(SPOILERS) Aoi House In Love! Vol. 2 final book Discussions

[Adam_Arnold]

hey adam i got a quick question. why did you choose the end aoi house the way you did?
[SPOILERS]don't get me wrong i loved the idea of elle reminicing about the past but there was just so much there. i mean some of those memories i wished were more then a few panels.[/SPOILERS]

Aoi House In Love! Vol. 2 is a very experimental book, which is probably why there is such a mixed response to it. I intentionally sought out to break the mold with the book and really push myself (and Shiei) in terms of what we could do with the series...and it was an absolute blast for us to put together.

To answer your question, though, I wrote the "Series Finale" episode the way I did because there is no right way to end a series like Aoi House. You just can't do it. It would go on and on and just run out of steam and ended up getting cancelled...OR something could've happened that prevented the series from ever getting an ending. But more than that, there just was not anymore story to tell. All the major story arcs had been wrapped up and I would've had to jump the shark just to introduce some new plot development for there to be a reason to keep the series going, and I thought the series deserved better than that. So, I decided to write the three-part conclusion that you see printed in the final book--"Series Finale," "Bond, Echibond," and "Where Are They Now?"

and i loved how you didn't have a typical love triangle in there =] they are to predictable and are sorta story killas

From the beginning, I had it in my head that I wanted to make an American version of a harem comedy. I really hate what Love Hina did to the harem genre, as a whole. The loser guy is just completely unrealistic. Before Love Hina, you didn't have losers, you had people like Tenchi who were strong willed and were just kind of put into a situation they didn't want to be in and learn to deal with it. I wanted more of that style for Aoi House. More than that, though, I didn't want to have a long-running love triangle. It's been done to death, but what hadn't been done is showing what happens to the other person after the triangle is resolved. Which is why I ended Aoi House Vol. 2 with Alex getting Morgan.

[Lord Styphon]

Before Love Hina, you didn't have losers

The defense calls Keiichi Morisato to the stand.

[Ryokosha]

Before Love Hina, you didn't have losers

The defense calls Keiichi Morisato to the stand.

The prosecution challenges that witness since Keiichi was already mildly successful in his own right, despite a streak of bad luck and even if he didn't see his own successes but only the bad luck streaks before meeting Belldandy they did exist, whereas Keitaro was simply a loveable sad loser from the word go and in a way continued to be after winning the love of Naru and almost all the other girls in Hinata House.

I kind of liked the ending though I admit the adding of new characters has whet the appittete for perhaps more AOI House in the future.

Overall though part of me thought the ending was somewhat abrupt, it just sort of ended, it all worked out well afterwards with a sort of summary and where are they now section, but in a strange way it sort of seemed to reach those parts suddenly. All in all though a great series with a good ending.

[Harukochan]

Personally, when I first read the second volume, I was a little overwhelmed and confused, having been under the impression that Aoi House was a series set in the "real world". But it grew on me.

[Adam_Arnold]

At first glance, the initial outline for book 4 seems like it would make a good story, but there are a couple of major flaws with it. The biggest is where Elle is left as a character in book 3.

My intention with season two of Aoi House (i.e. "Aoi House In Love") was to shift the focus of the series away from Alex & Sandy and was to focus on Elle. I wanted to take Elle through an entire emotional arc that had her becoming a strong female character that could stand on her own. It didn't make sense for her to keep crushing on Alex, because that's just not the type of character she is. So going by that original outline, having a chapter where the guys have to compete for the ladies wouldn't have been true to the direction the series was heading.

Plus, as funny as it might've been to see what kind of confrontation Alex & Sandy might've had with Oniisan, it would've been incredibly questionable for Oniisan to force Alex and Sandy into any type of competition with the girls as prizes. It would've been incredibly mean spirited and would've made the girls passive elements in a series where they've always been the driving force.

Quarteni makes a number of great points in an earlier post in this thread about the final book, so those comments may help give some more understanding for why the series needed to wrap up as it did.

[Megumi]

I have to say that I was really appreciative of how the future kids names reflect the Batman theme going on with their names. A little spot, but my favorite part.