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Lum was technically one of the first anime characters I ever saw. Back when I was hardly into anime, I saw some Dragon Ball fan animation that had Lum as a cameo. I was intrigued, so I looked up who it was. Despite this, I didn't show any interest in watching her show until years later. I watched the first twelve episodes, and although I was addicted, I was turned off by how adult it got. I stopped watching it for a long time, but there were times when I missed it. Surely enough, I couldn't stay away from it, so I started it again ... from the thirteenth episode, and watched the whole series over the course of six months, including the movies and OVAs.

So many things about this anime made it memorable and enjoyable. The episodes had different feels from each other, but each one had something to like about it. Some of the episodes are crazy, nonsensical shenanigans, and others are serious with touching drama or romance. This is a universe where virtually anything can happen, so there's no limit to the stories they could tell. It could be fooling with alien technology, or meeting mythical creatures such as ghosts or vampires. Not only are the situations unpredictable, but the way the characters interact with the situations is too, so there are lots of surprises. And the characters being as good as they are makes the situations even more enjoyable.

The side characters all have different roles in the story, as well as different relationships with Ataru and Lum. Lum is generally favored by them, whereas Ataru is generally disfavored. This leads to many different character interactions that are always entertaining. The side characters all have their own situations going on, that make you care about them. This means you can be invested in an episode regardless of who's in the forefront.

Ataru, the true protagonist of the show, is one of the most entertaining ones I've seen. His main interest is girls, but his persistence and determination make him more memorable than all the other pervert and semi-pervert protagonists. He's constantly hitting on girls and being punished for it, but he never ceases to go after them. He'll often use trickery to get away from Lum, and shrug off any hits from girls who reject him. He's also not afraid to tell Lum off.

Lum seems like she'd be a Mary Sue, being a beautiful superpowered alien who all the boys love. However, her flaws are very clearly there, and become more apparent over time. She has a short temper, she's sometimes loopy or clueless, and she can be just as vulnerable as any of the other characters. Her strongest trait is easily her attraction to Ataru. It never goes away, regardless of what he does, or what happens. Her main wish is for Ataru to love her and only her, and to be with him forever. She'll go to great lengths to do it, never giving up hope. She cares about Ataru very much, only attacking him when he angers her.

The relationship between these two is the most compelling thing about this anime. We know how Lum feels about Ataru, but Ataru's feelings are never 100% clear. Based on the situation, he either likes or hates her. The interactions between these two are something to look forward to. They might get angry at each other, or they might have a meaningful romantic moment. Their relationship could make or break at any moment, but never permanently.

There's an overall sense of tension between many of the characters that leads to a lot of slapstick. This slapstick gets repetitive, especially in the second half of the show. Yet, the episode plots differ from each other greatly, so the show overall isn't repetitive.

Background music is a surprisingly important part of the anime. There are all kinds of different tracks it uses. Some of the tracks even have a fittingly extraterrestrial theme to them. There is background music playing a lot of the time, and it is always appropriate to the situation. There is casual music, epic music, romantic music, silly music, suspenseful music, and so on.

If I were to assign this anime to genres, I'd say slice of life, sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, and romance, which is ordered from most to least prevalent. It's harder to narrow it down, since the anime does all kinds of things. And given how long it is, it certainly can afford doing what it wants.

I can just imagine all the Japanese kids in the 80's watching new episodes of this anime every week, and it being their favorite thing. It gives you a lot in each episode, and even references other popular properties at the time, whether they be Japanese or American. There are multiple story arcs involving different characters, and also quick callbacks to previous episodes. It always tries its best, and it strives to be something you'll never forget. So much love was put into the anime from the beginning, that made it everything that it is.

I rarely write anime reviews, but this one is so long that I had to compile my feelings on it. Not only is it one of the longer ones I've watched, it's also the oldest one I've watched. It's also one of the most realistic, meaning I was stepping outside of my comfort zone to watch it. The realism is what might make Cat's Eye seem boring at first, but a lot is done with the realism to set up tense environments. The three main characters, collectively known as Cat's Eye, are criminals, but they're definitely the nicest criminals compared to any of the others ... in the show. Different gangs and crime bosses with authentic personalities are portrayed in many of the episodes, serving as the bad half of the crime spectrum, whereas Cat's Eye serves as the good half. The darker criminals often make this anime feel like a modern day crime drama.

But Cat's Eye, a trio of sisters, are the recurring criminals. From oldest to youngest, there's Rui, Hitomi, and Ai. Rui, who was my favorite of the three, is the beautiful one. She remains clearheaded in every situation, and comes up with rational ideas. Hitomi, who's usually the one to steal the art, is more of an anime girl you'd find in modern anime. You can see this through her frequent interactions with her boyfriend, who I'll get to later. Ai, unlike her older sisters, is still a kid going through school. However, she's advanced enough to create interesting gadgets for Cat's Eye to use in their heists. She has a lot of personality that brings life to this anime.

Every episode has Cat's Eye stealing a piece of art, usually one of their lost father's masterpieces. Each art piece is guarded or hidden in a different way, forcing Cat's Eye to come up with clever strategies in order to secure them. This is done enough to perfectly classify this anime as one of the more unique genres: tactical.

Of course, what are criminals without police to arrest them? Or at least, try to arrest them. This is what the Inunari Police Station always attempts to do, and what they always fail to do, despite how close they come to actually catching Cat's Eye. The Inunari Police Station consists of three main members: Utsumi Toshio, Mitsuko Asatani, and the Chief. Utsumi and Asatani are polar opposites in every way, though they often have to work together. Asatani is typically the efficient, serious one. Only in the very latest episodes do we see her character start to unwind and unfold. Whereas, the lazy and clumsy Utsumi is often the subject of many of the anime's jokes. The worst member of the police trio would have to be the chief, as he often does nothing but yell and call Utsumi and idiot. Fortunately, later on down the line, we see that the chief actually cares for Utsumi, which is how his character got redeemed for me.

Catching Cat's Eye wouldn't just be bad for Cat's Eye. It'd also be bad for Utsumi too. As it turns out, Utsumi and Hitomi are dating. Yet, Utsumi's never able to put 2 and 2 together to realize that Cat's Eye and Hitomi are one and the same; Hitomi as Cat's Eye usually hides her identity just with the pure night itself. While this aspect of the story does make it stand out, I personally find it ridiculous Utsumi rarely had any suspicions of his girlfriend. But this element does work in the times when Utsumi and Cat's Eye are trapped in the same place, and despite their rivalry, have moments of bonding. This makes Utsumi close to both sides of Hitomi, even if one is his worst enemy.

If you can get into this anime, it's worth watching. It may be repetitive in one aspect, but there were still individual episodes with stories that helped them stand out. Even the ones that don't stand out are extremely well-written, plus they do have other criminal organizations, or individual crooks, that serve as main plot points and prevent everything from just being cat-and-mouse between the Inunari Police Station and Cat's Eye. It should also be noted that the second half of the anime is a major improvement in terms of enjoyment. The episodes were more varied than before. Most of my favorite episodes are found near the end of the anime; they have the most unique stories, as well as relatively better pacing. But regardless of the part of the anime you're in, you're always greeted with a soundtrack that fits the stories well. The music that plays during police chase scenes, for example, couldn't be any more appropriate.

I found that this anime would often try things that ended up working out for it. It does take dedication to be able to watch through, but the brilliant writing is always there, just waiting to be appreciated.

A while ago, I began a quest to watch more anime, y'know, to get more of them under my belt. And it's anime like this one that make me glad I set out on this quest. I found lots of enjoyment, enough for it to become my second favorite anime at the time, after One Piece itself.

This is a good example of a romcom, I'd say. The story behind it all, with Keitaro's promise to his childhood friend, is decent enough to generate a good story. From this promise, we get two different plots: an alleged crush on this childhood friend, and a yearning to ... get into Tokyo U. From the 25 episodes to the two specials, we see these plots be carried through.

Keitaro becomes the manager of an all girl dorm, which is just asking for trouble and antics, which we see lots of. The reason the anime is fun to watch is because of all the crazy misadventures these characters get into. It's a perfect way to spice up a romance anime. And to speak of the girls themselves, there are six, counting Mutsumi, who doesn't actually live at the dorm. All six of them have their own personalities and interests. They each get their own episodes to give them development, which we see through their interactions with Keitaro, or them having zany adventures of their own.

I'd have to say, out of the six girls, only two are "generic": Naru and Shinobu. Naru is the typical target of the pervert, who gets violent when she thinks it's necessary. We see in many, many anime. Shinobu is the typical shy introvert, with a crush on the protagonist. Also something we see in many anime. However, the other four girls are rather unique:

Motoko Aoyama: My favorite of the six. A lot because I find myself attracted to longer hair, but I also like the way a swordsman, which is one of the last things you'd expect in a romance, tries to fit in with the rest of the girls.
Kaolla Su: I thought I was gonna hate her, but I found her a decent and unique character. I can't think of any other strange foreigners who consistently pump out a variety of inventions. The inventing was of course, the thing I liked about her the most.
Mutsumi Otohime: Along with Naru, she's a candidate for being Keitaro's childhood friend. She is a contrast to Naru in just about every way. While Naru is aggressive toward Keitaro's mistakes, Mutsumi just passively acknowledges them, and never holds them against him. If you don't like Naru, this character's out there as the alternative.
Mitsune Konno: My least favorite of the six. I disliked her design, and didn't consider her as developed as the other five. She does have identity as being manipulative though, which already sets her apart. At times, she's behind the scenes of the interactions between Keitaro and Naru.

This cast just spells out diversity, and it's not limited just girls. There are other males, namely Kentaro, Seta, and Keitaro's friends. Overall, there's a good amount of characters in this anime.

There may be some filler, but when I watched this anime, I never even thought of it as filler. This is due to either the way they developed one of the characters, or how interesting the story was. Motoko gets transported into a video game dream through meditation. The characters have to take on the roles in a play based on ancient legends. Su's robotic Tama becomes huge and starts to rampage. Even still, the anime makes sure it keeps up the main story, which is finished in the spring special. I actually think the filler was justified. The story can get repetitive, which is due to how it all builds up in the first several episodes. The filler serves to calm things down.

Keitaro is a protagonist you can definitely sympathize for. He's constantly misunderstood by his main love interest, he keeps failing his entrance exam, and he isn't really good at anything. It makes you want to see how things turn out for him in the end.

I think we can all agree that Naru hits Keitaro too much. Like, at least once per episode. This seems to be one of the main criticisms. But unlike other anime girls who do the same thing, Naru has a soft side towards Keitaro. We see that deep down, Naru doesn't hate Keitaro at all. Another main criticism is that the characters are generic and/or annoying, but I flat out disagree with both of these. In fact, the characters are a large part of the reason this became my second favorite anime. The other reason is how downright entertaining it is to watch. It's a romcom at heart, but that doesn't stop it from dipping into other genres. It occasionally sticks in an unpredictable fight scene, or sends the characters out on a fun adventure. Love Hina does a lot to make itself memorable, which is what a good anime should do.