Video Girl Ai… now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while!
Earlier today, the official website for the live-action Den’ei Shōjo ~Video Girl Ai 2018~ TV series updated with a new teaser trailer. The 30-second trailer sees Nanase Nishino as Ai, speaking in a masculine tone.
Den’ei Shōjo ~Video Girl Ai 2018~ hits TV Tokyo and its affiliate networks on January 13. Amazon will carry the show on its Prime Video service starting January 6.
Den’ei Shōjo ~Video Girl Ai 2018~ is based on Masakazu Katsura’s Video Girl Ai manga.. albeit with a fair amount of mondernization. (Seriously, they have to find some way to make the VHS angle work, here.)
Kazuaki Seki was tapped to direct the series at Tokyo Robot, while Kohei Kiyasu pens the scripts. TV Tokyo’s Futoshi Asano is attached as Executive Producer on the project, while Kimitaka Goka (TV Tokyo), Yuta Kurachi (TV Tokyo), and Kyōhei Sudachi are attached as general producers.
The confirmed voice cast includes:
- Shō Moteuchi: Shūhei Nomura
- Ai Amano: Nanase Nishino
- Nanami Shibahara: Marie Iitoyo
- Tomoaki Furuya: Hiroya Shimizu
- Rika Ōmiya: Karen Ōtomo
- Yōta Moteuchi: Shigeyuki Totsugi
- Kōji Shimizu: Jun Murakami
The Video Girl Ai manga launched in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump from 1989 – 1992. The series spans fifteen collected volumes. Viz Media holds the North American rights to the series, and originally serialized it in their Animerica Extra magazine.
Viz describes the series as:
What would you do if a beautiful woman came out of your TV? “Date-less” Yōta, a loser with a heart of gold, finds himself hopelessly trapped in a love triangle between the woman he loves and his best friend. The fact that he winds up trying to help his love try and date his best friend may make him a fool, but his earnest wishes for her happiness allow him to encounter a mystical video shop that rewards him with a special video to cheer him up. To his shock and surprise, a beautiful girl jumps out of his TV! While Yōta’s broken VCR has some interesting side effects upon the girl, named Ai, this is only the beginning of the best time of his life!
The Video Girl Ai manga also inspired a 1991 live-action film and a 1992 OVA series by Production I.G.
Source: Anime News Network
