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Title: Love Hina vol 1 - Moving In
UK Distributor:
MVM (DVD Only)
BBFC Certificate: PG
Suggested Retail Price (SRP): £17.99
Episodes: 1-4 (of 26)
Audio Options: English 2.0, Japanese 2.0
Subtitles: English
Reviewer: Rich (Webmaster)
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A romantic comedy about a geeky young man who suddenly ends
up surrounded by beautiful women who all seem to fancy him. No, this isn’t
Tenchi (although it is driven by the same generic idea), it’s Love Hina.
Bespectacled student Keitaro Urushima has a dream. That dream is to get into
Tokyo University. This is all because of a promise made fifteen years previously
to his first love that they would meet in the aforementioned academic
establishment. Unfortunately Keitaro is crap at exams and fails the entrance
tests on several occasions. His cause is further complicated when he takes over
from his grandmother as manager of an all girls apartment building populated by
anime stereotypes.
Although hideously clichéd (the whole geeky bloke surrounded by beautiful women
fantasy has been done so many times before) with completely generic characters
(Samurai girl Motoko and timid schoolgirl Shinobu being prime examples) Love
Hina is by no means bad.
In fact it’s very good. The whole hackneyed premise is revitalised with such
verve and charm that it’s impossible not to like it, and the clichéd characters
are so much more believable than in similar series such as Tenchi. There is also
a great sense of humour which doesn’t just rely on cheap laughs from the main
character walking in on female characters when they are changing (although this
does happen a lot).
There are many points to praise Love Hina on, the animation and art is superb,
as is the music (in particular the title theme), and the characters may be
clichéd but they are also likeable. The humour is varied and often hilarious and
some extremely bizarre occurrences prevent the plot from getting bogged down in
drama. However, it does occasionally drop back into cliché and sometimes doesn’t
rescue itself quick enough. This is a shame as it can occasionally get immensely
cheesy and contrived.
Luckily this doesn’t really detract too much from it and I have yet to watch an
episode of it I did not enjoy.
All in all Love Hina manages to capture some of the tender romance of Rumiko
Takahashi’s Maison Ikkoku and combine it with the humour of Urusei Yatsura and
occasionally the insanity of Excel Saga, leaving a frequently funny, sometimes
moving, but above all entertaining series that shows Tenchi how it’s done.
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