing point of view, although the plot isn't exactly tight and characterization could be improved (more on that later), the manga delivers big time because the author manages to make the characters relatable. There are scenes that hit like a truck because you feel so invested in them.

THE MEH:
The manga leans HEAVILY on the ecchi side, so be prepared. It's already clear on page 2, where you are "welcomed" by an explicit panel of the MC's love interest wearing pantsu and nothing else. All the female characters (with only one exception) get this treatment at least once, the main ones a lot more. And almost all of those scenes contain strong erotic tension, i.e. they are not simply comedic situations. Considering that essentially all characters are teenagers... you see the issue. If you're an adult reader and you are there for the romance, those realistic panels will make you cringe and EXTREMELY uncomfortable. I honestly didn't remember it was SO ecchi when I re-read it some months ago, and I was taken aback.
In terms of writing, while characters are relatable thanks to extensive introspection, they are also somewhat frustrating to root for because of poor development. They definitely change throughout the series, but most of the times they experience progression only to undo it the very next chapter or arc, which feels like they are not growing at all. This is especially egregious in the MC, who "resets" his progression multiple times during the story, particularly during the central arcs.

THE BAD:
The plot is all over the place. It's obvious that the author didn't have a clear idea in mind about the direction the story would take, beside the first chapters and the finale. Masakazu Katsura is notorious for his poorly structured writing, and this is no exception. You can see it in the setting, with inconsistent worldbuilding which affects important elements like the Gokuraku Club. You can see it in the decisions taken by some characters, which might be illogical, lack motivation, and included just to create drama or move the plot forward: this happens with the MC but also with many other characters like Takashi, Moemi, Koji.
By some miracle the story can still be digested because it is well paced and has a surprising inner symmetry: the first chapters mirror the last ones, the 3 major turning points are perfectly placed and split the plot in cohesive arcs. However, this "artificial aesthetic harmony" isn't enough to overcome all the issues: if it's not aesthetics but good writing you're looking for, you won't find it here.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
A work that defined my teen years as a manga reader. I still understand why I loved it so much, back then: you won't find many other works as emotional as this one, out there.
Still, many would probably find it too explicitly sexualised, and exigent readers would cringe at the poorly written plot.
I'm keeping it as a favourite of mine because of what it means to me, even if there are objectively better manga out there. For the same reason I'm giving it a rating of 7 although it's probably closer to 6.5.
If you're an adult, recommended only if you are a desperate romantic craving for strong emotions, and you're willing to put up with the ecchi and the writing issues to get it.
If you're a teen, simply recommended. It's a must-read if you like romance, and you'll love it.

The most unpopular guy imaginable suddenly becomes a Jesus and makes every living thing want his dick. Great. He just can't decide which one of them to fuck first. Not great. How did he overcome this then? In no way, whatsoever. The author tried to help him tho by adding new hoes who want his dick too, and some male characters who are more than willing to fuck these given hoes as a replacement for the mc, but it didn't really work out.


Apparently all of this happens because the point of this series is to "find one true love". The problem with this is that ... our mc is already in love with a girl, and when the feelings finally turn mutual, both of them run away. The male bro because some girl crawled out of his tv and wants his dick more than any real girl in his life, and the female mc because she apparently already made a choice before and making an another one just isn't part of her character. Pretty cool, huh.


This leads us into an eternal limbo where people who want to fuck each others never do, they just search for a replacement -- this time, or approximately 10% of the time, the replacements actually fuck, but typically they also run away for whatever reasons. Often not very fast tho. The manga is pretty much a tease for that matter. Characters are already naked ready to go to business until one of them goes "nah, let's not", followed by 20 chapters of regret and crying and sadness. It was pretty cool on the first time. Next 700 occasions were pretty much not-this-shit-again tier.


I'd go further into details, but it just repeats the same thing over and over again with different characters, becoming a generic harem where the harem lead just keeps changing. Apparently this is a very deep "life moves on reference", how thought-provoking. This tv-girl occasionally disappears FOREVER and this makes mc even more sad, but via the power of epic writing stuff she always gets back in business. Sometimes with amnesia, sometimes with bigger hunger for his dick. The irony is that she still feels more real than any of the other characters. Our mc apparently always learns more about real love and his own feelings when she keeps disappearing. Such character development. Much symbolism. Wow.