by AstroNerdBoy on September 5th, 2004, 8:28am

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User rating of this review - 4.8 out of 5
Story/Plot - 4 out of 5
Characters - 4.5 out of 5
Drawing Style - 5 out of 5
Enjoyment - 4.5 out of 5
Overall - 4.5 out of 5

Click here for series information

Plot/Story

Keitaro Urishima is a 2nd-year ronin (someone who's failed his college entrance exams) who moves away from home to live with his grandma at Hinata Sou (Hinata House), a hotel she runs. Here he hopes to continue to study to get into Tokyo University and keep his childhood promise to a girl that he would go to Tokyo University with her. Unknown to Keitaro, his grandma has converted Hinata Sou into a girls dorm and has gone on a trip around the world. After much confusion and misunderstandings, Keitaro's grandma sends him the deed to Hinata Sou, thus making him the owner/manager of the place.

Once these things are settled, Keitaro begins to study with 3rd-year high school student Naru Narusegawa. He finds himself very attracted to Naru and the two promise to do everything to get into Tokyo University. Despite being constantly annoyed with Keitaro's clumsiness and what she sees as his perverted nature, over time she to becomes attacted to Keitaro as she watches him work so very hard to make his dreams come true. Together, they go through the motions of falling in love while dealing with the many adventures the other girls of Hinata Sou continue to put them through.

Characters

    Keitaro Urashima -- He's desperate to get into Tokyo University to keep a childhood promise. He has a gift for managing to frequently get to see the girls in various states of undress. Upon meeting Naru, he wonders if he should just forget that promise and just keep his promise to Naru to get into Tokyo University with her. In addition to studying to get into TU, he also has to manage Hinata Sou, which also include helping the residence when possible. As he moves from ronin, to college student, to young man who knows where he is and what he wants, he wins the hearts of all the girls at Hinata Sou.

    Naru Narusegawa -- She starts the series as a 3rd-year high school student who's made a promise to her former tutor that she'd get into Tokyo University. She's very cute, very smart, and very violent to those who grate on her nerves, namely Keitaro. Since she never took the time to have a boyfriend in high school and the only person she's ever loved was her former high school tutor, she doesn't know how to deal with her feelings for Keitaro when she discovers he isn't as bad as she thought. It is nice watching her grow as the years go by and she understands what Keitaro means to her.

    Mitsune 'Kitsune' Konno -- Naru's best friend in high school and a year or so older than her. She has no interest in college, only in drinking, gambling, and trying to get Keitaro and Naru together.

    Mutsumi Otohime -- Another ronin from Okinawa who gives Keitaro and Naru their first kiss. She is prone to faint, is always cheerful, is very sweet, very open about her feelings, and can talk with hot springs turtles. She joins Naru and Keitaro on their quest to get into Tokyo University.

    Motoko Aoyama -- She's a 1st-year high school girl who's very skilled at kendo. Her sword skills allow her to use almost magical techniques to blast object, even from a great distance. She has no respect for Keitaro, but after he defeats her in battle, then continues to go the extra mile to achieve his dream, she begins to respect him and even entertains thoughts of being more than friends with him. He inspires her to also attempt to get into Tokyo University.

    Shinobu Maehara -- She's a 12-year old very shy girl who developes a huge crush on Keitaro. She wants to do whatever she can to help her senpai (in this case, a student of superior education level) achieve his dreams. With all of these girls around and Naru seemingly having an inside track to being with Keitaro, Shinobu's dreams of being Keitaro's girlfriend is remote at best, but she won't give up her dreams. Keitaro inspires her to attempt to get into Tokyo University when she gets older.

    Kaolla Su -- She's a 13-year old foreign exchange student with a gift for invinting any type of electronic device when the plot calls for it. She loves Keitaro because he reminds her of her "brother" back home and she expresses her love by playfully attacking Keitaro with flying kicks.

    Seta Noriyasu -- He's a gifted educator, tutor, archeologist, as well as other things. Keitaro learns many things from Seta-san and thus is able to plan his future with confidence.

    Sarah McDougal -- the young, adopted American daughter of Seta. She has no respect for Keitaro and is a huge brat. However, she too comes to respect Keitaro.

    Haruka Urashima -- She's Keitaro's aunt and runs a nearby tea house. She also helps with the care of Hinata Sou and has a history with Seta.

    Kanako Urashima -- She's a late addition to the cast to extend the series. She's the step-sister of Keitaro and she insists that Keitaro made a promise with her to go to Tokyo University together. She is deeply in love with Keitaro and will use her gift of disguise to get her way and to attempt to seduce Keitaro. She also has a black cat that can talk.

Drawing Style

Ken Akamatsu-sensei has some great character designs. The girls in the manga are much more attractive than their anime counter-parts. Akamatsu-sensei loves to have his girls fanserviced, but never gets detailed when they are nude. Not only are his character designs outstanding, but he has a great attention to detail when it comes to locations and objects in those locations. As such, his art is very pleasing to the eyes.

Enjoyment

I found the series very enjoyable until the introduction of Kanako. Her introduction while Keitaro was away for several chapters nearly brought the series to a halt for me. Her attempts to steal Keitaro from Naru got very annoying to me and I never liked her as a character. Outside of her, I found myself laughing out loud several times at some of the events that the characters found themselves in. Keitaro and Naru's romance was pretty sweet and at times, very touching. Despite the ecchi content, this manga is one of my favorites.

Overall

"Love Hina" is a very ecchi title. While I didn't care for all of the fanservice and for Kanako, I did find the romance, humor, and adventures to be more than enough to make it worthy of a spot on my bookshelf.

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