Aoi House
Aoi House is an Original English-Language manga published by Seven Seas Entertainment. It began as a webcomic before being picked up by Seven Seas, at which point a new artist was assigned to it. The original webcomic ran in 2005. It is filled with homages to other works--mostly anime, but not exclusively.
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 "Yaoi 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. Hilarity Ensues.
The webcomic could formerly found at the Go Manga website, but that is no longer available. It is being rereleased online at the new Pixie Trix/Zoom Comics server 5 days a week. The entire series is available in print and e-reader formats.
This work contains examples of the following tropes:
- Aloof Big Brother -- "Oniisan", who plays the role of The Chessmaster. Eventually revealed to actually be Elle's older brother.
- Bishounen -- Alex and Mason, however, Alex's bishieness is taken cranked up to eleven whenever he lets his hair down: every female character immediately falls for him and follows every command he gives. Just because he's THAT PRETTY.
- Cosplay Otaku Girls
- Cute Little Fangs -- Morgan has either one or two of these most of the time.
- Dean Bitterman -- Mr. Perkins
- Did Not Do the Research -- In Universe: Mr. Perkins accused Sandy of serving minors alcoholic beverages, when it was ramune (a popular Japanese soda).
- Distaff Counterpart -- Uri House. As their name implies, they consist of male Yuri Fans, with two female members and Luna-P.
- Distant Finale
- Fan Service -- There's a fanservice showdown between Aoi House and their rivals, Uri House.
- Five-Man Band -- The Aoi House girls, Uri House, and the UASOS Brigade.
- Gag Boobs -- Maria
- Gender Blender Name -- both of the male leads have androgynous names, something that is pointed out at least twice.
- Genki Girl -- Morgan
- Go-Go Enslavement -- Sort of happens after Alex's bishie-ness puts the girls into a trance.
- Goth -- Stephanie Kane
- Hello, Nurse! -- Not only is Jessica this, she's actually studying to become a nurse. In the Distant Finale, she works at Seattle Grace.
- Het Is Ew: Elle's reaction to Alex's registration form when he listed Goku and Chi-Chi as his favorite couple.
- Heroes Want Redheads -- Or vice versa, as it is Morgan who falls in love with Alex at first sight.
- Homage -- Too many to list here. Quite notably, however, Echiboo and Luna-P reenact the famous Spaghetti Kiss scene from Lady and The Tramp.
- Ho Yay: Sanae has a crush on Nina. In fact, in the epilogue, she (somehow) manages to sleep with Nina and Elle, much to the shock of the latter two
- Interspecies Romance -- Echiboo the hamster and Luna-P the pig. They mate, and Luna-P gives birth to a Mix and Match Critter.
- The Ladette -- Nina. She's lazy, she smokes, and in the original, she was quite the drinker, too.
- Lampshade Hanging
- Love Triangle -- After Elle becomes somewhat of a Defrosting Ice Queen, this starts to develop with Alex and Morgan.
- Meaningful Name -- Echiboo. After Sandy introduces him to the girls:
 |
Jessica: Sorry, tiger. I think you meant to say Ebichu? You just called your hamster a "perverted fart" in Japanese. |
 |
- Meganekko -- Maria
- Moe -- Morgan, Sanae, and Kimberly Ann
- Must Have Caffeine -- Elle
- Naughty Tentacles -- Tiny
- Nosebleed-- Sandy is shown with one after he sees one of the girls naked.
- No Sense of Direction -- Never let Sandy drive.
- Noblewoman's Laugh -- Elle
- Official Couple -- The Distant Finale shows that Alex marries Morgan and Sandy marries Maria.
- Otaku -- Sandy
- Panty Shot
- The Parody -- again, happens multiple times, but most notable in that it actually has an effect on the Distant Finale is "Echibond".
- Pixellation -- After Echiboo nibbles through Elle's panties
- Please Put Some Clothes On -- Elle actually says this to Nina on one occasion, and there are other times when it's implied.
- Reality Show -- "Aoi House"
- Rich Bitch -- Elle
- Rule 34 -- Elle references this in her "Yaoi 801" panel at Hatsu-Con.
- Schoolgirl Lesbians -- Kimberly Ann and Sanae-chan
- Seme/Uke -- Also referenced at "Yaoi 801". For the demonstration, Alex dresses up in the seme roles and Sandy in the uke.
- Shared Universe -- Stephanie Kane, who appears here, becomes the leader of Paranormal Mystery Squad, which links to Vampire Cheerleaders through her little sister's school.
- Ship Tease -- 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 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.
- Shout-Out -- 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
- Shrinking Violet -- Maria
- Signs of Disrepair -- Yaoi House and Yuri House
- Sinister Scythe -- Subverted in that the scythe is wielded by a protagonist.
- Sweet Tooth -- Morgan. Seriously. Elle seems to look for excuses to deny Morgan candy, likely because Morgan is hyper enough as it is.
- Team Pet -- Echiboo
- The Glomp -- Morgan, to Alex.
- Theme Naming -- Many characters' surnames (and most of the given names of the main characters' children in the Distant Finale) are references to DC Comics characters, usually Batman.
- Those Two Guys -- Kevin and Dale from Uri House; Oniisan's two assistants, Mike and Jamie
- Truman Show Plot
- Tsundere -- Elle
- Unsound Effect -- "Noodle noodle noodle"
- Where Are They Now? Epilogue: It's even titled as such.
- Wholesome Crossdresser -- Carlo...although the boys might call him a Villainous Crossdresser.
- Yaoi Fangirls -- The whole basis of the series.
- Yuri Fans -- Their rival counterpart.