Love Hina Vol. 11 -- Thoughts

Aionic said:
I liked Vol. 10 as much most of what came before. It started out good, with Keitaro and Naru dancing around kissing each other after there had finally been some progress made in their relationship. Then, after the usual 'almost but not quite' comedy, the not-so-lucky couple went on a trip with Mutsumi to her parents house. Although this little trip slowed down the relationship progression, I didn't mind a great deal since the trip provided more information about the childhood of the three and the promise they made. The volume then ended (after a nice chapter showing that Naru plans to be a teacher) with Keitaro deciding, right when his relationship with Naru was getting good, that the best thing to do was to bugger off to America for 6 months...which made me want to a punch the fictional idiot for not thinking with the right body part.

Vol. 11 started with one of the best chapters in the manga so far. There was a confession from Naru, some moving words by Keitaro, a kiss and a semi-depressing separation. Although I wasn't happy that Keitaro abandoned Naru for half a year to pursue his dream (which would be relationsjip suicide in real life), it even got me a little watery-eyed. You know the author has done good when he/she gets that sort of emotional reaction; that sort of feeling for his/her characters.

Sadly, the rest of the volume failed to deliver for two reasons. The first reason is that, for the first time in the entire series, Keitaro only appeared in the first chapter and last page of the volume. A harem series just doesn't work without a male, and Love Hina is no exception. The second reason is a random new character who, out of nowhere, was introduced into the story. The character is Keitaro's 'sister', Kanako, who arrives to become the new landlord of Hinata House and remove any threats to her relationship with her 'brother'. With Keitaro out of the picture and the focus being on the comical goings on surrounding the new character, the whole volume (aside from the first chapter) was pure filler that, unlike the Keitaro chapters, developed NOTHING whatsoever.

After reading Vol. 11, I'm a little worried about the remaining 3 volumes. If Kanako is going to feature as much as she did in Vol. 11 then all she's going to do is further slowdown the relationship between Naru and Keitaro, which FINALLY seemed to be progressing with the end in sight. Since she wasn't mentioned at all in Vol. 1-10, I can only see her as a filler character the author came up with to extend the length of the story...and she's a bloody annoying character.

Talking of the remainder of the story, I wasn't impressed with Keitaro's enterance at the end of the volume. It looks like the author has lazily merged together Keitaro's character with Seta, giving Keitaro Seta's clothes and driving skills... I won't be pleased if that's the case. I'm hoping the old Keitaro will return and not a badly edited version.

Overall, as much as I love Love Hina, Vol. 11 disappointed me. The action was over the top, stretching the belivability factor too far, and nearly all the volume was filler. In every other volume there has been plently of space filling chapters, yes, but most (if not all) developed the characters at least a little, pushing the story to its conclusion. All Vol. 11 did was extend the story. Here's hoping the final 3 are better!