Love Hina

Love Hina is an enjoyable anime that is true to its type. It is a sweet comedy that is simple, comprehensible and entertaining. I found the opening credits to be fun and entertaining, which sets the mood for the show. While the humor is somewhat predictable, it still has its moments of amusement and entertainment.

The characters are not complicated, but they remain constant and this makes them poignant. The male lead, Keitaro, is a likable character who strives to surmount faults and at the same time propels that romance. Female characters are not complex, when interacting with Keitaro their behavior is predictable but still entertaining ... to watch.

The animation has aged well, and the character designs are uniquely detailed. The fact that most of this show’s visual jokes rely on the use of cartoony animation also increases its attractiveness without overdoing it.

The sound design is good; voice acting and an ending tune are well done. The background music is appropriate and brings emotions to the scenes.

Love Hina is not a show for everyone, but it covers the target audience just right. it is a light and comedic love story that can be enjoyed with ease. As a pioneer of its kind it’s still one of the best in that category.

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 .

Beautiful character designs and smart music choices are let down by an over-the-top cliched Harem narrative that rarely lets up on the slapstick nonsense that constantly occurs with annoying regularity. Female lead Naru was grating and obnoxious as a MC, and I often found I was more interested in her sometimes-rival Mutsumi, who seemed infinitely more interesting as a character. The other dorm residents were a pile of cliches I found forgettable, as I can barely recall their names. Everything the series does as a Romantic-Comedy are things I have seen done elsewhere in Harem/Romantic anime with far more panache than Love Hina manages. When ... I first bought the series, it played better, but has not aged well in comparison with other titles in the Romantic genres of anime.