Ranked #822

Love Hina Christmas Special

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. read more

8 months and countless shows since watching Love Hina, I've gotten hold of the specials, and it's review time.

Story

It's Love Hina, and it's christmas time, so we have to have some holiday romance.

The story is nice, especially the end, though I found too much of it to be predictable. Relationships move a bit, but I didn't really gain any new perspective on any of the characters.

Animation/sound

Not really anything noticably different from the series.

Character

If you've watched the original, then there aren't going to be any surprises here. They're all given an appropriate part in the story, but as I said above, I didn't feel any new depth to the characters.

Enjoyment

Well, personally, I watched the original Love Hina for the comedy, and the romantic comedy, rather than straight romance. However, this extended episode contains little humour, only a few bits worth mentioning, and with the predictability of the story, I was left feeling just a little bored.

Overall

I guess what really matters is what you watched through the original series for. If it was the humour and silliness, then this extended episode won't give you a good fix, and you'll probably be somewhat bored. If it was for the romance, then you'll probably like this extra bit, though it might depend on how predictable you find it.

Short review, certainly, but it's only a short show. read more