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Love Hina Genre: Drama Comedy Year Made: 1999 Year Dubbed: 2001 (by Production I.G.) Format Reviewed: Fansubs Rating: PG-13 (Innuendo, occasional nudity, extreme slapstick comedy) Length: 25 eps, 2 specials, 3 OVAs (not included in this review) |
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Plot Concept Animation Characters Development Music Sound Voice Acting: Japanese English Overall |
 
80%
94%
95%
95%
94%
78%
94%
96%
6%
92%
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Plot Summary Urashima Keitaro has been trying to get into Tokyo University for the past 3 years to meet a girl he promised to marry 15 years ago. (Unfortunately, the idiot doesn't even remember her name.) However, his parents can no longer support him, so he has to go out and work on his own. Eventually, he becomes the manager of a female dorm called the Hinata Inn and, with the help of the girls there, may be one step closer to achieve his dream...or not. Intro At first, I was reluctant about watching Love Hina. Upon hearing a description of it, I thought, "Oh great. ANOTHER blatant Tenchi Muyo rip-off." So one night, I downloaded the first episode of Love Hina as a fansub, got a bag of chips, sat down at my computer, and proceeded to watch, expecting the worst. Boy, did this anime prove me wrong. Voice Acting: [Sub] 96% [Dub] 6% Now, before I get started virtually PRAISING this series, I want to make something clear. I am not an anti-dub otaku. In fact, there are numerous dubs I have truly enjoyed, and although I've seen a few dubs that could have used some work, I had never thought a dub could actually be BAD. Then, a few days ago, I watched Love Hina episode 1 again, but in dub format. The 6% rating I gave for this dub should be enough to explain my feelings about this. The voices are complete utter crap, which is truly disappointing since Love Hina has been given great actors to dub it. This is an example of putting the best actors in the worst possible places - "great cast, bad director", if you will. For example, we all know that there are great actors with southwestern accents out there, but putting one as Kitsune's voice actor to substitute her Osaka accent is just horrid. And if you still don't understand, imagine Hamtaro with Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice. Then you will. (Not that Hamtaro is a good anime for anyone above 5 to watch, anyway.) The Japanese voice acting was good; the one thing that annoyed me was not the fact that animedom-famous (I made that word up, mind you) singer and voice actor Hayashibara Megumi played the most minor role in the series - I know people who got pissed of at that - but by the tendency for the voices to be too high for my ears to handle. Still, great job. Plot: 80% Hackneyed? Yes, the plot seems a bit dumb, but the way the production studio handle the plot works out very well. And still, the plot's weaknesses are completely redeemed by the... Concept: 94% Urashima Keitaro hangs with 3 different girls, and by the end of the series, that 3 goes to 8 and 2 guys. Yes, it's like Tenchi Muyo, I know that. The one difference is, unlike Tenchi, only 2 of these 8 girls AT MOST give Keitaro an iota of respect. Calling Love Hina the perfect use of the concept "wrong place, wrong time" is an understatement; there's not one day where Keitaro doesn't get beaten up for one reason or another; with Kaora Su, it's often no reason at all. Watching Keitaro fly 20 stories in the air (yes, 20 stories), being engulfed in a massive amount of explosions, or flying across a hallway at Mach 2 is absolutely hilarious, and by episode 9 we all know how aerodynamic Keitaro is. With all the flying, sex jokes, bombs, falls, special effects, and 50-foot MECHA-turtles (yeah, you heard me right), it's amazing that the 'romance' part of the show progresses at a steady rate, reaching a dramatic climax at the end. In fact, the concept would have gotten a full 100% had the beatings not been so damn repetitive after episode 20-something; fortunately, they add a few twists to the extreme slapstick comedy in the OVA's (which I'll discuss in a later review). Still, there's no question; Love Hina is slapstick comedy at its best. Animation: 95% I've heard people say Love Hina was the first anime to have complete digital animation. Now, I don't know if the 'first' part is true, but the 'complete' part is; there's not a single production cel anywhere on the net. All the art was done on computers - and quite well, I might add. The one problem is that some of the special effects - specifically, the fire effects - are some of the worst I've seen in my life. Characters: 95% Love Hina sports one of the wackiest casts I've seen in my life. Keitaro is one of those not-bright-but-not-dull-either guys who's always in the wrong places. Naru is a calm-hearted person until you get on her bad side - which is quite easy, I might add. Kitsune is sly, sneaky, and completely drunk over half of the series. Shinobu is probably the only girl in the series that can be considered "normal"; what makes her interesting is she's so excessively sensitive even a flick could probably knock her out cold on a bad day. And then there's Motoko and Su, two of the strangest and most original characters I've seen in my life. Probably the best description for Motoko would be "spiritual feminist samurai". Although this is a fun combination, the 'feminist' part is occasionally taken to extremes, making Motoko rather annoying in half the scenes she appears in. And Su...well, think of Ed from Cowboy Bebop, except Hindu. Things usually don't turn out well when Su tries to attack someone; in fact, in this series she uses tanks, giant mechanical turtles, rocket launchers, flamethrowers, land mines, quicksand, machine guns...the list goes on and on. But the most hillarious character by far is definitely Otohime Mutsumi. She has all the qualities that define weird. She dies every 10 seconds, is unbelievably naive (she was laughing while her boat was being consumed in a thunderstorm in Ep. 06 --- see screencap #9 for a visual), always tends to start off the strangest moments, and sometimes is just plain scary. Listing all the reasons why she's so funny would probably take up more room than most people would let me, so I'll stop there. Think of her as a female Keitaro with a major lobotomy. Things tend to go horribly wrong when she's around, but that only makes the show funnier. Development: 94% As I've stated, the comedy is set at an extreme pace but still manages to give the drama portion time to steadily develop. However, there are a few instances where the plot makes absolutely no sense. Don't worry if you're confused by the end of the series (which you probably won't be); any questions you have might be answered in the OVA. (Note my use of 'might'; the OVAs kinda left as many questions for me as they did answers.) Audio: [Music] 78% [Sound] 94% If Love Hina has an open wound of any sort, it's the soundtrack. While there are some good songs in Love Hina, the majority of the songs on the soundtrack are just plain annoying. The sounds are done well, although the sound effects that accompany some of Motoko's sword techniques are a tad bit unconvincing. Conclusion Love Hina may not seem like a good anime at first; hardcore Tenchi Muyo haters will probably be thinking that most of all. But after you've watched the first half of the first episode, Love Hina becomes an anime you can truly enjoy. In fact, if it hadn't been for the cliched plot and music (I ignored the dub score while rating this anime) I may have put this anime in the A/A+ range. Still, LH is worth both your time and money. Just avoid the dub at all costs, or you'll think otherwise. Summary Strengths: Great animation Hillarious cast Comedy and romance are done very well - quite a rare combination Gotta love them explosions! Plot is treated well Mutsumi is a laugh riot Weaknesses Annoying soundtrack Lame plot until halfway through the series Motoko's personality needs work Jokes get a tad bit repetitive after episode 20-something Home to the worst dub ever created in history Random Facts You Probably Don't Care About 01. I finished all of Love Hina in 2 days. (Including both specials.) 02. Naru's breasts tend to wobble around a lot later in the series. The animators got bored, I guess.. 03. In the best-friends-become-enemies episode of SBSQ, Spongebob is reading his comic book backwards; Japanese manga, perhaps? (Wait, wrong show...) |
 
 
 
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