Do You Love Or Loathe Love Hina?

[Chad Bonin]

I've found that people either tend to love or hate this series. What's your opinion, and why?

I love it; got all the volumes of the manga and just picked up Perfect Collection.

Why? I can freakin' connect to Keitaro, all the characters are likable, and it's just got a good solid love story.

[Conekiller]

I find it decent. A fun read (althought the anime feels kinda vapid) and a neet art style.

Mutsumi rules!

[Classic Speedy]

I've never seen it, but judging from some screenshots, it's heavy on the hot spring scenes, correct? :sweat: I know the Perfect Collection just came out, but at $100, it will have to wait for a while. A LONG WHILE.

[Arxane]

I found the anime series thoroughly mediocre, if not worse. The main character, to me, had zero personality, and the running gag of him accidentally putting himself in embarrassing situations got tired really, really quickly. The girls themselves weren't any better, representing a set of stock characters with no depth. Not to mention I found many of the episodes to be mind-numbingly cliche, and the love story had very little subtstance.

Of course, this is just what I think. I didn't find it bad enough to be considered the worst anime of all time, but this is a series I'd prefer to stay away from.

No opinion on the manga series.

[Invader_Spooch]

Not a fan of it, though I'm sure that was obvoius given my track record.

I'm not big on harem anime (Tenchi Muyo was the only one I really liked), and fanservice is a big turnoff for me with an anime (mainly when it is done in a tasteless manner and haults the show just to show off some T & A. It can ruin an otherwise okay show for me).

I find the manga-ka a bit too lecherous for my liking (based off of what I've read of Love Hina, AI Love you, and Nagima). That, and his characters are very bland and the writing is piss-poor IMO.

Overall, a "meh" product that wouldn't bug me so much if not for the crazy amounts of fanservice.

[TnAdct1]

The show is one of those series in which your opinion on an episode depends on whether or not you like the character. For instance, one reason why I haven't picked up the Summer Special DVD or Love Hina Again is because the disc's main focus is on Keitaro and Naru, who are the two weakest characters in the show IMO. However, I do like the episodes that focus on the other girls and ones in which there's an ensemble cast story (i.e. the Saiyuki episode).

[Strollymonster]

I hate to admit it, but the anime is my guilty pleasure...one of those things I know that I shouldn't like, but can't help myself. From what I've read of the manga (i.e. an hour of reading them in a Barnes and Noble), it seems that manga's better than the anime.

Oh well, I like it, even if I do recognize it's a mediocre series...:zim:

[bladeliger]

I love the series. For some reason I just couldn't stop watching the anime or put the manga down. I know it's not the greatest anime/manga created but it was just entertaining.


Why? I can freakin' connect to Keitaro, all the characters are likable, and it's just got a good solid love story.And ya, I'm totally with you. I've never connected more with a character in any story than with Keitaro (personality wise, and looks wise surprisingly). I've got close to the same luck with the ladies that he had, except I don't get hit by them. Hopefully, by the time I'm his age, I can get as lucky as him (just preferably with some girl of legal age ;) )

[Jude Santos]

I've never seen it, but judging from some screenshots, it's heavy on the hot spring scenes, correct? :sweat: I know the Perfect Collection just came out, but at $100, it will have to wait for a while. A LONG WHILE.
That's actually a GREAT price. You'd save $30 if bought online, $60 if you bought the series at Best Buy as individual dvd's and $90 if you bought the individual volumes at retail.

Anyhow, LOATHE the anime, LOVE the manga. Toning down of the fanservice and weird character designs ruin the anime.

[Umino]

The art was good. Everything else sucks.

[KWKeller]

I saw the anime first and really liked it. Then I read the manga (that's $140 right there before tax), found that I loved the manga, and then made the mistake of watching the series again. The series was good on its own, but when compared to the manga, it just seemed...inferior. That, and Motoko is so much prettier in the manga (she even better looking than Kagura, by current avatar. I need to find a good head shot of Motoko) than she was in the anime. The only part of the manga I didn't care for was Kanako, she's just disturbing.

[Classic Speedy]

That's actually a GREAT price. You'd save $30 if bought online, $60 if you bought the series at Best Buy as individual dvd's and $90 if you bought the individual volumes at retail. Hmm, I did not know that. Cool. Even so, Best Buy (the actual store, not the online version) no longer sells the individual volumes of Love Hina anyway- it's JUST the boxset. Atleast not at the one I go to. So it's not like I would have a choice if I were to ever buy it.

Plus, seeing as how most people say it's inferior to the manga, I'm pretty reluctant to plunk down $100 for a series I have never seen and have heard bad things about. :shrug:

[Lord Dalek]

Akamatsu's a hack. That is all.

[Beefy]

Haven't seen the anime.

Haven't read the manga.

No plans to in the forseeable future.

[Weatherman]

No plan to ever read the manga and I lothe the anime with a passion. I might not be so hard on it if it wern't held up on such a pedestal by certain people, so I'm going to be rather inflexible on my opinion.

I found it to be crude, stupid, hormonaly imbalanced dreck of the first order. Sex jokes and a never ending barage of low-minded stupidity do not substitute for character development or plot unless you're doing a 3 shot OVA or something. And even then they really don't do the job ala Eiken.

[Karl Olson]

There have been funnier and smarter (Onegai Teacher, Tenchi Muyo, Tenchi Universe, Midori no Hibi,) shonen romances than Love Hina, so I really don't care for it whatsoever.

[Tak Mazé]

I've only seen episodes 1-10 subbed. I enjoyed it but not so much as other series. Just funny the with all the comic punches :P
But yah, there's nothing too great about it.

[Killtacular]

I don't like any anime whose sense of humor is pinned to the generic realms of "EHHHHHHHH???? *BUG EYES*" and "WHAT DID YOU SAAYYYYYY????? *ANGRY EYES*"

[Zechs]

Look throught sevral volumes of the manga and didn't care for it.

[raykremer]

It's not the best or most groundbreaking thing out there, but I liked the anime well enough. Haven't picked up the manga version yet.

[Yuniku]

:Di love love hina. i have all the manga volumes and it was the first manga that i read, it's funny,romantic, and funny! though i havent seen the anime,but i would like to soon.My fav. characters were Keitaro and tama-chan(he's so cute:p ).

[Yash]

I saw a few eps subbed, it came off as a "Meh". Didn't like it, didn't hate it, not interested enough to go out and find it.

[True Noir]

Love Hina was pretty entertaining the first time I watched it so I just think it's a pretty interesting anime. That's all. I don't dislike it.

[Tak Mazé]

I saw a few eps subbed, it came off as a "Meh". Didn't like it, didn't hate it, not interested enough to go out and find it.
I feel the same way. Doesn't compare to Tenchi :D, but Love Hina is just so-so.

[AstroNerdBoy]

I liked the series for what it was -- a harem romantic comedy. The anime is fun for some easy entertainment. I can see why folks got annoyed with Naru and Keitaro (her always blowing him away with her fists, and he always managing to be in situations where he accidently sees the girls naked, undressing, or where he accidently grabs them and removes articles of clothing).

I found the manga to be better than the anime as a whole. THe part where Ken-sensei adds Keitaro's step sister was BAD though. Even discounting the whole insest angle, she just brought the whole series to a halt. It was a "jump the shark" moment. However, the epilog chapter of the manga was nice.

[Yuniku]

I feel the same way. Doesn't compare to Tenchi :D, but Love Hina is just so-so.

:D TENCHI!!!:D

[LightShadow1890]

I saw 12 episodes of the anime. I like it. It's funny to me. :)

[Tak Mazé]

:D TENCHI!!!:D
Believe it or not, Tenchi was the first anime I ever seen ^_^ I didn't even know what the word Anime meant at the time. It remains to be one of my favorites! :D And now I have the opportunity to buy it at the video shop! Which is rare cuz we hardly get anything decent around here v_v

Anyways, I'm gonna watch the rest of the Love Hina series, cuz I am finding it entertaining for now.

[AstroNerdBoy]

One really can't compare "Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki" to "Love Hina". TM!R is the father of the harem genre (as best as I can tell), but while LH's story is about Naru and Keitaro finally becoming a couple, TM!R's story is a VERY deep one and all about Tenchi. The harem aspects are there for humor's sake and keeps the series from taking itself too seriously. TM!R is my favorite anime title to date and I'm looking forward to seeing episode 18 of the series when it comes out in Japan. I can't wait to buy the R1 release and give FUNimation some of my hard earned money!

[Luna]

I liked the manga(there was too much fanservice for my liking,but the romantic scenes were cute,and Kaolla Su is funny,esp. when she's trying to eat Tama-chan)....but I've never seen the anime,and don't really intend to(I've heard the anime's not as good,and while I liked the manga,it's not something I liked so much I have to see it animated)...

[Evil Dr. Reef]

A thoroughly mediocre harem show that's idolized and worshiped by half the anime community. That's all it is, and all it will ever be. Love Hina is the anime equivalent of the movie 'Equilibrium'; it doesn't suck, but the more you hear about how UNBELIEVABLY FUNNY AND AWESOME AND FUNNY AND CUTE it is, the more you hate it. That said, if I had to pick out an anime series that I hate the most out of every anime series ever made, Love Hina would be that series. A friend of mine is one of the goofy uber-fans, and I actually sat down with him once to watch the entire mess, all the way through, including the horrendous movies. I think that if there was ever a time I've come close to actually killing myself, the half hour or so after I finished watching Keitaro dick up trying to get with whats-her-face for the MILLION BILLIONTH ****ING TIME and screwing it up and looking like a perv for the MILLIONTH BILLIONTH ****ING TIME was it. Fortunately, I went home after that, and had a good long sob for humanity, now that this animated abortion had been released upon it. I still get in heated debates* about why the show is crap with him on occasion, and he still defends it to the bitter end. I just don't get it.


*As heated as an anime debate can get, anyway.

[sKorpia]

In the camp that doesn't like it much. I saw the first DVD and by the time Keitaro left in the snow, I was hoping he'd die so that the girls would see what they'd done and maybe feel remorse for their shameless treatment of him. The one joke that they have wore thin after the second time it was used. I don't mind the girl overreacting and having some physical comedy in there (like Kaoru in RK) but not every episode and certainly not 2 or 3 or 4 times in a single one. If guys walk away from this believing that girls are violent, illogical creatures who willfully refuse to acknowledge the truth and are incapable of keeping their temper and acting reasonably, I don't blame them. Most of the time, I'm still curious about how things end up but with Love Hina, I couldn't force myself to sit through the rest of the series to find out. It was just too painful.

[kaine23]

I've never seen it, but judging from some screenshots, it's heavy on the hot spring scenes, correct? :sweat: I know the Perfect Collection just came out, but at $100, it will have to wait for a while. A LONG WHILE.
I saw the Perfect Collection at Besy Buy yesterday. Box setup reminds me of that of the bootleg booksets you can get in Chinatown.

[Juu-kuchi]

I used to like Love Hina, but now I loathe it. There were a few interesting episodes in the series, but in the end nobody changed or developed characters. They reflect the shallow premise that the series' atmosphere bases itself on, and in the end I got tired of it after seeing every episode, special, and even OAV series.

Stupid stupid STUPID show. However...

Kitsune > You

[AstroNerdBoy]

Nobody grew in LH? What about Naru? In the series (manga and anime), she came to love Keitaro despite not wanting to. She was always attacking Keitaro for his flaws, but in part, it was because she hated the flaws within herself. In spite of everything, Keitaro still manages to get into Toudai. Mokoto comes to respect Keitaro because he is an honorable person.

Now, LH isn't a top-10 series for me and I may be a bit biased because it was the 3rd or 4th anime titles I watched. I certainly understand people getting tired with the Naru-punch jokes or the Keitaro-fumbles jokes. Since I know the series is just a light-hearted harem romantic comedy, I'm not bothered by it.

[Duke]

I like it, but it's not one of my favs (still collected all the DVDs, though).

The Christmas Movie has become a yearly tradition now. :P

[Elven Moon]

I like the art style (save for maybe the huge boobs), but I hated the show. And the manga was no better, if not worse. I hate fanservicey shows like that.

[Hatter]

Please don't just Love Hina on the anime alone. It's a average series, but it doesn't compare to the manga. At all.

I dunno, maybe I'm so attached to LH because, like Keitaro, I'm also a 20-year-old geek, trying to get an education, with a poor track record with girls. Whenever I feel depressed, I read some Love Hina and I'm instantly in a good mood. The characters are all so wonderful - realistic and at the same time cartoonish and amusing. The fanservice never bothered me, because it's always done for a laugh and a wee thrill. It's never creepy.

As lame as this sounds, Love Hina holds a special place in my heart.

[JetMaster5]

Meh, I found Akamatsu's current work, Negima, at fifth volume, twice as good than the entire volumes of Love Hina. But LH manga was good. I also related to Keitaro big time and I could certainly love the adventures his group went through. The only problem was the aforementioned repetition of events. But it was just a fun series, so I couldn't call it a great work or something like that.

Never saw the anime.

[LordByronius]

Um, so sorry, but the "OMG THE MANGA IS WAAYYYY BETTER THAN THE ANIME!!!" argument doesn't really apply to Love Hina.

Akamatsu can draw cute chicks, no doubt. But he kinda sucks at basic things like "characterization" and "comedy."

[Kouji Tamino]

...Then how come I can relate to a few characters and found myself laughing? People have different tastes, and there is no right or wrong opinion of a series unless it is sincerely bad, which Love Hina isn't. While it's not the best, it's certainly not the worst. In fact, Love Hina bashing has been getting so common lately at other message boards I've been to, it's getting as annoying as all of the praise the series gets, too. While I'm a big fan of the series, it is a bit overrated. But still, I think it's a decent series that also doesn't deserve all the flack it gets, too... I mean, some of the criticisim I've read is just brutal...

[Keldran]

I enjoy the anime and manga. However I have nothing but contempt for the fans who think Love Hina is the best ever, in any category.

[Andrew T. Hingson]

Yeah Duke it's a tradition because the Christmas movie isn't worth watching more than once a year. :sweat:

I LOVE Love Hina (or as I like to put it... I LOVE Hina) especially Naru (my dream anime girl), Mutsumi and Keitaro (I feel for the looser). I originally saw it subbed and found it quite entertaining. Then I heard the dub... and I wanted to rip off my ears alla Piccolo in DBZ movie 4 (but I'm not a Namek... so that wasn't gonna work). Then I discovered the manga and it BY FAR is the way to go. It's got wonderful art and is quite entertaining.

Sure it's not brilliant or ground breaking but it is a fun read / watch and it has likable and wacky characters.

It's one of my fav's and my other guilty pleasure (the main one being Fruits Basket).

[Duke]

Yeah Duke it's a tradition because the Christmas movie isn't worth watching more than once a year. :sweat:
Bah. The X-Mas Movie rocks...except for the last 30 seconds or so before the credits.

My favorites are Mutsumi (who always cracks me up) and Shinobu (who's so adorable!).

[Chad Bonin]

Gotta like Kitsune and Shinobu.

I'm not sure where the hate for the dub stems from. I'm up to episode four, and while the voices don't exactly match my mental voice from the manga, it's not as if they're "Sonic The Movie" horrible.

Kitsune sounds rightfully redneck, Shinobu sounds young yet more shy (Sad, but I don't think the animé ever covered the "Shinobu gets drunk and goes out with Keitaro" storyline).

[shikamaru]

I hate love hina... to me its like tenchi muyo. every time i hear tenchi muyo i want to poke a pencil in my hand. i love mushy anime but love hina was bad.
Fruits basket is waaaaaaaaaayyyy better.
curses you Tenchi muyo

[AstroNerdBoy]

Gotta like Kitsune and Shinobu.

I'm not sure where the hate for the dub stems from. I'm up to episode four, and while the voices don't exactly match my mental voice from the manga, it's not as if they're "Sonic The Movie" horrible.

Kitsune sounds rightfully redneck, Shinobu sounds young yet more shy (Sad, but I don't think the animé ever covered the "Shinobu gets drunk and goes out with Keitaro" storyline).
Have you seen this in Japanese? If not, watch it in Japanese and you'll see good voice acting. Watch it in English, and it makes ones skin craw (or it did for me). "Love Hina" dub put me off dubs completely.


I hate love hina... to me its like tenchi muyo. every time i hear tenchi muyo i want to poke a pencil in my hand. i love mushy anime but love hina was bad.
Fruits basket is waaaaaaaaaayyyy better.
curses you Tenchi muyo
I love Furuba, but I'm curious what you don't like about "Tenchi Muyo"? Actually, are you talking about the OAV or the "Tenchi Universe" TV series?

[Duke]

I hate love hina... to me its like tenchi muyo. every time i hear tenchi muyo i want to poke a pencil in my hand. i love mushy anime but love hina was bad.
Fruits basket is waaaaaaaaaayyyy better.
curses you Tenchi muyoFruits Basket and Love Hina are completely different. The former is a dramady (Mostly drama with comedy on the side), and the other is a...uh...coama? (Comedy with a little drama on the side).

[Andrew T. Hingson]

Love Hina's dub isn't the worst out there but it sure isn't the best either and Keitaro... ugh... Bad choice Bang Zoom!

[Chad Bonin]

Have you seen this in Japanese? If not, watch it in Japanese and you'll see good voice acting. Watch it in English, and it makes ones skin craw (or it did for me). "Love Hina" dub put me off dubs completely. Yes, I've listened to the Japanese dub... and it's completely pointless to listen to a dub in a different language. I can't get a feeling or appreciate a job when I have no idea what they're saying.

[LordByronius]

Love Hina's dub isn't the worst out there but it sure isn't the best either and Keitaro... ugh... Bad choice Bang Zoom!
Actually, the Love Hina dub was put together by Production I.G. themselves.

Hence why it sucks.

[Umino]

Gotta like Kitsune and Shinobu.
Really? I find them, kinda boring. Kitsune is a cliche-always-drunk type of character, and Shinobu or rather 'Dish Washer Shinobu' is just plain, bland, boring.

The characters in Love Hina just aren't too great, nor special. Keitaro is worst than even Shinji. Naru, and Motoko are the Queen B**ches from hell. And Su is funny, but you have to wonder why she looks such much like Ed.

[Bubblegum Girl]

I haven't seen/read Love Hina so I wouldn't really know if I love it or hate it. :sweat:

[raykremer]

Fruits Basket and Love Hina are completely different. The former is a dramady (Mostly drama with comedy on the side), and the other is a...uh...coama? (Comedy with a little drama on the side). Simpler to say that Love Hina is a shounen manga/anime (target audience: boys) and Fruits Basket is a shoujo manga/anime (target audience: girls).