Light Hi-Fi - Blue Spring Ride (Japanese: アオハライド Hepburn: Aoharaido, written Ao Haru Ride within Japan) is a Japanese shōjo manga series ...
Light Hi-Fi - Blue Spring Ride (Japanese: アオハライド Hepburn: Aoharaido, written Ao Haru Ride within Japan) is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Io Sakisaka. It began serialization in the February 2011 issue of Shueisha's Bessatsu Margaret and ended in February 2015.
An anime television series, produced by Production I.G and directed by Ai Yoshimura, premiered in Japan at midnight on 7 July 2014. A live-action film adaptation was released in December 2014. A drama CD has been released as a tie-in with the 10th volume of the manga. An OAD has been released as a tie-in with the 11th volume of the manga. Translations of manga volumes have been released in Germany, France, Italy, Taiwan, Poland, and Mexico.
Futaba Yoshioka is a 17-year-old high school student who has an inferiority complex, as she has the need to fit with her female friends by acting brash towards the male students, due to a history of attracting the latter which made other girls jealous and ostracize her, as a result causing her to feel that her life is nothing interesting. She finally abandons her facade when she befriends fellow outcast Yuri Makita, who is adamant in keeping her "cutesy" personality in exchange for being ostracized. At the same time, Futaba is surprised when she reunites with Kou Tanaka, whom she befriended during middle school and with whom she had mutual love until he abruptly moved away to Nagasaki to live with his late mother. She is disappointed, however, as the new Kou is going with his mother's surname "Mabuchi" and seems to be a completely different person than she knew back then, as he is now a rude, cold, and sneaky individual. Kou enrolls in the school under supervision of his brother, Yoichi Tanaka, who teaches at the school.
However, Futaba and Kou have to work together when they apply for the class representative positions, assisted by event representatives Yuri, the also-outcast Shuko Murao who harbors feelings for the elder Tanaka brother, and her admirer, Aya Kominato. The five attend the leadership training and are able to form a bond. After the training, Yuri realizes that she has fallen in love with Kou and confesses during summer festival, but is rejected. Instead, she decides to support Futaba's attempt to woo him and ends up falling in love with Uchiyama, a member of the school band. Meanwhile, after an embarrassing first meeting, Futaba is admired by Toma Kikuchi, Uchiyama's bandmate, who begins inroads to make her turn from Kou and fall for him. He gets his attempt when Kou's middle school friend from Nagasaki, Yui Narumi moves to Tokyo and begs him to take care of her. This causes Futaba to think that anymore attempt to woo Kou is futile, and, after a formal rejection from him, accept Kikuchi's confession.Nevertheless, Futaba struggles to erase Kou from her mind and be serious in her relationship with Kikuchi. Kou, who is revealed to have always loved Futaba after all those years, realizes that Narumi is dragging him back and decides to end their relationship. As Futaba's relationship with Kikuchi becomes complicated with Kou making moves towards her, she chooses to separate from Kikuchi at the end of the school year. With Kikuchi out of the picture for Christmas, Futaba agrees to meet Kou in the same place where they promised to meet years before until his transfer, but it is cut short when Kou is involved in an accident. At the hospital, Futaba and Kou declare their love for each other.
The new couple's first task together is helping Kominato confess to Murao. At the start of the new school year, Tanaka also decides to move to the United States to pursue further education and discover new things, wishing his brother happiness out from sulking about their mother's death. To assure his family that he is well, Kou reverts his surname back to Tanaka. The series ends with Futaba and Kou seeking refuge from the rain at a temple like they did years before, which Futaba interprets as the evidence that something interesting has finally started for her.
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- Eoisode 1
- At the end of her first year of high school, Futaba Yoshioka has a reunion of fate. She meets Kou Mabuchi, her first love from middle school, who suddenly disappeared but actually changed schools. The Kou she meets appears before Futaba for the first time in three years. She realizes he has changed his surname to "Mabuchi" and has become a different person, with a cold personality.
- Episode 2
- With memories from middle school, Futaba has continued to be socially superficial with her friends in high school.
- Episode 3
- Mr. Tanaka is revealed to be the brother of Kou. Futaba hears some of their family story and learns why Kou did not come to the meeting place before the summer festival in middle school.
- Episode 4
- Futaba and Kou become class representatives but must participate in leader camp, along with event representatives Makita Yuuri, Murao Shuuko and Kominato Aya. Troubles are evident from the first morning and there is tension among the team.
- Episode 5
- Futaba starts to care about Kou again. Yuuri finds out by chance that Shuuko has feelings for Tanaka Yoichi, the teacher and Kou's brother. While confused about their feelings, the team begins their training.
- Episode 6
- Yuri confesses that she has fallen in love with Kou to Futaba. Futaba does not want to hurt Yuri but cannot reconcile that feeling with her own love for Kou, and is unable to decide what to do about her own feelings.
- Episode 7
- Futaba comes to realize that she also loves Kou. Although he is different than from middle school, she has feelings for this new Kou as well. Yuuri also begins to realize the full difficulty of being friends with someone who loves the same person she does.
- Episode 8
- Futaba finally is able to work up the courage to tell Yuuri and Shuuko how she feels about Kou; in turn, Shuuko admits she is in love with their teacher, Mr. Tanaka. On the way home, Futaba encounters Kou and follows him downtown to see him meet up with a group of teenagers.
- Episode 9
- Futaba becomes worried about Kou after he says that caring for things is a lot of trouble. As she tells Yuri about his words, Shuuko comes up and tells them that Kou has failed his midterms.
- Episode 10
- utaba realizes that there is tension between Yuuri and Kou during the study session. Trying to figure out why, she questions both Yuuri and Kou; in reply, Kou guides her to the room where he keeps a shrine for his mother.
- Episode 11
- It is revealed that when Kou disappeared in middle school, it was because his parents divorced and he moved with his mother to Nagasaki. However, his mother was terminally ill, leaving Kou to feel helpless and alone.
- Episode 12
- Kou showed his weak side to Futaba for the first time and she finds it to be docile and cute. That evening during dinner, Kou joins his brother, Tanaka, and his father to eat together for the first time since his mother's death years ago.
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