Hachibei Maeda is a guy with very, very particular tastes in women. In fact, he isn't so much into girls as he is into his ideal attributes: big, crystal blue eyes; perky breasts "like bullet trains"; a husky, womanly voice; long, lean, streamlined legs; etc.The good news is, he's been accepted at a prestigious high school in Tokyo, and he's sure he'll find at least one of his "beloved parts" in the big city.The bad news is, when he gets there, he finds the boys' dormitory has been burned down, and he can't afford an apartment.The good news is, he's offered a place to stay... in the girls' dorm... with four beautiful women, each of whom has one of the attributes he's looking for in a girl (fiery redhead Sakurako and her eyes, shy and bespectacled Yukari and her breasts, twenty-something teacher Tsubame and her legs, and sarcastic ninja-girl Kirino and her voice).The bad news, he almost immediately gets off on the wrong foot with them, and now they all think he's crazy, a pervert, or both. Okay, so he is, but that's beside the point...Thus begins Ai Kora: Love & Collage, an endearingly warped and ecchi take on harem comedies and every fetish you can possibly imagine, from the creator of Midori no Hibi. As Maeda quests (with limited success) to win over the girls, he finds himself learning more about them (and himself) as he learns to appreciate them for more than their parts.This series provides examples of:
Accidental Pervert: Not nearly as often as being an actual pervert, mind.
Betty and Veronica: Yukari is Betty and Ayame is Veronica. Sakurako is actually in the best position but since she's notvocal about it, most of the bickering over Maeda is between the former two. See Third Option Love Interest, though Sakurako is actually the first option in just about everyotherregard.
Berserk Button: Mess with the girls in Maeda's harem at your own risk.
Don't insult the Ninja Way around Kirino
Black Comedy Rape: In chapter 51, Ayame tries to rape Hachibei while making the other girls watch!
Book Ends: The guy who tried to burn down the girl's dorm in the first chapter shows up in the last chapter, once again takes Sakurako hostage, and once again gets his butt kicked by Maeda.
Chickification: Neatly averted by Kirino. After starting her idol career, Hachibei saves her from a Loony Fan, but she reminded him (with a vivid demonstration) that she didn't really need his help.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Maeda is a lazy, weak, uninspired idiot, but given the right motivation (such as protecting someone's fetish) he is basically an unstoppable force of nature.
Cult: The Church of Bluish-Purple from chapters 104 and 105.
Expy: Two characters are clearly inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion: Sensei Tsubame has purple hair, drinks heavily, and is a car nut/crazy driver — Misato. Sakurako has orange hair with red ribbons, blue eyes, and a fiery temper — Asuka Langley Sohryu.
This manga is very similar to Love Hina in terms of characters: Sakurako = Naru, Yukari = Shinobu, Kirino = Motoko, and Tsubame = Mitsune; however Hachibei is less like Keitaro, and more like Ataru Moroboshi.
Many of the characters look like the characters from the artist's previous series Midori Days.
Fan Disservice: Among other things, naked Aburazaka (from behind, thankfully) and an old man wearing pantyhose.
Fanservice: And lots of it! And almost always spoofed.
Fetishes: Made into a plot device with Maeda's "parts love"; his focus also provides the Fetish Fuel.
Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Yukari delivers one to Maeda, and tells him to fight for Sakurako, after he slips into despair when it looks like he's lost her to her old boyfriend.
Girls With Guns: A chapter taking place at the school Christmas party features a paintball match; Ayame pulls out a paintball machine gun at one point.
Harem Nanny: Tsubame — from the girls' perspective, that is. They don't know that Hachibei, who's all about parts rather than romance, ranks her equally with the rest of them.
Heavy Voice: Lampshaded by Hachibei in chapter 88, page 14 when he tells Kirino, after she has gained weight due to a drug slipped into the dorm's water supply, that her "voice is fatter". This is a pun in the original Japanese version of the manga, in which Hachibei tells Kirino "koefuto", which can usually mean "to grow fat", but in this context it includes the word "koe" meaning "voice".
Hidden Depths: We eventually find the girls aren't your typical collection of harem comedy stereotypes.
Hot Mom: Tenmaku's mom shows where the eyes came from, and Hachibei's certainly qualifies.
No Export for You: It started in 2005 and ended in 2008. Licensed? In French, yes, but not in English...
Nonstandard Character Design: Shibusawa's senior, Aburazaka, is accurately described as "manga-faced" at one point.
Nice Hat: Not as a cool factor or anything, but Sakurako is often seen wearing her beret. It even serves the plot a bit during their Crash into Hello moment because it prevented Maede from seeing her beautiful eyes.
Overprotective Dad: Sakurako's dad really doesn't like it when Hachibei turns up at her house. Even less when Hachi shouts that he hopes to get to know her better at the top of his voice.
...then they start competing to see whose love for Sakurako is stronger.
Reality Ensues: It's not a good idea to come right out and say that you like a girl solely for her body parts to her face,especially after she confessed to you. Shrinking Violet Yukari is rightfully insulted, and monumentally furious at Maeda. Other events play out against expected tropes as well.
Reset Button: A number of chapters end with Maeda making progress in his relationships with the girls, only to undo it all, or at best most of it, by saying or doing something stupid and/or perverted.
Running Gag: A number of these, including Ayame distracting Maeda with a belly dance, and Maeda's ability to judge whether a girl has one of his favorite parts in half a second.
Sadist Teacher: Sajima, the guy who came to stop Hachibei and his parts fetish.
Status Quo Is God: The girls eventually warm up to Maeda, but given that he never seems to learn his lesson, it's a very slow "two steps forward, one step back" process.
Could even be inverted. As noted above, while it's Maeda who wants the girls, it's the girls who don't want him. Until recently. And only in some cases. And then there's Ayame, who's just nuts, but lately seems to have developed feelings for Haiji.
Double subverted in the last chapter when he finally returns home from an accidental trip to England; he's mobbed by all the girls he saved on the way back.
Tsundere: Sakurako and Kirino. Spoofed/lampshaded with Asagiri from the maid cafe in chapter 15.
Unstoppable Rage: Maeda gains superhuman abilities if 'his' parts are threatened (or if he's promised a feel). He once defeated a gang of Japanese Delinquents because they damaged the breasts on a statue.
What Is This Thing You Call Love?: Maeda apparently has never been in love before he starts developing feelings for Sakurako; he even says these exact lines. He does seem to have huge sexual lust for the girls though, which, according to him, is completely different from romantic love.
Hachibei Maeda is a guy with very, very particular tastes in women. In fact, he isn't so much into girls as he is into his ideal attributes: big, crystal blue eyes; perky breasts "like bullet trains"; a husky, womanly voice; long, lean, streamlined legs; etc.The good news is, he's been accepted at a prestigious high school in Tokyo, and he's sure he'll find at least one of his "beloved parts" in the big city.The bad news is, when he gets there, he finds the boys' dormitory has been burned down, and he can't afford an apartment.The good news is, he's offered a place to stay... in the girls' dorm... with four beautiful women, each of whom has one of the attributes he's looking for in a girl (fiery redhead Sakurako and her eyes, shy and bespectacled Yukari and her breasts, twenty-something teacher Tsubame and her legs, and sarcastic ninja-girl Kirino and her voice).The bad news, he almost immediately gets off on the wrong foot with them, and now they all think he's crazy, a pervert, or both. Okay, so he is, but that's beside the point...Thus begins Ai Kora: Love & Collage, an endearingly warped and ecchi take on harem comedies and every fetish you can possibly imagine, from the creator of Midori no Hibi. As Maeda quests (with limited success) to win over the girls, he finds himself learning more about them (and himself) as he learns to appreciate them for more than their parts.
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