Line #29 Manga/AoiHouse


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aoi_house.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: Moving clockwise from center: Jessica, Maria, Alex, Morgan, Elle, Nina, and Sandy. Not pictured: Echiboo]]
3
4	''Aoi House'' is an [[OELManga Original English-Language manga]] published by Seven Seas Entertainment. It began as a webcomic before being picked up by Creator/SevenSeasEntertainment, at which point a new artist was assigned to it. It is filled with homages to other works--mostly anime, but not exclusively.
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6	''Aoi House'' is the story of Alexis "Alex" Roberts and Sandy Grayson, two male college students kicked out of their dorm for having "unknown and potentially alcoholic beverages" (they weren't alcoholic) and for showing lewd anime videos in the student lounge, and because during their meeting with the dean about these infractions, Sandy's hamster Echiboo made himself comfortable in the dean's toupee. However, they seem to be in luck when they find a flyer for an anime club, "Aoi House". Just one problem: before the Y fell off of their sign, they were "'''Y'''aoi House", and the flyer neglected to mention that it's supposed to be girls and gay guys only. However, seeing as how the housing committee has been on their case to get more members, they have no choice but to let Alex and Sandy stay. HilarityEnsues.
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8	The original webcomic ran in 2005. It used to be hosted at the Go Manga website, but the site since went down. For a time it was rereleased online at [[http://www.aoihouse.net/ the new Pixie Trix/Zoom Comics]] server 5 days a week, but those went offline as well. The entire series is available in print and e-reader formats.
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11	!!This series provides examples of:
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13	* {{Cosplay Otaku Girl}}s: The girls of Aoi House take on this archetype when they go to Hatsu-Con.
14	* DistaffCounterpart: Uri House, in the Spear Counterpart variation. As their name implies, they consist of male {{Yuri Fan}}s. They even have two female members in the same way Aoi House has two male members and their own team pet (Luna-P, a small pig). However, the individual members of Uri House avert this and don't serve as one-to-one analogs - as one example, while both Alex and Sandy are straight, Sanae is an open lesbian.
15	* DistantFinale: The epilogue showcases the characters as adults. Elle is an actress, Jessica is a nurse, Sandy runs a comic shop [[spoiler: and is married to Maria]], [[spoiler:Alex is married to Morgan]], and so on.
16	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Because the later webcomics set in the same universe are explicitly set in TheUnmasquedWorld, Aoi House can come off as this to readers who came in from ''Webcomic/ParanormalMysterySquad'' or ''Webcomic/VampireCheerleaders''. The first arc is a (mostly) mundane SliceOfLife comedy about anime-loving college students, and while the second arc dials up the weirdness some, it is also fairly grounded. There's no sign of any of the UrbanFantasy elements that define the later webcomics. Even Stephanie Kane, the lynch-pin character for the SharedUniverse, only appears in the final handful of strips after the third arc is resolved (although she's the central figure for the Lost Episode).
17	* EnemyMine: Both Aoi House and Uri House challenge the USA SOS Brigade, an anime club dedicated to ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'', to a cosplay duel after they won Best Anime Display, and with it, a new Platform/PlayStation3.
18	* FanConvention: In the second arc everyone goes to Hatsu-Con, and meets the rival Uri House.
19	* {{Fanservice}}: There's a fanservice showdown between Aoi House and their rivals, Uri House at Hatsu-Con. [[spoiler: Aoi House wins thanks in part to one of the judges being a Lolicon fetishist, which Morgan is able to exploit, and another one is a straight woman, who is vulnerable to Alex's hypnotic hair]].
20	* GainaxEnding[=/=]TheSeriesHasLeftReality: Despite no prior supernatural elements other than hints of sentience in the pets and Alex's bewitching hair, the gang spend the last few chapters before the epilogue trapped in Franchise/SilentHill, tying the book to TheUnmasquedWorld of its later sister series. A later bonus story has [[Webcomic/VampireCheerleaders Steph]] take them back there, after analyzing Alex's hair and Sandy's apparently psychic [bad] luck.
21	* GenderBlenderName: Both of the male leads have androgynous names (in fact, their names are from the same root; "Sandy" is a form of "Alexander"), something that is pointed out at least twice. This even applies to Alex's full name, Alexis.
22	* GoGoEnslavement: Sort of happens after Alex's bishie-ness puts the girls into a trance.
23	* {{Goth}}: Stephanie Kane - at this point in her life, she fell into the PerkyGoth archetype.
24	* {{Homage}}: Too many to list here. Quite notably, however, Echiboo and Luna-P reenact the famous SpaghettiKiss scene from ''WesternAnimation/LadyAndTheTramp''.
25	* InterspeciesRomance: Echiboo the hamster and Luna-P the pig. They [[HotSkittyOnWailordAction mate]], and Luna-P gives birth to a MixAndMatchCritter.
26	* {{Irony}}: For the "Yaoi 801" panel, Elle dressed as [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Relena Darlian]], who is [[DieForOurShip infamously hated]] by the yaoi fandom for getting in the way of the Heero/Duo pairing.
27	* LoveTriangle: After Elle becomes somewhat of a DefrostingIceQueen, this starts to develop with Alex and Morgan.
28	* MeaningfulName: Echiboo. After Sandy introduces him to the girls:
29	--> '''Jessica:''' Sorry, tiger. I think you meant to say ''[[Anime/OruchubanEbichu Ebichu]]''? You just called your hamster a "perverted fart" in Japanese.
30	--> '''Morgan:''' Perverted's right! Check it out!! It's a panty hamster!!
31	* {{Nosebleed}}: Sandy is shown with one after he sees one of the girls naked.
32	* NoSenseOfDirection: Never let Sandy drive.
33	* OfficialCouple: The DistantFinale shows that [[spoiler:Alex marries Morgan and Sandy marries Maria.]]
34	* {{Otaku}}: ALL of the main characters are this to some extent thanks to the premise, but Sandy adheres to the achetype the most.
35	* TheParody: Again, happens multiple times, but most notable in that it actually has an effect on the DistantFinale is "[[Film/JamesBond Echibond]]".
36	* {{Pixellation}}: After Echiboo nibbles through Elle's panties.
37	* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: Elle actually says this to Nina on one occasion, and there are other times when it's implied.
38	* PrettyBoy: Alex and Mason, with Alex being a LongHairedPrettyBoy. However, Alex's attractiveness is taken cranked up to eleven whenever he lets his hair down: [[spoiler:every female character immediately falls for him and follows every command he gives. Just because he's ''THAT PRETTY''.]]
39	* RealityShow: [[spoiler: "Aoi House" [[TrumanShowPlot turns out to be this]], with Elle's older brother as the producer]].
40	* ReferenceOverdosed: The post epilogue story, The Lost Episode, has props and quotes everywhere, many without any context.
41	* RichBitch: Elle.
42	* RuleThirtyFour: Elle references this in her "Yaoi 801" panel at Hatsu-Con.
43	* {{Seme}}[=/=]{{Uke}}: Also referenced at "Yaoi 801". For the demonstration, Alex dresses up in the seme roles and Sandy in the uke.
44	* SharedUniverse: Stephanie Kane, who appears here, becomes the leader of ''Webcomic/ParanormalMysterySquad'', which links to ''Webcomic/VampireCheerleaders'' through her little sister's school, and to ''Webcomic/EerieCuties'' and its spinoffs through her childhood friendship with Layla Delacroix.
45	* ShipTease: Mason is able to break Elle out of her funk after she loses out to Morgan on getting Alex, but it's hinted at that he actually ends up with [[spoiler:Jessica]]. This is another one of those ones that seems weird because they had little interaction during the main plot, but hints ''were'' dropped there.
46	* ShoutOut: Far too many to list. Numerous anime and western media are referenced. Some are even extremely obscure such as the Gaijin song from the Adam and Joe go Tokyo British show
47	* SignsOfDisrepair: [[spoiler:Y]]aoi House and [[spoiler:Y]]uri House
48	* SinisterScythe: Subverted in that the scythe is wielded by a protagonist.
49	* SweetTooth: Morgan. ''Seriously''. Elle seems to look for excuses to deny Morgan candy, likely because Morgan is [[GenkiGirl hyper enough as it is]].
50	* TeamPet: Echiboo for Aoi House, Luna-P for Uri House. [[spoiler: They get together in the end]].
51	* ThemeNaming: Many characters' surnames (and most of the given names of the main characters' children in the DistantFinale) are references to Creator/DCComics characters, usually ''Franchise/{{Batman}}''.
52	* ThoseTwoGuys: Kevin and Dale from Uri House; Oniisan's two assistants, Mike and Jamie.
53	* UnsettlingGenderReveal: Alex and Sandy's reaction when they first met Carlo.
54	* UnsoundEffect: "Noodle noodle noodle".
55	* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: It's even titled as such.
56	* WholesomeCrossdresser: Carlo...although the boys might call him a CreepyCrossdresser.
57	* {{Yaoi Fangirl}}s: The whole basis of the series.
58	* {{Yuri Fan}}s: Their rival counterpart.

Context Manga / AoiHouse