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Love Hina
Episodes Reviewed: 1-24, DVD
Overall Grade: A+
Having a little Christmas money extra at the time, I decided to give Love Hina a go... unfortunately, I will now be having much less extra money to spend on non-anime goods since I am totally addicted.
Storyline: 8
15 years ago, Keitaro made a promise with a girl that he would meet her at Tokyo University, and they would both live their lives together happily. At the present, his dreams have been shattered as he has failed twice to get into the most prestigious college in the country. Since his parents are tired of him staying there while he stubbornly aims at a goal he cannot hope to accomplish, he decides to leave and thinks about living at his grandmother's resort, the Hinata lodge. After multiple misunderstandings, he is under attack by the women who live in his grandmother's lodge, and then (a little late) it is revealed that it is no longer what it once was, but is in fact a girls' dormitory! Things are cleared up before he is likely about to be executed, and he somehow becomes the apartment manager!
Type: Comedy/Romance
Ch. Development: 8
There is a lot of character development in this series, despite the fact that almost every episode is a seperate episode. Still, you can see a distinct difference between the characters in the first four episodes and in the last episode.
Sexuality: 7
Did I mention that there is a hot spring in there too?
Romance: 6
It's almost like a mix between Ranma and Tenchi, except the girls will at times want Keitaro dead, and unlike those anime, the main girl character is actually my favorite character in the series... which was the case until I watched episode number six, and favor shifted to Mutsumi.
Drama: 5
Just the basics of what you'd expect.
Action: 6
When a guy is in a position like that, AND is constantly suffering from misunderstandings as well as compromising situations, you would expect the guy to be hurt a lot. Keitaro fortunately seems to have a lot more stamina than the average human, and is constantly found flying from a comical attack.
Comedy: 10
Was this not expected?
Dub: C
Dub Voices: 7
I love all the voices, except for Kaolla and Kitsune. They tried too hard/exaggerated/used an annoying southern accent that grates on my nerves. Wait, did I say I loved all the voices? Actually I thought they were all just slightly above par except those two. At least the voice of Kaolla got one part right: that she should have a voice that sounds like it's from a certain country, but not quite, and thus seems indistinguishable.
Dub Music: N/A
Dub Lines: 5
Many, MANY of the lines were changed, and most of the time the effect of the actual dialogue is lost. Sometimes lines were replaced with lines that had little to do with anything, and sometimes the lines were so wrong I just lost interest. Still, it was okay once in a while to listen to to clarify a few things. I'm still wondering, though, how "Liddo-kun" translated into "Mr. Jupie"
Most of this anime, and yes, even the plot itself revolves around or is a chain of misunderstandings. This style is strangely amazing and is the cause of the comedy and addiction factor I'm feeling from it. It may not have the martial arts aspect of Ranma, and not the spacey atmosphere of Tenchi, but that may be why I like it... because it's a down-to-earth, somewhat realistic romantic comedy. Except of course when kendo girl Motoko uses her secret sword arts, and when Kaolla has all those strange gadgets around the place... but if anything that's a plus. As you may notice, there are two things I love in anime... number one is cool mystical powers (glowing kanji optional), and number two is characters with highly noticable, quirky personalities and physical differences (you know, like the hairstyle and the clothes). This anime got one, and the series lasts much less than 100 episodes, and doesn't have alternate universes, so I'd say this is perfect. Everyone, let it be known: this is my new favorite anime. I've read the manga, which is of course in many ways better, and probably longer, but the anime style definitely adds to the enjoyment quite a bit. The only problem is that the series seems a little short and hurried near the end... for some reason, the series lasts only 24 episodes.
That's my Story and I'm Sticking to it!
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