Series Name:  Love Hina

"It’s like a love simulator game" is the way a friend first described this series to me. Other then that I had no idea what to expect of this series. I mean, most anime that I’ve watched has been either classics like Record of Lodoss War, or something cerebral like Evangelion or Serial Experiment Lain. A love story? Could I handle watching something like that?

The great thing about not knowing what to expect from an anime is that sometimes you can be pleasantly surprised. This is one of those anime. From the beginning of the story you never get the idea that this is some epic love story along the lines of Romeo and Juliet, but it’s actually pretty good. The whole series is pretty much about a teenager named Keitaro who made a promise to a girl when he was about 5 years old. The two promised that they’d meet at Tokyo University together someday, and they’d both attend that school together and live happily ever after. Keitaro, grew up, always thinking of that promise, but somehow forgot the girl’s name. All he had left was the memory of the kiss she gave him, and the image of her leaving.

That’s where the story pretty much starts, and soon you’re introduced to many of the casts unique characters. First you have other students Narusegawa (Naru for short) and Mutsumi, who are also trying to get into Tokyo U. These two end up being Keitaro’s main love interests as he believe’s one of them to be the one he made the promise to. You also have the scheming Kitsune, the sword wielding Motoko, the very wild Su, and the shy and quiet Shinobu. The great thing is that even though many of the characters of quite standard, with the exception of Mutsumi, they’re just so well done you don’t mind. Each character is not a flat character persona, and all of them lend themselves to the story in some regard. Not one character is left out of the story which is great.

One part of the story which seems sort of odd, is the old men. Often enigmatic, their presence, to me is needed. They often speak words of truth, and lend a bit or ‘cerebralness’ to the story. Nothing close to Evangelion or Lain, but just enough to make you have to think.

Lastly, just a quick mentioning of the music in this series. I’d have to say that it’s not bad, and for the love of GOD! don’t let that theme song get stuck in your head. Not that its bad, it’s just waaaay too catchy, and is actually well composed, except for some weird noise they have in the background which sort of makes it seem that it was encoded at poor quality. Everything else is often intrumental and lends itself to the mood. The music for the whole Naru the pop star, though not in my musical interest, is not bad either.

Overall, I’d have to say that this is probably one of my favourite series that I’ve watched. Though not the best, it was a pleasant surprised and a lot of fun it to watch. And yes, this was my first anime of this sort (excluding Ranma ½, but that’s not really in the same vain as this in terms of being a love story.) Though I can’t say this is for everybody, most people should give this a try.

NiceGuy