Aishiteruze Baby by Yoko Maki

Synopsis: Kippei is the popular, pretty and idiot guy at school. His only skill is getting girls and he certainly does get them, specially when his 5 year old cousin Yuzuyu is abandoned by her mother and left the responsibility of raising her to Kippei’s family, who in turn designate Kippei as the person responsible for Yuzuyu. Will Kippei cope with his new responsibilities and his lifestyle? And more importantly, will Yuzuyu see her mother again?

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Have you ever had a feeling that you should not be reading what you are reading? Well, I just did, specially reading the first 4 books in the series that are quite dumb and intend to tame the reader with cute images and silly situations, maybe it works out for some people but I guess my heart must be made of ice, cause reading trough them didn’t stir up anything inside it. Luckily this changes by the last three volumes when things start to get more complicated and serious.

But it is not enough to compensate for everything, including the lame and scarce character development, as well as the slow path the plot takes. All of this masked with the pretty pictures and character design that is characteristic and to be excepted not only for the genre but for the type of story. It is almost impossible not to like Yuzuyu, since she extremely cute and sweet, with out argument she is the best character in the series. Showing more development, background and actual growth through the volumes, besides the fact that she is exactly what she is supposed to; naive, cute and cheerful with ups and downs. Just like any other kid her age. The rest of the cast goes either unnoticed or with a huge annoying label across their foreheads. Mainly for their attitude and absence of special traits in their personalities.

If you really, really, really want to read Aishiteruze Baby, I suggest you grab the last 3 volumes and then the first one. I didn’t like the first one that much but it does help to explain what happens in the last 3 volumes. And if you liked the series more than I did, get the rest of it. But if you don’t you can always spend your saved bucks on other stuff. Aishiteruze Baby is not bad, but it is not good either, and since there are far too many better shoujo mangas out there don’t waste much time or money on it.