Rabu Hina

Plot synopsis:
The story is a shōnen comedy that takes place in the Kanagawa Prefecture, and centers on Keitarō Urashima and his attempts to fulfill a childhood promise that he made with a girl to enter Tokyo University together. However, he has forgotten the name of the girl he made the promise to and hopes to be accepted into Tokyo University in order to find her. Having failed the entrance exam twice and with his parents no longer willing to support him, he goes to stay at his grandmother's hotel, only to find that it has been converted into a female-only apartment. The tenants are about to kick him out when his aunt appears and announces that his grandmother has given him the title to the apartments. Much to their dismay Keitarō becomes the new manager of the family-owned girls' dorm Hinata House and must now balance his new responsibilities in addition to studying for the university entrance exam.
At Hinata House, Keitarō meets Naru Narusegawa, who is also studying to enter Tokyo University. Naru ranks first in the whole of Japan on the practice exams, and Keitarō convinces her to help him study. As the two of them grow closer through their studies, and after Keitarō accidentally reads a small section of Naru's diary, he becomes increasingly convinced that Naru may be the girl with whom he made the promise. On the second day of the Tokyo University exam, Keitarō asks Naru about the promise and is stunned when she tells him he is mistaken. Despite their studying, and Naru's mock exam results, they both fail the exams. The pair then have an argument and independently run off to Kyoto to clear their heads. While on their trip they settle their differences and meet Mutsumi Otohime, who lives in Okinawa and is also studying for the Tokyo University exams.
After returning from Kyoto, Keitarō and Naru decide to retake the exams. After a while, Mutsumi moves to Tokyo, and the three begin to study together. During this period, Naru becomes convinced that Mutsumi is Keitarō's promised girl, but Mutsumi states that she made a childhood promise with Naru, not Keitarō. During the next round of Tokyo University exams, Keitarō believes he has failed them once again and runs away before finding out his results. After learning of this, Naru chases after him without checking her exam results either, and they are followed by the rest of the residents of Hinata House who announce that Keitarō and Naru both passed the exams along with Mutsumi. Unfortunately for him, Keitarō has an accident at the Tokyo University opening ceremony and is unable to attend classes for three months. After recovering from his injuries, Keitarō decides to study overseas with Noriyasu Seta. As Keitarō is about to leave, Naru finally confesses her feelings to him at the airport and decides to wait for him to return.
When Keitarō returns, he and Naru finally begin to express their feelings for each other. After they deal with new obstacles, Grandma Hina returns to Hinata House and reveals Naru is the girl of Keitarō's promise. Four years later, a wedding ceremony (with a new girl, Ema Maeda, presented) is held at Hinata House for Naru and Keitarō as they finally fulfill their childhood promise to each other.

Tags: psychedelic, comedy, violence, flashback

Review:
I've read several Japanese manga's but none has managed to capture my heart like 'Love Hina' did.
The story is as follows: Keitaro is about to become a third year Ronin and wants to get into a high class university called Tokyo U, but he has failed so many times before he doesn't think he has a chance...
However, he neglects to tell them the real reason for why he wants to go to Tokyo U: years ago Keitaro made a promise to an anonymous girl that both of them would get into the university together.
There's Naru, the heroine of the story, who becomes Keitaro's best friend and begins to harbour a crush for him, which is mutual; Kitsune, the sly fox who often gets into trouble by getting wasted or gambling far too much; Motoko, the verging-on-psycho kendo girl who is forever trying to kill Keitaro (she, however, also has a crush on him); Shinobu, the sweet, shy and caring young girl who unlike Naru and Motoko falls in love with Keitaro almost at once, and Su the eccentric yet lovable Indian girl.
Along the way Keitaro meets other new friends, such as Mutsumi Otohime, the clumsy yet carefree girl who could be a link with Keitaro's past.Together both Keitaro and Naru vow to study hard in order to get into Tokyo U together, but they both know it won't be an easy ride.So, why should you read the manga first?
Looking for a job and a place to live, he ends up at the all-girls dorm Hinata Inn where he quickly becomes the caretaker, despite the protests of Naru Narusegawa, who, to put it mildly, isn't Keitaro's biggest fan.
Violent and hilarious comedy ensues as Keitaro must deal with his own extreme bad luck, angry girls, and an ever increasing sense that the world is against him.This is in no way fine art, but that doesn't stop the show from being absolutely impossible to stop watching.
This adaptation faithfully brings the essence of the manga to the TV screen: horny teens accidentally getting into awkward situations, lots of goofy humour, lots of violence (in 99% of the case directed towards poor Keitaro), lots of hot girls, a heart of gold and a generally surreal atmosphere.
However, if you haven't read the manga, you will be beside yourself with laughter for the first several episodes, and you will find yourself pulling for the characters throughout the series.
Motoko sounds like "Izzy" from the Digimon dub, and Shinobu and Naru, while having voices that relatively fit their characters, are acted adequately at best.
No one can squeal like this guy!So all in all, I highly recommend this series to anyone, anime fan or just a fan of good laughs.
Before I saw this anime I thought it was another attempt by an anime director to make people laugh, but after watching the first episode alone I could not turn away.This anime series is a beautiful adaptation of the original manga, although the characters all look slightly different to the way they were portrayed in the manga I must say they do look a bit batter in the series than in the manga.I particularly enjoyed episode 20 (the episode that featured the doll Moe)which made me realise just how important it is to keep the promises you make to friends and to keep them.The series also has a fantastic soundtrack which really broadens the atmosphere of the series and makes you feel part of the show.To those who have not yet seen it, you don't know what you are really missing out on.
I've seen a lot of anime at various university clubs and rented a lot from local video stores and I rank Love Hina among the best shows.
This show is well worth watching because the plot advances unlike shows like Ranma where it will take forever for the two leads to confess their love.
The residents, ranging from a shy junior high girl to a sword wielding kendo master, either like or dislike Keitaro at first, but he soon gains their friendship, despite the fact they think he's a pervert and they kick the living crap out of him at least once each episode.
There's also a romantic relationship that evolves between Keitaro and Naru, who deep inside really likes the guy (she kicks the most crap out of him, by the way).Later in the series, a love triangle develops between Keitaro, Naru, and another girl...and she might be the girl from Keitaro's past!
It's also one of the most accessible of the new series, being available for the princely sum of £20 (animation) on eBay, or available from many good book shops (in manga form).
Most animes are about 26 episodes; this, most of the time, leaves very little room for character and story development as it should be (this isn't the case with a select few, like Cowboy Bebop and Trigun); this especially applies for shows based on comics, where the characters develop slowly over time, and you enjoy every minute of it.I still recommend seeing the show, but I also, even more strongly, recommend reading the comics; the show's for laughs, the comics are for everything else..
Those aren't the most happy series and movies out there so when I saw Love Hina, this was like a relief.
At first Love Hina may look like some crazy kids show (unlike the manga) but there's so much more to it.
But never have i seen a cartoon series that i have been into so much, love hina is my favourite of all time, and it will stay that way.
The anime is identical, has filler episodes and no ending: Both the anime (i just glanced at it for confirmation) and manga are bad but the manga is a bit better done and just listen to me and Bennett the Sage as his Love Hina reviews are very funny and insightful.
I actually started to dislike the series half way through when i read it more than 10 years ago as a teenager so the art and the very first stories are the only saving grace.
Clearly following up on the success of such manga / anime projects as Ranma 1/2 and Maison Ikkoku, this series re-uses many of the same gags - misunderstandings, ill-timed intrusions, super-punches throwing characters absurd distances - to tell the story of a teen romance that follows a rocky road.
Love Hina is one of the best anime Series I Have Seen.
(which is another great anime series)!But as always, it's always better to watch animes in Japanese, because US or UK will just mess it up somehow.I admit that US take time to maintain quality graphics, but they ruin the intros and endings and sometimes the voices!UK will just mess all of that up!
I liked Love Hina , I watched the 24 episodes in the original japanese with subtitles and the voice acting is great, the story (though not incredibly original) is engaging and full of twists.
The characters are strongly defined, the animation is slick and the music suitably cute and bubbly.The only complaint I have is that in the middle of the series the writers seemed to completely forget about the storyline and added "zany" (and pointless) episodes to flesh out the show.
Though these episodes are good, they detract from the overall emotional nature of the series.I have yet to watch the series dubbed, but I have a feeling it would lose a lot through translation.
If you really want to enjoy Love Hina, I suggest switching on the subtitles and turning the american voices OFF.Overall, if you like cute anime with strong emotional overtones and a slightly geeky guy getting kicked about by girls, this one's for you.
But i still think Love Hina is good series to watch and you should check it out.
Excellent Anime......Not Bad. Wow, this is a very good anime, this anime has lots of comedy, lots of love and relationship, lots of beautiful characters, and lots of breath-taking scenes.I got interested of watching this anime last year, because the way the story goes, gives you a very good story and explanation, so I had to get a try watching it, although I didn't know what channel has this program and when will it be on, so I just read the story about it.
Until I found out that you can watch episode by the internet, so I gave it a try,i've only watched episode 21 and it got me laughing badly because of the guy Keitaro always gets smashed by his love Naru.....Yep, funny story.
When I finished watching the 21st episode of Love Hina, my brain just wanted me to watch it again and again and again or watch a different episode.This love anime isn't just about 5 girls and 1 boy working in a Hotel and studying at Japan Uni, its about how we can love one another and be one another, well a bit of smack in the bum though, but not only the series of love-hina 2000 TV series, people who have very difficult relationships like men or women, well, this anime can give you a very good example of how you can take care of your lovelife and (how you can smash each other if your lovelife is going to go way off the line.
- Hehe, nah I'm just joking.) Anyways thats why I put the brackets so you know I'm just joking.I recommend that this Show "Love Hina" is one of best animes I've seen, its super addictive, and super cool.If you haven't seen Love Hina, watch it now or rent it on DVD so it will make you keep laughing at home all day, if not, mate, your missing whats there.
It's a great mix of teen comedy and romance, which is pretty far removed from the usual science fiction, horror, and fantasy trappings of the Anime' I'm usually accustomed to watching on a regular basis.The series concerns Keitaro Urashima, who unexpectedly becomes the manager of an all-girls dormitory after failing the entrance exam to get into Tokyo University twice.
His desire to get into Tokyo University is spurred on by a promise Keitaro made to his childhood sweetheart: they would both enter Tokyo University upon their graduation from high school and live happily ever after afterward, but the problem is that the young girl moved away and he forgot what her name was and what she looked like (I find it hard to imagine forgetting the name/face of your one true love, but please just bear with the series).He goes to his grandmother's apartment building to try to cram for the upcoming entrance exam, but unfortunately he doesn't realize until the last minute that he's been hired out to be the manager of the apartment building (which also simultaneously takes care of his housing and employment problems, since he no longer has to worry about finding a job and paying any rent), which is now a hotel and is also now an all-girls dormitory.
Hilarity ensues as he adjusts to rooming with five other beautiful teenage girls, taking care of their every need, cramming for the university entrance exam, and also trying to find his long-lost first love.Keitaro Urashima is one of my newfound heroes in Japanese Anime'.
Such romantically-impaired shy-guys such as Keitaro are such a common staple in Japanese animation that they can become a dime a dozen, but this kid is different.
"Love Hina" is just utterly hilarious with a truly believable and three-dimensional lead character such as Keitaro Urashima.The other five women are also quite colorful, and, of course, very beautiful; Naru Narusegawa, the chief female resident who also aspires to enter into Tokyo University, seems to secretly have the hots for Keitaro (while also inflicting the worst physical punishment upon him); another, Kaolla Su, is a hyper-active toy-collecting obsessive/inventor who always walks around the apartments barefoot all the time; Motoko Aoyama is an insecure, yet tough-as-nails man-hating Kendo master; Mitsune Konno seems to be the highly flirtatious Japanese equivalent of a Southern belle; and the shy, quiet junior high school student Shinobu Maehara - the youngest female of the bunch - also happens to be an excellent cook.
Unlike a lot of similar-themed Anime', there is no explicit nudity in this show from the presence of these female characters, but if it was released in the United States as a live-action movie, it would definitely get a "PG-13" rating (and a "TV-14" rating if it were ever aired on U.S. cable television).Based upon the hugely popular Manga series by Ken Akamatsu, "Love Hina" is a welcome delight for any Anime' fan, especially for those looking for something different from the usual run-of-the-mill sci-fi, fantasy, and horror stuff.
Madcap wacky boy-meets-girls adventure with a sweet romantic twist follows in one of the better romance comedy anime series out there.More an ensemble piece than other shows of this genre, its main selling point is definitely the characters.
Keitaro is THE guy that the intended target audience (single male who wastes his life either studying or watching anime like this) would die to be.
But no romance would be right without a proper love triangle and we get that in the form of Mutsumi Otohime, a simple but adorable ditz introduced later, who claims to be Keitaro's childhood friend.Though the central story is sort of a coming of age thing for Keitaro and the surreal love story, each of the other girls are given ample development of their very own character arcs.
Definitely "cleaner" than other shows of similar genre, Love Hina is a fun filled gem of a series filled with drama, romance and crazy comedy complete with giant robot turtles, mysterious island kingdoms and a little bit of magic..
Love Hina is an o.k. anime.
I know there are a lot of people don't like these kind of series.
Good anime series, I have watched all the 25 eps twice and now Love Hina Again OVA.
Love Hina is a great series.
It is highly entertaining, with some of my favorite characters of any anime that I have seen.
this is a great example of a series that has boosted its potential through a good soundtrack.The story is well written and is at times faithful to the manga, although i personally disliked the Moe-chan episode.
It may not be as good as the comic, but it's one of the most entertaining animé I've ever seen.As you may already know, Love Hina is a romantic, slapstick-comedy, drama.
Love Hina was the first anime I've seen in years, and it was the best I've ever seen.
As a long time fan of Anime I have seen many series.
The characters and stories are some of the best and funniest stuff I've seen in a long time.The story is Keitaro makes a promise to a girl in a sand box that they will meet again at Tokyo University.
Actually there are 6 girls in Keitaro's life as Mitsumi who doesn't live at the Hinata Inn is almost Naru's double, she is also much like Keitaro himself, forgetful and clumsy.
I rate Love Hina up there with my other favorite anime series Gundam and Urusei Yatsura..
I personally find it funny, but not awesome: I had a good time laughing with some scenes and situations, but there is not any kind of innovation in this anime that makes it special like Evangelion, for example.It is a romantic comedy, but it is full of provocative scenes, where Keitaro always get problems with his clumsy and shy personality.
I read basically the whole manga, but I didn't see all the anime episodes to say all the differences between then both.Keitaro is a 20 year old guy who dreams to be accepted in the excellent University of Tokyo in order to fulfill a childhood promise.
OF course, being a manager for a place like that, he will start to meet all the girls that are going to be part of the plot in special Naru, the girl he has more feelings for, but as any Japanese romantic comedy, they only will declare to each other their true feelings close to the end..
Protagonist Keitaro is determined to get into the prestigious Tokyo University no matter how many times he has to re-sit the entrance exam because of a promise he made to a girl when he was a child even though he hasn't seen her in years and can't even remember her name.
The residents aren't too pleased to have a man in the building; especially as he got off to a bad start by bathing in the hot spring and startling Naru Narusegawa; a girl who is also trying to qualify for Tokyo University inevitably they are convinced that he is a pervert!What follows is a fairly madcap comedy with plenty of misunderstandings between Keitaro and the girls most of which end up with him being punched so hard he flies hundreds of feet into the air!
As the story progresses it grows clear that Keitaro has feelings for Naru, but he is far too shy to tell her, and she starts to like him too, although she refuses to admit it; even to herself.
It might sound like a standard harem comedy but the only characters Keitaro shows any interest in are Naru and late arrival Mutsumi and that is only because he believes the latter to be the girl he made the promise to.I suspect this will be a love it or loathe it series; personally I loved it.
I mean that it has good stories, characters that feel real, and will make you want to see the next one.And that is saying something, considering I am a 37 year old man!Love Hina is a cartoon from Japan, that was broadcast on the commercial TV stations in 2000.