I come from a place and time where, in my childhood, it was really hard to get anime; even before DVD’s and even before high-speed internet connections, we few anime-loving friends had to do almost impossible tasks, get to know THAT one guy who happened to go God-knows-where to get his anime, and we would follow, to his house, via that OTHER guy who was friends with him. Fantastic tales we soon made, just in order to keep the moe going. Moe. . .a very powerful word, which recently got a whole new meaning, mostly because of the girls of Love Hina.

Yep, Love Hina. That one anime most of you started with because of its male-seducing Harem style, sometimes funny comedy, and overall good animation, and let’s not forget Megumi Hayashibara on those infinite-looping songs.

Although a rather not-new series, Love Hina is the equivalent of Evangelion in the Romance genre, since it brought a lot of people to anime, and has a great marketing hook: a girl for almost every guy to like and somehow, have no excuse to watch it. Even though I don’t think it’s THAT good of a show now, it is worthy of a review here at DDN.

Done by the master and overuser of the romance genre, Ken Akamatsu has done other manga (like Itsudatte My Santa!) that, if it weren’t for the title, I’d swear it would’ve been the same manga, with his characteristic and generic girl faces and uncommon-but-absurd scenarios. The anime was made in the year 2000 by Studio XEBEC. the genre(s): Romance, Comedy, School Life, and I’d say a lot of Fantasy.

STORY:

Keitaro is your below average Japanese loser protagonist; he has no social life, is freaked out by the smallest thing, and has failed his entrance exam to the famous Tokyo University. . .two times. Even though his brains might not be up for it, he’s so concerned about being admitted in THAT school because he made a promise with some childhood friend that they would meet there. See that? A dream scenario, where the goal is to be united with your promised girl. Perfect for the love-filled teenager who starts to like soap operas and happy endings. But rest assured: Although at first it looks like a great goal, real life seldom goes that way, and sometimes greater things are outside our little straightforward world.

Anyways, while he’s studying waiting for the exam date to be again, he goes to his grandmother’s all-girls dormitory where he gets to be the manager. In here he will meet all the girls from the place, and get to. . .you know . . . indirectly seduce them (like aaallllll Japanese games).

GRAPHICS:

Character design is pretty, a lot of girls have those weird hair antennae’s over their heads and on their sides. Overall, drawings are ok throughout the series.

SOUND & MUSIC:

You’ll be hearing the OP song a lot of times, throughout your anime life. You’ll hear the same song with all its remixes, all its versions, normal, instrumental, karaoke. You’ll dream this song, it will even sound in your nightmares. Then, after all that silence, when you think it’s all over, you’ll start singing too. . .

. . .

. . .

Well, all that would’ve happened to you if today were 2001 so, no worries! :)

OVERALL:

We have a series whose objective is the most banal of fanservice. Seeing one of all the girls of the dormitory in shameful and doki-doki situations with the main guy, having feelings for him, but in the end, being dumped because. . .hey girl, you know, I’m waiting for my other girl I made a promise to go to Tokyo U together even though I haven’t managed to enter in 2 years and I’m sure destiny is making her fail the same as me because she is also destined to be with me when I enter. Bullshit, dude!

Watch this only if:

1- You want to be IN because this is a popular series.

2- You want to feel the moe of Shinobu.

3- you like harem anime.

STORY:

GRAPHICS:

SOUND & MUSIC:

OVERALL:  

8 / 10 Diamonds.

If you like either Harem, or Romance anime, and you want a little comedy, watch this.