A.I. Love You

A.I. Love You is a manga series by author Ken Akamatsu.

First released in the mid-1990s in Japan, an English translation of the series is published by TOKYOPOP; the first volume came out in North America in February 2004.

The original Japanese title, A・Iが止まらない!, is a play on words. While it literally means "A.I. Won't Stop!" the word "AI" has several meanings. Besides being the acronym for Artificial Intelligence, it is also the Japanese word for "love" and the Japanese transcription of the English word "I". Tokyopop does their best to recreate this pun with their US release of the series.

Story

The story centres around Hitoshi Kobe, a guy who is neither academically gifted nor good at sports, so he doesn't do very well at school.

Hitoshi has only one thing going for him - his ability to program computers. In fact, he is so good at this he has created programs that can rewrite themselves - Artificial Intelligence in other words. So far he has created thirty of these programs, and the latest - whom he names Saati - is so advanced that conversation with her is indistinguishable from a normal girl (except that Hitoshi can actually talk to Saati).

However, there is still the barrier of Hitoshi being in the physical world and Saati being a program, until one day a freak lightning accident transfers her to the real world, where she becomes the girlfriend of Hitoshi.

The series then follows their now not so ordinary lives, as well as other A.I.'s of Hitoshi's creation.

Characters

Names are in Western order.

Hitoshi Kobe

Hitoshi is a student who underachieves at school both physically and academically. One of his few strengths is his ability to program, and create artificial intelligences, and he eventually created programs Twenty and Thirty - programs so real that conversations with them (if you exclude the fact they communicate via a computer screen) are indistinguishable from conversation with normal girls.

Through a series of freak lightning accidents, both programs are transferred to the real world, and become a (greater) part of the life of Hitoshi.

Thirty (Saati) Namba

Saati is the thirtieth Artificial Intelligence program that Hitoshi has created, and is the first program that Hitoshi really liked and could really talk to.Through a freak lightning accident she is transferred to the real world, and becomes Hitoshi's live-in girlfriend. In the real world she (and her sisters) took the family name 'Namba'. So technically, in japanese naming order her name "Namba Saati", really means "number thirty". A kind girl, and a bit naive, which does lead to frequent problems with Hitoshi. The most notable of which is that when she cooks meals she has the tendency to make them look like the picture, regardless of the taste (having no taste buds), using everything from paint to colored markers until she receives a program that allowes her to taste.

Twenty (Touenii, Toenii or Toni in the TOKYOPOP version)

Toni is the twentieth Artificial Intelligence program that Hitoshi created. However, despite the fact she worked, she teased him a little too much, and though the teasing was good-natured he couldn't handle it in addition to the pressures of school, so he stored her away.Due to another freak lightning accident Toni is also brought into the real world, where she too stays with Hitoshi just like Saati (who calls Toni onee-san - big sister).

Forty

Forty is an A.I. that Hitoshi developed after he is able to bring A.I.s to life at will. Saati and Toni argued about the gender and personality when he was putting the finishing touches on it, and pressed too many buttons at once. The end result was an A.I. that had two forms: both boy and girl. Both were childlike, and would switch to the alternate gender when that word was said (Forty would become a girl when the male Forty said "girl," and vice versa).

The male Forty is somewhat of a neat-freak, Saati's personality choice (Although her gender of choice was female), and a bit high-strung. The female Forty is laid-back and outgoing, Toni's personality choice (Although, similarly, her gender choice was male). Both Forty's are extremely powerful.

Kimika Aso

Kimika, the smartest and prettiest girl in school, and also possibly the meanest girl in school, is adored by Hitoshi to the point where he makes Toni (then "number Twenty"), however, she never gives him any consideration, playing a trick on him at the beginning of the series.

Cynthia "Cindy" McDougal

Cindy is an American actress that came to Japan to run away from her father. She met Hitoshi at a computer store in Japan and developed a crush on him as he helped her purchase a computer and then helped her overcome her computer-phobia. Cindy wants to take Hitoshi away from Saati and becomes Saati's rival. Fans have speculated that she may be related to Love Hina's Sara McDougal.

Yayoi Kobe and Ma-kun

Yayoi is Hitoshi's younger, by two years, sister. She is loud and energetic, and has a few psychological problems. Like Hitoshi she is a talented programmer and has developed her own A.I. program, named 'Ma-kun', whom she wears around her neck on a chain, like a tamagotchi virtual pet. Ma-kun has a very calm, cool and collected personality. It is indirectly implied that Twenty and he continue on to have a relationship after the conclusion of the series as she is seen wearing him around her neck in the final chapter.

Name	Publisher!ISBN
English A.I. Love You Volume 1	TOKYOPOP	ISBN 1-59182-615-2
English A.I. Love You Volume 2	TOKYOPOP	ISBN 1-59182-616-0
English A.I. Love You Volume 3	TOKYOPOP	ISBN 1-59182-617-9
English A.I. Love You Volume 4	TOKYOPOP	ISBN 1-59182-618-7
English A.I. Love You Volume 5	TOKYOPOP	ISBN 1-59182-619-5
English A.I. Love You Volume 6	TOKYOPOP	ISBN 1-59182-620-9
English A.I. Love You Volume 7	TOKYOPOP	ISBN 1-59182-943-7
English A.I. Love You Volume 8	TOKYOPOP	ISBN 1-59182-944-5

External links

*A.I. Love Network , (JAPANESE)
*Ken Akamatsu Forum, a place to talk about all of Mr. Akamatsu's works.

A.I. Love You: Encyclopedia BETA

Contents