Love Hina

Final Rating: 4.5/5.0

I have a certain disdain for a specific genre within manga and anime and that's the harem genre. Now I ask myself: Why do I keep watching/reading them? Granted that a harem is so bad that I would stop watching/reading after just a few episodes (We, Without Wings) or chapters or its actually pretty good (The World God Only Knows) that I question that it's a harem but for the generic, mediocre ones, I could sit through them with an an indifferent type of disdain. Maybe it's the easiest genre to make fun and ridicule of and I enjoy pointing out everything that is wrong with it. Maybe it's a genre that has potential and has underlying material that is overclouded by it's cliché's. Out of all the harem series that I have read and watched, one has stood out as the best, if not one of the best in the genre, Love Hina. Pretty much the series that completely popularised the harem genre, Love Hina represents the genre in every perspective but it has things that completely elevates it from a typical harem series. It has most of what a typical harem set up and conventions have like beautiful girls and women, fan service and character archetypes that are blatantly obvious but as it progresses, it becomes something more. It is one of my most beloved anime/manga series and I love everything about it.

The story follows a hopeless guy named Keitaro who dreams to go to Tokyo University to fulfil a childhood promise but fails at every attempt. He is then called up by his grandmother and is given a task of managing an inn. An all girls inn. One of the tenants is the top mock exam student in the country named Naru, who is the most opposed of Keitaro's managerial position. After that, slapstick, innuendos, love and heartbreak ensues. I came across Love Hina when I was 14 and is actually the first harem series I've read and watched and admired it mostly for its comedy. Looking at it now, I have missed how the story is surprisingly well written. The comedy and the usual slapstick and violence mostly come as a distraction but the story is well written enough that the distraction becomes part of the plot. The comedy is mostly shown through Keitaro and Naru's innuendo+violence=slapstick and it gets tiring sometimes but you get used to it and becomes subconscious. The true heart of the story is of course, Keitaro and Naru's romantic relationship and in my opinion, it is one of the best told romance stories I have ever seen.

The most important aspect of this series and the very main reason why this series is so good is the characters. Nowadays, characters in harem series are generally bland, obnoxious or down right irritating but Love Hina shines through its interesting, complex and unforgettable characters. Keitaro is actually one of my favourite manga/anime male protagonists. He is clumsy, quite pathetic and idiotic at first but he is easily likeable because of his approachable, hard working personality and kind demeanour. The girls themselves, even though they are archetypes, are interesting and likeable and their personalities and relationship with Keitaro is believable and very fun to see. Naru is the short tempered but caring girl next door, Shinobu is the innocent school girl with a motherly personality, Kitsune's the flirtatious tease, Koalla is the happy go lucky mischief and Motoko is the stern swords woman who has many insecurities. It's worth mentioning Keitaro's relationship with the girls themselves as it is one of the most interesting and important aspects of Love Hina. From the beginning, most of the girls despise Keitaro because of his clumsiness and misunderstandings but as the series progress, they soften up to him and considers him an important aspect of their lives and it is wonderfully executed and well paced thanks to good writing. It shows that Keitaro, under his clumsiness, idiocy and loser appearance, he is a very likeable, reliable and caring individual and an example of not judging the book by its cover. The girls see through this and they change because of him, especially Naru. Keitaro and Naru's chemistry is unparalleled when it comes to anime/manga couples.

I've been addressing both the manga and anime but I'm going to move on to the anime for a bit. The anime is very inferior to the manga in terms of content but it's still the same great story and characters even if it's only a portion. I actually watched the anime in English dub first and I recommend that you watch it in Japanese as the English dubbing is irritating to listen to. The opening and closing are obnoxiously catchy but it is very nostalgic and the animation is a bit choppy despite Ken Akamatsu's brilliant illustrations and designs.

Love Hina is the prime example of how to do a harem right. Well written story, well written and unforgettable characters and an overall classic in my books. I recommend reading the manga instead of the anime as it has the complete story but the anime is pretty good in its own right. Watch it, read it, whatever as this series is completely worth your time.

Overall: One of my favourite anime/manga series ever. A pretty good anime but a modern manga classic.
Story: Surprisingly well written and very funny. One of the best written romantic comedy series I have ever seen.
Music: Obnoxiously catchy but there's a nostalgia appeal to it.
Characters: The main reason Love Hina is great. Likeable, unique, complex, well written and well developed.
Animation: Ken Akamatsu's drawing style is very unique and nice to look at. Character designs are distinguishable but the animation of the anime is a bit choppy.

I think Love hina wasa good story based anime title and it would be a romantic book but a good book if you wanted to be a pervert or are a pervert. The main characters were keitaro urashima, Narunasewga, Mitsume orhime, Kitsune, Shinobu, Mokoto, Koalla Su and Shirai and Hinati, Seta, Haruka, andGrandma Hinata, kanak, Tama chan. The story starts of withgrandma hinata leaving and putting Keitaro landlord of hinata inn/hinata girl dormitory. Keitaro wants to go to tokyo University because of a childhood promise but he can't remember her name,Luckily Naru who is also applying for Tokyo U is helping Keitaro get in and as the episodes progress they start to bond with each other and Keitaro finds what he wants to become. There are some scenes that are really steamy. There are some hilarious scenes and some scenes that are very wrong. There are also some videos that follow after.

Sopheaku's Anime Review:


Since this is my first review and I don't wanna copy anyone elses way of reviewing, I am going to use only three key points. The Characters, the storyline, and my overall thoughts of the anime itself.

Index
I. Main Characters (I'm only going to talk about the around Main Characters that Impact the Story the most)
II. Storyline
III. Overall thoughts
=====================================================================
I. Characters
Keitaro Urashima- This person is what makes Love Hina what it is with his personality. He always gets himself into pretty ecchi predicaments with each girl he meets.
Naru Narusegawa- The first person that Keitaro meets in the Woman's dormatories, and I must say, what a first impression she made with him.
Mutsumi Otohime- This person is actually my favorite character in the whole story, though she shows up later on in the series. When you first see her, shes a very carefree person that seems to mimic what most people are in real life. Except we don't pass out in random places. If you want to watch this anime, examine her closely.

II. Storyline
This story revolves around one male character by the name of Keitaro Urashima. He not that smart, but he is very determined to go to Tokyo University to meet up with a childhood friend. The catch is that before that he moved away so he doesn't know the girl that he made the promis to. Now thats where the story gets interesting when he goes through the progress with each woman. Since I don't want to give any juicy details about the whole anime, all i can say is that as the anime progresses with each episode, you can see the development of each character with Keitaro.

III. Overall Thoughts
If you enjoy watching a romantic, harem based anime with ecchi, I would recommend this anime greatly. Now this anime is not that old, but it still beats alot of the majority of animes that are related to this.

Keitaro is kinda hot only without his glasses on cause with them he looks like a big nerd and all his friends do to. The relationship between them is cute and all and the other girls having crushes on him make it more complicated and hilarious. And did anyone notice how the Kendo girl looks EXACTLY like Kikyo from Inuyasha??? I'm not saying its a good or bad thing but i didnt know that look was so common??? Their kiss scene are really ..... steamy... lol i know niiice adjective right??? He's really stupid and can't get into the school he wants but you know what the end is happy so it was good, but it was still really boring...The girls are really mean to him all the time and that one kisume girl is a total whore but she pretends she isn't. Yea the whole thing was basically realy boring and the only times i liked it was when he had his glasses and shirt off, WOOO that was hot!!! other than that it was a disappointment... i saw a preview for it and was like "This will be awesome!!" and then.. it wasnt so yea 1st bad anime// it had to happen sometime so why not here???

-Roxy142142

via www.roxy142142.weebly.com