Obsessions, the early years. Aishite night

I don'th think you can turn a hopeless romantic overnight. It HAS to be in your genes. They may lay there dormant for years and then make their appearance all of a sudden. In my case though, the signs were all there, visible and tangible to the entire world, from the very beginning. Or at least as long as I can remember. And the evidence is Aishite Night.



The story revolves around a 18 years old girl named Yakeo ( although people always call her Yakko) who divides herself between her evening classes at University and her day work at her father's Okonomyaki restaurant ( "The Mambo"). Yakko's ordinary life ( as well as her father's ) is completely upset when she discovers her passion for rock music and an emerging local band *in particular*called "The BeeHives". Actually her main interest would be the lead singer, Go Kato, who eventually will become the love of her life *awwwww*


The anime is about 23-24 years old, so yeah is rather vintage. Can't remember the exact year it was first showed on the italian TV. I later found out that it arrived in 1985 but To me it's like one of those things that have been existing for ever. it must have had such a big impact in me since even now , Ai shite night is one of my most cherished love stories ever.
On my Youtube account you can find a playlist with the 42 episodes of the anime ( alas they are dubbed in german though). However in order to fully enjoy this story I'd definitely recommend the manga.
The anime version is quite entertaining the tunes are quite catchy ( especially if you are fond of the music of the 80s) but is not as sublte as the manga. Compared to the original story the anime is way more naive and simplistic. The character themselves lack of all the complexity and the ambiguity portrayed in the manga. I don't think is a bad thing after all... The 7 years old me enjoyed the anime to bits while the 20something me is loves the manga, so everybody is happy LOL

Nevertheless the anime was a huge hit at that time ( and not only among the kids), a bit like Itazura na kiss nowadays. The comparison is not casual as the author is the same person, Kaoru Tada. There are a lot of similarities between the the two stories and especially the personalities of the lead characters. Naoki and Go are both cocky and a bit self-centered. whereas Kotoko and Yakko are two complete klutz and emotionally dependant on their love interest. Even the familiar situation is the same. Both girls are only child who grew up without a mom, as she died at a young age. Both of them were raised only by their fathers who coincidentally have the same job... as both own of a typical Japanese restaurant. *lol*

Anyway apart from these details, the stories are completely different from each other. the main focus of ai shite night ( besides romance) revolves around the music and the increasing popularity of the BeeHives. I think this was a new concept at the time, hence the great success of the story. in the manga version the lyrics were written by real musicians. If I remember correctly they were witten by a Japanese rock band called 44 magnum ( much of the style and look of the BeeHives is inspired to them anyway). The anime added a bonus since you get to listen to a real song played by professional artists which render the whole idea more vivid. I personally fell in love with the voice who played Go's songs in the italian version . I think that this one and the Spanish are the best performances realised out of all the version i listened to ( including the French, German and Japanese **lol**)