Intro:
Urashima Keitaro has spent the past three years attempting the Tokyo
University entrance exams and failing miserably. He refuses to give up,
however, because fifteen years ago he made a promise to his first love that
they would go to Tokyo U together. Keitaro can longer remember her name or
face, but the promise is heavy on his mind. The series follows Keitaro as he
continues to study for his entrance exams, takes over as manager of his
family's boarding house, the all-girls' Hinata So, and tries to win the heart of
his new upstairs neighbor, Narusegawa Naru.
Packaging:
All four discs come in a single-width Amaray-style case. The front cover
features a collage image of the entire cast, including main and secondary
characters. The borders and back cover are decidedly pink, which is very odd
because the show is unmistakably aimed at a male audience.
Video:
The video is clear and free from distortions. The DVD also has a really good
transfer which lets all of the show's bright colors and comedic action sequences
show up without visible artifacts form compression.
Audio:
There are two audio tracks, one Japanese, one English. Both tracks are free of
errors and distortions. The quality of the voice acting on the English track,
however, is so bad that it's almost unwatchable, especially in comparison to the
top-notch voice acting on the Japanese track.
Subtitles:
The subtitles were almost perfect. There were absolutely no spelling or
typographical errors. There was, however, a small error that crops up from time
to time. When multiple subtitles are supposed to display, one of them usually
disappears while the other one is on the screen.
Chapter Breaks:
There were four chapter breaks per episode. Normally I like to see 5, but since
there's no next episode preview, 4 is just as good, and it matches the standard.
Content:
There are extras on each disc. Unfortunately, these extras are only trailers.
And they're trailers for other shows, not Love Hina. So, they're more like
adverts.
Also, on the final disc, disregard the order the shows are listed in on the
menu. You'll want to watch the Winter Special first, then the Spring Special,
then Love Hina Again.
Conclusion:
Boarding house romantic comedies are kind of a staple of Japanese
animation. Often times, as with Love Hina, these are also harem anime where
a male character lives with a large group of females, all of whom are attracted
to him to some degree. Love Hina is probably the best-known modern
example of both of these genres, and deservedly so. I haven't seen a better,
funnier example of either a boarding house show or a harem show that
wasn't written by Rumiko Takahashi. And she hasn't done either in 20 years.
And the humor, unlike in so many Japanese comedies, is easily accessible
universal humor that's not based on Japanese culture and linguistic puns.
Publisher: FX Discs: 4 Episodes: 25 + Movie Price: $32.00
