Love Hina

When Love Hina was released, it came with a high pedigree. First anime featuring no cel animation whatsoever, and the foundation of a successful and very popular manga by the soon-to-be-well-known Ken Akamatsu. Yes, everyone looked forward to Love Hina, and everyone most likely had all their hopes for it dashed along the rocks in an instant. For as innovative as they may have wanted us to think the animation is, it's just bad. I know cel animation anime that flow far more smoothly than this. It jerks, the characters are often disproportioned, character movement is erratic and often impossible even by anime standards. Backgrounds arenice looking but that's about it. The BGM had my ears bleeding. It's an example of why amateurs shouldn't be playing with artificial synthesizers. It's all over the place, never appropriate, and nothing you would ever want to hear stand-alone. The only decent thing the series manages is a very catchy OP sequence, but with repeated listening, even that will beging to grind on your eardrums. Enough about the technical aspects, Love Hina is based off the manga by Ken Akamatsu. It's a fantastic romantic comedy and the series roots itself in the concepts that made the original very popular. In fact, many of the main story is well scripted and executed, but then manages to make everything likeable about the story horrible. The comedic timing is off, the dialogue is laughably awful, and of course there is no nudity. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not some horndog wanting to see the girls nude, but don't have twenty-thousand bath scenes and all the girls bathe wearing towels. IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. Either make an ecchi series or don't! But that's not the worst part, oh no. What really makes this series near-unbearable is the godless amount of filler. 1/3 of the series doesn't even correspond with the story, introduces meaningless characters who serve absolutely no purpose, and only serves to annoy the viewer who slowly realizes what he or she has been cheated out of. Speaking of characters, the core cast stays very true to the original idea whether you like them or hate them, but when the series devolves to filler it feels like the characters become stereotypical versions of themselves. Not only that, but the spotlight is put on meaningless filler characters who only add minor and inconsequential conflict for the allotted time of the episode they're in. Development is slow and often unrecognizable for the majority of the cast, sans Keitaro, Naru and arguably Shinobu. It's just very unsatisfying given the length of the series, and what is done with the characters. You know, the first time I watched it, I wanted to like it but the more I watched, the more I realized I was watching crap. My 12-year-old cousin who watched the series with me lost all interest in anime after finishing this I kid you not. Let that be a warning to anyone who thinks that because this anime is popular, that it's also good. Overall, Love Hina gets a 4 out of 10.

Love Hina Review by realanimefan. "Love Hina" basically, is a romantic comedy. For an idea on what I mean, watch a show such as "Ranma 1/2" or "Tenchi Muyo." If you have seen these shows before, then you should feel very comfortable with the show. "Love Hina" though, takes this genre to a new level, introducing a wide variety of characters, strange situations, a good plot with a lot of twists that will keep you guessing \'til the end, and a countless amount of strange things that seem to happen for absolutely no reason. "Love Hina" is, simply stating, hilarious. Every episode, you ask yourself, "What willhappen today in the Hinata House?" Well, something new happens every episode. And poor Keitaro gets the crap beat out of him every episode by at least Naru. Though this eventually becomes repetitive, it never subtracts from the humor of the show. Of course though, there is a healthy dose of romance mixed in with the craziness. If you are a sappy romance freak with no sense of humor, this may not be the show for you. If you are one that doesn\'t mind just a touch of romance, this show will be overly enjoyable. If you despise romance, still check this one out. You may still enjoy it. The only downfall of this anime is it does eventually get a bit repetitive, and most episodes are basically only fillers that don\'t add to the main plot one bit. Besides this though, "Love Hina" is presented with a charm and humor that is hard to find in any anime these days. The main story is simple: a man is trying to get into Tokyo U to and meet his childhood sweetheart. It is never the main plot that counts though. The sub plots and character interaction are the heart of the anime. I must say that "Love Hina" executes this quite well. All the characters have their own distinct personalities and no two are at all similar. The romance part of the story will keep you guessing until the end. At several times, just when you put two and two together, a plot twist happens and you are back to the beginning. Too bad the series doesn\'t answer any questions. 1: There is not a lot of continually. Basically, each episode has its own story, with maybe a few things in a few episodes that actually add to the main story. This series is so fun though, this barely even matters (Hey, Cowboy Bebop does the same thing). 2: Don\'t expect everything to be wrapped with a pretty bow at the end. I\'m afraid you\'ll have to wait for "Love Hina Again" (my next review). Overall, the story is presented nicely, and filled with memorable characters you will not soon forget. Su Kaolla is my favorite!!! The heart of mostly anything (besides a good story) is good/fitting music. This is where "Love Hina" delivers its best. All the music of the show is great, and every song suits every scene perfectly. Never is a song out of place. Also, the music is great on its own too. The crazy intro theme, the slow ending theme, the action-packed guitar song from episode sixteen..."Love Hina" has it all. No matter what your music taste is, there will be at least one song that you will enjoy in this anime. As for voice acting, all the voices (in Japanese, of course) are great and diverse for each character. Never do two characters sound the same, and each voice suits its character perfectly. I could say different for the dub though. The dub voices are horribly selected and executed. I could not help from cringe every time either Su or Kitsune spoke. Absolutely horrible! Keitaro sounds like a wimp, Su sounds like a mouse, and for no reason, Kitsune has a strong (obviously forced) southern accent. I could only ask, "why?" The other voices I can tolerate, but they still pale in comparison to the original seiyuu. One word can describe how "Love Hina" looks: beautiful. Most likely, you have never seen a better-looking anime TV series. We\'re talking OVA quality here. Not much more I can say. The characters are drawn beautifully, and all have distinct features. Naturally, the females are drawn to look beautiful, most with large... Expect lots of fan service too, which should please you hentais out there. The characters are all animated smoothly, and this show also sports some cool effects seen in newer animes, such as motion blurs. Everything\'s great. Can\'t get better than this, I\'m afraid.

The story of this anime is a little disappointing if you compare to the manga, but if you haven't read the manga, then the story is pretty good. The contents in some of the episodes is a bit off the main storyline. It's like each episode have it's own story, and then ends up with the main story. The art in this anime is excellent, you never get tired of watching it, the animation is well made too. The animation also shows the characters face expressions great, whether it's, fun, sorrow, sad, love etc. The music fits the scenes good, it catching the emotions, and it's even catchytoo. Also the voice actors plays their roles perfectly, their voices matches the characters and their behavior, and you can really tell how they are feeling. Love Hina gives you a combination of comedy and romance. Mostly comedy. If you're looking for comedy, then you might enjoy this. Some of the episodes can seem quite confusing, if you only focus on the storyline, but I think this anime is mostly focused on the comedy and romance than the story. If you expect a good story you'll get disappointed. But if you're looking for some fun, then you will enjoy this very much.