Hello ladies & gentlemen, welcome to the first ever review of the Heavy Metal Otaku blog! By the time 2000 came around, the anime craze had begun in earnest. Titles were flooding in left & right, and it was impressive to see what was coming in. Some of these initial shows have become classics treasured to this very day, while other series are considered to be plagues of the anime world. Today’s title manages to straddle both sides, and has it’s fair share of lovers & haters. That show, of course, is Love Hina.
Ah yes, Love Hina. Depending on who you ask, Love Hina is a classic harem series, filled with humor, fan service, wonderful characters, and a lighthearted story. On the other hand, Love Hina is a blight upon Japanese animation, with the humor being too slapsticky, the fan service overdone & not needed, the characters are more woeful than wonderful, and the story is just pathetic. For me, it’s a little bit of both. With that said, lets take a look at Love Hina, and see if it deserves the love & hate it gets. Begin the review!
Story/Setup
Keitaro Urashima, has traveled to Tokyo to fulfill a dream. You see, when he was younger he made a promise to a girl. The promise was that when they got older, they would both go to Tokyo University, fall in love, and get married. Fast forward to the present, and we have Keitaro arrive at the Hinata Apartments, which was once a hotel. After some slapstick mishaps, it is discovered that only girls live at the complex. To stay at the apartments, he becomes the general manager, and all sorts of slapsticky situations occur, along with moments of drama & other serious situations.
The are some differences between this version of the story, and what was shown within the manga. The first thing is the mood: the anime is much more lighthearted than the manga. There are definitely moments where the humor is dialed back and things are taken more seriously, but the series relies a little more on comedy & fanservice, enough to the point where it will be irritating for some. Secondly, the story structure for the Love Hina show is more chaotic. It’s constructed a little more haphazardly, and doesn’t quite present itself in a structured manner. With that said, if you’ve read the manga you can easily identify moments in the show. The really important parts have been left relatively untouched, and what aspects have been changed can only really be seen by anybody who’s well versed in the comic.
Animation
The animation is what I consider to be typical Ken Akamatsu. Nice, bright, colorful, not so artsy that it looks like a work of art, but not so basic as to be lacking in detail. All of the characters have their own look, and they all have their own feel. Some characters can look a little similar at times, but this pertains to just their faces. Overall I’m actually impressed with how the animation has managed to hold up, especially since Love Hina came out back in April of 2000. Funimation must not have done much touch up work on the animation, but if there was anything done, then I couldn’t tell.
Voice Acting
Much like the animation, the voice acting of Love Hina has aged well, although not quite as well. There are two characters that sounded “Bleh” then, and they still kinda sound “Bleh” now. Yeah, I’m talking about Kitsune & Su. I’m sure that the haters out there point this out as one of their biggest gripes, and truth be told I can’t blame them. Su is the biggest culprit in this regard: she has this strange, loud child voice, with a hint of nasal tones. The other problem is that she’s always loud, regardless of the situation. Even when she has her speaking voice turned down, it’s still somehow loud. Kitsune is a little more forgivable: because she comes from Hokkaido, her voice sorta has a country drawl to it. The English dub turns Kitsune into a girl from the south, probably from Texas. Luckily, Kitsune knows how to adjust her speaking voice, so that makes it even more forgivable. Apart from these two, the voice acting for the rest of the cast is still good.
Characters
Love Hina has one of the most recognizable harem casts ever produced for anime. The negative thing I’ll say is that the anime version of the characters aren’t quite as in depth: They don’t have as much background as their manga counterparts. True, some of the characters in the comic didn’t have much personality as the anime, but at least those in the manga had something to them. With that said, you will immediately recognize the cast, just by encountering them for the first time. You’ll immediately recognize all of the girls, the boys/men, and some of the.....stranger characters. Again, they aren’t as charismatic, but they still have the same intensity & energy.
Availability & Pricing
Love Hina can be found relatively easily in stores. Although the older Bandai releases are tougher to locate (And can pricing is higher as well), Funimation re-released the series as recently as 2011, and thus can still be easily found if you know where to look. There are plenty of copies available on Amazon, with brand-new edition starting at an easy 23 dollars. The Best Buy website has copies of the series available as well, although it has the higher cost of 35 dollars. The most expensive option is FYE, where they have new DVD sets ready to purchase for 43 dollars. Used copies of the show on Amazon & FYE will vary in terms of pricing & quality, so if you’re looking for a cheaper copy of Love Hina, then buying used is a good alternative. Just be sure the physical quality is in peak condition, or at the very least viewable.
Overall Impression & Rating
I can understand why people aren’t fans of Love Hina. Some of the voices aren’t pleasant to listen to, the story doesn’t quite hold up, and the characters might not get people to like them. Truthfully, I can partially agree. However, I can put those things aside, and the experience I get from it is a pure case of goofy anime fluff. It might not be a perfect show, but sometimes the best shows are those with a flaw or two.
Love Hina gets an 8 out of 10.
Well ladies & gentlemen, this was an example of a good anime, but I won’t be reviewing just the great stuff. I’ll be reviewing some of the horrible titles too, and man does the next one I have suck! See you soon!
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