Ai Shite Knight

From Freepedia

"Ai Shite Knight", or "Night" (original title: 愛してナイト) is a shoujo manga created in the early 1980's by the late Kaoru Tada. An anime version of the story in 42 episodes was also produced in 1983-1984 by Toei Animation, and features episodes supervised by Shingo Araki. The anime also became extremely popular in Europe with the title "Rock'n'Roll Kids" in Germany, "Embrasse-moi, Lucile" in France, and "Kiss Me Licia" in Italy.

"Ai Shite Knight" is set in Osaka, and tells the story of Yakko Mitamura, a 18 year old girl working in her father's Okonomiyaki restaurant. One day Yakko casually meets a little boy, Hashizo, and his odd cat Juliano. Hashizo has lost both parents when still a baby and has been brought up by his elder brother. Hashizo's brother Go Kato is the lead singer of the emerging rock band "Bee Hive". When Yakko meets Go and his friend and "Bee Hive" member Satomi Okawa an unexpected series of events unfolds.

Whereas the main narrative of "Ai Shite Knight" is essentialy based on a love story, interesting and innovative elements were introduced by Kaoru Tada, most notably the portrayal of the Japanese music scene in the early '80s. In creating characters such as Go, Satomi and their band "Bee Hive", Tada was inspired by successful bands of the time such as "The Stalin", "Novela", "Primadonna" and "44 Magnum". Tada also plays with sexual provocation and ambiguitiy, although these elements were considerably toned down in the anime version of the story.

The anime based on "Ai Shite Knight" also presents some changes in the storyline and modifications in the characters, and covers only one part of the story narrated by Tada in the manga. It is a widespread opinion that, although the quality of the animation is not thoroughly consistent, its quality is fairly high (reaching its peak in the episodes where Shingo Araki was involved), and it's effective in conveying to the viewer the timeframes and places in which events occur.

The Music

The main reason why the anime version of "Ai Shite Knight" is particularly famous is because it features, for the first time ever, original songs within the episodes, performed by "Bee Hive" and the rival band "Kiss Relish". The songs were so successful to be released in an album. Joe Hisaishi, who has composed the music for Hayao Miyazaki's movies, collaborated in writing and arranging the songs. The original songs featured in the anime are:

Performed by "Bee Hive"

  • Rockin' all Night
  • Fire
  • Midnight Rock'n'Roll Star
  • Lonely Boy
  • Baby, I Love You
  • Freeway
  • Someday on Sunday
  • Love Again

Performed by "Kiss Relish"

  • Let Me Feel
  • Boxer

Versions of the songs in several languages exist because of the popularity of "Ai Shite Knight" outside of Japan.

External links

In English

In Italian

In German

In French

Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/Ai_Shite_Knight.html"


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