Monday, September 19, 2016

Love Hina Part 5 Episodes 21-25


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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