Anime Review: Love Hina

[Jared]

Cant say I disagree at all. I love this anime so much! I remmeber it coming out and watching it...ah, the memories!

 

[Nazrel]

Hated it. It's about as generic as you can get with anime without huge robots involved.

Do you not remember robo-tamago?

I personally loved the anime, but the manga is still way better.

 

[GrimFandango92]

I remember this was the first manga I read, it was when EB games sold manga and stuff, I first saw something about Love Hina in a game on newgrounds then said to myself, I'll have a look for this. after getting up to the 3 book I found the DVD collection in some little anime shop for 30$ and was smitten. As I look back to my little safe in my room, I know inside is all 14 book, in fantastic condition. the DVD collection, the specials and all.
this really did rekindle my love of anime and how to see the genre as a true story telling device. oh and I have one of those Mutsumi at the beach statues

 

[Guy32]

Like he said, I remember liking it, and I remember thinking it was pretty funny, but I barely remember anything that happened.

 

[mindlesspuppet]

My friend told me to watch this one, but I never could be bothered. Usually the sort I watch invovles things being stabbed.

Invovles is my word. You can not has.

I'm the same way. Numerous people had recommended it to me, I heard nothing but good things about it, but I can be pretty damn stubborn. I was genuinely shocked by how much I liked it. I was even more shocked that I wanted more, but alas the specials and Love Hina Again were somewhat disappointing.

It's funny that you would metnion cliche's, mostly because it was Love Hina whihc made a lot of them into cliche's of modern anime. Notall of the cliche's (hammer space is older than old, and used in many culture's), but many of them became cliche's because other harem anime were copying Love Hina.

I'd argue that Tenchi was more responsible for the bulk of harem cliches than Love Hina.

I agree oh-so-much with this review. However, there is one thing in particular that makes me want to not watch the anime: Naru Narusegawa. Most. Unlikable. *****. Ever. At least in the manga...Motoko is pretty high up on that list too...I hate misusing words like "seriously", but I seriously think keitaro should have at least mentioned it once. Funny thing is, if he were to act that way against them, that'd be sexist and evil and bla bla bla...
Why yes, I do have a couple of issues with this otherwise delightful series.

You know it's interesting you say that, I had a whole paragraph written about how so often in harem anime the main love interest is the least likable. In the end I scrapped it, while I personally liked Kitsune and Shinobu the best and Naru not so much, I figure this is more of a matter of personal preference. Sure Naru could be a bit fickle at times, but probably not any more so than girls we've all known personally... of course I doubt too many of us know a girl that's punched them out a window, but that's neither here nor there.

 

[Mstrswrd]

Wordy.

Funny you should mention Tenchi Muyo. I actually almost brought that up, but when I thought about it, I remembered how Tenchi also had a "Warriors from Space with Demon's and such" thing going on. When Tenchi in Space came on, I only kinda watched because it seemed to retcon Tenchi Muyo, and I watched about 4.5 minutes of Tenchi in Tokyo, went online, discovered it was more focused on relationships and not awesome Space Warriors who are suspiciously Japanese Myth in their abilities, and never touched it again. I was young, but even now have never watched the rest of it.

If you can convince to watch the rest of it, I beg you to, because I've always kinda wanted to finish the series, but can't bring myself to watch it without someone else who watched it giving me a good reason.

 

[mindlesspuppet]

Wordy.

Funny you should mention Tenchi Muyo. I actually almost brought that up, but when I thought about it, I remembered how Tenchi also had a "Warriors from Space with Demon's and such" thing going on. When Tenchi in Space came on, I only kinda watched because it seemed to retcon Tenchi Muyo, and I watched about 4.5 minutes of Tenchi in Tokyo, went online, discovered it was more focused on relationships and not awesome Space Warriors who are suspiciously Japanese Myth in their abilities, and never touched it again. I was young, but even now have never watched the rest of it.

If you can convince to watch the rest of it, I beg you to, because I've always kinda wanted to finish the series, but can't bring myself to watch it without someone else who watched it giving me a good reason.

The thing about Tenchi is there's an OVA, like two or three TV series, a handful of movies, and quite a few spin offs and they aren't really related to one other another. I honestly could never keep them all straight.

I'm not much of a fan of Tenchi so you'll get no convincing from me.

 

[Break]

I've never actually been able to understand how Love Hina is as well-renowned as it is. It was several years ago that I watched it, but I couldn't get over how so much stuff happened, but nothing ever changed. I couldn't be interested in anything that happened because I knew that nothing would progress as a result of it. Which is fine for a few filler episodes, but when some BIG OMG DRAMATIC TENSION events happen, which lead to the characters having a special heartwarming moment, and then we watch the next episode and see that nothing whatsoever has changed...

And then, Narusegawa's character wasn't done so well, and her being the heroine didn't make much sense. I mean, I like the occasional tsundere, but I can't remember Narusegawa being particularly dere. We were supposed to root for Keitaro to win the heart of this violent, unreasonable ***** why, exactly..? First Girl Wins isn't that convincing. I could make the standard gag about anime character bitchiness and otaku relations with women, but that joke's almost as stale as Narusegawa.

Nah, I'm sure the characters are much more interesting than I remember them, but I like some actual plot progression in my romance stories, thanks. I probably didn't much much chance at enjoying it in the first place - the kind of slapstick comedy Love Hina pioneered never appealed much, and the meaningless moments of fanservice were more irritating than titillating. Actually, it was for that reason that I couldn't bring myself to continue reading Negima - after the billionth time a pubescent girl's clothes suddenly exploded for no reason, I just couldn't be bothered to continue. I suppose I'm just not a fan of the author.

 

[MDSnowman]

Ahh Love Hina, part of my holy trinity (still looking for a third member btw) of pithy Anime sayings.

1. All I know about motor sports I learned reading Oh, My Goddess manga.

and

2. All I know about applying to college in Japan I learned from reading Love Hina manga.

And then, Narusegawa's character wasn't done so well, and her being the heroine didn't make much sense. I mean, I like the occasional tsundere, but I can't remember Narusegawa being particularly dere. We were supposed to root for Keitaro to win the heart of this violent, unreasonable ***** why, exactly..? First Girl Wins isn't that convincing. I could make the standard gag about anime character bitchiness and otaku relations with women, but that joke's almost as stale as Narusegawa.

I was always more fond of Kitsune and Motoko myself.

 

[Sylocat]

It's funny that you would metnion cliche's, mostly because it was Love Hina which made a lot of them into the cliche's of modern anime. Not all of the cliche's (hammer space is older than old, and used in many culture's), but many of them became cliche's because other harem anime were copying Love Hina.

FINALLY, someone else besides me who is actually aware of this.

You know, TVTropes has an entire entry [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SeinfeldIsUnfunny] on this phenomenon (WARNING: That website may suck up half your day [http://xkcd.com/609/]).

 

[mindlesspuppet]

As has been mentioned, the manga is much better, and Love Hina invented 90% of all modern harem cliches, although it was probably Tenchi that spawned the genre. Thing about Tenchi though was that the romance and comedy tended to be the side show for a crazy space opera-ish story as I recall.

Have to keep in mind there are quite a few Tenchi series, some focused on the romantic comedy side of things significantly more than the space opera ordeal.

I really don't believe Love Hina pioneered most of the modern harem cliches, if Tenchi didn't then Saber Marionette J and Ranma 1/2 did, you could probably toss Hand Maid May in that group too (at least as far as anime not manga is concerned). I think Love Hina just seem to stand out as the pioneer of such because its so well known.

 

[YoUnG205]

I watched this thanks to this recomendation, It was not bad but it is not the best anime I have ever watched.

 

[wildcard9]

Never liked harem anime myself. They're just way too fake for my tastes. On that note, I do have to admit Love Hina was probably the first manga I ever read, and overall it's better than the norm.

Oh, and I'm split between Kitsune and Su as my favorite characters

 

[Marsell]

Watched the anime.
read the manga.
shinobu is my fav. girl.
this series wins.

 

[AvsJoe]

Embarrassing fact about myself: it was this show that got me into anime. I had loved DBZ, Gundam Wing, and Sailor Moon before this but it wasn't until I watched and loved Love Hina that I began to actively search out and watch other Japanese cartoons and participate in other anime-related activities (like attending my after-school anime club). I haven't seen this show in over a half-decade now though; I ought to hunt it down and rewatch it.

 

[Rarhnor]

Embarrassing fact about myself: it was this show that got me into anime...it wasn't until I watched and loved Love Hina that I began to actively search out and watch other Japanese cartoons and participate in other anime-related activities...

Same here. No, really. It really was my stepping stone for my future anime experiences. Blessed be Ken Akamatsu.

 

[AvsJoe]

Embarrassing fact about myself: it was this show that got me into anime...it wasn't until I watched and loved Love Hina that I began to actively search out and watch other Japanese cartoons and participate in other anime-related activities...

Same here. No, really. It really was my stepping stone for my future anime experiences. Blessed be Ken Akamatsu.

Agreed. If he only did Love Hina then I wouldn't remember his name but he also did the stupid, stupid, yet funny Negima. Blessed be he. I didn't like his AI Love You manga though.

 

[sky14kemea]

Gah, I remember trying to watch Love Hina, I don't remember much other than thinking "Who the hell is Kentaro?"

>.> I still don't know. I loved the manga of Love Hina though, I have it on my bookshelf. ^^ Maybe I'll give the anime another go if I can find some decent DVD's or something. Thanks for the review!