Love Hina (+ Christmas, Spring, Again specials).
So MVM's deal of the week last week was Ken Akamatsu's critically acclaimed
Love Hina; a series I had heard so much about in the past but never actually watched. I may know that Ken Akamatsu is mostly known for
Love Hina and
Negima, but the only title of his that I've actually seen was
Always my Santa, which was released a few years back. Those of you hear are probably bored of me ranting that whenever there's a Deal of the Week that I want, that my money is more often than not in my Mum's hands...so this was one I had to snap up. So anyways, now that the prologue paragraph is over, let's get down to it:
I've had an obsession with romantic comedies as of late (Toradora! being my favourite manga right now; also, the fact that the Premium Edition releases of it are not out of print being a source of annoyance for me) and I have to say, Love Hina has definitely stuck out.
I will say this though - for a series about a guy who ends up being surrounded by numerous girls; Keitaro fits the bill (but given the age of this series, I can easily let it slide - after all,
Love Hina is infamously known as being one of the first series' to be available as a digital fansub). I guess that's the problem with a young guy like me watching an older show (When the series was airing in Japan, I was 8 years old - yet I'm 20 on Thursday): I've seen so many shows with a similar genre or set-up since.
Still, this series has one thing that a lot of recent shows (except a few, like Toradora!) has: the main couple actually have personalities and serious development. Naru may not be my personal choice for a potential girlfriend (considering how she seems to love punching Keitaro xD). Sometimes I have had to wonder though - is it being drawn out for the sake of being drawn out, or is Keitaro really that stupid at times? Naru's reluctance to admit her feelings about Keitaro is cute at first, but as you get to the end of the series (particularly in the OVAs), it can get rather annoying. Sometimes I want to just give them two a kick up the backside (Good thing that in
Again Kanako does just that). One thing I did find really cute though, was how the two first really started to come together - coincidentally ending up on a trip in the same place together and spending a day in the other's company without knowing who they really were until the very end.
Now, with any show like this, you have to talk about the supporting cast. First off, I'll talk about Kaolla Su. I had to laugh and go "Oh, Japan!" when I saw her in the opening theme eating a banana and how her apartment looks like a jungle. She also kept on reminding me of Ed from
Cowboy Bebop (Taking a gander,
Cowboy Bebop came a few months before the
Love Hina manga started). I found the series getting interesting (but also weird) when her older sister was introduced, as well as the whole thing where
she transforms into an older version of herself under the red moon.
I group Shinobu and Sarah together as aside from the episode where they're introduced, they don't seem to do much at all. Shinobu is cute (in the "d'awww!" sense, not the "fap fap fap" sense) and her role really seems to be a way of voicing questions that the older, but just as inexperienced cast are too embarrassed to ask. Sarah though? Well, she smashes some vases and then becomes a background character and an excuse for Seta to appear.
Motoko's role at first mainly consists of getting annoyed and yelling attack names. She does however, receive some nice development later on (particularly in the unaired episode 25; which can be found as an Extra on the Christmas OVA disc). For the majority of the series she appears to me as being rather one dimensional, but then there are episodes which give her a lot of depth (which is probably a problem with the "balancing act" I'll mention a bit later on).
My favourite resident of the Hinata Apartments though, has to be Mitsune (also known as Kitsune). Her character is such a unique mixture of things - she likes to drink and she does like making money (and spending that which isn't hers) and likes to create a bit of chaos for the sheer purpose of keeping things lively but she also has a deep moral side when it comes to love. I'm not sure what it is that has drawn me to Mitsune; probably the fact that she's probably the most complicated character in the series.
I was honestly quiet surprised to see Mutsumi gain a larger role towards the series' end; serving as the obstacle between Keitaro and Naru. While she may be attractive, I just can't warm up to her due to her weird moral compass (even Mitsune won't go near a guy she knows someone else likes; whereas Mutsumi would go in purely for herself - the wikipedia article on Love Hina characters says that she always puts the happiness of others over her own, but I really can't see how...perhaps it's something that was shown in the manga but not in the anime).
And then we have Kanako, who is really weird. Sure, she and Keitaro aren't blood related...but seriously?!
One thing I do like about this series though, is that I'm used to having girls fall for harem leads for no reason at all. At least in this case, Keitaro does something to positively affect Shinobu, Motoko and Naru that would make such affections understandable.
Anyways, earlier on I mentioned a "Balancing Act". I've noticed that this series doesn't seem to be able to decide if it wants to be really down to Earth, or completely crazy - I've noticed that the really crazy episodes seem to follow the more serious ones (for example, the Spring special comes after the Christmas special. I'd bring up episode numbers too, but I wasn't taking notes of particular numbers xD). There were some things, like the mechanical turtles that I could find hilarious, while others (like the whole deal with that building in
Love Hina Again) that I just found ridiculous - keep the seriousness and the silliness separate.
I may complain about how the series jumps from light to deep, but that's only when the two collide. The light-hearted episodes are thoroughly enjoyable, while the deeper episodes are real seat-gripping stuff. I was in hysterics with the absolute hilarity of the Turtle tribe, whereas I was biting my nails with nervousness during the Christmas special. The fact that this series can bring both extremes out of a viewer is fantastic. One thing I really loved was how Ken Akamatsu himself would appear to help some of the characters out (particularly during the two seasonal specials).
In regards to my favourite moments of the series - the Christmas special is a must watch; it is truly breathtaking. I personally would not have minded if the series had ended there (just swap the order of the Tokyo University stuff with it and the Spring special). As much as I enjoyed
Love Hina Again, it didn't really have the weight to end the series like I felt the Christmas special had.
Now, what's a review without poking at some bad points? Well, when I watched the series I watched the English dub...Mitsune and Koalla's voices are hilariously bad (although as the show goes on, it becomes one of its charms...I guess?).
Overall, I feel that this is a really good series; I just wish the supporting cast were fleshed out more.
8.5/10
For those of you who purchased the "Complete Series + Spring and Christmas Specials", you might be wondering how to obtain "Love Hina Again" right? Well, I made the mistake of getting the Specials Collection (About £13) from Play.com, which also includes the Spring and Christmas specials before realising that
United Publications sell
Love Hina Again separately for £9.
