Just as Keitaro is about to tackle his entrance exams
again and maybe confess his feelings for Naru, a huge revelation rocks the
Hinata Inn. Keitaro is not only torn
between a promise to a certain girl and his feelings for another, but when his
grandmother returns from her trip, his time as manager might be at an end. Luckilly, Keitaro’s actually formed a life
long bond with the Hinata’s occupants and they aren’t ready to let go of their
manager without a fight. Is this the end
of the happy times at Hinata Hot Springs? Or is this the beginning of better
times to come?
You know, after 24 episodes of slapstick and humor, ive
finally reached a conclusion, something ive known for a while but haven’t
really been able to say when it comes to this show…I don’t like Naru. There are plenty of violent couples in Anime
that get into disagreements through extreme misunderstandings. My favorite of these couples is Kaname
Chidori and Sosuke Sagara from Full Metal Panic. Kaname may be prone to violent outbursts and
slapping Sousuke around with a fan and fist…but she grows as a character, has
great inner strength and never jumps to conclusions that often. And also, if im being honest, the humor of
Full Metal Panic is way better than Love Hina.
Naru Narusegawa may be a looker but it’s hard to see why Keitaro puts up
with her. All she has done for most of
this series is shout at him, punch him, belittle him and do very little to earn
his affection besides being possibly linked to a childhood promise. Hell, she
even berates her little sister, Mei, before hearing that her little sister just
misses her and wants to come home, no underlying reasons whatsoever. I understand being unable to admit ones
feelings is a constant trope in Anime and is saved usually for the end of the
series. To be honest, it’s worn on me a
bit and by the time we got to the final act, I was kind of done with Naru and
Keitaro’s love problems. Worse yet,
Mitsume is an even worse pick for Keitaro.
So it’s kind of a loss/loss for the poor guy even if Naru does get her
act together by the end.
Speaking of the end, Love Hina has no ending in the TV
seires, more like a bookmark. I know
that the story is concluded in a set of OVA sequels but I don’t really like it
when Anime series make this kind of move.
I was alright with it for Eden of the East but while the series had a
brilliant stop point, the movies were not as good. So leaving Naru and Keitaro’s relationship
unresolved, along with Keitaro’s quest to get into Tokyo U, feels like a
complete let down. So we’re left with
the Hinata crew reuniting and that’s pretty much it. It is nice to know the gang is sticking
together though. The supporting cast
shined more than the core couple in these final episodes. Motoko, Sarah, Kitsune, Su and Shinobu all
acknowledged how much they’ve changed around Keitaro and need to have him
around (personally I don’t think Shinobu has done much since she got to Hinata
but she did admit she’s changed so I had to include her there). Even Seta stepped up, at Sarah’s request no
less, to beat some sense into Keitaro. With
friends like these, it makes the trip to Hinata all the more special…it just
sucks most of these guys have been background a lot in favor of a romance that
has had no real payoff.
So there is a bonus episode on the DVD set that I have and
while it doesn’t offer any additional conclusion to the story, it is pretty
much what ive loved most about Love Hina.
It’s a side story focused on Motoko and the arrival of her sister. That means a lot of swordplay, demon
exorcisms and some fun with the potential pairing of Motoko and Keitaro, which
I’ll admit is much better than Keitaro and Naru. Motoko has always been my favorite of the
girls at the Hotsprings, well maybe she ties with the always entertaining
Su. I also think she’s gone through the
most change in the whole series. This
was a girl who absolutely despised the idea of Keitaro becoming Manager of her
home. We’ve since seen her confide in
him and Keitaro trust his life to Motoko when her sword is drawn. If anything, these two deserve each other
more than what the show wants us to root for.
She also gets a maid outfit in this episode and it’s as cute as you
expect. And yes, Motoko’s sister is just
as scary (and hot) as you’d expect and it is awesome. I don’t know why this episode got placed in
this order but at least we got to see it.
Also, because this is pretty much an OVA episode, the animation quality
is better than any episode in the entire 24 episode run ive watched.
Ok, time for final thoughts. Well this series is not as
good as I remember. Keitaro may have a
lot of heart but Naru pushed my patience way too much. Why she and Keitaro end up working is a
mystery to me. She’s cute, that’s all
she really has going for her. Everyone
else in the show shined a lot brighter (except Shinobu cause she had so little
to do). Motoko and Su deserve their own
spin off and even characters like Sarah and Mei grew on me once they got their
situations worked out. But while their
stories were good, about 60% of this series is Naru beating the crap out of
Keitaro when her tries to profess his feelings.
Granted others beat the crap out of him just as hard but he’s not in
love with them, hence my source of entertainment. When the supporting cast got the central
spotlight, this show worked. When it was
on Naru and Keitaro, I was done.
This was a bit of a change of pace for the blog. It may be a while before I do another title
like this. But I’m glad I got through
it. I remember what I liked about it and
found things I don’t think too fondly of.
Ergo, I’ll give Love Hina a final score of:
6/10
If the OVA’s ever find their way into my possession (the
Christmas and Spring specials and Love Hina Again), I promise ill review them
to wrap the story up. For now, we’re
back to normal next week. Black Lagoon is back for it’s third
(and as of right now final) season, Roberta’s
Blood Trail. And in two weeks we get
into the spooky Halloween spirit with the early 2000’s edition of Hellsing. Hope you’re as excited as I am.
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