Love Hina

Love Hina is one of the classic harem animes. A guy dreams of attending Todai university, but can't get in. When he gets the chance to become the manager of an apartment building he takes it in order to support himself while he studies. What his grandmother, who left the position to him, didn't tell him was that it's an all-girls apartment building. Since he is hopelessly clumsy and unlucky he gets into a bunch of compromising situations with the various girls. It's laden with tropes and archetypes, but still quite enjoyable to watch. So how does this title rise above the trappings of mediocracy? ... Well...

- Story & Theme
As you can see above the story is pretty much what one might expect for a harem anime. There is also a sentimental part of it since the reason why Keitaro, the protagonist, wants to attend Todai so badly is because he made a promise to a girl he liked when he was a child. The main story isn't very special, but there are a few gems among the side stories and the anime takes a few turns for the strange every now and then. I'd say the fluff around the main story is one thing that makes this rise a bit higher.

- Characters & Writing
The characters are tropes at the core, but they all have actual personalities as well and while it's easy to see which parts they fill they also go beyond their archetypes. We're also not held hostage for too long about the main characters true feelings and we get several scenes where they almost end up together. The characters develop and grow during the course of the anime, which is also a point in its favor, and while the dialogue isn't groundbreaking in any way it's still good enough. The anime also knows to be serious every now and then and to let everyone show off their good sides.

- Graphics & Style
I can't praise the animation and style too much, it's pretty standard, but it does have fluidity when needed and regularly uses a more simplified style to back up the humour. There is a bit of mild fan service, but nothing obnoxious.

- Music & Sound
The intro song is a banger and was actually the main reason I started watching the anime in the first place. After rewatching this recently the music still holds up and the main theme is used in several parts inside the anime, tying it in closer. In general the sound and music is good for the anime and the outro song is nice too, but not as memorable as the intro.

- Conclusion
Love Hina is well worth a watch if you want some light hearted fun. It seldom gets heavy and when it delves into more serious parts it's still mostly centered around romance and self-determination. I can recommend this to mostly anyone, as long as you don't expect any deeper philosophical thoughts.

To be honest, the only reason i watched this anime was because of the Role playing game of the same name . While the RPG didnt give away any of the plot, i found 3 characters very interesting. So i decided to check it out.

Remember how i said the rpg didnt give the story away much? Well thats because it basically doesnt have any. I'm assuming that you pretty much read the synopsis atleast before this. So you know that the MC wants to get into the Tokyo University . The whole story centres around him wanting to make it to Tokyo U because of ... a promise he makes to some girl he played with as a child( And ofcourse he doesnt remember here face or name even ...Why?? PLOT!! Thats why).

The author throughout the first season and other ovas goes out of his way to exploit this promise and the girl to whom it was made in every way possible. He uses the fact that all possible candidates for this role dont remember what happened when they were young.. but atleast he quickly makes it clear that only 2 girls have a realistic possibility of being her . But he goes a step further in the end by making Naaru say that she " may not be the girl to whom Keitaro made the promise " , leaving the plot open for Keitaro's sister to jump in during the last OVA

The characters were nothing special really. All the usual tropes were used -
1. the tsundere( Naru) ,
2. the shy girl who loves the MC but is too shy to say it ( Shinobu) ,
3. the annoying drunk girl with big boobs for fan service ( Kitsune) ,
4. the totally unnecessary junior high girl who basically is the most annoying of the lot because she is a child and proceeds to annoy you throughout ( Kaolla Su)
5. the smokling silent one ( Haruka)
6. the rich , pervy rival to the MC ( Kentaro)
7. the irrelevant beautiful idiot girl who turns out to be relevant to the story (Mutsubi)
8. the younger sister who has an inappropriate crush for her onii-chan ( Kanako)

and ofcourse 9. the loser MC who somehow always stands up for the girls in moments of need and wins them back ( Keitaro).

But it did feature some characters good characters like Motoko (a swordwoman) , Seta ( an archeologist who just cant be killed by any amount of Road Traffic Accidents) and his Daughter Sarah.

As far as character development goes, its pretty much limited to Keitaro and Naru ..although they hardly get that much development at all

One of the more eye catching parts of the anime was its viokence . The MC blasts off more times than Team Rocket ever did. Its definitely not everyones cup of tea thats for sure.

Another thing was the presence of a flying turtle and a talking cat. Id really have loved it if they had explained the whole lot of mecha turtles multiplying from the scraps in the backyard of the Hinata resort

The author even made a cameo appearance on a couple of occasions , so that was kind of fun.

The only thing that was more annoying to me than Kaolla and Kitsune was Naru's inability to just confess how she truly feels for Keitaro. Neither does she say she loves him nor does she want other girls to get near him (*at which point she punches him out of the room) It really gets really frustrating for the watcher .

Overall id rate it at a 6 . Same as Girls Bravo.. just a fine one time watch .

When I was in high school, I really liked Love Hina. I used to think this was a really good romance story, and genuinely wanted to see Keitaro and Naru get together. But as I've gotten older, I've really gotten harsher on this series.

Let's start with the most important aspect of a romance anime: The romance! Keitaro and Naru's relationship simply does NOT feel believable, not in the least. Naru spends 95% of the series being angry and even outright violent toward Keitaro, who in turn is kind of a wet blanket who never stands up for himself or does anything that interesting. There ... is basically zero chemistry between these two, even on the rare occasions where they're getting along. I can barely buy them as friends, much less lovers.

But I've given romance anime a pass even when I wasn't sold on the romance, like Chobits, for at least having an interesting setting and supporting cast. This is not the case with Love Hina. The side characters are all incredibly one-note, and none of them really stand out all that much. Most of them get one or two focus episodes (except Kitsune, who doesn't even get that much) and are relegated to extras most of the time. Of these side characters, Kaolla Su is probably the *most* interesting - having a mysterious past from an unknown country, and being a genius inventor who fills the series with all sorts of wacky contraptions. But even she's not a super well-realized character.

Mind you, I haven't read the manga as of writing this review. I'm willing to give the Hinata Inn crew one more chance and see if their original story is better than the anime. For this adaptation, though, I recommend passing on Love Hina.