Just where do you file away an anime like Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi? (DVDTalk reviewer Don Houston touched on this dilemma in his reviews of the three volumes of this series, one, two, and three). Is it shoujo (for girls) or shounen (for boys)? Is it a moé (cute girls and romance)? Heck, sometimes it felt like it was headed for yuri (lesbian).

The easiest way to categorize it would be to say it's romance, and leave it at that, but you could also look at Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi as one of those shows that highlights just how different Japanese anime differs in storytelling, compared to American tales.

This first volume, which starts the second season of Ai Yori Aoshi, continues the story of Aoi and Kaoru, a young couple living in a home with nothing but other women (some are related to Aoi). Kaoru is the object of attention for the other girls living in the house, though he truly loves and only wants Aoi. However, they must keep their relationship quiet, for reasons only Ai Yori Aoshi viewers can understand.

Every one of these first four episodes is super-charged with pent-up sexual energy. Panty shots are standard, sexual innuendoes are dropped left and right, fantasies of oral sex and submission are constant. And there's simply no release.

Through all these episodes, no one has sex, and that's not a spoiler: there's rarely any actual sex in these romance anime. There's the suggestion of it, the hope for it, but "it" just doesn't become reality. The ultimate boyhood fantasy of living with all these women falls just shy of being complete. And that's what's so different about anime's ideas of romantic comedies.

If Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi was an American story, by the third episode Kaoru likely would have slept with more than one of the girls and the maid would be pregnant. Or a murder mystery may have ensued. It wouldn't be considered a good story without elements like this. We would have tuned out if no one got laid or physically hurt.

Instead, everything about Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi is playful and suggestive, funny and teasing. What some would undoubtedly call thin and boring. It's Kaoru put in a situation where he's the object of everyone's attention, and he's completely unable to do anything about it. That's as intriguing as the story gets in this first volume.

This leaves Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi reliant on comedy, and it does a great job provided out-loud chuckles. The dialogue is hilarious and smart, and mostly revolves around uncomfortable sexual thoughts and situations (another standard). The American girl living in the house, Tina, may be swinging both ways, or she could just be very, very playful with the other girl ("Breast inspection time!"). She's presented as brash, and is drawn bigger than the other girls.

Don't look for surprises in this first volume. It's a razor thin plot, with accidents and turns in the story easily predicted. If you need a good laugh, enjoy the romance tales of anime, and don't mind giving your brain a rest for two hours, then you can do much worse than this first volume of Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi.

I'd love to see the story boards for this anime, because it's very sharp. Very colorful and detailed, Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi is bright and pretty, with excellent color usage (full screen presentation). There was a spot of aliasing I noticed, but it wasn't distracting. The segue animation looked like pretty postcards.

Excellent use of music in these first four episodes (it's a modest 2.0 stereo track). Both the English and Japanese language tracks are good, though all the girls sound amazingly similar in the Japanese track. The English dub for Tina was grating, and Chika is a tad annoying. The ambient noises are very, very light, with the majority of this tale taking place in the house.

The best extra on this disc is a special episode, Miyuki, which follows Kaoru before he was reunited with Aoi. Always broke, always tired, the young college kid is bordering on depression until Santa Claus makes an appearance. Though this Santa has breasts and a short skirt. It's a funny episode, though sometimes not in the way the creators may have intended. The animation and video quality is similar to the rest of the volume. Also included are Geneon previews and DVD credits.

Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi is a beautifully animated series, and has some very funny parts. But it's uber-thin in the plot department in the first volume. I'd suggest you Rent it first, to see if it's your cup of tea.