Keitaro Urashima promised a girl when he was young that they would meet up again at Tokyo University in the future. Sadly, in the National Practice Exam, Keitaro ranked 27th from the bottom. Knowing his grandmother owned a hotel, Keitaro intended to stay there while continuing his studies for Tokyo U, only to find out the hotel had long been transformed into an all-girls dormitory. Through an odd twist of fate, Keitaro eventually became the manager of the dorm, beginning his life of living with five other girls.
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Comentários
TheLlama
Love Hina is really great! From the first moment, I was gripped by this story's violence, drama and slight funniness, s well as the romance, which develops as the story goes on. So, a young man called Urashima Keitaro suddenly finds himself working as the manager for an all-girls dormitory. Yes, you can probably see where that story is going. Lots of slapstick humor, romance and funniness is the recipe for this show. I think it's pretty cool, and if you like romance/harem anime, this is a definite must-see.
AsianKungFu
Looking for a romance/comedy/harem anime to kill time? Look no more because Love Hina will SERIOUSLY KILL your time. I've watched Love Hina before way back when I was still a kid and I remember loving this series, but after re-watching this series 10+ years later, I began to question my taste for anime because Love Hina is by far one of the most stupid and ridiculous anime I've ever watched and I can't believe it’s actually possible for me to hate an anime this much. I'm writing this review at the risk of getting viciously mauled by an angry mob of Love Hina fans whowill do anything to defend their beloved anime, so I'll try not to be too harsh on this. Okay, time to get started with this rant—I mean review.
*CHARACTERS: 5/10
The characters of Love Hina are soooo darn GENERIC and just downright ANNOYING that I need to punch the wall just to appease my frustration. Let me introduce them.
— Urashima, Keitarou - The main protagonist. He is really dumb and extremely unreliable but he is very persevering (Sounds familiar?) and he makes a good punching bag for Naru.
— Narusegawa, Naru - The main heroine. She's a tsundere on drugs who's got nothing better to do besides beating up Keitarou EVERY…SINGLE...DARN...TIME!!!.
— Aoyama, Motoko - The very typical "Ice Queen" of the harem.
— Maehara, Shinobu - The kind and pure-hearted middle schooler *cough* loli bait.
— Su, Kaolla - The awfully annoying and carefree kid in the harem.
— Konno, Mitsune - The "mature" one.
— Otohime, Mutsumi - The airhead.
I don't have a problem with harems, in fact, I love them (not including reverse harems) so I'm quite used to stereotypical girls, but the girls in Love Hina are just so darn annoying that it's impossible for me to like any of them. The one I have the biggest problem with though is not one of the girls, it's the stupid MC Keitarou! because he is just so fucking useless and unreliable! I JUST FUCKING HATE THIS GUY!!!. He doesn't have any redeeming qualities whatsoever except for his undying perseverance and hard work that leads to nothing most of the time.
*STORY: 4/10
The story revolves around Keitaro and the "promise" but mostly, the episodes are just stupid fillers designed to prolong this stupid anime. The fillers doesn't contribute to the plot one bit and can get really really random, for example, ancient turtle civilizations? seriously? come on, they can do better than that. I wish they focused more on the main plot because I was actually curious who's this mysterious "promise" girl.
Although I have lots of bad things to say about this anime, I can't deny the fact that I did get some laughs watching Love Hina, but the jokes becomes so repetitive (Naru beating up Keitarou) I'm laughing no more.
~Love Hina's formula for comedy~
Keitarou + accidents + misunderstanding = Naru beating the crap out of him
*ART: 8/10
The art is fine, I don't really have much complaints about it because it's a very typical art for an old anime.
*SOUND: 7/10
I actually liked the OP and ED and I kinda felt nostalgic hearing them again. The OP is kinda catchy, although it annoyed some viewers, I'm not annoyed by it at all.
As for the Japanese voice acting, there's one voice that grabbed my attention, the voice of Motoko. Her voice is adorable especially when she is screaming. The voices of the other characters are also good and fits the characters quite well.
*OVERALL/ENJOYMENT: 5/10
I recommend this to you if...
you like generic harem anime.
you like old and repetitive jokes.
you like an extremely violent tsundere heroine and a pathetic loser MC.
you're masochistic.
But if you're not any of what I mentioned above, I suggest you cross this out on your list now, because I guarantee you'll hate this one.
Splitter
When Love Hina was released, it came with a high pedigree. First anime featuring no cel animation whatsoever, and the foundation of a successful and very popular manga by the soon-to-be-well-known Ken Akamatsu. Yes, everyone looked forward to Love Hina, and everyone most likely had all their hopes for it dashed along the rocks in an instant. For as innovative as they may have wanted us to think the animation is, it's just bad. I know cel animation anime that flow far more smoothly than this. It jerks, the characters are often disproportioned, character movement is erratic and often impossible even by anime standards. Backgrounds arenice looking but that's about it.
The BGM had my ears bleeding. It's an example of why amateurs shouldn't be playing with artificial synthesizers. It's all over the place, never appropriate, and nothing you would ever want to hear stand-alone. The only decent thing the series manages is a very catchy OP sequence, but with repeated listening, even that will beging to grind on your eardrums.
Enough about the technical aspects, Love Hina is based off the manga by Ken Akamatsu. It's a fantastic romantic comedy and the series roots itself in the concepts that made the original very popular. In fact, many of the main story is well scripted and executed, but then manages to make everything likeable about the story horrible. The comedic timing is off, the dialogue is laughably awful, and of course there is no nudity. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not some horndog wanting to see the girls nude, but don't have twenty-thousand bath scenes and all the girls bathe wearing towels. IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. Either make an ecchi series or don't!
But that's not the worst part, oh no. What really makes this series near-unbearable is the godless amount of filler. 1/3 of the series doesn't even correspond with the story, introduces meaningless characters who serve absolutely no purpose, and only serves to annoy the viewer who slowly realizes what he or she has been cheated out of.
Speaking of characters, the core cast stays very true to the original idea whether you like them or hate them, but when the series devolves to filler it feels like the characters become stereotypical versions of themselves. Not only that, but the spotlight is put on meaningless filler characters who only add minor and inconsequential conflict for the allotted time of the episode they're in. Development is slow and often unrecognizable for the majority of the cast, sans Keitaro, Naru and arguably Shinobu. It's just very unsatisfying given the length of the series, and what is done with the characters.
You know, the first time I watched it, I wanted to like it but the more I watched, the more I realized I was watching crap. My 12-year-old cousin who watched the series with me lost all interest in anime after finishing this I kid you not. Let that be a warning to anyone who thinks that because this anime is popular, that it's also good.
Overall, Love Hina gets a 4 out of 10.
realanimefan
Love Hina Review by realanimefan. "Love Hina" basically, is a romantic comedy. For an idea on what I mean, watch a show such as "Ranma 1/2" or "Tenchi Muyo." If you have seen these shows before, then you should feel very comfortable with the show. "Love Hina" though, takes this genre to a new level, introducing a wide variety of characters, strange situations, a good plot with a lot of twists that will keep you guessing \'til the end, and a countless amount of strange things that seem to happen for absolutely no reason. "Love Hina" is, simply stating, hilarious. Every episode, you ask yourself, "What willhappen today in the Hinata House?" Well, something new happens every episode. And poor Keitaro gets the crap beat out of him every episode by at least Naru. Though this eventually becomes repetitive, it never subtracts from the humor of the show.
Of course though, there is a healthy dose of romance mixed in with the craziness. If you are a sappy romance freak with no sense of humor, this may not be the show for you. If you are one that doesn\'t mind just a touch of romance, this show will be overly enjoyable. If you despise romance, still check this one out. You may still enjoy it.
The only downfall of this anime is it does eventually get a bit repetitive, and most episodes are basically only fillers that don\'t add to the main plot one bit. Besides this though, "Love Hina" is presented with a charm and humor that is hard to find in any anime these days.
The main story is simple: a man is trying to get into Tokyo U to and meet his childhood sweetheart. It is never the main plot that counts though. The sub plots and character interaction are the heart of the anime. I must say that "Love Hina" executes this quite well. All the characters have their own distinct personalities and no two are at all similar.
The romance part of the story will keep you guessing until the end. At several times, just when you put two and two together, a plot twist happens and you are back to the beginning. Too bad the series doesn\'t answer any questions.
1: There is not a lot of continually. Basically, each episode has its own story, with maybe a few things in a few episodes that actually add to the main story. This series is so fun though, this barely even matters (Hey, Cowboy Bebop does the same thing).
2: Don\'t expect everything to be wrapped with a pretty bow at the end. I\'m afraid you\'ll have to wait for "Love Hina Again" (my next review).
Overall, the story is presented nicely, and filled with memorable characters you will not soon forget. Su Kaolla is my favorite!!!
The heart of mostly anything (besides a good story) is good/fitting music. This is where "Love Hina" delivers its best. All the music of the show is great, and every song suits every scene perfectly. Never is a song out of place. Also, the music is great on its own too. The crazy intro theme, the slow ending theme, the action-packed guitar song from episode sixteen..."Love Hina" has it all. No matter what your music taste is, there will be at least one song that you will enjoy in this anime.
As for voice acting, all the voices (in Japanese, of course) are great and diverse for each character. Never do two characters sound the same, and each voice suits its character perfectly. I could say different for the dub though.
The dub voices are horribly selected and executed. I could not help from cringe every time either Su or Kitsune spoke. Absolutely horrible! Keitaro sounds like a wimp, Su sounds like a mouse, and for no reason, Kitsune has a strong (obviously forced) southern accent. I could only ask, "why?" The other voices I can tolerate, but they still pale in comparison to the original seiyuu.
One word can describe how "Love Hina" looks: beautiful. Most likely, you have never seen a better-looking anime TV series. We\'re talking OVA quality here. Not much more I can say.
The characters are drawn beautifully, and all have distinct features. Naturally, the females are drawn to look beautiful, most with large...
Expect lots of fan service too, which should please you hentais out there.
The characters are all animated smoothly, and this show also sports some cool effects seen in newer animes, such as motion blurs. Everything\'s great. Can\'t get better than this, I\'m afraid.
RyuuTenshi
The story of this anime is a little disappointing if you compare to the manga, but if you haven't read the manga, then the story is pretty good. The contents in some of the episodes is a bit off the main storyline. It's like each episode have it's own story, and then ends up with the main story. The art in this anime is excellent, you never get tired of watching it, the animation is well made too. The animation also shows the characters face expressions great, whether it's, fun, sorrow, sad, love etc. The music fits the scenes good, it catching the emotions, and it's even catchytoo.
Also the voice actors plays their roles perfectly, their voices matches the characters and their behavior, and you can really tell how they are feeling.
Love Hina gives you a combination of comedy and romance. Mostly comedy.
If you're looking for comedy, then you might enjoy this. Some of the episodes can seem quite confusing, if you only focus on the storyline, but I think this anime is mostly focused on the comedy and romance than the story. If you expect a good story you'll get disappointed. But if you're looking for some fun, then you will enjoy this very much.
JackCox
I know I\'ll probably get flamed for trashing this show, but really it\'s probably one of my most disliked animes. It was extremely boring and not to mention a huge letdown from what I truly thought would be a laugh out loud farce, instead it turned out to be a poorly written comedy. It\'s a shame because Ken Akamatsu\'s other series, Negima is actually much better and much more funny than this one. My personal problem is with the characters in this series who I pretty much hate for picking on Keitaro nonstop. But my most hated character had to be Sara McDougal who helpedheap scorn and hurt on him the most.
I\'m hoping that funimation might redub this series and make it better but to be quite honest, this series is awful and I really didn\'t enjoy this. Probably the only anime show I haven\'t liked.
Prashantttt
Why "Love Hina" is Just 24 Episodes of Pure Garbage ???????? You know those times when you sit down, expecting to enjoy a nice harem and romance show, but instead, you end up watching absolute trash? Yeah, that’s what "Love Hina" is. I’ve seen all the popular harem and romance shows because, let’s face it, it’s my favorite genre. But "Love Hina"? It’s the complete opposite of what a good show should be. In simple and short terms, "Love Hina" is nothing more than 24 episodes of cringe-worthy scenes, annoying characters, filler episodes, and toxic female leads. But you won’t find a good story anywhere init. Don’t expect to watch a beautiful romance anime because this show is just one big mess.
Story - What Story?
The so-called story revolves around two characters, our MC Keitarou and the female lead Naru. But is it about romance, drama, or even a simple love story? Hell no. It’s the total opposite.
The entire show is just about the hypocrisy of our main female character, Naru. man This bitch treats the MC like absolute shit from the beginning to the end. All she does is show her violent side by punching, kicking, and abusing him, all in the name of comedy. She can hang out with other guys, but the moment the MC does the same, she gets annoyed and starts beating him up. She claims to be a Tsundere, but let’s be real ------- she’s nothing more than an annoying, toxic character who’s impossible to like.
Keitarou - The Pathetic MC
Now, let’s talk about Keitarou, our dumbass MC. He’s your average, clueless guy who gets treated like shit the entire time but never grows as a character. Nope, no character development for him. He just gets beat up, ridiculed, and stays the same dumb MC from start to finish.
Better chemistry with other characters
And the other female characters? Oh, don’t even get me started. Keitarou has better chemistry with them than with the main female lead, but since they aren’t the focus, they’re just there for filler. Even if you love them, tough luck—Keitarou’s stuck with Naru, the toxic bitch.
Overall
"Love Hina" isn’t a romance show. It’s a 24-episode garbage. If you’re looking for something with actual romance, stay far, far away from this mess.
BurntFlower
Absurd, ridiculous and just plain idiotic, Love Hina is mindless entertainment for those days when you want to turn your brain off. Love Hina is about a run-of-the-mill wimp named Keitaro who develops a crush at a very young age to his nameless childhood sweetheart. Unfortunately, she has to move away. While running after the moving van, he promises her that he would get into Tokyo University – one of the most prestigious and hard-to-get-into universities of Japan – and find her at all costs. Years pass, and he fails the entrance exams of Tokyo University. His parents kick him out of the house, so hedecides to move in with his grandma who manages a hotel. But unbeknownst to him, it has since turned into an all-female dorm. While the female residents are initially not happy with a man moving in with them, they come to accept him. He decides to retake the exams next year and find his lost love. The only problem is that he doesn't remember who she was, but he's determined to find out at all costs.
And that's it for the story! If you expect anything more, run far, far away from this and never look back.
While this was an entertaining anime at times, it was also unashamedly shallow and stupid. The extremely thin 'plot' would veer off frequently in favor of pointless side-stories. No, no one gives a damn about a hidden turtle civilization or a doll that comes back to life, just get back to the real story! These filler episodes take up a large portion of the show, and derail any advances to the main plot or character development. While one or two filler episodes are generally forgivable, if a series has more than half its episodes dedicated to these, then there's a huge problem. And even the story itself has numerous plot holes if any amount of logic is added to it. If the male lead had been anyone but the lowest common denominator, Love Hina would not exist at all. No breathing, straight male is desperate enough to get together with a girl they had met once over 15 years ago, when said girl at the time was barely old enough to go to the bathroom by herself. But lo and behold, we have Keitaro and it's thanks to him that this ridiculous story is able to stagger along at all. The main ahem, 'story' decided to make an appearance at the very end, but it was too little, and far too late.
The comedy in Love Hina is juvenile to an extreme degree. If you like dull, childish jokes that get dragged on and on, you'll be right at home here. Most of it depends on Keitaro accidentally touching someone's breasts, or looking at someone in a state of undress, while the rest of the female cast goes berserk and try to kill him. Rinse, wash, and repeat for 24 episodes. And if you're not tired of this brainless joke after the second time watching it (if that's the case, you have the patience of a saint), you'll soon become exhausted by the frustrating, supposedly 'funny' scenarios the characters get into. Oh, look, Keitaro got burned to a crisp by Su's bad cooking. Hilarious! Watch out, Keitaro, a flying mecha turtle is shooting lasers at you! Comedy gold! Worse, the comedy saps out any small redeeming qualities this show might have by making it mind-numbingly painful to watch.
Although fans of the show will cry out for my blood for saying this, I will say it nonetheless: Love Hina is a terrible love story. The 'romance' (and take the word with a grain of salt) was so forced and contrived I was seriously considering shoving a fork up my nose instead. That's how painful it was sitting through this travesty of a romantic story. The show tried to convince me that Keitaro was somehow in love with Naru, but given her deplorable treatment of him in every single episode, it was really hard for me to find this believable. In fact, it made me angry. Why would he love someone who made him a human punching bag without the slightest hesitation? For a large part of the series, Keitaro would run away and be scared of her, while she would stalk him in a rage. He was less of a convincing love interest, and more like a beaten housewife. No, the fact that the series treated Naru kicking and punching Keitaro as 'hilarious' did not convince me at all. And likewise for Naru's feelings for Keitaro. Her behavior for most of the series frequently crossed the line of funny boyfriend-girlfriend slapstick comedy to the disturbingly abusive. Why on earth would she love a spineless loser whom she thought was a lecherous pervert is really up to anyone's guess. In other words, the couple of Naru and Keitaro had all the charm and plausibility of a used condom. I would roll my eyes every time the anime stopped its wacky hijinks and try to pretend that it was a love story all along. It's really not. Love Hina is first and foremost a zany, out-of control, ecchi comedy and to assume otherwise is laughable.
And finally, we have the ending. The ending was one of the most disappointing aspects of this tripe. It just...ended. There was no half-baked conclusion, or anything resembling a somewhat satisfying ending. The series didn't bother to resolve the flimsy plot threads it still had going on. Nothing. It simply showed the characters smiling dazedly at the camera...and cue credits. Do not expect to find out who the mystery girl was or if Naru and Keitaro end up together or not. It was an insult to viewers who had to watch hours of this pointless drivel and have no payback for all their time wasted.
The characters are all cardboard cut-outs that have been borrowed from many other harem series before it and somehow made infinitely more annoying. Some were better than others, but that's like saying that being stabbed in the arm is better than being shot in the head. Keitaro is yet another useless twit that is so common in this genre, and despite the plethora of negative qualities he has, half the female cast is in love with him. He is nothing but a wish-fulfillment vessel for desperate male fans; he appeases their insecurity. Although he frequently got himself in awkward situations that were blamed on him through no fault of his own, he never stands up for himself or do anything to make him seem less of a pathetic failure that he is. Although the series tries to portray him as a nice guy that looks out for the well-being of others, it is not enough to redeem him as a whole. These are rare instances in the anime, and do not outweigh the great majority of the time where he is the butt-monkey of the rest of the cast. And while Keitaro is a pitiable human being, his love interest – Naru - is way worse. I will put this bluntly: she is a wholly unlikeable, violent bitch. Undoubtedly, the anime also tries to portray her as an incredibly intelligent young woman that aces every exam, but for all we see of her, she's just as utterly moronic as her friends. She never tries to hear Keitaro out, and opts for physically assaulting him at every instance. She is haughty, aggressive, selfish, immature and a horrible female lead. The secondary characters do not fare any better. They're all unremarkable archetypes that do not even feign to break out of their molds. Shinobu is the painfully shy girl, Mokoto is basically Naru with a sword, Su is the young genius with a perchance for childish mischief, Kitsune is the horny alcoholic, Mutsumi is the well-meaning ditz, Tama-chan is the cute mascot...none of them have any hidden depths beyond this. And if they do, the anime does a damn good job at hiding it. What's worse, they frequently regress backwards by acting like irritating toddlers throwing a tantrum. Character development goes out the window in favor of pointless side-quests that have no bearing on the plot. These characters do not grow, but remain their same brain-dead selves throughout the entire series' run. This is your 'winning' cast of characters.
Animation is decent for its time, and has not aged badly. However, there are times when movement would become very choppy, such as when Naru would punch Keitaro through a wall. Character designs are nothing special, but each one has certain physical traits (like Mutsumi's hair 'antennas') that made them stand out from the others, but they would become disproportionate at times. Backgrounds are standard fare, and not much effort was put into giving them a lot of detail, but they're all decently colored. The anime itself offers no real eye-candy, but it gets the job done.
The OP fit the series perfectly. It is an over-the-top, hyper song that wholeheartedly reflected the series' overall insanity and the bizarre situations the equally crazy characters would get themselves into...but it gets obnoxious fast. The ED was its polar opposite – it was a slow, almost jazzy tune. It seemed out of place in this sort of anime, and I had all but forgotten it until I listened to it again. The rest of the music here is composed of artificial synthesizers, similar to the opening song, that made me want to pour acid into my ears. The Japanese voice actors did a good job bringing their characters to life; they noticeably put a lot of effort in capturing what each of their characters would sound like if they became flesh-and-blood people. Unfortunately, their voices grated on me frequently and were very annoying.
I do not understand the hype of Love Hina. It completely fails as a love story, the comedy is extremely repetitive and sophomoric, the ecchi scenes are yawn-inducing, and the cast of characters seem have a combined IQ of 60. While it has some hidden appeal underneath all those breast shots, it's ruined by the staggering amount of filler and general stupidity of the series as a whole. I do not recommend Love Hina at all, unless you're a hardcore fan of harem shows and have a couple of hours to waste. And even so, just know that you could do much better. Your brain will thank you.
ProfessorGinkgo
What attracted me most to Love Hina was the main character, Keitaro, and his perseverance on achieving his goals. His determination to do his best no matter how many times he had failed getting into Tokyo U, he still tried so that he could fulfill the promise he had made to a girl years ago. Sure, the story has its funny moments and the love interest aspect, but aside from that, Keitaro's character is one I personally admire. Perhaps this is because I face a lot of my own life's journey's the way he does, and especially refusing to give up on things no matter howmany times I had failed before. Love Hina certainly brings out an amazing protagonist.
And he's immortal! Can't count how many times he's gotten the Naru-punch!
ktulu007
It's been almost a year since I was asked to look at a harem series. This one was written by Akamatsu Ken. In the year 2000 it was adapted into an anime by Xebec. You may remember them from Bakuretsu Hunters, Bottle Fairy, Mnemosyne & Zombie Loan. So, about half their stuff I've reviewed has been good. I don't really anticipate this one joining them but let's take a look and see what happens. Maybe it will surprise me. Story: Our tale opens with Keitaro, who I will refer to as Blandon for the rest of this review, our protagonist. He dreams of entering the prestigious TokyoU, in spite of having failed the entrance exam twice. Why is he so set on this particular school? Because he and the only girl who ever liked him way back when they were really little promised to get into Tokyo U together and series like this have no attachment to reality so promises made when you were five or six are something you remember and still care about fifteen years later. Blandon's parents are tired of him leeching off of them and they want him to find a job. Despondent over being expected to do something productive with his life, and having been invited, Blandon goes to visit his grandmother at the girls' dorm she runs. He quickly finds out that she's scarpered and he was called over to take over as the building manager. Shenanigans ensue as he finds himself surrounding by attractive young ladies who regularly beat him.
The biggest problem is with the romance elements. To put it bluntly, they are horrendous. First off, most of Blandon's potential love interests are actively abusive towards him. Including Narusegawa, the one we're supposed to be pulling for. Yeah, I don't care how much Blandon lacks personality or what a loser in general he is. No one deserves to have an abusive partner. The only two exceptions are a junior high school girl named Shinobu and a ditsy girl named Otohime. The other four girls, plus some side characters, all act like sadists. Is Akamatsu just a masochist? Is the idea of being surrounded by girls who hit him just the ultimate fantasy for him? Even if that is the case you'd think there would be a safe word or something. This series also has an obsession with incest. We've got a nine year old girl who's obsessed with hooking up with her father. But it's okay because he's just a relative who adopted her and not really her father. We've also got a subplot of Kaolla Su's brother trying to marry her. But it's okay because he's really her cousin who was raised with her as a brother. We're also expected to ignore the fact that he's in his mid twenties and she's thirteen. If Akamatsu really thinks this is romantic as opposed to incredibly skeevy, he really needs a psychiatrist.
The main narrative itself is also really predictable, but it's going for humour rather than serious story telling so that's fine. As long as the jokes work. The comedy is mixed, though. There are a lot of stupid jokes about Blandon being beaten because a man being abused by a woman is hilarious. There are also stupid jokes about him doing something perverted or something that just looks perverted out of context, which usually lead to him getting brutalised, of course. There are also some zany comedic bits and those can be funny at times. Overall though you're probably looking at jokes that work maybe 30% of the time and that's probably a generous estimate.
Characters:
There's really not much to these characters. Blandon is your typical harem protagonist who looks plain, excels at nothing and has no personality because he's there for the audience to project themselves onto. Which is something that this and Twilight have in common with the difference being the sex of the character like that. Personally, I've always found that to be rather insulting for a character who's supposed to stand in for the audience. I know that they do it so that anyone can put themselves in this guy's shoes, but it's still expecting us to project ourselves onto a massive loser with no redeeming traits aside from being generically good-hearted. The girls aren't much better in terms of complexity. They're pretty much a group of archetypes with no real personalities because, I guess, girls with complexity aren't sexy? I mean, they might have their own thoughts and opinions on things and that would just be terrible. It's much better if they're really bland and super predictable. There's also an issue in this series with the characters being extremely thick to the point of obnoxiousness. They can't figure anything out unless it's explicitly spelled out for them. Especially towards the end where the series assumes its entire audience is made up of morons and keeps repeating the same information so that they can hammer it into our skulls for the climax. Seeing these twits struggle to figure out the blindingly obvious really makes me miss Hyouka and the protagonist's basic problem solving skills.
Art:
The artwork can be strongly summed up as “meh.” The backgrounds are pretty plain but they work well enough. The action sequences are passable but really repetitive. The character designs are fine. The biggest problem is the fan-service, sometimes involving the junior high girls because class is something for other people. All things considered, however, it's neither good nor bad.
Sound:
The sound is by far the best part of the series. We've got Hayashibara Megumi pulling double duty as Blandon's aunt and Shinobu's school friend. We've got a lot of other talented actors as well including Horie Yui, Asakawa Yuu, Kurata Masayo, Noda Junko, Yukino Satsuki & Ueda Yuji as Blandon. These are some highly skilled and prolific actors. This may not be any of their best roles but you can certainly tell that they're a skilled group. The music is really good and I'm not just saying that because most of the lyrical stuff was sung by Hayashibara Megumi. That's only 90% why I'm saying it. The music is well done though and has a good amount of energy and excitement to it.
Ho-yay:
There's a bit. There are three scenes of girls sharing kisses, although it's more played up as being hot because girls are kissing each other rather than being used to illustrate anything about the characters and their sexual preferences. Motoko has a trio of fan-girls who follow her around. There's also a scene where you see two old guys holding hands.
Final Thoughts:
Love Hina is a stupid, poorly written series. The romance is awful, the comedy has some moments but is largely weak, the characters range from being generic to being really annoying. The only thing that's really well done is the music and you can easily find it without having to trudge through all the idiocy. My final rating is a 2/10. Next week, I'll look at Love Hina Again. No, that doesn't mean I'm going to be re-posting this review. That's the actual name of the sequel OVA. Because someone thought it would be fun to have me review both this and its sequel. I hope he's feeling hyper x giddy over that decision right now because I'd like one of us to find joy in this situation and I'm certainly not excitedly anticipating the sequel to this thing.
Inushinde
To start things off on a blunt note, Love Hina is the quintessential harem anime. However, unlike works like Shuffle!, it plays with the associated tropes very well, and has enough charm and wit to endear them to the audience. Love Hina's story won't win any awards for originality or pushing the envelope; it plays very safe and has a very saccharine backdrop; it's not like a character fulfilling a promise to his childhood sweetheart hasn't been done before. Where Love Hina succeeds is pulling it off with such heart, and only touching on it lightly right up until the last few episodes. Most ofthe time, the show focuses on the characters and their relationships within Hinata Apartments, and the zany antics they do to keep from getting bored.
The characters, as you'd expect from any harem series, form the spine and take the central role in the story. Each has something to contribute in their own psychopathic, borderline sadistic way to keep the show lively and fresh (Mostly in the form of abuse towards the lead, Keitaro).
Keitaro himself is an increasingly likable lead character for all the torment he's put through at the hands of the tenants of Hinata Apartments. His devotion to the girl he made a promise to almost 20 years before the main plot and his determination to get into Tokyo U, even after repeated rejections, is almost enough to completely excuse his bland personality and appearance.
In the animation department, the show doesn't fare so well. It's workable throughout, and usually does a good enough job at keeping up with the often frenetic pace. However,the occasional slight hiccup or static background doesn't impress. And the characters, while distinctive, aren't the best looking. After all, I can't be the only one who thinks there's something wrong with Kitsune's hips. The art itself is good for the most part (Again, Kitsune's hips detract somewhat), but the occasional glitchy animation is too noticeable not to mention.
Where the animation stumbles, the sound props it up and carries it to the finish line. Everything, from the exceptional voice-work to the quick paced and cheery OST, is imbued with enough life to wake the dead within a ten mile radius.
Despite all this, Love Hina has its share of faults. The characters have a good possibility of annoying the viewer, some of the plot points feel needlessly contrived (Though the most humorous ones are generally acknowledged as such), the abuse of Keitaro can feel downright sinister at times, and it can overstay its welcome if marathoned. However, looking past these, it's easy to see why Love Hina is considered a borderline classic. It has enough quirks and outright bizarreness to entertain, supported by a charged pacing that gets the blood flowing.
Love Hina isn't perfect, but very little of it, aside from the robot turtles that crop up from time to time due to the machinations of Su, feels manufactured. It's of an authentic high quality, and well worth the time to watch.
literaturenerd
Overview: Love Hina is one of the most famous entries of the infamous Harem Genre, that flourished in the 1990s and still somehow survives to this day. Did this series do anything to deserve its level of fame? We aren't expecting high brow sophistication here, but is it at least funny? The short answer to these 2 questions is "no". The original manga actually was surprisingly funny, well drawn, and had a cheesy sort of charm to it. This anime is an example of a horrendous adaptation that brutally murders everything that made the manga passable. Story: 4/10 The main story is about a hapless loser that wishesto gain acceptance into Tokyo University, which is one of the most prestigious and difficult to get into colleges in the world. While studying for his college entry exams, Keitaro Urashima must act as the land lord for the world's most insane girl's dormitory. Shenanigans ensue. The anime story adds lots of pointless filler that isn't in the original manga and flows with the smoothness of a nail on a black board. Rather than ending with any kind of satisfaction, Love Hina simply stops. There is no filler ending, it doesn't end with an artistic "open ending" where the viewer is left to interpret, it just fucking stops. There is of course a love triangle between Keitaro, Naru, and Mutsumi, but it really isn't captured in the anime as well as it is in the manga. The jokes in this anime simply don't work and there is something about the manga's slapstick humor that just doesn't translate on to the screen.
Characters: 5/10
I actually liked the cast of characters in the manga. This is a comedy, so predictably we see a number of cliches and stock characters. This isn't really a detriment by itself considering that this tradition dates back to the commedia dell'arte of the 1400s. Hell, even Shakespeare himself reused the same comedy characters again and again. What makes this a problem is that the characters here are watered down from the manga and don't have the same zaniness. Kaolla Su's scientific genius and struggle with social norms is never appropriately captured in the anime. Motoko goes from an OCD plagued Samurai that literally tries to kill Keitaro and commit suicide upon hearing bad test results to another Naru with a sword. Naru goes from being a tsundere with a heart of gold, to just being a violent bitch for no reason. Mutsumi's genius savant nature is never captured well in the anime either and we are left with just the tired clumsiness gags. The characters in the anime come across as bland and boring. The one thing a comedy simply should never be is boring!
Sound 1/10
The soundtrack will make you want to emulate Kakihara from Ichi the Killer and shove needles into your ears.
Art: 3/10
The manga's art is actually pretty good. The anime's art sucks. The animation is choppy, the characters look like crap, the backgrounds don't fit in well with the rest of the art. Poor Mr. Akamatsu must have vomited when he first lay eyes on this artistic abortion.
Enjoyment: 2/10
Love Hina is not just bad, it's physically painful to watch for anyone that enjoyed the manga. It isn't funny, the drama isn't moving, it isn't though provoking, it isn't erotic. It fails in everything.
Overall: 3/10
I decided to go easy on it and give it a 3/10. Maybe if you didn't read the manga you might find the characters amusing or some of the slapstick funny. If you enjoyed the original manga, avoid this series like the plague. The Love Hina manga won the 2001 Kodansha award for best Shonen series. This is one of the highest honors a manga can receive. Attack on Titan also won the same award and it remains the highest critical award ever bestowed on Attack on Titan despite fanboy worship. The Love Hina anime...did not win awards making it the equal of Attack on Titan. It didn't win anything...ever!!! Fuck this anime!
xxinfinitixx
Realy great anime.. has a romantic story that started when naru and keitaro (the main couple) were little kids. They made a promice to each other that when they'l be older they go to the same school... but unfortunetly the were seperated. after a long time they axidently started living in the same dorn and after a few days they recognized each other, but naru i a very shy girl and keeps avoiding keitaro... anime is filled with jokes and all kins of adventures. and ofcourse the romantic story how naru and keitaro starts to get along and confeses their love at the wery end... i stronglyrecomend you to wach it
Yuvie
Maybe I'm being a little harsh. Well, the series probably wasn't aimed at my kind of audience. My partner bought the series so I thought I might as well be an anime purist and give it a go. I had the same experience with Fruits basket but I actually enjoyed that a lot. This series started well, I thought. Then it became kind of tedious during the middle, what with Keitaro accidently walking into bath area with bunch of girls, then getting hit every episode for being 'perverted'. Then, every other scene, Keitaro gets punched into the sky by Naru and these two aremeant to be in love. I don't know, maybe there's a deeper meaning in there that I'm not getting because I'm about as dumb as Keitaro at this stage. I've gotta say by the end of the series, I absolutely detested Naru. I've seen plenty of anime but that's the first time a character really pissed me off. The mid-to-end episodes started well but then the last bunch of episodes were a letdown. You both love eachother, you dumb emotionally retarded schmucks, you could have ended this happily ever after 15 f'n episodes ago. Those two bastards deserved eachother in the end but I gotta say I was rootin for the 'other' girl. However, on a slightly positive note, I'm sure the girls will love it!
anime_n00b
Since my review is probably last on the list or close to it.. Let me fill in the gaps.. because I actually took time to read all the others.. less than an hour after I watched the series lol. The one thing none most of the reviewers have wrong is the Ecchi.. in NO way can I or anyone consider this a anime based on "fanservice" .. if you think a couple shots of them in the hot springs are perverted.. Then the high ranking Toradora on this site would be put in the same category. Trust me.. look at my list.. I know fanservice.. and this definitely isnt a anime filled with it.
The other thing that noone really comments on is the music. The music in this.. is by far.. the BEST music in any anime Ive seen so far.. There are many songs that the characters sing.. that are very cute.. There are alot of songs that they sing together.. but at action scenes.. and during other various times.. the music really reminds me of a good american movie.. It is almost symphony like.. and it just gives me the feeling of a really good score from a movie..
Lastly let me comment on the character development.. What I really like about Love Hina.. is the fact that the younger characters arent so "loli-like" .. Which means.. The younger characters are more developed and more easy to relate to ... Su-chan is a fun loving girl thats always seeming to have fun.. Shinobu.. is very cute and reserved.. and even Sara.. has the more aggressive personality.. Thats why I liked the younger characters so much.. they reminded me of actual people.. their traits were more realistic.
Overall I loved the series.. I just wanted to touch up and maybe clarify a couple points.. since I will be way down on the list of reviews read.. but I hope I did my best to maybe sway you into giving this series a try!
JBranch
Please be kind this is my first review so bear with me they will get better. WARNING: This review may contain SPOILERS. Story- This is a harem themed anime so let’s set the scene, 1 boy and 5 girls in all girls dormitory. Add some romance, comedy, and a little ecchi and you have Love Hina. This series as its highs and lows (trying to be objective) throughout. While managing the Inn and studying for his exams he ends up in every having a series of misadventures. The main focus of the story is Keitaro and Naru trying to get into TokyoU, and the developing relationship between the two. As it turns out, wait, I’ll let you find that part out on your own. There are a few other romance sub-plots as well as some filler episodes mixed with in the main plot, but I really felt that they didn’t hurt the series in my opinion.
Low areas arrive in the form of “fanservice”. Ecchi content is way low in this series. There are bath scenes in almost every episode, yet for some reason they bathe in towels. Why you ask? They wanted to make an ecchi series without ecchi. Either put it in, or keep it out.
Viewer alert:
“Love Hina” is not the end, and does not wrap up the series in a tight bow. The reason for this is a bonus 25th episode, as well as a Christmas and Spring special. You have to watch these before watching “Love Hina Again” to get the full story. Before that you need to watch the specials in the following order of airing date which is as follows:
Bonus 25th episode : Motoko's Choice, Love or the Sword - Don't Cry
LH Christmas special
LH Spring special
Any anime streaming site should have these. If you can’t find it pm me for one that does, or try your luck with Netflix. Quality is okay, but is better than not getting the full story.
Sound/Art: I condensed this category because this is my first review I don't really want to scrutinize every little detail in these areas for now. I will say that I thought that the dubbing for this series was great. The music for each scene went well the events occurring and the story flow very well.
Characters- This anime has delightful and colorful characters all around. They all have different stories and backgrounds as well as personalities. The series does take time to give the viewer sort of a background of each character and their past. This is done in the form of filler episodes or flashbacks. Also you notice slow changes in some characters as the story progresses.
Overall - I finished this anime recently I must I was completely amazed. I not really into romance anime and this was my first one. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this series and all the specials that came along with it. As a result I plan on reading the manga in the future.
Overall I give this series a solid 10, it has its flaws but overall it was a good watch.
WorldWide
It starts out very heart felt. This dude has this promise to go to Tokyo University with a girl he played with as a child. He grows up into sort of a nerdy person, but he's a fairly pure hearted person at the same time. He becomes very lonely and continues to try to get into Tokyo U with all of his might. He's failed 2 or 3 times already (I'll edit it later). Then his grandma is going to go off for vacation and asks him to be manager of an All girl dormitory. Hot, right!? Well that's where it splits off from usualShonen Jump stories, they all end up thinking he's a pervert. He comes in not knowing that it's an all girl dormitory and hops in the spring and UH-OH, here comes a chick. Blah blah blah, all else is a mystery. You watch it, I'm not summing up the whole series.
Szandor
Love Hina is one of the classic harem animes. A guy dreams of attending Todai university, but can't get in. When he gets the chance to become the manager of an apartment building he takes it in order to support himself while he studies. What his grandmother, who left the position to him, didn't tell him was that it's an all-girls apartment building. Since he is hopelessly clumsy and unlucky he gets into a bunch of compromising situations with the various girls. It's laden with tropes and archetypes, but still quite enjoyable to watch. So how does this title rise above the trappings of mediocracy?Well...
- Story & Theme
As you can see above the story is pretty much what one might expect for a harem anime. There is also a sentimental part of it since the reason why Keitaro, the protagonist, wants to attend Todai so badly is because he made a promise to a girl he liked when he was a child. The main story isn't very special, but there are a few gems among the side stories and the anime takes a few turns for the strange every now and then. I'd say the fluff around the main story is one thing that makes this rise a bit higher.
- Characters & Writing
The characters are tropes at the core, but they all have actual personalities as well and while it's easy to see which parts they fill they also go beyond their archetypes. We're also not held hostage for too long about the main characters true feelings and we get several scenes where they almost end up together. The characters develop and grow during the course of the anime, which is also a point in its favor, and while the dialogue isn't groundbreaking in any way it's still good enough. The anime also knows to be serious every now and then and to let everyone show off their good sides.
- Graphics & Style
I can't praise the animation and style too much, it's pretty standard, but it does have fluidity when needed and regularly uses a more simplified style to back up the humour. There is a bit of mild fan service, but nothing obnoxious.
- Music & Sound
The intro song is a banger and was actually the main reason I started watching the anime in the first place. After rewatching this recently the music still holds up and the main theme is used in several parts inside the anime, tying it in closer. In general the sound and music is good for the anime and the outro song is nice too, but not as memorable as the intro.
- Conclusion
Love Hina is well worth a watch if you want some light hearted fun. It seldom gets heavy and when it delves into more serious parts it's still mostly centered around romance and self-determination. I can recommend this to mostly anyone, as long as you don't expect any deeper philosophical thoughts.
Mliekseter
I love Love Hina for a lot of reasons. For one, it was the first Anime I watched in Japanese. But that's irrelevant to you. So lets give some proper, review style, reasons. Naru, for me, defines Tsundere. Throughout the whole series, right to the end, refuses to give in to the inevitable, continues beating Keitaro to a pulp, keeps up at least some of her walls. Its both hilarious and somewhat touching. Keitaro himself is such a memorable character that he's almost worth a series in himself. Watching (or Reading), its fairly obvious that he doesn't really deserve half of the bad stuff happening to him, yetyou still anticipate it each time. He is, at once, incredibly lucky and constantly chased by misfortune. He's clearly quite smart at points, but so often acts like a fool that its hard to believe he's anything but an idiot.
Spending too long on Keitaro now...Moving on
If Love Hina has a downside, its that most of the laughs revolve around someone (generally Keitaro) being subjected to vicious beatings. There are a couple "Smart" laughs, but most is violence or silly humour. That's not Bad per say, but by the end of the series you'll probably view the beatings as just part of the background.
What's important about the series is the romance, the way everyone falls for Keitaro, but for him its never really anyone but Naru. A lot of Harem Mangas and Animes get too involved in the various different romance, so by the end its almost impossible for the Un/Luckly man to choose which woman he truly loves. Love Hina doesn't have that problem, and is all the better for it.
If I must be honest, I prefer the Manga to the anime. But that's ONLY because the Manga ending was, frankly, a lot better than the "Again" Episodes they gave the Anime. But still, I only read the manga After the anime, and it'll always hold a place in my heart.
