****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Love Hina, surprisingly very well-known among all anime fans, has finally made its way here to America. A series spanning 14 manga volumes, 24 episodes, 2 specials, 1 oav (episode 25), and the soon to be released in Japan, Love Hina Again (3 episode OAV).The series stars a helpless 20 year old ronin (a person who didn't pass the college exams) named Keitarou Urashima. Throughout high school, he never got really good grades and never had a girl friend, yet one of his earliest childhood memories was of a girl. The memory was very vague but he remembered that they made a promise to go to Tokyo University together because if two people in love get accepted, they will be definitely be happy forever. His whole reason for going to Tokyo University was for that promise and the only girl he really loved even thought he doesn't even remember who she was. Well in the present day, Keitarou decided he needed to get out of the house so he decides to go to his grandmother's Hinata Inn which to his surprise is now a female dormitory. This starts his lucky life with many beautiful women and possibly, one of them could be the girl he made the promise to.The packaging of this DVD frankly turns me off. If I had never seen Love Hina or had never heard about it and just saw it on the rack, I probably would not buy it. The logo Bandai made up looks really ancient and something from the 70s or something. The pose and expression of Keitarou and Naru on the cover of the DVD does not suit them. While they do this for the comical scenes and where they are annoyed with each other, the way they are remembered by fans is the subtle naivety of their feelings for each other which was expressed in the Japanese DVD covers which I hoped that Bandai would use or something to that effect. For this reason, I made my own DVD cover as a replacement. The DVD Series Box that comes with this DVD looks okay. I wouldn't say it was as special as the Cowboy Bebop box. The Japanese DVD Box used manga art which I didn't think fit too well so by using the anime art for the english box was a good idea.The music of this anime is amazing as well. The opening and ending are performed by Megumi Hayashibara who plays the role of Haruka Urashima (Keitarou's Aunt). They put in song what the series about: both the comedic and dramatic appeal. Some of the BGMs are amazing and even all the voice actors lend a hand to create some character vocals that do get shown in the anime.Love Hina is an anime that isn't necessarily for everyone. It deals with minor perversion multiple times but never really shows any nudity. So if you're a person that knows they are offended by this, then this anime might not be for you. To me, what makes this anime special is the fact that it gives me a light-hearted feeling after I finish watching each episode. Each character has his/her own depth that you can relate to. It's humorous, sorrowful, dramatic, all at the same time. Ken Akamatsu (Creater of Love Hina manga) made perfect characters and an amazing story as well. This is a definite must-buy.
