Ai yori Aoshi - Fumizuki, Kou

Kaoru Hanabishi is a kind, earnest college student with many friends and potential love interests. One day at the train station, he meets a beautiful girl wearing a kimono, who has plans to visit someone but is struggling with directions. Kaoru decides to help her find her way; however, upon arrival at the location, they find an empty plot of land. While searching for any outstanding clues, the girl shows Kaoru a photo of the person she is looking for.

As destiny would have it, Kaoru immediately recognizes the individual as himself with his childhood friend—the previously betrothed Aoi Sakuraba from the esteemed Sakuraba family—who is now sitting across from him. Their wedding was canceled many years prior after Kaoru left the highly regarded Hanabishi clan for personal reasons. Despite their time apart, Aoi remains committed to Kaoru.

With this fateful encounter, Kaoru and Aoi are reunited, though they must keep their relationship a secret to preserve the reputation of the Sakuraba family. This is only complicated by the different women that Kaoru finds himself surrounded by. Even so, Kaoru and Aoi wish to learn more about each other and stay together against their families' wishes.

[Written by Animeranku Rewrite]

Ai yori Aoshi was published in English by Tokyopop from January 6, 2004 to October 9, 2007. The company later released a 3-in-1 omnibus for the manga's first three volumes in English as Ai Yori Aoshi: Volumes 1-3 Collection on November 4, 2008. It was also published in Italian as Sempre più Blu from March 11, 2005 to September 8, 2008.

The series was adapted into four visual novels. The first was produced by KID Corp. and released on March 20, 2003 for the PlayStation 2; this version was later republished on the same platform by SUCCESS Corporation on June 23, 2005, including bonus footage and content. After the conclusion of the anime adaptation, J.C. Staff released two visual novels for Windows PC titled Ai yori Aoshi: Shunka and Ai yori Aoshi: Shuutou on May 20, 2004 and June 24, 2004, respectively.