"Love Hina" is one of the greatest stories ever told in Anime' (Japanese animation, for the uninitiated). This series is bright, charming and full of wonderful emotions, characters, and situations. It's a great mix of teen comedy and romance, which is pretty far removed from the usual science fiction, horror, and fantasy trappings of the Anime' I'm usually accustomed to watching on a regular basis.
The series concerns Keitaro Urashima, who unexpectedly becomes the manager of an all-girls dormitory after failing the entrance exam to get into Tokyo University twice. His desire to get into Tokyo University is spurred on by a promise Keitaro made to his childhood sweetheart: they would both enter Tokyo University upon their graduation from high school and live happily ever after afterward, but the problem is that the young girl moved away and he forgot what her name was and what she looked like (I find it hard to imagine forgetting the name/face of your one true love, but please just bear with the series).
He goes to his grandmother's apartment building to try to cram for the upcoming entrance exam, but unfortunately he doesn't realize until the last minute that he's been hired out to be the manager of the apartment building (which also simultaneously takes care of his housing and employment problems, since he no longer has to worry about finding a job and paying any rent), which is now a hotel and is also now an all-girls dormitory. Hilarity ensues as he adjusts to rooming with five other beautiful teenage girls, taking care of their every need, cramming for the university entrance exam, and also trying to find his long-lost first love.
Keitaro Urashima is one of my newfound heroes in Japanese Anime'. As a shy nerdy guy myself, it's easy to relate to his social ineptitude and having to adjust to his new surroundings. Such romantically-impaired shy-guys such as Keitaro are such a common staple in Japanese animation that they can become a dime a dozen, but this kid is different. His social awkwardness is only heightened in the presence of the other five women, which is where most of this show's humor arises from. Sure, some of it is forced (it usually involves Keitaro being assumed as a pervert or peeping Tom by the other five women, and they often beat him up as a result), but damn, is it funny to see some of the physical abuse he's forced to endure as this series progresses. So yeah, he may be a wuss but he's also a genuinely nice human being who truly loves his job and genuinely cares about the other women living with him in the hotel. "Love Hina" is just utterly hilarious with a truly believable and three-dimensional lead character such as Keitaro Urashima.
The other five women are also quite colorful, and, of course, very beautiful; Naru Narusegawa, the chief female resident who also aspires to enter into Tokyo University, seems to secretly have the hots for Keitaro (while also inflicting the worst physical punishment upon him); another, Kaolla Su, is a hyper-active toy-collecting obsessive/inventor who always walks around the apartments barefoot all the time; Motoko Aoyama is an insecure, yet tough-as-nails man-hating Kendo master; Mitsune Konno seems to be the highly flirtatious Japanese equivalent of a Southern belle; and the shy, quiet junior high school student Shinobu Maehara - the youngest female of the bunch - also happens to be an excellent cook. Unlike a lot of similar-themed Anime', there is no explicit nudity in this show from the presence of these female characters, but if it was released in the United States as a live-action movie, it would definitely get a "PG-13" rating (and a "TV-14" rating if it were ever aired on U.S. cable television).
Based upon the hugely popular Manga series by Ken Akamatsu, "Love Hina" is a welcome delight for any Anime' fan, especially for those looking for something different from the usual run-of-the-mill sci-fi, fantasy, and horror stuff. I highly recommend it to any true fan of Japanese animation.
10/10
The series concerns Keitaro Urashima, who unexpectedly becomes the manager of an all-girls dormitory after failing the entrance exam to get into Tokyo University twice. His desire to get into Tokyo University is spurred on by a promise Keitaro made to his childhood sweetheart: they would both enter Tokyo University upon their graduation from high school and live happily ever after afterward, but the problem is that the young girl moved away and he forgot what her name was and what she looked like (I find it hard to imagine forgetting the name/face of your one true love, but please just bear with the series).
He goes to his grandmother's apartment building to try to cram for the upcoming entrance exam, but unfortunately he doesn't realize until the last minute that he's been hired out to be the manager of the apartment building (which also simultaneously takes care of his housing and employment problems, since he no longer has to worry about finding a job and paying any rent), which is now a hotel and is also now an all-girls dormitory. Hilarity ensues as he adjusts to rooming with five other beautiful teenage girls, taking care of their every need, cramming for the university entrance exam, and also trying to find his long-lost first love.
Keitaro Urashima is one of my newfound heroes in Japanese Anime'. As a shy nerdy guy myself, it's easy to relate to his social ineptitude and having to adjust to his new surroundings. Such romantically-impaired shy-guys such as Keitaro are such a common staple in Japanese animation that they can become a dime a dozen, but this kid is different. His social awkwardness is only heightened in the presence of the other five women, which is where most of this show's humor arises from. Sure, some of it is forced (it usually involves Keitaro being assumed as a pervert or peeping Tom by the other five women, and they often beat him up as a result), but damn, is it funny to see some of the physical abuse he's forced to endure as this series progresses. So yeah, he may be a wuss but he's also a genuinely nice human being who truly loves his job and genuinely cares about the other women living with him in the hotel. "Love Hina" is just utterly hilarious with a truly believable and three-dimensional lead character such as Keitaro Urashima.
The other five women are also quite colorful, and, of course, very beautiful; Naru Narusegawa, the chief female resident who also aspires to enter into Tokyo University, seems to secretly have the hots for Keitaro (while also inflicting the worst physical punishment upon him); another, Kaolla Su, is a hyper-active toy-collecting obsessive/inventor who always walks around the apartments barefoot all the time; Motoko Aoyama is an insecure, yet tough-as-nails man-hating Kendo master; Mitsune Konno seems to be the highly flirtatious Japanese equivalent of a Southern belle; and the shy, quiet junior high school student Shinobu Maehara - the youngest female of the bunch - also happens to be an excellent cook. Unlike a lot of similar-themed Anime', there is no explicit nudity in this show from the presence of these female characters, but if it was released in the United States as a live-action movie, it would definitely get a "PG-13" rating (and a "TV-14" rating if it were ever aired on U.S. cable television).
Based upon the hugely popular Manga series by Ken Akamatsu, "Love Hina" is a welcome delight for any Anime' fan, especially for those looking for something different from the usual run-of-the-mill sci-fi, fantasy, and horror stuff. I highly recommend it to any true fan of Japanese animation.
10/10