Love Hina

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Love Hina (ラブひな Rabu Hina) is a popular manga (and anime) series by author Ken Akamatsu. The manga won the "Best Manga, USA Release" in 2002 Anime Expo. The manga consists of 14 books. The anime is 25 episodes long and is supplemented with Christmas and Spring movies and the Love Hina Again OVA.

The manga is published in Japan by Kodansha in Shonen Magazine, in English in North America and the United Kingdom by TOKYOPOP, in French in France and Québec by Pika Edition, in Spanish in Spain by Glénat, in Singapore in English and Chinese by Chuang Yi, in Brazil by Editora JBC, in Mexico by Editorial VID, in Poland by Waneko, and in several other countries. The anime is produced in North America by Bandai, in Spain by Jonu Media, and in Singapore by Odex.

There are also two novels from "Love Hina" which have been released in Japan and are scheduled for release in the U.S. later this year. TOKYOPOP, the US publisher of the manga, will also publish the "Love Hina" novels.

The story is a romantic comedy of the shōnen genre about a clumsy but well-meaning young man with an unparalleled amount of personal drive despite having horrible luck. Love Hina falls under the harem anime genre as well due to the familiar set up of one boy living with a group of pretty but unusual women. One distinguishing feature that sets this series apart from the average harem anime is that, for a very large portion of the manga series, Keitaro is disliked by the girls. Whereas many harem animes initially or very quickly place the main male character at the center of the girls affections, Keitaro is not only initially disliked by the girls, he suffers for a rather prolonged and extended period of time. Keitaro often experiences falls or is simply beaten to a point that would probably kill a normal person, so it is a running joke throughout the series that Keitaro is immortal (thus, everyone is surprised at one point when he manages to break his leg or get a bruise from a 'Naru Punch').

The series is most well known for putting humorously absurd elements into an ostensibly mundane universe, such as Su's destructive mecha, ghosts, and flying turtles.

Plot

The series centers 20-year old Keitaro Urashima, a young man desperately trying to be accepted into the prestigious University of Tokyo in order to fulfill a childhood promise. His obsessive pursuit of this dream is one of the few shining spots of optimism in his otherwise unlucky life. He becomes manager of the Hinata House (Hinata Sō, also translated as the Hinata Lodge), property of his family and now an all-girls' dormitory. The story takes place in the Kanagawa Prefecture.

After much tribulation he wins their respect and eventual affection. From the beginning of the series, he suffers physical damage and abuse, which continues and increases as the series goes on. (In the anime the girls are openly shown being less hostile towards Keitaro, many fans have seen this as a weakness, saying that because of this the emotional scenes - particularly those between Keitaro and Naru - don't stand out as much as they do in the manga.)

Keitaro's primary (and usually exclusive) interest is in Naru Narusegawa, though all the other girls have different sorts of affections for him (including close friend, a playmate, and non-threatening crush object). Keitaro and Naru's relationship is complicated by several girls falling for him, including several "promised" girls in the anime, or girls Keitaro promised a future relationship with while he was younger.

Anime

There were 25 episodes produced for the animated television series. The story is fairly consistent from episode 1 to 24, where it rises to a climax. Episode 25 begins anew the second half of the story. However this episode is the final episode of the television series. Most viewers feel confused about the newly-began-and-left-unfinished story arc, and also confused about why there was no true resolution to the earlier portion of the series.

While the 25th episode may seem too unexpected and unnatural to the plot, it is because it was meant to be the first episode of another 24 episodes which would generally round out the story of the series. The reason that no more episodes beyond 25 were produced is because the production company unexpectedly ran out of budget to continue the series.

In Japan, a special 26th episode ran after the recording of Love Live Hina, a concert including all the singers who participated in the successful run of the series. The 26th episode was only an entire overview of the previous 25 episodes packed into one episode.

Some time later as profits from the completed episodes came in, several movies were made, each of which took leaps and bounds in the plot in an attempt to bring more of a close to story. This culminated into the Christmas Movie, the Spring Movie, and the final three part OVA series called Love Hina Again which generally brings the animated story to a resolution. However, the story covered in the animated television series and movies does not cover all of the manga story and even leaves out some very colorful details, as well as some side stories. Most fans find that reading the complete manga, in its entirety of all fourteen volumes, gives a much more satisfactory story as a whole.

However, the story had not ended at the OVA, for those who had purchased the Love Hina Again Original Soundtrack, there were drama tracks at the beginning of the CD, which is in fact, the OVA episode 4. It is entirely in Japanese but it takes place where the OVA episode 3 left off. And it ends similarly to Naru's dream sequence in the train in Volume 14 of the Manga.

Love Hina Again (ラブひな Again) is a three episode OVA that takes place after Love Hina: Spring Special, and thus expands the Love Hina anime story. Of special note is the art-style and risque humor of the OVA more closely resembles the manga than the anime, which can surprise some fans. In fact, it seems to follow the storyline of the manga more so than it follows the anime, as the story in Love Hina Again is loosely based off of volumes 11 and 12 of the manga.

Keitaro Urashima has been accepted into the University of Tokyo and his adopted sister, Kanako Urashima becomes the new manager of Hinata Inn. The denizens are not pleased with Kanako Urashima's rather intrusive and sneaky methods and wish Keitaro would return. When Keitaro does return, Kanako reveals that he had made a promise with her to run an inn together. Though Keitaro thinks of her as a sister, she does not see him as a brother and her goal is to win his love. (In anime, fictional adopted sister relationships are dramatic or humor fodder and generally not treated as incest.) Naru Narusegawa and Keitaro are nearly torn apart by her efforts, but manage to win out in the end. Keitaro and Naru destroyed the forbidden annex in the process and end up displaying their love on the spot in front of the other guests.

Although the Love Hina manga is generally regarded as superior, many fans in particular feel the total 90 minutes of the OVA are inadequate to cover the introduction of Kanako, a character already easy to dislike. Kanako, created mid-storyline herself also contradicts some established canon. Keitaro had previously mentioned no girl had ever been nice to him. On the other hand, if he had forgotten the promise he made to his childhood love, and even her face, it is possible that he might not have remembered something this rare. Critics and fans (Mainly those who haven't read the original manga) have also taken note of the increase in erotic fan service, with some deeming it excessive.

Characters

Keitaro Urashima

Keitaro Urashima is a cram school student at the start of Love Hina, who is trying to get into Tokyo University, usually called by its abbreviation, 'Todai'. Keitaro fails the entry exam to Todai three times before he is accepted, is awkward around girls and has a disasterously-timed clumsiness that usually earns him the wrath of one of more residents of Hinata Inn. Despite his flaws, he is a well-meaning and friendly person, traits which eventually wins all of the dormitory inhabitants' hearts. Keitaro is also known to be very logical and gives great advice that most of the people at the apartment lack. Despite this, he is also known to make some of the most irrational decisions out of all of them.

Naru Narusegawa

Naru Narusegawa is a student at Keitaro's cram school with an extremely fiery temper (which is described as "one fuse short of a cannon", by the official website). She will often violently hit someone (mainly Keitaro) for many irrational reasons and misconceptions. Such reasons often revolve around the false idea of Keitaro being perverted or a more deeper root of jealousy. Despite that - or rather, in ignorance of it -she is quite popular with everyone, including the manga series' fans. At the beginning of Love Hina, she is a high school student who is also studying to enter Tokyo University, and was the number one candidate in the nation for acceptance. This studying however has dominated much of her high school life, causing her to rely on "coke bottle glasses," which she avoids having to wear when she can.

Mutsumi Otohime

Mutsumi Otohime is a gentle, frail, clumsy and soft-spoken 21 year old girl who lives in Okinawa. Mutsumi is prone to catatonic fainting spells that makes her appear as though she has died. She is also described by other characters as being both "sisterly" and a "ditz." Keitaro Urashima and Narusegawa Naru meet her while taking some time off for a brief vacation after flunking their entrance exams (in the anime, Keitaro has a brief and near-fatal encounter with her on his way to the entrance exam). Like Keitaro and Naru, Mutsumi had just flunked her entrance exam for Todai, and was also taking a trip to get a hold of herself again. She bears an unusual resemblance to Keitaro in that she shares similar hobbies, is clumsy and is also a third-year ronin. By this token, she often cluelessly acts to bring out Naru's romantic jealousy over Keitaro. She gave Keitaro and Naru the flying turtle Tama-chan as a gift.

Shinobu Maehara

Shinobu Maehara is a shy schoolgirl who, after a bad start in which Keitaro lied about being in Tokyo University and his subsequent failed attempts to make it up to her, develops quite a crush on Keitaro (or Sempai - a Japanese term for senior - as she calls him). Unlike most of the other residents of Hinata Inn, Shinobu is not prone to fits of violence against Keitaro, rather she cries making Keitaro feel guilty. She also takes care of most of the cooking and clothes-washing at Hinata Inn.

Motoko Aoyama

Motoko Aoyama is a high school girl who is very formal and into kendo, to the point that her room resembles that of a samurai's (complete with a suit of armor). She claims lineage to a school of demonslaying swordsmen and also displays a prodigal competence with her katana. She can often wreak great damage to boulders or other objects using nothing more than her wooden practice sword (and even decks Keitaro and two of his friends with an umbrella). Motoko is very terrified of her sister, whose skill far exceeds her own, and has a phobia of turtles that is left unexplained for the majority of the series. In one of the later episodes, it is suggested that her fear of turtles was due to being attacked by a demon in the form of a monstrous turtle while assisting her older sister in combat as a child. She disapproves of Keitaro early on, on the basis of him being a lech and a weakling, but later develops a grudging respect and eventually a hidden affection for him (much to her chagrin). She is at first uncomfortable with her femininity, partially because her sister left her sword for a husband, but later becomes more open due to Keitaro's influence. Whatever her feelings for Keitaro happen to be at a given time, she still frequently threatens or attacks him with her sword.

Kaolla Su

Kaolla Su is a foreign transfer student, and - as it turns out at the end of the series - a princess of the fictional Pacific island realm of Molmol. She is very playful, unattentive, and shows absolutely no signs of maturing. She is a genius technician, capable of whipping up the most outrageous devices in a jiffy - including various robot versions of Tama-chan called 'Mecha-Tamago' and a vast array of weapons. During certain times - red moon phenomenas - she turns into a more adult version of herself. She can usually be found with Sara, the only person in a fifty-mile radius as hyperactive as she is.

Mitsune Konno (Kitsune)

Mitsune Konno, mostly called by her nickname Kitsune (which means "fox" in Japanese) - is a freelance writer (and is conspicuous in her lack of writing) who is frequently drunk, teasing Keitaro, or both. She is a school friend of Naru, and while jealous of her success with boys, she nevertheless tries her best (or worst) to make Keitaro and Naru tie the knot. In order to maintain her finances, she often bets on horse races. Resides at Hinata House.

Haruka Urashima

Keitaro's aunt. She helps Keitaro manage Hinata Sou and provides sound advice. She is most commonly referred to as Keitaro's aunt; however, there are hints in both the manga and anime that she may be his cousin instead. The confusion seems to arise from the Japanese language term he uses. Keitaro refers to her as "obasan", which can mean 'aunt' when the 'a' is not stressed and 'grandmother' when it is.

Noriyasu Seta

Seta is professor of archaeology at Tokyo University and a glob-trotting adventurer, a parody of Indiana Jones. Like Keitaro, he was a third-year Ronin. He's clumsy (especially with women), a terrible driver, and an exceptionally skilled martial artist, all partly due to his complete lack of self-preservation. He hires Keitaro as his assistant and has romantic entanglements with both Haruka and Sara's late mother, a difficulty which is only exacerbated by his adventurous nature. He is the object of Naru's crush and an early motivation for her studying to enter Tokyo University. Keitaro later develops a strong resemblence to Seta, partially due to Keitaro's rising interest in archaeology but also because he shares a personality similar to Seta's.

Sara McDougal

Sara McDougal is Seta's adopted American daughter - her mother was a close friend of Seta and Haruka - and initially delights in making Keitaro's life miserable. However, like most of the girls in the story, she eventually warms to him, even if she still calls him a dork. Usually seen with Su, who she emulates, even down to the hair.

Kanako Urashima

Kanako Urashima is Keitaro's adopted younger sister. She travelled with her grandmother for some years, and returned to Japan to fullfill her promise to her brother (with whom she is in love), and to change the girls dormitory back into an inn. She is very adept at bondage and disguising - except when it comes to imitating Naru's smile - and has an intense dislike for sweets. In addition, she also bears something of a resemblance to Motoko, as they have a similar hair color, eye color, measurements, the two can jump outsanding distances, and they both can generate "ki" (psychic energy) balls with their hands when needed.

Original Character Designs

Midori (Later became Naru)

Midori was the original name for Naru. While originally the character was slow, spacey and kind. This is speculated to have become part of Mutsumi's character somewhere in the concept phase. In the original concepts, Midori was supposed to fall through a hole in the floor, bump her head on the main character (Keitaro) and lose her memory. This was later scrapped completely. Her name was changed many times before the final character, Naru.

Kaolla Su

Kaolla's character was originally a stereotypical money grubber foreigner. She was older, jaded, and more mature; however this and the money grubber idea were instead set into Kitsune (Mitsune) Konno.

Critical reception

The manga won the "Best Manga, USA Release" in 2002 Anime Expo. At Book Expo America 2003, Tokyopop announced that not only had Love Hina been among the top ten graphic novels on Bookscan's list, but it was also (along with Chobits) the first graphic novel to ever enter the general trade paperback list.

Critics, and indeed some fans, of the series often decry the formulaic humor, wherein an enormous percentage of the jokes simply involve Keitaro accidentally seeing a female lead nude, or nearly nude (such as walking in on them bathing while he's distracted by his own thoughts) and then suffering some form of comically exaggerated punishment for his lechery (author Ken Akamatsu later confessed to being dissatisfied with this aspect of the series). An entertaining alternative to this occurs at one point in the manga, when Naru walks in on Keitaro changing. She still sends him flying however, apologising afterwards saying that it was a reflex action. Also, the series relies very heavily on fan service, which, as the name implies, appeals to certain varieties of fans, but is viewed by many critics as a shallow and uninspired method of garnering success.

Notes and references

External links

• () [Bandai Love Hina website]
• () [Tokyopop Love Hina manga website]

 

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