To start off I would like to say that I've only now started the manga and I'm only at volume 2 so this won't really bring up any of the classic "it's a bad adaptation" complaints, I don't know, from what I read it seemed faithful and any changes I did notice I honestly think were necessary in order to translate the story to anime. All of my review is about the plot, which I think is more important since that is stand alone what impacts an anime viewing experience the most for everyone, not just fans of the manga. Also this is my first anime review so erm yeah.

If I had to describe this anime in one word it would be 'safe', but I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way. The anime does little to push the boundaries of the genre or stand out from others. Let's compare it to a similar anime released a year earlier, Love Hina. Both follow a male college-age protagonist who made a promise with a girl when they were both children to marry when they grow up, the MC then lives in a large house with a bunch of girls who vary wildly in personality and reunites (or attempts to) with said girl he had made the promise with. It's cliche, and all of the characters fall into typical archetypes found in anime's. I don't however think any of this is necessarily bad, depending on what you are looking for in an anime. Like I said, Ai Yori Aoshi is "safe", it is a pleasant enjoyable watch where you for the most part can tell what's going to happen in an episode already by around 5 minutes in. It is a male fantasy sort of romance anime, with an MC who is very average (besides his backstory) to allow the viewer to relate with, and girl characters who all fall head over heels for him, with the lead female (Aoi) loving him unconditionally so much so that she enjoys doing his laundry and cleaning his room. The anime also has plenty of panty-shots and breast fondling and what have you. I guess you could criticize all that by saying the typical "ooh the fanservice is soo gross" or "ooh you can TELL this anime was made for a male audience" shit you see on twitter all the time but why would I? I don't actually believe that anyone wants romance anime's to be these sterile completely non-sexual non-idealistic shows, it's annoying. I am the target demographic, a loser male weeb, and it was fun to watch, I like boobs and panties and I like watching anime girls fall in love with losers. Sue me!

One of the biggest differences I noticed between Ai Yori Aoshi and Love Hina or almost every other romance anime I've watched is that Ai Yori Aoshi has very little conflict involving the MC, and all mistakes by the protagonist are pretty quickly forgiven, a lot of the plot is moved forward more by putting the characters in new settings and scenarios and the introduction of new characters, sometimes conflict is part of this, such as with Mayu, but never is the conflict ultra-serious or unresolvable. Aoi's relationship as Kaoru's fiancee is established early on in the series and much of the show focuses on the development of this relationship in a pretty low stakes way. I'm sure to some this might make the anime boring, but to me I found it refreshing. So many romance anime's, even in my opinion great ones such as Toradora! or My Little Monster, rely heavily on this conflict between lead characters (girl i like is mad at me, how will she ever forgive me? repeat multiple times) and only have proposals so late in the series that the viewer is rewarded with almost no time to actually watch the couple together, and it can feel disappointing. Ai Yori Aoshi focuses on their relationship as a couple (and a secret one at that) in a sweet and rewarding way.

That's all! Like I said this is my first time reviewing my anime so I'm sure it's a mess. Sorry!