Love Hina Christmas Special: Silent Eve

As another round of preliminary tests approach for Keitaro, so does Christmas. And as the first Christmas of the millenium, there is a rumor that if one confesses his love on this special eve it will come true. Keitaro has decided what he needs to do on this Christmas eve, but being a retaker can he afford taking attention away from the tests on the same day...

The Winter has begun in Hinata. X-mas is coming up. There are rumors about this special christmas eve: If someone is going to confess his love on this christmas eve, any wish will come true. Keitaro decides to confess his love to Naru. But he isn't the only one confessing on this christmas eve...

(Source: ANN)

Narusegawa, Naru Main

Horie, Yui Japanese

Urashima, Keitarou Main

Ueda, Yuuji Japanese

Aoyama, Motoko Main

Asakawa, Yuu Japanese

Maehara, Shinobu Main

Kurata, Masayo Japanese

Su, Kaolla Main

Takagi, Reiko Japanese

Konno, Mitsune Main

Noda, Junko Japanese

Otohime, Mutsumi Supporting

Yukino, Satsuki Japanese

Onsen, Tamago Supporting

Maeda, Yukie Japanese

Urashima, Haruka Supporting

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Seta, Noriyasu Supporting

Matsumoto, Yasunori Japanese

Azuma, Fukashi Producer

Ikeda, Shinichi Producer

Shimoji, Yukinao Producer

Chino, Takatoshi Assistant Producer

Reviews

Jan 15, 2009

ColdBeans

Recommended

STORY
8/10
The Christmas special is by far better than any of the Love Hina television episodes. It concentrates more on the characters and their interactions with one another, rather than overdone slapstick comedy, though that also finds its way into the release. It can easily be said that this one release has more emotion in it than all of the episodes combined, making it a very worthwhile view for Love Hina fans everywhere. Within its one hour run time, it manages to focus on Naru and Keitaro, while still exploring the feelings and thoughts of the other characters. Interestingly, while it has, by far, the ... most emotion of all the episodes, as well as a plot line that is stronger than the entire series combined, it also has the most fanservice shots. These shots occur often and plentifully, from breast shots, prolonged implied nudity, to panty shots. While sometimes they seem too forced and overdone, they don't detract from the release, whose main focus remains the story and the strong emotions felt by the characters.

ANIMATION
7/10
The animation in the special is just as choppy on occasion as the television series, but with all of the action occurring on the screen, it's not too noticeable. The art, also, is nothing extraordinary, but serves its purpose well. The characters and backgrounds are clear and largely uncluttered, which allows it to be free of any unnecessary line distractions. Another aspect of the art that has always been commendable is the successful way that facial emotions are shown in all of the characters. Coupled with the emotional scenes that appear near the end, this enhances the effect of the feelings that the director tries to portray. There is one particularly disturbing aspect of the art, though, and that is the way snow is drawn. Most of the times, it's shown as just balls of white fuzz drifting from the sky, which is nice, but on occasion, the camera will attempt to show zoomed-in snowflakes. These appear as large popcorn-esque chunks of white material, which can invoke a rather puzzled feeling from viewers who aren't used to seeing balls of styrofoam rain from the sky.

MUSIC
8/10
Another characteristic especially pleasant about the Christmas special was the music. The soundtrack ranged from catchy JPop tunes to slow melodic instrumentals that fit the spirits of the scenes perfectly. The only complaint is that sometimes the cheerful holiday music in the background combined with the background noises clutters the dialogue tracks more than they have to. Given the fact that some of the scenes take place in the middle of Tokyo around Christmas time, this is understandable, but on occasion, it can be slightly distracting. Nevertheless, the JPop is sure to win some fans over, as they are infectious and perfect for Christmas karaoke parties.

CHARACTER
9/10
The characters are excellent, especially Narusegawa Naru. Characters like her are very difficult to pull off believably. It's too easy to want to make these girls too perfect (Belldandy in the Oh My Goddess OAVs) or too over-the-top (Ryouko AND Aeka in Tenchi Muyo). Naru is not so perfect that female viewers might feel alienated or intimidated by her - you know girls like her, you've probably gone to school with girls like her, you may even be related to her. She's sort of an EveryWoman. And so you end up rooting for her to hook up with Keitarou just as much as you root for Keitarou to hook up with her, because she in her own way is just as much of a loser as Keitarou. And if you don't see them as the Destined Couple of the Series, well, you just haven't seen enough anime.

ENJOYMENT
8/10
The Love Hina Christmas special is infinitely better than any of the Love Hina television episodes, and Bandai definitely does this release justice.
Love Hina is a very intriguing series. It mixes drama, romance, and slapstick comedy in a pleasing combination. The music is incredibly cute, and also has some gorgeous slow pieces that create a very dramatic effect. If you like romantic shows, or just shoujo anime, then you should definitely see Love Hina Christmas Special. If ever you have the chance to watch Love Hina, do yourself a favor; sit down, relax in the hot springs of Hinata Sou, and experience the magic of Toudai.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Apr 25, 2010

HowToWatchAnime

Recommended

A compilation review of the HTWA! Hope you find it handy!

"I loved Love Hina because it was one of the first anime i watched.
I think that what makes it great is that it doesnt take place at school for once and even if the characters could have been improved (especially Keitaro), it remains awesome.
A special place in my heart for this one :)" - benjee

"Well, Love Hina was pretty unique for it's time.. wasn't it? I'm sure it was many people's first or one of their first Anime. It wasn't my first Anime but it was defiinitely something I watched in my earlier years of ... enjoying Anime. Around that innocent age. :]" - kissbang

"It was pretty good i must say. An prime example of a series when the echii doesn't ruin/degrade it." - thestatement

We hope you have enjoyed reading through the opinions of your fellow MAL peers! ^^

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Oct 23, 2014

rewdalf

Mixed Feelings

Let's get down with the review.

-This is probably the most well animated episode by Love Hina standard. You can see the excessive frames around the beginning of the episode. But then it stagnates a little bit around the middle but still good.
-This time it's Keitaro who do the sulking when he taught Naru was cheating on him. He also don't get beat around too much.
-Naru confessed her affection to Keitaro on national TV in the end but moments later she's back with her normal abusive attitude towards Keitaro. Okay.

The drama feels better in this episode. If only they kept the drama this good throughout the ... series.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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