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Ai Yori Aoshi (藍より青し) is a manga by Kou Fumizuki released in 1998 on Hakusensha 's Young Animal .
Ai Yori Aoshi was made into an anime on 2002 and a video game was released for PlayStation 2. The title is taken from a Xun Zi's quote, Ao ha Ai yori Idete Ai yori Aoshi (青は藍より出でて藍より青し). The anime is in its second season under the title Ai Yori Aoshi -Enishi- (藍より青し ～縁～). The anime was released in North America by Pioneer/ Geneon. The manga was released in English by TokyoPop.
Kaoru Hanabishi appears to be an average university student but he is really the eldest son of Yuji Hanabishi, the head of Hanabishi Zaibatsu, and is to take over the zaibatsu after his father retires. His mother, Hisami Honjo and his father never married and this had made the life difficult for both him and his mother. When Kaoru was five years old, his father passed away and since then, the Yuji's father, the grandfather to Kaoru, took Kaoru under his wing and began educating him for the eventual succesion. Yet Kaoru never was at home in the Hanabishi family and left to live by himself after his mother died.
There is, however, someone who loved Kaoru so much that she would do whatever necessary to be with him.
Her name is Aoi Sakuraba, who is the only daughter of the owner of Sakuraba Kimono Store (later renamed to Sakuraba Department Store). Kaoru's family and Sakuraba's family had agreed for Kaoru to wed Aoi but after Kaoru walked out, the marriage had been cancelled. Both families had a friendly relationship and Aoi had been in love with Kaoru from beggining which Kaoru never knew. Sakuraba family had already been looking out for someone suitable but Aoi unwilling to marry someone else walked out chasing Kaoru.
Both were freed from their families affair but did not know how to make their living. Miyabi Kagurazaki, who had been looking out for Aoi, offered the two a way. Aoi and Miyabi would live together in a grand western style summer house of Sakuraba family and Kaoru would live in a house for servants next to it. This would prevent a scandal, much like the one that had made Kaoru's life difficult, as two would be living separately. But soon, Kaoru's friends who just happen to be attractive females, took residence in the house and it quickly became a dormitory. Very soon, Aoi became a landlady of the dormitory.
Names are in Western order, with the given name before the surname.